| TMUX(1) | General Commands Manual | TMUX(1) |
tmux —
tmux |
[-28lCquvV]
[-c shell-command]
[-f file]
[-L socket-name]
[-S socket-path]
[command [flags]] |
tmux is a terminal multiplexer: it enables a number of
terminals to be created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen.
tmux may be detached from a screen and continue
running in the background, then later reattached.
When tmux is started it creates a new
session with a single window and
displays it on screen. A status line at the bottom of the screen shows
information on the current session and is used to enter interactive
commands.
A session is a single collection of pseudo
terminals under the management of tmux. Each
session has one or more windows linked to it. A window occupies the entire
screen and may be split into rectangular panes, each of which is a separate
pseudo terminal (the pty(4) manual page documents the
technical details of pseudo terminals). Any number of
tmux instances may connect to the same session, and
any number of windows may be present in the same session. Once all sessions
are killed, tmux exits.
Each session is persistent and will survive accidental
disconnection (such as ssh(1) connection timeout) or
intentional detaching (with the ‘C-b
d’ key strokes). tmux may be
reattached using:
$ tmux attachIn tmux, a session is displayed on screen
by a client and all sessions are managed by a single
server. The server and each client are separate processes
which communicate through a socket in /tmp.
The options are as follows:
-2tmux to assume the terminal supports 256
colours.-C-CC) disables
echo.-c
shell-commandtmux server will be started to
retrieve the default-shell option. This option is
for compatibility with sh(1) when
tmux is used as a login shell.-f
filetmux loads the system configuration file from
/etc/tmux.conf, if present, then looks for a user
configuration file at ~/.tmux.conf.
The configuration file is a set of
tmux commands which are executed in sequence
when the server is first started. tmux loads
configuration files once when the server process has started. The
source-file command may be used to load a file
later.
tmux shows any error messages from
commands in configuration files in the first session created, and
continues to process the rest of the configuration file.
-L
socket-nametmux stores the server socket in a directory under
TMUX_TMPDIR, TMPDIR if it
is unset, or /tmp if both are unset. The default
socket is named default. This option allows a different
socket name to be specified, allowing several independent
tmux servers to be run. Unlike
-S a full path is not necessary: the sockets are
all created in the same directory.
If the socket is accidentally removed, the
SIGUSR1 signal may be sent to the
tmux server process to recreate it.
-l-qquiet server option to prevent the server
sending various informational messages.-S
socket-path-S is specified, the default socket directory is
not used and any -L flag is ignored.-utmux attempts to guess if the terminal is likely
to support UTF-8 by checking the first of the
LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE and
LANG environment variables to be set for the
string "UTF-8". This is not always correct: the
-u flag explicitly informs
tmux that UTF-8 is supported.
If the server is started from a client passed
-u or where UTF-8 is detected, the
utf8 and status-utf8
options are enabled in the global window and session options
respectively.
-v-Vtmux version.tmux, as described in the following sections. If
no commands are specified, the new-session command
is assumed.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.
The default command key bindings are:
tmux client.tmux command prompt.tmux, if any.Key bindings may be changed with the
bind-key and unbind-key
commands.
tmux. Most commands accept the optional
-t argument with one of
target-client, target-session
target-window, or target-pane.
These specify the client, session, window or pane which a command should
affect. target-client is the name of the
pty(4) file to which the client is connected, for example
either of /dev/ttyp1 or ttyp1
for the client attached to /dev/ttyp1. If no client is
specified, the current client is chosen, if possible, or an error is reported.
Clients may be listed with the list-clients command.
target-session is the session id prefixed
with a $, the name of a session (as listed by the
list-sessions command), or the name of a client with
the same syntax as target-client, in which case the
session attached to the client is used. When looking for the session name,
tmux initially searches for an exact match; if none
is found, the session names are checked for any for which
target-session is a prefix or for which it matches as
an fnmatch(3) pattern. If a single match is found, it is
used as the target session; multiple matches produce an error. If a session
is omitted, the current session is used if available; if no current session
is available, the most recently used is chosen.
target-window specifies a window in the form
session:window.
session follows the same rules as for
target-session, and window is looked
for in order: as a window index, for example mysession:1; as a window ID,
such as @1; as an exact window name, such as mysession:mywindow; then as an
fnmatch(3) pattern or the start of a window name, such as
mysession:mywin* or mysession:mywin. An empty window name specifies the next
unused index if appropriate (for example the
new-window and link-window
commands) otherwise the current window in session is
chosen. The special character ‘!’ uses
the last (previously current) window,
‘^’ selects the highest numbered
window, ‘$’ selects the lowest
numbered window, and ‘+’ and
‘-’ select the next window or the
previous window by number. When the argument does not contain a colon,
tmux first attempts to parse it as window; if that
fails, an attempt is made to match a session.
target-pane takes a similar form to
target-window but with the optional addition of a
period followed by a pane index, for example: mysession:mywindow.1. If the
pane index is omitted, the currently active pane in the specified window is
used. If neither a colon nor period appears, tmux
first attempts to use the argument as a pane index; if that fails, it is
looked up as for target-window. A
‘+’ or
‘-’ indicate the next or previous pane
index, respectively. One of the strings top,
bottom, left, right,
top-left, top-right,
bottom-left or bottom-right may be used
instead of a pane index.
The special characters ‘+’
and ‘-’ may be followed by an offset,
for example:
select-window -t:+2
When dealing with a session that doesn't contain sequential window indexes, they will be correctly skipped.
tmux also gives each pane created in a
server an identifier consisting of a
‘%’ and a number, starting from zero.
A pane's identifier is unique for the life of the
tmux server and is passed to the child process of
the pane in the TMUX_PANE environment variable. It
may be used alone to target a pane or the window containing it.
shell-command arguments are sh(1) commands. These must be passed as a single item, which typically means quoting them, for example:
new-window 'vi /etc/passwd'
command [arguments]
refers to a tmux command, passed with the command
and arguments separately, for example:
bind-key F1 set-window-option force-width 81
Or if using sh(1):
$ tmux bind-key F1 set-window-option force-width 81
Multiple commands may be specified together as part of a
command sequence. Each command should be separated by
spaces and a semicolon; commands are executed sequentially from left to
right and lines ending with a backslash continue on to the next line, except
when escaped by another backslash. A literal semicolon may be included by
escaping it with a backslash (for example, when specifying a command
sequence to bind-key).
