|
HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
|
TMUX(1) General Commands Manual TMUX(1)
tmux — terminal multiplexer
tmux [-2CDhlNuVv] [-c shell-command] [-f file] [-L socket-name]
[-S socket-path] [-T features] [command [flags]]
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 commands.
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. This is equivalent to -T 256.
-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.
-D Do not start the tmux server as a daemon. This also
turns the exit-empty option off. With -D, command
may not be specified.
-f file Specify an alternative configuration file. By
default, tmux loads the system configuration file
from @SYSCONFDIR@/tmux.conf, if present, then looks
for a user configuration file at ~/.tmux.conf or
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tmux/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.
-h Print usage information and exit.
-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 a directory tmux-UID under the directory
given by TMUX_TMPDIR or in /tmp. The tmux-UID
directory is created by tmux and must not be world
readable, writable or executable.
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.
-N Do not start the server even if the command would
normally do so (for example new-session or
start-server).
-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.
-T features Set terminal features for the client. This is a
comma-separated list of features. See the
terminal-features option.
-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 Report the tmux version.
-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.
command [flags]
This specifies one of a set of commands used to
control tmux, as described in the following
sections. If no commands are specified, the command
in default-client-command is assumed, which defaults
to new-session.
tmux may be controlled from an attached client by using a key
combination of a prefix key, ‘C-b’ (Ctrl-b) by default, followed
by a command key.
The default command key bindings are:
C-b Send the prefix key (C-b) through to the
application.
C-o Rotate the panes in the current window forwards.
C-z Suspend the tmux client.
! Break the current pane out of the window.
" Split the current pane into two, top and bottom.
# List all paste buffers.
$ Rename the current session.
% Split the current pane into two, left and right.
& Kill the current window.
' Prompt for a window index to select.
( Switch the attached client to the previous
session.
) Switch the attached client to the next session.
, Rename the current window.
- Delete the most recently copied buffer of text.
. Prompt for an index to move the current window.
0 to 9 Select windows 0 to 9.
: Enter the tmux command prompt.
; Move to the previously active pane.
= Choose which buffer to paste interactively from
a list.
? List all key bindings.
D Choose a client to detach.
L Switch the attached client back to the last
session.
[ Enter copy mode to copy text or view the
history.
] Paste the most recently copied buffer of text.
c Create a new window.
d Detach the current client.
f Prompt to search for text in open windows.
i Display some information about the current
window.
l Move to the previously selected window.
m Mark the current pane (see select-pane -m).
M Clear the marked pane.
n Change to the next window.
o Select the next pane in the current window.
p Change to the previous window.
q Briefly display pane indexes.
r Force redraw of the attached client.
s Select a new session for the attached client
interactively.
t Show the time.
w Choose the current window interactively.
x Kill the current pane.
z Toggle zoom state of the current pane.
{ Swap the current pane with the previous pane.
} Swap the current pane with the next pane.
~ Show previous messages from tmux, if any.
Page Up Enter copy mode and scroll one page up.
Up, Down
Left, Right
Change to the pane above, below, to the left, or
to the right of the current pane.
M-1 to M-7 Arrange panes in one of the seven preset
layouts: even-horizontal, even-vertical, main-
horizontal, main-horizontal-mirrored, main-
vertical, main-vertical-mirrored, or tiled.
Space Arrange the current window in the next preset
layout.
M-n Move to the next window with a bell or activity
marker.
M-o Rotate the panes in the current window
backwards.
M-p Move to the previous window with a bell or
activity marker.
C-Up, C-Down
C-Left, C-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of one cell.
M-Up, M-Down
M-Left, M-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of five cells.
Key bindings may be changed with the bind-key and unbind-key
commands.
tmux supports a large number of commands which can be used to
control its behaviour. Each command is named and can accept zero
or more flags and arguments. They may be bound to a key with the
bind-key command or run from the shell prompt, a shell script, a
configuration file or the command prompt. For example, the same
set-option command run from the shell prompt, from ~/.tmux.conf
and bound to a key may look like:
$ tmux set-option -g status-style bg=cyan
set-option -g status-style bg=cyan
bind-key C set-option -g status-style bg=cyan
Here, the command name is ‘set-option’, ‘-g’ is a flag and
‘status-style’ and ‘bg=cyan’ are arguments.
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.
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 commands are executed.
