Some error messages are quite short and not difficult to type in. If you are absolutely new to the terminal, this is going to help you a great deal.If you are having problems with Windows or a piece of third party software, something you might be asked to do is supply the information in any errors or messages that are being displayed to help with troubleshooting. I know this is elementary for the Sherlock Holmes of the Linux world but it could still be useful to the Watsons. Change Keyboard Shortcuts in GNOME Terminal Preferences Conclusion Most Linux terminals use the Ctrl+Shift+C/V keys but if it doesn’t work for you, you may try other key combinations or configure the keys from the preferences of the terminal emulator. If you didn’t know that already, a terminal is just an application, and you can install other terminals like Guake or Terminator.ĭifferent terminal applications may have their own keybindings for copying and pasting like Alt+C/V or Ctrl+Alt+C/V. The keybindings for copy-pasting are dependent on the terminal emulator (commonly known as terminal) you are using. There are no universal key shortcuts for copy-paste in the Linux terminal. Just use Ctrl+Q and you can use the terminal again. The keyboard shortcut CTRL + S in the Linux terminal is used to send a "stop" signal to the terminal, which results in a frozen terminal. Since the Ctrl+C keys are ‘reserved’ for stopping a command, they cannot be used for copying. This behaviour has been existing long before Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V started being used for copy-pasting text. This is because by default Ctrl+C keybinding is used for sending an interrupt signal to the command running in the foreground. No Linux terminal will give you Ctrl+C for copying the text. Why Linux terminals do not use the ‘universal’ Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V for Please keep in mind that these methods may not work in all the Linux distributions for a specific reason that I explain in the next section. You can select the text you want to copy and then press the middle mouse button (scrolling wheel) to paste the copied text. Right Click to copy and paste Method 3: Use the mouse to copy and paste into the Linux terminalĪnother way to copy-paste in a Linux terminal is by using only the mouse. Similarly, to paste the selected text, right-click and select Paste. Select the text in the terminal, right click and select Copy. Method 2: Using right-click context menu for copy-pasting in the terminalĪnother way of copying and pasting in the terminal is by using the right-click context menu. Similarly, you can use Ctrl+shift+C to copy text from the terminal and then use it to paste in a text editor or web browser using the regular Ctrl+V shortcut.īasically, when you are interacting with the Linux terminal, you use the Ctrl+Shift+C/V for copy-pasting. If you copy a command example from It’s FOSS website (using the generic Ctrl+C keys), you can paste this command into the terminal using the Ctrl+Shift+V into the terminal. The copy-pasting also works for external sources. Use CTRL + Shift + C to copy and use CTRL + Shift + V to paste what is selected
On Ubuntu and many other Linux distributions, you can use Ctrl+Insert or Ctrl+shift+C for copying text and Shift+Insert or Ctrl+shift+V for pasting text in the terminal. Method 1: Using keyboard shortcuts for copy-pasting in the terminal
How to copy and paste text and commands in the Linux terminal
I thought of elaborating on this topic especially when there is no single universal way of copying and pasting in the Linux terminal. Right-click and select the copy/paste option from the context menu is also an option. Use Ctrl+Insert or Ctrl+Shift+C for copying and Shift+Insert or Ctrl+Shift+V for pasting text in the terminal in Ubuntu.