By convention, the middle mouse button pastes currently selected text; this works in
almost all X applications. Selected text is text that you??™ve highlighted by holding the
primary mouse button while dragging your mouse.
Copying text is therefore a matter of highlighting it, then clicking the middle button
wherever you want to paste it. In many cases, this is far more convenient and productive
than using the clipboard (which is also available; see Section 5.5). This technique
can be used to paste information from a web page into an email message, from
a terminal window into a word processor (which is how many of the examples got
into the text of this book), or from part of a web form to another part of the same
form.
5.5
88 Chapter 5: Using the X Server
The middle-button behavior is exploited by most X-based web browsers to offer
users certain conveniences:
??? Middle-clicking on a blank or text portion of a web page (not over a link) will
paste selected text as a URI, and the browser will go to that location. Therefore,
to go to a URI mentioned in a README file, just highlight the URI and then
middle-click in your browser.
??? Since many browsers will automatically perform a search if plain words are
entered where a URI is expected, you can search by simply highlighting any
words (anywhere!) and then middle-clicking in your browser.
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