It is recommended that a semicolon used as a command separator
should be written as an individual token, for example from sh(1):
$ tmux neww \; splitw
Or:
$ tmux neww ';' splitw
Or from the tmux command prompt:
neww ; splitw
However, a trailing semicolon is also interpreted as a command
separator, for example in these sh(1) commands:
$ tmux neww\; splitw
Or:
$ tmux 'neww;' splitw
As in these examples, when running tmux from the shell extra care
must be taken to properly quote semicolons:
1. Semicolons that should be interpreted as a command
separator should be escaped according to the shell
conventions. For sh(1) this typically means quoted
(such as ‘neww ';' splitw’) or escaped (such as ‘neww
\; splitw’).
2. Individual semicolons or trailing semicolons that
should be interpreted as arguments should be escaped
twice: once according to the shell conventions and a
second time for tmux; for example:
$ tmux neww 'foo\;' bar
$ tmux neww foo\\\; bar
3. Semicolons that are not individual tokens or trailing
another token should only be escaped once according to
shell conventions; for example:
$ tmux neww 'foo-;-bar'
$ tmux neww foo-\;-bar
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 completely 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 parsed as a configuration file (so conditions such as
‘%if’ are processed) and then converted into a string. They are
designed to avoid the need for additional escaping when passing a
group of tmux commands as an argument (for example to if-shell).
These two examples produce an identical command - note that no
escaping is needed when using {}:
if-shell true {
display -p 'brace-dollar-foo: }$foo'
}
if-shell true "display -p 'brace-dollar-foo: }\$foo'"
Braces may be enclosed inside braces, for example:
bind x if-shell "true" {
if-shell "true" {
display "true!"
}
}
Environment variables may be set by using the syntax ‘name=value’,
for example ‘HOME=/home/user’. Variables set during parsing are
added to the global environment. A hidden variable may be set
with ‘%hidden’, for example:
%hidden MYVAR=42
Hidden variables are not passed to the environment of processes
created by tmux. See the “GLOBAL AND SESSION ENVIRONMENT”
section.
Commands may be parsed conditionally by surrounding them with
‘%if’, ‘%elif’, ‘%else’ and ‘%endif’. The argument to ‘%if’ and
‘%elif’ is expanded as a format (see “FORMATS”) and if it
evaluates to false (zero or empty), subsequent text is ignored
until the closing ‘%elif’, ‘%else’ or ‘%endif’. For example:
%if "#{==:#{host},myhost}"
set -g status-style bg=red
%elif "#{==:#{host},myotherhost}"
set -g status-style bg=green
%else
set -g status-style bg=blue
%endif
Will change the status line to red if running on ‘myhost’, green
if running on ‘myotherhost’, or blue if running on another host.
Conditionals may be given on one line, for example:
%if #{==:#{host},myhost} set -g status-style bg=red %endif
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 connected, 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. A glob(7) 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 a glob(7) pattern matched against the window name.
Like sessions, a ‘=’ prefix will do an exact match only. An empty
window name specifies the next unused index 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 alternative form.
Token Meaning
{start} ^ 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 example:
‘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}’ (alternative 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 ‘$’, windows with a ‘@’, and panes
with a ‘%’. These are unique and are unchanged for the life of
the session, window 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 ~/.tmux.conf'
Will run:
/bin/sh -c 'vi ~/.tmux.conf'
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 directly (without ‘sh
-c’). This can avoid issues with shell quoting. For example:
$ tmux new-window vi ~/.tmux.conf
Will run vi(1) directly without invoking the shell.
command [argument ...] refers to a tmux command, either passed
with the command and arguments separately, 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 }
Example tmux commands include:
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2
rename-session -tfirst newname
set-option -wt:0 monitor-activity on
new-window ; split-window -d
bind-key R source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; \
display-message "source-file done"
Or from sh(1):
$ tmux kill-window -t :1
$ tmux new-window \; split-window -d
$ tmux new-session -d 'vi ~/.tmux.conf' \; split-window -d \; attach
The tmux server manages clients, sessions, windows and panes.
Clients are attached to sessions to interact with them, either
when they are created with the new-session command, or later with
the attach-session command. Each session has one or more windows
linked into it. Windows may be linked to multiple sessions and
are made up of one or more panes, each of which contains a pseudo
terminal. Commands for creating, linking and otherwise
manipulating windows are covered in the “WINDOWS AND PANES”
section.
The following commands are available to manage clients and
sessions:
attach-session [-dErx] [-c working-directory] [-f flags] [-t
target-session]
(alias: attach)
If run from outside tmux, attach to target-session in the
current terminal. target-session must already exist - to
create a new session, see the new-session command (with -A
to create or attach). If used from inside, switch the
currently attached session to target-session. If -d is
specified, any other clients attached to the session are
detached. If -x is given, send SIGHUP to the parent
process of the client as well as detaching the client,
typically causing it to exit. -f sets a comma-separated
list of client flags. The flags are:
active-pane
the client has an independent active pane
ignore-size
the client does not affect the size of other
clients
no-detach-on-destroy
do not detach the client when the session it is
attached to is destroyed if there are any other
sessions
no-output
the client does not receive pane output in control
mode
pause-after=seconds
output is paused once the pane is seconds behind
in control mode
read-only
the client is read-only
wait-exit
wait for an empty line input before exiting in
control mode
A leading ‘!’ turns a flag off if the client is already
attached. -r is an alias for -f read-only,ignore-size.
