TMUX
Section: User Commands (1)
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BSD mandoc
NAME
tmux
- terminal multiplexer
SYNOPSIS
tmux
-words
[-
2lCquvV
]
[-
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 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
.
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 attach
In
,
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
Sx CONTROL MODE
section).
Given twice
( Fl CC ) Xc
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
/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-name
tmux
- 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
- 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.
- -q
- Set the
quiet
server option to prevent the server sending various informational messages.
- -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.
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
- Request verbose logging.
This option may be specified multiple times for increasing verbosity.
Log messages will be saved into
tmux-client-PID.log
and
tmux-server-PID.log
files in the current directory, where
PID
is the PID of the server or client process.
- -V
- Report the
tmux
version.
- command [flags
]
- This specifies one of a set of commands used to control
,
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.
- ,
- 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.
- [
- 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.
- s
- Select a new session for the attached client interactively.
- L
- Switch the attached client back to the last session.
- t
- Show the time.
- w
- Choose the current window interactively.
- x
- Kill the current pane.
- {
- Swap the current pane with the previous pane.
- }
- Swap the current pane with the next pane.
- ~
- Show previous messages from
,
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-vertical, or tiled.
- 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
.
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
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
Sx WINDOWS AND PANES
section.
The following commands are available to manage clients and sessions:
-
attach-session
[-dr
]
[-c working-directory
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- If run from outside
,
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.
-c
will set the session working directory (used for new windows) to
working-directory
-
detach-client
[-P
]
[-a
]
[-s target-session
]
[-t target-client
]
-
- 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, typically causing it
to exit.
- has-session [-t target-session
]
-
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
[-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
]
-
- List all clients attached to the server.
For the meaning of the
-F
flag, see the
Sx FORMATS
section.
If
target-session
is specified, list only clients connected to that session.
- list-commands
-
List the syntax of all commands supported by
.
- list-sessions [-F format
]
-
List all sessions managed by the server.
For the meaning of the
-F
flag, see the
Sx FORMATS
section.
- lock-client [-t target-client
]
-
Lock
target-client
see the
lock-server
command.
- lock-session [-t target-session
]
-
Lock all clients attached to
target-session
-
new-session
[-AdDP
]
[-c start-directory
]
[-F format
]
[-n window-name
]
[-s session-name
]
[-t target-session
]
[-x width
]
[-y height
]
[shell-command
]
-
- 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 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 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
-
- Rename the session to
new-name
-
show-messages
[-IJT
]
[-t target-client
]
-
- 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
session option for the session attached to that client.
With
-t
display the log for
target-client
-I
-J
and
-T
show debugging information about the running server, jobs and terminals.
- source-file path
-
Execute commands from
path
- start-server
-
Start the
tmux
server, if not already running, without creating any sessions.
-
suspend-client
[-t target-client
]
-
- Suspend a client by sending
SIGTSTP
(tty stop).
-
switch-client
[-lnpr
]
[-c target-client
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- 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).
