tmux/tmux.1

.\" $Id: tmux.1,v 1.141 2009-08-09 16:54:46 tcunha Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2007 Nicholas Marriott <nicm@users.sourceforge.net>
.\"
.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
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.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF MIND, USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER
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.\" OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
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.Dd $Mdocdate: August 6 2009 $
.Dt TMUX 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm tmux
.Nd terminal multiplexer
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm tmux
.Bk -words
.Op Fl 28dqUuv
.Op Fl f Ar file
.Op Fl L Ar socket-name
.Op Fl S Ar socket-path
.Op Ar command Op Ar flags
.Ek
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a terminal multiplexer:
it enables a number of terminals to be created, accessed, and
controlled from a single screen.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX"
.It Fl 2
Force
.Nm
to assume the terminal supports 256 colours.
.It Fl 8
Like
.Fl 2 ,
but indicates that the terminal supports 88 colours.
.It Fl d
Force
.Nm
to assume the terminal supports default colours.
.It Fl f Ar file
Specify an alternative configuration file.
By default,
.Nm
loads the system configuration file from
.Pa /etc/tmux.conf ,
if present, then looks for a user configuration file at
.Pa ~/.tmux.conf .
The configuration file is a set of
.Nm
commands which are executed in sequence when the server is first started.
.It Fl L Ar socket-name
.Nm
stores the server socket in a directory under
.Pa /tmp ;
the default socket is named
.Em default .
This option allows a different socket name to be specified, allowing several
independent
.Nm
servers to be run.
Unlike
.Fl S
a full path is not necessary: the sockets are all created in the same
directory.
.Pp
If the socket is accidentally removed, the
.Dv SIGUSR1
signal may be sent to the
.Nm
server process to recreate it.
.It Fl q
Prevent the server sending various informational messages, for example when
window flags are altered.
.It Fl S Ar socket-path
Specify a full alternative path to the server socket.
If
.Fl S
is specified, the default socket directory is not used and any
.Fl L
flag is ignored.
.It Fl U
Unlock the server.
.It Fl u
.Nm
attempts to guess if the terminal is likely to support UTF-8 by checking the
first of the
.Ev LC_ALL ,
.Ev LC_CTYPE
and
.Ev LANG
environment variables to be set for the string "UTF-8".
This is not always correct: the
.Fl u
flag explicitly informs
.Nm
that UTF-8 is supported.
.Pp
If the server is started from a client passed
.Fl u
or where UTF-8 is detected, the
.Ic utf8
and
.Ic status-utf8
options are enabled in the global window and session options respectively.
.It Fl v
Request verbose logging.
This option may be specified multiple times for increasing verbosity.
Log messages will be saved into
.Pa tmux-client-PID.log
and
.Pa tmux-server-PID.log
files in the current directory, where
.Em PID
is the PID of the server or client process.
.It Ar command Op Ar flags
This specifies one of a set of commands used to control
.Nm ,
as described in the following sections.
If no commands are specified, the
.Ic new-session
command is assumed.
.El
.Sh INTRODUCTION
When
.Nm
is started it creates a new
.Em session
with a single
.Em 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 commands.
.Pp
A session is a single collection of
.Em pseudo terminals
under the management of
.Nm .
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
.Xr pty 4
manual page documents the technical details of pseudo terminals).
Any number of
.Nm
instances may connect to the same session,
and any number of windows may be present in the same session.
Once all sessions are killed,
.Nm
exits.
.Pp
This is an overview of the sections in this manual page:
.Bl -ohang
.It Sy Commands
An overview of how
.Nm
commands work.
.It Sy Clients and sessions
Commands for managing clients and sessions.
.It Sy Windows and panes
Commands for managing windows and panes.
.It Sy Key bindings
How key bindings work.
.It Sy Options
Configuration options for
.Nm .
.It Sy Status line
Commands pertinent to the status line.
.It Sy Buffers
Copy and paste operations.
.It Sy Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous commands.
.It Sy Examples
A quick start guide.
.El
.Sh COMMANDS
This section contains a list of the commands supported by
.Nm .
Most commands accept the optional
.Fl t
argument with one of
.Ar target-client ,
.Ar target-session
.Ar target-window ,
or
.Ar target-pane .
These specify the client, session, window or pane which a command should affect.
.Ar target-client
is the name of the
.Xr pty 4
file to which the client is connected, for example either of
.Pa /dev/ttyp1
or
.Pa ttyp1
for the client attached to
.Pa /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
.Ic list-clients
command.
.Pp
.Ar target-session
is either the name of a session (as listed by the
.Ic list-sessions
command) or the name of a client with the same syntax as
.Ar target-client ,
in which case the session attached to the client is used.
When looking for the session name,
.Nm
initially searches for an exact match; if none is found, the session names
are checked for any for which
.Ar target-session
is a prefix or for which it matches as an
.Xr 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 session is available, the most recently created is chosen.
.Pp
.Ar target-window
specifies a window in the form
.Em session Ns \&: Ns Em window .
.Em session
follows the same rules as for
.Ar target-session ,
and
.Em window
is looked for in order: as a window index, for example mysession:1; as an exact
window name, such as mysession:mywindow; then as an
.Xr fnmatch 3
pattern or the start of a window name, such as mysession:mywin* or
mysession:mywin.