When a client is read-only, only keys bound to the
detach-client or switch-client commands have any effect.
A client with the active-pane flag allows the active pane
to be selected independently of the window's active pane
used by clients without the flag. This only affects the
cursor position and commands issued from the client; other
features such as hooks and styles continue to use the
window's active pane.
If no server is started, attach-session will attempt to
start it; this will fail unless sessions are created in
the configuration file.
The target-session rules for attach-session are slightly
adjusted: if tmux needs to select the most recently used
session, it will prefer the most recently used unattached
session.
-c will set the session working directory (used for new
windows) to working-directory.
If -E is used, the update-environment option will not be
applied.
detach-client [-aP] [-E shell-command] [-s target-session] [-t
target-client]
(alias: detach)
Detach the current client if bound to a key, the client
specified with -t, or all clients currently attached to
the session specified by -s. The -a option kills all but
the client given with -t. If -P is given, send SIGHUP to
the parent process of the client, typically causing it to
exit. With -E, run shell-command to replace the client.
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] [-f filter] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsc)
List all clients attached to the server. -F specifies the
format of each line and -f a filter. Only clients for
which the filter is true are shown. 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] [-f filter]
(alias: ls)
List all sessions managed by the server. -F specifies the
format of each line and -f a filter. Only sessions for
which the filter is true are shown. See the “FORMATS”
section.
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] [-e environment] [-f
flags] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-s session-name] [-t
group-name] [-x width] [-y height] [shell-command
[argument ...]]
(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. -f sets a comma-separated list of
client flags (see attach-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; if -A is given, -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. -e takes the form ‘VARIABLE=value’ and sets an
environment variable for the newly created session; it may
be specified multiple times.
refresh-client [-cDLRSU] [-A pane:state] [-B name:what:format] [-C
size] [-f flags] [-l [target-pane]] [-r pane:report] [-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 specified, 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 mode client or
of a window for a control mode client, size must be one of
‘widthxheight’ or ‘window ID:widthxheight’, for example
‘80x24’ or ‘@0:80x24’. -A allows a control mode client to
trigger actions on a pane. The argument is a pane ID
(with leading ‘%’), a colon, then one of ‘on’, ‘off’,
‘continue’ or ‘pause’. If ‘off’, tmux will not send
output from the pane to the client and if all clients have
turned the pane off, will stop reading from the pane. If
‘continue’, tmux will return to sending output to the pane
if it was paused (manually or with the pause-after flag).
If ‘pause’, tmux will pause the pane. -A may be given
multiple times for different panes.
-B sets a subscription to a format for a control mode
client. The argument is split into three items by colons:
name is a name for the subscription; what is a type of
item to subscribe to; format is the format. After a
subscription is added, changes to the format are reported
with the %subscription-changed notification, at most once
a second. If only the name is given, the subscription is
removed. what may be empty to check the format only for
the attached session, or one of: a pane ID such as ‘%0’;
‘%*’ for all panes in the attached session; a window ID
such as ‘@0’; or ‘@*’ for all windows in the attached
session.
-f sets a comma-separated list of client flags, see
attach-session. -r allows a control mode client to
provide information about a pane via a report (such as the
response to OSC 10). The argument is a pane ID (with a
leading ‘%’), a colon, then a report escape sequence.
-l requests the clipboard from the client using the
xterm(1) escape sequence. If target-pane is given, the
clipboard is sent (in encoded form), otherwise it is
stored 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.
server-access [-adlrw] [user]
Change the access or read/write permission of user. The
user running the tmux server (its owner) and the root user
cannot be changed and are always permitted access.
-a and -d are used to give or revoke access for the
specified user. If the user is already attached, the -d
flag causes their clients to be detached.
-r and -w change the permissions for user: -r makes their
clients read-only and -w writable. -l lists current
access permissions.
By default, the access list is empty and tmux creates
sockets with file system permissions preventing access by
any user other than the owner (and root). These
permissions must be changed manually. Great care should
be taken not to allow access to untrusted users even read-
only.
show-messages [-JT] [-t target-client]
(alias: showmsgs)
Show server messages or information. Messages are stored,
up to a maximum of the limit set by the message-limit
server option. -J and -T show debugging information about
jobs and terminals.
source-file [-Fnqv] [-t target-pane] path ...
