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TMUX(1) General Commands Manual TMUX(1) NAME tmux -- terminal multiplexer SYNOPSIS tmux [-2CluvV] [-c shell-command] [-f file] [-L socket-name] [-S socket-path] [command [flags]] DESCRIPTION tmux is a terminal multiplexer: it enables a number of terminals to be cre- ated, accessed, and controlled from a single screen. tmux may be detached from a screen and continue running in the background, then later reat- tached. When tmux is started it creates a new session with a single window and dis- plays it on screen. A status line at the bottom of the screen shows infor- mation 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 oc- cupies 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 attach In 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: -2 Force tmux to assume the terminal supports 256 colours. -C Start in control mode (see the "CONTROL MODE" section). Given twice (-CC) disables echo. -c shell-command Execute shell-command using the default shell. If necessary, the tmux 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 file Specify an alternative configuration file. By default, tmux loads the system configuration file from @SYSCONFDIR@/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-name tmux stores the server socket in a directory under TMUX_TMPDIR or /tmp if it is 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 (note that this will fail if any parent directories are missing). -l Behave as a login shell. This flag currently has no effect and is for compatibility with other shells when using tmux as a login shell. -S socket-path Specify a full alternative path to the server socket. If -S is specified, the default socket directory is not used and any -L flag is ignored. -u tmux 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. Note that tmux itself always accepts UTF-8; this controls whether it will send UTF-8 characters to the terminal it is running (if not, they are replaced by `_'). -v Request verbose logging. This option may be specified multi- ple 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. -V Report the tmux version. command [flags] This specifies one of a set of commands used to control tmux, as described in the following sections. If no commands are specified, the new-session command is assumed. KEY BINDINGS 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: C-b Send the prefix key (C-b) through to the application. C-o Rotate the panes in the current window forwards. C-z Suspend the tmux client. ! Break the current pane out of the window. " Split the current pane into two, top and bottom. # List all paste buffers. $ Rename the current session. % Split the current pane into two, left and right. & Kill the current window. ' Prompt for a window index to select. ( Switch the attached client to the previous session. ) Switch the attached client to the next session. , Rename the current window. - Delete the most recently copied buffer of text. . Prompt for an index to move the current window. 0 to 9 Select windows 0 to 9. : Enter the tmux command prompt. ; Move to the previously active pane. = Choose which buffer to paste interactively from a list. ? List all key bindings. D Choose a client to detach. L Switch the attached client back to the last session. [ Enter copy mode to copy text or view the history. ] Paste the most recently copied buffer of text. c Create a new window. d Detach the current client. f Prompt to search for text in open windows. i Display some information about the current window. l Move to the previously selected window. n Change to the next window. o Select the next pane in the current window. p Change to the previous window. q Briefly display pane indexes. r Force redraw of the attached client. m Mark the current pane (see select-pane -m). M Clear the marked pane. s Select a new session for the attached client interac- tively. t Show the time. w Choose the current window interactively. x Kill the current pane. z Toggle zoom state of the current pane. { Swap the current pane with the previous pane. } Swap the current pane with the next pane. ~ Show previous messages from tmux, if any. Page Up Enter copy mode and scroll one page up. Up, Down Left, Right Change to the pane above, below, to the left, or to the right of the current pane. M-1 to M-5 Arrange panes in one of the five preset layouts: even- horizontal, even-vertical, main-horizontal, main-verti- cal, or tiled. Space Arrange the current window in the next preset layout. M-n Move to the next window with a bell or activity marker. M-o Rotate the panes in the current window backwards. M-p Move to the previous window with a bell or activity marker. C-Up, C-Down C-Left, C-Right Resize the current pane in steps of one cell. M-Up, M-Down M-Left, M-Right Resize the current pane in steps of five cells. Key bindings may be changed with the bind-key and unbind-key commands. COMMANDS This section contains a list of the commands supported by tmux. Most com- mands accept the optional -t (and sometimes -s) 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 con- nected, for example either of /dev/ttyp1 or ttyp1 for the client attached to /dev/ttyp1. If no client is specified, tmux attempts to work out the client currently in use; if that fails, an error is reported. Clients may be listed with the list-clients command. target-session is tried as, in order: 1. A session ID prefixed with a $. 2. An exact name of a session (as listed by the list-sessions com- mand). 3. The start of a session name, for example `mysess' would match a session named `mysession'. 4. An fnmatch(3) pattern which is matched against the session name. If the session name is prefixed with an `=', only an exact match is ac- cepted (so `=mysess' will only match exactly `mysess', not `mysession'). If a single session 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 (or src-window or dst-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: 1. A special token, listed below. 2. A window index, for example `mysession:1' is window 1 in session `mysession'. 3. A window ID, such as @1. 4. An exact window name, such as `mysession:mywindow'. 5. The start of a window name, such as `mysession:mywin'. 6. As an fnmatch(3) pattern matched against the window name. Like sessions, a `=' prefix will do an exact match only. 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 following special tokens are available to indicate particular windows. Each has a single-character alternative form. Token Meaning {start} ^ The lowest-numbered window {end} $ The highest-numbered window {last} ! The last (previously current) window {next} + The next window by number {previous} - The previous window by number target-pane (or src-pane or dst-pane) may be a pane ID or takes a similar form to target-window but with the optional addition of a period followed by a pane index or pane ID, for example: `mysession:mywindow.1'. If the pane index is omitted, the currently active pane in the specified window is used. The following special tokens are available for the pane index: Token Meaning {last} ! The last (previously active) pane {next} + The next pane by number {previous} - The previous pane by number {top} The top pane {bottom} The bottom pane {left} The leftmost pane {right} The rightmost pane {top-left} The top-left pane {top-right} The top-right pane {bottom-left} The bottom-left pane {bottom-right} The bottom-right pane {up-of} The pane above the active pane {down-of} The pane below the active pane {left-of} The pane to the left of the active pane {right-of} The pane to the right of the active pane The tokens `+' and `-' may be followed by an offset, for example: select-window -t:+2 In addition, target-session, target-window or target-pane may consist en- tirely of the