An empty window name specifies the next unused index if appropriate (for
example the
.Ic new-window
and
.Ic link-window
commands)
otherwise the current window in
.Em session
is chosen.
When the argument does not contain a colon,
.Nm
first attempts to parse it as window; if that fails, an attempt is made to
match a session.
.Pp
.Ar target-pane
takes a similar form to
.Ar target-window
but with the optional addition of a period followed by a pane index, for
example: mysession: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,
.Nm
first attempts to use the argument as a pane index; if that fails, it is looked
up as for
.Ar target-window .
.Pp
Multiple commands may be specified together as part of a
.Em command sequence .
Each command should be separated by spaces and a semicolon;
commands are executed sequentially from left to right.
A literal semicolon may be included by escaping it with a backslash (for
example, when specifying a command sequence to
.Ic bind-key ) .
.Pp
Examples include:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2

rename-session -tfirst newname

set-window-option -t:0 monitor-activity on

new-window ; split-window -d

bind-key D detach-client \e\; lock-server
.Ed
.Sh CLIENTS AND SESSIONS
The following commands are available:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic attach-session
.Op Fl d
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic attach )
If run from outside
.Nm ,
create a new client in the current terminal and attach it to
.Ar target-session .
If used from inside, switch the current client.
If
.Fl d
is specified, any other clients attached to the session are detached.
.Pp
If no server is started,
.Ic attach-session
will attempt to start it; this will fail unless sessions are created in the
configuration file.
.It Ic detach-client Op Fl t Ar target-client
.D1 (alias: Ic detach )
Detach the current client if bound to a key, or the specified client with
.Fl t .
.It Ic has-session Op Fl t Ar target-session
.D1 (alias: Ic has )
Report an error and exit with 1 if the specified session does not exist.
If it does exist, exit with 0.
.It Ic kill-server
Kill the
.Nm
server and clients and destroy all sessions.
.It Ic kill-session Op Fl t Ar target-session
Destroy the given session, closing any windows linked to it and no other
sessions, and detaching all clients attached to it.
.It Ic list-clients
.D1 (alias: Ic lsc )
List all clients attached to the server.
.It Ic list-commands
.D1 (alias: Ic lscm )
List the syntax of all commands supported by
.Nm .
.It Ic list-sessions
.D1 (alias: Ic ls )
List all sessions managed by the server.
.It Xo Ic new-session
.Op Fl d
.Op Fl n Ar window-name
.Op Fl s Ar session-name
.Op Ar command
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic new )
Create a new session with name
.Ar session-name .
The new session is attached to the current terminal unless
.Fl d
is given.
.Ar window-name
and
.Ar command
are the name of and command to execute in the initial window.
.It Ic refresh-client Op Fl t Ar target-client
.D1 (alias: Ic refresh )
Refresh the current client if bound to a key, or a single client if one is given
with
.Fl t .
.It Xo Ic rename-session
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Ar new-name
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic rename )
Rename the session to
.Ar new-name .
.It Ic source-file Ar path
.D1 (alias: Ic source )
Execute commands from
.Ar path .
.It Ic start-server
.D1 (alias: Ic start )
Start the
.Nm
server, if not already running, without creating any sessions.
.It Xo Ic suspend-client
.Op Fl c Ar target-client
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic suspendc )
Suspend a client by sending
.Dv SIGTSTP
(tty stop).
.It Xo Ic switch-client
.Op Fl c Ar target-client
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic switchc )
Switch the current session for client
.Ar target-client
to
.Ar target-session .
.El
.Sh WINDOWS AND PANES
A
.Nm
window may be in one of several modes.
The default permits direct access to the terminal attached to the window.
The others are:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Em output mode
This is entered when a command which produces output, such as
.Ic list-keys ,
is executed from a key binding.
.It Em scroll mode
This is entered with the
.Ic scroll-mode
command (bound to
.Ql =
by default) and permits the window history buffer to be inspected.
.It Em copy mode
This permits a section of a window or its history to be copied to a
.Em paste buffer
for later insertion into another window.
This mode is entered with the
.Ic copy-mode
command, bound to
.Ql [
by default.
.El
.Pp
The keys available depend on whether emacs or vi mode is selected
(see the
.Ic mode-keys
option).
