TMUX(1) BSD General Commands Manual TMUX(1)NAMEtmux — terminal multiplexer
SYNOPSIStmux [-2lCquvV] [-c shell-command] [-f file] [-L socket-name]
[-S socket-path] [command [flags]]
DESCRIPTIONtmux is a terminal multiplexer: it enables a number of terminals to be
created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen. tmux may be
detached from a screen and continue running in the background, then later
reattached.
When tmux is started it creates a new session with a single window and
displays it on screen. A status line at the bottom of the screen shows
information on the current session and is used to enter interactive com‐
mands.
A session is a single collection of pseudo terminals under the management
of tmux. Each session has one or more windows linked to it. A window
occupies the entire screen and may be split into rectangular panes, each
of which is a separate pseudo terminal (the pty(7) manual page documents
the technical details of pseudo terminals). Any number of tmux instances
may connect to the same session, and any number of windows may be present
in the same session. Once all sessions are killed, tmux exits.
Each session is persistent and will survive accidental disconnection
(such as ssh(1) connection timeout) or intentional detaching (with the
‘C-b d’ key strokes). tmux may be reattached using:
$ tmux attach
In tmux, a session is displayed on screen by a client and all sessions
are managed by a single server. The server and each client are separate
processes which communicate through a socket in /tmp.
The options are as follows:
-2 Force tmux to assume the terminal supports 256 colours.
-C Start in control mode (see the CONTROL MODE section).
Given twice (-CC) disables echo.
-c shell-command
Execute shell-command using the default shell. If neces‐
sary, the tmux server will be started to retrieve the
default-shell option. This option is for compatibility
with sh(1) when tmux is used as a login shell.
-f file Specify an alternative configuration file. By default,
tmux loads the system configuration file from
/etc/tmux.conf, if present, then looks for a user configu‐
ration file at ~/.tmux.conf.
The configuration file is a set of tmux commands which are
executed in sequence when the server is first started.
tmux loads configuration files once when the server process
has started. The source-file command may be used to load a
file later.
tmux shows any error messages from commands in configura‐
tion files in the first session created, and continues to
process the rest of the configuration file.
-L socket-name
tmux stores the server socket in a directory under
TMUX_TMPDIR, TMPDIR if it is unset, or /tmp if both are
unset. The default socket is named default. This option
allows a different socket name to be specified, allowing
several independent tmux servers to be run. Unlike -S a
full path is not necessary: the sockets are all created in
the same directory.
If the socket is accidentally removed, the SIGUSR1 signal
may be sent to the tmux server process to recreate it.
-l Behave as a login shell. This flag currently has no effect
and is for compatibility with other shells when using tmux
as a login shell.
-q Set the quiet server option to prevent the server sending
various informational messages.
-S socket-path
Specify a full alternative path to the server socket. If
-S is specified, the default socket directory is not used
and any -L flag is ignored.
-utmux attempts to guess if the terminal is likely to support
UTF-8 by checking the first of the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE and
LANG environment variables to be set for the string
"UTF-8". This is not always correct: the -u flag explic‐
itly informs tmux that UTF-8 is supported.
If the server is started from a client passed -u or where
UTF-8 is detected, the utf8 and status-utf8 options are
enabled in the global window and session options respec‐
tively.
-v Request verbose logging. This option may be specified mul‐
tiple times for increasing verbosity. Log messages will be
saved into tmux-client-PID.log and tmux-server-PID.log
files in the current directory, where PID is the PID of the
server or client process.
-V Report the tmux version.
command [flags]
This specifies one of a set of commands used to control
tmux, as described in the following sections. If no com‐
mands are specified, the new-session command is assumed.
KEY BINDINGStmux may be controlled from an attached client by using a key combination
of a prefix key, ‘C-b’ (Ctrl-b) by default, followed by a command key.
The default command key bindings are:
C-b Send the prefix key (C-b) through to the application.
C-o Rotate the panes in the current window forwards.
C-z Suspend the tmux client.
! Break the current pane out of the window.
" Split the current pane into two, top and bottom.
# List all paste buffers.
$ Rename the current session.
% Split the current pane into two, left and right.
& Kill the current window.
' Prompt for a window index to select.
, Rename the current window.
- Delete the most recently copied buffer of text.
. Prompt for an index to move the current window.
0 to 9 Select windows 0 to 9.
: Enter the tmux command prompt.
; Move to the previously active pane.
= Choose which buffer to paste interactively from a list.
? List all key bindings.
D Choose a client to detach.
[ Enter copy mode to copy text or view the history.
] Paste the most recently copied buffer of text.
c Create a new window.
d Detach the current client.
f Prompt to search for text in open windows.
i Display some information about the current window.
l Move to the previously selected window.
n Change to the next window.
o Select the next pane in the current window.
p Change to the previous window.
q Briefly display pane indexes.
r Force redraw of the attached client.
s Select a new session for the attached client interac‐
tively.
L Switch the attached client back to the last session.
t Show the time.
w Choose the current window interactively.
x Kill the current pane.
{ Swap the current pane with the previous pane.
} Swap the current pane with the next pane.
~ Show previous messages from tmux, if any.
Page Up Enter copy mode and scroll one page up.
Up, Down
Left, Right
Change to the pane above, below, to the left, or to the
right of the current pane.
M-1 to M-5 Arrange panes in one of the five preset layouts: even-
horizontal, even-vertical, main-horizontal, main-verti‐
cal, or tiled.
M-n Move to the next window with a bell or activity marker.
M-o Rotate the panes in the current window backwards.
M-p Move to the previous window with a bell or activity
marker.
C-Up, C-Down
C-Left, C-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of one cell.
M-Up, M-Down
M-Left, M-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of five cells.
Key bindings may be changed with the bind-key and unbind-key commands.
COMMANDS
This section contains a list of the commands supported by tmux. Most
commands accept the optional -t argument with one of target-client,
target-session target-window, or target-pane. These specify the client,
session, window or pane which a command should affect. target-client is
the name of the pty(7) file to which the client is connected, for example
either of /dev/ttyp1 or ttyp1 for the client attached to /dev/ttyp1. If
no client is specified, the current client is chosen, if possible, or an
error is reported. Clients may be listed with the list-clients command.
target-session is the session id prefixed with a $, the name of a session
(as listed by the list-sessions command), or the name of a client with
the same syntax as target-client, in which case the session attached to
the client is used. When looking for the session name, tmux initially
searches for an exact match; if none is found, the session names are
checked for any for which target-session is a prefix or for which it
matches as an fnmatch(3) pattern. If a single match is found, it is used
as the target session; multiple matches produce an error. If a session
is omitted, the current session is used if available; if no current ses‐
sion is available, the most recently used is chosen.
target-window specifies a window in the form session:window. session
follows the same rules as for target-session, and window is looked for in
order: as a window index, for example mysession:1; as a window ID, such
as @1; as an exact window name, such as mysession:mywindow; then as an
fnmatch(3) pattern or the start of a window name, such as myses‐
sion:mywin* or mysession:mywin. An empty window name specifies the next
unused index if appropriate (for example the new-window and link-window
commands) otherwise the current window in session is chosen. The special
character ‘!’ uses the last (previously current) window, ‘^’ selects the
highest numbered window, ‘$’ selects the lowest numbered window, and ‘+’
and ‘-’ select the next window or the previous window by number. When
the argument does not contain a colon, tmux first attempts to parse it as
window; if that fails, an attempt is made to match a session.
target-pane takes a similar form to target-window but with the optional
addition of a period followed by a pane index, for example: myses‐
sion:mywindow.1. If the pane index is omitted, the currently active pane
in the specified window is used. If neither a colon nor period appears,
tmux first attempts to use the argument as a pane index; if that fails,
it is looked up as for target-window. A ‘+’ or ‘-’ indicate the next or
previous pane index, respectively. One of the strings top, bottom, left,
right, top-left, top-right, bottom-left or bottom-right may be used
instead of a pane index.
