tmux/tmux.1

.\" $Id: tmux.1,v 1.58 2009-01-12 21:23:58 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.
.\"
.\" 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
.\" IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING
.\" OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
.\"
.Dd June 30, 2008
.Dt TMUX 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm tmux
.Nd "terminal multiplexer"
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm tmux
.Bk -words
.Op Fl 2dqUuVv
.Op Fl f Ar file
.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 (or windows) to be
accessed and controlled from a single terminal.
.Pp
.Nm
runs as a server-client system.
A server is created automatically when necessary and holds a number of
.Em sessions ,
each of which may have a number of
.Em windows
linked to it.
Any number of
.Em clients
may connect to a session, or the server
may be controlled by issuing commands with
.Nm .
Communication takes place through a socket, by default placed in
.Pa /tmp .
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX"
.It Fl 2
Force
.Nm
to assume the terminal supports 256 colours.
.It Fl d
Force
.Nm
to assume the terminal support default colours.
.It Fl f Ar file
Specify an alternative configuration file.
By default,
.Nm
will look for a config 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 q
Prevent the server sending various information messages, for example when
window flags are altered.
.It Fl S Ar socket-path
Specify an alternative path to the server socket.
The default is
.Pa /tmp/tmux-UID ,
where
.Em UID
is the uid of the user who invoked
.Nm .
.It Fl U
Unlock the server.
.It Fl u
Intruct
.Nm
that the terminal support UTF-8.
.It Fl V
Print program version.
.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 ,
and described in the following sections.
If no command and flags is specified, the
.Ic new-session
command is assumed.
.Pp
.El
.Sh QUICK START
To create a new tmux 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
(ctrl-b, known as the prefix 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.
.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 -compact
.It Ql d
Detach current client.
.It Ql c
Create new window.
.It Ql n
Change to next window in the current session.
.It Ql p
Change to previous window in the current session.
.It Ql l
Move to last (previously selected) window in the current session.
.It Ql t
Display a large clock.
.It Ql \&?
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.
.Sh HISTORY
.Nm
maintains a configurable history buffer 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 below).
.Sh MODES
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
The keys available depend on whether
.Xr emacs 1
or
.Xr vi 1
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 or ^" Ta "C-a"
.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"
.El
.Pp
.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.
.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
or
.Ar target-window .
These specify the client, session or window 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
.Pa /dev/ttyp1 .
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 as for
.Ar target-client ,
in this case, the session attached to the client is used.
An
.Xr fnmatch 3
pattern may be used to match the session name.
If a session is omitted when required,
.Nm tmux
attempts to use the current session; if no current session is available, the
most recently created is chosen.
If no client is specified, the current client is chosen, if possible, or an
error is reported.
.Pp
.Ar target-window
specifies a window in the form
.Em session Ns \&: Ns Em index ,
for example mysession:1.
The session is in the same form as for
.Ar target-session .
.Em session ,
.Em index
or both may be omitted.
If
.Em session
is omitted, the same rules as for
.Ar target-session
are followed; if
.Em index
is not present, the current window for the given session is used.
When the argument does not contain a colon (:),
.Nm
first attempts to parse it as window index; if that fails, an attempt is made
to match a session or client name.
.Pp
Examples include:
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2