The following keys are supported as appropriate for the mode:
.Bl -column "FunctionXXXXXXXXXXXX" "viXXXXXX" "emacs" -offset indent
.It Sy "Function" Ta Sy "vi" Ta Sy "emacs"
.It Li "Start of line" Ta "0" Ta "C-a"
.It Li "Back to indentation" Ta "^" Ta "M-m"
.It Li "Clear selection" Ta "Escape" Ta "C-g"
.It Li "Copy selection" Ta "Enter" Ta "M-w"
.It Li "Cursor down" Ta "j" Ta "Down"
.It Li "End of line" Ta "$" Ta "C-e"
.It Li "Cursor left" Ta "h" Ta "Left"
.It Li "Next page" Ta "C-f" Ta "Page down"
.It Li "Next word" Ta "w" Ta "M-f"
.It Li "Previous page" Ta "C-u" Ta "Page up"
.It Li "Previous word" Ta "b" Ta "M-b"
.It Li "Quit mode" Ta "q" Ta "Escape"
.It Li "Cursor right" Ta "l" Ta "Right"
.It Li "Start selection" Ta "Space" Ta "C-Space"
.It Li "Cursor up" Ta "k" Ta "Up"
.It Li "Delete to end of line" Ta "D" Ta "C-k"
.It Li "Paste buffer" Ta "p" Ta "C-y"
.El
.Pp
These key bindings are defined in a set of named tables:
.Em vi-edit
and
.Em emacs-edit
for keys used when line editing at the command prompt;
.Em vi-choice
and
.Em emacs-choice
for keys used when choosing from lists (such as produced by the
.Ic window-choose
command) or in output mode; and
.Em vi-copy
and
.Em emacs-copy
used in copy and scroll modes.
The tables may be viewed with the
.Ic list-keys
command and keys modified or removed with
.Ic bind-key
and
.Ic unbind-key .
.Pp
The paste buffer key pastes the first line from the top paste buffer on the
stack.
.Pp
The mode commands are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic copy-mode
.Op Fl u
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
Enter copy mode.
The
.Fl u
option scrolls one page up.
.It Xo Ic scroll-mode
.Op Fl u
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
Enter scroll mode.
The
.Fl u
has the same meaning as in the
.Ic copy-mode
command.
.El
.Pp
Each window displayed by
.Nm
may be split into one or more
.Em 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
.Ic split-window
command.
Windows may be split horizontally (with the
.Fl h
flag) or vertically.
Panes may be resized with the
.Ic resize-pane
command (bound to
.Ql C-up ,
.Ql C-down
.Ql C-left
and
.Ql C-right
by default), the current pane may be changed with the
.Ic up-pane
and
.Ic down-pane
commands and the
.Ic rotate-window
and
.Ic 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.
.Pp
A number of preset
.Em layouts
are available.
These may be selected with the
.Ic select-layout
command or cycled with
.Ic next-layout
(bound to
.Ql C-space
by default); once a layout is chosen, panes within it may be moved and resized as normal.
.Pp
The following layouts are supported:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Ic even-horizontal
Panes are spread out evenly from left to right across the window.
.It Ic even-vertical
Panes are spread evenly from top to bottom.
.It Ic 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
.Em main-pane-height
window option to specify the height of the top pane.
.It Ic main-vertical
Similar to
.Ic main-horizontal
but the large pane is placed on the left and the others spread from top to
bottom along the right.
See the
.Em main-pane-width
window option.
.El
.Pp
Commands related to windows and panes are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic break-pane
.Op Fl d
.Op Fl t Ar target-pane
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic breakp )
Break
.Ar target-pane
off from its containing window to make it the only pane in a new window.
If
.Fl d
is given, the new window does not become the current window.
.It Ic choose-session Op Fl t Ar target-window
Put a window into session choice mode, where the session for the current
client may be selected interactively from a list.
This command works only from inside
.Nm .
.It Ic choose-window Op Fl t Ar target-window
Put a window into window choice mode, where the window for the session
attached to the current client may be selected interactively from a list.
This command works only from inside
.Nm .
.It Ic down-pane Op Fl t Ar target-pane
.D1 (alias: Ic downp )
Move down a pane.
.It Xo Ic find-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Ar match-string
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic findw )
Search for the
.Xr fnmatch 3
pattern
.Ar match-string
in window names, titles, and visible content (but not history).
If only one window is matched, it'll be automatically selected, otherwise a
choice list is shown.
This command only works from inside
.Nm .
.It Ic kill-pane Op Fl t Ar target-pane
.D1 (alias: Ic killp )
Destroy the given pane.
If no panes remain in the containing window, it is also destroyed.
.It Ic kill-window Op Fl t Ar target-window
.D1 (alias: Ic killw )
Kill the current window or the window at
.Ar target-window ,
removing it from any sessions to which it is linked.
.It Ic last-window Op Fl t Ar target-session
.D1 (alias: Ic last )
Select the last (previously selected) window.
If no
.Ar target-session
is specified, select the last window of the current session.
.It Xo Ic link-window
.Op Fl dk
.Op Fl s Ar src-window
.Op Fl t Ar dst-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic linkw )
Link the window at
.Ar src-window
to the specified
.Ar dst-window .
If
.Ar dst-window
is specified and no such window exists, the
.Ar src-window
is linked there.
If
.Fl k
is given and
.Ar dst-window
exists, it is killed, otherwise an error is generated.
If
.Fl d
is given, the newly linked window is not selected.
.It Ic list-windows Op Fl t Ar target-session
.D1 (alias: Ic lsw )
List windows in the current session or in
.Ar target-session .
.It Xo Ic move-window
.Op Fl d
.Op Fl s Ar src-window
.Op Fl t Ar dst-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic movew )
This is similar to
.Ic link-window ,
except the window at
.Ar src-window
is moved to
.Ar dst-window .
.It Xo Ic new-window
.Op Fl dk
.Op Fl n Ar window-name
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Op Ar command
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic neww )
Create a new window.