Example tmux commands include:
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2 rename-session -tfirst newname set-window-option -t:0 monitor-activity on new-window ; split-window -d bind-key R source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; \ display-message "source-file done"
Or from sh(1):
$ tmux kill-window -t :1 $ tmux new-window \; split-window -d $ tmux new-session -d 'vi /etc/passwd' \; split-window -d \; attach
tmux server manages clients, sessions, windows and
panes. Clients are attached to sessions to interact with them, either when
they are created with the new-session command, or
later with the attach-session command. Each session
has one or more windows linked into it. Windows may be
linked to multiple sessions and are made up of one or more panes, each of
which contains a pseudo terminal. Commands for creating, linking and otherwise
manipulating windows are covered in the
WINDOWS AND PANES section.
The following commands are available to manage clients and sessions:
attach-session
[-dr] [-t
target-session]attach)tmux, create a new client in the
current terminal and attach it to target-session. If
used from inside, switch the current client. If -d
is specified, any other clients attached to the session are detached.
-r signifies the client is read-only (only keys
bound to the detach-client or
switch-client commands have any effect)
If no server is started,
attach-session will attempt to start it; this
will fail unless sessions are created in the configuration file.
The target-session rules for
attach-session are slightly adjusted: if
tmux needs to select the most recently used
session, it will prefer the most recently used
unattached session.
detach-client
[-P] [-a]
[-s target-session]
[-t target-client]detach)-t, or all clients currently attached to the
session specified by -s. The
-a option kills all but the client given with
-t. If -P is given, send
SIGHUP to the parent process of the client, typically causing it to
exit.has-session
[-t target-session]has)kill-servertmux server and clients and destroy all
sessions.kill-session-a] [-t
target-session] Destroy the given session, closing
any windows linked to it and no other sessions, and detaching all clients
attached to it. If -a is given, all sessions but
the specified one is killed.list-clients
[-F format]
[-t target-session]lsc)-F flag, see the
FORMATS section. If
target-session is specified, list only clients
connected to that session.list-commandslscm)tmux.list-sessions
[-F format]ls)-F flag, see the
FORMATS section.lock-client
[-t target-client]lockc)lock-server command.lock-session
[-t target-session]locks)new-session
[-AdDP] [-F
format] [-n
window-name] [-s
session-name] [-t
target-session] [-x
width] [-y
height] [shell-command]new)The new session is attached to the current terminal unless
-d is given. window-name
and shell-command are the name of and shell
command to execute in the initial window. If -d
is used, -x and -y
specify the size of the initial window (80 by 24 if not given).
If run from a terminal, any termios(4) special characters are saved and used for new windows in the new session.
The -A flag makes
new-session behave like
attach-session if
session-name already exists; in the case,
-D behaves like -d to
attach-session.
If -t is given, the new session is
grouped with target-session.
This means they share the same set of windows - all windows from
target-session are linked to the new session and
any subsequent new windows or windows being closed are applied to both
sessions. The current and previous window and any session options remain
independent and either session may be killed without affecting the
other. Giving -n or
shell-command are invalid if
-t is used.
The -P option prints information about
the new session after it has been created. By default, it uses the
format ‘#{session_name}:’ but a
different format may be specified with -F.
refresh-client
[-S] [-t
target-client]refresh)-t. If -S is
specified, only update the client's status bar.rename-session
[-t target-session]
new-namerename)show-messages
[-t target-client]showmsgs)source-file
pathsource)start-serverstart)tmux server, if not already running,
without creating any sessions.suspend-client
[-t target-client]suspendc)SIGTSTP (tty stop).switch-client
[-lnpr] [-c
target-client] [-t
target-session]switchc)-l,
-n or -p is used, the
client is moved to the last, next or previous session respectively.
-r toggles whether a client is read-only (see the
attach-session command).tmux window may be in one of several modes. The
default permits direct access to the terminal attached to the window. The
other is copy mode, which permits a section of a window or its history to be
copied to a paste buffer for later insertion into another
window. This mode is entered with the copy-mode
command, bound to ‘[’ by default. It is
also entered when a command that produces output, such as
list-keys, is executed from a key binding.
The keys available depend on whether emacs or vi mode is selected
(see the mode-keys option). The following keys are
supported as appropriate for the mode:
| Function | vi | emacs |
Back
to indentation |
^ | M-m |
Bottom
of history |
G | M-< |
Clear
selection |
Escape | C-g |
Copy
selection |
Enter | M-w |
Cursor
down |
j | Down |
Cursor
left |
h | Left |
Cursor
right |
l | Right |
Cursor
to bottom line |
L | |
Cursor
to middle line |
M | M-r |
Cursor
to top line |
H | M-R |
Cursor
up |
k | Up |
Delete
entire line |
d | C-u |
Delete/Copy
to end of line |
D | C-k |
End
of line |
$ | C-e |
Go
to line |
: | g |
Half
page down |
C-d | M-Down |
Half
page up |
C-u | M-Up |
Jump
forward |
f | f |
Jump
to forward |
t | |
Jump
backward |
F | F |
Jump
to backward |
T | |
Jump
again |
; | ; |
Jump
again in reverse |
, | , |
Next
page |
C-f | Page down |
Next
space |
W | |
Next
space, end of word |
E | |
Next
word |
w | |
Next
word end |
e | M-f |
Paste
buffer |
p | C-y |
Previous
page |
C-b | Page up |
Previous
word |
b | M-b |
Previous
space |
B | |
Quit
mode |
q | Escape |
Rectangle
toggle |
v | R |
Scroll
down |
C-Down or C-e | C-Down |
Scroll
up |
C-Up or C-y | C-Up |
Search
again |
n | n |
Search
again in reverse |
N | N |
Search
backward |
? | C-r |
Search
forward |
/ | C-s |
Start
of line |
0 | C-a |
Start
selection |
Space | C-Space |
Top
of history |
g | M-> |
Transpose
characters |
C-t |
The next and previous word keys use space and the
‘-’,
‘_’ and
‘@’ characters as word delimiters by
default, but this can be adjusted by setting the
word-separators session option. Next word moves to the
start of the next word, next word end to the end of the next word and
previous word to the start of the previous word. The three next and previous
space keys work similarly but use a space alone as the word separator.
The jump commands enable quick movement within a line. For
instance, typing ‘f’ followed by
‘/’ will move the cursor to the next
‘/’ character on the current line. A
‘;’ will then jump to the next
occurrence.
Commands in copy mode may be prefaced by an optional repeat count.
