Emacs: Sync Copy/Paste Clipboards with Linux X11

In Linux, if copy/paste doesn't work with other apps, you can add this:

;; after copy Ctrl+c in Linux X11, you can paste by `yank' in emacs
(setq x-select-enable-clipboard t)

;; after mouse selection in X11, you can paste by `yank' in emacs
(setq x-select-enable-primary t)

In X11, there are 2 major copy/paste mechanisms:

• (1) primary selection. When you select text using mouse, the text is automatically put into the primary selection, and middle click will paste it.
• (2) clipboard. X11's clipboard is similar to the clipboard in Mac or Windows. You copy/paste by menu or keyboard.

The primary selection and clipboard are independent.

References:

• Window System Selections (ELISP Manual)
• X Selections, Cut Buffers, and Kill Rings ~2002-01-01 By Jamie Zawinski. At http://www.jwz.org/doc/x-cut-and-paste.html
• X Window selection

If you want to sync X11's “primary selection” and “clipboard” always, see: Linux: Sync X11 Primary Selection and Clipboard