If
.Fl d
is given, the session does not make the new window the current window.
.Ar target-window
represents the window to be created; if the target already exists an error is
shown, unless the
.Fl k
flag is used, in which case it is destroyed.
.Ar command
is the command to execute.
If
.Ar command
is not specified, the default command is used.
.Pp
The
.Ev TERM
environment variable must be set to
.Dq screen
for all programs running
.Em inside
.Nm .
New windows will automatically have
.Dq TERM=screen
added to their environment, but care must be taken not to reset this in shell
start-up files.
.It Ic next-layout Op Fl t Ar target-window
.D1 (alias: Ic nextl )
Move a window to the next layout and rearrange the panes to fit.
.It Xo Ic next-window
.Op Fl a
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic next )
Move to the next window in the session.
If
.Fl a
is used, move to the next window with a bell, activity or content alert.
.It Xo Ic previous-window
.Op Fl a
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic prev )
Move to the previous window in the session.
With
.Fl a ,
move to the previous window with a bell, activity or content alert.
.It Xo Ic rename-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Ar new-name
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic renamew )
Rename the current window, or the window at
.Ar target-window
if specified, to
.Ar new-name .
.It Xo Ic resize-pane
.Op Fl DLRU
.Op Fl t Ar target-pane
.Op Ar adjustment
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic resizep )
Resize a pane, upward with
.Fl U
(the default), downward with
.Fl D ,
to the left with
.Fl L
and to the right with
.Fl R .
The
.Ar adjustment
is given in lines or cells (the default is 1).
.It Xo Ic respawn-window
.Op Fl k
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Op Ar command
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic respawnw )
Reactive a window in which the command has exited (see the
.Ic remain-on-exit
window option).
If
.Ar command
is not given, the command used when the window was created is executed.
The window must be already inactive, unless
.Fl k
is given, in which case any existing command is killed.
.It Xo Ic rotate-window
.Op Fl DU
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic rotatew )
Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either upward (numerically
lower) with
.Fl U
or downward (numerically higher).
.It Xo Ic select-layout
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Op Ar layout-name
.Xc
.D1 (alias: selectl )
Choose a specific layout for a window.
If
.Ar layout-name
is not given, the last layout used (if any) is reapplied.
.It Ic select-pane Op Fl t Ar target-pane
.D1 (alias: Ic selectp )
Make pane
.Ar target-pane
the active pane in window
.Ar target-window .
.It Ic select-window Op Fl t Ar target-window
.D1 (alias: Ic selectw )
Select the window at
.Ar target-window .
.It Xo Ic split-window
.Op Fl dhv
.Oo Fl l
.Ar size |
.Fl p Ar percentage Oc
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Op Ar command
.Xc
.D1 (alias: splitw )
Creates a new pane by splitting the active pane:
.Fl h
does a horizontal split and
.Fl v
a vertical split; if neither is specified,
.Fl v
is assumed.
The
.Fl l
and
.Fl p
options specify the size of the new window in lines (for vertical split) or in
cells (for horizontal split), or as a percentage, respectively.
All other options have the same meaning as in the
.Ic new-window
command.
.It Xo Ic swap-pane
.Op Fl dDU
.Op Fl s Ar src-pane
.Op Fl t Ar dst-pane
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic swapp )
Swap two panes.
If
.Fl U
is used and no source pane is specified with
.Fl s ,
.Ar dst-pane
is swapped with the previous pane (before it numerically);
.Fl D
swaps with the next pane (after it numerically).
.It Xo Ic swap-window
.Op Fl d
.Op Fl s Ar src-window
.Op Fl t Ar dst-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic swapw )
This is similar to
.Ic link-window ,
except the source and destination windows are swapped.
It is an error if no window exists at
.Ar src-window .
.It Xo Ic unlink-window
.Op Fl k
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic unlinkw )
Unlink
.Ar target-window .
Unless
.Fl 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
.Fl k
is specified and the window is linked to only one session, it is unlinked and
destroyed.
.It Ic up-pane Op Fl t Ar target-pane
.D1 (alias: Ic upp )
Move up a pane.
.El
.Sh KEY BINDINGS
.Nm
may be controlled from an attached client by using a key combination of a
prefix key,
.Ql C-b
(Ctrl-b) by default, followed by a command key.
.Pp
Some of the default key bindings include:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset 3n -compact
.It c
Create new window.
.It d
Detach current client.
.It l
Move to last (previously selected) window in the current session.
.It n
Change to next window in the current session.
.It p
Change to previous window in the current session.
.It t
Display a large clock.
.It \&?
List current key bindings.
.El
.Pp
A complete list may be obtained with the
.Ic list-keys
command (bound to
.Ql \&?
by default).
Key bindings may be changed with the
.Ic bind-key
and
.Ic unbind-key
commands.
.Pp
Commands related to key bindings are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic bind-key
.Op Fl cnr
.Op Fl t Ar key-table
.Ar key Ar command Op Ar arguments
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic bind )
Bind key
.Ar key
to
.Ar command .
Keys may be specified prefixed with
.Ql C-
or
.Ql ^
for Ctrl keys, or
.Ql M-
for Alt (meta) keys.
