TMUX(1) General Commands Manual TMUX(1)

tmux —
terminal multiplexer

tmux [-qVv] [-f file] [-S socket-path] [command [flags]]

tmux is a terminal multiplexer; it enables a number of terminals (or windows) to be accessed and controlled from a single terminal.

tmux runs as a server-client system. A server is created automatically when necessary and holds a number of sessions, each of which may have a number of windows linked to it. Any number of clients may connect to a session, or the server may be controlled by issuing commands with tmux. Communication takes place through a socket, by default placed in /tmp.

The options are as follows:

file
Specify an alternative configuration file. By default, tmux will look for a config file at ~/.tmux.conf. The configuration file is a set of tmux commands which are executed in sequence when the server is first started.
Prevent the server sending various information messages, for example when window flags are altered.
socket-path
Specify an alternative path to the server socket. The default is /tmp/tmux-UID, where UID is the uid of the user who invoked tmux.
Print program version.
Request verbose logging. This option may be specified multiple times for increasing verbosity. Log messages will be saved into tmux-client-PID.log and tmux-server-PID.log files in the current directory, where PID is the pid of the server or client process.
command [flags]
This specifies one of a set of commands used to control tmux, and described in the following sections. If no command and flags is specified, the new-session command is assumed.

To create a new tmux session running vi(1):

$ tmux new-session vi

Most commands have a shorter form, known as an alias. For new-session, this is new:

$ tmux new vi

Alternatively, the shortest unambiguous form of a command is accepted. If there are several options, they are listed:

$ tmux n
ambiguous command: n, could be: new-session, new-window, next-window
$

Within an active session, a new window may be created by typing ‘C-b’ (ctrl-b, known as the prefix key) followed by the ‘c’ key.

Windows may be navigated with: ‘C-b 0’ (to select window 0), ‘C-b 1’ (to select window 1), and so on; ‘C-b n’ to select the next window; and ‘C-b p’ to select the previous window.

A session may be detached using ‘C-b d’ and reattached with:

$ tmux attach-session

Typing ‘C-b ?’ lists the current key bindings in the current window; up and down may be used to navigate the list or ‘Q’ to exit from it.

tmux may be controlled from an attached client by using a key combination of a prefix key, ‘C-b’ (ctrl-b) by default, followed by a command key.

Some of the default key bindings include:

‘d’
Detach current client.
‘c’
Create new window.
‘n’
Change to next window in the current session.
‘p’
Change to previous window in the current session.
‘l’
Move to last (previously selected) window in the current session.
‘?’
List current key bindings.

A complete list may be obtained with the list-keys command (bound to ‘?’ by default). Key bindings may be changed with the bind-key and unbind-key commands.

tmux maintains a configurable history buffer for each window. By default, up to 2000 lines are kept, this can be altered with the history-limit option (see the set-option command below).

A tmux window may be in one of several modes. The default permits direct access to the terminal attached to the window. The others are:
output mode
This is entered when a command which produces output, such as list-keys, is executed from a key binding. The ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘page-up’ and ‘page-down’ keys or vi(1) style ‘j’ and ‘k’ keys may be used to scroll the output up and down. The ‘q’ key will exit output mode.
scroll mode
This is entered with the scroll-mode command (bound to ‘=’ by default) and permits the window history buffer to be inspected. In addition to the commands supported by output mode, the left and right arrow keys, or ‘h’ and ‘l’, will scroll left and right. ‘C-u’ and ‘C-f’ may be used to scroll up and down by one screen.
copy mode
This permits a section of a window or its history to be copied to a paste buffer for later insertion into another window. The navigation keys move the cursor around the window, scrolling as necessary. In addition, ‘C-a’ and ‘C-e’ (or the vi(1) style ‘0’ and ‘$’ keys) move to the start and end of the line; ‘M-f’ or ‘w’ moves the cursor forward one word; ‘M-b’ or ‘b’ moves the cursor backward one word; the space key begins a selection; and the enter key or ‘C-w’ creates a new paste buffer from the selection and exits copy mode.

This mode is entered with the copy-mode command, bound to [‘’ by default.

tmux maintains a stack of paste buffers for each session. Up to the value of the buffer-limit option are kept; when a new buffer is added, the buffer at the bottom of the stack is removed. Buffers may be added using copy-mode or the set-buffer command, and pasted into a window using the paste-buffer command.

