The tokens
`+'
and
`-'
may be followed by an offset, for example:
select-window -t:+2
In addition,
target-session
target-window
or
target-pane
may consist entirely of the token
`{mouse}'
(alternative form
`='
)
to specify the session, window or pane where the most recent mouse event occurred
(see the
Sx MOUSE SUPPORT
section)
or
`{marked}'
(alternative form
`~'
)
to specify the marked pane (see
select-pane
-m )
Sessions, window and panes are each numbered with a unique ID; session IDs are
prefixed with a
`$'
,
windows with a
`@'
,
and panes with a
`%'
These are unique and are unchanged for the life of the session, window or pane
in the
tmux
server.
The pane ID is passed to the child process of the pane in the
TMUX_PANE
environment variable.
IDs may be displayed using the
`session_id'
,
`window_id'
,
or
`pane_id'
formats (see the
Sx FORMATS
section) and the
display-message
list-sessions
list-windows
or
list-panes
commands.
shell-command
arguments are
sh(1)
commands.
This may be a single argument passed to the shell, for example:
new-window 'vi /etc/passwd'
Will run:
/bin/sh -c 'vi /etc/passwd'
Additionally, the
new-window
new-session
split-window
respawn-window
and
respawn-pane
commands allow
shell-command
to be given as multiple arguments and executed directly (without
`sh'
-c ) .
This can avoid issues with shell quoting.
For example:
$ tmux new-window vi /etc/passwd
Will run
vi(1)
directly without invoking the shell.
command
[arguments
]
refers to a
tmux
command, either passed with the command and arguments separately, for example:
bind-key F1 set-option status off
Or passed as a single string argument in
.tmux.conf
for example:
bind-key F1 { set-option status off }
Example
tmux
commands include:
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2
rename-session -tfirst newname
set-option -wt: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
[-dErx
]
[-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.
If
-x
is given, send
SIGHUP
to the parent process of the client as well as
detaching the client, typically causing it to exit.
-r
signifies the client is read-only (only keys bound to the
detach-client
or
switch-client
commands have any effect)
If no server is started,
attach-session
will attempt to start it; this will fail unless sessions are created in the
configuration file.
The
target-session
rules for
attach-session
are slightly adjusted: if
tmux
needs to select the most recently used session, it will prefer the most
recently used
unattached
session.
-c
will set the session working directory (used for new windows) to
working-directory
If
-E
is used, the
update-environment
option will not be applied.
-
detach-client
[-aP
]
[-E shell-command
]
[-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.
With
-E
run
shell-command
to replace the client.
- 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
[-aC
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- Destroy the given session, closing any windows linked to it and no other
sessions, and detaching all clients attached to it.
If
-a
is given, all sessions but the specified one is killed.
The
-C
flag clears alerts (bell, activity, or silence) in all windows linked to the
session.
-
list-clients
[-F format
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- 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
[-F format
]
[command
]
-
- List the syntax of
command
or - if omitted - 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
[-AdDEPX
]
[-c start-directory
]
[-F format
]
[-n window-name
]
[-s session-name
]
[-t group-name
]
[-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.
With
-d
the initial size comes from the global
default-size
option;
-x
and
-y
can be used to specify a different size.
`-'
uses the size of the current client if any.
If
-x
or
-y
is given, the
default-size
option is set for the session.
If run from a terminal, any
termios(4)
special characters are saved and used for new windows in the new session.
The
-A
flag makes
new-session
behave like
attach-session
if
session-name
already exists; in this case,
-D
behaves like
-d
to
attach-session
and
-X
behaves like
-x
to
attach-session
If
-t
is given, it specifies a
session group
Sessions in the same group share the same set of windows - new windows are
linked to all sessions in the group and any windows closed removed from all
sessions.
The current and previous window and any session options remain independent and
any session in a group may be killed without affecting the others.
The
group-name
argument may be:
-
the name of an existing group, in which case the new session is added to that
group;
-
the name of an existing session - the new session is added to the same group
as that session, creating a new group if necessary;
-
the name for a new group containing only the new session.
-n
and
shell-command
are invalid if
-t
is used.
The
-P
option prints information about the new session after it has been created.
By default, it uses the format
`#{session_name}:'
but a different format may be specified with
-F
If
-E
is used, the
update-environment
option will not be applied.
-
refresh-client
[-cDlLRSU
]
[-C XxY
]
[-F flags
]
[-t target-client
]
[adjustment
]
-
- 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 line.
The
-U
-D
-L
-R
and
-c
flags allow the visible portion of a window which is larger than the client
to be changed.
-U
moves the visible part up by
adjustment
rows and
-D
down,
-L
left by
adjustment
columns and
-R
right.
-c
returns to tracking the cursor automatically.
If
adjustment
is omitted, 1 is used.
Note that the visible position is a property of the client not of the
window, changing the current window in the attached session will reset
it.
-C
sets the width and height of a control client and
-F
sets a comma-separated list of flags.
Currently the only flag available is
`no-output'
to disable receiving pane output.
-l
requests the clipboard from the client using the
xterm(1)
escape sequence and stores it in a new paste buffer.
-L
-R
-U
and
-D
move the visible portion of the window left, right, up or down
by
adjustment
if the window is larger than the client.
-c
resets so that the position follows the cursor.
See the
window-size
option.
-
rename-session
[-t target-session
]
new-name
-
- Rename the session to
new-name
-
show-messages
[-JT
]
[-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
server option.
With
-t
display the log for
target-client
-J
and
-T
show debugging information about jobs and terminals.
-
source-file
[-nqv
]
path
...
-
- Execute commands from one or more files specified by
path
(which may be
glob(7)
patterns).
If
-q
is given, no error will be returned if
path
does not exist.
With
-n
the file is parsed but no commands are executed.
-v
shows the parsed commands and line numbers if possible.
- start-server
-
Start the
tmux
server, if not already running, without creating any sessions.
Note that as by default the
tmux
server will exit with no sessions, this is only useful if a session is created in
~/.tmux.conf
exit-empty
is turned off, or another command is run as part of the same command sequence.
For example:
$ tmux start \; show -g
-
suspend-client
[-t target-client
]
-
- Suspend a client by sending
SIGTSTP
(tty stop).
-
switch-client
[-ElnprZ
]
[-c target-client
]
[-t target-session
]
[-T key-table
]
-
- Switch the current session for client
target-client
to
target-session
As a special case,
-t
may refer to a pane (a target that contains
`:'
,
`.'
or
`%'
) ,
to change session, window and pane.
In that case,
-Z
keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed.
If
-l
-n
or
-p
is used, the client is moved to the last, next or previous session
respectively.
-r
toggles whether a client is read-only (see the
attach-session
command).
If
-E
is used,
update-environment
option will not be applied.
-T
sets the client's key table; the next key from the client will be interpreted
from
key-table
This may be used to configure multiple prefix keys, or to bind commands to
sequences of keys.
For example, to make typing
`abc'
run the
list-keys
command:
bind-key -Ttable2 c list-keys
bind-key -Ttable1 b switch-client -Ttable2
bind-key -Troot a switch-client -Ttable1
WINDOWS AND PANES
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.
By default, a
tmux
pane permits direct access to the terminal contained in the pane.
A pane may also be put into one of several modes:
- 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.
- View mode, which is like copy mode but is entered when a command that produces
-
output, such as
list-keys
is executed from a key binding.
- Choose mode, which allows an item to be chosen from a list.
-
This may be a client, a session or window or pane, or a buffer.
This mode is entered with the
choose-buffer
choose-client
and
choose-tree
commands.
In copy mode an indicator is displayed in the top-right corner of the pane with
the current position and the number of lines in the history.
Commands are sent to copy mode using the
-X
flag to the
send-keys
command.
When a key is pressed, copy mode automatically uses one of two key tables,
depending on the
mode-keys
option:
copy-mode
for emacs, or
copy-mode-vi
for vi.
Key tables may be viewed with the
list-keys
command.
