simple way to copy text from vim to system buffer?

Question

I am working in windows environment and is using gVim for usual editting. I want a simple way to copy text from vim to system buffer so I can Ctrl+V paste to other windows application.

I tried 'yy' and it didn't work. I hate to select the text by click-and-drag -> Ctrl+C because it make vim enter EDIT mode which I can't do search.

It there simple way to do this? Given that 'yy' only require me to press 2 keys, I want a solution within 2 keys too.

Answer 1

If you want yy to copy into windows clipboard, add the following line to your vimrc

set clipboard=unnamed

Answer 2

Vim has a lot of different registers that are used by yank, delete, and put commands. By default, the unnamed register is used. There's another register, *, associated with the system clipboard. So the command you want is "*yy. Or you can make the unnamed register automatically use the clipboard by setting the clipboard option.

For more on registers: http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/change.html#registers