I use something like this but I initialize the file with the contents of the clipboard. I use xclip but I think xsel can do the same. Here's a snippet: xcl

I use something like this but I initialize the file with the contents of the clipboard. I use xclip but I think xsel can do the same. Here's a snippet: xclip -o > "$tmpfile" # initialize file with clipboard contents gvim --nofork "$tmpfile" xclip -i "$tmpfile" # push file to clipboard Bind it to a global hotkey and you can use it from anywhere.