The following commands are supported in copy mode:
- Command Ta vi Ta emacs
-
- append-selection Ta Ta
-
- append-selection-and-cancel Ta A Ta
-
- back-to-indentation Ta ^ Ta M-m
-
- begin-selection Ta Space Ta C-Space
-
- bottom-line Ta L Ta
-
- cancel Ta q Ta Escape
-
- clear-selection Ta Escape Ta C-g
-
- copy-end-of-line [<prefix>] Ta D Ta C-k
-
- copy-line [<prefix>] Ta Ta
-
- copy-pipe <command> [<prefix>] Ta Ta
-
- copy-pipe-no-clear <command> [<prefix>] Ta Ta
-
- copy-pipe-and-cancel <command> [<prefix>] Ta Ta
-
- copy-selection [<prefix>] Ta Ta
-
- copy-selection-no-clear [<prefix>] Ta Ta
-
- copy-selection-and-cancel [<prefix>] Ta Enter Ta M-w
-
- cursor-down Ta j Ta Down
-
- cursor-down-and-cancel Ta Ta
-
- cursor-left Ta h Ta Left
-
- cursor-right Ta l Ta Right
-
- cursor-up Ta k Ta Up
-
- end-of-line Ta $ Ta C-e
-
- goto-line <line> Ta : Ta g
-
- halfpage-down Ta C-d Ta M-Down
-
- halfpage-down-and-cancel Ta Ta
-
- halfpage-up Ta C-u Ta M-Up
-
- history-bottom Ta G Ta M->
-
- history-top Ta g Ta M-<
-
- jump-again Ta ; Ta ;
-
- jump-backward <to> Ta F Ta F
-
- jump-forward <to> Ta f Ta f
-
- jump-reverse Ta , Ta ,
-
- jump-to-backward <to> Ta T Ta
-
- jump-to-forward <to> Ta t Ta
-
- middle-line Ta M Ta M-r
-
- next-matching-bracket Ta % Ta M-C-f
-
- next-paragraph Ta } Ta M-}
-
- next-space Ta W Ta
-
- next-space-end Ta E Ta
-
- next-word Ta w Ta
-
- next-word-end Ta e Ta M-f
-
- other-end Ta o Ta
-
- page-down Ta C-f Ta PageDown
-
- page-down-and-cancel Ta Ta
-
- page-up Ta C-b Ta PageUp
-
- previous-matching-bracket Ta Ta M-C-b
-
- previous-paragraph Ta { Ta M-{
-
- previous-space Ta B Ta
-
- previous-word Ta b Ta M-b
-
- rectangle-toggle Ta v Ta R
-
- scroll-down Ta C-e Ta C-Down
-
- scroll-down-and-cancel Ta Ta
-
- scroll-up Ta C-y Ta C-Up
-
- search-again Ta n Ta n
-
- search-backward <for> Ta ? Ta
-
- search-backward-incremental <for> Ta Ta C-r
-
- search-backward-text <for> Ta Ta
-
- search-forward <for> Ta / Ta
-
- search-forward-incremental <for> Ta Ta C-s
-
- search-forward-text <for> Ta Ta
-
- search-reverse Ta N Ta N
-
- select-line Ta V Ta
-
- select-word Ta Ta
-
- start-of-line Ta 0 Ta C-a
-
- stop-selection Ta Ta
-
- top-line Ta H Ta M-R
-
The search commands come in several varieties:
`search-forward'
and
`search-backward'
search for a regular expression;
the
`-text'
variants search for a plain text string rather than a regular expression;
`-incremental'
perform an incremental search and expect to be used with the
-i
flag to the
command-prompt
command.
`search-again'
repeats the last search and
`search-reverse'
does the same but reverses the direction (forward becomes backward and backward
becomes forward).
Copy commands may take an optional buffer prefix argument which is used
to generate the buffer name (the default is
`buffer'
so buffers are named
`buffer0'
,
`buffer1'
and so on).
Pipe commands take a command argument which is the command to which the
copied text is piped.
The
`-and-cancel'
variants of some commands exit copy mode after they have completed (for copy
commands) or when the cursor reaches the bottom (for scrolling commands).
`-no-clear'
variants do not clear the selection.
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.
The synopsis for the
copy-mode
command is:
-
copy-mode
[-eHMqu
]
[-t target-pane
]
-
- Enter copy mode.
The
-u
option scrolls one page up.
-M
begins a mouse drag (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding, see
Sx MOUSE SUPPORT ) .
-H
hides the position indicator in the top right.
-q
cancels copy mode and any other modes.
-e
specifies that scrolling to the bottom of the history (to the visible screen)
should exit copy mode.
While in copy mode, pressing a key other than those used for scrolling will
disable this behaviour.
This is intended to allow fast scrolling through a pane's history, for
example with:
bind PageUp copy-mode -eu
A number of preset arrangements of panes are available, these are called layouts.
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
]
[-n window-name
]
[-s src-pane
]
[-t dst-window
]
-
- Break
src-pane
off from its containing window to make it the only pane in
dst-window
If
-d
is given, the new window does not become the current window.
The
-P
option prints information about the new window after it has been created.
By default, it uses the format
`#{session_name}:#{window_index}'
but a different format may be specified with
-F
-
capture-pane
[-aepPqCJN
]
[-b buffer-name
]
[-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.
-N
preserves trailing spaces at each line's end and
-J
preserves trailing spaces and joins any wrapped lines.
-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.
`-'
to
-S
is the start of the history and to
-E
the end of the visible pane.
The default is to capture only the visible contents of the pane.
-
choose-client
[-NrZ
]
[-F format
]
[-f filter
]
[-O sort-order
]
[-t target-pane
]
[template
]
-
- Put a pane into client mode, allowing a client to be selected interactively from
a list.
-Z
zooms the pane.
The following keys may be used in client mode:
- Key Ta Function
-
- Enter Ta Choose selected client
-
- Up Ta Select previous client
-
- Down Ta Select next client
-
- C-s Ta Search by name
-
- n Ta Repeat last search
-
- t Ta Toggle if client is tagged
-
- T Ta Tag no clients
-
- C-t Ta Tag all clients
-
- d Ta Detach selected client
-
- D Ta Detach tagged clients
-
- x Ta Detach and HUP selected client
-
- X Ta Detach and HUP tagged clients
-
- z Ta Suspend selected client
-
- Z Ta Suspend tagged clients
-
- f Ta Enter a format to filter items
-
- O Ta Change sort field
-
- r Ta Reverse sort order
-
- v Ta Toggle preview
-
- q Ta Exit mode
-
After a client is chosen,
`%%'
is replaced by the client name in
template
and the result executed as a command.
If
template
is not given, "detach-client -t '%%'" is used.
-O
specifies the initial sort field: one of
`name'
,
`size'
,
`creation'
,
or
`activity'
-r
reverses the sort order.
-f
specifies an initial filter: the filter is a format - if it evaluates to zero,
the item in the list is not shown, otherwise it is shown.
If a filter would lead to an empty list, it is ignored.
-F
specifies the format for each item in the list.
-N
starts without the preview.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
-
choose-tree
[-GNrswZ
]
[-F format
]
[-f filter
]
[-O sort-order
]
[-t target-pane
]
[template
]
-
- Put a pane into tree mode, where a session, window or pane may be chosen
interactively from a list.
-s
starts with sessions collapsed and
-w
with windows collapsed.
-Z
zooms the pane.
The following keys may be used in tree mode:
- Key Ta Function
-
- Enter Ta Choose selected item
-
- Up Ta Select previous item
-
- Down Ta Select next item
-
- x Ta Kill selected item
-
- X Ta Kill tagged items
-
- < Ta Scroll list of previews left
-
- > Ta Scroll list of previews right
-
- C-s Ta Search by name
-
- n Ta Repeat last search
-
- t Ta Toggle if item is tagged
-
- T Ta Tag no items
-
- C-t Ta Tag all items
-
- : Ta Run a command for each tagged item
-
- f Ta Enter a format to filter items
-
- O Ta Change sort field
-
- r Ta Reverse sort order
-
- v Ta Toggle preview
-
- q Ta Exit mode
-
After a session, window or pane is chosen,
`%%'
is replaced by the target in
template
and the result executed as a command.
If
template
is not given, "switch-client -t '%%'" is used.
-O
specifies the initial sort field: one of
`index'
,
`name'
,
or
`time'
-r
reverses the sort order.
-f
specifies an initial filter: the filter is a format - if it evaluates to zero,
the item in the list is not shown, otherwise it is shown.
If a filter would lead to an empty list, it is ignored.
-F
specifies the format for each item in the tree.
-N
starts without the preview.
-G
includes all sessions in any session groups in the tree rather than only the
first.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
-
display-panes
[-b
]
[-d duration
]
[-t target-client
]
[template
]
-
- Display a visible indicator of each pane shown by
target-client
See the
display-panes-colour
and
display-panes-active-colour
session options.
The indicator is closed when a key is pressed or
duration
milliseconds have passed.
If
-d
is not given,
display-panes-time
is used.
A duration of zero means the indicator stays until a key is pressed.
While the indicator is on screen, a pane may be chosen with the
`0'
to
`9'
keys, which will cause
template
to be executed as a command with
`%%'
substituted by the pane ID.
The default
template
is "select-pane -t '%%'".
With
-b
other commands are not blocked from running until the indicator is closed.
-
find-window
[-rCNTZ
]
[-t target-pane
]
match-string
-
- Search for a
fnmatch(3)
pattern or, with
-r
regular expression
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
-Z
zooms the pane.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
-
join-pane
[-bdfhv
]
[-l size
]
[-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
If
-s
is omitted and a marked pane is present (see
select-pane
-m )
the marked pane is used rather than the current pane.
