How to copy a selection to the OS X clipboard

Question

I have an area selected in Vim. How can I copy it into the OS X clipboard?

(The OS X clipboard can be written to via a pipe to /usr/bin/pbcopy)

Answer 1

double-quote asterisk ("*) before any yank command will yank the results into the copy buffer. That works for Windows and Linux too.

Answer 2

Visually select the text and type:

ggVG
!tee >(pbcopy)

Which I find nicer than:

ggVG
:w !pbcopy

Since it doesn't flash up a prompt: "Press ENTER or type command to continue"

Answer 3

If you are using MacPorts you can upgrade your VIM to include clipboard support via:

port install vim +x +x11

Now you use the "+ register to yank your text directly to your Mac clipboard. Works like a charm.