How to select text in terminal? (linux mint)

Question

I tried Ctrl+a and the cursor changes but what do I have to press afterwards? ( tried Arrow keys and Alt+Arrow keys and Shift+Arrow keys and so on)

Solution

The easiest way to copy is to use your mouse. Highlight the text you are interested in and then use middle click to paste.

Alternatively, if you are using gnome-terminal:

Comments

[Danilo Bargen]

Are you talking about an X terminal or about the TTY console? If it's an X terminal you can simply select it with your mouse. In a TTY, selecting doesn't make much sense to me.

[oldie]

@DaniloBargen being the linux newbie that i am i can only tell you that the name of the software is MATE Terminal 1.2.1. If it's not too much to ask could you also explain the diff between x terminal and tty console?

[oldie]

Thanks a lot but i'm interested in finding the hotkeys for this one.

[terdon]

Hot keys for what? Copy all? Copy specific text? Why don't you just redirect the output of the command you want to use ls >ls.txt? Wha exactly is it that you are trying to do?

[terdon]

The thing is, this depends on the terminal emulator you are using. I don't know of any terminal emulator that has a select all shortcut because, frankly, it is not very useful. All you need to do is select with the mouse or redirect the output to a file. Anyway a shortcut might exist in some terminal emulator or other. Look around, see if you can feed your obsession :).

[oldie]

Well thanks anyway. And i wasn't talking of a select all feature. Just plain select

[terdon]

Well, how can you select without specifying what you want to select? It sounds like you want to treat terminal output as a normal text file, it isn't. If you mean copying text you have written but not executed, Ctrl+K will copy.

[oldie]

ctrl+k does not work. just tried it. worte something in terminal window then tried a paste in a text editor

[terdon]

It will cut everything after the current position of your cursor. You can use Ctrl+W to cut the previous word and Alt+D to cut the next one. In all cases Ctrl+Y pastes it back. You will have trouble sharing a clipboard between the VMS though unless you use the window manager's clipboard by explicitly selecting text with the mouse.

[oldie]

ctrl +a -> ctrl + k -> ctrl + y works..kinda. You will have trouble sharing a clipboard between the VMS though unless you use the window manager's clipboard by explicitly selecting text with the mouse - too bad.