-
kill-pane
[-a
]
[-t target-pane
]
-
- 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
[-deZ
]
[-t target-window
]
-
- Select the last (previously selected) pane.
-Z
keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed.
-e
enables or
-d
disables input to the 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
[-adk
]
[-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.
With
-a
the window is moved to the next index up (following windows
are moved if necessary).
If
-k
is given and
dst-window
exists, it is killed, otherwise an error is generated.
If
-d
is given, the newly linked window is not selected.
-
list-panes
[-as
]
[-F format
]
[-t target
]
-
- 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
]
[-s src-pane
]
[-t dst-pane
]
-
- Like
join-pane
but
src-pane
and
dst-pane
may belong to the same window.
-
move-window
[-ardk
]
[-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
]
[-e environment
]
[-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.
-e
takes the form
`VARIABLE=value'
and sets an environment variable for the newly created window; it may be
specified multiple times.
The
TERM
environment variable must be set to
`screen'
or
`tmux'
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 or by the
-e
option.
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
[-I[[-t target-pane
]
]
[shell-command
]
-
- Pipe output sent by the program in
target-pane
to a shell command or vice versa.
A pane may only be connected 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.
-I
and
-O
specify which of the
shell-command
output streams are connected to the pane:
with
-I
stdout is connected (so anything
shell-command
prints is written to the pane as if it were typed);
with
-O
stdin is connected (so any output in the pane is piped to
shell-command )
Both may be used together and if neither are specified,
-O
is used.
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
[-DLMRUZ
]
[-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 columns (the default is 1);
-x
and
-y
may be a given as a number of lines or columns or followed by
`%'
for a percentage of the window size (for example
`-x'
10% ) .
With
-Z
the active pane is toggled between zoomed (occupying the whole of the window)
and unzoomed (its normal position in the layout).
-M
begins mouse resizing (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding, see
Sx MOUSE SUPPORT ) .
-
resize-window
[-aADLRU
]
[-t target-window
]
[-x width
]
[-y height
]
[adjustment
]
-
- Resize a window, 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).
-A
sets the size of the largest session containing the window;
-a
the size of the smallest.
This command will automatically set
window-size
to manual in the window options.
-
respawn-pane
[-k
]
[-c start-directory
]
[-e environment
]
[-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.
-c
specifies a new working directory for the pane.
The
-e
option has the same meaning as for the
new-window
command.
-
respawn-window
[-k
]
[-c start-directory
]
[-e environment
]
[-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.
-c
specifies a new working directory for the window.
The
-e
option has the same meaning as for the
new-window
command.
-
rotate-window
[-DUZ
]
[-t target-window
]
-
- Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either upward (numerically
lower) with
-U
or downward (numerically higher).
-Z
keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed.
-
select-layout
[-Enop
]
[-t target-pane
]
[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.
-o
applies the last set layout if possible (undoes the most recent layout change).
-E
spreads the current pane and any panes next to it out evenly.
-
select-pane
[-DdeLlMmRUZ
]
[-T title
]
[-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.
-Z
keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed.
-l
is the same as using the
last-pane
command.
-e
enables or
-d
disables input to the pane.
-T
sets the pane title.
-m
and
-M
are used to set and clear the
marked pane
There is one marked pane at a time, setting a new marked pane clears the last.
The marked pane is the default target for
-s
to
join-pane
swap-pane
and
swap-window
-
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
[-bdfhIvP
]
[-c start-directory
]
[-e environment
]
[-l size
]
[-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
option specifies the size of the new pane in lines (for vertical split) or in
columns (for horizontal split);
size
may be followed by
`%'
to specify a percentage of the available space.
The
-b
option causes the new pane to be created to the left of or above
target-pane
The
-f
option creates a new pane spanning the full window height (with
-h
or full window width (with
-v )
instead of splitting the active pane.
An empty
shell-command
('') will create a pane with no command running in it.
Output can be sent to such a pane with the
display-message
command.
The
-I
flag (if
shell-command
is not specified or empty)
will create an empty pane and forward any output from stdin to it.
For example:
$ make 2>&1|tmux splitw -dI &
All other options have the same meaning as for the
new-window
command.
-
swap-pane
[-dDUZ
]
[-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 and
-Z
keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed.
If
-s
is omitted and a marked pane is present (see
select-pane
-m )
the marked pane is used rather than the current pane.
-
swap-window
[-d
]
[-s src-window
]
[-t dst-window
]
-
- 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
If
-d
is given, the new window does not become the current window.
If
-s
is omitted and a marked pane is present (see
select-pane
-m )
the window containing the marked pane is used rather than the current window.
-
unlink-window
[-k
]
[-t target-window
]
-
- Unlink
target-window
Unless
-k
is given, a window may be unlinked only if it is linked to multiple sessions -
windows may not be linked to no sessions;
if
-k
is specified and the window is linked to only one session, it is unlinked and
destroyed.
KEY BINDINGS
tmux
allows a command to be bound to most keys, with or without a prefix key.
When specifying keys, most represent themselves (for example
`A'
to
`Z'
) .
Ctrl keys may be prefixed with
`C-'
or
`^'
,
and Alt (meta) with
`M-'
In addition, the following special key names are accepted:
Up ,
Down
Left
Right
BSpace
BTab
DC
(Delete),
End
Enter
Escape
F1
to
F12
Home
IC
(Insert),
NPage/PageDown/PgDn ,
PPage/PageUp/PgUp ,
Space
and
Tab
Note that to bind the
`'
or
`''
keys, quotation marks are necessary, for example:
bind-key '"' split-window
bind-key "'" new-window
A command bound to the
Any
key will execute for all keys which do not have a more specific binding.
Commands related to key bindings are as follows:
-
bind-key
[-nr
]
[-N note
]
[-T key-table
]
key command [arguments
]
-
- Bind key
key
to
command
Keys are bound in a key table.
By default (without -T), the key is bound in
the
prefix
key table.
This table is used for keys pressed after the prefix key (for example,
by default
`c'
is bound to
new-window
in the
prefix
table, so
`C-b'
c
creates a new window).
The
root
table is used for keys pressed without the prefix key: binding
`c'
to
new-window
in the
root
table (not recommended) means a plain
`c'
will create a new window.
-n
is an alias
for
-T root
Keys may also be bound in custom key tables and the
switch-client
-T
command used to switch to them from a key binding.
The
-r
flag indicates this key may repeat, see the
repeat-time
option.
-N
attaches a note to the key (shown with
list-keys
-N )
To view the default bindings and possible commands, see the
list-keys
command.
-
list-keys
[-1aN
]
[-P prefix-string -T key-table
]
[key
]
-
- List key bindings.
There are two forms: the default lists keys as
bind-key
commands;
-N
lists only keys with attached notes and shows only the key and note for each
key.
With the default form, all key tables are listed by default.
-T
lists only keys in
key-table
With the
-N
form, only keys in the
root
and
prefix
key tables are listed by default;
-T
also lists only keys in
key-table
-P
specifies a prefix to print before each key and
-1
lists only the first matching key.
-a
lists the command for keys that do have a note rather than skipping them.
-
send-keys
[-FHlMRX
]
[-N repeat-count
]
[-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.
All arguments are sent sequentially from first to last.
The
-l
flag disables key name lookup and processes the keys as literal UTF-8
characters.
The
-H
flag expects each key to be a hexadecimal number for an ASCII character.
The
-R
flag causes the terminal state to be reset.
-M
passes through a mouse event (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding, see
Sx MOUSE SUPPORT ) .
-X
is used to send a command into copy mode - see
the
Sx WINDOWS AND PANES
section.
-N
specifies a repeat count and
-F
expands formats in arguments where appropriate.
-
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
[-an
]
[-T key-table
]
key
-
- Unbind the command bound to
key
-n
and
-T
are the same as for
bind-key
If
-a
is present, all key bindings are removed.
OPTIONS
The appearance and behaviour of
tmux
may be modified by changing the value of various options.
There are four types of option:
server options
session options
window options
and
pane options
The
tmux
server has a set of global server options which do not apply to any particular
window or session or pane.
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 a set of pane
options to each pane.
Pane options inherit from window options.
This means any pane option may be set as a window option to apply the option to
all panes in the window without the option set, for example these commands will
set the background colour to red for all panes except pane 0:
set -w window-style bg=red
set -pt:.0 window-style bg=blue
There is also a set of global window options from which any unset window or
pane options are inherited.
Window and pane options are altered with
set-option
-w
and
-p
commands and displayed with
show-option
-w
and
-p
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
[-aFgopqsuw
]
[-t target-pane
]
option value
-
- Set a pane option with
-p
a window option with
-w
a server option with
-s
otherwise a session option.
If the option is not a user option,
-w
or
-s
may be unnecessary -
tmux
will infer the type from the option name, assuming
-w
for pane options.