WINDOWS AND PANES
A
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 Ta vi Ta emacs
-
- Back to indentation Ta ^ Ta M-m
-
- Bottom of history Ta G Ta M-<
-
- Clear selection Ta Escape Ta C-g
-
- Copy selection Ta Enter Ta M-w
-
- Cursor down Ta j Ta Down
-
- Cursor left Ta h Ta Left
-
- Cursor right Ta l Ta Right
-
- Cursor to bottom line Ta L Ta
-
- Cursor to middle line Ta M Ta M-r
-
- Cursor to top line Ta H Ta M-R
-
- Cursor up Ta k Ta Up
-
- Delete entire line Ta d Ta C-u
-
- Delete/Copy to end of line Ta D Ta C-k
-
- End of line Ta $ Ta C-e
-
- Go to line Ta : Ta g
-
- Half page down Ta C-d Ta M-Down
-
- Half page up Ta C-u Ta M-Up
-
- Jump forward Ta f Ta f
-
- Jump to forward Ta t Ta
-
- Jump backward Ta F Ta F
-
- Jump to backward Ta T Ta
-
- Jump again Ta ; Ta ;
-
- Jump again in reverse Ta , Ta ,
-
- Next page Ta C-f Ta Page down
-
- Next space Ta W Ta
-
- Next space, end of word Ta E Ta
-
- Next word Ta w Ta
-
- Next word end Ta e Ta M-f
-
- Other end of selection Ta o Ta
-
- Paste buffer Ta p Ta C-y
-
- Previous page Ta C-b Ta Page up
-
- Previous word Ta b Ta M-b
-
- Previous space Ta B Ta
-
- Quit mode Ta q Ta Escape
-
- Rectangle toggle Ta v Ta R
-
- Scroll down Ta C-Down or C-e Ta C-Down
-
- Scroll up Ta C-Up or C-y Ta C-Up
-
- Search again Ta n Ta n
-
- Search again in reverse Ta N Ta N
-
- Search backward Ta ? Ta C-r
-
- Search forward Ta / Ta C-s
-
- Start of line Ta 0 Ta C-a
-
- Start selection Ta Space Ta C-Space
-
- Top of history Ta g Ta M->
-
- Transpose characters Ta Ta 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
]
-
- Enter copy mode.
The
-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-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 remaining 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 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
]
-
- Break
target-pane
off from its containing window to make it the only pane in a new 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
[-aep([-b buffer-index
]
)
]
[-E end-line
]
[-S start-line
]
[-t target-pane
]
-
- 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 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
]
-
- Put a window into client choice mode, allowing a client to be selected
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
Sx FORMATS
section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
-
choose-list
[-l items
]
[-t target-window
]
[template
]
-
- Put a window into list choice mode, allowing
items
to be selected.
items
can be a comma-separated list to display more than one item.
If an item has spaces, that entry must be quoted.
After an item is chosen,
`%%'
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
Sx FORMATS
section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
-
choose-session
[-F format
]
[-t target-window
]
[template
]
-
- Put a window into session choice mode, where a session may be selected
interactively from a list.
When one is chosen,
`%%'
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
Sx 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 windows may be
selected interactively from a list.
By default, windows belonging to a session are indented to show their
relationship to a session.
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
Sx 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 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
Sx FORMATS
section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
- display-panes [-t target-client
]
-
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 selected with the
`0'
to
`9'
keys.
-
find-window
[-CNT
]
[-F format
]
[-t target-window
]
match-string
-
- Search for the
fnmatch(3)
pattern
match-string
in window names, titles, 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 automatically selected,
otherwise a choice list is shown.
For the meaning of the
-F
flag, see the
Sx 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
]
-
- 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
-
kill-pane
[-a
]
[-t target-pane
]
-
- Destroy the given pane.
If no panes remain in the containing window, it is also destroyed.
The
-a
option kills all but the pane given with
-t
-
kill-window
[-a
]
[-t target-window
]
-
- 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 [-t target-window
]
-
Select the last (previously selected) pane.
- last-window [-t target-session
]
-
Select the last (previously selected) window.
If no
target-session
is specified, select the last window of the current session.
-
link-window
[-dk
]
[-s src-window
]
[-t dst-window
]
-
- Link the window at
src-window
to the specified
dst-window
If
dst-window
is specified and no such window exists, the
src-window
is linked there.
If
-k
is given and
dst-window
exists, it is killed, otherwise an error is generated.
If
-d
is given, the newly linked window is not selected.
-
list-panes
[-as
]
[-F format
]
[-t target
]
-
- 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 session).
If neither is given,
target
is a window (or the current window).
For the meaning of the
-F
flag, see the
Sx FORMATS
section.
-
list-windows
[-a
]
[-F format
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- If
-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
Sx FORMATS
section.
-
move-pane
[-bdhv
]
[-l
size
-p percentage ]
[-s src-pane
]
[-t dst-pane
]
-
- Like
join-pane
but
src-pane
and
dst-pane
may belong to the same window.
-
move-window
[-rdk
]
[-s src-window
]
[-t dst-window
]
-
- 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
]
-
- 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 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.
