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How can I paste in a terminal window in XQuartz?

I am using XQuartz as a Unix terminal on my MacBook Pro, together with a standard Apple Magic Mouse. Unix requires a 3rd ("middle") mouse button to paste something into a terminal window. Is there some way to emulate this? Right now, I can use "copy" in XQuartz to copy from an xterm window into the Mac clipboard, but there is no "paste" command to put something on the command line. Any advice?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 30, 2020 12:51 PM

Best reply

VikingOSX

Community+ 2024

Level 10

112,379 points

Posted on Jul 30, 2020 2:57 PM

On the XQuartz Preferences Panel:

Input tab
1. [√] Emulate three button mouse
  1. Use option key and left mouse button to paste from macOS clipboard
2. Enable key equivalents under X11
Pasteboard tab
1. Enable Syncing
2. Update CLIPBOARD when Pasteboard changes
3. Update PRIMARY (middle-click) when Pasteboard changes
4. Update Pasteboard immediately when new text is selected

With these settings, I can copy and paste to the macOS Mojave clipboard, and using option+left-click, the contents of the clipboard will paste into an xterm. I am using an Apple Magic Mouse 2.

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How can I paste in a terminal window in XQuartz?

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