token `{mouse}' (alternative form `=') to specify the most recent mouse event (see the "MOUSE SUPPORT" section) or `{marked}' (alter- native form `~') to specify the marked pane (see select-pane -m). Sessions, window and panes are each numbered with a unique ID; session IDs are prefixed with a `$', windows with a `@', and panes with a `%'. These are unique and are unchanged for the life of the session, window or pane in the tmux server. The pane ID is passed to the child process of the pane in the TMUX_PANE environment variable. IDs may be displayed using the `session_id', `window_id', or `pane_id' formats (see the "FORMATS" section) and the display-message, list-sessions, list-windows or list-panes com- mands. shell-command arguments are sh(1) commands. This may be a single argument passed to the shell, for example: new-window 'vi /etc/passwd' Will run: /bin/sh -c 'vi /etc/passwd' Additionally, the new-window, new-session, split-window, respawn-window and respawn-pane commands allow shell-command to be given as multiple arguments and executed directly (without `sh -c'). This can avoid issues with shell quoting. For example: $ tmux new-window vi /etc/passwd Will run vi(1) directly without invoking the shell. 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 ex- ample, 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 CLIENTS AND SESSIONS The 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 [-dEr] [-c working-directory] [-t target-session] (alias: attach) If run from outside tmux, create a new client in the current termi- nal 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. -c will set the session working directory (used for new windows) to working-directory. If -E is used, the update-environment option will not be applied. detach-client [-aP] [-s target-session] [-t target-client] (alias: detach) Detach the current client if bound to a key, the client specified with -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, typi- cally causing it to exit. has-session [-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-server Kill the tmux server and clients and destroy all sessions. kill-session [-aC] [-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. The -C flag clears alerts (bell, activity, or silence) in all windows linked to the session. list-clients [-F format] [-t target-session] (alias: lsc) List all clients attached to the server. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the "FORMATS" section. If target-session is specified, list only clients connected to that session. list-commands [-F format] (alias: lscm) List the syntax of all commands supported by tmux. list-sessions [-F format] (alias: ls) List all sessions managed by the server. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the "FORMATS" section. lock-client [-t target-client] (alias: lockc) Lock target-client, see the lock-server command. lock-session [-t target-session] (alias: locks) Lock all clients attached to target-session. new-session [-AdDEP] [-c start-directory] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-s session-name] [-t target-session] [-x width] [-y height] [shell-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 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 this 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, any new windows are linked to both sessions and any windows closed removed from both sessions. The current and previous window and any session options remain independent and either session may be killed without affect- ing the other. -n and 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. If -E is used, the update-environment option will not be applied. refresh-client [-S] [-t target-client] (alias: refresh) Refresh the current client if bound to a key, or a single client if one is given with -t. If -S is specified, only update the client's status bar. rename-session [-t target-session] new-name (alias: rename) Rename the session to new-name. show-messages [-JT] [-t target-client] (alias: showmsgs) Show client messages or server information. Any messages displayed on the status line are saved in a per-client message log, up to a maximum of the limit set by the message-limit server option. With -t, display the log for target-client. -J and -T show debugging information about jobs and terminals. source-file [-q] path (alias: source) Execute commands from path. If -q is given, no error will be re- turned if path does not exist. start-server (alias: start) Start the tmux server, if not already running, without creating any sessions. suspend-client [-t target-client] (alias: suspendc) Suspend a client by sending SIGTSTP (tty stop). switch-client [-Elnpr] [-c target-client] [-t target-session] [-T key-table] (alias: switchc) Switch the current session for client target-client to target-session. If -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). If -E is used, update-environment option will not be applied. -T sets the client's key table; the next key from the client will be interpreted from key-table. This may be used to configure mul- tiple prefix keys, or to bind commands to sequences of keys. For example, to make typing `abc' run the list-keys command: bind-key -Ttable2 c list-keys bind-key -Ttable1 b switch-client -Ttable2 bind-key -Troot a switch-client -Ttable1 WINDOWS AND PANES A tmux window may be in one of two modes. The default permits direct ac- cess 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 com- mand that produces output, such as list-keys, is executed from a key bind- ing. 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 Append selection A Back to indentation ^ M-m Bottom of history G M-< Clear selection Escape C-g Copy selection Enter M-w Copy to named buffer " 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 again ; ; Jump again in reverse , , Jump backward F F Jump forward f f Jump to backward T Jump to forward t Next page C-f Page down Next paragraph } M-} Next space W Next space, end of word E Next word w Next word end e M-f Other end of selection o Paste buffer p C-y Previous page C-b Page up Previous paragraph { M-{ Previous space B Previous word b M-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 Select line V 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 `@' charac- ters 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, typ- ing `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. 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 modi- fied or removed with bind-key and unbind-key. If append-selection, copy-selection, or start-named-buffer are given the -x flag, tmux will not exit copy mode after copying. copy-pipe copies the selection and pipes it to a command. For example the following will bind `C-w' not to exit after copying and `C-q' to copy the selection into /tmp as well as the paste buffer: bind-key -temacs-copy C-w copy-selection -x 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 [-Meu] [-t target-pane] Enter copy mode. The -u option scrolls one page up. -M begins a mouse drag (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding, see "MOUSE SUPPORT"). -e specifies that scrolling to the bottom of the his- tory (to the visible screen) should exit copy mode. While in copy mode, pressing a key other than those used for scrolling will dis- able this behaviour. This is intended to allow fast scrolling through a pane's history, for example with: bind PageUp copy-mode -eu 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 re- sized 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 de- fault); once a layout is chosen, panes within it may be moved and resized as normal. The following layouts are supported: even-horizontal Panes are spread out evenly from left to right across the window. even-vertical Panes are spread evenly from top to