The special characters ‘+’ and ‘-’ may be followed by an offset, for
example:
select-window -t:+2
When dealing with a session that doesn't contain sequential window
indexes, they will be correctly skipped.
tmux also gives each pane created in a server an identifier consisting of
a ‘%’ and a number, starting from zero. A pane's identifier is unique
for the life of the tmux server and is passed to the child process of the
pane in the TMUX_PANE environment variable. It may be used alone to tar‐
get a pane or the window containing it.
shell-command arguments are sh(1) commands. These must be passed as a
single item, which typically means quoting them, for example:
new-window 'vi /etc/passwd'
command [arguments] refers to a tmux command, passed with the command and
arguments separately, for example:
bind-key F1 set-window-option force-width 81
Or if using sh(1):
$ tmux bind-key F1 set-window-option force-width 81
Multiple commands may be specified together as part of a command
sequence. Each command should be separated by spaces and a semicolon;
commands are executed sequentially from left to right and lines ending
with a backslash continue on to the next line, except when escaped by
another backslash. A literal semicolon may be included by escaping it
with a backslash (for example, when specifying a command sequence to
bind-key).
Example tmux commands include:
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2
rename-session -tfirst newname
set-window-option -t:0 monitor-activity on
new-window ; split-window -d
bind-key R source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; \
display-message "source-file done"
Or from sh(1):
$ tmux kill-window -t :1
$ tmux new-window \; split-window -d
$ tmux new-session -d 'vi /etc/passwd' \; split-window -d \; attach
CLIENTS AND SESSIONS
The tmux server manages clients, sessions, windows and panes. Clients
are attached to sessions to interact with them, either when they are cre‐
ated with the new-session command, or later with the attach-session com‐
mand. 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 WINDOWS AND PANES sec‐
tion.
The following commands are available to manage clients and sessions:
attach-session [-dr] [-c working-directory] [-t target-session]
(alias: attach)
If run from outside tmux, create a new client in the current ter‐
minal and attach it to target-session. If used from inside,
switch the current client. If -d is specified, any other clients
attached to the session are detached. -r signifies the client is
read-only (only keys bound to the detach-client or switch-client
commands have any effect)
If no server is started, attach-session will attempt to start it;
this will fail unless sessions are created in the configuration
file.
The target-session rules for attach-session are slightly
adjusted: if tmux needs to select the most recently used session,
it will prefer the most recently used unattached session.
-c will set the session working directory (used for new windows)
to working-directory.
detach-client [-P] [-a] [-s target-session] [-t target-client]
(alias: detach)
Detach the current client if bound to a key, the client specified
with -t, or all clients currently attached to the session speci‐
fied by -s. The -a option kills all but the client given with
-t. If -P is given, send SIGHUP to the parent process of the
client, typically causing it to exit.
has-session [-t target-session]
(alias: has)
Report an error and exit with 1 if the specified session does not
exist. If it does exist, exit with 0.
kill-server
Kill the tmux server and clients and destroy all sessions.
kill-session [-a] [-t target-session]
Destroy the given session, closing any windows linked to it and
no other sessions, and detaching all clients attached to it. If
-a is given, all sessions but the specified one is killed.
list-clients [-F format] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsc)
List all clients attached to the server. For the meaning of the
-F flag, see the FORMATS section. If target-session is speci‐
fied, list only clients connected to that session.
list-commands
(alias: lscm)
List the syntax of all commands supported by tmux.
list-sessions [-F format]
(alias: ls)
List all sessions managed by the server. For the meaning of the
-F flag, see the FORMATS section.
lock-client [-t target-client]
(alias: lockc)
Lock target-client, see the lock-server command.
lock-session [-t target-session]
(alias: locks)
Lock all clients attached to target-session.
new-session [-AdDP] [-c start-directory] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-s
session-name] [-t target-session] [-x width] [-y height]
[shell-command]
(alias: new)
Create a new session with name session-name.
The new session is attached to the current terminal unless -d is
given. window-name and shell-command are the name of and shell
command to execute in the initial window. If -d is used, -x and
-y specify the size of the initial window (80 by 24 if not
given).
If run from a terminal, any termios(3) special characters are
saved and used for new windows in the new session.
The -A flag makes new-session behave like attach-session if
session-name already exists; in the case, -D behaves like -d to
attach-session.
If -t is given, the new session is grouped with target-session.
This means they share the same set of windows - all windows from
target-session are linked to the new session and any subsequent
new windows or windows being closed are applied to both sessions.
The current and previous window and any session options remain
independent and either session may be killed without affecting
the other. Giving -n or shell-command are invalid if -t is used.
The -P option prints information about the new session after it
has been created. By default, it uses the format
‘#{session_name}:’ but a different format may be specified with
-F.
refresh-client [-S] [-t target-client]
(alias: refresh)
Refresh the current client if bound to a key, or a single client
if one is given with -t. If -S is specified, only update the
client's status bar.
rename-session [-t target-session] new-name
(alias: rename)
Rename the session to new-name.
show-messages [-IJT] [-t target-client]
(alias: showmsgs)
Show client messages or server information. Any messages dis‐
played on the status line are saved in a per-client message log,
up to a maximum of the limit set by the message-limit session
option for the session attached to that client. With -t, display
the log for target-client. -I, -J and -T show debugging informa‐
tion about the running server, jobs and terminals.
source-file path
(alias: source)
Execute commands from path.
start-server
(alias: start)
Start the tmux server, if not already running, without creating
any sessions.
suspend-client [-t target-client]
(alias: suspendc)
Suspend a client by sending SIGTSTP (tty stop).
switch-client [-lnpr] [-c target-client] [-t target-session]
(alias: switchc)
Switch the current session for client target-client to
target-session. If -l, -n or -p is used, the client is moved to
the last, next or previous session respectively. -r toggles
whether a client is read-only (see the attach-session command).
WINDOWS AND PANES
A tmux window may be in one of several modes. The default permits direct
access to the terminal attached to the window. The other is copy mode,
which permits a section of a window or its history to be copied to a
paste buffer for later insertion into another window. This mode is
entered with the copy-mode command, bound to ‘[’ by default. It is also
entered when a command that produces output, such as list-keys, is exe‐
cuted from a key binding.
The keys available depend on whether emacs or vi mode is selected (see
the mode-keys option). The following keys are supported as appropriate
for the mode:
Function vi emacs
Back to indentation ^ M-m
Bottom of history G M-<
Clear selection Escape C-g
Copy selection Enter M-w
Cursor down j Down
Cursor left h Left
Cursor right l Right
Cursor to bottom line L
Cursor to middle line M M-r
Cursor to top line H M-R
Cursor up k Up
Delete entire line d C-u
Delete/Copy to end of line D C-k
End of line $ C-e
Go to line : g
Half page down C-d M-Down
Half page up C-u M-Up
Jump forward f f
Jump to forward t
Jump backward F F
Jump to backward T
Jump again ; ;
Jump again in reverse , ,
Next page C-f Page down
Next space W
Next space, end of word E
Next word w
Next word end e M-f
Other end of selection o
Paste buffer p C-y
Previous page C-b Page up
Previous word b M-b
Previous space B
Quit mode q Escape
Rectangle toggle v R
Scroll down C-Down or C-e C-Down
Scroll up C-Up or C-y C-Up
Search again n n
Search again in reverse N N
Search backward ? C-r
Search forward / C-s
Start of line 0 C-a
Start selection Space C-Space
Top of history g M->
Transpose characters C-t
The next and previous word keys use space and the ‘-’, ‘_’ and ‘@’ char‐
acters as word delimiters by default, but this can be adjusted by setting
the word-separators session option. Next word moves to the start of the
next word, next word end to the end of the next word and previous word to
the start of the previous word. The three next and previous space keys
work similarly but use a space alone as the word separator.
The jump commands enable quick movement within a line. For instance,
typing ‘f’ followed by ‘/’ will move the cursor to the next ‘/’ character
on the current line. A ‘;’ will then jump to the next occurrence.
