https://miliucci.org/tags/editors/Recent content in Editors on Alessandro MiliucciHugoen-gb© Alessandro MiliucciTue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://miliucci.org/post/linux-terminals-osc-52-escape/Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://miliucci.org/post/linux-terminals-osc-52-escape/<p>While rewriting my Emacs configuration for a pure terminal usage (no X/Wayland) I discovered the ANSI escape sequence 52 to read-from and write-to the system clipboard. Soon after, I found out how such a <em>simple</em> feature was causing so much discussion in Linux terminal&rsquo;s issues trackers and how scattered its support was.</p> <h2 id="copy--paste">Copy &amp; Paste</h2> <p>Writing (copying to) and reading (pasting from) the system clipboard are two actions we make every day, even several times per minute (if you are a programmer). <code>Ctrl+C</code> and <code>Ctrl+V</code> are the ubiquitous short-cuts supported by all Desktop Environments. Such operations are so straightforward we do not even think about them, we just press the keys using muscle memory. Almost all applications support them with an exception - terminal emulators. If you press <code>Ctrl+C</code> in a terminal, it will send the signal number 2 (<code>SIGINT</code>) to terminate the running process. For this reason, most terminal emulators bind the alternatives <code>Ctrl+Shift+C</code> and <code>Ctrl+Shift+V</code> sequences to the copy &amp; paste action.</p>