Tmux
Tmux
Tmux
NAME
tmux — terminal multiplexer
SYNOPSIS
tmux [ -2CluvV] [ -c shell-command] [ -f file] [ -L socket-name]
[ -S socket-path] [command [flags]]
DESCRIPTION
tmux 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(4) 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 necessary, 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 configuration 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 configuration 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 or /tmp if it is 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 (note that this will fail if any parent directories are missing).
-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.
-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.
-u Write UTF-8 output to the terminal even if the first environment variable of LC_ALL,
LC_CTYPE, or LANG that is set does not contain "UTF-8" or "UTF8".
-v Request verbose logging. 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. If -v is specified twice, an additional tmux-out-PID.log
file is generated with a copy of everything tmux writes to the terminal.
The SIGUSR2 signal may be sent to the tmux server process to toggle logging between
on (as if -v was given) and off.
-V Report the tmux version.
command [flags]
This specifies one of a set of commands used to control tmux, as described in the follow-
ing sections. If no commands are specified, the new-session command is assumed.
Here, the command name is set-option, -g is a flag and status-style and bg=cyan are argu-
ments.
tmux distinguishes between command parsing and execution. In order to execute a command, tmux needs
it to be split up into its name and arguments. This is command parsing. If a command is run from the shell,
the shell parses it; from inside tmux or from a configuration file, tmux does. Examples of when tmux
parses commands are:
- in a configuration file;
- typed at the command prompt (see command-prompt);
- given to bind-key;
- passed as arguments to if-shell or confirm-before.
To execute commands, each client has a command queue. A global command queue not attached to any
client is used on startup for configuration files like ˜/.tmux.conf. Parsed commands added to the queue
are executed in order. Some commands, like if-shell and confirm-before, parse their argument to
create a new command which is inserted immediately after themselves. This means that arguments can be
parsed twice or more - once when the parent command (such as if-shell) is parsed and again when it
parses and executes its command. Commands like if-shell, run-shell and display-panes stop
execution of subsequent commands on the queue until something happens - if-shell and run-shell
until a shell command finishes and display-panes until a key is pressed. For example, the following
commands:
new-session; new-window
if-shell "true" "split-window"
kill-session
Will execute new-session, new-window, if-shell, the shell command true(1), split-window
and kill-session in that order.
The COMMANDS section lists the tmux commands and their arguments.
PARSING SYNTAX
This section describes the syntax of commands parsed by tmux, for example in a configuration file or at the
command prompt. Note that when commands are entered into the shell, they are parsed by the shell - see for
example ksh(1) or csh(1).
Each command is terminated by a newline or a semicolon (;). Commands separated by semicolons together
form a command sequence - if a command in the sequence encounters an error, no subsequent com-
mands are executed.
Comments are marked by the unquoted # character - any remaining text after a comment is ignored until the
end of the line.
If the last character of a line is \, the line is joined with the following line (the \ and the newline are com-
pletely removed). This is called line continuation and applies both inside and outside quoted strings and in
comments, but not inside braces.
Command arguments may be specified as strings surrounded by single (’) quotes, double quotes (") or braces
({}). This is required when the argument contains any special character. Single and double quoted strings
cannot span multiple lines except with line continuation. Braces can span multiple lines.
Outside of quotes and inside double quotes, these replacements are performed:
- Environment variables preceded by $ are replaced with their value from the global environment
(see the GLOBAL AND SESSION ENVIRONMENT section).
- A leading ˜ or ˜user is expanded to the home directory of the current or specified user.
- \uXXXX or \uXXXXXXXX is replaced by the Unicode codepoint corresponding to the given
four or eight digit hexadecimal number.
- When preceded (escaped) by a \, the following characters are replaced: \e by the escape character;
\r by a carriage return; \n by a newline; and \t by a tab.
- \ooo is replaced by a character of the octal value ooo. Three octal digits are required, for example
\001. The largest valid character is \377.
- Any other characters preceded by \ are replaced by themselves (that is, the \ is removed) and are
not treated as having any special meaning - so for example \; will not mark a command sequence
and \$ will not expand an environment variable.