bottom. main-horizontal A large (main) pane is shown at the top of the window and the re- maining panes are spread from left to right in the leftover space at the bottom. Use the main-pane-height window option to specify the height of the top pane. main-vertical Similar to main-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. tiled Panes are spread out as evenly as possible over the window in both rows and columns. In 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 suit- able 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] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-window] (alias: breakp) Break src-pane off from its containing window to make it the only pane in dst-window. If -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-name] [-E end-line] [-S start-line] [-t target-pane] (alias: capturep) Capture the contents of a pane. If -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 be- ginning 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. `-' to -S is the start of the history and to -E the end of the visible pane. The default is to capture only the visi- ble contents of the pane. choose-client [-F format] [-t target-window] [template] Put a window into client choice mode, allowing a client to be se- lected interactively from a list. After a client is chosen, `%%' 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 at- tached. choose-session [-F format] [-t target-window] [template] Put a window into session choice mode, where a session may be se- lected interactively from a list. When one is chosen, `%%' is re- placed 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] Put a window into tree choice mode, where either sessions or win- dows may be selected interactively from a list. By default, win- dows belonging to a session are indented to show their relationship to a session. Note that the choose-window and choose-session commands are wrap- pers around choose-tree. If -s is given, will show sessions. If -w is given, will show win- dows. 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 de- fault 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] Put a window into window choice mode, where a window may be chosen interactively from a list. After a window is selected, `%%' is re- placed by the session name and window index in template and the re- sult executed as a command. If template is not given, "select-win- dow -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] [template] (alias: displayp) Display a visible indicator of each pane shown by target-client. See the display-panes-time, display-panes-colour, and display-panes-active-colour session options. While the indicator is on screen, a pane may be chosen with the `0' to `9' keys, which will cause template to be executed as a command with `%%' substi- tuted by the pane ID. The default template is "select-pane -t '%%'". find-window [-CNT] [-F format] [-t target-window] match-string (alias: findw) Search for the fnmatch(3) pattern match-string in window names, ti- tles, and visible content (but not history). The flags control matching behavior: -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 auto- matically 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] (alias: joinp) Like 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. If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see select-pane -m), the marked pane is used rather than the current pane. kill-pane [-a] [-t target-pane] (alias: killp) Destroy the given pane. If no panes remain in the containing win- dow, it is also destroyed. The -a option kills all but the pane given with -t. kill-window [-a] [-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. The -a option kills all but the window given with -t. last-pane [-de] [-t target-window] (alias: lastp) Select the last (previously selected) pane. -e enables or -d dis- ables input to the pane. last-window [-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. link-window [-adk] [-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. With -a, the window is moved to the next index up (following windows are moved if necessary). 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. list-panes [-as] [-F format] [-t target] (alias: lsp) If -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 ses- sion). If neither is given, target is a window (or the current window). For the meaning of the -F flag, see the "FORMATS" sec- tion. list-windows [-a] [-F format] [-t target-session] (alias: lsw) If -a is given, list all windows on the server. Otherwise, list windows in the current session or in target-session. For the mean- ing of the -F flag, see the "FORMATS" section. move-pane [-bdhv] [-l size | -p percentage] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane] (alias: movep) Like join-pane, but src-pane and dst-pane may belong to the same window. move-window [-ardk] [-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. 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] (alias: neww) Create a new window. With -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 cur- rent 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. 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 pro- grams 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] (alias: nextl) Move a window to the next layout and rearrange the panes to fit. next-window [-a] [-t target-session] (alias: next) Move to the next window in the session. If -a is used, move to the next window with an alert. pipe-pane [-o] [-t target-pane] [shell-command] (alias: pipep) Pipe any output sent by the program in target-pane to a shell com- mand. A pane may only be piped to one command at a time, any ex- isting pipe is closed before shell-command is executed. The shell-command string may contain the special character sequences supported by the 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, al- lowing 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] (alias: prevl) Move to the previous layout in the session. previous-window [-a] [-t target-session] (alias: prev) Move to the previous window in the session. With -a, move to the previous window with an alert. rename-window [-t target-window] new-name (alias: renamew) Rename the current window, or the window at target-window if speci- fied, to new-name. resize-pane [-DLMRUZ] [-t target-pane] [-x width] [-y height] [adjustment] (alias: resizep) Resize a pane, up, down, left or right by adjustment with -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 lay- out). -M begins mouse resizing (only valid if bound to a mouse key bind- ing, see "MOUSE SUPPORT"). respawn-pane [-k] [-t target-pane] [shell-command] (alias: respawnp) Reactivate a pane in which the command has exited (see the 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] (alias: respawnw) Reactivate a window in which the command has exited (see the 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 ex- isting command is killed. rotate-window [-DU] [-t target-window] (alias: rotatew) Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either upward (numerically lower) with -U or downward (numerically higher). select-layout [-nop] [-t target-window] [layout-name] (alias: selectl) Choose a specific layout for a window. If layout-name is not given, the last preset layout used (if any) is reapplied. -n and -p are equivalent to the next-layout and previous-layout commands. -o applies the last set layout if possible (undoes the most recent layout change). select-pane [-DdegLlMmRU] [-P style] [-t target-pane] (alias: selectp) Make pane target-pane the active pane in window target-window, or set its style (with -P). If one of -D, -L, -R, or -U is used, re- spectively 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 com- mand. -e enables or -d disables input to the pane. -m and -M are used to set and clear the marked pane. There is one marked pane at a time, setting a new marked pane clears the last. The marked pane is the default target for -s to join-pane, swap-pane and swap-window. Each pane has a style: by default the window-style and window-active-style options are used, select-pane -P sets the style for a single pane. For example, to set the pane 1 background to red: select-pane -t:.1 -P 'bg=red' -g shows the current pane style. select-window [-lnpT] [-t target-window] (alias: selectw) Select the window at target-window. -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 [-bdhvP] [-c start-directory] [-l size | -p percentage] [-t target-pane] [shell-command] [-F format] (alias: splitw) Create a new pane by splitting target-pane: -h does a horizontal split and -v a vertical split; if neither is specified, -v is as- sumed. 