Cut Paste

"cut and paste"
This is about computer text editing. For arheological properties of pastes such as toothpaste or putty, see Paste (rheology). In computing, cut and paste is a user-interface paradigm for a means of moving text (typically plain text) or other data from a source to a destination. This paradigm is closely associated with graphical user interfaces that use pointing devices.
The term ""cut and paste"" of course derives from the traditional practice in manuscript editing in which paragraphs were literally cut from a page with scissors and physically pasted onto another page. This was standard practice as late as the 1960s. ""Editing scissors"" with blades long enough to cut an 8-1/2""-wide page were available at stationery stores. The advent of photocopiers made the practice easier and more flexible.
The cut-and-paste paradigm was widely popularized by Apple in the Lisa (1981) and Macintosh (1984) operating systems and applications. It was mapped to a key combination consisting of a special control key held down while typing the letters X (for cut), C (for copy), and V (for paste). Similar key combinations were later adopted by Microsoft in Windows. Common User Architecture (in Windows and OS/2) also uses combinations of the Insert, Del, Shift and Control keys. Some environments allow cutting and pasting (even dragging and dropping) with a computer mouse."