Braces are similar to single quotes in that the text inside is taken literally without any replacements but this
also includes line continuation. Braces can span multiple lines in which case a literal newline is included in
the string. They are designed to avoid the need for additional escaping when passing a group of tmux or
shell commands as an argument (for example to if-shell or pipe-pane). These two examples produce
an identical command - note that no escaping is needed when using {}:
if-shell true {
display -p ’brace-dollar-foo: }$foo’
}
COMMANDS
This section describes the commands supported by tmux. Most commands accept the optional -t (and
sometimes -s) 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 should be the name of the client, typically the pty(4) file to which the client is con-
nected, for example either of /dev/ttyp1 or ttyp1 for the client attached to /dev/ttyp1. If no client
is specified, tmux attempts to work out the client currently in use; if that fails, an error is reported. Clients
may be listed with the list-clients command.
target-session is tried as, in order:
1. A session ID prefixed with a $.
2. An exact name of a session (as listed by the list-sessions command).
3. The start of a session name, for example mysess would match a session named mysession.
4. An fnmatch(3) pattern which is matched against the session name.
If the session name is prefixed with an ‘=’, only an exact match is accepted (so =mysess will only match
exactly mysess, not mysession).
If a single session 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 session is available, the most recently used is
chosen.
target-window (or src-window or dst-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:
1. A special token, listed below.
2. A window index, for example mysession:1 is window 1 in session mysession.
3. A window ID, such as @1.
4. An exact window name, such as mysession:mywindow.
5. The start of a window name, such as mysession:mywin.
6. As an fnmatch(3) pattern matched against the window name.
Like sessions, a ‘=’ prefix will do an exact match only. An empty window name specifies the next unused in-
dex if appropriate (for example the new-window and link-window commands) otherwise the current
window in session is chosen.
The following special tokens are available to indicate particular windows. Each has a single-character alter-
native form.
Token Meaning
{start} ˆ The lowest-numbered window
{end} $ The highest-numbered window
{last} ! The last (previously current) window
{next} + The next window by number
{previous} - The previous window by number
target-pane (or src-pane or dst-pane) may be a pane ID or takes a similar form to
target-window but with the optional addition of a period followed by a pane index or pane ID, for exam-
ple: mysession:mywindow.1. If the pane index is omitted, the currently active pane in the specified
window is used. The following special tokens are available for the pane index:
Token Meaning
{last} ! The last (previously active) pane
{next} + The next pane by number
{previous} - The previous pane by number
{top} The top pane
{bottom} The bottom pane
{left} The leftmost pane
{right} The rightmost pane
{top-left} The top-left pane
{top-right} The top-right pane
{bottom-left} The bottom-left pane
{bottom-right} The bottom-right pane
{up-of} The pane above the active pane
{down-of} The pane below the active pane
{left-of} The pane to the left of the active pane
{right-of} The pane to the right of the active pane
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} (alter-
native form ‘=’) to specify the session, window or pane where the most recent mouse event occurred (see the
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 ‘$’, win-
dows with a ‘@’, and panes with a ‘%’. These are unique and are unchanged for the life of the session, win-
dow 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 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 di-
rectly (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 sepa-
rately, 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 }
new-window ; split-window -d
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 [ -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]
(alias: lsc)
List all clients attached to the server. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the FORMATS section.
If target-session is specified, list only clients connected to that session.
list-commands [ -F format] [command]
(alias: lscm)
List the syntax of command or - if omitted - 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 sec-
tion.
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 [ -AdDEPX] [ -c start-directory] [ -F format] [ -n window-name] [ -s
session-name] [ -t group-name] [ -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. 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:
1. the name of an existing group, in which case the new session is added to that group;
2. the name of an existing session - the new session is added to the same group as that session,
creating a new group if necessary;
3. 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]
(alias: refresh)
Refresh the current client if bound to a key, or a single client if one is given with -t. If -S is spec-
ified, 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. Cur-
rently 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
(alias: rename)
Rename the session to new-name.
show-messages [ -JT] [ -t target-client]
(alias: showmsgs)
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 . . .
