tmux/Q/Are there two different modes of visual selection in tmux?

• Are there two different modes of visual selection in tmux?

  • My Answer

    • 1 - SPACE - starts selection
    • 2 - v toggles between visual and rectangular selection
    • 3 - V selects lines
    • 4 - o - go to the other end of the selection
    • 5 - ESCAPE - drop selection but stay in copy mode

  • AI Answer

    • Short answer: Yes. Stock tmux copy-mode-vi has two selection shapes you toggle between: character-wise (normal, started with Space) and rectangle/block (toggled with v). There is no "word-based" mode — word motions (w, b, e) just move the cursor within either shape.

    • Stock copy-mode-vi selection bindings (no config, no oh-my-tmux)

      • Key	Command	Effect
        Space	begin-selection	Start character-wise (linear) selection
        v	rectangle-toggle	Toggle rectangle/block mode on the active selection
        V	select-line	Select entire lines
        o	other-end	Swap cursor to other end of selection
        Escape	clear-selection	Drop selection without leaving copy mode

    • How the two shapes work

      • 1. Character-wise — press Space to start. Highlights linearly from mark to cursor, wrapping across lines. Use h/j/k/l or word motions (w, W, b, e) to extend.
      • 2. Rectangle (block) — press v after starting a selection to toggle rectangle mode. The highlight becomes a column-aligned block between mark and cursor, regardless of line content. Press v again to toggle back. Equivalent to vim's Ctrl-v visual block.

    • oh-my-tmux remaps these

      • oh-my-tmux rebinds v to begin-selection and C-v to rectangle-toggle, matching vim conventions — so if your v starts a selection rather than toggling rectangles, you are using those remapped bindings, not stock tmux defaults.

    • "Word-based" clarification

      • select-word exists as a tmux command but has no default key binding in copy-mode-vi. The word-like feeling comes from navigating the cursor with w/b/e inside an existing character-wise selection. In mouse mode, double-clicking selects the word under the cursor.

    • Verify your session

      • Run tmux list-keys -T copy-mode-vi | grep -E 'begin-selection|rectangle' to see what your current config has bound.

    • Sources

      • tmux(1) man page — copy-mode commands (begin-selection, rectangle-toggle, select-line, select-word)
      • Superuser: tmux copy mode select text block