With vi key bindings, a prefix is entered using the number keys; with emacs,
the Alt (meta) key and a number begins prefix entry. For example, to move
the cursor forward by ten words, use ‘M-1 0
M-f’ in emacs mode, and
‘10w’ in vi.
When copying the selection, the repeat count indicates the buffer index to replace, if used.
Mode key bindings are defined in a set of named tables:
vi-edit and emacs-edit for keys used
when line editing at the command prompt; vi-choice and
emacs-choice for keys used when choosing from lists (such
as produced by the choose-window command); and
vi-copy and emacs-copy used in copy
mode. The tables may be viewed with the list-keys
command and keys modified or removed with bind-key
and unbind-key. One command accepts an argument,
copy-pipe, which copies the selection and pipes it
to a command. For example the following will bind
‘C-q’ to copy the selection into
/tmp as well as the paste buffer:
bind-key -temacs-copy C-q copy-pipe "cat >/tmp/out"
The paste buffer key pastes the first line from the top paste buffer on the stack.
The synopsis for the copy-mode command
is:
copy-mode
[-u] [-t
target-pane]-u option scrolls one page
up.Each window displayed by tmux may be split
into one or more panes; each pane takes up a certain area
of the display and is a separate terminal. A window may be split into panes
using the split-window command. Windows may be split
horizontally (with the -h flag) or vertically. Panes
may be resized with the resize-pane command (bound
to ‘C-up’,
‘C-down’
‘C-left’ and
‘C-right’ by default), the current
pane may be changed with the select-pane command and
the rotate-window and
swap-pane commands may be used to swap panes without
changing their position. Panes are numbered beginning from zero in the order
they are created.
A number of preset layouts are available. These
may be selected with the select-layout command or
cycled with next-layout (bound to
‘Space’ by default); once a layout is
chosen, panes within it may be moved and resized as normal.
The following layouts are supported:
even-horizontaleven-verticalmain-horizontalmain-verticalmain-horizontal but the large pane is
placed on the left and the others spread from top to bottom along the
right. See the main-pane-width window option.tiledIn addition, select-layout may be used to
apply a previously used layout - the list-windows
command displays the layout of each window in a form suitable for use with
select-layout. For example:
$ tmux list-windows
0: ksh [159x48]
layout: bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}
$ tmux select-layout bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}
tmux automatically adjusts the size of the
layout for the current window size. Note that a layout cannot be applied to
a window with more panes than that from which the layout was originally
defined.
Commands related to windows and panes are as follows:
break-pane
[-dP] [-F
format] [-t
target-pane]breakp)-d is
given, the new window does not become the current window. The
-P option prints information about the new window
after it has been created. By default, it uses the format
‘#{session_name}:#{window_index}’
but a different format may be specified with
-F.capture-pane
[-aepPq] [-b
buffer-index] [-E
end-line] [-S
start-line] [-t
target-pane]capturep)-p is given, the
output goes to stdout, otherwise to the buffer specified with
-b or a new buffer if omitted. If
-a is given, the alternate screen is used, and the
history is not accessible. If no alternate screen exists, an error will be
returned unless -q is given. If
-e is given, the output includes escape sequences
for text and background attributes. -C also
escapes non-printable characters as octal \xxx. -J
joins wrapped lines and preserves trailing spaces at each line's end.
-P captures only any output that the pane has
received that is the beginning of an as-yet incomplete escape sequence.
-S and -E
specify the starting and ending line numbers, zero is the first line of
the visible pane and negative numbers are lines in the history. The
default is to capture only the visible contents of the pane.
choose-client
[-F format]
[-t target-window]
[template]%%’ is replaced by the client
pty(4) path in template and the
result executed as a command. If template is not
given, "detach-client -t '%%'" is used. For the meaning of the
-F flag, see the
FORMATS section. This command works only
if at least one client is attached.choose-list
[-l items]
[-t target-window]
[template]%%’ is replaced by the chosen item
in the template and the result is executed as a
command. If template is not given, "run-shell
'%%'" is used. items also accepts format
specifiers. For the meaning of this see the
FORMATS section. This command works only
if at least one client is attached.choose-session
[-F format]
[-t target-window]
[template]%%’ is replaced by the session name
in template and the result executed as a command. If
template is not given, "switch-client -t
'%%'" is used. For the meaning of the -F
flag, see the FORMATS section. This
command works only if at least one client is attached.choose-tree
[-suw] [-b
session-template] [-c
window-template] [-S
format] [-W
format] [-t
target-window]Note that the choose-window and
choose-session commands are wrappers around
choose-tree.
If -s is given, will show sessions. If
-w is given, will show windows.
By default, the tree is collapsed and sessions must be
expanded to windows with the right arrow key. The
-u option will start with all sessions expanded
instead.
If -b is given, will override the
default session command. Note that
‘%%’ can be used and will be
replaced with the session name. The default option if not specified is
"switch-client -t '%%'". If -c is
given, will override the default window command. Like
-b, ‘%%’
can be used and will be replaced with the session name and window index.
When a window is chosen from the list, the session command is run before
the window command.
If -S is given will display the
specified format instead of the default session format. If
-W is given will display the specified format
instead of the default window format. For the meaning of the
-s and -w options, see
the FORMATS section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
choose-window
[-F format]
[-t target-window]
[template]%%’ is replaced by the session name
and window index in template and the result executed
as a command. If template is not given,
"select-window -t '%%'" is used. For the meaning of the
-F flag, see the
FORMATS section. This command works only
if at least one client is attached.display-panes
[-t target-client]displayp)display-panes-time,
display-panes-colour, and
display-panes-active-colour session options. While
the indicator is on screen, a pane may be selected with the
‘0’ to
‘9’ keys.find-window
[-CNT] [-F
format] [-t
target-window] match-stringfindw)-C matches only visible window contents,
-N matches only the window name and
-T matches only the window title. The default is
-CNT. If only one window is matched, it'll be
automatically selected, otherwise a choice list is shown. For the meaning
of the -F flag, see the
FORMATS section. This command works only
if at least one client is attached.join-pane
[-bdhv] [-l
size | -p
percentage] [-s
src-pane] [-t
dst-pane]joinp)split-window, but instead of splitting
dst-pane and creating a new pane, split it and move
src-pane into the space. This can be used to reverse
break-pane. The -b option
causes src-pane to be joined to left of or above
dst-pane.kill-pane
[-a] [-t
target-pane]killp)-a option kills all but the
pane given with -t.kill-window
[-a] [-t
target-window]killw)-a option kills all but
the window given with -t.last-pane
[-t target-window]lastp)last-window
[-t target-session]last)link-window
[-dk] [-s
src-window] [-t
dst-window]linkw)-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.list-panes
[-as] [-F
format] [-t
target]lsp)-a is given, target is
ignored and all panes on the server are listed. If
-s is given, target is a
session (or the current session). If neither is given,
target is a window (or the current window). For the
meaning of the -F flag, see the
FORMATS section.list-windows
[-a] [-F
format] [-t
target-session]lsw)-a is given, list all windows on the server.