(alias: source)
Execute commands from one or more files specified by path
(which may be glob(7) patterns). If -F is present, then
path is expanded as a format. 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:
$ tmux start \; show -g
suspend-client [-t target-client]
(alias: suspendc)
Suspend a client by sending SIGTSTP (tty stop).
switch-client [-ElnprZ] [-c target-client] [-t target-session] [-T
key-table]
(alias: switchc)
Switch the current session for client target-client to
target-session. As a special case, -t may refer to a pane
(a target that contains ‘:’, ‘.’ or ‘%’), to change
session, window and pane. In that case, -Z keeps the
window zoomed if it was zoomed. If -l, -n or -p is used,
the client is moved to the last, next or previous session
respectively. -r toggles the client read-only and
ignore-size flags (see the attach-session command).
If -E is used, update-environment option will not be
applied.
-T sets the client's key table; the next key from the
client will be interpreted from key-table. This may be
used to configure multiple prefix keys, or to bind
commands to sequences of keys. For example, to make
typing ‘abc’ run the list-keys command:
bind-key -Ttable2 c list-keys
bind-key -Ttable1 b switch-client -Ttable2
bind-key -Troot a switch-client -Ttable1
Each window displayed by tmux may be split into one or more 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 split-window
command. Windows may be split horizontally (with the -h flag) or
vertically. Panes may be resized with the resize-pane command
(bound to ‘C-Up’, ‘C-Down’ ‘C-Left’ and ‘C-Right’ by default), the
current pane may be changed with the select-pane command and the
rotate-window and 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.
By default, a tmux pane permits direct access to the terminal
contained in the pane. A pane may also be put into one of several
modes:
- Copy mode, which permits a section of a window or its
history to be copied to a paste buffer for later
insertion into another window. This mode is entered
with the copy-mode command, bound to ‘[’ by default.
Copied text can be pasted with the paste-buffer command,
bound to ‘]’.
- View mode, which is like copy mode but is entered when a
command that produces output, such as list-keys, is
executed from a key binding.
- Choose mode, which allows an item to be chosen from a
list. This may be a client, a session or window or
pane, or a buffer. This mode is entered with the
choose-buffer, choose-client and choose-tree commands.
In copy mode an indicator is displayed in the top-right corner of
the pane with the current position and the number of lines in the
history.
Commands are sent to copy mode using the -X flag to the send-keys
command. When a key is pressed, copy mode automatically uses one
of two key tables, depending on the mode-keys option: copy-mode
for emacs, or copy-mode-vi for vi. Key tables may be viewed with
the list-keys command.
The following commands are supported in copy mode:
append-selection
Append the selection to the top paste buffer.
append-selection-and-cancel (vi: A)
Append the selection to the top paste buffer and exit copy
mode.
back-to-indentation (vi: ^) (emacs: M-m)
Move the cursor back to the indentation.
begin-selection (vi: Space) (emacs: C-Space)
Begin selection.
bottom-line (vi: L)
Move to the bottom line.
cancel (vi: q) (emacs: Escape)
Exit copy mode.
clear-selection (vi: Escape) (emacs: C-g)
Clear the current selection.
copy-end-of-line [-CP] [prefix]
Copy from the cursor position to the end of the line.
prefix is used to name the new paste buffer.
copy-end-of-line-and-cancel [-CP] [prefix]
Copy from the cursor position and exit copy mode.
copy-pipe-end-of-line [-CP] [command] [prefix]
Copy from the cursor position to the end of the line and
pipe the text to command. prefix is used to name the new
paste buffer.
copy-pipe-end-of-line-and-cancel [-CP] [command] [prefix]
Same as copy-pipe-end-of-line but also exit copy mode.
copy-line [-CP] [prefix]
Copy the entire line.
copy-line-and-cancel [-CP] [prefix]
Copy the entire line and exit copy mode.
copy-pipe-line [-CP] [command] [prefix]
Copy the entire line and pipe the text to command. prefix
is used to name the new paste buffer.
copy-pipe-line-and-cancel [-CP] [command] [prefix]
Same as copy-pipe-line but also exit copy mode.
copy-pipe [-CP] [command] [prefix]
Copy the selection, clear it and pipe its text to command.
prefix is used to name the new paste buffer.
copy-pipe-no-clear [-CP] [command] [prefix]
Same as copy-pipe but do not clear the selection.
copy-pipe-and-cancel [-CP] [command] [prefix]
Same as copy-pipe but also exit copy mode.