This section contains a list of the commands supported by tmux. Most commands accept the optional -t argument with one of target-client, target-session or target-window. These specify the client, session or window which a command should affect. target-client is the name of the pty(4) file to which the client is connected, for example /dev/ttyp1. Clients may be listed with the list-clients command.

target-session is either the name of a session (as listed by the list-sessions command); or the name of a client as for target-client, in this case, the session attached to the client is used. An fnmatch(3) pattern may be used to match the session name. If a session is omitted when required, tmux attempts to use the current session; if no current session is available, the most recently created is chosen. If no client is specified, the current client is chosen, if possible, or an error is reported.

target-window specifies a window in the form session:index, for example mysession:1. The session is in the same form as for target-session. session, index or both may be omitted. If session is omitted, the same rules as for target-session are followed; if index is not present, the current window for the given session is used. When the argument does not contain a colon (:), tmux first attempts to parse it as window index; if that fails, an attempt is made to match a session or client name.

Examples include:

refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2

rename-session -tfirst newname

set-window-option -t:0 monitor-activity on

The following commands are available:

[-d] [-t target-session]
(alias: attach)
Create a new client in the current terminal and attach it to a session. If -d is specified, any other clients attached to the session are detached.
key command [arguments]
(alias: bind)
Bind key key to command. Keys may be specified prefixed with ‘C-’ or ‘^’ for ctrl keys, or ‘M-’ for alt (meta) keys.
[-t target-client]
Open the command prompt in a client. This may be used from inside tmux to execute commands interactively.
[-t target-window]
Enter copy mode.
[-b buffer-index] [-t target-session]
(alias: deleteb)
Delete the buffer at buffer-index, or the top buffer if not specified.
[-t target-client]
(alias: detach)
Detach the current client if bound to a key, or the specified client with -t.
[-t target-session]
(alias: has)
Report an error and exit with 1 if the specified session does not exist. If it does exist, exit with 0.
Kill the tmux server and clients and destroy all sessions.
[-t target-session]
Destroy the given session, closing any windows linked to it and no other sessions, and detaching all clients attached to it.
[-t target-window]
(alias: killw)
Kill the current window or the window at target-window, removing it from any sessions to which it is linked.
[-t target-session]
(alias: last)
Select the last (previously selected) window. If no target-session is specified, select the last window of the current session.
[-dk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: linkw)
Link the window at src-window to the specified dst-window. If dst-window is specified and no such window exists, the src-window is linked there. If -k is given and dst-window exists, it is killed, otherwise an error is generated. If -d is given, the newly linked window is not selected.
[-t target-session]
(alias: lsb)
List the buffers in the given session.
(alias: lsc)
List all clients attached to the server.
(alias: lscm)
List the syntax of all commands supported by tmux.
(alias: lsk)
List all key bindings.
(alias: ls)
List all sessions managed by the server.
[-t target-session]
(alias: lsw)
List windows in the current session or in target-session.
[-d] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: movew)
This is similar to link-window, except the window at src-window is moved to dst-window.
[-d] [-n window-name] [-s session-name] [command]
(alias: new)
Create a new session with name session-name. The new session is attached to the current terminal unless -d is given. window-name and command are the name of and command to execute in the initial window.
[-d] [-n window-name] [-t target-window] [command]
(alias: neww)
Create a new window. If -d is given, the session does not make the new window the current window. target-window represents the window to be created. command is the command to execute. If command is not specified, the default command is used.

The TERM environment variable must be set to “screen” for all programs running inside tmux. New windows will automatically have “TERM=screen” added to their environment, but care must be taken not to reset this in shell start-up files.