Otherwise, list windows in the current session or in
target-session. For the meaning of the
-F flag, see the
FORMATS section.move-pane
[-bdhv] [-l
size | -p
percentage] [-s
src-pane] [-t
dst-pane]movep)join-pane, but src-pane
and dst-pane may belong to the same window.move-window
[-rdk] [-s
src-window] [-t
dst-window]movew)link-window, except the window at
src-window is moved to
dst-window. With -r, all
windows in the session are renumbered in sequential order, respecting the
base-index option.new-window
[-adkP] [-c
start-directory] [-F
format] [-n
window-name] [-t
target-window]
[shell-command]neww)-a, the new window is
inserted at the next index up from the specified
target-window, moving windows up if necessary,
otherwise target-window is the new window location.
If -d is given, the session does not
make the new window the current window.
target-window represents the window to be created;
if the target already exists an error is shown, unless the
-k flag is used, in which case it is destroyed.
shell-command is the command to execute. If
shell-command is not specified, the value of the
default-command option is used.
-c specifies the working directory in which the
new window is created. It may have an absolute path or one of the
following values (or a subdirectory):
Empty
string |
Current pane's directory |
~ |
User's home directory |
- |
Where session was started |
| . | Where server was started |
When the shell command completes, the window closes. See the
remain-on-exit option to change this
behaviour.
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.
The -P option prints information about
the new window after it has been created. By default, it uses the format
‘#{session_name}:#{window_index}’
but a different format may be specified with
-F.
next-layout
[-t target-window]nextl)next-window
[-a] [-t
target-session]next)-a is
used, move to the next window with an alert.pipe-pane
[-o] [-t
target-pane]
[shell-command]pipep)status-left option. If no
shell-command is given, the current pipe (if any) is
closed.
The -o option only opens a new pipe if
no previous pipe exists, allowing a pipe to be toggled with a single
key, for example:
bind-key C-p pipe-pane -o 'cat >>~/output.#I-#P'
previous-layout
[-t target-window]prevl)previous-window
[-a] [-t
target-session]prev)-a,
move to the previous window with an alert.rename-window
[-t target-window]
new-namerenamew)resize-pane
[-DLRUZ] [-t
target-pane] [-x
width] [-y
height] [adjustment]resizep)-U, -D,
-L or -R, or to an
absolute size with -x or
-y. The adjustment is given
in lines or cells (the default is 1).
With -Z, the active pane is toggled
between zoomed (occupying the whole of the window) and unzoomed (its
normal position in the layout).
respawn-pane
[-k] [-t
target-pane]
[shell-command]respawnp)remain-on-exit window option). If
shell-command is not given, the command used when
the pane was created is executed. The pane must be already inactive,
unless -k is given, in which case any existing
command is killed.respawn-window
[-k] [-t
target-window]
[shell-command]respawnw)remain-on-exit window option). If
shell-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.rotate-window
[-DU] [-t
target-window]rotatew)-U or downward
(numerically higher).select-layout
[-np] [-t
target-window]
[layout-name]selectl)-n and -p are equivalent
to the next-layout and
previous-layout commands.select-pane
[-lDLRU] [-t
target-pane]selectp)-D,
-L, -R, or
-U is used, respectively the pane below, to the
left, to the right, or above the target pane is used.
-l is the same as using the
last-pane command.select-window
[-lnpT] [-t
target-window]selectw)-l, -n and
-p are equivalent to the
last-window, next-window
and previous-window commands. If
-T is given and the selected window is already the
current window, the command behaves like
last-window.split-window
[-dhvP] [-c
start-directory] [-l
size | -p
percentage] [-t
target-pane] [shell-command]
[-F format]splitw)-h does a horizontal split and
-v a vertical split; if neither is specified,
-v is assumed. The -l and
-p options specify the size of the new pane in
lines (for vertical split) or in cells (for horizontal split), or as a
percentage, respectively. All other options have the same meaning as for
the new-window command.swap-pane
[-dDU] [-s
src-pane] [-t
dst-pane]swapp)-U is used and no source pane is
specified with -s, dst-pane
is swapped with the previous pane (before it numerically);
-D swaps with the next pane (after it
numerically). -d instructs
tmux not to change the active pane.swap-window
[-d] [-s
src-window] [-t
dst-window]swapw)link-window, except the source
and destination windows are swapped. It is an error if no window exists at
src-window.unlink-window
[-k] [-t
target-window]unlinkw)-k is given, a window may be unlinked only if it
is linked to multiple sessions - windows may not be linked to no sessions;
if -k is specified and the window is linked to
only one session, it is unlinked and destroyed.tmux allows a command to be bound to most keys, with or
without a prefix key. When specifying keys, most represent themselves (for
example ‘A’ to
‘Z’). Ctrl keys may be prefixed with
‘C-’ or
‘^’, and Alt (meta) with
‘M-’. In addition, the following special
key names are accepted: Up, Down,
Left, Right, BSpace,
BTab, DC (Delete), End,
Enter, Escape, F1 to
F20, Home, IC (Insert),
NPage/PageDown/PgDn, PPage/PageUp/PgUp,
Space, and Tab. Note that to bind the
‘"’ or
‘'’ keys, quotation marks are necessary,
for example:
bind-key '"' split-window bind-key "'" new-window
Commands related to key bindings are as follows:
bind-key
[-cnr] [-t
key-table] key
command [arguments]bind)-t) the primary key bindings are
modified (those normally activated with the prefix key); in this case, if
-n is specified, it is not necessary to use the
prefix key, command is bound to
key alone. The -r flag
indicates this key may repeat, see the repeat-time
option.
If -t is present,
key is bound in key-table:
the binding for command mode with -c or for
normal mode without. To view the default bindings and possible commands,
see the list-keys command.
list-keys
[-t key-table]lsk)-t the primary key
bindings - those executed when preceded by the prefix key - are printed.