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. The -b option causes the new pane to be created to the left of or above target-pane. The -f option creates a new pane spanning the full window height (with -h) or full window width (with -v), instead of splitting the active pane. All other options have the same meaning as for the new-window com- mand. swap-pane [-dDU] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane] (alias: swapp) Swap two panes. If -U is used and no source pane is specified with -s, dst-pane is swapped with the previous pane (before it numeri- cally); -D swaps with the next pane (after it numerically). -d in- structs tmux not to change the active pane. If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see select-pane -m), the marked pane is used rather than the current pane. swap-window [-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. Like swap-pane, if -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see select-pane -m), the window containing the marked pane is used rather than the current window. unlink-window [-k] [-t target-window] (alias: unlinkw) Unlink target-window. Unless -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. KEY BINDINGS 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 F12, 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] [-R repeat-count] [-t mode-table] [-T key-table] key command [arguments] (alias: bind) Bind key key to command. Keys are bound in a key table. By de- fault (without -T), the key is bound in the prefix key table. This table is used for keys pressed after the prefix key (for example, by default `c' is bound to new-window in the prefix table, so `C-b c' creates a new window). The root table is used for keys pressed without the prefix key: binding `c' to new-window in the root table (not recommended) means a plain `c' will create a new window. -n is an alias for -T root. Keys may also be bound in custom key ta- bles and the switch-client -T command used to switch to them from a key binding. The -r flag indicates this key may repeat, see the repeat-time option. If -t is present, key is bound in mode-table: the binding for com- mand mode with -c or for normal mode without. For keys in the vi-copy or emacs-copy tables, -R specifies how many times the com- mand should be repeated. See the "WINDOWS AND PANES" section and the list-keys command for information on mode key bindings. To view the default bindings and possible commands, see the list-keys command. list-keys [-t mode-table] [-T key-table] (alias: lsk) List all key bindings. Without -T all key tables are printed. With -T only key-table. With -t, the key bindings in mode-table are listed; this may be one of: vi-edit, emacs-edit, vi-choice, emacs-choice, vi-copy or emacs-copy. send-keys [-lMR] [-t target-pane] key ... (alias: send) 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. 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. -M passes through a mouse event (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding, see "MOUSE SUPPORT"). send-prefix [-2] [-t target-pane] Send the prefix key, or with -2 the secondary prefix key, to a win- dow as if it was pressed. unbind-key [-acn] [-t mode-table] [-T key-table] key (alias: unbind) Unbind the command bound to key. -c, -n, -T and -t are the same as for bind-key. If -a is present, all key bindings are removed. OPTIONS The appearance and behaviour of 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 par- ticular window or session. These are altered with the set-option -s com- mand, 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 ses- sion 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 docu- mented with the set-window-option command. tmux also supports user options which are prefixed with a `@'. User op- tions 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 value (alias: set) Set a window option with -w (equivalent to the set-window-option command), a server option with -s, otherwise a session option. If -g is given, the global session or window option is set. The -u flag unsets an option, so a session inherits the option from the global options (or with -g, restores a global option to the de- fault). The -o flag prevents setting an option that is already set and the -q flag suppresses errors about unknown or ambiguous options. With -a, and if the option expects a string or a style, value is appended to the existing setting. For example: set -g status-left "foo" set -ag status-left "bar" Will result in `foobar'. And: set -g status-style "bg=red" set -ag status-style "fg=blue" Will result in a red background and blue foreground. Without -a, the result would be the default background and a blue foreground. 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 number Set the number of buffers; 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. default-terminal terminal Set the default terminal for new windows created in this session - the default value of the TERM environment vari- able. For tmux to work correctly, this must be set to `screen', `tmux' or a derivative of them. escape-time time Set the time in milliseconds for which tmux 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] If enabled, the server will exit when there are no attached clients. focus-events [on | off] When enabled, focus events are requested from the terminal if supported and passed through to applications running in tmux. Attached clients should be detached and attached again after changing this option. history-file path If not empty, a file to which tmux will write command prompt history on exit and load it from on start. message-limit number Set the number of error or information messages to save in the message log for each client. The default is 100. set-clipboard [on | off] Attempt to set the terminal clipboard content using the \e]52;...