How to Copy and Paste with Tmux on Ubuntu

1. Install xclip

$ sudo apt-get install xclip

2. Configure Tmux

Open up your Tmux configuration (typically at ~/.tmux.conf) and append:

tmux version >= 1.8

bind -t vi-copy y copy-pipe "xclip -sel clip -i"

Now when you copy some text, it will automatically be copied to OS clipboard.

tmux version < 1.8

# copy & paste between tmux and x clipboard
bind C-p run-shell "tmux set-buffer \"$(xclip -o)\"; tmux paste-buffer"
bind C-y run-shell "tmux show-buffer | xclip -sel clip -i"

Now, when you press <Control> Ctrl-p, it will put the content of x clipboard into Tmux buffer and paste it.

<Control> Ctrl-y will put Tmux top buffer content into x clipboard. Thus, a typical workflow will be as follows:

1. Enter copy mode
2. Select text
3. Yank it
4. Send it to x clipboard if needed

P.S. Don't forget to restart your tmux server.