Tmux

In this page I suppose that the tmux prefix is the default one that is C-B Control B, you can change the prefix, then replace B in the following page by the appropriate symbol.

In this memo the list of keys, commands, options of a command are not exhaustive. For a full list look at tmux(1).

The tmux server manage multiple sessions wich can be attached to zero, one or many clients. Each session is composed of windows which are made up of one or more panes. Each pane run a pseudo terminal.

You lanch a new tmux session by the command:

$ tmux

Which open a new window in a new session. You can interact with tmux with commands, the more usuals are bound to key shortcuts.

When you’re lost in a tmux session, you will get all the defined the keys by typing C-B ? inside the current window.

Table of Tmux Keys

Sessions

s list and switch to sessions
$ name session
d detach current client
( switch to the previous session
) switch to the next session

Windows

c create window
w choose windows from list
n next window
p previous window
<digit> go to window n° <digit>
f find window
, name window
& kill window
[ enter copy mode
Page Up enter copy mode and scroll one page up
] paste last coppied text
# list all paste buffers
= choose paste buffer and paste
? show keys inside a copy mode window
: prompt for entering commands
t show a big clock

Panes

% vertical split
" horizontal split
o next pane
q show panes numbers [*],
x kill pane
+ break pane into window
- restore pane from window
⍽ space - toggle between layouts
{ swap current pane with previous one
} swap current pane with next one
z toggle pane zoom
Up go to upper pane
Down go to lower pane
Left go to left pane
Right go to right pane
C-Up resize pane up by 1 lines
M-Up resize pane up by 5 lines
C-Down resize pane down by 1 line
M-Down resize pane down by 5 lines
C-Left resize pane left by 1 lines
M-Left resize pane left by 5 lines
C-Right resize pane right by 1 line
M-Right resize pane right by 5 lines
[*]if you type the number you go to this pane.

Copy mode

C-b [ switch to Copy mode, then q comes back to default mode.

In copy mode we can move with the arrow keys, and Page Up/Down

There are two modes for key bindings: emacs is the default, you can switch to vi mode by the command setw mode-keys vi, to make it permanent put in your configuration:

setw -g mode-keys vi

In vi mode we use h, j, k, and l to move around our buffer.

The following keys are bound in copy mode (for an exhaustive list see tmux(1) ) :

  Function vi emacs
Move by characters up k Up
down j Down
left h Left
right l Right
Move in the line Start of line 0 C-a
End of line $ C-e
Back to indentation ^ M-m
Next word w M-f
Previous word b M-b
Jump in line Jump forward <char> f<char> f<char>
Jump backward <char> F<char> F<char>
Jump next occurrence ; ;
Jump previous occurence , ,
Search Search forward / C-s
Search backward ? C-r
Search again n n
Search again in reverse N N
Move to a line Goto line : g
Bottom line L  
Middle line M M-r
Top line H M-R
Move by pages Half page up C-u M-Up
Half page down C-d M-Down
Next page C-f Page down
Previous page C-b Page up
Scroll Scroll up C-Up or C-y C-Up
Scroll down C-Down or C-e C-Down
Selection Start selection Space C-Space
Clear selection Escape C-g
Copy selection Enter M-w
Paste buffer p C-y
Delete Delete entire line d C-u
Delete to end of line D C-k
Misc Quit mode q Escape
Transpose chars   C-t

Tmux commands

All tmux commands can be either issued by a command line

$ tmux <command> <flags>

or in a tmux session by opening the command prompt with Ctrl_B :.

The default command is new-session and can be omitted, so the command

$ tmux

start a new session.

Common sessions commands

new -s sessname start new sessname session
attach attach to any open session
a attach to any open session
attach -t sessname attach to sessname session
new -As sessname attach to a session sessname, create it if necessary.
list-sessions list sessions
ls list sessions
switch-client -t sessname switch to session sessname
kill-session -a kill all sessions
kill-session -t sessname kill sessname session
kill-session -at sessname kill all sessions but sessname

Execute a shell command in a new window

You can create a new window with the command

:new-window [-d] [-n window-name] <shell-command>
  • With -d the current window in unchanged.
  • neww is an alias to new window.

Examples:

$ tmux neww 'vi ~/.tmux.conf'
$ tmux neww -d 'rsync -avz ~/documents ssh:example.org'

Synchronize panes

You can synchronize panes, i.e. send the keyboard to multiple panes with the command:

:setw synchronize-panes

Toggle it off again by repeating the command.

Execute a shell command in a pane

You can create a new pane with the command:

:split-window [-dhv] [p percentage] <shell-command>

The flag -h means horizontal split, and -v stand for vertical split; if you add d the new pane will not get the focus. splitw is an alias for split-window. The name vertical split is somewhat confusing, it means that your panes will be separated by an horizontal line, and so are stacked vertically.

It is usefull to launch a long running command in forground. Example:

$ tmux splitw -dh htop
$ tmux splitw -v -p 90 man tmux

These two command can also be entered at tmux command prompt with:

C-b:splitw -dh htop
C-b:splitw -v -p 90 man tmux

If you use often such commands, an alias makes it easier:

alias thspl "tmux splitw -dh'
alias tvspl "tmux splitw -v"
alias tmman "tmux splitw -v -p 90 man"

with the command-alias command you can also create the aliases inside the session.

$ tmux set-option -s command-alias[10] vspl='split-window -v'

and you can do either in command line

$ tmux vspl

or at command prompt

vspl

To know which cells of the array command-alias are used, and their content do:

$ tmux show-options -s command-alias

Move a window to a pane

When you want to bring an other window as pane in the current window you can use the command:

:joinp -s :2

Or you can prefer to send your window inside another one as new pane:

:joinp -t :1

The post join window to pane propose to add to tmux.conf

# pane movement
bind-key J command-prompt -p "join pane from:"  "join-pane -s '%%'"
bind-key S command-prompt -p "send pane to:"  "join-pane -t '%%'"

or

bind-key J choose-tree -w 'join-pane -h -s "%%"'
bind-key S choose-tree -w 'join-pane -t "%%"'

Mouse support

If you set the mouse option, mouse events can be bound to keys. The default is to use the mouse to select and resize panes, to copy text and to change window using the status line.

You turn on the mouse with the command for tmux 2.1 and above:

setw -g mouse on

Configurations Options:

# Mouse support - set to on if you want to use the mouse
setw -g mouse on

# split panes using | and -
bind | split-window -h
bind - split-window -v
unbind '"'
unbind %

# reload config file
# will hide the default refresh-client binding
bind r source-file /path/to/tmux.conf

# Set the default terminal mode to 256color mode
set -g default-terminalq "screen-256color"

# enable activity alerts
setw -g monitor-activity on
set -g visual-activity on

# Center the window list
set -g status-justify centre

References