copy-selection [-CP] [prefix]
Copies the current selection.
copy-selection-no-clear [-CP] [prefix]
Same as copy-selection but do not clear the selection.
copy-selection-and-cancel [-CP] [prefix] (vi: Enter) (emacs: M-w)
Copy the current selection and exit copy mode.
cursor-down (vi: j) (emacs: Down)
Move the cursor down.
cursor-down-and-cancel
Same as cursor-down but also exit copy mode if reaching
the bottom.
cursor-left (vi: h) (emacs: Left)
Move the cursor left.
cursor-right (vi: l) (emacs: Right)
Move the cursor right.
cursor-up (vi: k) (emacs: Up)
Move the cursor up.
end-of-line (vi: $) (emacs: C-e)
Move the cursor to the end of the line.
goto-line line (vi: :) (emacs: g)
Move the cursor to a specific line.
halfpage-down (vi: C-d) (emacs: M-Down)
Scroll down by half a page.
halfpage-down-and-cancel
Same as halfpage-down but also exit copy mode if reaching
the bottom.
halfpage-up (vi: C-u) (emacs: M-Up)
Scroll up by half a page.
history-bottom (vi: G) (emacs: M->)
Scroll to the bottom of the history.
history-top (vi: g) (emacs: M-<)
Scroll to the top of the history.
jump-again (vi: ;) (emacs: ;)
Repeat the last jump.
jump-backward to (vi: F) (emacs: F)
Jump backwards to the specified text.
jump-forward to (vi: f) (emacs: f)
Jump forward to the specified text.
jump-reverse (vi: ,) (emacs: ,)
Repeat the last jump in the reverse direction (forward
becomes backward and backward becomes forward).
jump-to-backward to (vi: T)
Jump backwards, but one character less, placing the cursor
on the character after the target.
jump-to-forward to (vi: t)
Jump forward, but one character less, placing the cursor
on the character before the target.
jump-to-mark (vi: M-x) (emacs: M-x)
Jump to the last mark.
middle-line (vi: M) (emacs: M-r)
Move to the middle line.
next-matching-bracket (vi: %) (emacs: M-C-f)
Move to the next matching bracket.
next-paragraph (vi: }) (emacs: M-})
Move to the next paragraph.
next-prompt [-o]
Move to the next prompt.
next-word (vi: w)
Move to the next word.
next-word-end (vi: e) (emacs: M-f)
Move to the end of the next word.
next-space (vi: W)
Same as next-word but use a space alone as the word
separator.
next-space-end (vi: E)
Same as next-word-end but use a space alone as the word
separator.
other-end (vi: o)
Switch at which end of the selection the cursor sits.
page-down (vi: C-f) (emacs: PageDown)
Scroll down by one page.
page-down-and-cancel
Same as page-down but also exit copy mode if reaching the
bottom.
page-up (vi: C-b) (emacs: PageUp)
Scroll up by one page.
pipe [command]
Pipe the selected text to command and clear the selection.
pipe-no-clear [command]
Same as pipe but do not clear the selection.
pipe-and-cancel [command] [prefix]
Same as pipe but also exit copy mode.
previous-matching-bracket (emacs: M-C-b)
Move to the previous matching bracket.
previous-paragraph (vi: {) (emacs: M-{)
Move to the previous paragraph.
previous-prompt [-o]
Move to the previous prompt.
previous-word (vi: b) (emacs: M-b)
Move to the previous word.
previous-space (vi: B)
Same as previous-word but use a space alone as the word
separator.
rectangle-on
Turn on rectangle selection mode.
rectangle-off
Turn off rectangle selection mode.
rectangle-toggle (vi: v) (emacs: R)
Toggle rectangle selection mode.
refresh-from-pane (vi: r) (emacs: r)
Refresh the content from the pane.
scroll-bottom
Scroll up until the current line is at the bottom while
keeping the cursor on that line.
scroll-down (vi: C-e) (emacs: C-Down)
Scroll down.
scroll-down-and-cancel
Same as scroll-down but also exit copy mode if the cursor
reaches the bottom.
scroll-middle (vi: z)
Scroll so that the current line becomes the middle one
while keeping the cursor on that line.
scroll-top
Scroll down until the current line is at the top while
keeping the cursor on that line.
scroll-up (vi: C-y) (emacs: C-Up)
Scroll up.
search-again (vi: n) (emacs: n)
Repeat the last search.
search-backward text (vi: ?)