\007 xterm(1) escape sequences. This option is on by default if there is an Ms entry in the terminfo(5) de- scription for the client terminal. Note that this feature needs to be enabled in xterm(1) by setting the resource: disallowedWindowOps: 20,21,SetXprop Or changing this property from the xterm(1) interactive menu when required. terminal-overrides string Contains a list of entries which override terminal descrip- tions read using terminfo(5). string is a comma-separated list of items each a colon-separated string made up of a terminal type pattern (matched using fnmatch(3)) and a set of name=value entries. For 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) be- fore interpretation. The default value forcibly corrects the `colors' entry for terminals which support 256 colours: "*256col*:colors=256,xterm*:XT" Available session options are: assume-paste-time milliseconds If keys are entered faster than one in milliseconds, they are assumed to have been pasted rather than typed and tmux key bindings are not processed. The default is one mil- lisecond and zero disables. base-index index Set the base index from which an unused index should be searched when a new window is created. The default is zero. bell-action [any | none | current | other] 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, current means only bells in windows other than the current window are ignored and other means bells in the current window are ignored but not those in other windows. bell-on-alert [on | off] If on, ring the terminal bell when an alert occurs. default-command shell-command Set the command used for new windows (if not specified when the window is created) to shell-command, which may be any sh(1) command. The default is an empty string, which in- structs tmux to create a login shell using the value of the default-shell option. default-shell path Specify the default shell. This is used as the login shell for new windows when the default-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 re- turned by getpwuid(3), or /bin/sh. This option should be configured when tmux is used as a login shell. destroy-unattached [on | off] If enabled and the session is no longer attached to any clients, it is destroyed. detach-on-destroy [on | off] If on (the default), the client is detached when the ses- sion it is attached to is destroyed. If off, the client is switched to the most recently active of the remaining ses- sions. display-panes-active-colour colour Set the colour used by the display-panes command to show the indicator for the active pane. display-panes-colour colour Set the colour used by the display-panes command to show the indicators for inactive panes. display-panes-time time Set the time in milliseconds for which the indicators shown by the display-panes command appear. display-time time Set the amount of time for which status line messages and other on-screen indicators are displayed. If set to 0, messages and indicators are displayed until a key is pressed. time is in milliseconds. history-limit 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. key-table key-table Set the default key table to key-table instead of root. lock-after-time number Lock the session (like the lock-session command) after number seconds of inactivity. The default is not to lock (set to 0). lock-command shell-command Command to run when locking each client. The default is to run lock(1) with -np. message-command-style style Set status line message command style, where style is a comma-separated list of characteristics to be specified. These may be `bg=colour' to set the background colour, `fg=colour' to set the foreground colour, and a list of at- tributes as specified below. The colour is one of: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, aixterm bright variants (if sup- ported: brightred, brightgreen, and so on), colour0 to colour255 from the 256-colour set, default, or a hexadeci- mal RGB string such as `#ffffff', which chooses the closest match from the default 256-colour set. The attributes is either none or a comma-delimited list of one or more of: bright (or bold), dim, underscore, blink, reverse, hidden, or italics, to turn an attribute on, or an attribute prefixed with `no' to turn one off. Examples are: fg=yellow,bold,underscore,blink bg=black,fg=default,noreverse With the -a flag to the set-option command the new style is added otherwise the existing style is replaced. message-style style Set status line message style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. mouse [on | off] If on, tmux captures the mouse and allows mouse events to be bound as key bindings. See the "MOUSE SUPPORT" section for details. prefix key Set the key accepted as a prefix key. In addition to the standard keys described under "KEY BINDINGS", prefix can be set to the special key `None' to set no prefix. prefix2 key Set a secondary key accepted as a prefix key. Like prefix, prefix2 can be set to `None'. renumber-windows [on | off] If on, when a window is closed in a session, automatically renumber the other windows in numerical order. This re- spects the base-index option if it has been set. If off, do not renumber the windows. repeat-time time Allow multiple commands to be entered without pressing the prefix-key again in the specified time milliseconds (the default is 500). Whether a key repeats may be set when it is bound using the -r flag to bind-key. Repeat is enabled for the default keys bound to the resize-pane command. set-remain-on-exit [on | off] Set the 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, in- stead 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] Attempt to set the client terminal title using the tsl and fsl terminfo(5) entries if they exist. tmux automatically sets these to the \e]0;...\007 sequence if the terminal ap- pears to be xterm(1). This option is off by default. set-titles-string string String used to set the window title if set-titles is on. Formats are expanded, see the "FORMATS" section. status [on | off] Show or hide the status line. status-interval interval Update the status bar every interval seconds. By default, updates will occur every 15 seconds. A setting of zero disables redrawing at interval. status-justify [left | centre | right] Set the position of the window list component of the status line: left, centre or right justified. status-keys [vi | emacs] Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in the status line, for example at the command prompt. The default is emacs, un- less the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables are set and contain the string `vi'. status-left string Display string (by default the session name) to the left of the status bar. string will be passed through strftime(3) and formats (see "FORMATS") will be expanded. It may also contain the special character sequence #[] to change the colour or attributes, for example `#[fg=red,bright]' to set a bright red foreground. See the message-command-style op- tion for a description of colours and attributes. For details on how the names and titles can be set see the "NAMES AND TITLES" section. Examples are: #(sysctl vm.loadavg) #[fg=yellow,bold]#(apm -l)%%#[default] [#S] The default is `[#S] '. status-left-length length Set the maximum length of the left component of the status bar. The default is 10. status-left-style style Set the style of the left part of the status line. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. status-position [top | bottom] Set the position of the status line. status-right string Display string to the right of the status bar. By default, the current window title in double quotes, the date and the time are shown. As with status-left, string will be passed to strftime(3) and character pairs are replaced. status-right-length length Set the maximum length of the right component of the status bar. The default is 40. status-right-style style Set the style of the right part of the status line. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. status-style style Set status line style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. update-environment variables Set a space-separated string containing a list of environ- ment variables to be copied into the session environment when a new session is created or an existing session is at- tached. Any variables that do not exist in the source en- vironment are set to be removed from the session environ- ment (as if -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] If on, display a status line message when activity occurs in a window for which the monitor-activity window option is enabled. visual-bell [on | off] If this option is on, a message is shown on a bell instead of it being passed through to the terminal (which normally makes a sound). Also see the bell-action option. visual-silence [on | off] If monitor-silence is enabled, prints a message after the interval has expired on a given window. word-separators string Sets the session's conception of what characters are con- sidered word separators, for the purposes of the next and previous word commands in copy mode. The default is ` -_@'. set-window-option [-agoqu] [-t target-window] option value (alias: setw) Set a window option. The -a, -g, -o, -q and -u flags work simi- larly to the set-option command. Supported window options are: aggressive-resize [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 ses- sions; this option is good for full-screen programs which support SIGWINCH and poor for interactive programs such as shells. allow-rename [on | off] Allow programs to change the window name using a terminal escape sequence (\ek...