Commands in copy mode may be prefaced by an optional repeat count. With
vi key bindings, a prefix is entered using the number keys; with emacs,
the Alt (meta) key and a number begins prefix entry. For example, to
move the cursor forward by ten words, use ‘M-1 0 M-f’ in emacs mode, and
‘10w’ in vi.
When copying the selection, the repeat count indicates the buffer index
to replace, if used.
Mode key bindings are defined in a set of named tables: vi-edit and
emacs-edit for keys used when line editing at the command prompt;
vi-choice and emacs-choice for keys used when choosing from lists (such
as produced by the choose-window command); and vi-copy and emacs-copy
used in copy mode. The tables may be viewed with the list-keys command
and keys modified or removed with bind-key and unbind-key. One command
accepts an argument, copy-pipe, which copies the selection and pipes it
to a command. For example the following will bind ‘C-q’ to copy the
selection into /tmp as well as the paste buffer:
bind-key -temacs-copy C-q copy-pipe "cat >/tmp/out"
The paste buffer key pastes the first line from the top paste buffer on
the stack.
The synopsis for the copy-mode command is:
copy-mode [-u] [-t target-pane]
Enter copy mode. The -u option scrolls one page up.
Each window displayed by tmux may be split into one or more panes; each
pane takes up a certain area of the display and is a separate terminal.
A window may be split into panes using the split-window command. Windows
may be split horizontally (with the -h flag) or vertically. Panes may be
resized with the resize-pane command (bound to ‘C-up’, ‘C-down’ ‘C-left’
and ‘C-right’ by default), the current pane may be changed with the
select-pane command and the rotate-window and swap-pane commands may be
used to swap panes without changing their position. Panes are numbered
beginning from zero in the order they are created.
A number of preset layouts are available. These may be selected with the
select-layout command or cycled with next-layout (bound to ‘Space’ by
default); once a layout is chosen, panes within it may be moved and
resized as normal.
The following layouts are supported:
even-horizontal
Panes are spread out evenly from left to right across the window.
even-vertical
Panes are spread evenly from top to bottom.
main-horizontal
A large (main) pane is shown at the top of the window and the
remaining panes are spread from left to right in the leftover
space at the bottom. Use the main-pane-height window option to
specify the height of the top pane.
main-vertical
Similar to main-horizontal but the large pane is placed on the
left and the others spread from top to bottom along the right.
See the main-pane-width window option.
tiled Panes are spread out as evenly as possible over the window in
both rows and columns.
In addition, select-layout may be used to apply a previously used layout
- the list-windows command displays the layout of each window in a form
suitable for use with select-layout. For example:
$ tmux list-windows
0: ksh [159x48]
layout: bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}
$ tmux select-layout bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}
tmux automatically adjusts the size of the layout for the current window
size. Note that a layout cannot be applied to a window with more panes
than that from which the layout was originally defined.
Commands related to windows and panes are as follows:
break-pane [-dP] [-F format] [-t target-pane]
(alias: breakp)
Break target-pane off from its containing window to make it the
only pane in a new window. If -d is given, the new window does
not become the current window. The -P option prints information
about the new window after it has been created. By default, it
uses the format ‘#{session_name}:#{window_index}’ but a different
format may be specified with -F.
capture-pane [-aepPq] [-b buffer-index] [-E end-line] [-S start-line] [-t
target-pane]
(alias: capturep)
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 back‐
ground attributes. -C also escapes non-printable characters as
octal \xxx. -J joins wrapped lines and preserves trailing spaces
at each line's end. -P captures only any output that the pane
has received that is the beginning of an as-yet incomplete escape
sequence.
-S and -E specify the starting and ending line numbers, zero is
the first line of the visible pane and negative numbers are lines
in the history. The default is to capture only the visible con‐
tents of the pane.
choose-client [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into client choice mode, allowing a client to be
selected interactively from a list. After a client is chosen,
‘%%’ is replaced by the client pty(7) path in template and the
result executed as a command. If template is not given, "detach-
client -t '%%'" is used. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the
FORMATS section. This command works only if at least one client
is attached.
choose-list [-l items] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into list choice mode, allowing items to be
selected. items can be a comma-separated list to display more
than one item. If an item has spaces, that entry must be quoted.
After an item is chosen, ‘%%’ is replaced by the chosen item in
the template and the result is executed as a command. If
template is not given, "run-shell '%%'" is used. items also
accepts format specifiers. For the meaning of this see the
FORMATS section. This command works only if at least one client
is attached.
choose-session [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into session choice mode, where a session may be
selected interactively from a list. When one is chosen, ‘%%’ is
replaced by the session name in template and the result executed
as a command. If template is not given, "switch-client -t '%%'"
is used. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the FORMATS sec‐
tion. This command works only if at least one client is
attached.
choose-tree [-suw] [-b session-template] [-c window-template] [-S format]
[-W format] [-t target-window]
Put a window into tree choice mode, where either sessions or win‐
dows may be selected interactively from a list. By default, win‐
dows belonging to a session are indented to show their relation‐
ship to a session.
Note that the choose-window and choose-session commands are wrap‐
pers around choose-tree.
If -s is given, will show sessions. If -w is given, will show
windows.
By default, the tree is collapsed and sessions must be expanded
to windows with the right arrow key. The -u option will start
with all sessions expanded instead.
If -b is given, will override the default session command. Note
that ‘%%’ can be used and will be replaced with the session name.
The default option if not specified is "switch-client -t '%%'".
If -c is given, will override the default window command. Like
-b, ‘%%’ can be used and will be replaced with the session name
and window index. When a window is chosen from the list, the
session command is run before the window command.
If -S is given will display the specified format instead of the
default session format. If -W is given will display the speci‐
fied format instead of the default window format. For the mean‐
ing of the -s and -w options, see the FORMATS section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
choose-window [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into window choice mode, where a window may be cho‐
sen interactively from a list. After a window is selected, ‘%%’
is replaced by the session name and window index in template and
the result executed as a command. If template is not given,
"select-window -t '%%'" is used. For the meaning of the -F flag,
see the FORMATS section. This command works only if at least one
client is attached.
display-panes [-t target-client]
(alias: displayp)
Display a visible indicator of each pane shown by target-client.
See the display-panes-time, display-panes-colour, and
display-panes-active-colour session options. While the indicator
is on screen, a pane may be selected with the ‘0’ to ‘9’ keys.
find-window [-CNT] [-F format] [-t target-window] match-string
(alias: findw)
Search for the fnmatch(3) pattern match-string in window names,
titles, and visible content (but not history). The flags control
matching behavior: -C matches only visible window contents, -N
matches only the window name and -T matches only the window
title. The default is -CNT. If only one window is matched,
it'll be automatically selected, otherwise a choice list is
shown. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the FORMATS section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
join-pane [-bdhv] [-l size | -p percentage] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: joinp)
Like split-window, but instead of splitting dst-pane and creating
a new pane, split it and move src-pane into the space. This can
be used to reverse break-pane. The -b option causes src-pane to
be joined to left of or above dst-pane.
kill-pane [-a] [-t target-pane]
(alias: killp)
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]
(alias: killw)
Kill the current window or the window at target-window, removing
it from any sessions to which it is linked. The -a option kills
all but the window given with -t.
last-pane [-t target-window]
(alias: lastp)
Select the last (previously selected) pane.
last-window [-t target-session]
(alias: last)
Select the last (previously selected) window. If no
target-session is specified, select the last window of the cur‐
rent session.
link-window [-dk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: linkw)
Link the window at src-window to the specified dst-window. If
dst-window is specified and no such window exists, the src-window
is linked there. If -k is given and dst-window exists, it is
killed, otherwise an error is generated. If -d is given, the
newly linked window is not selected.
list-panes [-as] [-F format] [-t target]
(alias: lsp)
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 ses‐
sion). If neither is given, target is a window (or the current
window). For the meaning of the -F flag, see the FORMATS sec‐
tion.
list-windows [-a] [-F format] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsw)
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 FORMATS section.
move-pane [-bdhv] [-l size | -p percentage] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: movep)
Like join-pane, but src-pane and dst-pane may belong to the same
window.
move-window [-rdk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: movew)
This is similar to link-window, except the window at src-window
is moved to dst-window. With -r, all windows in the session are
renumbered in sequential order, respecting the base-index option.
new-window [-adkP] [-c start-directory] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-t
target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: neww)
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 cur‐
rent window. target-window represents the window to be created;
if the target already exists an error is shown, unless the -k
flag is used, in which case it is destroyed. shell-command is
the command to execute. If shell-command is not specified, the
value of the default-command option is used. -c specifies the
working directory in which the new window is created.
