How does Google Spreadsheet preserves formatting in external Copy-Paste?

Note: This is on MacOS. I don't know if it is repeatable on Windows.

When I copy a cell to a text editor and back, formatting (and links) are preserved. Even links, while don't appear in the text editor, reappear in Google Spreadsheet.

Try this:

1. Open a Google Spreadsheet.2. Choose an empty cell and paste a hyperlink formula, i.e.: =HYPERLINK("http://www.google.com/","Google")3. Copy cell content (Mark cell, then CMD+C).4. Open TextEdit.5. Switch to plain text (CMD+Shift+T).6. Paste cell content (CMD+V).7. Copy content from text (Mark text, then CMD+C).8. Go back to Google Spreadsheets and choose and empty cell.9. Paste text (CMD+V).

BTW, I have tried pasting to Google Docs and it doesn't preserve formatting/link.

What makes this work?

Is it configurable?

Thanks!

EDIT: Performing "Paste and Match Style" (⌥+⇧+⌘+V) in step 6, with or without skipping step 5, didn't make any difference.