If
-g
is given, the global session or window option is set.
-F
expands formats in the option value.
The
-u
flag unsets an option, so a session inherits the option from the global
options (or with
-g
restores a global option to the default).
The
-o
flag prevents setting an option that is already set and the
-q
flag suppresses errors about unknown or ambiguous options.
With
-a
and if the option expects a string or a style,
value
is appended to the existing setting.
For example:
set -g status-left "foo"
set -ag status-left "bar"
Will result in
`foobar'
And:
set -g status-style "bg=red"
set -ag status-style "fg=blue"
Will result in a red background
and
blue foreground.
Without
-a
the result would be the default background and a blue foreground.
-
show-options
[-AgHpqsvw
]
[-t target-pane
]
[option
]
-
- Show the pane options (or a single option if
option
is provided) with
-p
the window options with
-w
the server options with
-s
otherwise the session options.
If the option is not a user option,
-w
or
-s
may be unnecessary -
tmux
will infer the type from the option name, assuming
-w
for pane options.
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.
-H
includes hooks (omitted by default).
-A
includes options inherited from a parent set of options, such options are
marked with an asterisk.
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:
- backspace key
-
Set the key sent by
tmux
for backspace.
- 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.
-
command-alias[]
name=value
-
- This is an array of custom aliases for commands.
If an unknown command matches
name
it is replaced with
value
For example, after:
set -s command-alias[100] zoom='resize-pane -Z'
Using:
zoom -t:.1
Is equivalent to:
resize-pane -Z -t:.1
Note that aliases are expanded when a command is parsed rather than when it is
executed, so binding an alias with
bind-key
will bind the expanded form.
- 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'
,
`tmux'
or a derivative of them.
- escape-time time
-
Set the time in milliseconds for which
tmux
waits after an escape is input to determine if it is part of a function or meta
key sequences.
The default is 500 milliseconds.
-
exit-empty
[on | off
]
-
- If enabled (the default), the server will exit when there are no active
sessions.
-
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.
- history-file path
-
If not empty, a file to which
tmux
will write command prompt history on exit and load it from on start.
- message-limit number
-
Set the number of error or information messages to save in the message log for
each client.
The default is 100.
-
set-clipboard
[on | external | off
]
-
- Attempt to set the terminal clipboard content using the
xterm(1)
escape sequence, if there is an
entry in the
terminfo(5)
description (see the
Sx TERMINFO EXTENSIONS
section).
If set to
on
tmux
will both accept the escape sequence to create a buffer and attempt to set
the terminal clipboard.
If set to
external
tmux
will attempt to set the terminal clipboard but ignore attempts
by applications to set
tmux
buffers.
If
off
tmux
will neither accept the clipboard escape sequence nor attempt to set the
clipboard.
Note that this feature needs to be enabled in
xterm(1)
by setting the resource:
disallowedWindowOps: 20,21,SetXprop
Or changing this property from the
xterm(1)
interactive menu when required.
- terminal-overrides[] string
-
Allow terminal descriptions read using
terminfo(5)
to be overridden.
Each entry is 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 matching
`rxvt*'
:
"rxvt*:clear=\e[H\e[2J"
The terminal entry value is passed through
strunvis(3)
before interpretation.
- user-keys[] key
-
Set list of user-defined key escape sequences.
Each item is associated with a key named
`User0'
,
`User1'
,
and so on.
For example:
set -s user-keys[0] "\e[5;30012~"
bind User0 resize-pane -L 3
Available session options are:
-
activity-action
[any | none | current | other
]
-
- Set action on window activity when
monitor-activity
is on.
any
means activity in any window linked to a session causes a bell or message
(depending on
visual-activity
in the current window of that session,
none
means all activity is ignored (equivalent to
monitor-activity
being off),
current
means only activity in windows other than the current window are ignored and
other
means activity in the current window is ignored but not those in other windows.
- 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 | other
]
-
- Set action on a bell in a window when
monitor-bell
is on.
The values are the same as those for
activity-action
- 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-size XxY
-
Set the default size of new windows when the
window-size
option is set to manual or when a session is created with
new-session
-d
The value is the width and height separated by an
`x'
character.
The default is 80x24.
-
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.
If set to 0, messages and indicators are displayed until a key is pressed.
time
is in milliseconds.
- history-limit lines
-
Set the maximum number of lines held in window history.
This setting applies only to new windows - existing window histories are not
resized and retain the limit at the point they were created.
- key-table key-table
-
Set the default key table to
key-table
instead of
root
- lock-after-time number
-
Lock the session (like the
lock-session
command) after
number
seconds of inactivity.
The default is not to lock (set to 0).
- lock-command shell-command
-
Command to run when locking each client.
The default is to run
lock(1)
with
-np
- message-command-style style
-
Set status line message command style.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
- message-style style
-
Set status line message style.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
-
mouse
[on | off
]
-
- If on,
tmux
captures the mouse and allows mouse events to be bound as key bindings.
See the
Sx MOUSE SUPPORT
section for details.
- prefix key
-
Set the key accepted as a prefix key.
In addition to the standard keys described under
Sx KEY BINDINGS ,
prefix
can be set to the special key
`None'
to set no prefix.
- prefix2 key
-
Set a secondary key accepted as a prefix key.
Like
prefix
prefix2
can be set to
`None'
-
renumber-windows
[on | off
]
-
- If on, when a window is closed in a session, automatically renumber the other
windows in numerical order.
This 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-titles
[on | off
]
-
- Attempt to set the client terminal title using the
tsl
and
fsl
terminfo(5)
entries if they exist.
tmux
automatically sets these to the \e]0;...\007 sequence if
the terminal appears to be
xterm(1).
This option is off by default.
- set-titles-string string
-
String used to set the client terminal title if
set-titles
is on.
Formats are expanded, see the
Sx FORMATS
section.
-
silence-action
[any | none | current | other
]
-
- Set action on window silence when
monitor-silence
is on.
The values are the same as those for
activity-action
-
status
[off | on | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
]
-
- Show or hide the status line or specify its size.
Using
on
gives a status line one row in height;
2
3
4
or
5
more rows.
- status-format[] format
-
Specify the format to be used for each line of the status line.
The default builds the top status line from the various individual status
options below.
- status-interval interval
-
Update the status line 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 line.
string
will be passed through
strftime(3).
Also see the
Sx FORMATS
and
Sx STYLES
sections.
For details on how the names and titles can be set see the
Sx NAMES AND TITLES
section.
Examples are:
#(sysctl vm.loadavg)
#[fg=yellow,bold]#(apm -l)%%#[default] [#S]
The default is
`[#S]'
.
- status-left-length length
-
Set the maximum
length
of the left component of the status line.
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
Sx STYLES
section.
-
status-position
[top | bottom
]
-
- Set the position of the status line.
- status-right string
-
Display
string
to the right of the status line.
By default, the current pane title in double quotes, the date and the time
are shown.
As with
status-left
string
will be passed to
strftime(3)
and character pairs are replaced.
- status-right-length length
-
Set the maximum
length
of the right component of the status line.
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
Sx STYLES
section.
- status-style style
-
Set status line style.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
- update-environment[] variable
-
Set 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).
-
visual-activity
[on | off | both
]
-
- If on, display a message instead of sending a bell when activity occurs in a
window for which the
monitor-activity
window option is enabled.
If set to both, a bell and a message are produced.
-
visual-bell
[on | off | both
]
-
- If on, a message is shown on a bell in a window for which the
monitor-bell
window option is enabled instead of it being passed through to the
terminal (which normally makes a sound).
If set to both, a bell and a message are produced.
Also see the
bell-action
option.
-
visual-silence
[on | off | both
]
-
- If
monitor-silence
is enabled, prints a message after the interval has expired on a given window
instead of sending a bell.
If set to both, a bell and a message are produced.
- 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
`-_@ .'
Available 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 or largest session
(see the
window-size
option) for which it is the current window, rather than the session to
which it is attached.
The window may resize when the current window is changed on another
session; this option is good for full-screen programs which support
SIGWINCH
and poor for interactive programs such as shells.
-
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-option -wg automatic-rename off
- automatic-rename-format format
-
The format (see
Sx FORMATS )
used when the
automatic-rename
option is enabled.
- clock-mode-colour colour
-
Set clock colour.
-
clock-mode-style
[12 | 24
]
-
- Set clock hour format.
- 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 mode.
The default is emacs, unless
VISUAL
or
EDITOR
contains
`vi'
- mode-style style
-
Set window modes style.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
-
monitor-activity
[on | off
]
-
- Monitor for activity in the window.
Windows with activity are highlighted in the status line.
-
monitor-bell
[on | off
]
-
- Monitor for a bell in the window.
Windows with a bell are highlighted in the status line.
