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Using Tmux

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ProBackup-nl edited this page May 5, 2016 · 2 revisions

Introduction

Tmux lets you switch easily between several programs in one terminal, detach them (they keep running in the background) and reattach them to a different terminal. Check out this screencast;)

Installation

opkg install tmux

Using tmux

start new:

tmux

start new with session name:

tmux new -s myname

attach:

tmux a  #  (or at, or attach)

attach to named:

tmux a -t myname

list sessions:

tmux ls

kill session:

tmux kill-session -t myname

In tmux, hit the prefix ctrl+b (my modified prefix is ctrl+a) and then:

  • Sessions

    :new+enter new session
    s list sessions
    $ name session

  • Windows (tabs)

    c new window
    w list windows
    f find window
    , name window
    & kill window

  • Panes (splits)

    % horizontal split
    " vertical split

    o swap panes
    q show pane numbers
    x kill pane
    + break pane into window (e.g. to select text by mouse to copy)
    - restore pane from window
    space toggle between layouts
    PREFIX q (Show pane numbers, when the numbers show up type the key to goto that pane)
    PREFIX { (Move the current pane left)
    PREFIX } (Move the current pane right)

  • Resizing Panes

You can also resize panes if you don’t like the layout defaults. I personally rarely need to do this, though it’s handy to know how. Here is the basic syntax to resize panes:

PREFIX : resize-pane (By default it resizes the current pane down)
PREFIX : resize-pane -U (Resizes the current pane upward)
PREFIX : resize-pane -L (Resizes the current pane left)
PREFIX : resize-pane -R (Resizes the current pane right)
PREFIX : resize-pane 20 (Resizes the current pane down by 20 cells)
PREFIX : resize-pane -U 20 (Resizes the current pane upward by 20 cells)
PREFIX : resize-pane -L 20 (Resizes the current pane left by 20 cells)
PREFIX : resize-pane -R 20 (Resizes the current pane right by 20 cells)
PREFIX : resize-pane -t 2 20 (Resizes the pane with the id of 2 down by 20 cells)
PREFIX : resize-pane -t -L 20 (Resizes the pane with the id of 2 left by 20 cells)
  • Copy mode

Pressing PREFIX [ places us in "copy mode". We can then use our movement keys to move our cursor around the screen. By default, the arrow keys work. We set our configuration file to use Vim keys for moving between windows and resizing panes so we wouldn’t have to take our hands off the home row. Tmux has a vi mode for working with the buffer as well. To enable it, add this line to .tmux.conf:

setw -g mode-keys vi

With this option set, we can use h, j, k, and l to move around our buffer.

To get out of Copy mode, we just press the Enter key. Moving around one character at a time isn’t very efficient. Since we enabled vi mode, we can also use some other visible short cuts to move around the buffer.

For example, we can use w to jump to the next word and b to jump back one word. And we can use f, followed by any character, to jump to that character on the same line, and F to jump backwards on the line.

   Function                vi             emacs
   Back to indentation     ^              M-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 to end of line   D              C-k
   End of line             $              C-e
   Goto line               :              g
   Half page down          C-d            M-Down
   Half page up            C-u            M-Up
   Next page               C-f            Page down
   Next word               w              M-f
   Paste buffer            p              C-y
   Previous page           C-b            Page up
   Previous word           b              M-b
   Quit mode               q              Escape
   Scroll down             C-Down or J    C-Down
   Scroll up               C-Up or K      C-Up
   Search again            n              n
   Search backward         ?              C-r
   Search forward          /              C-s
   Start of line           0              C-a
   Start selection         Space          C-Space
   Transpose chars                        C-t

  • Misc

    d detach
    t big clock
    ? list shortcuts
    : prompt

  • Configurations Options:

    # Mouse support - set to on if you want to use the mouse
    * setw -g mode-mouse off
    * set -g mouse-select-pane off
    * set -g mouse-resize-pane off
    * set -g mouse-select-window off

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

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

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

    # Maximize and restore a pane
    unbind Up bind Up new-window -d -n tmp \; swap-pane -s tmp.1 \; select-window -t tmp
    unbind Down
    bind Down last-window \; swap-pane -s tmp.1 \; kill-window -t tmp

Links

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