(alias: source)
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
(alias: start)
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:
Command vi emacs
append-selection
append-selection-and-cancel A
back-to-indentation ˆ M-m
begin-selection Space C-Space
bottom-line L
cancel q Escape
clear-selection Escape C-g
copy-end-of-line [<prefix>] D C-k
copy-line [<prefix>]
copy-pipe <command> [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-no-clear <command> [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-and-cancel <command> [<prefix>]
copy-selection [<prefix>]
copy-selection-no-clear [<prefix>]
copy-selection-and-cancel [<prefix>] Enter M-w
cursor-down j Down
cursor-down-and-cancel
cursor-left h Left
cursor-right l Right
cursor-up k Up
end-of-line $ C-e
goto-line <line> : g
halfpage-down C-d M-Down
halfpage-down-and-cancel
halfpage-up C-u M-Up
history-bottom G M->
history-top g M-<
jump-again ; ;
jump-backward <to> F F
jump-forward <to> f f
jump-reverse , ,
jump-to-backward <to> T
jump-to-forward <to> t
middle-line M M-r
next-matching-bracket % M-C-f
next-paragraph } M-}
next-space W
next-space-end E
next-word w
next-word-end e M-f
other-end o
page-down C-f PageDown
page-down-and-cancel
page-up C-b PageUp
previous-matching-bracket M-C-b
previous-paragraph { M-{
previous-space B
previous-word b M-b
rectangle-toggle v R
scroll-down C-e C-Down
scroll-down-and-cancel
scroll-up C-y C-Up
search-again n n
search-backward <for> ?
search-backward-incremental <for> C-r
search-backward-text <for>
search-forward <for> /
search-forward-incremental <for> C-s
search-forward-text <for>
search-reverse N N
select-line V
select-word
start-of-line 0 C-a
stop-selection
top-line H 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 en-
tered 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 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.
Key Function
Enter Choose selected client
Up Select previous client
Down Select next client
C-s Search by name
n Repeat last search
t Toggle if client is tagged
T Tag no clients
C-t Tag all clients
d Detach selected client
D Detach tagged clients
x Detach and HUP selected client
X Detach and HUP tagged clients
z Suspend selected client
Z Suspend tagged clients
f Enter a format to filter items
O Change sort field
r Reverse sort order
v Toggle preview
q 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 fol-
lowing keys may be used in tree mode:
Key Function
Enter Choose selected item
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
x Kill selected item
X Kill tagged items
< Scroll list of previews left
> Scroll list of previews right
C-s Search by name
n Repeat last search
t Toggle if item is tagged
T Tag no items
C-t Tag all items
: Run a command for each tagged item
f Enter a format to filter items
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 speci-
fied 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 [ -IOo] [ -t target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: pipep)
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]
(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 [ -DLMRUZ] [ -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 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 MOUSE SUPPORT).
resize-window [ -aADLRU] [ -t target-window] [ -x width] [ -y height]
[adjustment]
(alias: resizew)
Resize a window, up, down, left or right by adjustment with -U, -D, -L or -R, or to an abso-
lute 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]
(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.
-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]
(alias: respawnw)
Reactivate a window in which the command has exited (see the remain-on-exit window op-
tion). If shell-command is not given, the command used when the window was created is exe-
cuted. The window must be already inactive, unless -k is given, in which case any existing com-
mand 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]
(alias: rotatew)
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]
(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
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]
(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.
-Z keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed. -l is the same as using the last-pane com-
mand. -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]
(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 window, the command behaves like last-window.
split-window [ -bdfhIvP] [ -c start-directory] [ -e environment] [ -l size] [ -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 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 per-
centage 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 ex-
ample:
$ 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]
(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 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]
(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. 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]
(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 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 ‘ˆ’, 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]
(alias: bind)
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]
(alias: lsk)
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 . . .
(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. All argu-
ments 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 MOUSE
SUPPORT).
-X is used to send a command into copy mode - see the 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
(alias: unbind)
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 back-
ground 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
(alias: set)
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 op-
tion 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]
(alias: show)
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 op-
tion, -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 op-
tion 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).
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 ap-
pear.
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 win-
dows - 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 STYLES section.
message-style style
Set status line message style. For how to specify style, see the STYLES section.
mouse [on | off]
If on, tmux captures the mouse and allows mouse events to be bound as key bindings. See the
MOUSE SUPPORT section for details.
prefix key
Set the key accepted as a prefix key. In addition to the standard keys described under 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 win-
dows.
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
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 de-
fault 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 FORMATS and STYLES sections.
For details on how the names and titles can be set see the 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 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 STYLES sec-
tion.
status-style style
Set status line style. For how to specify style, see the 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 pro-
duced.
