Tmux

In this page I suppose that the tmux prefix is the default one that is Ctrl-B, you can change the prefix, but it is easy to translate B to any other symbol.

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

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 default session.

You can have a list of commands and keys by:

$ tmux list-keys
$ tmux list-commands

but usually you will get the keys by typing C-B ? inside a tmux session.

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

Keys

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

Windows

Keys

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 in Copy mode:
: prompt for entering commands
t show a big clock

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'

Panes

Keys

% 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.

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.

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

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-window 'join-pane -h -s "%%"'
bind-key s choose-window 'join-pane -t "%%"'

The s binding will hide the default binding for choose-tree.

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.

Keys

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

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