# Clipboard features

As copying and pasting hexadecimal values is not a standard operation in most applications, GHex has some unique clipboard features.

## Basic clipboard operations

Generally, when copying and pasting data within GHex, you need not concern yourself with clipboard operations.

Copying and pasting within GHex works in the usual way.

To cut or copy data, highlight the data you would like to cut or copy, and do any of the following:

- Right-click anywhere in the hex or ASCII pane to bring up the context menu, and select the appropriate option.

- To cut, press `Ctrl`+`X`.

- To copy, press `Ctrl`+`C`.

To paste data:

- Right-click to bring up the context menu, and click Paste; or

- Press `Ctrl`+`V`.

## Paste Special

If you have used other applications, such as text editors or word processors with a Paste Special dialog, you may be familiar with this feature.

To activate the Paste Special dialog in GHex:

- Click Paste Special from the Edit submenu of the Main menu; or

- Press `Shift`+`Ctrl`+`V`.

The options that appear when Paste Special is activated are context-dependent.

The most common options are described below.

### GHex Paste Data

This option will only appear if your current clipboard selection contains data copied directly from GHex. This represents clipboard data native to GHex, and will be pasted into the application as if you had utilized an ordinary Paste operation.

### Plain text (as ASCII)

This allows you to paste the data from the clipboard into the GHex buffer, forcing GHex to assume the pasted data will be plain ASCII text.

### Plain text (Unicode)

This allows you to paste the data from the clipboard into the GHex buffer, forcing GHex to assume the pasted data will be text encoded in UTF-8 format.

### Plain text (as space-delimited hex pairs)

This unique option assumes that GHex can expect to receive plain, ASCII text that is specifically formatted as hex nibble-pairs, separated by a single space each.

This allows hexadecimal data to be pasted back into GHex cleanly.

For example, if 48 45 4C 4C 4F is in the clipboard, selecting this option will implicitly convert this hex sequence to an ASCII character sequence (in this case, "HELLO"), and insert it into the GHex buffer.

This option can be combined with Copy Special to allow an external text editor of your choice to edit hex data copied from GHex, and paste it back into GHex cleanly.

## Copy Special

Unlike Paste Special, which is a feature present in many ordinary text editors and word processors, Copy Special is a feature that was created specifically for GHex, and thus may not be familiar to many users.

Copy Special allows you to copy data from GHex into the format of your choice. You may not need this feature unless you intend to paste data from GHex into other applications, and would like minute control over how that is done.

To activate the Copy Special dialog in GHex:

- Click Copy Special from the Edit submenu of the Main menu; or

- Press `Shift`+`Ctrl`+`C`.

The options that appear when you activate Copy Special are:

- GHex Paste Data

- Plain text (as ASCII)

- Plain text (as space-delimited hex pairs)

- Plain text (Unicode)

These options work as described in the Paste Special section above, but in reverse. In other words, the data copied from GHex to the clipboard will be copied in the specified format.

This allows you to have control over how clipboard data copied from GHex will be pasted into other applications.

This is mostly intended to allow for space-delimited hex pairs to be edited in third party applications and then pasted back to GHex cleanly. However, there may be other interesting uses for this feature as well. Since GHex, like any hex editor, is often used to edit unusual data types, there may be other times in which it is desirable for the user to have full control over how the data from the buffer is copied to the clipboard.