Cygwin copy and paste
Christopher Brooks, 31 Aug 2002
Last updated: 12 Sep 2002

You may need to enable copy and paste in the bash shell window.

If copy and paste are working properly, then you should be able to highlight text by left clicking and dragging the mouse over the text and then hitting the Enter key to copy the highlighted text.

The Cygwin faq at http://www.cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#SEC54 says:

How can I copy and paste into Cygwin console windows?

Under Windows NT, open the properties dialog of the console window. The options contain a toggle button, named "Quick edit mode". It must be ON. Save the properties.

Under Windows 9x, open the properties dialog of the console window. Select the Misc tab. Uncheck Fast Pasting. Check QuickEdit.

You can also bind the insert key to paste from the clipboard by adding the following line to your .inputrc file:

"\e[2~": paste-from-clipboard

More precisely:

1. Start up bash by doing Start -> Programs -> Cygwin -> Cygwin Bash\ Shell.
2. Right click on the icon in the upper left of the title bar and select properties
3. Under Options, select 'QuickEdit Mode', hit ok
4. Select 'Modify shortcut that started this window', hit ok

To copy from a Cygwin Bash window, highlight the text by left clicking and dragging the mouse, then hit the enter key to copy the text.

To paste into a Cygwin Bash window, click on the icon in the upper left of the window menu bar and then do edit -> paste or do Alt-Space e p That is, hold down the Alt key, hit the space bar, let up on the Alt key, type an e and then a p.