Tmux Overview¶

Tmux is a terminal multiplexer. It's a successor to GNU Screen (which is still alive) with more features.

Table of Contents¶

Tmux vs Screen
- Multiple user session
Attach to Existing Session in Tmux
Create a New Tmux Session
Tmux Commands
Keybindings and Key Tables
- Key Tables

Tmux vs Screen¶

Tmux and screen have a lot of overlapping functionality.
The thing that stands out the most (to me) is the fact that tmux panes are much easier to use and more full-featured than Screen's split window.

They both support multiple users at one time, but Screen is a bit better in this regard.

Multiple user session:¶

Both have multi-user support
Screen allows users to share a session, but be in different windows
```
screen -r sessionowner/[pid.tty.host]
```
Tmux session allows users to share a session, but switching windows switches for both users.

Tmux Commands¶

Create a New Tmux Session¶

tmux new: Ran by itself, with no arguments, creates a new session.
- The name of the session is an automatically generated number.
- A zero-index-based number is given based on how many other sessions are open.

To create a session with a custom name:

tmux new -s my-session-name
- Then you'd attach to it with tmux a -t my-session-name

Attach to Existing Session in Tmux:¶

tmux attach -t 0

0 is the target session from tmux ls

As a shorthand for attach, you can just use a:

tmux a -t 0

Session Management:¶

tmux new-session: Create a new session.
tmux attach-session: Attach to an existing session.
tmux switch-client: Switch to a different client in a session.
tmux list-sessions: List existing sessions.
tmux detach-client: Detach the current client from the session.
tmux kill-session: Terminate a session.
tmux has-session: Check if a session exists.

Window Management:¶

tmux new-window: Create a new window.
tmux select-window: Switch to a specific window.
tmux last-window: Switch to the previously used window.
tmux next-window: Switch to the next window.
tmux previous-window: Switch to the previous window.
tmux list-windows: List existing windows.
tmux kill-window: Close the current window.

Pane Management:¶

tmux split-window: Split the current pane into two vertical panes.
tmux split-window -h: Split the current pane into two horizontal panes.
tmux swap-pane -[UDLR]: Swap panes with the specified direction (Up, Down, Left, Right).
tmux select-pane -[UDLR]: Select the pane in the specified direction.
tmux select-pane -t <pane-number>: Select a specific pane by number.
tmux resize-pane -[UDLR] <size>: Resize the current pane in the specified direction by size.
tmux kill-pane: Close the current pane.

Miscellaneous Commands:¶

tmux list-keys: List all keybindings.
tmux list-commands: List all commands.
tmux info: Display information about the current session, window, or pane.
tmux source-file <file>: Load a configuration file.

Session, Window, and Pane Indexing:¶

tmux choose-session: Interactively choose a session.
tmux choose-window: Interactively choose a window.
tmux choose-pane: Interactively choose a pane.
tmux switch-client -t <target-client>: Switch to a specific client (session or window).

Copy Mode (for copying text):¶

tmux copy-mode: Enter copy mode.
tmux send-keys -X copy-selection: Copy selected text to the clipboard.

Keybindings and Key Tables¶

See the docs ¶

Key Tables¶

The root table contains key bindings for keys pressed without the prefix key.
The prefix table contains key bindings for keys pressed after the prefix key, like those mentioned so far in this document.
The copy-mode table contains key bindings for keys used in copy mode with emacs-style keys.
The copy-mode-vi table contains key bindings for keys used in copy mode with vi-style keys.