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Since MacBook Pro 2015, Apple introduced the "Force Touch" in the Track Pad. When you click it in the Terminal, by default it gives you dictionary/Wikipedia search results.

I would like to change it to a "middle button"-like function as in Ubuntu: copy the selected text into the prompt, without passing via the clipboard and without the need to use the annoying ⌘C ⌘V sequence. Any ideas?

edit: shift ⌘ V does the part of copying without passing via the clipboard. now I need to have force touch doing this.

Nir O.
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  • Also see: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/21595/can-i-copy-by-highlighting-and-paste-by-middle-click-on-mac-os-x/30860#30860 – Scot Jan 26 '18 at 02:57

2 Answers2

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Check out BetterTouchTool. This application will let you customize actions based on trackpad gestures (including Force Touch).

Here is the action I have defined:

3 Finger FORCE Click -> Middle Click

With this setting, I can select text in an application (this works well in Terminal and iTerm), and without explicitly copy/pasting, paste with a 3-finger force-click.

goetz
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Scot
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  • Interesting! This is a 1st – Melvin Jefferson Jan 26 '18 at 03:36
  • thanks I was able to assign shiftcmdV to Force click. However it is not going as smooth as I would expect because I have to be very precise and concentrated in this click otherwise it will double-paste or change the selection :( – Nir O. Jan 26 '18 at 11:20
  • @NirO. You may have to experiment with different gestures to find the one that works best for you. If you run into an issue where you want to use a simpler gesture, you can define it only in Terminal/iTerm so it does not conflict. – Scot Jan 26 '18 at 20:12
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That isn't possible. It would have to be an option built into MacOS Touchpad preferences.

Melvin Jefferson
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