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
.
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
]
-
Move a window to the next layout and rearrange the panes to fit.
-
next-window
[-a
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- 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
]
-
- Pipe any output sent by the program in
target-pane
to a shell command.
A pane may only be piped to one command at a time, any existing 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, 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
]
-
- Move to the previous layout in the session.
-
previous-window
[-a
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- 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
-
- Rename the current window, or the window at
target-window
if specified, to
new-name
-
resize-pane
[-DLRUZ
]
[-t target-pane
]
[-x width
]
[-y height
]
[adjustment
]
-
- 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 layout).
-
respawn-pane
[-k
]
[-t target-pane
]
[shell-command
]
-
- 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
]
-
- 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 existing command is killed.
-
rotate-window
[-DU
]
[-t target-window
]
-
- Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either upward (numerically
lower) with
-U
or downward (numerically higher).
-
select-layout
[-np
]
[-t target-window
]
[layout-name
]
-
- 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.
-
select-pane
[-lDLRU
]
[-t target-pane
]
-
- Make pane
target-pane
the active pane in window
target-window
If one of
-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
]
-
- 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
[-dhvP
]
[-c start-directory
]
[-l
size
-p percentage ]
[-t target-pane
]
[shell-command
]
[-F format
]
-
- Create a new pane by splitting
target-pane
-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
]
-
- 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 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
]
-
- 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
-
unlink-window
[-k
]
[-t target-window
]
-
- 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
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 key
key
to
command
By default (without
-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
]
-
List all key bindings.
Without
-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 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.
-
send-prefix
[-2
]
[-t target-pane
]
-
- Send the prefix key, or with
-2
the secondary prefix key, to a window as if it was pressed.
-
unbind-key
[-acn
]
[-t key-table
]
key
-
- Unbind the command bound to
key
Without
-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.
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 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 value
-
- 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 specified, the global session or window option is set.
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).
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.
- 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
.
Attached clients should be detached and attached again after changing this
option.
-
quiet
[on | off
]
-
- Enable or disable the display of various informational messages (see also the
-q
command line flag).
-
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
entry in the
terminfo(5)
description 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.
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 millisecond 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
]
-
- Set action on window bell.
any
means a bell in any window linked to a session causes a bell in the current
window of that session,
none
means all bells are ignored and
current
means only bells in windows other than the current window are ignored.
-
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 instructs
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 returned by
getpwuid(3),
or
/bin/sh
This option should be configured when
tmux
is used as a login shell.
- default-terminal terminal
-
Set the default terminal for new windows created in this session - the
default value of the
TERM
environment variable.
For
tmux
to work correctly, this
must
be set to
`screen'
or a derivative of it.
-
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 session it is attached to
is destroyed.
If off, the client is switched to the most recently active of the remaining
sessions.
- 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.
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.
- lock-after-time number
-
Lock the session (like the
lock-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
-
Command to run when locking each client.
The default is to run
lock(1)
with
-np
-
lock-server
[on | off
]
-
- If this option is
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-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 attributes as specified below.
The colour is one of:
black
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.
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-limit number
-
Set the number of error or information messages to save in the message log for
each client.
The default is 20.
- message-style style
-
Set status line message style.
For how to specify
style
see the
message-command-style
option.
-
mouse-resize-pane
[on | off
]
-
- If on,
tmux
captures the mouse and allows panes to be resized by dragging on their borders.
-
mouse-select-pane
[on | off
]
-
- If on,
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
]
-
- If on, clicking the mouse on a window name in the status line will select that
window.
-
mouse-utf8
[on | off
]
-
- If enabled, request mouse input as UTF-8 on UTF-8 terminals.
- 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
option.
Attributes are ignored.
- pane-border-style style
-
Set the pane border style for paneas aside from the active pane.
For how to specify
style
see the
message-command-style
option.
Attributes are ignored.
- prefix key
-
Set the key accepted as a prefix key.
- prefix2 key
-
Set a secondary key accepted as a prefix key.
