Copying Text When Using Terminal Applications (Midnight Commander, etc.)

Copying Text When Using Terminal Applications (Midnight Commander, etc.)

Copying Text When Using Terminal Applications (Midnight Commander, etc.)

When using interactive terminal applications such as Midnight Commander (mc), the mouse is typically captured by the application.
This means that normal mouse selection and right-click copy may not work as they do in a regular shell session.

The Problem

In normal SSH shells, you can easily mark text with your mouse and use the context menu or keyboard shortcuts to copy it to your clipboard.
However, when you launch a terminal-based UI like Midnight Commander, nano, or htop, the mouse input is taken over by that application — making text selection for copy/paste unavailable.

The Solution — Use the ALT Key

Shellngn provides a special modifier key that temporarily releases the mouse control back to the terminal, allowing you to select and copy text again.

To copy text while using Midnight Commander or similar applications:

  1. Hold the ALT key.

  2. While holding ALT, use your mouse to select the text you want to copy.

  3. Right-click → Copy or use your system’s keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+C / Cmd+C).

This lets you easily copy any text or command output even when the mouse is being captured by a full-screen terminal application.

    • Related Articles

    • Shellngn with Nginx Proxy Manager for HTTPS

      This is a guide to show you how to run Shellngn with Nginx Proxy Manager and generate HTTPS certificates with Let's Encrypt certificates. What is the Nginx Proxy Manager? The Nginx proxy manager (NPM) is a reverse proxy management system running on ...

    • Shellngn On Docker

      Docker (www.docker.com) is an open platform making it easier to create, deploy, and run applications by using containers. This article describes the steps required to run Shellngn on Docker. With Docker, you can easily deploy Shellngn with just a ...

    • Shellngn with Nginx and Let's Encrypt for HTTPS

      This is a guide to show you how to run Shellngn with Nginx and generate HTTPS certificates with Let's Encrypt in 4 easy steps. Step 1: Create a docker-compose.yaml file with the following content Make sure to replace example.com with your domain and ...

    • Firewall IP Whitelisting

      Shellngn Cloud enables you to connect to your server using your browser by acting as a proxy between you and your server. It will be necessary to whitelist the Shellngn IP address if your server restricts IP addresses. The following IP addresses ...

    • Setup SSO with Okta

      Login to your Shellngn Pro as administrator. Click on the menu icon and select Single Sign On (SSO) Make sure the Shellngn URL has your container address. In our example, it’s http://shellngn.corp.com:4000 Click on the sp-certificate.cer hyperlink to ...