.Pp
By default (without
.Fl t )
the primary key bindings are modified (those normally activated with the prefix
key); in this case, if
.Fl n
is specified, it is not necessary to use the prefix key,
.Ar command
is bound to
.Ar key
alone.
The
.Fl r
flag indicates this key may repeat, see the
.Ic repeat-time
option.
.Pp
If
.Fl t
is present,
.Ar key
is bound in
.Ar key-table :
the binding for command mode with
.Fl c
or for normal mode without.
To view the default bindings and possible commands, see the
.Ic list-keys
command.
.It Ic list-keys Op Fl t Ar key-table
.D1 (alias: Ic lsk )
List all key bindings.
Without
.Fl t
the primary key bindings - those executed when preceded by the prefix key -
are printed.
Keys bound without the prefix key (see
.Ic bind-key
.Fl n )
are enclosed in square brackets.
.Pp
With
.Fl t ,
the key bindings in
.Ar key-table
are listed; this may be one of:
.Em vi-edit ,
.Em emacs-edit ,
.Em vi-choice ,
.Em emacs-choice ,
.Em vi-copy
or
.Em emacs-copy .
.It Xo Ic send-keys
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Ar key Ar ...
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic send )
Send a key or keys to a window.
Each argument
.Ar key
is the name of the key (such as
.Ql C-a
or
.Ql npage
) to send; if the string is not recognised as a key, it is sent as a series of
characters.
All arguments are sent sequentially from first to last.
.It Ic send-prefix Op Fl t Ar target-window
Send the prefix key to a window as if it was pressed.
.It Xo Ic unbind-key
.Op Fl cn
.Op Fl t Ar key-table
.Ar key
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic unbind )
Unbind the command bound to
.Ar key .
Without
.Fl t
the primary key bindings are modified; in this case, if
.Fl n
is specified, the command bound to
.Ar key
without a prefix (if any) is removed.
.Pp
If
.Fl t
is present,
.Ar key
in
.Ar key-table
is unbound: the binding for command mode with
.Fl c
or for normal mode without.
.El
.Sh OPTIONS
The appearance and behaviour of
.Nm
may be modified by changing the value of various options.
There are two types of option:
.Em session options
and
.Em window options .
.Pp
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
.Ic set-option
command and may be listed with the
.Ic show-options
command.
The available session options are listed under the
.Ic set-option
command.
.Pp
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 inherited.
Window options are altered with the
.Ic set-window-option
command and can be listed with the
.Ic show-window-options
command.
All window options are documented with the
.Ic set-window-option
command.
.Pp
Commands which set options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic set-option
.Op Fl agu
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Ar option Ar value
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic set )
Set a session option.
With
.Fl a ,
and if the option expects a string,
.Ar value
is appended to the existing setting.
If
.Fl g
is specified, the global session option is set.
The
.Fl u
flag unsets an option, so a session inherits the option from the global
options - it is not possible to unset a global option.
.Pp
Available session options are:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic bell-action
.Op Ic any | none | current
.Xc
Set action on window bell.
.Ic any
means a bell in any window linked to a session causes a bell in the current
window of that session,
.Ic none
means all bells are ignored and
.Ic current
means only bell in windows other than the current window are ignored.
.It Ic buffer-limit Ar number
Set the number of buffers kept for each session; as new buffers are added to
the top of the stack, old ones are removed from the bottom if necessary to
maintain this maximum length.
.It Ic default-command Ar command
Set the command used for new windows (if not specified when the window is
created) to
.Ar command .
The default is an empty string, which instructs
.Nm
to create a login shell using the
.Ev SHELL
environment variable or, if it is unset, the user's shell returned by
.Xr getpwuid 3 .
.It Ic default-path Ar path
Set the default working directory for processes created from keys, or
interactively from the prompt.
The default is the current working directory when the server is started.
.It Ic default-terminal Ar terminal
Set the default terminal for new windows created in this session - the
default value of the
.Ev TERM
environment variable.
For
.Nm
to work correctly, this
.Em must
be set to
.Ql screen
or a derivative of it.
.It Ic display-time Ar time
Set the amount of time for which status line messages are displayed.
.Ar time
is in milliseconds.
.It Ic history-limit Ar lines
Set the maximum number of lines held in window history.
This setting applies only to new windows - existing window histories are not
resized and retain the limit at the point they were created.
.It Ic lock-after-time Ar number
Lock the server after
.Ar number
seconds of inactivity.
The default is off (set to 0).
This has no effect as a session option; it must be set as a global option using
.Fl g .
.It Ic message-attr Ar attributes
Set status line message attributes, where
.Ar attributes
is either
.Ic default
or a comma-delimited list of one or more of:
.Ic bright
(or
.Ic bold ) ,
.Ic dim ,
.Ic underscore ,
.Ic blink ,
.Ic reverse ,
.Ic hidden ,
or
.Ic italics .
.It Ic message-bg Ar colour
Set status line message background colour, where
.Ar colour
is one of:
.Ic black ,
.Ic red ,
.Ic green ,
.Ic yellow ,
.Ic blue ,
.Ic magenta ,
.Ic cyan ,
.Ic white
or
.Ic default .