With -t, the key bindings in
key-table are listed; this may be one of:
vi-edit, emacs-edit,
vi-choice, emacs-choice,
vi-copy or emacs-copy.
send-keys
[-lR] [-t
target-pane] key
...send)C-a’
or ‘npage’ ) to send; if the string
is not recognised as a key, it is sent as a series of characters. The
-l flag disables key name lookup and sends the
keys literally. All arguments are sent sequentially from first to last.
The -R flag causes the terminal state to be
reset.send-prefix
[-2] [-t
target-pane]-2 the secondary
prefix key, to a window as if it was pressed.unbind-key
[-acn] [-t
key-table] keyunbind)-t the primary key bindings are modified; in this
case, if -n is specified, the command bound to
key without a prefix (if any) is removed. If
-a is present, all key bindings are removed.
If -t is present,
key in key-table is unbound:
the binding for command mode with -c or for
normal mode without.
tmux may be modified by
changing the value of various options. There are three types of option:
server options, session options and
window options.
The tmux server has a set of global
options which do not apply to any particular window or session. These are
altered with the set-option
-s command, or displayed with the
show-options -s command.
In addition, each individual session may have a set of session
options, and there is a separate set of global session options. Sessions
which do not have a particular option configured inherit the value from the
global session options. Session options are set or unset with the
set-option command and may be listed with the
show-options command. The available server and
session options are listed under the set-option
command.
Similarly, a set of window options is attached to each window, and
there is a set of global window options from which any unset options are
inherited. Window options are altered with the
set-window-option command and can be listed with the
show-window-options command. All window options are
documented with the set-window-option command.
tmux also supports user options which are
prefixed with a ‘@’. User options may
have any name, so long as they are prefixed with
‘@’, and be set to any string. For
example
$ tmux setw -q @foo "abc123" $ tmux showw -v @foo abc123
Commands which set options are as follows:
set-option
[-agoqsuw] [-t
target-session | target-window]
option valueset)-w (equivalent to the
set-window-option command), a server option with
-s, otherwise a session option.
If -g is specified, the global session
or window option is set. With -a, and if the
option expects a string, value is appended to the
existing setting. The -u flag unsets an option,
so a session inherits the option from the global options. It is not
possible to unset a global option.
The -o flag prevents setting an option
that is already set.
The -q flag suppresses the
informational message (as if the quiet server
option was set).
Available window options are listed under
set-window-option.
value depends on the option and may be a number, a string, or a flag (on, off, or omitted to toggle).
Available server options are:
buffer-limit
numberescape-time
timetmux
waits after an escape is input to determine if it is part of a
function or meta key sequences. The default is 500 milliseconds.exit-unattached
[on | off]quiet
[on | off]-q command line flag).set-clipboard
[on | off]
disallowedWindowOps: 20,21,SetXprop
Or changing this property from the xterm(1) interactive menu when required.
Available session options are:
assume-paste-time
millisecondstmux key bindings
are not processed. The default is one millisecond and zero
disables.base-index
indexbell-action
[any | none |
current]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 bells in windows other
than the current window are ignored.bell-on-alert
[on | off]default-command
shell-commandtmux to create a login shell using
the value of the default-shell option.default-path
path-c flag to
new-window.default-shell
pathdefault-command option is set
to empty, and must be the full path of the executable. When started
tmux tries to set a default value from the
first suitable of the SHELL environment
variable, the shell returned by getpwuid(3), or
/bin/sh. This option should be configured when
tmux is used as a login shell.default-terminal
terminalTERM environment
variable. For tmux to work correctly, this
must be set to
‘screen’ or a derivative of
it.destroy-unattached
[on | off]detach-on-destroy
[on | off]display-panes-active-colour
colourdisplay-panes
command to show the indicator for the active pane.display-panes-colour
colourdisplay-panes
command to show the indicators for inactive panes.display-panes-time
timedisplay-panes command appear.display-time
timehistory-limit
lineslock-after-time
numberlock-session
command) after number seconds of inactivity, or
the entire server (all sessions) if the
lock-server option is set. The default is not
to lock (set to 0).lock-command
shell-command-np.lock-server
[on | off]on (the default), instead of
each session locking individually as each has been idle for
lock-after-time, the entire server will lock
after all sessions would have locked. This has no
effect as a session option; it must be set as a global option.message-attr
attributesnone or a comma-delimited list of one or more
of: bright (or bold),
dim, underscore,
blink, reverse,
hidden, or
italics.message-bg
colourblack,
red, green,
yellow, blue,
magenta, cyan,
white, aixterm bright variants (if supported:
brightred,
brightgreen, and so on),
colour0 to colour255
from the 256-colour set, default, or a
hexadecimal RGB string such as
‘#ffffff’, which chooses the
closest match from the default 256-colour set.message-command-attr
attributesmessage-command-bg
colourmessage-command-fg
colourmessage-fg
colourmessage-limit
numbermouse-resize-pane
[on | off]tmux captures the mouse and allows
panes to be resized by dragging on their borders.mouse-select-pane
[on | off]tmux captures the mouse and when a
window is split into multiple panes the mouse may be used to select
the current pane. The mouse click is also passed through to the
application as normal.mouse-select-window
[on | off]mouse-utf8
[on | off]pane-active-border-bg
colourpane-active-border-fg
colourpane-border-bg
colourpane-border-fg
colourprefix
keyprefix2
keyrenumber-windows
[on | off]base-index option if it has been set. If off,
do not renumber the windows.repeat-time
time-r flag to
bind-key. Repeat is enabled for the default
keys bound to the resize-pane command.set-remain-on-exit
[on | off]remain-on-exit window option for any
windows first created in this session. When this option is true,
windows in which the running program has exited do not close, instead
remaining open but inactivate. Use the
respawn-window command to reactivate such a
window, or the kill-window command to destroy
it.set-titles
[on | off]tmux automatically sets these to the
\e]2;...\007 sequence if the terminal appears to be an xterm. This
option is off by default. Note that elinks will only attempt to set
the window title if the STY environment variable is set.set-titles-string
stringset-titles is on. Character sequences are
replaced as for the status-left option.status
[on | off]status-attr
attributesstatus-bg
colourstatus-fg
colourstatus-interval
intervalstatus-justify
[left | centre |
right]status-keys
[vi | emacs]VISUAL or EDITOR
environment variables are set and contain the string
‘vi’.status-left
string| Character pair | Replaced with |
#(shell-command) |
First line of the command's output |
#[attributes] |
Colour or attribute change |
#H |
Hostname of local host |
#h |
Hostname of local host without the domain name |
#F |
Current window flag |
#I |
Current window index |
#D |
Current pane unique identifier |
#P |
Current pane index |
#S |
Session name |
#T |
Current pane title |
#W |
Current window name |
## |
A literal ‘#’ |
The #(shell-command) form executes
‘shell-command’ and inserts
the first line of its output. Note that shell commands are only
executed once at the interval specified by the
status-interval option: if the status line
is redrawn in the meantime, the previous result is used. Shell
commands are executed with the tmux global
environment set (see the
ENVIRONMENT section).