When the shell command completes, the window closes. See the
remain-on-exit option to change this behaviour.
The TERM environment variable must be set to “screen” for all
programs running inside tmux. New windows will automatically
have “TERM=screen” added to their environment, but care must be
taken not to reset this in shell start-up files.
The -P option prints information about the new window after it
has been created. By default, it uses the format
‘#{session_name}:#{window_index}’ but a different format may be
specified with -F.
next-layout [-t target-window]
(alias: nextl)
Move a window to the next layout and rearrange the panes to fit.
next-window [-a] [-t target-session]
(alias: next)
Move to the next window in the session. If -a is used, move to
the next window with an alert.
pipe-pane [-o] [-t target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: pipep)
Pipe any output sent by the program in target-pane to a shell
command. A pane may only be piped to one command at a time, any
existing pipe is closed before shell-command is executed. The
shell-command string may contain the special character sequences
supported by the status-left option. If no shell-command is
given, the current pipe (if any) is closed.
The -o option only opens a new pipe if no previous pipe exists,
allowing a pipe to be toggled with a single key, for example:
bind-key C-p pipe-pane -o 'cat >>~/output.#I-#P'
previous-layout [-t target-window]
(alias: prevl)
Move to the previous layout in the session.
previous-window [-a] [-t target-session]
(alias: prev)
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
(alias: renamew)
Rename the current window, or the window at target-window if
specified, to new-name.
resize-pane [-DLRUZ] [-t target-pane] [-x width] [-y height] [adjustment]
(alias: resizep)
Resize a pane, up, down, left or right by adjustment with -U, -D,
-L or -R, or to an absolute size with -x or -y. The adjustment
is given in lines or cells (the default is 1).
With -Z, the active pane is toggled between zoomed (occupying the
whole of the window) and unzoomed (its normal position in the
layout).
respawn-pane [-k] [-t target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnp)
Reactivate a pane in which the command has exited (see the
remain-on-exit window option). If shell-command is not given,
the command used when the pane was created is executed. The pane
must be already inactive, unless -k is given, in which case any
existing command is killed.
respawn-window [-k] [-t target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnw)
Reactivate a window in which the command has exited (see the
remain-on-exit window option). If shell-command is not given,
the command used when the window was created is executed. The
window must be already inactive, unless -k is given, in which
case any existing command is killed.
rotate-window [-DU] [-t target-window]
(alias: rotatew)
Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either upward
(numerically lower) with -U or downward (numerically higher).
select-layout [-np] [-t target-window] [layout-name]
(alias: selectl)
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 com‐
mands.
select-pane [-lDLRU] [-t target-pane]
(alias: selectp)
Make pane target-pane the active pane in window target-window.
If one of -D, -L, -R, or -U is used, respectively the pane below,
to the left, to the right, or above the target pane is used. -l
is the same as using the last-pane command.
select-window [-lnpT] [-t target-window]
(alias: selectw)
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 win‐
dow, the command behaves like last-window.
split-window [-dhvP] [-c start-directory] [-l size | -p percentage] [-t
target-pane] [shell-command] [-F format]
(alias: splitw)
Create a new pane by splitting target-pane: -h does a horizontal
split and -v a vertical split; if neither is specified, -v is
assumed. The -l and -p options specify the size of the new pane
in lines (for vertical split) or in cells (for horizontal split),
or as a percentage, respectively. All other options have the
same meaning as for the new-window command.
swap-pane [-dDU] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: swapp)
Swap two panes. If -U is used and no source pane is specified
with -s, dst-pane is swapped with the previous pane (before it
numerically); -D swaps with the next pane (after it numerically).
-d instructs tmux not to change the active pane.
swap-window [-d] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: swapw)
This is similar to link-window, except the source and destination
windows are swapped. It is an error if no window exists at
src-window.
unlink-window [-k] [-t target-window]
(alias: unlinkw)
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 BINDINGStmux allows a command to be bound to most keys, with or without a prefix
key. When specifying keys, most represent themselves (for example ‘A’ to
‘Z’). Ctrl keys may be prefixed with ‘C-’ or ‘^’, and Alt (meta) with
‘M-’. In addition, the following special key names are accepted: Up,
Down, Left, Right, BSpace, BTab, DC (Delete), End, Enter, Escape, F1 to
F20, Home, IC (Insert), NPage/PageDown/PgDn, PPage/PageUp/PgUp, Space,
and Tab. Note that to bind the ‘"’ or ‘'’ keys, quotation marks are nec‐
essary, for example:
bind-key '"' split-window
bind-key "'" new-window
Commands related to key bindings are as follows:
bind-key [-cnr] [-t key-table] key command [arguments]
(alias: bind)
Bind key key to command. By default (without -t) the primary key
bindings are modified (those normally activated with the prefix
key); in this case, if -n is specified, it is not necessary to
use the prefix key, command is bound to key alone. The -r flag
indicates this key may repeat, see the repeat-time option.
If -t is present, key is bound in key-table: the binding for com‐
mand mode with -c or for normal mode without. To view the
default bindings and possible commands, see the list-keys com‐
mand.
list-keys [-t key-table]
(alias: lsk)
List all key bindings. Without -t the primary key bindings -
those executed when preceded by the prefix key - are printed.
With -t, the key bindings in key-table are listed; this may be
one of: vi-edit, emacs-edit, vi-choice, emacs-choice, vi-copy or
emacs-copy.
send-keys [-lR] [-t target-pane] key ...
(alias: send)
Send a key or keys to a window. Each argument key is the name of
the key (such as ‘C-a’ or ‘npage’ ) to send; if the string is not
recognised as a key, it is sent as a series of characters. The
-l flag disables key name lookup and sends the keys literally.
All arguments are sent sequentially from first to last. The -R
flag causes the terminal state to be reset.
send-prefix [-2] [-t target-pane]
Send the prefix key, or with -2 the secondary prefix key, to a
window as if it was pressed.
unbind-key [-acn] [-t key-table] key
(alias: unbind)
Unbind the command bound to key. Without -t the primary key
bindings are modified; in this case, if -n is specified, the com‐
mand bound to key without a prefix (if any) is removed. If -a is
present, all key bindings are removed.
If -t is present, key in key-table is unbound: the binding for
command mode with -c or for normal mode without.
OPTIONS
The appearance and behaviour of tmux may be modified by changing the
value of various options. There are three types of option: server
options, session options and window options.
The tmux server has a set of global options which do not apply to any
particular window or session. These are altered with the set-option -s
command, or displayed with the show-options -s command.
In addition, each individual session may have a set of session options,
and there is a separate set of global session options. Sessions which do
not have a particular option configured inherit the value from the global
session options. Session options are set or unset with the set-option
command and may be listed with the show-options command. The available
server and session options are listed under the set-option command.
Similarly, a set of window options is attached to each window, and there
is a set of global window options from which any unset options are inher‐
ited. Window options are altered with the set-window-option command and
can be listed with the show-window-options command. All window options
are documented with the set-window-option command.
tmux also supports user options which are prefixed with a ‘@’. User
options may have any name, so long as they are prefixed with ‘@’, and be
set to any string. For example
$ tmux setw -q @foo "abc123"
$ tmux showw -v @foo
abc123
Commands which set options are as follows:
set-option [-agoqsuw] [-t target-session | target-window] option value
(alias: set)
Set a window option with -w (equivalent to the set-window-option
command), a server option with -s, otherwise a session option.