.It Ic message-fg Ar colour
Set status line message foreground colour.
.It Ic prefix Ar key
Set the current prefix key.
.It Ic repeat-time Ar time
Allow multiple commands to be entered without pressing the prefix-key again
in the specified
.Ar time
milliseconds (the default is 500).
Whether a key repeats may be set when it is bound using the
.Fl r
flag to
.Ic bind-key .
Repeat is enabled for the default keys bound to the
.Ic resize-pane
command.
.It Xo Ic set-remain-on-exit
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Set the
.Ic remain-on-exit
window option for any windows first created in this session.
.It Xo Ic set-titles
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Attempt to set the window title using the \ee]2;...\e007 xterm code and
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.
.It Xo Ic status
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Show or hide the status line.
.It Ic status-attr Ar attributes
Set status line attributes.
.It Ic status-bg Ar colour
Set status line background colour.
.It Ic status-fg Ar colour
Set status line foreground colour.
.It Ic status-interval Ar interval
Update the status bar every
.Ar interval
seconds.
By default, updates will occur every 15 seconds.
A setting of zero disables redrawing at interval.
.It Xo Ic status-justify
.Op Ic left | centre | right
.Xc
Set the position of the window list component of the status line: left, centre
or right justified.
.It Xo Ic status-keys
.Op Ic vi | emacs
.Xc
Use vi or emacs-style
key bindings in the status line, for example at the command prompt.
Defaults to emacs.
.It Ic status-left Ar string
Display
.Ar string
to the left of the status bar.
.Ar string
will be passed through
.Xr strftime 3
before being used.
By default, the session name is shown.
.Ar string
may contain any of the following special character pairs:
.Bl -column "Character pair" "Replaced with" -offset indent
.It Sy "Character pair" Ta Sy "Replaced with"
.It Li "#(command)" Ta "First line of command's output"
.It Li "#H" Ta "Hostname of local host"
.It Li "#I" Ta "Current window index"
.It Li "#P" Ta "Current pane index"
.It Li "#S" Ta "Session name"
.It Li "#T" Ta "Current window title"
.It Li "#W" Ta "Current window name"
.It Li "##" Ta "A literal" Ql #
.El
.Pp
Where appropriate, these may be prefixed with a number to specify the maximum
length, for example
.Ql #24T .
.Pp
By default, UTF-8 in
.Ar string
is not interpreted, to enable UTF-8, use the
.Ic status-utf8
option.
.It Ic status-left-length Ar length
Set the maximum
.Ar length
of the left component of the status bar.
The default is 10.
.It Ic status-right Ar string
Display
.Ar string
to the right of the status bar.
By default, the date and time will be shown.
As with
.Ic status-left ,
.Ar string
will be passed to
.Xr strftime 3 ,
character pairs are replaced, and UTF-8 is dependent on the
.Ic status-utf8
option.
.It Ic status-right-length Ar length
Set the maximum
.Ar length
of the right component of the status bar.
The default is 40.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic status-utf8
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Instruct
.Nm
to treat top-bit-set characters in the
.Ic status-left
and
.Ic status-right
strings as UTF-8; notably, this is important for wide characters.
This option defaults to off.
.It Ic terminal-overrides Ar string
Contains a list of entries which override terminal descriptions read using
.Xr terminfo 5 .
.Ar string
is a comma-separated list of items each a colon-separated string made up of a
terminal type pattern (matched using
.Xr fnmatch 3 )
and a set of
.Em name=value
entries.
.Pp
For example, to set the
.Ql clear
.Xr terminfo 5
entry to
.Ql \ee[H\ee[2J
for all terminal types and the
.Ql dch1
entry to
.Ql \ee[P
for the
.Ql rxvt
terminal type, the option could be set to the string:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
"*:clear=\ee[H\ee[2J,rxvt:dch1=\ee[P"
.Ed
.Pp
The terminal entry value is passed through
.Xr strunvis 3
before interpretation.
The default value forcibly corrects the
.Ql colors
entry for terminals which support 88 or 256 colours:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
"*88col*:colors=88,*256col*:colors=256"
.Ed
.It Xo Ic visual-activity
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
If on, display a status line message when activity occurs in a window
for which the
.Ic monitor-activity
window option is enabled.
.It Xo Ic visual-bell
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
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
.Ic bell-action
option.
.It Xo Ic visual-content
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Like
.Ic visual-activity ,
display a message when content is present in a window
for which the
.Ic monitor-content
window option is enabled.
.El
.It Xo Ic set-window-option
.Op Fl agu
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Ar option Ar value
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic setw )
Set a window option.
The
.Fl a ,
.Fl g
and
.Fl u
flags work similarly to the
.Ic set-option
command.
.Pp
Supported window options are:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Xo Ic aggressive-resize
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Aggressively resize the chosen window.
This means that
.Nm
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
.Dv SIGWINCH
and poor for interactive programs such as shells.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic automatic-rename
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Control automatic window renaming.
When this setting is enabled,
.Nm
will attempt - on supported platforms - to rename the window to reflect the
command currently running in it.
This flag is automatically disabled for an individual window when a name
is specified at creation with
.Ic new-window or
.Ic new-session ,
or later with
.Ic rename-window .
