3 ms·

Ask HN: Do you ever wish there were two copy-paste key pairs?

3 points by davidajackson 6y ago

Like c1,v2 and c2,v2. I wish this all the time when I copy an import statement and then some code.

blendergeek 6y ago
Could you explain the exact use case for this? I'm intrigued but a little confused.
- davidajackson 6y ago
  There would be what we have: Command+C & Command+V but also Command+<some other letter> & Command+<some other letter> for the second pair.
  - blendergeek 6y ago
    So if I am understanding correctly, you would have two clipboards each accessed with two different shortcuts. Have you ever tried an advanced text editor such as GNU Emacs [1]? GNU Emacs provides a feature that I believe could fulfill your use case. In Emacs, rather than a mere 'clipboard' that holds the most recent thing you copied, you have the 'kill ring'. Anything ever copied to the 'kill ring' can be recalled at any time. You can copy as many things as you want and paste as many times as you want. I don't use a Mac, so for me the shortcut in Emacs is Ctrl-k to 'kill' text (copy to 'kill ring') and Ctrl-y to 'yank' text back from the 'kill ring'. You can then use Alt-y to cycle through every piece of text that you have 'killed' in your current session. There are further shortcuts to select and copy text to the kill ring. (By default Ctrl-k removes all text on the current line or it removes the current line if the line is blank). Repeated use of Ctrl-k without other commands will grab entire chunks of text that can be brought back with only one Ctrl-y. Would something like that work for your use case? Of course with an advanced editor (like GNU Emacs), you have the option to program as many additional shortcuts as you want.
    - davidajackson 6y ago
      I will check this out, maybe I can set up some shortcuts. Thank you
ivank 6y ago
I think clipboard managers can do what you want, they have a clipboard history.
bediger4000 6y ago
Yes. The X11 clipboard does something like this, and when you're programming, it can be useful. Related, I'd also like more than one cursor in a text editor. I believe I recall some Tcl/Tk thing from the mid-90s that had more than one cursor, but I've been unable to find it.

Like c1,v2 and c2,v2. I wish this all the time when I copy an import statement and then some code.

blendergeek 6y ago

Could you explain the exact use case for this? I'm intrigued but a little confused.

davidajackson 6y ago
There would be what we have: Command+C & Command+V but also Command+<some other letter> & Command+<some other letter> for the second pair.
- blendergeek 6y ago
  So if I am understanding correctly, you would have two clipboards each accessed with two different shortcuts. Have you ever tried an advanced text editor such as GNU Emacs [1]? GNU Emacs provides a feature that I believe could fulfill your use case. In Emacs, rather than a mere 'clipboard' that holds the most recent thing you copied, you have the 'kill ring'. Anything ever copied to the 'kill ring' can be recalled at any time. You can copy as many things as you want and paste as many times as you want. I don't use a Mac, so for me the shortcut in Emacs is Ctrl-k to 'kill' text (copy to 'kill ring') and Ctrl-y to 'yank' text back from the 'kill ring'. You can then use Alt-y to cycle through every piece of text that you have 'killed' in your current session. There are further shortcuts to select and copy text to the kill ring. (By default Ctrl-k removes all text on the current line or it removes the current line if the line is blank). Repeated use of Ctrl-k without other commands will grab entire chunks of text that can be brought back with only one Ctrl-y. Would something like that work for your use case? Of course with an advanced editor (like GNU Emacs), you have the option to program as many additional shortcuts as you want.
  - davidajackson 6y ago
    I will check this out, maybe I can set up some shortcuts. Thank you

ivank 6y ago

I think clipboard managers can do what you want, they have a clipboard history.

bediger4000 6y ago

Yes. The X11 clipboard does something like this, and when you're programming, it can be useful. Related, I'd also like more than one cursor in a text editor. I believe I recall some Tcl/Tk thing from the mid-90s that had more than one cursor, but I've been unable to find it.