If -g is specified, the global session or window option is set.
The -u flag unsets an option, so a session inherits the option
from the global options. It is not possible to unset a global
option.
The -o flag prevents setting an option that is already set.
The -q flag suppresses the informational message (as if the quiet
server option was set).
With -a, and if the option expects a string or a style, value is
appended to the existing setting. For example:
set -g status-left "foo"
set -ag status-left "bar"
Will result in ‘foobar’. And:
set -g status-style "bg=red"
set -ag status-style "fg=blue"
Will result in a red background and blue foreground. Without -a,
the result would be the default background and a blue foreground.
Available window options are listed under set-window-option.
value depends on the option and may be a number, a string, or a
flag (on, off, or omitted to toggle).
Available server options are:
buffer-limit number
Set the number of buffers; as new buffers are added to
the top of the stack, old ones are removed from the bot‐
tom if necessary to maintain this maximum length.
escape-time time
Set the time in milliseconds for which tmux waits after
an escape is input to determine if it is part of a func‐
tion or meta key sequences. The default is 500 millisec‐
onds.
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 termi‐
nal if supported and passed through to applications run‐
ning in tmux. Attached clients should be detached and
attached again after changing this option.
quiet [on | off]
Enable or disable the display of various informational
messages (see also the -q command line flag).
set-clipboard [on | off]
Attempt to set the terminal clipboard content using the
\e]52;...\007 xterm(1) escape sequences. This option is
on by default if there is an Ms entry in the terminfo(5)
description for the client terminal. Note that this fea‐
ture needs to be enabled in xterm(1) by setting the
resource:
disallowedWindowOps: 20,21,SetXprop
Or changing this property from the xterm(1) interactive
menu when required.
Available session options are:
assume-paste-time milliseconds
If keys are entered faster than one in milliseconds, they
are assumed to have been pasted rather than typed and
tmux key bindings are not processed. The default is one
millisecond and zero disables.
base-index index
Set the base index from which an unused index should be
searched when a new window is created. The default is
zero.
bell-action [any | none | current]
Set action on window bell. any means a bell in any win‐
dow linked to a session causes a bell in the current win‐
dow of that session, none means all bells are ignored and
current means only bells in windows other than the cur‐
rent window are ignored.
bell-on-alert [on | off]
If on, ring the terminal bell when an alert occurs.
default-command shell-command
Set the command used for new windows (if not specified
when the window is created) to shell-command, which may
be any sh(1) command. The default is an empty string,
which instructs tmux to create a login shell using the
value of the default-shell option.
default-shell path
Specify the default shell. This is used as the login
shell for new windows when the default-command option is
set to empty, and must be the full path of the exe‐
cutable. When started tmux tries to set a default value
from the first suitable of the SHELL environment vari‐
able, the shell returned by getpwuid(3), or /bin/sh.
This option should be configured when tmux is used as a
login shell.
default-terminal terminal
Set the default terminal for new windows created in this
session - the default value of the TERM environment vari‐
able. For tmux to work correctly, this must be set to
‘screen’ or a derivative of it.
destroy-unattached [on | off]
If enabled and the session is no longer attached to any
clients, it is destroyed.
detach-on-destroy [on | off]
If on (the default), the client is detached when the ses‐
sion it is attached to is destroyed. If off, the client
is switched to the most recently active of the remaining
sessions.
display-panes-active-colour colour
Set the colour used by the display-panes command to show
the indicator for the active pane.
display-panes-colour colour
Set the colour used by the display-panes command to show
the indicators for inactive panes.
display-panes-time time
Set the time in milliseconds for which the indicators
shown by the display-panes command appear.
display-time time
Set the amount of time for which status line messages and
other on-screen indicators are displayed. time is in
milliseconds.
history-limit lines
Set the maximum number of lines held in window history.
This setting applies only to new windows - existing win‐
dow histories are not resized and retain the limit at the
point they were created.
lock-after-time number
Lock the session (like the lock-session command) after
number seconds of inactivity, or the entire server (all
sessions) if the lock-server option is set. The default
is not to lock (set to 0).
lock-command shell-command
Command to run when locking each client. The default is
to run lock(1) with -np.
lock-server [on | off]
If this option is on (the default), instead of each ses‐
sion locking individually as each has been idle for
lock-after-time, the entire server will lock after all
sessions would have locked. This has no effect as a ses‐
sion option; it must be set as a global option.
message-command-style style
Set status line message command style, where style is a
comma-separated list of characteristics to be specified.
These may be ‘bg=colour’ to set the background colour,
‘fg=colour’ to set the foreground colour, and a list of
attributes as specified below.
The colour is one of: black, red, green, yellow, blue,
magenta, cyan, white, aixterm bright variants (if sup‐
ported: brightred, brightgreen, and so on), colour0 to
colour255 from the 256-colour set, default, or a hexadec‐
imal RGB string such as ‘#ffffff’, which chooses the
closest match from the default 256-colour set.
The attributes is either none or a comma-delimited list
of one or more of: bright (or bold), dim, underscore,
blink, reverse, hidden, or italics, to turn an attribute
on, or an attribute prefixed with ‘no’ to turn one off.
Examples are:
fg=yellow,bold,underscore,blink
bg=black,fg=default,noreverse
With the -a flag to the set-option command the new style
is added otherwise the existing style is replaced.
message-limit number
Set the number of error or information messages to save
in the message log for each client. The default is 20.
message-style style
Set status line message style. For how to specify style,
see the message-command-style option.
mouse-resize-pane [on | off]
If on, tmux captures the mouse and allows panes to be
resized by dragging on their borders.
mouse-select-pane [on | off]
If on, tmux captures the mouse and when a window is split
into multiple panes the mouse may be used to select the
current pane. The mouse click is also passed through to
the application as normal.
mouse-select-window [on | off]
If on, clicking the mouse on a window name in the status
line will select that window.
mouse-utf8 [on | off]
If enabled, request mouse input as UTF-8 on UTF-8 termi‐
nals.
pane-active-border-style style
Set the pane border style for the currently active pane.
For how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option. Attributes are ignored.
pane-border-style style
Set the pane border style for paneas aside from the
active pane. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option. Attributes are ignored.
prefix key
Set the key accepted as a prefix key.
prefix2 key
Set a secondary key accepted as a prefix key.
renumber-windows [on | off]
If on, when a window is closed in a session, automati‐
cally renumber the other windows in numerical order.
This respects the base-index option if it has been set.
If off, do not renumber the windows.
repeat-time time
Allow multiple commands to be entered without pressing
the prefix-key again in the specified time milliseconds
(the default is 500). Whether a key repeats may be set
when it is bound using the -r flag to bind-key. Repeat
is enabled for the default keys bound to the resize-pane
command.
set-remain-on-exit [on | off]
Set the remain-on-exit window option for any windows
first created in this session. When this option is true,
windows in which the running program has exited do not
close, instead remaining open but inactivate. Use the
respawn-window command to reactivate such a window, or
the kill-window command to destroy it.
set-titles [on | off]
Attempt to set the client terminal title using the tsl
and fsl terminfo(5) entries if they exist. tmux automat‐
ically sets these to the \e]2;...\007 sequence if the
terminal appears to be an xterm. This option is off by
default. Note that elinks will only attempt to set the
window title if the STY environment variable is set.
set-titles-string string
String used to set the window title if set-titles is on.
Character sequences are replaced as for the status-left
option.
status [on | off]
Show or hide the status line.
status-interval interval
Update the status bar every interval seconds. By
default, updates will occur every 15 seconds. A setting
of zero disables redrawing at interval.
status-justify [left | centre | right]
Set the position of the window list component of the sta‐
tus line: left, centre or right justified.
status-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in the status line,
for example at the command prompt. The default is emacs,
unless the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables are set
and contain the string ‘vi’.
status-left string
Display string (by default the session name) to the left
of the status bar. string will be passed through
strftime(3) and formats (see FORMATS) will be expanded.