-
monitor-silence
[interval
]
-
- Monitor for silence (no activity) in the window within
interval
seconds.
Windows that have been silent for the interval are highlighted in the
status line.
An interval of zero disables the monitoring.
- other-pane-height height
-
Set the height of the other panes (not the main pane) in the
main-horizontal
layout.
If this option is set to 0 (the default), it will have no effect.
If both the
main-pane-height
and
other-pane-height
options are set, the main pane will grow taller to make the other panes the
specified height, but will never shrink to do so.
- other-pane-width width
-
Like
other-pane-height
but set the width of other panes in the
main-vertical
layout.
- pane-active-border-style style
-
Set the pane border style for the currently active pane.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
Attributes are ignored.
- pane-base-index index
-
Like
base-index
but set the starting index for pane numbers.
- pane-border-format format
-
Set the text shown in pane border status lines.
-
pane-border-status
[off | top | bottom
]
-
- Turn pane border status lines off or set their position.
- pane-border-style style
-
Set the pane border style for panes aside from the active pane.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
Attributes are ignored.
-
synchronize-panes
[on | off
]
-
- Duplicate input to any pane to all other panes in the same window (only
for panes that are not in any special mode).
- window-status-activity-style style
-
Set status line style for windows with an activity alert.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
- window-status-bell-style style
-
Set status line style for windows with a bell alert.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
- 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
Sx STYLES
section.
- window-status-format string
-
Set the format in which the window is displayed in the status line window list.
See the
Sx FORMATS
and
Sx STYLES
sections.
- window-status-last-style style
-
Set status line style for the last active window.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
- 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
Sx STYLES
section.
-
window-size
largest | smallest | manual | latest
-
- Configure how
tmux
determines the window size.
If set to
largest
the size of the largest attached session is used; if
smallest
the size of the smallest.
If
manual
the size of a new window is set from the
default-size
option and windows are resized automatically.
With
latest
tmux
uses the size of the client that had the most recent activity.
See also the
resize-window
command and the
aggressive-resize
option.
-
wrap-search
[on | off
]
-
- If this option is set, searches will wrap around the end of the pane contents.
The default is on.
-
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.
Available pane options are:
-
allow-rename
[on | off
]
-
- Allow programs in the pane to change the window name using a terminal escape
sequence (\ek...\e\\).
-
alternate-screen
[on | off
]
-
- This option configures whether programs running inside the pane 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.
-
remain-on-exit
[on | off
]
-
- A pane with this flag set is not destroyed when the program running in it
exits.
The pane may be reactivated with the
respawn-pane
command.
- window-active-style style
-
Set the pane style when it is the active pane.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
- window-style style
-
Set the pane style.
For how to specify
style
see the
Sx STYLES
section.
HOOKS
tmux
allows commands to run on various triggers, called
hooks
Most
tmux
commands have an
after
hook and there are a number of hooks not associated with commands.
Hooks are stored as array options, members of the array are executed in
order when the hook is triggered.
Hooks may be configured with the
set-hook
or
set-option
commands and displayed with
show-hooks
or
show-options
-H
The following two commands are equivalent:
set-hook -g pane-mode-changed[42] 'set -g status-left-style bg=red'
set-option -g pane-mode-changed[42] 'set -g status-left-style bg=red'
Setting a hook without specifying an array index clears the hook and sets the
first member of the array.
A command's after
hook is run after it completes, except when the command is run as part of a hook
itself.
They are named with an
`after-'
prefix.
For example, the following command adds a hook to select the even-vertical
layout after every
split-window
set-hook -g after-split-window "selectl even-vertical"
All the notifications listed in the
Sx CONTROL MODE
section are hooks (without any arguments), except
%exit
The following additional hooks are available:
- alert-activity
-
Run when a window has activity.
See
monitor-activity
- alert-bell
-
Run when a window has received a bell.
See
monitor-bell
- alert-silence
-
Run when a window has been silent.
See
monitor-silence
- client-attached
-
Run when a client is attached.
- client-detached
-
Run when a client is detached
- client-resized
-
Run when a client is resized.
- client-session-changed
-
Run when a client's attached session is changed.
- pane-died
-
Run when the program running in a pane exits, but
remain-on-exit
is on so the pane has not closed.
- pane-exited
-
Run when the program running in a pane exits.
- pane-focus-in
-
Run when the focus enters a pane, if the
focus-events
option is on.
- pane-focus-out
-
Run when the focus exits a pane, if the
focus-events
option is on.
- pane-set-clipboard
-
Run when the terminal clipboard is set using the
xterm(1)
escape sequence.
- session-created
-
Run when a new session created.
- session-closed
-
Run when a session closed.
- session-renamed
-
Run when a session is renamed.
- window-linked
-
Run when a window is linked into a session.
- window-renamed
-
Run when a window is renamed.
- window-unlinked
-
Run when a window is unlinked from a session.
Hooks are managed with these commands:
-
set-hook
[-agRu [-t target-session
]
]
hook-name
command
-
- Without
-R
sets (or with
-u
unsets) hook
hook-name
to
command
If
-g
is given,
hook-name
is added to the global list of hooks, otherwise it is added to the session
hooks (for
target-session
with
-t )
-a
appends to a hook.
Like options, session hooks inherit from the global ones.
With
-R
run
hook-name
immediately.
-
show-hooks
[-g
]
[-t target-session
]
-
- Shows the global list of hooks with
-g
otherwise the session hooks.
MOUSE SUPPORT
If the
mouse
option is on (the default is off),
tmux
allows mouse events to be bound as keys.
The name of each key is made up of a mouse event (such as
`MouseUp1'
)
and a location suffix, one of the following:
- Pane Ta the contents of a pane
-
- Border Ta a pane border
-
- Status Ta the status line window list
-
- StatusLeft Ta the left part of the status line
-
- StatusRight Ta the right part of the status line
-
- StatusDefault Ta any other part of the status line
-
The following mouse events are available:
- WheelUp Ta WheelDown Ta
-
- MouseDown1 Ta MouseUp1 Ta MouseDrag1 Ta MouseDragEnd1
-
- MouseDown2 Ta MouseUp2 Ta MouseDrag2 Ta MouseDragEnd2
-
- MouseDown3 Ta MouseUp3 Ta MouseDrag3 Ta MouseDragEnd3
-
- DoubleClick1 Ta DoubleClick2 Ta DoubleClick3
-
- TripleClick1 Ta TripleClick2 Ta TripleClick3
-
Each should be suffixed with a location, for example
`MouseDown1Status'
The special token
`{mouse}'
or
`='
may be used as
target-window
or
target-pane
in commands bound to mouse key bindings.
It resolves to the window or pane over which the mouse event took place
(for example, the window in the status line over which button 1 was released for a
`MouseUp1Status'
binding, or the pane over which the wheel was scrolled for a
`WheelDownPane'
binding).
The
send-keys
-M
flag may be used to forward a mouse event to a pane.
The default key bindings allow the mouse to be used to select and resize panes,
to copy text and to change window using the status line.
These take effect if the
mouse
option is turned on.
FORMATS
Certain commands accept the
-F
flag with a
format
argument.
This is a string which controls the output format of the command.
Format variables are enclosed in
`#{'
and
`}'
,
for example
`#{session_name}'
The possible variables are listed in the table below, or the name of a
tmux
option may be used for an option's value.
Some variables have a shorter alias such as
`#S'
;
`##'
is replaced by a single
`#'
,
`#,'
by a
`,'
and
`#}'
by a
`}'
Conditionals are available 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, or
`#{?automatic-rename,yes,no}'
will include
`yes'
if
automatic-rename
is enabled, or
`no'
if not.
Conditionals can be nested arbitrarily.
Inside a conditional,
`,'
and
`}'
must be escaped as
`#,'
and
`#}'
,
unless they are part of a
`#{...}'
replacement.
For example:
#{?pane_in_mode,#[fg=white#,bg=red],#[fg=red#,bg=white]}#W .
String comparisons may be expressed by prefixing two comma-separated
alternatives by
`=='
,
`!='
,
`<'
,
`>'
,
`<='
or
`>='
and a colon.
For example
`#{==:#{host},myhost}'
will be replaced by
`1'
if running on
`myhost'
,
otherwise by
`0'
`||'
and
`&&'
evaluate to true if either or both of two comma-separated alternatives are
true, for example
`#{||:#{pane_in_mode},#{alternate_on}}'
An
`m'
specifies an
fnmatch(3)
or regular expression comparison.
The first argument is the pattern and the second the string to compare.
An optional third argument specifies flags:
`r'
means the pattern is a regular expression instead of the default
fnmatch(3)
pattern, and
`i'
means to ignore case.
For example:
`#{m:*foo*,#{host}}'
or
`#{m/ri:^A,MYVAR}'
A
`C'
performs a search for an
fnmatch(3)
pattern or regular expression in the pane content and evaluates to zero if not
found, or a line number if found.