For details on how the names and titles can be set see the NAMES AND TITLES section.
#[attributes] allows a comma-separated list of attributes
to be specified, these may be
‘fg=colour’ to set the
foreground colour, ‘bg=colour’
to set the background colour, the name of one of the attributes
(listed under the message-attr option) to
turn an attribute on, or an attribute prefixed with
‘no’ to turn one off, for
example nobright. Examples are:
#(sysctl vm.loadavg)
#[fg=yellow,bold]#(apm -l)%%#[default] [#S]
Where appropriate, special character sequences may be
prefixed with a number to specify the maximum length, for example
‘#24T’.
By default, UTF-8 in string is not
interpreted, to enable UTF-8, use the
status-utf8 option.
status-left-attr
attributesstatus-left-bg
colourstatus-left-fg
colourstatus-left-length
lengthstatus-position
[top | bottom]status-right
stringstatus-left,
string will be passed to
strftime(3), character pairs are replaced, and UTF-8
is dependent on the status-utf8 option.status-right-attr
attributesstatus-right-bg
colourstatus-right-fg
colourstatus-right-length
lengthstatus-utf8
[on | off]tmux to treat top-bit-set characters
in the status-left and
status-right strings as UTF-8; notably, this
is important for wide characters. This option defaults to off.terminal-overrides
stringFor example, to set the
‘clear’
terminfo(5) entry to
‘\e[H\e[2J’ for all terminal
types and the ‘dch1’ entry to
‘\e[P’ for the
‘rxvt’ terminal type, the
option could be set to the string:
"*:clear=\e[H\e[2J,rxvt:dch1=\e[P"
The terminal entry value is passed through
strunvis(3) before interpretation. The default
value forcibly corrects the
‘colors’ entry for terminals
which support 88 or 256 colours:
"*88col*:colors=88,*256col*:colors=256,xterm*:XT"
update-environment
variables-r was given to the
set-environment command). The default is
"DISPLAY SSH_ASKPASS SSH_AUTH_SOCK SSH_AGENT_PID SSH_CONNECTION
WINDOWID XAUTHORITY".visual-activity
[on | off]monitor-activity window option
is enabled.visual-bell
[on | off]bell-action option.visual-content
[on | off]visual-activity, display a message when
content is present in a window for which the
monitor-content window option is enabled.visual-silence
[on | off]monitor-silence is enabled, prints a
message after the interval has expired on a given window.word-separators
string -_@’.set-window-option
[-agoqu] [-t
target-window] option
valuesetw)-a,
-g, -o,
-q and -u flags work
similarly to the set-option command.
Supported window options are:
aggressive-resize
[on | off]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.
allow-rename
[on | off]alternate-screen
[on | off]tmux may use the terminal alternate screen
feature, which allows the smcup and
rmcup terminfo(5) capabilities.
The alternate screen feature preserves the contents of the window when
an interactive application starts and restores it on exit, so that any
output visible before the application starts reappears unchanged after
it exits. The default is on.
automatic-rename
[on | off]tmux will attempt - on supported platforms -
to rename the window to reflect the command currently running in it.
This flag is automatically disabled for an individual window when a
name is specified at creation with new-window
or new-session, or later with
rename-window, or with a terminal escape
sequence. It may be switched off globally with:
set-window-option -g automatic-rename off
c0-change-interval
intervalc0-change-trigger
triggertmux sees more than
trigger C0 sequences that modify the screen (for
example, carriage returns, linefeeds or backspaces) in one
millisecond, it will stop updating the pane immediately and instead
redraw it entirely every interval milliseconds.
This helps to prevent fast output (such as yes(1)
overwhelming the terminal). The default is a trigger of 250 and an
interval of 100. A trigger of zero disables the rate limiting.
clock-mode-colour
colourclock-mode-style
[12 | 24]force-height
heightforce-width
widthtmux from resizing a window to greater
than width or height. A
value of zero restores the default unlimited setting.
main-pane-height
heightmain-pane-width
widthmain-horizontal or
main-vertical layouts.
mode-attr
attributesmode-bg
colourmode-fg
colourmode-keys
[vi | emacs]status-keys option, the default is emacs,
unless VISUAL or
EDITOR contains
‘vi’.
mode-mouse
[on | off |
copy-mode]monitor-activity
[on | off]monitor-content
match-stringmonitor-silence
[interval]interval seconds. Windows that have been
silent for the interval are highlighted in the status line. An
interval of zero disables the monitoring.
other-pane-height
heightmain-horizontal layout. If this option is set
to 0 (the default), it will have no effect. If both the
main-pane-height and
other-pane-height options are set, the main
pane will grow taller to make the other panes the specified height,
but will never shrink to do so.
other-pane-width
widthother-pane-height, but set the width of
other panes in the main-vertical layout.
pane-base-index
indexbase-index, but set the starting index
for pane numbers.
remain-on-exit
[on | off]respawn-window command.
synchronize-panes
[on | off]utf8
[on | off]tmux to expect UTF-8 sequences to
appear in this window.
window-status-bell-attr
attributeswindow-status-bell-bg
colourwindow-status-bell-fg
colourwindow-status-content-attr
attributeswindow-status-content-bg
colourwindow-status-content-fg
colourwindow-status-activity-attr
attributeswindow-status-activity-bg
colourwindow-status-activity-fg
colourwindow-status-attr
attributeswindow-status-bg
colourwindow-status-current-attr
attributeswindow-status-current-bg
colourwindow-status-current-fg
colourwindow-status-current-format
stringwindow-status-last-attr
attributeswindow-status-last-bg
colourwindow-status-last-fg
colourwindow-status-fg
colourwindow-status-format
string#I:#W#F’.
window-status-separator
stringxterm-keys
[on | off]tmux will generate
xterm(1) -style function key sequences; these have a
number included to indicate modifiers such as Shift, Alt or Ctrl. The
default is off.
wrap-search
[on | off]show-options
[-gqsvw] [-t
target-session | target-window]
[option]show)-w (equivalent to
show-window-options), the server options with
-s, otherwise the session options for
target session. Global session or window options are
listed if -g is used. -v
shows only the option value, not the name. If -q
is set, no error will be returned if option is
unset.show-window-options
[-gv] [-t
target-window] [option]showw)-g is used. -v shows only
the option value, not the name.-F flag with a
format argument. This is a string which controls the
output format of the command. Special character sequences are replaced as
documented under the status-left option and an
additional long form is accepted. Replacement variables are enclosed in
‘#{’ and
‘}’, for example
‘#{session_name}’ is equivalent to
‘#S’. Conditionals are also accepted by
prefixing with ‘?’ and separating two
alternatives with a comma; if the specified variable exists and is not zero,
the first alternative is chosen, otherwise the second is used. For example
‘#{?session_attached,attached,not
attached}’ will include the string
‘attached’ if the session is attached
and the string ‘not attached’ if it is
unattached.