It may also contain any of the following special charac‐
ter sequences:
Character pair Replaced with
#(shell-command) First line of the command's
output
#[attributes] Colour or attribute change
## A literal ‘#’
The #(shell-command) form executes ‘shell-command’ and
inserts the first line of its output. Note that shell
commands are only executed once at the interval specified
by the status-interval option: if the status line is
redrawn in the meantime, the previous result is used.
Shell commands are executed with the tmux global environ‐
ment set (see the ENVIRONMENT section).
For details on how the names and titles can be set see
the NAMES AND TITLES section. For a list of allowed
attributes see the message-command-style option.
Examples are:
#(sysctl vm.loadavg)
#[fg=yellow,bold]#(apm -l)%%#[default] [#S]
Where appropriate, special character sequences may be
prefixed with a number to specify the maximum length, for
example ‘#24T’.
By default, UTF-8 in string is not interpreted, to enable
UTF-8, use the status-utf8 option.
status-left-length length
Set the maximum length of the left component of the sta‐
tus bar. The default is 10.
status-left-style style
Set the style of the left part of the status line. For
how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
status-position [top | bottom]
Set the position of the status line.
status-right string
Display string to the right of the status bar. By
default, the current window title in double quotes, the
date and the time are shown. As with status-left, string
will be passed to strftime(3), character pairs are
replaced, and UTF-8 is dependent on the status-utf8
option.
status-right-length length
Set the maximum length of the right component of the sta‐
tus bar. The default is 40.
status-right-style style
Set the style of the right part of the status line. For
how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
status-style style
Set status line style. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
status-utf8 [on | off]
Instruct tmux to treat top-bit-set characters in the
status-left and status-right strings as UTF-8; notably,
this is important for wide characters. This option
defaults to off.
terminal-overrides string
Contains a list of entries which override terminal
descriptions read using terminfo(5). string is a comma-
separated list of items each a colon-separated string
made up of a terminal type pattern (matched using
fnmatch(3)) and a set of name=value entries.
For example, to set the ‘clear’ terminfo(5) entry to
‘\e[H\e[2J’ for all terminal types and the ‘dch1’ entry
to ‘\e[P’ for the ‘rxvt’ terminal type, the option could
be set to the string:
"*:clear=\e[H\e[2J,rxvt:dch1=\e[P"
The terminal entry value is passed through strunvis(3)
before interpretation. The default value forcibly cor‐
rects the ‘colors’ entry for terminals which support 256
colours:
"*256col*:colors=256,xterm*:XT"
update-environment variables
Set a space-separated string containing a list of envi‐
ronment variables to be copied into the session environ‐
ment when a new session is created or an existing session
is attached. Any variables that do not exist in the
source environment are set to be removed from the session
environment (as if -r was given to the set-environment
command). The default is "DISPLAY SSH_ASKPASS
SSH_AUTH_SOCK SSH_AGENT_PID SSH_CONNECTION WINDOWID XAU‐
THORITY".
visual-activity [on | off]
If on, display a status line message when activity occurs
in a window for which the monitor-activity window option
is enabled.
visual-bell [on | off]
If this option is on, a message is shown on a bell
instead of it being passed through to the terminal (which
normally makes a sound). Also see the bell-action
option.
visual-content [on | off]
Like visual-activity, display a message when content is
present in a window for which the monitor-content window
option is enabled.
visual-silence [on | off]
If monitor-silence is enabled, prints a message after the
interval has expired on a given window.
word-separators string
Sets the session's conception of what characters are con‐
sidered word separators, for the purposes of the next and
previous word commands in copy mode. The default is
‘ -_@’.
set-window-option [-agoqu] [-t target-window] option value
(alias: setw)
Set a window option. The -a, -g, -o, -q and -u flags work simi‐
larly to the set-option command.
Supported window options are:
aggressive-resize [on | off]
Aggressively resize the chosen window. This means that
tmux will resize the window to the size of the smallest
session for which it is the current window, rather than
the smallest session to which it is attached. The window
may resize when the current window is changed on another
sessions; this option is good for full-screen programs
which support SIGWINCH and poor for interactive programs
such as shells.
allow-rename [on | off]
Allow programs to change the window name using a terminal
escape sequence (\033k...\033\\). The default is on.
alternate-screen [on | off]
This option configures whether programs running inside
tmux may use the terminal alternate screen feature, which
allows the smcup and rmcup terminfo(5) capabilities. The
alternate screen feature preserves the contents of the
window when an interactive application starts and
restores it on exit, so that any output visible before
the application starts reappears unchanged after it
exits. The default is on.
automatic-rename [on | off]
Control automatic window renaming. When this setting is
enabled, tmux will rename the window automatically using
the format specified by automatic-rename-format. This
flag is automatically disabled for an individual window
when a name is specified at creation with new-window or
new-session, or later with rename-window, or with a ter‐
minal escape sequence. It may be switched off globally
with:
set-window-option -g automatic-rename off
automatic-rename-format format
The format (see FORMATS) used when the automatic-rename
option is enabled.
c0-change-interval interval
c0-change-trigger trigger
These two options configure a simple form of rate limit‐
ing for a pane. If tmux sees more than trigger C0
sequences that modify the screen (for example, carriage
returns, linefeeds or backspaces) in one millisecond, it
will stop updating the pane immediately and instead
redraw it entirely every interval milliseconds. This
helps to prevent fast output (such as yes(1)) overwhelm‐
ing the terminal. The default is a trigger of 250 and an
interval of 100. A trigger of zero disables the rate
limiting.
clock-mode-colour colour
Set clock colour.
clock-mode-style [12 | 24]
Set clock hour format.
force-height height
force-width width
Prevent tmux from resizing a window to greater than width
or height. A value of zero restores the default unlim‐
ited setting.
main-pane-height height
main-pane-width width
Set the width or height of the main (left or top) pane in
the main-horizontal or main-vertical layouts.
mode-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in copy and choice
modes. As with the status-keys option, the default is
emacs, unless VISUAL or EDITOR contains ‘vi’.
mode-mouse [on | off | copy-mode]
Mouse state in modes. If on, the mouse may be used to
enter copy mode and copy a selection by dragging, to
enter copy mode and scroll with the mouse wheel, or to
select an option in choice mode. If set to copy-mode,
the mouse behaves as set to on, but cannot be used to
enter copy mode.
mode-style style
Set window modes style. For how to specify style, see
the message-command-style option.
monitor-activity [on | off]
Monitor for activity in the window. Windows with activ‐
ity are highlighted in the status line.
monitor-content match-string
Monitor content in the window. When fnmatch(3) pattern
match-string appears in the window, it is highlighted in
the status line.
monitor-silence [interval]
Monitor for silence (no activity) in the window within
interval seconds. Windows that have been silent for the
interval are highlighted in the status line. An interval
of zero disables the monitoring.
other-pane-height height
Set the height of the other panes (not the main pane) in
the main-horizontal layout. If this option is set to 0
(the default), it will have no effect. If both the
main-pane-height and other-pane-height options are set,
the main pane will grow taller to make the other panes
the specified height, but will never shrink to do so.
other-pane-width width
Like other-pane-height, but set the width of other panes
in the main-vertical layout.
pane-base-index index
Like base-index, but set the starting index for pane num‐
bers.
remain-on-exit [on | off]
A window with this flag set is not destroyed when the
program running in it exits. The window may be reacti‐
vated with the respawn-window command.
synchronize-panes [on | off]
Duplicate input to any pane to all other panes in the
same window (only for panes that are not in any special
mode).
utf8 [on | off]
Instructs tmux to expect UTF-8 sequences to appear in
this window.
window-status-activity-style style
Set status line style for windows with an activity alert.
For how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
window-status-bell-style style
Set status line style for windows with a bell alert. For
how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
window-status-content-style style
Set status line style for windows with a content alert.