Like
`m'
,
an
`r'
flag means search for a regular expression and
`i'
ignores case.
For example:
`#{C/r:^Start}'
A limit may be placed on the length of the resultant string by prefixing it
by an
`='
,
a number and a colon.
Positive numbers count from the start of the string and negative from the end,
so
`#{=5:pane_title}'
will include at most the first five characters of the pane title, or
`#{=-5:pane_title}'
the last five characters.
A suffix or prefix may be given as a second argument - if provided then it is
appended or prepended to the string if the length has been trimmed, for example
`#{=/5/...:pane_title}'
will append
`...'
if the pane title is more than five characters.
Similarly,
`p'
pads the string to a given width, for example
`#{p10:pane_title}'
will result in a width of at least 10 characters.
A positive width pads on the left, a negative on the right.
Prefixing a time variable with
`t:'
will convert it to a string, so if
`#{window_activity}'
gives
`1445765102'
,
`#{t:window_activity}'
gives
`Sun'
Oct 25 09:25:02 2015 .
The
`b:'
and
`d:'
prefixes are
basename(3)
and
dirname(3)
of the variable respectively.
`q:'
will escape
sh(1)
special characters.
`E:'
will expand the format twice, for example
`#{E:status-left}'
is the result of expanding the content of the
status-left
option rather than the option itself.
`T:'
is like
`E:'
but also expands
strftime(3)
specifiers.
`S:'
,
`W:'
or
`P:'
will loop over each session, window or pane and insert the format once
for each.
For windows and panes, two comma-separated formats may be given:
the second is used for the current window or active pane.
For example, to get a list of windows formatted like the status line:
#{W:#{E:window-status-format} ,#{E:window-status-current-format} }
A prefix of the form
`s/foo/bar/:'
will substitute
`foo'
with
`bar'
throughout.
The first argument may be an extended regular expression and a final argument may be
`i'
to ignore case, for example
`s/a(.)/\1x/i:'
would change
`abABab'
into
`bxBxbx'
In addition, the last line of a shell command's output may be inserted using
`#()'
For example,
`#(uptime)'
will insert the system's uptime.
When constructing formats,
tmux
does not wait for
`#()'
commands to finish; instead, the previous result from running the same command is used,
or a placeholder if the command has not been run before.
If the command hasn't exited, the most recent line of output will be used, but the status
line will not be updated more than once a second.
Commands are executed with the
tmux
global environment set (see the
Sx GLOBAL AND SESSION ENVIRONMENT
section).
An
`l'
specifies that a string should be interpreted literally and not expanded.
For example
`#{l:#{?pane_in_mode,yes,no}}'
will be replaced by
`#{?pane_in_mode,yes,no}'
The following variables are available, where appropriate:
- Variable name Ta Alias Ta Replaced with
-
- alternate_on Ta Ta 1 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_created Ta Ta Time buffer created
-
- buffer_name Ta Ta Name of buffer
-
- buffer_sample Ta Ta Sample of start of buffer
-
- buffer_size Ta Ta Size of the specified buffer in bytes
-
- client_activity Ta Ta Time client last had activity
-
- client_cell_height Ta Ta Height of each client cell in pixels
-
- client_cell_width Ta Ta Width of each client cell in pixels
-
- client_control_mode Ta Ta 1 if client is in control mode
-
- client_created Ta Ta Time client created
-
- client_discarded Ta Ta Bytes discarded when client behind
-
- client_height Ta Ta Height of client
-
- client_key_table Ta Ta Current key table
-
- client_last_session Ta Ta Name of the client's last session
-
- client_name Ta Ta Name of client
-
- client_pid Ta Ta PID of client process
-
- 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 UTF-8
-
- client_width Ta Ta Width of client
-
- client_written Ta Ta Bytes written to client
-
- command Ta Ta Name of command in use, if any
-
- command_list_alias Ta Ta Command alias if listing commands
-
- command_list_name Ta Ta Command name if listing commands
-
- command_list_usage Ta Ta Command usage if listing commands
-
- copy_cursor_line Ta Ta Line the cursor is on in copy mode
-
- copy_cursor_word Ta Ta Word under cursor in copy mode
-
- copy_cursor_x Ta Ta Cursor X position in copy mode
-
- copy_cursor_y Ta Ta Cursor Y position in copy mode
-
- cursor_character Ta Ta Character at cursor in pane
-
- 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 lines
-
- hook Ta Ta Name of running hook, if any
-
- hook_pane Ta Ta ID of pane where hook was run, if any
-
- hook_session Ta Ta ID of session where hook was run, if any
-
- hook_session_name Ta Ta Name of session where hook was run, if any
-
- hook_window Ta Ta ID of window where hook was run, if any
-
- hook_window_name Ta Ta Name of window where hook was run, if any
-
- 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_all_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse all flag
-
- mouse_any_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse any flag
-
- mouse_button_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse button flag
-
- mouse_line Ta Ta Line under mouse, if any
-
- mouse_sgr_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse SGR flag
-
- mouse_standard_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse standard flag
-
- mouse_utf8_flag Ta Ta Pane mouse UTF-8 flag
-
- mouse_word Ta Ta Word under mouse, if any
-
- mouse_x Ta Ta Mouse X position, if any
-
- mouse_y Ta Ta Mouse Y position, if any
-
- origin_flag Ta Ta Pane origin flag
-
- pane_active Ta Ta 1 if active pane
-
- pane_at_bottom Ta Ta 1 if pane is at the bottom of window
-
- pane_at_left Ta Ta 1 if pane is at the left of window
-
- pane_at_right Ta Ta 1 if pane is at the right of window
-
- pane_at_top Ta Ta 1 if pane is at the top of window
-
- pane_bottom Ta Ta Bottom of 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_dead_status Ta Ta Exit status of process in dead pane
-
- pane_format Ta Ta 1 if format is for a pane
-
- pane_height Ta Ta Height of pane
-
- pane_id Ta #D Ta Unique pane ID
-
- pane_in_mode Ta Ta 1 if pane is in a mode
-
- pane_index Ta #P Ta Index of pane
-
- pane_input_off Ta Ta 1 if input to pane is disabled
-
- pane_left Ta Ta Left of pane
-
- pane_marked Ta Ta 1 if this is the marked pane
-
- pane_marked_set Ta Ta 1 if a marked pane is set
-
- pane_mode Ta Ta Name of pane mode, if any
-
- pane_path Ta #T Ta Path of pane (can be set by application)
-
- pane_pid Ta Ta PID of first process in pane
-
- pane_pipe Ta Ta 1 if pane is being piped
-
- pane_right Ta Ta Right of pane
-
- pane_search_string Ta Ta Last search string in copy mode
-
- pane_start_command Ta Ta Command pane started with
-
- pane_synchronized Ta Ta 1 if pane is synchronized
-
- pane_tabs Ta Ta Pane tab positions
-
- pane_title Ta #T Ta Title of pane (can be set by application)
-
- pane_top Ta Ta Top of pane
-
- pane_tty Ta Ta Pseudo terminal of pane
-
- pane_width Ta Ta Width of pane
-
- pid Ta Ta Server PID
-
- rectangle_toggle Ta Ta 1 if rectangle selection is activated
-
- scroll_position Ta Ta Scroll position in copy mode
-
- scroll_region_lower Ta Ta Bottom of scroll region in pane
-
- scroll_region_upper Ta Ta Top of scroll region in pane
-
- selection_active Ta Ta 1 if selection started and changes with the cursor in copy mode
-
- selection_end_x Ta Ta X position of the end of the selection
-
- selection_end_y Ta Ta Y position of the end of the selection
-
- selection_present Ta Ta 1 if selection started in copy mode
-
- selection_start_x Ta Ta X position of the start of the selection
-
- selection_start_y Ta Ta Y position of the start of the selection
-
- session_activity Ta Ta Time of session last activity
-
- session_alerts Ta Ta List of window indexes with alerts
-
- session_attached Ta Ta Number of clients session is attached to
-
- session_attached_list Ta Ta List of clients session is attached to
-
- session_created Ta Ta Time session created
-
- session_format Ta Ta 1 if format is for a session
-
- session_group Ta Ta Name of session group
-
- session_group_attached Ta Ta Number of clients sessions in group are attached to
-
- session_group_attached_list Ta Ta List of clients sessions in group are attached to
-
- session_group_list Ta Ta List of sessions in group
-
- session_group_many_attached Ta Ta 1 if multiple clients attached to sessions in group
-
- session_group_size Ta Ta Size of session group
-
- session_grouped Ta Ta 1 if session in a group
-
- session_id Ta Ta Unique session ID
-
- session_last_attached Ta Ta Time session last attached
-
- session_many_attached Ta Ta 1 if multiple clients attached
-
- session_name Ta #S Ta Name of session
-
- session_stack Ta Ta Window indexes in most recent order
-
- session_windows Ta Ta Number of windows in session
-
- socket_path Ta Ta Server socket path
-
- start_time Ta Ta Server start time
-
- version Ta Ta Server version
-
- window_active Ta Ta 1 if window active
-
- window_active_clients Ta Ta Number of clients viewing this window
-
- window_active_clients_list Ta Ta List of clients viewing this window
-
- window_active_sessions Ta Ta Number of sessions on which this window is active
-
- window_active_sessions_list Ta Ta List of sessions on which this window is active
-
- window_activity Ta Ta Time of window last activity
-
- window_activity_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has activity
-
- window_bell_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has bell
-
- window_bigger Ta Ta 1 if window is larger than client
-
- window_cell_height Ta Ta Height of each cell in pixels
-
- window_cell_width Ta Ta Width of each cell in pixels
-
- window_end_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has the highest index
-
- window_flags Ta #F Ta Window flags
-
- window_format Ta Ta 1 if format is for a window
-
- window_height Ta Ta Height of window
-
- window_id Ta Ta Unique window ID
-
- window_index Ta #I Ta Index of window
-
- window_last_flag Ta Ta 1 if window is the last used
-
- window_layout Ta Ta Window layout description, ignoring zoomed window panes
-
- window_linked Ta Ta 1 if window is linked across sessions
-
- window_linked_sessions Ta Ta Number of sessions this window is linked to
-
- window_linked_sessions_list Ta Ta List of sessions this window is linked to
-
- window_marked_flag Ta Ta 1 if window contains the marked pane
-
- window_name Ta #W Ta Name of window
-
- window_offset_x Ta Ta X offset into window if larger than client
-
- window_offset_y Ta Ta Y offset into window if larger than client
-
- window_panes Ta Ta Number of panes in window
-
- window_silence_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has silence alert
-
- window_stack_index Ta Ta Index in session most recent stack
-
- window_start_flag Ta Ta 1 if window has the lowest index
-
- window_visible_layout Ta Ta Window layout description, respecting zoomed window panes
-
- window_width Ta Ta Width of window
-
- window_zoomed_flag Ta Ta 1 if window is zoomed
-
- wrap_flag Ta Ta Pane wrap flag
-
STYLES
tmux
offers various options to specify the colour and attributes of aspects of the
interface, for example
status-style
for the status line.