It may be switched off globally with:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
set-window-option -g automatic-rename off
.Ed
.Pp
.It Ic clock-mode-colour Ar colour
Set clock colour.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic clock-mode-style
.Op Ic 12 | 24
.Xc
Set clock hour format.
.Pp
.It Ic force-height Ar height
.It Ic force-width Ar width
Prevent
.Nm
from resizing a window to greater than
.Ar width
or
.Ar height .
A value of zero restores the default unlimited setting.
.Pp
.It Ic main-pane-width Ar width
.It Ic main-pane-height Ar height
Set the width or height of the main (left or top) pane in the
.Ic main-horizontal
or
.Ic main-vertical
layouts.
.Pp
.It Ic mode-attr Ar attributes
Set window modes attributes.
.Pp
.It Ic mode-bg Ar colour
Set window modes background colour.
.Pp
.It Ic mode-fg Ar colour
Set window modes foreground colour.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic mode-keys
.Op Ic vi | emacs
.Xc
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in scroll, copy and choice modes.
Key bindings default to emacs.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic mode-mouse
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Mouse state in modes.
If on,
.Nm
will respond to mouse clicks by moving the cursor in copy mode or selecting an
option in choice mode.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic monitor-activity
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Monitor for activity in the window.
Windows with activity are highlighted in the status line.
.Pp
.It Ic monitor-content Ar match-string
Monitor content in the window.
When
.Xr fnmatch 3
pattern
.Ar match-string
appears in the window, it is highlighted in the status line.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic remain-on-exit
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
A window with this flag set is not destroyed when the program running in it
exits.
The window may be reactivated with the
.Ic respawn-window
command.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic utf8
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
Instructs
.Nm
to expect UTF-8 sequences to appear in this window.
.Pp
.It Ic window-status-attr Ar attributes
Set status line attributes for a single window.
.Pp
.It Ic window-status-bg Ar colour
Set status line background colour for a single window.
.Pp
.It Ic window-status-fg Ar colour
Set status line foreground colour for a single window.
.Pp
.It Ic window-status-current-attr Ar attributes
Set status line attributes for the currently active window.
.Pp
.It Ic window-status-current-bg Ar colour
Set status line background colour for the currently active window.
.Pp
.It Ic window-status-current-fg Ar colour
Set status line foreground colour for the currently active window.
.Pp
.It Xo Ic xterm-keys
.Op Ic on | off
.Xc
If this option is set,
.Nm
will generate
.Xr xterm 1 -style
function key sequences; these have a number included to indicate modifiers such
as Shift, Alt or Ctrl.
.El
.It Xo Ic show-options
.Op Fl g
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic show )
Show the session options for
.Ar target session ,
or the global session options with
.Fl g .
.It Xo Ic show-window-options
.Op Fl g
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic showw )
List the window options for
.Ar target-window ,
or the global window options if
.Fl g
is used.
.El
.Sh STATUS LINE
.Nm
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
.Ic status
session option) and contains, from left-to-right: the name of the current
session in square brackets; the window list; the current window title in double
quotes; and the time and date.
.Pp
The status line 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
.Ic status-left ,
.Ic status-left-length ,
.Ic status-right ,
and
.Ic status-right-length
options below), and a central window list.
The window list shows the index, name and (if any) flag of the windows
present in the current session in ascending numerical order.
The flag is one of the following symbols appended to the window name:
.Bl -column "Symbol" "Meaning" -offset indent
.It Sy "Symbol" Ta Sy "Meaning"
.It Li "*" Ta "Denotes the current window."
.It Li "-" Ta "Marks the last window (previously selected)."
.It Li "#" Ta "Window is monitored and activity has been detected."
.It Li "!" Ta "A bell has occurred in the window."
.It Li "+" Ta "Window is monitored for content and it has appeared."
.El
.Pp
The # symbol relates to the
.Ic monitor-activity
and + to the
.Ic monitor-content
window options.
The window name is printed in inverted colours if an alert (bell, activity or
content) is present.
.Pp
The colour and attributes of the status line may be configured, the entire status line using
the
.Ic status-attr ,
.Ic status-fg
and
.Ic status-bg
session options and individual windows using the
.Ic window-status-attr ,
.Ic window-status-fg
and
.Ic window-status-bg
window options.
.Pp
The status line is automatically refreshed at interval if it has changed, the interval may be
controlled with the
.Ic status-interval
session option.
.Pp
Commands related to the status line are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic command-prompt
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Op Ar template
.Xc
Open the command prompt in a client.
This may be used from inside
.Nm
to execute commands interactively.
If
.Ar template
is specified, it is used as the command; any %% in the template will be
replaced by what is entered at the prompt.
.It Xo Ic confirm-before
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Ar command
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic confirm )
Ask for confirmation before executing
.Ar command .
This command works only from inside
.Nm .
.It Xo Ic display-message
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Op Ar message
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic display )
Display a message (see the
.Ic status-left
option below)
in the status line.
.It Ic select-prompt Op Fl t Ar target-client
Open a prompt inside
.Ar target-client
allowing a window index to be entered interactively.
.El
.Sh BUFFERS
.Nm
maintains a stack of
.Em paste buffers
for each session.