For how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
window-status-current-format string
Like window-status-format, but is the format used when
the window is the current window.
window-status-current-style style
Set status line style for the currently active window.
For how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
window-status-format string
Set the format in which the window is displayed in the
status line window list. See the status-left option for
details of special character sequences available. The
default is ‘#I:#W#F’.
window-status-last-style style
Set status line style for the last active window. For
how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
window-status-separator string
Sets the separator drawn between windows in the status
line. The default is a single space character.
window-status-style style
Set status line style for a single window. For how to
specify style, see the message-command-style option.
xterm-keys [on | off]
If this option is set, tmux will generate xterm(1)-style
function key sequences; these have a number included to
indicate modifiers such as Shift, Alt or Ctrl. The
default is off.
wrap-search [on | off]
If this option is set, searches will wrap around the end
of the pane contents. The default is on.
show-options [-gqsvw] [-t target-session | target-window] [option]
(alias: show)
Show the window options (or a single window option if given) with
-w (equivalent to show-window-options), the server options with
-s, otherwise the session options for target session. Global
session or window options are listed if -g is used. -v shows
only the option value, not the name. If -q is set, no error will
be returned if option is unset.
show-window-options [-gv] [-t target-window] [option]
(alias: showw)
List the window options or a single option for target-window, or
the global window options if -g is used. -v shows only the
option value, not the name.
FORMATS
Certain commands accept the -F flag with a format argument. This is a
string which controls the output format of the command. Replacement
variables are enclosed in ‘#{’ and ‘}’, for example ‘#{session_name}’.
Some variables also have an shorter alias such as ‘#S’. ‘##’ is replaced
by a single ‘#’. Conditionals are also accepted by prefixing with ‘?’
and separating two alternatives with a comma; if the specified variable
exists and is not zero, the first alternative is chosen, otherwise the
second is used. For example ‘#{?session_attached,attached,not attached}’
will include the string ‘attached’ if the session is attached and the
string ‘not attached’ if it is unattached. A limit may be placed on the
length of the resultant string by prefixing it by an ‘=’, a number and a
colon, so ‘#{=10:pane_title}’ will include at most the first 10 charac‐
ters of the pane title.
The following variables are available, where appropriate:
Variable name Alias Replaced with
alternate_on If pane is in alternate screen
alternate_saved_x Saved cursor X in alternate screen
alternate_saved_y Saved cursor Y in alternate screen
buffer_sample First 50 characters from buffer
buffer_size Size of the specified buffer in bytes
client_activity Integer time client last had activity
client_activity_string String time client last had activity
client_created Integer time client created
client_created_string String time client created
client_height Height of client
client_last_session Name of the client's last session
client_prefix 1 if prefix key has been pressed
client_readonly 1 if client is readonly
client_session Name of the client's session
client_termname Terminal name of client
client_tty Pseudo terminal of client
client_utf8 1 if client supports utf8
client_width Width of client
cursor_flag Pane cursor flag
cursor_x Cursor X position in pane
cursor_y Cursor Y position in pane
history_bytes Number of bytes in window history
history_limit Maximum window history lines
history_size Size of history in bytes
host #H Hostname of local host
host_short #h Hostname of local host (no domain name)
insert_flag Pane insert flag
keypad_cursor_flag Pane keypad cursor flag
keypad_flag Pane keypad flag
line Line number in the list
mouse_any_flag Pane mouse any flag
mouse_button_flag Pane mouse button flag
mouse_standard_flag Pane mouse standard flag
mouse_utf8_flag Pane mouse UTF-8 flag
pane_active 1 if active pane
pane_current_command Current command if available
pane_current_path Current path if available
pane_dead 1 if pane is dead
pane_height Height of pane
pane_id #D Unique pane ID
pane_in_mode If pane is in a mode
pane_synchronized If pane is synchronized
pane_index #P Index of pane
pane_pid PID of first process in pane
pane_start_command Command pane started with
pane_start_path Path pane started with
pane_tabs Pane tab positions
pane_title #T Title of pane
pane_tty Pseudo terminal of pane
pane_width Width of pane
saved_cursor_x Saved cursor X in pane
saved_cursor_y Saved cursor Y in pane
scroll_region_lower Bottom of scroll region in pane
scroll_region_upper Top of scroll region in pane
session_attached 1 if session attached
session_created Integer time session created
session_created_string String time session created
session_group Number of session group
session_grouped 1 if session in a group
session_height Height of session
session_id Unique session ID
session_name #S Name of session
session_width Width of session
session_windows Number of windows in session
window_active 1 if window active
window_activity_flag 1 if window has activity alert
window_bell_flag 1 if window has bell
window_content_flag 1 if window has content alert
window_find_matches Matched data from the find-window
window_flags #F Window flags
window_height Height of window
window_id Unique window ID
window_index #I Index of window
window_layout Window layout description
window_name #W Name of window
window_panes Number of panes in window
window_silence_flag 1 if window has silence alert
window_width Width of window
wrap_flag Pane wrap flag
NAMES AND TITLEStmux distinguishes between names and titles. Windows and sessions have
names, which may be used to specify them in targets and are displayed in
the status line and various lists: the name is the tmux identifier for a
window or session. Only panes have titles. A pane's title is typically
set by the program running inside the pane and is not modified by tmux.
It is the same mechanism used to set for example the xterm(1) window
title in an X(7) window manager. Windows themselves do not have titles -
a window's title is the title of its active pane. tmux itself may set
the title of the terminal in which the client is running, see the
set-titles option.
A session's name is set with the new-session and rename-session commands.
A window's name is set with one of:
1. A command argument (such as -n for new-window or new-session).
2. An escape sequence:
$ printf '\033kWINDOW_NAME\033\\'
3. Automatic renaming, which sets the name to the active command in
the window's active pane. See the automatic-rename option.
When a pane is first created, its title is the hostname. A pane's title
can be set via the OSC title setting sequence, for example:
$ printf '\033]2;My Title\033\\'
ENVIRONMENT
When the server is started, tmux copies the environment into the global
environment; in addition, each session has a session environment. When a
window is created, the session and global environments are merged. If a
variable exists in both, the value from the session environment is used.
The result is the initial environment passed to the new process.
The update-environment session option may be used to update the session
environment from the client when a new session is created or an old reat‐
tached. 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]
(alias: setenv)
Set or unset an environment variable. If -g is used, the change
is made in the global environment; otherwise, it is applied to
the session environment for target-session. The -u flag unsets a
variable. -r indicates the variable is to be removed from the
environment before starting a new process.
show-environment [-g] [-t target-session] [variable]
(alias: showenv)
Display the environment for target-session or the global environ‐
ment with -g. If variable is omitted, all variables are shown.
Variables removed from the environment are prefixed with ‘-’.
STATUS LINEtmux includes an optional status line which is displayed in the bottom
line of each terminal. By default, the status line is enabled (it may be
disabled with the status session option) and contains, from left-to-
right: the name of the current session in square brackets; the window
list; the title of the active pane in double quotes; and the time and
date.
The status line is made of three parts: configurable left and right sec‐
tions (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 Meaning
* Denotes the current window.
- Marks the last window (previously selected).
# Window is monitored and activity has been detected.
! A bell has occurred in the window.
+ Window is monitored for content and it has appeared.
~ The window has been silent for the monitor-silence
interval.
Z The window's active pane is zoomed.
The # symbol relates to the monitor-activity and + to the monitor-content
window options. The window name is printed in inverted colours if an
alert (bell, activity or content) is present.
The colour and attributes of the status line may be configured, the
entire status line using the status-style session option and individual
windows using the window-status-style window option.
The status line is automatically refreshed at interval if it has changed,
the interval may be controlled with the status-interval session option.
Commands related to the status line are as follows:
command-prompt [-I inputs] [-p prompts] [-t target-client] [template]
Open the command prompt in a client. This may be used from
inside tmux to execute commands interactively.
If template is specified, it is used as the command. If present,
-I is a comma-separated list of the initial text for each prompt.