In addition, embedded styles may be specified in format options, such as
status-left
by enclosing them in
`#['
and
`]'
A style may be the single term
`default'
to specify the default style (which may come from an option, for example
status-style
in the status line) or a space
or comma separated list of the following:
- fg=colour
-
Set the foreground colour.
The colour is one of:
black
red
green
yellow
blue
magenta
cyan
white
if supported the bright variants
brightred
brightgreen
brightyellow
colour0
to
colour255
from the 256-colour set;
default
for the default colour;
terminal
for the terminal default colour; or a hexadecimal RGB string such as
`#ffffff'
- bg=colour
-
Set the background colour.
- none
-
Set no attributes (turn off any active attributes).
-
bright
(or
bold )
dim
underscore
blink
reverse
hidden
italics
overline
strikethrough
double-underscore
curly-underscore
dotted-underscore
dashed-underscore
-
- Set an attribute.
Any of the attributes may be prefixed with
`no'
to unset.
-
align=left
(or
noalign )
align=centre
align=right
-
- Align text to the left, centre or right of the available space if appropriate.
- fill=colour
-
Fill the available space with a background colour if appropriate.
-
list=on
list=focus
list=left-marker
list=right-marker
nolist
-
- Mark the position of the various window list components in the
status-format
option:
list=on
marks the start of the list;
list=focus
is the part of the list that should be kept in focus if the entire list won't fit
in the available space (typically the current window);
list=left-marker
and
list=right-marker
mark the text to be used to mark that text has been trimmed from the left or
right of the list if there is not enough space.
-
push-default
pop-default
-
- Store the current colours and attributes as the default or reset to the previous
default.
A
push-default
affects any subsequent use of the
default
term until a
pop-default
Only one default may be pushed (each
push-default
replaces the previous saved default).
-
range=left
range=right
range=window|X
norange
-
- Mark a range in the
status-format
option.
range=left
and
range=right
are the text used for the
`StatusLeft'
and
`StatusRight'
mouse keys.
range=window|X
is the range for a window passed to the
`Status'
mouse key, where
`X'
is a window index.
Examples are:
fg=yellow bold underscore blink
bg=black,fg=default,noreverse
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 using
an escape sequence (like it would set the
xterm(1)
window title in
X(7)).
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 (if the
allow-rename
option is turned on):
$ 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 title setting escape sequence, for example:
$ printf '\033]2;My Title\033\\'
It can also be modified with the
select-pane
-T
command.
GLOBAL AND SESSION 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
[-gs
]
[-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
`-'
If
-s
is used, the output is formatted as a set of Bourne shell commands.
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 and one line in height (it may be
disabled or made multiple lines 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.
Each line of the status line is configured with the
status-format
option.
The default 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 activity is monitored and activity has been detected.
-
- ! Ta Window bells are monitored and a bell has occurred in the window.
-
- ~ Ta The window has been silent for the monitor-silence interval.
-
- M Ta The window contains the marked pane.
-
- Z Ta The window's active pane is zoomed.
-
The # symbol relates to the
monitor-activity
window option.
The window name is printed in inverted colours if an alert (bell, activity or
silence) is present.
The colour and attributes of the status line may be configured, the entire
status line using the
status-style
session option and individual windows using the
window-status-style
window option.
The status line is automatically refreshed at interval if it has changed, the
interval may be controlled with the
status-interval
session option.
Commands related to the status line are as follows:
-
command-prompt
[-1ikN
]
[-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.
Before the command is executed, the first occurrence of the string
`%%'
and all occurrences of
`%1'
are replaced by the response to the first prompt, all
`%2'
are replaced with the response to the second prompt, and so on for further
prompts.
Up to nine prompt responses may be replaced
Po `%1'
to
`%9'
Pc .
`%%%'
is like
`%%'
but any quotation marks are escaped.
-1
makes the prompt only accept one key press, in this case the resulting input
is a single character.
-k
is like
-1
but the key press is translated to a key name.
-N
makes the prompt only accept numeric key presses.
-i
executes the command every time the prompt input changes instead of when the
user exits the command prompt.
The following keys have a special meaning in the command prompt, depending
on the value of the
status-keys
option:
- Function Ta vi Ta emacs
-
- Cancel command prompt Ta Escape Ta Escape
-
- Delete from cursor to start of word Ta Ta C-w
-
- Delete entire command Ta d Ta C-u
-
- Delete from cursor to end Ta D Ta C-k
-
- Execute command Ta Enter Ta Enter
-
- Get next command from history Ta Ta Down
-
- Get previous command from history Ta Ta Up
-
- Insert top paste buffer Ta p Ta C-y
-
- Look for completions Ta Tab Ta Tab
-
- Move cursor left Ta h Ta Left
-
- Move cursor right Ta l Ta Right
-
- Move cursor to end Ta $ Ta C-e
-
- Move cursor to next word Ta w Ta M-f
-
- Move cursor to previous word Ta b Ta M-b
-
- Move cursor to start Ta 0 Ta C-a
-
- Transpose characters Ta Ta C-t
-
-
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-menu
[-c target-client
]
[-t target-pane
]
[-T title
]
[-x position
]
[-y position
]
name
key
command
...
-
- Display a menu on
target-client
target-pane
gives the target for any commands run from the menu.
A menu is passed as a series of arguments: first the menu item name,
second the key shortcut (or empty for none) and third the command
to run when the menu item is chosen.
The name and command are formats, see the
Sx FORMATS
and
Sx STYLES
sections.
If the name begins with a hyphen (-), then the item is disabled (shown dim) and
may not be chosen.
The name may be empty for a separator line, in which case both the key and
command should be omitted.
-T
is a format for the menu title (see
Sx FORMATS ) .
-x
and
-y
give the position of the menu.
Both may be a row or column number, or one of the following special values:
- Value Ta Flag Ta Meaning
-
- R Ta -x Ta The right side of the terminal
-
- P Ta Both Ta The bottom left of the pane
-
- M Ta Both Ta The mouse position
-
- W Ta -x Ta The window position on the status line
-
- S Ta -y Ta The line above or below the status line
-
Each menu consists of items followed by a key shortcut shown in brackets.
If the menu is too large to fit on the terminal, it is not displayed.
Pressing the key shortcut chooses the corresponding item.
If the mouse is enabled and the menu is opened from a mouse key binding, releasing
the mouse button with an item selected will choose that item.
The following keys are also available:
- Key Ta Function
-
- Enter Ta Choose selected item
-
- Up Ta Select previous item
-
- Down Ta Select next item
-
- q Ta Exit menu
-
-
display-message
[-aIpv
]
[-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.