\e\\). The default is on. alternate-screen [on | off] This option configures whether programs running inside tmux may use the terminal alternate screen feature, which allows the smcup and rmcup terminfo(5) capabilities. The alter- nate 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] Control automatic window renaming. When this setting is enabled, tmux will rename the window automatically using the format specified by automatic-rename-format. 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 termi- nal escape sequence. It may be switched off globally with: set-window-option -g automatic-rename off automatic-rename-format format The format (see "FORMATS") used when the automatic-rename option is enabled. clock-mode-colour colour Set clock colour. clock-mode-style [12 | 24] Set clock hour format. force-height height force-width width Prevent tmux from resizing a window to greater than width or height. A value of zero restores the default unlimited setting. main-pane-height height main-pane-width width Set the width or height of the main (left or top) pane in the main-horizontal or main-vertical layouts. mode-keys [vi | emacs] Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in copy and choice modes. As with the status-keys option, the default is emacs, unless VISUAL or EDITOR contains `vi'. mode-style style Set window modes style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. monitor-activity [on | off] Monitor for activity in the window. Windows with activity are highlighted in the status line. monitor-silence [interval] Monitor for silence (no activity) in the window within 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 height Set the height of the other panes (not the main pane) in the main-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 width Like other-pane-height, but set the width of other panes in the main-vertical layout. pane-active-border-style style Set the pane border style for the currently active pane. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style op- tion. Attributes are ignored. pane-base-index index Like base-index, but set the starting index for pane num- bers. pane-border-format format Set the text shown in pane border status lines. pane-border-status [off | top | bottom] Turn pane border status lines off or set their position. pane-border-style style Set the pane border style for panes aside from the active pane. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. Attributes are ignored. remain-on-exit [on | off] A window with this flag set is not destroyed when the pro- gram running in it exits. The window may be reactivated with the respawn-window command. synchronize-panes [on | off] Duplicate input to any pane to all other panes in the same window (only for panes that are not in any special mode). window-active-style style Set the style for the window's active pane. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. window-status-activity-style style Set status line style for windows with an activity alert. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style op- tion. window-status-bell-style style Set status line style for windows with a bell alert. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. window-status-current-format string Like window-status-format, but is the format used when the window is the current window. window-status-current-style style Set status line style for the currently active window. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. window-status-format string Set the format in which the window is displayed in the sta- tus line window list. See the status-left option for de- tails of special character sequences available. The de- fault is `#I:#W#F'. window-status-last-style style Set status line style for the last active window. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. window-status-separator string Sets the separator drawn between windows in the status line. The default is a single space character. window-status-style style Set status line style for a single window. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. window-style style Set the default window style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option. xterm-keys [on | off] If this option is set, tmux will generate xterm(1)-style function key sequences; these have a number included to in- dicate modifiers such as Shift, Alt or Ctrl. The default is off. wrap-search [on | off] If this option is set, searches will wrap around the end of the pane contents. The default is on. show-options [-gqsvw] [-t target-session | target-window] [option] (alias: show) Show the window options (or a single window option if given) with -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 op- tion 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] (alias: showw) List the window options or a single option for target-window, or the global window options if -g is used. -v shows only the option value, not the name. HOOKS tmux allows commands to run on various triggers, called hooks. Each tmux command has a before hook and an after hook and there are a number of hooks not associated with commands. A command's before hook is run before the command is executed and its after hook is run afterwards, except when the command is run as part of a hook itself. Before hooks are named using the `before-' prefix and after hooks the `after-' prefix. For example, the following command adds a hook to se- lect the even-vertical layout after every split-window: set-hook after-split-window "selectl even-vertical" Or to write when each new window is created to a file: set-hook before-new-window 'run "date >>/tmp/log"' In addition, the following hooks are available: alert-activity Run when a window has activity. See monitor-activity. alert-bell Run when a window has received a bell. alert-silence Run when a window has been silent. See monitor-silence. client-attached Run when a client is attached. client-detached Run when a client is detached client-resized Run when a client is resized. pane-died Run when the program running in a pane exits, but remain-on-exit is on so the pane has not closed. pane-exited Run when the program running in a pane exits. Hooks are managed with these commands: set-hook [-g] [-t target-session] hook-name command Sets hook hook-name to command. If -g is given, hook-name is added to the global list of hooks, otherwise it is added to the session hooks (for target-session with -t). Like options, session hooks inherit from the global ones. show-hooks [-g] [-t target-session] Shows the global list of hooks with -g, otherwise the session hooks. MOUSE SUPPORT If the mouse option is on (the default is off), tmux allows mouse events to be bound as keys. The name of each key is made up of a mouse event (such as `MouseUp1') and a location suffix (one of `Pane' for the contents of a pane, `Border' for a pane border or `Status' for the status line). The following mouse events are available: MouseDown1 MouseUp1 MouseDrag1 MouseDragEnd1 MouseDown2 MouseUp2 