copy files between multiple vim instances

[otavioschwanck]

i use use neovim instance for each of projects of mine. sometimes i want to copy file from one to another and its really hard to do with nvim-tree clipboard working only current instance

[alex-courtis]

nvim-tree does not use the system clipboard.

An optional protocol could be developed that uses system clipboard. Something like:

nvim-tree: /path/to/file1, /path/to/file2

This would cause strange results when pasting the clipboard anywhere outside of nvim-tree, and files copied outside of nvim-tree could not be pasted in nvim-tree.

It is highly unlikely that this functionality will be built or accepted.

[otavioschwanck]

it could be an optional feature that could be enabled, i really dont care about the system clipboard, even the filebrowser from the OS works in this way, and also, nvim-tree could save on a pre-defined register (i think it is shared between vim instances)

[Shougo]

What is the pre-defined register?
clipboard register is only shared.
The other registers are not shared.

[otavioschwanck]

What is the pre-defined register? clipboard register is only shared. The other registers are not shared.

you are right!

But it could save on a tmp file

[alex-courtis]

But it could save on a tmp file

That is a viable solution.

[hinell]

One can obtain current file name by using expand("%:p") builtin. Then, when copied into a register (clipboard) you can copy it via commandline terminal:

" In vim commandline
:echo setreg("", expand("%:p"))
" Switch to another window
:!cp ...<ctrl+v> ./

[hinell]

But it could save on a tmp file

That is a viable solution.

@alex-courtis You are better to keep track of a file path, rather than copying it somehwere temporarily.

[lawrence-laz]

We already have gy to copy the absolute path. What if we had something like gp to paste from the absolute path?

The second step could be to use m to mark multiple files, then go bgy to copy all absolute paths with \n delimiter and make gp be capable of pasting from multiple paths.

What do you think?

[alex-courtis]

We already have gy to copy the absolute path. What if we had something like gp to paste from the absolute path?

That's an interesting idea - using absolute paths rather than the "internal clipboard". The question remains: where do these paths come from? The " or + register?

The second step could be to use m to mark multiple files, then go bgy to copy all absolute paths with \n delimiter and make gp be capable of pasting from multiple paths.

Could we not simplify this to something like: m, bcp?