Search backwards for the specified text.
search-backward-incremental text (emacs: C-r)
Search backwards incrementally for the specified text. Is
expected to be used with the -i flag to the command-prompt
command.
search-backward-text text
Search backwards for the specified plain text.
search-forward text (vi: /)
Search forward for the specified text.
search-forward-incremental text (emacs: C-s)
Search forward incrementally for the specified text. Is
expected to be used with the -i flag to the command-prompt
command.
search-forward-text text
Search forward for the specified plain text.
search-reverse (vi: N) (emacs: N)
Repeat the last search in the reverse direction (forward
becomes backward and backward becomes forward).
select-line (vi: V)
Select the current line.
select-word
Select the current word.
set-mark (vi: X) (emacs: X)
Mark the current line.
start-of-line (vi: 0) (emacs: C-a)
Move the cursor to the start of the line.
stop-selection
Stop selecting without clearing the current selection.
toggle-position (vi: P) (emacs: P)
Toggle the visibility of the position indicator in the top
right.
top-line (vi: H) (emacs: M-R)
Move to the top line.
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).
The default incremental search key bindings, ‘C-r’ and ‘C-s’, are
designed to emulate emacs(1). When first pressed they allow a new
search term to be entered; if pressed with an empty search term
they repeat the previously used search term.
The ‘next-prompt’ and ‘previous-prompt’ move between shell
prompts, but require the shell to emit an escape sequence
(\033]133;A\033\\) to tell tmux where the prompts are located; if
the shell does not do this, these commands will do nothing. The
-o flag jumps to the beginning of the command output instead of
the shell prompt. Finding the beginning of command output
requires the shell to emit an escape sequence (\033]133;C\033\\)
to tell tmux where the output begins. If the shell does not send
these escape sequences, these commands do nothing.
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 selected
text is piped. ‘copy-pipe’ variants also copy the selection. 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. All the copy commands can take the -C and -P
flags. The -C flag suppresses setting the terminal clipboard when
copying, while the -P flag suppresses adding a paste buffer with
the text.
The next and previous word keys skip over whitespace and treat
consecutive runs of either word separators or other letters as
words. Word separators can be customized with 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.
Setting word-separators to the empty string makes next/previous
word equivalent to next/previous space.
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 entered 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 [-deHMqSu] [-s src-pane] [-t target-pane]
Enter copy mode.
-u enters copy mode and scrolls one page up and -d one
page down. -H hides the position indicator in the top
right. -q cancels copy mode and any other modes.
-M begins a mouse drag (only valid if bound to a mouse key
binding, see “MOUSE SUPPORT”). -S scrolls when bound to a
mouse drag event; for example, copy-mode -Se is bound to
MouseDrag1ScrollbarSlider by default.
-s copies from src-pane instead of target-pane.
-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
bind PageDown copy-mode -ed
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.
The following layouts are supported:
even-horizontal
Panes are spread out evenly from left to right across the
window.
even-vertical
Panes are spread evenly from top to bottom.
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 main-pane-height
window option to specify the height of the top pane.
main-horizontal-mirrored
The same as main-horizontal but mirrored so the main pane
is at the bottom of the window.
main-vertical
A large (main) pane is shown on the left of the window and
the remaining panes are spread from top to bottom in the
leftover space on the right. Use the main-pane-width
window option to specify the width of the left pane.
main-vertical-mirrored
The same as main-vertical but mirrored so the main pane is
on the right of the window.
tiled Panes are spread out as evenly as possible over the window
in both rows and columns.
In addition, select-layout may be used to apply a previously used
layout - the list-windows command displays the layout of each
window in a form suitable for use with select-layout. For
example:
$ tmux list-windows
0: ksh [159x48]
layout: bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}
$ tmux select-layout 'bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}'
tmux automatically adjusts the size of the layout for the current
window size. Note that a layout cannot be applied to a window
with more panes than that from which the layout was originally
defined.
Commands related to windows and panes are as follows:
break-pane [-abdP] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-s src-pane] [-t
dst-window]
(alias: breakp)
Break src-pane off from its containing window to make it
the only pane in dst-window. With -a or -b, the window is
moved to the next index after or before (existing windows
are moved if necessary). If -d is given, the new window
does not become the current window. The -P option prints
information about the new window after it has been
created. By default, it uses the format
‘#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index}’ but a
different format may be specified with -F.
capture-pane [-aepPqCJMN] [-b buffer-name] [-E end-line] [-S
start-line] [-t target-pane]
(alias: capturep)
Capture the contents of a pane. If -p is given, the
output goes to stdout, otherwise to the buffer specified
with -b or a new buffer if omitted. If -a is given, the
alternate screen is used, and the history is not
accessible. If no alternate screen exists, an error will
be returned unless -q is given. Similarly, if the pane is
in a mode, -M uses the screen for the mode. If -e is
given, the output includes escape sequences for text and
background attributes. -C also escapes non-printable
characters as octal \xxx. -T ignores trailing positions
that do not contain a character. -N preserves trailing
spaces at each line's end and -J preserves trailing spaces
and joins any wrapped lines; -J implies -T. -P captures
only any output that the pane has received that is the
beginning of an as-yet incomplete escape sequence.
