Copying or Cutting and Pasting Selected Text in UNIX Environments

Techniques for Copying or Cutting and Pasting Selected Text

After you have marked text, you can copy or cut the text and paste it in another location.
  • To copy text, select the Copy icon from the ToolBox, issue the STORE or WCOPY command, or select Editthen selectCopy.
  • To cut text, select the Cut icon from the ToolBox, issue the CUT or WCUT command, or select Editthen selectCut.
  • To paste the cut or copied text, select the Paste icon from the ToolBox, issue the PASTE or WPASTE command, or select Editthen selectPaste.
For more information about the CUT, PASTE, and STORE commands, refer to online SAS Help and Documentation.

How SAS Uses the Automatic Paste Buffer

When you end a drag mark by releasing the mouse button without holding down the ALT key, SAS performs an end-of-mark action that might automatically generate a STORE command to save the contents of the mark into a SAS paste buffer. If the STORE command is generated automatically, you do not have to explicitly copy the text before you paste it.

Disabling the Automatic Paste Buffer

You can disable the automatic paste buffer in the following ways:
  • Set the SAS.markPasteBuffer resource.
  • Deselect Automatically store selection on the Editing tab in the Preferences dialog box: Toolsthen selectOptionsthen selectPreferences.
For more information, see Customizing Cut and Paste in UNIX Environments.

Copying and Pasting Text between SAS and Other X Clients

You can cut or copy and paste text between X clients if you associate the default SAS paste buffer with a paste buffer specific to X. For example, if you associate the default SAS paste buffer with the paste buffer, you can copy and paste text between xterm windows and SAS windows. To associate the SAS buffer with an X buffer, specify the SAS.defaultPasteBuffer resource:
SAS.defaultPasteBuffer:  XTERM
For more information about using paste buffers, see Customizing Cut and Paste in UNIX Environments.