Copy all the lines to clipboard

Is there any way to copy all lines from open file to clipboard in VI editor. I tried yG but it's not using clipboard to store those lines.

So is it possible?

Solution 1:

Use:

:%y+

to yank all lines.

Explanation:

• % to refer the next command to work on all the lines
• y to yank those lines
• + to copy to the system clipboard

NB: In Windows, + and * are equivalent see this answer.

Solution 2:

You should yank the text to the * or + registers:

gg"*yG

Explanation:

• gg to get the cursor to the first character of the file
• "*y to start a yank command to the register * from the first line, until...
• G to go the end of the file

Solution 3:

on Mac

• copy selected part: visually select text(type v or V in normal mode) and type :w !pbcopy

• copy the whole file :%w !pbcopy

• past from the clipboard :r !pbpaste