If -p is given, prompts is a comma-separated list of prompts
which are displayed in order; otherwise a single prompt is dis‐
played, constructed from template if it is present, or ‘:’ if
not.
Both inputs and prompts may contain the special character
sequences supported by the status-left option.
Before the command is executed, the first occurrence of the
string ‘%%’ and all occurrences of ‘%1’ are replaced by the
response to the first prompt, the second ‘%%’ and all ‘%2’ are
replaced with the response to the second prompt, and so on for
further prompts. Up to nine prompt responses may be replaced
(‘%1’ to ‘%9’).
confirm-before [-p prompt] [-t target-client] command
(alias: confirm)
Ask for confirmation before executing command. If -p is given,
prompt is the prompt to display; otherwise a prompt is con‐
structed from command. It may contain the special character
sequences supported by the status-left option.
This command works only from inside tmux.
display-message [-p] [-c target-client] [-t target-pane] [message]
(alias: display)
Display a message. If -p is given, the output is printed to std‐
out, otherwise it is displayed in the target-client status line.
The format of message is described in the FORMATS section; infor‐
mation is taken from target-pane if -t is given, otherwise the
active pane for the session attached to target-client.
BUFFERStmux maintains a stack of paste buffers. Up to the value of the
buffer-limit option are kept; when a new buffer is added, the buffer at
the bottom of the stack is removed. Buffers may be added using copy-mode
or the set-buffer command, and pasted into a window using the
paste-buffer command.
A configurable history buffer is also maintained for each window. By
default, up to 2000 lines are kept; this can be altered with the
history-limit option (see the set-option command above).
The buffer commands are as follows:
choose-buffer [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into buffer choice mode, where a buffer may be cho‐
sen interactively from a list. After a buffer is selected, ‘%%’
is replaced by the buffer index in template and the result exe‐
cuted as a command. If template is not given, "paste-buffer -b
'%%'" is used. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the FORMATS
section. This command works only if at least one client is
attached.
clear-history [-t target-pane]
(alias: clearhist)
Remove and free the history for the specified pane.
delete-buffer [-b buffer-index]
(alias: deleteb)
Delete the buffer at buffer-index, or the top buffer if not spec‐
ified.
list-buffers [-F format]
(alias: lsb)
List the global buffers. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the
FORMATS section.
load-buffer [-b buffer-index] path
(alias: loadb)
Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from path.
paste-buffer [-dpr] [-b buffer-index] [-s separator] [-t target-pane]
(alias: pasteb)
Insert the contents of a paste buffer into the specified pane.
If not specified, paste into the current one. With -d, also
delete the paste buffer from the stack. When output, any line‐
feed (LF) characters in the paste buffer are replaced with a sep‐
arator, 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 speci‐
fied, paste bracket control codes are inserted around the buffer
if the application has requested bracketed paste mode.
save-buffer [-a] [-b buffer-index] path
(alias: saveb)
Save the contents of the specified paste buffer to path. The -a
option appends to rather than overwriting the file.
set-buffer [-b buffer-index] data
(alias: setb)
Set the contents of the specified buffer to data.
show-buffer [-b buffer-index]
(alias: showb)
Display the contents of the specified buffer.
MISCELLANEOUS
Miscellaneous commands are as follows:
clock-mode [-t target-pane]
Display a large clock.
if-shell [-b] [-t target-pane] shell-command command [command]
(alias: if)
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 FORMATS section,
including those relevant to target-pane. With -b, shell-command
is run in the background.
lock-server
(alias: lock)
Lock each client individually by running the command specified by
the lock-command option.
run-shell [-b] [-t target-pane] shell-command
(alias: run)
Execute shell-command in the background without creating a win‐
dow. Before being executed, shell-command is expanded using the
rules specified in the 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
(alias: wait)
When used without options, prevents the client from exiting until
woken using wait-for -S with the same channel. When -L is used,
the channel is locked and any clients that try to lock the same
channel are made to wait until the channel is unlocked with
wait-for -U. This command only works from outside tmux.
TERMINFO EXTENSIONStmux understands some extensions to terminfo(5):
Cs, Cr Set the cursor colour. The first takes a single string argument
and is used to set the colour; the second takes no arguments and
restores the default cursor colour. If set, a sequence such as
this may be used to change the cursor colour from inside tmux:
$ printf '\033]12;red\033\\'
Ss, Se Change the cursor style. If set, a sequence such as this may be
used to change the cursor to an underline:
$ printf '\033[4 q'
If Csr is set, it will be used to reset the cursor style instead
of Cs.
Ms This sequence can be used by tmux to store the current buffer in
the host terminal's selection (clipboard). See the set-clipboard
option above and the xterm(1) man page.
CONTROL MODEtmux offers a textual interface called control mode. This allows appli‐
cations to communicate with tmux using a simple text-only protocol.
In control mode, a client sends tmux commands or command sequences termi‐
nated by newlines on standard input. Each command will produce one block
of output on standard output. An output block consists of a %begin line
followed by the output (which may be empty). The output block ends with
a %end or %error. %begin and matching %end or %error have two arguments:
an integer time (as seconds from epoch) and command number. For example:
%begin 1363006971 2
0: ksh* (1 panes) [80x24] [layout b25f,80x24,0,0,2] @2 (active)
%end 1363006971 2
In control mode, tmux outputs notifications. A notification will never
occur inside an output block.
The following notifications are defined:
%exit [reason]
The tmux client is exiting immediately, either because it is not
attached to any session or an error occurred. If present, reason
describes why the client exited.
%layout-change window-id window-layout
The layout of a window with ID window-id changed. The new layout
is window-layout.
%output pane-id value
A window pane produced output. value escapes non-printable char‐
acters and backslash as octal \xxx.
%session-changed session-id name
The client is now attached to the session with ID session-id,
which is named name.
%session-renamed name
The current session was renamed to name.
%sessions-changed
A session was created or destroyed.
%unlinked-window-add window-id
The window with ID window-id was created but is not linked to the
current session.
%window-add window-id
The window with ID window-id was linked to the current session.
%window-close window-id
The window with ID window-id closed.
%window-renamed window-id name
The window with ID window-id was renamed to name.
FILES
~/.tmux.conf Default tmux configuration file.
/etc/tmux.conf System-wide configuration file.
EXAMPLES
To create a new tmux session running vi(1):
$ tmux new-session vi
Most commands have a shorter form, known as an alias. For new-session,
this is new:
$ tmux new vi
Alternatively, the shortest unambiguous form of a command is accepted.
If there are several options, they are listed:
$ tmux n
ambiguous command: n, could be: new-session, new-window, next-window
Within an active session, a new window may be created by typing ‘C-b c’
(Ctrl followed by the ‘b’ key followed by the ‘c’ key).
Windows may be navigated with: ‘C-b 0’ (to select window 0), ‘C-b 1’ (to
select window 1), and so on; ‘C-b n’ to select the next window; and ‘C-b
p’ to select the previous window.
A session may be detached using ‘C-b d’ (or by an external event such as
ssh(1) disconnection) and reattached with:
$ tmux attach-session
Typing ‘C-b ?’ lists the current key bindings in the current window; up
and down may be used to navigate the list or ‘q’ to exit from it.
Commands to be run when the tmux server is started may be placed in the
~/.tmux.conf configuration file. Common examples include:
Changing the default prefix key:
set-option -g prefix C-a
unbind-key C-b
bind-key C-a send-prefix
Turning the status line off, or changing its colour:
set-option -g status off
set-option -g status-style bg=blue
Setting other options, such as the default command, or locking after 30
minutes of inactivity:
set-option -g default-command "exec /bin/ksh"
set-option -g lock-after-time 1800
Creating new key bindings:
bind-key b set-option status
bind-key / command-prompt "split-window 'exec man %%'"
bind-key S command-prompt "new-window -n %1 'ssh %1'"
SEE ALSOpty(7)AUTHORS
Nicholas Marriott ⟨nicm@users.sourceforge.net⟩
BSD April 28, 2024 BSD
