Cut and Paste

[James Board]

I'm a Mac newbie that's used to the Linux world where Cut-and-Paste is fairly simple: simply drag the mouse over the text with the left mouse button pressed, go to a different window, then middle-click and that text will appear.

That doesn't seem to work deterministically on my Mac. When I try to paste with the middle-click some text appears, but not the text I wanted.

I tried searching the web, but the instructions I found didn't work either (Command-X, then Command-V).

So how do I cut text from one application, say a URL or some text in Safari, and paste it into another, say a file that I'm editing with emacs?

 

[earthsaver]

Are you sure you were using the Command key and not the Control key? Command is the one that will always work for these shortcuts.

 

[DeltaMac]

First step on your Mac is to select the text - click and drag across the text that you want to include.
Once the text is selected (it will be highlighted), then the cut/paste, or copy/paste will work.
The one-step-simpler middle button in Linux does not transfer well to OS X, although your can use one of the third-party mouse action configuration tools to provide similar functionality for the mouse.
Maybe BetterTouch Tool will help you... http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/75054737