-S and -E specify the starting and ending line numbers,
zero is the first line of the visible pane and negative
numbers are lines in the history. ‘-’ to -S is the start
of the history and to -E the end of the visible pane. The
default is to capture only the visible contents of the
pane.
choose-client [-NryZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-K key-format] [-O
sort-order] [-t target-pane] [template]
Put a pane into client mode, allowing a client to be
selected interactively from a list. Each client is shown
on one line. A shortcut key is shown on the left in
brackets allowing for immediate choice, or the list may be
navigated and an item chosen or otherwise manipulated
using the keys below. -Z zooms the pane. -y disables any
confirmation prompts. The following keys may be used in
client mode:
Key Function
Enter Choose selected client
Up Select previous client
Down Select next client
C-s Search by name
n Repeat last search forwards
N Repeat last search backwards
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’ (time), or ‘activity’ (time). -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 and -K a
format for each shortcut key; both are evaluated once for
each line. -N starts without the preview or if given
twice with the larger preview. This command works only if
at least one client is attached.
choose-tree [-GNrswyZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-K key-format] [-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 tree. Each session,
window or pane is shown on one line. A shortcut key is
shown on the left in brackets allowing for immediate
choice, or the tree may be navigated and an item chosen or
otherwise manipulated using the keys below. -s starts
with sessions collapsed and -w with windows collapsed. -Z
zooms the pane. -y disables any confirmation prompts.
The following keys may be used in tree mode:
Key Function
Enter Choose selected item
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
S-Up Swap the current window with the previous one
S-Down Swap the current window with the next one
+ Expand selected item
- Collapse selected item
M-+ Expand all items
M-- Collapse all items
x Kill selected item
X Kill tagged items
< Scroll list of previews left
> Scroll list of previews right
C-s Search by name
m Set the marked pane
M Clear the marked pane
n Repeat last search forwards
N Repeat last search backwards
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
H Jump to the starting pane
O Change sort field
r Reverse sort order
v Toggle preview
q Exit mode
After a session, window or pane is chosen, the first
instance of ‘%%’ and all instances of ‘%1’ are replaced by
the target in template and the result executed as a
command. If template is not given, "switch-client -t
'%%'" is used.
-O specifies the initial sort field: one of ‘index’,
‘name’, or ‘time’ (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 tree and -K a format for each shortcut
key; both are evaluated once for each line. -N starts
without the preview or if given twice with the larger
preview. -G includes all sessions in any session groups
in the tree rather than only the first. This command
works only if at least one client is attached.
customize-mode [-NZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-t target-pane]
[template]
Put a pane into customize mode, where options and key
bindings may be browsed and modified from a list. Option
values in the list are shown for the active pane in the
current window. -Z zooms the pane. The following keys
may be used in customize mode:
Key Function
Enter Set pane, window, session or global option
value
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
+ Expand selected item
- Collapse selected item
M-+ Expand all items
M-- Collapse all items
s Set option value or key attribute
S Set global option value
w Set window option value, if option is for
pane and window
d Set an option or key to the default
D Set tagged options and tagged keys to the
default
u Unset an option (set to default value if
global) or unbind a key
U Unset tagged options and unbind tagged keys
C-s Search by name
n Repeat last search forwards
N Repeat last search backwards
t Toggle if item is tagged
T Tag no items
C-t Tag all items
f Enter a format to filter items
v Toggle option information
q Exit mode
-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 tree. -N starts without the option
information. This command works only if at least one
client is attached.
display-panes [-bN] [-d duration] [-t target-client] [template]
(alias: displayp)
Display a visible indicator of each pane shown by
target-client. See the display-panes-colour and
display-panes-active-colour session options. The
indicator is closed when a key is pressed (unless -N is
given) or duration milliseconds have passed. If -d is not
given, display-panes-time is used. A duration of zero
means the indicator stays until a key is pressed. While
the indicator is on screen, a pane may be chosen with the
‘0’ to ‘9’ keys, which will cause template to be executed
as a command with ‘%%’ substituted by the pane ID. The
default template is "select-pane -t '%%'". With -b, other
commands are not blocked from running until the indicator
is closed.
find-window [-iCNrTZ] [-t target-pane] match-string
(alias: findw)
Search for a glob(7) pattern or, with -r, regular
expression match-string in window names, titles, and
visible content (but not history). The flags control
matching behavior: -C matches only visible window
contents, -N matches only the window name and -T matches
only the window title. -i makes the search ignore case.