[-t target-session]
(alias: next)
Move to the next window in the session.
[-d] [-b buffer-index] [-t target-window]
(alias: pasteb)
Insert the contents of a paste buffer into the current window.
[-t target-session]
(alias: prev)
Move to the previous window in the session.
[-t target-client]
(alias: refresh)
Refresh the current client if bound to a key, or a single client if one is given with -t.
[-t target-session] new-name
(alias: rename)
Rename the session to new-name.
[-t target-window] new-name
(alias: renamew)
Rename the current window, or the window at target-window if specifed, to new-name.
[-k] [-t target-window] [command]
(alias: respawnw)
Reactive a window in which the command has exited (see the remain-in-exit windowoption). If command is not given, the command used when the window was created is executed. The window must be already inactive, unless -k is given, in which case any existing command is killed.
[-t target-window]
Enter scroll mode.
[-t target-client]
Open a prompt inside target-client allowing a window index to be entered interactively.
[-t target-window]
(alias: selectw)
Select the window at target-window.
[-t target-window] key ...
Send a key or keys to a window. Each argument key is the name of the key (such as ‘C-a’ or ‘npage’ ) to send; if the string is not recognised as a key, it is sent as a series of characters. All arguments are sent sequentially from first to last.
[-t target-window]
Send the prefix key to a window as if it was pressed.
[-b buffer-index] [-t target-session] data
(alias: setb)
Set the contents of the specified buffer to data.
[-t target-session] option value
(alias: set)
Set an option. If target-session is specified, the option is set for that session; otherwise, the global option is set. A global option is used by all sessions which lack an option overriding it. Possible options are:
[any | none | current]
Set action on window bell. any means a bell in any window linked to a session causes a bell in the current window of that session, none means all bells are ignored and current means only bell in windows other than the current window are ignored.
command
Sets the command used for new windows (if not specified when the window is created) to command. The default is “exec $SHELL”.
number
Set the number of buffers kept for each session; as new buffers are added to the top of the stack, old ones are removed from the bottom if necessary to maintain this maximum length.
lines
Set the maximum number of lines held in window history. This setting applies only to new windows - existing window histories are not resized and retain the limit at the point they were created.
[vi | emacs]
Use vi(1) - or emacs(1) - style key bindings in scroll and copy modes. Key bindings default to emacs.
key
Set the current prefix key.
[on | off]
If this option is on, newly created windows have their remain-on-exit flag set.
[on | off]
Attempt to set the window title using the \e]2;...\007 xterm code and the terminal appears to be an xterm. This option is enabled by default. Note that elinks(1) will only attempt to set the window title if the STY environment variable is set.
[on | off]
Show or hide the status line.
colour
Set status line background colour, where colour is one of: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white or default.
colour
Set status line foreground colour.
interval
Update the status bar every interval seconds. By default, updates will occur every 15 seconds.
string
Display string to the left of the status bar. string will be passed through strftime(3) before being displayed. By default, this setting is empty.
string
Display string to the right of the status bar. By default, the date and time will be shown. As with status-left, string will be passed to strftime(3).
[-t target-window] option value
(alias: setw)
Set a window-specific option. Supported options are:
[on | off]
Aggressively resize the chosen window. This means that tmux will resize the window to the size of the smallest session for which it is the current window, rather than the smallest session to which it is attached. The window may resize when the current window is changed on another sessions; this option is good for full-screen programs which support SIGWINCH and poor for interactive programs such as shells.
[on | off]
Monitor for activity in the window. Windows with activity are highlighted in the status line.
width
 
height
Prevent tmux from resizing a window to greater than width or height. A value of zero restores the default unlimited setting.
[on | off]
A window with this flag set is not destroyed when the program running in it exits. The window may be reactivated with the respawn-window command.
[-b buffer-index] [-t target-session]
(alias: showb)
Display the contents of the specified buffer.
[-t target-session] option value
(alias: show)
Show the currently set options. If a target-session is specified, the options for that session are shown; otherwise, the global options are listed.
[-t target-window] option value
(alias: showw)
List the current options for the given window.
Start the tmux server, if not already running, without creating any sessions.
[-d] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: swapw)
This is similar to link-window, except the source and destination windows are swapped. It is an error if no window exists at src-window.
[-c target-client -t target-session]
(alias: switchc)
Switch the current session for client target-client to target-session.
key
(alias: unbind)
Unbind the key bound to key.
[-t target-window]
(alias: unlinkw)
Unlink target-window. A window may be unlinked only if it is linked to multiple sessions - windows may not be linked to no sessions.

~/.tmux.conf
default tmux configuration file

pty(4)

Nicholas Marriott ⟨nicm@users.sourceforge.net⟩
June 30, 2008 BSD