-
renumber-windows
[on | off
]
-
- If on, when a window is closed in a session, automatically renumber the other
windows in numerical order.
This respects 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, 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
]
-
- 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]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 string
-
String used to set the window title if
set-titles
is on.
Character sequences are replaced as for the
status-left
option.
-
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, unless 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
Sx FORMATS )
will be expanded.
It may also contain any of the following special character sequences:
- Character pair Ta Replaced with
-
- #(shell-command) Ta First line of the command's output
-
- #[attributes] Ta Colour or attribute change
-
- ## Ta 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
Sx ENVIRONMENT
section).
For details on how the names and titles can be set see the
Sx NAMES AND TITLES
section.
For a list of allowed attributes see the
message-command-style
option.
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-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),
character pairs are replaced, and UTF-8 is dependent on the
status-utf8
option.
- 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.
-
status-utf8
[on | off
]
-
- Instruct
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 string
-
Contains a list of entries which override terminal descriptions 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)
before interpretation.
The default value forcibly corrects the
`colors'
entry for terminals which support 256 colours:
"*256col*:colors=256,xterm*:XT"
- update-environment variables
-
Set a space-separated string containing a list of environment variables to be
copied into the session environment when a new session is created or an
existing session is attached.
Any variables that do not exist in the source environment are set to be
removed from the session environment (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-content
[on | off
]
-
- Like
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
]
-
- 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 considered 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
-
- Set a window option.
The
-a
-g
-o
-q
and
-u
flags work similarly 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 sessions;
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 (\033k...\033\\).
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 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
]
-
- 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 terminal escape sequence.
It may be switched off globally with:
set-window-option -g automatic-rename off
- automatic-rename-format format
-
The format (see
Sx FORMATS )
used when the
automatic-rename
option is enabled.
- c0-change-interval interval
-
- c0-change-trigger trigger
-
These two options configure a simple form of rate limiting for a pane.
If
tmux
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 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-mouse
[on | off | copy-mode
]
-
- Mouse state in modes.
If on, the mouse may be used to enter copy mode and copy a selection by
dragging, to enter copy mode and scroll with the mouse wheel, or to select an
option in choice mode.
If set to
copy-mode
the mouse behaves as set to on, but cannot be used to enter copy
mode.
- 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-content match-string
-
Monitor content in the window.
When
fnmatch(3)
pattern
match-string
appears in the window, it is 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-base-index index
-
Like
base-index
but set the starting index for pane numbers.
-
remain-on-exit
[on | off
]
-
- A window with this flag set is not destroyed when the program running in it
exits.
The window may be reactivated with the
respawn-window
command.
-
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).
-
utf8
[on | off
]
-
- Instructs
tmux
to expect UTF-8 sequences to appear in this window.
- 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
option.
- 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-content-style style
-
Set status line style for windows with a content 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 status line window list.
See the
status-left
option for details of special character sequences available.
The default 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.
-
xterm-keys
[on | off
]
-
- If this option is set,
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
]
-
- 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
]
-
- 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 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
]
-
- 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.
FORMATS
Certain commands accept the
-
F
flag with a
format
argument.
This is a string which controls the output format of the command.
Replacement variables are enclosed in
`#{'
and
`}'
,
for example
`#{session_name}'
Some variables also have an shorter alias such as
`#S'
`##'
is replaced by a single
`#'
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.
A limit may be placed on the length of the resultant string by prefixing it
by an
`='
,
a number and a colon, so
`#{=10:pane_title}'
will include at most the first 10 characters of the pane title.