MouseDrag2 MouseDragEnd2 MouseDown3 MouseUp3 MouseDrag3 MouseDragEnd3 WheelUp WheelDown Each should be suffixed with a location, for example `MouseDown1Status'. The special token `{mouse}' or `=' may be used as target-window or target-pane in commands bound to mouse key bindings. It resolves to the window or pane over which the mouse event took place (for example, the win- dow in the status line over which button 1 was released for a `MouseUp1Status' binding, or the pane over which the wheel was scrolled for a `WheelDownPane' binding). The send-keys -M flag may be used to forward a mouse event to a pane. The default key bindings allow the mouse to be used to select and resize panes, to copy text and to change window using the status line. These take effect if the mouse option is turned on. FORMATS Certain commands accept the -F flag with a format argument. This is a string which controls the output format of the command. Replacement vari- ables are enclosed in `#{' and `}', for example `#{session_name}'. The possible variables are listed in the table below, or the name of a tmux op- tion may be used for an option's value. Some variables have a shorter alias such as `#S', and `##' is replaced by a single `#'. Conditionals are available by prefixing with `?' and separating two alter- natives 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, or `#{?automatic-rename,yes,no}' will include `yes' if automatic-rename is enabled, or `no' if not. A limit may be placed on the length of the resultant string by prefixing it by an `=', a number and a colon. Positive numbers count from the start of the string and negative from the end, so `#{=5:pane_title}' will include at most the first 5 characters of the pane title, or `#{=-5:pane_title}' the last 5 characters. Prefixing a time variable with `t:' will convert it to a string, so if `#{window_activity}' gives `1445765102', `#{t:window_activity}' gives `Sun Oct 25 09:25:02 2015'. The `b:' and `d:' prefixes are basename(3) and dirname(3) of the variable respectively. A prefix of the form `s/foo/bar/:' will substitute `foo' with `bar' through- out. In addition, the first line of a shell command's output may be inserted us- ing `#()'. For example, `#(uptime)' will insert the system's uptime. When constructing formats, tmux does not wait for `#()' commands to finish; in- stead, the previous result from running the same command is used, or a placeholder if the command has not been run before. Commands are executed with the tmux global environment set (see the "ENVIRONMENT" section). The following variables are available, where appropriate: Variable name Alias 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_name Name of buffer buffer_sample Sample of start of buffer buffer_size Size of the specified buffer in bytes client_activity Integer time client last had activity client_created Integer time client created client_control_mode 1 if client is in control mode client_height Height of client client_key_table Current key table client_last_session Name of the client's last session client_pid PID of client process 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 command_hooked Name of command hooked, if any command_name Name of command in use, if any command_list_name Command name if listing commands command_list_alias Command alias if listing commands command_list_usage Command usage if listing commands 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 #H Hostname of local host host_short #h Hostname of local host (no domain name) 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 pane_active 1 if active pane pane_bottom Bottom of pane pane_current_command Current command if available pane_current_path Current path if available pane_dead 1 if pane is dead pane_dead_status Exit status of process in dead pane pane_height Height of pane pane_id #D Unique pane ID pane_in_mode If pane is in a mode pane_input_off If input to pane is disabled pane_index #P Index of pane pane_left Left of pane pane_pid PID of first process in pane pane_right Right of pane pane_start_command Command pane started with pane_synchronized If pane is synchronized pane_tabs Pane tab positions pane_title #T Title of pane pane_top Top of pane pane_tty Pseudo terminal of pane pane_width Width of pane pid Server PID scroll_region_lower Bottom of scroll region in pane scroll_region_upper Top of scroll region in pane scroll_position Scroll position in copy mode session_alerts List of window indexes with alerts session_attached Number of clients session is attached to session_activity Integer time of session last activity session_created Integer time session created session_last_attached Integer time session last attached 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_many_attached 1 if multiple clients attached session_name #S Name of session session_width Width of session session_windows Number of windows in session socket_path Server socket path start_time Server start time window_activity Integer time of window last activity window_activity_flag 1 if window has activity window_active 1 if window active window_bell_flag 1 if window has bell window_find_matches Matched data from the find-window window_flags #F Window flags window_height Height of window window_id Unique window ID window_index #I Index of window window_last_flag 1 if window is the last used window_layout Window layout description, ignoring zoomed window panes window_linked 1 if window is linked across sessions window_name #W Name of window window_panes Number of panes in window window_silence_flag 1 if window has silence alert window_visible_layout Window layout description, respecting zoomed window panes window_width Width of window window_zoomed_flag 1 if window is zoomed wrap_flag Pane wrap flag NAMES AND TITLES 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: 1. A command argument (such as -n for new-window or new-session). 2. An escape sequence: $ printf '\033kWINDOW_NAME\033\\' 3. Automatic renaming, which sets the name to the active command in the window's active pane. See the 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\\' ENVIRONMENT When the server is started, 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 en- vironment from the client when a new session is created or an old reat- tached. tmux also initialises the TMUX variable with some internal infor- mation 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] (alias: setenv) Set or unset an environment variable. If -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 vari- able. -r indicates the variable is to be removed from the environ- ment before starting a new process. show-environment [-gs] [-t target-session] [variable] (alias: showenv) Display the environment for target-session or the global environ- ment with -g. If variable is omitted, all variables are shown. Variables removed from the environment are prefixed with `-'. If -s is used, the output is formatted as a set of Bourne shell com- mands. STATUS LINE 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 dis- abled 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 sec- tions (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. ~ The window has been silent for the monitor-silence inter- val. M The window contains the marked pane. Z The window's active pane is zoomed. The # symbol relates to the monitor-activity window option. The window name is printed in inverted colours if an alert (bell, activity or silence) is present. The colour and attributes of the status line may be configured, the entire status line using the status-style session option and individual windows using the window-status-style window option. 