How-To Geek

Hello HTG, long time reader first time writer here :P

I use the copy-paste functions (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V) all the time, but just recently started to wonder how exactly do they work. HTG seemed like a good place to ask this kind of thing. What I wonder is if it is application specific (i.e if each application needs to have its own copy paste function and a buffer to store the copied data) or if it is the operating system that handles it and if so where is the copied data stored?

Thanks in advance
Regards
RRRoman

Thanks. Although I was actually more curious of the mechanics of the copy and paste. Like how it works, what file/folder is copied data is stored in,if there is a log of copied data over time somewhere, or perhaps if it is just a reference/pointer to a file that is stored in the buffer and then point to the file which to copy when I press paste. If the mechanics allows me to copy a 6GB file when I only have 3GB free space left even if I have no intention of pasting it.

There is no back log. It is just held in, what we call now, the clipboard. Each new one will overwrite the previous.

It is held in the volatile RAM. So if you copy something, and then reboot the machine, it will be gone.

There are many 3rd party clipboard managers out there, that allow you to save multiple clips.