[Geany-Users] Linux middle mouse copy and paste

[Mike Miller]

On 2020-04-17 02:03, Gösta Ljungdahl wrote:
> "Select with double left click first, then middle click where you want
> to paste, thats how X11 copy has always worked."
> 
> Yes, it works!! It's my moving the cursor to the paste point that destroys the 
> copy. Just hovering with the mouse at the desired point and then middle click is 
> all that it takes. I have been living under the misconception that paste is 
> always done where the cursor is and this is true for a terminal session but not 
> for X11 and Geany in particular as I just learned. Thanks guys for educating me! 😊
> 


Yep, traditionally when you middle-click in X (by default) it pastes whatever is 
currently selected.  The selection itself is the "storage" of the buffer. 
That's how I think of it anyway.  If you move the cursor, the selection is lost 
and therefore later another paste yields nothing.

There are some "modern" apps that do more, for example browsers copy the 
clipboard contents into the middle-click buffer as well.  I believe their 
rationale is that it is user-friendly.  But, having a select few apps behave 
differently is confusing as well.

-Mike