rename-session -tfirst newname

set-window-option -t:0 monitor-activity on
.Ed
.Pp
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 )
Create a new client in the current terminal and attach it to a session.
If
.Fl d
is specified, any other clients attached to the session are detached.
.It Xo Ic bind-key
.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.
.It Xo Ic clock-mode
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
Display a large clock.
.It Xo Ic command-prompt
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Xc
Open the command prompt in a client.
This may be used from inside
.Nm
to execute commands interactively.
.It Xo Ic copy-mode
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
Enter copy mode.
.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 Xo Ic detach-client
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic detach )
Detach the current client if bound to a key, or the specified client with
.Fl t .
.It Xo Ic has-session
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.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 Xo Ic kill-server
.Xc
Kill the
.Nm
server and clients and destroy all sessions.
.It Xo Ic kill-session
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
Destroy the given session, closing any windows linked to it and no other
sessions, and detaching all clients attached to it.
.It Xo Ic kill-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.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 Xo Ic last-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.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 Xo Ic list-buffers
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic lsb )
List the buffers in the given session.
.It Xo Ic list-clients
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic lsc )
List all clients attached to the server.
.It Xo Ic list-commands
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic lscm )
List the syntax of all commands supported by
.Nm .
.It Xo Ic list-keys
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic lsk )
List all key bindings.
.It Xo Ic list-sessions
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic ls )
List all sessions managed by the server.
.It Xo Ic list-windows
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic lsw )
List windows in the current session or in
.Ar target-session .
.It Xo Ic lock-server
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic lock )
Lock the server until a password is entered.
.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-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 Xo Ic new-window
.Op Fl d
.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.
.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 Xo Ic next-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic next )
Move to the next window in the session.
.It Xo Ic paste-buffer
.Op Fl d
.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.
.It Xo Ic previous-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic prev )
Move to the previous window in the session.
.It Xo Ic refresh-client
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Xc
.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 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 specifed, to
.Ar new-name .
.It Xo Ic respawn-window
.Op Fl k
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Op command
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic respawnw )
Reactive a window in which the command has exited (see the
.Ic remain-in-exit
windowoption).
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 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 scroll-mode
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
Enter scroll mode.
.It Xo Ic select-prompt
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Xc
Open a prompt inside
.Ar target-client
allowing a window index to be entered interactively.
.It Xo Ic select-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic selectw )
Select the window at
.Ar target-window .
.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 Xo Ic send-prefix
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
Send the prefix key to a window as if it was pressed.
.It Xo Ic server-info
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic info )
Show server information and terminal details.
.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 set-option
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Ar option Ar value
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic set )
Set an option.
If
.Ar target-session
is specified, the option is set for that session; otherwise, the global option
is set.
A global option is used by all sessions which lack an option overriding it.
Possible options are:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic bell-action
.Op Ic any | Ic none | Ic 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
Sets the command used for new windows (if not specified when the window is
created) to
.Ar command .
The default is
.Dq exec $SHELL .
.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 1800 seconds (30 minutes). 
.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 Xo Ic set-titles
.Op Ic on | Ic 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 enabled by default.
Note that
.Xr elinks 1
will only attempt to set the window title if the STY environment
variable is set.
.It Xo Ic status
.Op Ic on | Ic off
.Xc
Show or hide the status line.
.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.
.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, nothing is displayed.
.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 "#T" Ta "Current window title"
.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 .
.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
and character pairs are replaced.
.It Ic status-right-length Ar length
Set the maximum
.Ar length
of the right component of the status bar.
The default is 40.
.El
.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 (').
.It Xo Ic set-window-option
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Ar option Ar value
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic setw )
Set a window-specific option.
Supported options are:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic aggressive-resize
.Op Ic on | Ic 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 SIGWINCH and poor for
interactive programs such as shells.
.It Ic clock-mode-colour Ar colour
Set clock colour.
.It Xo Ic clock-mode-style
.Op Ic 12 | Ic 24
.Xc
Set clock hour format.
.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.
.It Ic mode-bg Ar colour
Set window modes background colour.
.It Ic mode-fg Ar colour
Set window modes foreground colour.
.It Xo Ic mode-keys
.Op Ic vi | Ic emacs
.Xc
Use
.Xr vi 1 -
or
.Xr emacs 1 -
style key bindings in scroll and copy modes.
Key bindings default to emacs.
.It Xo Ic monitor-activity
.Op Ic on | Ic off
.Xc
Monitor for activity in the window.
Windows with activity are highlighted in the status line.
.It Xo Ic remain-on-exit
.Op Ic on | Ic 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.
.It Xo Ic utf8
.Op Ic on | Ic off
.Xc
Instructs
.Nm
to expect UTF-8 sequences to appear in this window.
.El
.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.
.It Xo Ic show-options
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Ar option Ar value
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic show )
Show the currently set options.
If a
.Ar target-session
is specified, the options for that session are shown; otherwise, the global
options are listed.
.It Xo Ic show-window-options
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Ar option Ar value
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic showw )
List the current options for the given window.
.It Xo Ic source-file
.Ar path
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic source )
Execute commands from
.Ar path .
.It Xo Ic start-server
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic start )
Start the
.Nm
server, if not already running, without creating any sessions.
.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 switch-client
.Op Fl c Ar target-client Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic switchc )
Switch the current session for client
.Ar target-client
to
.Ar target-session .
.It Xo Ic unbind-key
.Ar key
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic unbind )
Unbind the key bound to
.Ar key .
.It Xo Ic unlink-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic unlinkw )
Unlink
.Ar target-window .
A window may be unlinked only if it is linked to multiple sessions - windows may
not be linked to no sessions.
.El
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Pa ~/.tmux.conf
default
.Nm
configuration file
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr pty 4
.Sh AUTHORS
.An Nicholas Marriott Aq nicm@users.sourceforge.net