How to Paste in Git Bash: A Beginner-Friendly Guide

If you’re new to using Git Bash—a command-line interface that brings Unix-style commands to Windows—you might have run into a surprisingly common frustration: how do you paste text into Git Bash?

Unlike standard Windows applications, Git Bash uses different key combinations for copy and paste. In this quick and easy guide, we’ll show you how to paste into Git Bash and explain a few alternative methods to make your workflow smoother.

Table of Contents

🤔 Why Pasting Works Differently in Git Bash

Git Bash emulates a Unix terminal, which behaves differently from typical Windows applications. While you’re used to using Ctrl + V to paste, Git Bash doesn’t recognize this shortcut by default. Instead, it uses keyboard or mouse-based shortcuts specific to the terminal environment.

✅ How to Paste in Git Bash

Here are the most common ways to paste into Git Bash:

🔹 Method 1: Use Right-Click (Mouse)

Copy text from anywhere using Ctrl + C.
Right-click anywhere inside the Git Bash window.
The copied text will be pasted at the cursor location.

📝 Note: There’s no context menu—you won’t see a “Paste” option appear. The act of right-clicking itself pastes the text.

🔹 Method 2: Use Keyboard Shortcut

In some versions of Git Bash or depending on your terminal configuration, you can use:

Shift + Insert

This shortcut works in many Unix-style terminals and can be used to paste text at the current cursor location.

🔹 Method 3: Enable Ctrl+V Support (Optional)

If you’d prefer to use Ctrl + V like in typical Windows applications, you can enable this manually:

Click the Git Bash icon in the top-left corner of the window.
Select Options or Properties.
Under Options, check “Enable Ctrl key shortcuts” or “Use Ctrl+Shift+C/V as Copy/Paste” (depending on version).
Click OK to save the settings.

Once enabled:

Use Ctrl + Shift + C to copy.
Use Ctrl + Shift + V to paste.

💡 This feature may not be available in older versions of Git Bash. Updating Git for Windows may help.

🧰 Bonus Tip: Drag and Drop Files

You can also drag and drop a file into the Git Bash window to automatically paste its full file path. This is particularly helpful when navigating to files or folders without typing long paths manually.

✅ Summary

Method	Action
Right-Click	Pasts copied text
Shift + Insert	Pastes using keyboard
Ctrl + Shift + V	Paste (when enabled)
Drag and Drop File	Pastes file path

🏁 Conclusion

Using Git Bash can feel unfamiliar at first, but once you understand how basic operations like pasting work, you’ll find it’s a powerful tool for version control and scripting. Whether you’re copying a Git command from a tutorial or pasting a long file path, these simple tricks will help you navigate Git Bash more efficiently.