The following variables are available, where appropriate:
- Variable name Ta Alias Ta Replaced with
-
- alternate_on Ta Ta If pane is in alternate screen
-
- alternate_saved_x Ta Ta Saved cursor X in alternate screen
-
- alternate_saved_y Ta Ta Saved cursor Y in alternate screen
-
- buffer_sample Ta Ta First 50 characters from buffer
-
- buffer_size Ta Ta Size of the specified buffer in bytes
-
- client_activity Ta Ta Integer time client last had activity
-
- client_activity_string Ta Ta String time client last had activity
-
- client_created Ta Ta Integer time client created
-
- client_created_string Ta Ta String time client created
-
- client_height Ta Ta Height of client
-
- client_last_session Ta Ta Name of the client's last session
-
- client_prefix Ta Ta 1 if prefix key has been pressed
-
- client_readonly Ta Ta 1 if client is readonly
-
- client_session Ta Ta Name of the client's session
-
- client_termname Ta Ta Terminal name of client
-
- client_tty Ta Ta Pseudo terminal of client
-
- client_utf8 Ta Ta 1 if client supports utf8
-
- client_width Ta Ta Width of client
-
- cursor_flag Ta Ta Pane cursor flag
-
- cursor_x Ta Ta Cursor X position in pane
-
- cursor_y Ta Ta Cursor Y position in pane
-
- history_bytes Ta Ta Number of bytes in window history
-
- history_limit Ta Ta Maximum window history lines
-
- history_size Ta Ta Size of history in bytes
-
- host Ta #H Ta Hostname of local host
-
- host_short Ta #h Ta Hostname of local host (no domain name)
-
- insert_flag Ta Ta Pane insert flag
-
- keypad_cursor_flag Ta Ta Pane keypad cursor flag
-
- keypad_flag Ta Ta Pane keypad flag
-
- line Ta Ta Line number in the list
-
- mouse_any_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse any flag
-
- mouse_button_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse button flag
-
- mouse_standard_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse standard flag
-
- mouse_utf8_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse UTF-8 flag
-
- pane_active Ta Ta 1 if active pane
-
- pane_current_command Ta Ta Current command if available
-
- pane_current_path Ta Ta Current path if available
-
- pane_dead Ta Ta 1 if pane is dead
-
- pane_height Ta Ta Height of pane
-
- pane_id Ta #D Ta Unique pane ID
-
- pane_in_mode Ta Ta If pane is in a mode
-
- pane_synchronized Ta Ta If pane is synchronized
-
- pane_index Ta #P Ta Index of pane
-
- pane_pid Ta Ta PID of first process in pane
-
- pane_start_command Ta Ta Command pane started with
-
- pane_start_path Ta Ta Path pane started with
-
- pane_tabs Ta Ta Pane tab positions
-
- pane_title Ta #T Ta Title of pane
-
- pane_tty Ta Ta Pseudo terminal of pane
-
- pane_width Ta Ta Width of pane
-
- saved_cursor_x Ta Ta Saved cursor X in pane
-
- saved_cursor_y Ta Ta Saved cursor Y in pane
-
- scroll_region_lower Ta Ta Bottom of scroll region in pane
-
- scroll_region_upper Ta Ta Top of scroll region in pane
-
- session_attached Ta Ta 1 if session attached
-
- session_created Ta Ta Integer time session created
-
- session_created_string Ta Ta String time session created
-
- session_group Ta Ta Number of session group
-
- session_grouped Ta Ta 1 if session in a group
-
- session_height Ta Ta Height of session
-
- session_id Ta Ta Unique session ID
-
- session_name Ta #S Ta Name of session
-
- session_width Ta Ta Width of session
-
- session_windows Ta Ta Number of windows in session
-
- window_active Ta Ta 1 if window active
-
- window_activity_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has activity alert
-
- window_bell_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has bell
-
- window_content_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has content alert
-
- window_find_matches Ta Ta Matched data from the find-window
-
- window_flags Ta #F Ta Window flags
-
- window_height Ta Ta Height of window
-
- window_id Ta Ta Unique window ID
-
- window_index Ta #I Ta Index of window
-
- window_layout Ta Ta Window layout description
-
- window_name Ta #W Ta Name of window
-
- window_panes Ta Ta Number of panes in window
-
- window_silence_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has silence alert
-
- window_width Ta Ta Width of window
-
- wrap_flag Ta Ta 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
.
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:
-
A command argument (such as
-n
for
new-window
or
new-session )
-
An escape sequence:
$ printf '\033kWINDOW_NAME\033\\'
-
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 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
]
-
- 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 variable.
