Cutting, copying, and pasting in different computing environments

Cutting,copying and pasting in various different editing environments:

(an ever changing guide)

Vim

well, I would go into visual mode (hit v) and then use the cursor to select your chunk o' text. Hit x to cut it and p to paste it back. (you could use y instead of x to just copy the text)

(x)emacs

C-spacebar select the region C-w to cut, M-w to copy, C-y to yank back (aka paste).
this is an example of a complete emacs vi disjunction

gpm

left mouse button select text region, middle mouse button paste. (no real cutting available)

microsoft products for quite some time

control-x cuts, control-c copies, and control-v pastes... correct me if I am wrong.

Indeed.
Microsoft stole those keyboard shortcuts from MacOS.
I muchly prefer MS's oldschool keymap (used for DOS's EDIT aka Q-Basic, still present in windows) (this is probably because I use the dvorak layout, where X, C, and V aren't in a row):

• Cut - SHIFT + DEL
• Copy - CTRL + INS
• Paste - SHIFT + INS

I've noticed a difference in programs in which you can't modify the data, such as Xterm where left mouse button selects, right extends, and middle pastes.
Windows^TM 98's console uses an annoying rectangular selection box icon to copy and a paste icon to paste.
Win2k and XP have a system where clicking inside the window enters "select mode", enabling you to retry drawing the rectangle until you right click, and the selected text is copied to the clipboard.
also see: How to cut and paste in Mac OS and cut and paste in X

under MacOS:

• Copy: command-C
• Paste: command-V
• Cut: command-X

In days gone by (and still in some apps) F1-F4 did copy/paste/cut/clear respectively.