Emacs: Copy/Paste and kill-ring

Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste

undo 【Ctrl+_】

Undo

kill-region 【Ctrl+w】

Cut

kill-ring-save 【Alt+w】

Copy

yank 【Ctrl+y】

Paste

In emacs:

• Cut is called “kill”, as in {kill word, kill region}.
• Paste is called “yank”.
• A history of copied text is called “kill ring”, stored in the variable kill-ring.

Standard Copy/Paste Keys: cua-mode

If you prefer standard keys such as Ctrl+c for copy, Ctrl+x for cut Ctrl+v for paste, then turn on cua-mode. Put this in your init:

;; use standard keys for undo cut copy paste
(cua-mode 1)

Paste from Kill Ring History

Emacs's clipboard (called kill-ring) maintains a history of copy/cut content.

View kill-ring Content

To view copy/cut history: Pull the GUI menu [Edit ▸ Paste from kill Menu].

Here's a command that list kill-ring content in a buffer: Emacs: Show kill-ring

Paste from kill-ring History

1. yank 【Ctrl+y】
2. yank-pop 【Alt+y】 to insert previous copied content.
3. Press Alt+y again to get earlier copied content. (repeat this step to get earlier)