-r
indicates the variable is to be removed from the environment before starting a
new process.
-
show-environment
[-g
]
[-t target-session
]
[variable
]
-
- Display the environment for
target-session
or the global environment with
-g
If
variable
is omitted, all variables are shown.
Variables removed from the environment are prefixed with
`-'
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 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 Ta Meaning
-
- * Ta Denotes the current window.
-
- - Ta Marks the last window (previously selected).
-
- # Ta Window is monitored and activity has been detected.
-
- ! Ta A bell has occurred in the window.
-
- + Ta Window is monitored for content and it has appeared.
-
- ~ Ta The window has been silent for the monitor-silence interval.
-
- Z Ta 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-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, 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
Po `%1'
to
`%9'
Pc .
-
confirm-before
[-p prompt
]
[-t target-client
]
command
-
- 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 supported by the
status-left
option.
This command works only from inside
.
-
display-message
[-p
]
[-c target-client
]
[-t target-pane
]
[message
]
-
- Display a message.
If
-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
Sx FORMATS
section; information is taken from
target-pane
if
-t
is given, otherwise the active pane for the session attached to
target-client
BUFFERS
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
]
-
- Put a window into buffer choice mode, where a buffer may be chosen
interactively from a list.
After a buffer is selected,
`%%'
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
Sx FORMATS
section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
- clear-history [-t target-pane
]
-
Remove and free the history for the specified pane.
- delete-buffer [-b buffer-index
]
-
Delete the buffer at
buffer-index
or the top buffer if not specified.
-
list-buffers
[-F format
]
-
- List the global buffers.
For the meaning of the
-F
flag, see the
Sx FORMATS
section.
-
load-buffer
[-b buffer-index
]
path
-
- Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from
path
-
paste-buffer
[-dpr
]
[-b buffer-index
]
[-s separator
]
[-t target-pane
]
-
- 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 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
]
path
-
- Save the contents of the specified paste buffer to
path
The
-a
option appends to rather than overwriting the file.
-
set-buffer
[-b buffer-index
]
data
-
- Set the contents of the specified buffer to
data
-
show-buffer
[-b buffer-index
]
-
- Display the contents of the specified buffer.
MISCELLANEOUS
Miscellaneous commands are as follows:
- clock-mode [-t target-pane
]
-
Display a large clock.
-
if-shell
[-b
]
[-t target-pane
]
shell-command command
[command
]
-
- 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
Sx FORMATS
section, including those relevant to
target-pane
With
-b
shell-command
is run in the background.
- lock-server
-
Lock each client individually by running the command specified by the
lock-command
option.
-
run-shell
[-b
]
[-t target-pane
]
shell-command
-
- Execute
shell-command
in the background without creating a window.
Before being executed, shell-command is expanded using the rules specified in
the
Sx FORMATS
section.
With
-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.
-
wait-for
[-L | S | U
]
channel
-
- 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
.
TERMINFO EXTENSIONS
tmux
understands some 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
:
$ printf '\033]12;red\033\\'
, Se Change 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
Csr
is set, it will be used to reset the cursor style instead
of
Cs
Em Ms
This sequence can be used by
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.
CONTROL MODE
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
]
-
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
-
The layout of a window with ID
window-id
changed.
The new layout is
window-layout
- %output pane-id value
-
A window pane produced output.
value
escapes non-printable characters 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.
- /etc/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
An Nicholas Marriott Aq Mt nicm@users.sourceforge.net
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- KEY BINDINGS
-
- COMMANDS
-
- CLIENTS AND SESSIONS
-
- WINDOWS AND PANES
-
- KEY BINDINGS
-
- OPTIONS
-
- FORMATS
-
- NAMES AND TITLES
-
- ENVIRONMENT
-
- STATUS LINE
-
- BUFFERS
-
- MISCELLANEOUS
-
- TERMINFO EXTENSIONS
-
- , Se Change the cursor style.
-
- CONTROL MODE
-
- FILES
-
- EXAMPLES
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- AUTHORS
-