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tmux is a superior alternative to screen
Today was the first day I stopped using screen and started using tmux, which is a superior alternative which supports a more complex range of splits and has a nicer interface. It's a bit different from screen in that it has this concept of windows and panes. A tmux pane is a window (e.g., shell session) in screen terminology. A tmux window is a layout of panes (e.g., two windows side by side). A tmux window could have only one pane, or it could have an arbitrarily complex configuration of panes.
My initial impetus for investigating screen alternatives is that I hated having to run more than one terminal to on my screen to get the layout I wanted. I also find it infuriating to have to use the mouse to setup my terminal workspace.
Important commands:
tmux start new tmux session tmux attach attach to existing tmux session
Important default key bindings
Tmux uses C-b instead of C-a as the control character. Which is great since C-a actually means something in shell-land (move to the start of the command)
Here is a shorthand listing of keys. Prepend C-b to invoke them.
General:
? full list of key bindings d detach from tmux session C-z suspend tmux
Pane keys:
" split horizontally
% split vertically
x kill current pane
up/down/right/left navigate between window panes
(you can also click on the pane with the
mouse)
C-up/down/right/left resize window pane
space automatic re-layout of panes
} swap pane in layout forward
{ swap pane in layout backward
Cut and paste / clipboard keys:
[ copy mode (cut and paste with keyboard)
Copy mode has its own key bindings:
cursors + page-up/page-down: move around
space: start selection
enter: copy selection
] paste buffer
C-c copy buffer to X clipboard
C-v paste buffer from X clipboard
Window keys:
c create new window 1-9 switch to window number ... n next window p previous window , rename window ! maximize current pane
Advanced:
: command line mode :list-commands list commands
My tmux configuration file:
cat > $HOME/.tmux.conf << EOF set -g status off set -g mouse-select-pane on set -g base-index 1 set-window-option -g mode-keys vi set-window-option -g mode-mouse on bind-key C-c run-shell "tmux show-buffer | xclip -i" bind-key C-v run-shell "tmux set-buffer \\"$(xclip -o)\\"; tmux paste-buffer" EOF
Comments
I used byobu way back...
Hi Jeremiah, Alon recommended I try out byobu 4 years ago and I think we briefly considered making it the default. I remember there was a problem that prevented us from doing that but to be honest I don't remember what that was. It's probably evolved since so maybe I should give it another try.
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