The following variables are available, where appropriate:
| Variable name | Replaced with |
alternate_on |
If pane is in alternate screen |
alternate_saved_x |
Saved cursor X in alternate screen |
alternate_saved_y |
Saved cursor Y in alternate screen |
buffer_sample |
First 50 characters from the specified buffer |
buffer_size |
Size of the specified buffer in bytes |
client_activity |
Integer time client last had activity |
client_activity_string |
String time client last had activity |
client_created |
Integer time client created |
client_created_string |
String time client created |
client_cwd |
Working directory of client |
client_height |
Height of client |
client_last_session |
Name of the client's last session |
client_prefix |
1 if prefix key has been pressed |
client_readonly |
1 if client is readonly |
client_session |
Name of the client's session |
client_termname |
Terminal name of client |
client_tty |
Pseudo terminal of client |
client_utf8 |
1 if client supports utf8 |
client_width |
Width of client |
cursor_flag |
Pane cursor flag |
cursor_x |
Cursor X position in pane |
cursor_y |
Cursor Y position in pane |
history_bytes |
Number of bytes in window history |
history_limit |
Maximum window history lines |
history_size |
Size of history in bytes |
host |
Hostname of local host |
insert_flag |
Pane insert flag |
keypad_cursor_flag |
Pane keypad cursor flag |
keypad_flag |
Pane keypad flag |
line |
Line number in the list |
mouse_any_flag |
Pane mouse any flag |
mouse_button_flag |
Pane mouse button flag |
mouse_standard_flag |
Pane mouse standard flag |
mouse_utf8_flag |
Pane mouse UTF-8 flag |
pane_active |
1 if active pane |
pane_current_command |
Current command if available |
pane_current_path |
Current path if available |
pane_dead |
1 if pane is dead |
pane_height |
Height of pane |
pane_id |
Unique pane ID |
pane_in_mode |
If pane is in a mode |
pane_index |
Index of pane |
pane_pid |
PID of first process in pane |
pane_start_command |
Command pane started with |
pane_start_path |
Path pane started with |
pane_tabs |
Pane tab positions |
pane_title |
Title of pane |
pane_tty |
Pseudo terminal of pane |
pane_width |
Width of pane |
saved_cursor_x |
Saved cursor X in pane |
saved_cursor_y |
Saved cursor Y in pane |
scroll_region_lower |
Bottom of scroll region in pane |
scroll_region_upper |
Top of scroll region in pane |
session_attached |
1 if session attached |
session_created |
Integer time session created |
session_created_string |
String time session created |
session_group |
Number of session group |
session_grouped |
1 if session in a group |
session_height |
Height of session |
session_id |
Unique session ID |
session_name |
Name of session |
session_width |
Width of session |
session_windows |
Number of windows in session |
window_active |
1 if window active |
window_find_matches |
Matched data from the find-window command if available |
window_flags |
Window flags |
window_height |
Height of window |
window_id |
Unique window ID |
window_index |
Index of window |
window_layout |
Window layout description |
window_name |
Name of window |
window_panes |
Number of panes in window |
window_width |
Width of window |
wrap_flag |
Pane wrap flag |
tmux distinguishes between names and titles. Windows and
sessions have names, which may be used to specify them in targets and are
displayed in the status line and various lists: the name is the
tmux identifier for a window or session. Only panes
have titles. A pane's title is typically set by the program running inside the
pane and is not modified by tmux. It is the same
mechanism used to set for example the xterm(1) window title
in an X(7) window manager. Windows themselves do not have
titles - a window's title is the title of its active pane.
tmux itself may set the title of the terminal in which
the client is running, see the set-titles option.
A session's name is set with the
new-session and
rename-session commands. A window's name is set with
one of:
-n for
new-window or
new-session).
$ printf '\033kWINDOW_NAME\033\\'
automatic-rename
option.When a pane is first created, its title is the hostname. A pane's title can be set via the OSC title setting sequence, for example:
$ printf '\033]2;My Title\033\\'
tmux copies the environment
into the global environment; in addition, each session has a
session environment. When a window is created, the session
and global environments are merged. If a variable exists in both, the value
from the session environment is used. The result is the initial environment
passed to the new process.
The update-environment session option may
be used to update the session environment from the client when a new session
is created or an old reattached. tmux also
initialises the TMUX variable with some internal
information to allow commands to be executed from inside, and the
TERM variable with the correct terminal setting of
‘screen’.
Commands to alter and view the environment are:
set-environment
[-gru] [-t
target-session] name
[value]setenv)-g is used,
the change is made in the global environment; otherwise, it is applied to
the session environment for target-session. The
-u flag unsets a variable.
-r indicates the variable is to be removed from
the environment before starting a new process.show-environment
[-g] [-t
target-session] [variable]showenv)-g. If
variable is omitted, all variables are shown.
Variables removed from the environment are prefixed with
‘-’.tmux includes an optional status line which is displayed
in the bottom line of each terminal. By default, the status line is enabled
(it may be disabled with the status session option)
and contains, from left-to-right: the name of the current session in square
brackets; the window list; the title of the active pane in double quotes; and
the time and date.