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] Open the command prompt in a client. This may be used from inside 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, 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] command (alias: confirm) Ask for confirmation before executing command. If -p is given, prompt is the prompt to display; otherwise a prompt is constructed from command. It may contain the special character sequences sup- ported by the status-left option. This command works only from inside tmux. display-message [-p] [-c target-client] [-t target-pane] [message] (alias: display) Display a message. If -p is given, the output is printed to std- out, otherwise it is displayed in the target-client status line. The format of message is described in the "FORMATS" section; infor- mation is taken from target-pane if -t is given, otherwise the ac- tive pane for the session attached to target-client. BUFFERS tmux maintains a set of named paste buffers. Each buffer may be either ex- plicitly or automatically named. Explicitly named buffers are named when created with the set-buffer or load-buffer commands, or by renaming an au- tomatically named buffer with set-buffer -n. Automatically named buffers are given a name such as `buffer0001', `buffer0002' and so on. When the buffer-limit option is reached, the oldest automatically named buffer is deleted. Explicitly named buffers are not subject to buffer-limit and may be deleted with delete-buffer command. Buffers may be added using copy-mode or the set-buffer and load-buffer com- mands, and pasted into a window using the paste-buffer command. If a buffer command is used and no buffer is specified, the most recently added automatically named buffer is assumed. A configurable history buffer is also maintained for each window. By de- fault, 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] Put a window into buffer choice mode, where a buffer may be chosen interactively from a list. After a buffer is selected, `%%' is re- placed by the buffer name 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] (alias: clearhist) Remove and free the history for the specified pane. delete-buffer [-b buffer-name] (alias: deleteb) Delete the buffer named buffer-name, or the most recently added au- tomatically named buffer if not specified. list-buffers [-F format] (alias: lsb) List the global buffers. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the "FORMATS" section. load-buffer [-b buffer-name] path (alias: loadb) Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from path. paste-buffer [-dpr] [-b buffer-name] [-s separator] [-t target-pane] (alias: pasteb) Insert the contents of a paste buffer into the specified pane. If not specified, paste into the current one. With -d, also delete the paste buffer. When output, any linefeed (LF) characters in the paste buffer are replaced with a separator, by default carriage re- turn (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 in- serted around the buffer if the application has requested bracketed paste mode. save-buffer [-a] [-b buffer-name] path (alias: saveb) Save the contents of the specified paste buffer to path. The -a option appends to rather than overwriting the file. set-buffer [-a] [-b buffer-name] [-n new-buffer-name] data (alias: setb) Set the contents of the specified buffer to data. The -a option appends to rather than overwriting the buffer. The -n option re- names the buffer to new-buffer-name. show-buffer [-b buffer-name] (alias: showb) Display the contents of the specified buffer. MISCELLANEOUS Miscellaneous commands are as follows: clock-mode [-t target-pane] Display a large clock. if-shell [-bF] [-t target-pane] shell-command command [command] (alias: if) Execute the first command if shell-command returns success or the second command otherwise. Before being executed, shell-command is expanded using the rules specified in the "FORMATS" section, in- cluding those relevant to target-pane. With -b, shell-command is run in the background. If -F is given, shell-command is not executed but considered suc- cess if neither empty nor zero (after formats are expanded). lock-server (alias: lock) Lock each client individually by running the command specified by the lock-command option. run-shell [-b] [-t target-pane] shell-command (alias: run) Execute shell-command in the background without creating a window. Before being executed, shell-command is expanded using the rules specified in the "FORMATS" section. With -b, the command is run in the background. After it finishes, any output to stdout is dis- played 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. wait-for [-L | -S | -U] channel (alias: wait) When used without options, prevents the client from exiting until woken using 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. TERMINFO EXTENSIONS tmux understands some unofficial extensions to terminfo(5): Cs, Cr Set the cursor colour. The first takes a single string argument and is used to set the colour; the second takes no arguments and restores the default cursor colour. If set, a sequence such as this may be used to change the cursor colour from inside tmux: $ printf '\033]12;red\033\\' Ss, Se Set or reset the cursor style. If set, a sequence such as this may be used to change the cursor to an underline: $ printf '\033[4 q' If Se is not set, Ss with argument 0 will be used to reset the cur- sor style instead. Tc Indicate that the terminal supports the `direct colour' RGB escape sequence (for example, \e[38;2;255;255;255m). Ms Store the current buffer in the host terminal's selection (clip- board). See the set-clipboard option above and the xterm(1) man page. CONTROL MODE tmux offers a textual interface called control mode. This allows applica- tions to communicate with tmux using a simple text-only protocol. In control mode, a client sends tmux commands or command sequences termi- nated 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 oc- cur inside an output block. The following notifications are defined: %exit [reason] The 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 window-visible-layout window-flags The layout of a window with ID window-id changed. The new layout is window-layout. The window's visible layout is window-visible-layout and the window flags are window-flags. %output pane-id value A window pane produced output. value escapes non-printable charac- ters and backslash as octal \xxx. %session-changed session-id name The client is now attached to the session with ID session-id, which is named name. %session-renamed name The current session was renamed to name. %sessions-changed A session was created or destroyed. %unlinked-window-add window-id The window with ID window-id was created but is not linked to the current session. %window-add window-id The window with ID window-id was linked to the current session. %window-close window-id The window with ID window-id closed. %window-renamed window-id name The window with ID window-id was renamed to name. FILES ~/.tmux.conf Default tmux configuration file. @SYSCONFDIR@/tmux.conf System-wide configuration file. EXAMPLES 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 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-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. 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-style 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'" SEE ALSO pty(4) AUTHORS Nicholas Marriott <nicholas.marriott@gmail.com> FreeBSD ports 15.1 March 25, 2013 TMUX(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | KEY BINDINGS | COMMANDS | CLIENTS AND SESSIONS | WINDOWS AND PANES | KEY BINDINGS | OPTIONS | HOOKS | MOUSE SUPPORT | FORMATS | NAMES AND TITLES | ENVIRONMENT | STATUS LINE | BUFFERS | MISCELLANEOUS | TERMINFO EXTENSIONS | CONTROL MODE | FILES | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | AUTHORS
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