iTerm2 – scroll less output with mouse

Question

I just switched from OSX Terminal to iTerm2, and I seem to have lost one piece of functionality. In Terminal, I could scroll through output of the less command with my mouse, because I had installed MouseTerm.

However, when I try scrolling less output in iTerm2, the window's scrollbar moves instead. Strangely, scrolling works as expected with vim.

How can I scroll less output with my mouse in iTerm2?

It sounds like you have some sort of third-party software installed, because Terminal doesn’t have support for sending input to the tty when you use the mouse to scroll—it only knows how to scroll the scrollbar. — Chris Page
– Chris Page, Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 18:14
@ChrisPage Indeed, good spot. I forgot I had installed MouseTerm long ago. I clarified this in the question. — Ruben Verborgh
– Ruben Verborgh, Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 13:05

Pylinux · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-22 04:25:01Z

85

Now it is implemented in iTerm2 and can be activated by

Settings -> Advanced -> Scroll wheel sends arrow keys when in alternate screen mode and change it to Yes

image of "Scroll wheel sends arrow keys when in alternate screen mode" setting

(defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2 AlternateMouseScroll -bool true still works but it just changes the same setting)

edited Aug 22, 2019 at 4:25

answered Jun 3, 2016 at 9:34

Pylinux

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8 Comments

krs013 Over a year ago

One of SE's greatest weaknesses is that there's not a reliable mechanism to promote more up-to-date answers like this here, unless a lot of people vote or the OP comes back and changes the accepted answer.

Don Giulio Over a year ago

This doesn't seem to work on iterm2 build 3.1.5, any clues?

Pylinux Over a year ago

@dongiulio tried restarting the terminal and or mac?

AlessioX Over a year ago

in iTerm2 3.1.5 this solution works perfectly, and no restarts are required

Johnny_D Over a year ago

Doesn't work on 3.2.6 when while using git diff. Any suggestions?

|

Dave Powers · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-01 22:01:54Z

53

The iTerm2 issue is now marked as "fixed" - but the fix is to add a hidden option, so it is not immediately obvious how to enable the new AlternateMouseScroll option.

As Filippo Valsorda (author of the patch) writes, once you install a nightly build (still not present in 1.0.0.20140629) of iTerm2, just run this command:

$ defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2 AlternateMouseScroll -bool true

restart iTerm2, and all your windows will report scroll events as up/down arrow-key escapes when the terminal is in the "alternate screen" (direct addressing) mode used by programs like less, vim, emacs, etcetera.

For applications like vim and emacs that provide additional mouse support, you will still want to enable mouse reporting mode, as this automatic mode switch only enables scrolling.

edited Apr 1, 2019 at 22:01

Dave Powers

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answered Jul 11, 2014 at 10:25

Alex Dupuy

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4 Comments

Steven Lu Over a year ago

Awesome! Except this doesn't work when inside of tmux. less inside of tmux has it responding as it usually does where the scroll will access the tmux pane history. Scratching my head a little bit. I can't look into this now but I wonder if there's a way to tell tmux to treat less in a special way. I think it's that tmux believes (correctly...) that less doesn't process the mouse wheel, and so it continues to override wheel functionality.

Alex Dupuy Over a year ago

Per the comments at Filippo Valsorda's original post I suspect that you need to add set-window-option -g mode-mouse on to your ~/.tmux.conf file.

r1ckr Over a year ago

This doesn't work for me, I have iTerm 2.1.1 and I've tried all here says.

Wildcard Over a year ago

In Vim on iTerm2, I just scrolled up and down with the mouse wheel (didn't work), then tapped the up and down arrow keys, and a little notice popped up at the top of the window asking me if I wanted the mouse wheel to scroll in graphical programs. Clicked yes and everything is peachy. Nice. :)

r1ckr · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-01 15:11:46Z

3

Finally did it, I've been spending a lot of time on this looking here and there with no luck, the simplest steps are:

Install the 2.9 beta version
Done

answered Oct 1, 2015 at 15:11

r1ckr

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Comments

Von · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-02 00:40:30Z

Not the OP's question, but for anyone here trying to get this to work in tmux, with credit to choco via this github comment here's a snippet to add to your tmux.conf to get it to handle alternate screens (e.g. less, vim) correctly:

# Check if copy-mode or any mouse flags, then send mouse events
# or check if we're in alternate screen end send navigation keys (up, down)

bind -n WheelUpPane if-shell -Ft='#{?pane_in_mode,1,#{mouse_any_flag}}' \
        'send -Mt=' 'if-shell -Ft= "#{alternate_on}" \
        "send -t= Up" "copy-mode -et= ; send -Mt="'
bind -n WheelDownPane if-shell -Ft= '#{?pane_in_mode,1,#{mouse_any_flag}}' \
        'send -Mt=' 'if-shell -Ft= "#{alternate_on}" \
        "send -t= Down" "send -Mt="'

Note, this doesn't require the Iterm preference change mentioned in other answers, but it also isn't hurt by it.

Bhargav Rao · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-01 18:29:58Z

1

This isn't implemented as of now.

There is an open issue in the iTerm 2 issue tracker about implementing it.

edited Apr 1, 2019 at 18:29

Bhargav Rao

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answered Mar 2, 2013 at 20:37

asmeurer

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1 Comment

Ruben Verborgh Over a year ago

Yep, that was added in response to my question here and on the iTerm2 mailing list.

Nomas Prime · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-29 23:07:55Z

1

The latest version of less supports the --mouse and related flags so there's no need send arrow keys to alternate screens.

answered Sep 29, 2020 at 23:07

Nomas Prime

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