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 win-
dow 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.
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
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 STYLES
section.
window-status-bell-style style
Set status line style for windows with a bell alert. For how to specify style, see the STYLES sec-
tion.
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 STYLES
section.
window-status-format string
Set the format in which the window is displayed in the status line window list. See the FORMATS
and STYLES sections.
window-status-last-style style
Set status line style for the last active window. For how to specify style, see the STYLES sec-
tion.
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 STYLES section.
window-size largest | smallest | manual | latest
Configure how tmux determines the window size. If set to largest, the size of the largest at-
tached session is used; if smallest, the size of the smallest. If manual, the size of a new win-
dow 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 num-
ber included to indicate modifiers such as Shift, Alt or Ctrl.
Available pane options are:
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 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.
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 the contents of a pane
Border a pane border
Status the status line window list
StatusLeft the left part of the status line
StatusRight the right part of the status line
StatusDefault any other part of the status line
The following mouse events are available:
WheelUp WheelDown
MouseDown1 MouseUp1 MouseDrag1 MouseDragEnd1
MouseDown2 MouseUp2 MouseDrag2 MouseDragEnd2
MouseDown3 MouseUp3 MouseDrag3 MouseDragEnd3
DoubleClick1 DoubleClick2 DoubleClick3
TripleClick1 TripleClick2 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).
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 op-
tion’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 speci-
fied 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 ses-
sion 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 alterna-
tives 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:ˆA,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:ˆStart}
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 expand-
ing 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 for-
mat 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
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 fo-
cus 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
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 brack-
ets; 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 Meaning
∗ Denotes the current window.
- Marks the last window (previously selected).
# Window activity is monitored and activity has been detected.
! Window bells are monitored and a bell has occurred in the window.
˜ The window has been silent for the monitor-silence interval.
M The window contains the marked pane.
Z 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 op-
tion.
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 ( ‘%1’ to
‘%9’ ) . %%% 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 nu-
meric 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 vi emacs
Cancel command prompt Escape Escape
Delete from cursor to start of word C-w
Delete entire command d C-u
Delete from cursor to end D C-k
Execute command Enter Enter
Get next command from history Down
Get previous command from history Up
Insert top paste buffer p C-y
Look for completions Tab Tab
Move cursor left h Left
Move cursor right l Right
Move cursor to end $ C-e
Move cursor to next word w M-f
Move cursor to previous word b M-b
Move cursor to start 0 C-a
Transpose characters C-t
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 constructed from command. It may contain the special character sequences
supported by the status-left option.
This command works only from inside tmux.
display-menu [ -c target-client] [ -t target-pane] [ -T title] [ -x position]
[ -y position] name key command . . .
(alias: menu)
Display a menu on target-client. target-pane gives the target for any commands run
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).
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
(alias: saveb)
Save the contents of the specified paste buffer to path. The -a option appends to rather than over-
writing the file.
set-buffer [ -a] [ -b buffer-name] [ -n new-buffer-name] data
(alias: setb)
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]
(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 [ -bF] [ -t target-pane] shell-command command [command]
(alias: if)
Execute the first command if shell-command returns success or the second command other-
wise. 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.
If -F is given, shell-command is not executed but considered success if neither empty nor zero
(after formats are expanded).
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 window. Before being executed,
shell-command is expanded using the rules specified in the FORMATS section. With -b, the com-
mand 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.
EXIT MESSAGES
When a tmux client detaches, it prints a message. This may be one of:
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 sec-
ond 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\\’
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 under-
score, 2 for double underscore, 3 for curly underscore, 4 for dotted underscore and 5 for dashed un-
derscore. 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 be-
tween 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%;
Ss, 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, Ss with argument 0 will be used to reset the cursor style instead.
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).
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 us-
ing 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 ter-
minal, UTF-8 is used if the -u option is given or if LC_CTYPE contains "UTF-8" or "UTF8".
Otherwise, only ASCII characters are written and non-ASCII characters are replaced with un-
derscores ( ‘_’ ) . For input, tmux always runs with a UTF-8 locale. If en_US.UTF-8 is pro-
vided 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 con-
tains 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 de-
tails.
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 fol-
lowed 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 reat-
tached 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
Nicholas Marriott <nicholas.marriott@gmail.com>