-v
prints verbose logging as the format is parsed and
-a
lists the format variables and their values.
-I
forwards any input read from stdin to the empty pane given by
target-pane
BUFFERS
tmux
maintains a set of named
paste buffers
Each buffer may be either explicitly or automatically named.
Explicitly named buffers are named when created with the
set-buffer
or
load-buffer
commands, or by renaming an automatically named buffer with
set-buffer
-n
Automatically named buffers are given a name such as
`buffer0001'
,
`buffer0002'
and so on.
When the
buffer-limit
option is reached, the oldest automatically named buffer is deleted.
Explicitly named buffers are not subject to
buffer-limit
and may be deleted with the
delete-buffer
command.
Buffers may be added using
copy-mode
or the
set-buffer
and
load-buffer
commands, and pasted into a window using the
paste-buffer
command.
If a buffer command is used and no buffer is specified, the most
recently added automatically named buffer is assumed.
A configurable history buffer is also maintained for each window.
By 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
[-NZr [-F format
]
]
[-f filter
]
[-O sort-order
]
[-t target-pane
]
[template
]
-
- Put a pane into buffer mode, where a buffer may be chosen interactively from
a list.
-Z
zooms the pane.
The following keys may be used in buffer mode:
- Key Ta Function
-
- Enter Ta Paste selected buffer
-
- Up Ta Select previous buffer
-
- Down Ta Select next buffer
-
- C-s Ta Search by name or content
-
- n Ta Repeat last search
-
- t Ta Toggle if buffer is tagged
-
- T Ta Tag no buffers
-
- C-t Ta Tag all buffers
-
- p Ta Paste selected buffer
-
- P Ta Paste tagged buffers
-
- d Ta Delete selected buffer
-
- D Ta Delete tagged buffers
-
- f Ta Enter a format to filter items
-
- O Ta Change sort field
-
- r Ta Reverse sort order
-
- v Ta Toggle preview
-
- q Ta Exit mode
-
After a buffer is chosen,
`%%'
is replaced by the buffer name in
template
and the result executed as a command.
If
template
is not given, "paste-buffer -b '%%'" is used.
-O
specifies the initial sort field: one of
`time'
,
`name'
or
`size'
-r
reverses the sort order.
-f
specifies an initial filter: the filter is a format - if it evaluates to zero,
the item in the list is not shown, otherwise it is shown.
If a filter would lead to an empty list, it is ignored.
-F
specifies the format for each item in the list.
-N
starts without the preview.
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-name
]
-
Delete the buffer named
buffer-name
or the most recently added automatically named 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-name
]
path
-
- Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from
path
-
paste-buffer
[-dpr
]
[-b buffer-name
]
[-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.
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-name
]
path
-
- Save the contents of the specified paste buffer to
path
The
-a
option appends to rather than overwriting the file.
-
set-buffer
[-a
]
[-b buffer-name
]
[-n new-buffer-name
]
data
-
- Set the contents of the specified buffer to
data
The
-a
option appends to rather than overwriting the buffer.
The
-n
option renames the buffer to
new-buffer-name
-
show-buffer
[-b buffer-name
]
-
- Display the contents of the specified buffer.
MISCELLANEOUS
Miscellaneous commands are as follows:
- clock-mode [-t target-pane
]
-
Display a large clock.
-
if-shell
[-bF
]
[-t target-pane
]
shell-command command
[command
]
-
- 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.
If
-F
is given,
shell-command
is not executed but considered success if neither empty nor zero (after formats
are expanded).
- 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
EXIT MESSAGES
When a
tmux
client detaches, it prints a message.
This may be one of:
- [detached (from session ...)]
-
The client was detached normally.
- [detached and SIGHUP]
-
The client was detached and its parent sent the
SIGHUP
signal (for example with
detach-client
-P )
- [lost tty]
-
The client's
tty(4)
or
pty(4)
was unexpectedly destroyed.
- [terminated]
-
The client was killed with
SIGTERM
- [exited]
-
The server exited when it had no sessions.
- [server exited]
-
The server exited when it received
SIGTERM
- [server exited unexpectedly]
-
The server crashed or otherwise exited without telling the client the reason.
TERMINFO EXTENSIONS
tmux
understands some unofficial extensions to
terminfo(5):
- Cs , Cr Set the cursor colour.
-
The first takes a single string argument and is used to set the colour;
the second takes no arguments and restores the default cursor colour.
If set, a sequence such as this may be used
to change the cursor colour from inside
:
$ printf '\033]12;red\033\\'
- Smol
-
Enable the overline attribute.
The capability is usually SGR 53 and can be added to
terminal-overrides
as:
Smol=\E[53m
- Smulx
-
Set a styled underscore.
The single parameter is one of: 0 for no underscore, 1 for normal
underscore, 2 for double underscore, 3 for curly underscore, 4 for dotted
underscore and 5 for dashed underscore.
The capability can typically be added to
terminal-overrides
as:
Smulx=\E[4::%p1%dm
- Setulc
-
Set the underscore colour.
The argument is (red * 65536) + (green * 256) + blue where each is between 0
and 255.
The capability can typically be added to
terminal-overrides
as:
Setulc=\E[58::2::%p1%{65536}%/%d::%p1%{256}%/%{255}%&%d::%p1%{255}%&%d%;m
, Se Set or reset the cursor style.
If set, a sequence such as this may be used
to change the cursor to an underline:
$ printf '\033[4 q'
If
Se is not set,
with argument 0 will be used to reset the cursor style instead.
Em Tc
Indicate that the terminal supports the
`direct'
colour
RGB escape sequence (for example, \e[38;2;255;255;255m).
If supported, this is used for the initialize colour escape sequence (which
may be enabled by adding the
`initc'
and
`ccc'
capabilities to the
tmux
terminfo(5)
entry).
Em Ms
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
The
refresh-client
-C
command may be used to set the size of a client in control mode.
In control mode,
tmux
outputs notifications.
A notification will never occur inside an output block.
The following notifications are defined:
- %client-session-changed client session-id name
-
The client is now attached to the session with ID
session-id
which is named
name
- %exit [reason
]
-
The
tmux
client is exiting immediately, either because it is not attached to any session
or an error occurred.
If present,
reason
describes why the client exited.
- %layout-change window-id window-layout window-visible-layout window-flags
-
The layout of a window with ID
window-id
changed.
The new layout is
window-layout
The window's visible layout is
window-visible-layout
and the window flags are
window-flags
- %output pane-id value
-
A window pane produced output.
value
escapes non-printable characters and backslash as octal \xxx.
- %pane-mode-changed pane-id
-
The pane with ID
pane-id
has changed mode.
- %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
- %session-window-changed session-id window-id
-
The session with ID
session-id
changed its active window to the window with ID
window-id
- %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-pane-changed window-id pane-id
-
The active pane in the window with ID
window-id
changed to the pane with ID
pane-id
- %window-renamed window-id name
-
The window with ID
window-id
was renamed to
name
ENVIRONMENT
When
tmux
is started, it inspects the following environment variables:
- EDITOR
-
If the command specified in this variable contains the string
`vi'
and
VISUAL
is unset, use vi-style key bindings.
Overridden by the
mode-keys
and
status-keys
options.
- HOME
-
The user's login directory.
If unset, the
passwd(5)
database is consulted.
- LC_CTYPE
-
The character encoding
locale(1).
It is used for two separate purposes.
For output to the terminal, UTF-8 is used if the
-u
option is given or if
LC_CTYPE
contains
Qq UTF-8
or
Qq UTF8 .
Otherwise, only ASCII characters are written and non-ASCII characters
are replaced with underscores
(`_'
)
For input,
tmux
always runs with a UTF-8 locale.
If en_US.UTF-8 is provided by the operating system it is used and
LC_CTYPE
is ignored for input.
Otherwise,
LC_CTYPE
tells
tmux
what the UTF-8 locale is called on the current system.
If the locale specified by
LC_CTYPE
is not available or is not a UTF-8 locale,
tmux
exits with an error message.
- LC_TIME
-
The date and time format
locale(1).
It is used for locale-dependent
strftime(3)
format specifiers.
- PWD
-
The current working directory to be set in the global environment.
This may be useful if it contains symbolic links.
If the value of the variable does not match the current working
directory, the variable is ignored and the result of
getcwd(3)
is used instead.
- SHELL
-
The absolute path to the default shell for new windows.
See the
default-shell
option for details.
- TMUX_TMPDIR
-
The parent directory of the directory containing the server sockets.
See the
-L
option for details.
- VISUAL
-
If the command specified in this variable contains the string
`vi'
,
use vi-style key bindings.
Overridden by the
mode-keys
and
status-keys
options.
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 nicholas.marriott@gmail.com