Mulitline copy/pasting

[vsamy]

• VSCode Version: 1.4.0
• OS Version: ubuntu 14.04

Steps to Reproduce:

1. shift+alt to get multicursors on several lines
2. ctrl+x to cut
3. ctrl+c to paste

[sandy081]

@vsamy I am not sure if I understand what is your requirement / issue here. Can you please elaborate more?

[vsamy]

Sure.

In vscode to copy/cut paste a line you usually do a ctrl+x/ctrl+c then a ctrl+v. This is very convenient but it only can be done one line at a time. If i have multicursor and try to cut/copy paste all the line at the same time it does not work and leave blank lines. Maybe i missed a shorcut on multiline copy pasting.

It is like a '4dd' 'p' in vim for example.

I hope it is more clear to you now.

[Bill-Stewart]

You can do this by selecting all or part of the lines, press command for expandLineSelection (default ctrl+i), then cut/copy/paste or reposition lines using moveLinesUp (default alt+up) and/or moveLinesDown (default alt+down).

[vsamy]

Ok, thank you for the tips.

[Bill-Stewart]

@vsamy - does this answer it - can this issue be closed?

[vsamy]

Sorry for the late answer.

It does give me a way to bypass my problem and it works properly. It depends on whether or not you do want to correct this copy/paste problem or not.

[Bill-Stewart]

@vsamy - what copy/paste problem are you referring to?

[vsamy]

The copy/paste when having multicursors.

[Bill-Stewart]

What behavior were you expecting?

[vsamy]

Ok let's get back from zero.

The aim is to copy/paste multiple lines at the same time.
For example if i want to cut line 10 to 14 and paste it in another file.
You suggested to use ctrl+i to get the 5 lines and paste it. It works but when pasting it it does not behaves like a ctrl+x/ctrl+v on one line. Typically when doing it on one line, it pastes over the current cursor line not at the cursor position.
When getting multiline cursors (shift+alt+(down/up/clic)) and copying it (ctrl+c). It does paste (ctrl+v) over the current cursor but the lines are blank lines (as my first comment's gif shows).

Note for me, shift+alt+down does not behaves the same on windows and ubuntu (is it just me ?).

[Bill-Stewart]

I am not sure I understand. The expandLineSelection (default ctrl+i) command selects all entire lines where there are cursors or where there is a current selection. If you want paste to replace lines, then select the lines you want to replace, then paste. (That is, paste will replace any selected text.)

[vsamy]

The aim is not to replace lines but rather add the copied lines to another location.
Also when having multicursors and doing a ctrl+i then a ctrl+x leaves blank lines which needs to be deleted.

Im just saying that having multicursors and doing a ctrl+x/ctrl+v should work the same (but for several lines) as doing it with one cursor.

[Bill-Stewart]

OK, I think I understand. If you use multiple cursors and use expandLineSelection and then cut or delete, then yes it leaves blank lines. What you are saying: If there are multiple cursors and entire lines are selected using expandLineSelection, then cut or delete should delete the lines rather than leaving them empty. Is this correct?

[vsamy]

From what i understood there are two problems:

When using expandLineSelection:

• ctrl+x: leaves blank lines which needs to be deleted afterwards
• ctrl+v: Paste works fine

When not using expandLineSelection (only get multiple cursors by doing shift+alt+down/up):

• ctrl+x: Works fine. Does not leave blank lines.
• ctrl+v: Paste is bad. Paste blank lines instead of the text cut before.

[Bill-Stewart]

For first use case with expandLineSelection: Yes, the cut leaves a blank line because the final newline is not selected when you use expandLineSelection (you can observe this by looking carefully at the selection). You can work around it by pressing shift+right after the expandLineSelection command. It is a good feature request to say "we would like expandLineSelection to include the final newline".

I think the answer in your second use case is not to expect that selecting only ends of lines will work for copy/cut entire lines. The editor's behavior in this case is possibly a bug, but you don't need multiple cursors to select/copy/cut entire lines.

[vsamy]

"you don't need multiple cursors to select/copy/cut entire lines". True enough.
It is just it would much faster to copy/cut/paste this way (only one command to get all the lines). The first option demands more to do :)

[Bill-Stewart]

There are a couple of extensions that may provide the "select entire lines" feature you are looking for?

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=bigous.vscode-multi-line-tricks

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=andreaskian.vscode-select-line

[usernamehw]

But ... but ... this is unexpected. Look how it is done in Sublime Text or Atom:

And vscode just swallows your multi-line targets:

As I see it can be done by expandLineSelection and then cut/copy.

So why it isn't the default behavior?

[Bill-Stewart]

I have disabled editor.emptySelectionClipboard, so when I select only end-of-lines the "cut" action does nothing. This seems a bit odd, because if I press the delete key, vscode joins the lines (this is expected). When editor.emptySelectionClipboard is enabled, the behavior is different. Interesting.