System Clipboard Integration

[rauf322]

Problem

Currently, nvim-tree doesn't have a built-in way to copy files or folders to the system clipboard for easy pasting in file managers (Finder, Explorer, etc.).

Proposed Solution

Add a built-in keymap (e.g., <C-c> or yy) that copies the selected file/folder to the system clipboard.

Implementation Details

• Should work for both files and directories
• Cross-platform support (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Could use platform-specific commands:
  • macOS: osascript -e "set the clipboard to POSIX file \"<path>\""
  • Linux: xclip or similar
  • Windows: PowerShell clipboard commands

Example for MacOS

local M = {}

function M.copy_file_to_clipboard()
	local api = require("nvim-tree.api")
	local node = api.tree.get_node_under_cursor()

	if not node then
		print("No item selected!")
		return
	end

	-- Expand the absolute path (handles ~)
	local path = vim.fn.expand(node.absolute_path)
	-- Escape any double quotes in the path
	path = path:gsub('"', '\\"')

	-- Build AppleScript command (works for both files and folders)
	local applescript_cmd = string.format('osascript -e "set the clipboard to POSIX file \\"%s\\""', path)

	-- Execute command and capture status
	local result = os.execute(applescript_cmd)
	if result == 0 then
		local item_type = node.type == "directory" and "folder" or "file"
		print("Copied " .. item_type .. " to system clipboard: " .. path)
	else
		print("Failed to copy to clipboard")
	end
end

return M

[alex-courtis]

That sounds like a great idea!

See #1549 for similar discussion on copying a set of paths to clipboard, for copy/paste between nvim instances. See similar example.

Is copying the paths the objective here? Do we want to copy the contents of the file?