The status line is made of three parts: configurable left and
right sections (which may contain dynamic content such as the time or output
from a shell command, see the status-left,
status-left-length,
status-right, and
status-right-length options below), and a central
window list. By default, the window list shows the index, name and (if any)
flag of the windows present in the current session in ascending numerical
order. It may be customised with the
window-status-format and
window-status-current-format options. The flag is one
of the following symbols appended to the window name:
| Symbol | Meaning |
* |
Denotes the current window. |
- |
Marks the last window (previously selected). |
# |
Window is monitored and activity has been detected. |
| ! | A bell has occurred in the window. |
+ |
Window is monitored for content and it has appeared. |
~ |
The window has been silent for the monitor-silence interval. |
Z |
The window's active pane is zoomed. |
The # symbol relates to the
monitor-activity and + to the
monitor-content window options. The window name is
printed in inverted colours if an alert (bell, activity or content) is
present.
The colour and attributes of the status line may be configured,
the entire status line using the status-attr,
status-fg and status-bg
session options and individual windows using the
window-status-attr,
window-status-fg and
window-status-bg window options.
The status line is automatically refreshed at interval if it has
changed, the interval may be controlled with the
status-interval session option.
Commands related to the status line are as follows:
command-prompt
[-I inputs]
[-p prompts]
[-t target-client]
[template]tmux to execute commands interactively.
If template is specified, it is used as
the command. If present, -I is a comma-separated
list of the initial text for each prompt. If -p
is given, prompts is a comma-separated list of
prompts which are displayed in order; otherwise a single prompt is
displayed, constructed from template if it is
present, or ‘:’ if not.
Both inputs and
prompts may contain the special character
sequences supported by the status-left
option.
Before the command is executed, the first occurrence of the
string ‘%%’ and all occurrences of
‘%1’ are replaced by the response
to the first prompt, the second
‘%%’ and all
‘%2’ are replaced with the
response to the second prompt, and so on for further prompts. Up to nine
prompt responses may be replaced
(‘%1’ to
‘%9’).
confirm-before
[-p prompt]
[-t target-client]
commandconfirm)-p is given, prompt is the
prompt to display; otherwise a prompt is constructed from
command. It may contain the special character
sequences supported by the status-left option.
This command works only from inside
tmux.
display-message
[-p] [-c
target-client] [-t
target-pane] [message]display)-p is given, the output is
printed to stdout, otherwise it is displayed in the
target-client status line. The format of
message is described in the
FORMATS section; information is taken
from target-pane if -t is
given, otherwise the active pane for the session attached to
target-client.tmux maintains a stack of paste
buffers. 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.
A configurable history buffer is also maintained 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 above).
The buffer commands are as follows:
choose-buffer
[-F format]
[-t target-window]
[template]%%’ is replaced by the buffer index
in template and the result executed as a command. If
template is not given, "paste-buffer -b
'%%'" is used. For the meaning of the -F
flag, see the FORMATS section. This
command works only if at least one client is attached.clear-history
[-t target-pane]clearhist)delete-buffer
[-b buffer-index]deleteb)list-buffers
[-F format]lsb)-F
flag, see the FORMATS section.load-buffer
[-b buffer-index]
pathloadb)paste-buffer
[-dpr] [-b
buffer-index] [-s
separator] [-t
target-pane]pasteb)-d,
also delete the paste buffer from the stack. When output, any linefeed
(LF) characters in the paste buffer are replaced with a separator, by
default carriage return (CR). A custom separator may be specified using
the -s flag. The -r flag
means to do no replacement (equivalent to a separator of LF). If
-p is specified, paste bracket control codes are
inserted around the buffer if the application has requested bracketed
paste mode.save-buffer
[-a] [-b
buffer-index] pathsaveb)-a option appends
to rather than overwriting the file.set-buffer
[-b buffer-index]
datasetb)show-buffer
[-b buffer-index]showb)clock-mode
[-t target-pane]if-shell
[-b] [-t
target-pane] shell-command
command [command]if)-b, shell-command is run in
the background.lock-serverlock)lock-command option.run-shell
-b [-t
target-pane] shell-commandrun)-b, the command is run in the
background. After it finishes, any output to stdout is displayed in copy
mode (in the pane specified by -t or the current
pane if omitted). If the command doesn't return success, the exit status
is also displayed.server-infoinfo)wait-for
-LSU channelwait)wait-for -S with the
same channel. When -L is used, the channel is
locked and any clients that try to lock the same channel are made to wait
until the channel is unlocked with wait-for
-U. This command only works from outside
tmux.tmux understands some extensions to
terminfo(5):
tmux:
$ printf '\033]12;red\033\\'
$ printf '\033[4 q'
If Csr is set, it will be used to reset the cursor style instead of Cs.
tmux to store the
current buffer in the host terminal's selection (clipboard). See the
set-clipboard option above and the
xterm(1) man page.tmux offers a textual interface called
control mode. This allows applications to communicate with
tmux using a simple text-only protocol.
In control mode, a client sends tmux
commands or command sequences terminated by newlines on standard input. Each
command will produce one block of output on standard output. An output block
consists of a %begin line followed by the output (which
may be empty). The output block ends with a %end or
%error. %begin and matching
%end or %error have two arguments: an
integer time (as seconds from epoch) and command number. For example:
%begin 1363006971 2 0: ksh* (1 panes) [80x24] [layout b25f,80x24,0,0,2] @2 (active) %end 1363006971 2
In control mode, tmux outputs
notifications. A notification will never occur inside an output block.
The following notifications are defined:
%exit
[reason]tmux client is exiting immediately, either
because it is not attached to any session or an error occurred. If
present, reason describes why the client
exited.%layout-change
window-id window-layout%output
pane-id value%session-changed
session-id name%session-renamed
name%sessions-changed%unlinked-window-add
window-id%window-add
window-id%window-close
window-id%window-renamed
window-id nametmux configuration file.tmux session running
vi(1):
$ tmux new-session viMost commands have a shorter form, known as an alias. For
new-session, this is new:
$ tmux new viAlternatively, 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 c’ (Ctrl followed by the
‘b’ 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’ (or by an external event such as ssh(1)
disconnection) and reattached with:
$ tmux attach-sessionTyping ‘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.
Commands to be run when the tmux server is
started may be placed in the ~/.tmux.conf
configuration file. Common examples include:
Changing the default prefix key:
set-option -g prefix C-a unbind-key C-b bind-key C-a send-prefix
Turning the status line off, or changing its colour:
set-option -g status off set-option -g status-bg blue
Setting other options, such as the default command, or locking after 30 minutes of inactivity:
set-option -g default-command "exec /bin/ksh" set-option -g lock-after-time 1800
Creating new key bindings:
bind-key b set-option status bind-key / command-prompt "split-window 'exec man %%'" bind-key S command-prompt "new-window -n %1 'ssh %1'"
| March 25, 2013 | BSD |