Up to the value of the
.Ic 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
.Ic copy-mode
or the
.Ic set-buffer
command, and pasted into a window using the
.Ic paste-buffer
command.
.Pp
A configurable history buffer is also maintained for each window.
By default, up to 2000 lines are kept; this can be altered with the
.Ic history-limit
option (see the
.Ic set-option
command above).
.Pp
The buffer commands are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Ic clear-history Op Fl t Ar target-pane
.D1 (alias: Ic clearhist )
Remove and free the history for the specified pane.
.It Xo Ic copy-buffer
.Op Fl a Ar src-index
.Op Fl b Ar dst-index
.Op Fl s Ar src-session
.Op Fl t Ar dst-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic copyb )
Copy a session paste buffer to another session.
If no sessions are specified, the current one is used instead.
.It Xo Ic delete-buffer
.Op Fl b Ar buffer-index
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic deleteb )
Delete the buffer at
.Ar buffer-index ,
or the top buffer if not specified.
.It Ic list-buffers Op Fl t Ar target-session
.D1 (alias: Ic lsb )
List the buffers in the given session.
.It Xo Ic load-buffer
.Op Fl b Ar buffer-index
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Ar path
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic loadb )
Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from
.Ar path .
.It Xo Ic paste-buffer
.Op Fl dr
.Op Fl b Ar buffer-index
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic pasteb )
Insert the contents of a paste buffer into the current window.
With
.Fl d ,
also delete the paste buffer from the stack.
When output, any linefeed (LF) characters in the paste buffer are replaced with
carriage returns (CR).
This translation may be disabled with the
.Fl r
flag.
.It Xo Ic save-buffer
.Op Fl a
.Op Fl b Ar buffer-index
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Ar path
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic saveb )
Save the contents of the specified paste buffer to
.Ar path .
The
.Fl a
option appends to rather than overwriting the file.
.It Xo Ic set-buffer
.Op Fl b Ar buffer-index
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Ar data
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic setb )
Set the contents of the specified buffer to
.Ar data .
.It Xo Ic show-buffer
.Op Fl b Ar buffer-index
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic showb )
Display the contents of the specified buffer.
.El
.Sh MISCELLANEOUS
.Pp
Miscellaneous commands are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Ic clock-mode Op Fl t Ar target-window
Display a large clock.
.It Ic if-shell Ar shell-command command
.D1 (alias: Ic if )
Execute
.Ar command
if
.Ar shell-command
returns success.
.It Ic lock-server
.D1 (alias: Ic lock )
Lock the server until a password is entered.
.It Ic server-info
.D1 (alias: Ic info )
Show server information and terminal details.
.It Xo Ic set-password
.Op Fl c
.Ar password
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic pass )
Set the server password.
If the
.Fl c
option is given, a pre-encrypted password may be specified.
By default, the password is blank, thus any entered password will be accepted
when unlocking the server (see the
.Ic lock-server
command).
To prevent variable expansion when an encrypted password is read from a
configuration file, enclose it in single quotes (').
.El
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width "/etc/tmux.confXXX" -compact
.It Pa ~/.tmux.conf
Default
.Nm
configuration file.
.It Pa /etc/tmux.conf
System-wide configuration file.
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
To create a new
.Nm
session running
.Xr vi 1 :
.Pp
.Dl $ tmux new-session vi
.Pp
Most commands have a shorter form, known as an alias.
For new-session, this is
.Ic new :
.Pp
.Dl $ tmux new vi
.Pp
Alternatively, the shortest unambiguous form of a command is accepted.
If there are several options, they are listed:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ tmux n
ambiguous command: n, could be: new-session, new-window, next-window
.Ed
.Pp
Within an active session, a new window may be created by typing
.Ql C-b c
(Ctrl
followed by the
.Ql b
key
followed by the
.Ql c
key).
.Pp
Windows may be navigated with:
.Ql C-b 0
(to select window 0),
.Ql C-b 1
(to select window 1), and so on;
.Ql C-b n
to select the next window; and
.Ql C-b p
to select the previous window.
.Pp
A session may be detached using
.Ql C-b d
and reattached with:
.Pp
.Dl $ tmux attach-session
.Pp
Typing
.Ql C-b \&?
lists the current key bindings in the current window; up and down may be used
to navigate the list or
.Ql q
to exit from it.
.Pp
Commands to be run when the
.Nm
server is started may be placed in the
.Pa ~/.tmux.conf
configuration file.
Common examples include:
.Pp
Changing the default prefix key:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
set-option -g prefix C-a
unbind-key C-b
bind-key C-a send-prefix
.Ed
.Pp
Turning the status line off, or changing its colour:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
set-option -g status off
set-option -g status-bg blue
.Ed
.Pp
Setting other options, such as the default command,
or locking after 30 minutes of inactivity:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
set-option -g default-command "exec /bin/ksh"
set-option -g lock-after-time 1800
.Ed
.Pp
Creating new key bindings:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
bind-key b set-option status
bind-key / command-prompt "split-window 'exec man %%'"
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr pty 4
.Sh AUTHORS
.An Nicholas Marriott Aq nicm@users.sourceforge.net