The default is -CNT. -Z zooms the pane.
This command works only if at least one client is
attached.
join-pane [-bdfhv] [-l size] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: joinp)
Like split-window, but instead of splitting dst-pane and
creating a new pane, split it and move src-pane into the
space. This can be used to reverse break-pane. The -b
option causes src-pane to be joined to left of or above
dst-pane.
If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see
select-pane -m), the marked pane is used rather than the
current pane.
kill-pane [-a] [-t target-pane]
(alias: killp)
Destroy the given pane. If no panes remain in the
containing window, it is also destroyed. The -a option
kills all but the pane given with -t.
kill-window [-a] [-t target-window]
(alias: killw)
Kill the current window or the window at target-window,
removing it from any sessions to which it is linked. The
-a option kills all but the window given with -t.
last-pane [-deZ] [-t target-window]
(alias: lastp)
Select the last (previously selected) pane. -Z keeps the
window zoomed if it was zoomed. -e enables or -d disables
input to the pane.
last-window [-t target-session]
(alias: last)
Select the last (previously selected) window. If no
target-session is specified, select the last window of the
current session.
link-window [-abdk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: linkw)
Link the window at src-window to the specified dst-window.
If dst-window is specified and no such window exists, the
src-window is linked there. With -a or -b the window is
moved to the next index after or before dst-window
(existing windows are moved if necessary). If -k is given
and dst-window exists, it is killed, otherwise an error is
generated. If -d is given, the newly linked window is not
selected.
list-panes [-as] [-F format] [-f filter] [-t target]
(alias: lsp)
If -a is given, target is ignored and all panes on the
server are listed. If -s is given, target is a session
(or the current session). If neither is given, target is
a window (or the current window). -F specifies the format
of each line and -f a filter. Only panes for which the
filter is true are shown. See the “FORMATS” section.
list-windows [-a] [-F format] [-f filter] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsw)
If -a is given, list all windows on the server.
Otherwise, list windows in the current session or in
target-session. -F specifies the format of each line and
-f a filter. Only windows for which the filter is true
are shown. See the “FORMATS” section.
move-pane [-bdfhv] [-l size] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: movep)
Does the same as join-pane.
move-window [-abrdk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: movew)
This is similar to link-window, except the window at
src-window is moved to dst-window. With -r, all windows
in the session are renumbered in sequential order,
respecting the base-index option.
new-window [-abdkPS] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-F
format] [-n window-name] [-t target-window] [shell-command
[argument ...]]
(alias: neww)
Create a new window. With -a or -b, the new window is
inserted at the next index after or before the specified
target-window, moving windows up if necessary; otherwise
target-window is the new window location.
If -d is given, the session does not make the new window
the current window. target-window represents the window
to be created; if the target already exists an error is
shown, unless the -k flag is used, in which case it is
destroyed. If -S is given and a window named window-name
already exists, it is selected (unless -d is also given in
which case the command does nothing).
shell-command is the command to execute. If shell-command
is not specified, the value of the default-command option
is used. -c specifies the working directory in which the
new window is created.
When the shell command completes, the window closes. See
the remain-on-exit option to change this behaviour.
-e takes the form ‘VARIABLE=value’ and sets an environment
variable for the newly created window; it may be specified
multiple times.
The TERM environment variable must be set to ‘screen’ or
‘tmux’ for all programs running inside tmux. New windows
will automatically have ‘TERM=screen’ added to their
environment, but care 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 specified 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 [-DLMRTUZ] [-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”).
-T trims all lines below the current cursor position and
moves lines out of the history to replace them.
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 absolute 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 [argument ...]]
(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 or last
respawned 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 [argument ...]]
(alias: respawnw)
Reactivate a window in which the command has exited (see
the remain-on-exit window option). If shell-command is
not given, the command used when the window was created or
last respawned is executed. The window must be already
inactive, unless -k is given, in which case any existing
command 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 its 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 command. -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, move-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 [-bdfhIvPZ] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-F
format] [-l size] [-t target-pane] [shell-command
[argument ...]]
(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 percentage 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. -Z
zooms if the window is not zoomed, or keeps it zoomed if
already zoomed.
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
example:
$ 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.
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 ‘^’,
Shift keys with ‘S-’ 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 [argument
...]]
(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
initial-repeat-time and repeat-time options. -N attaches
a note to the key (shown with list-keys -N), which can be
cleared by passing an empty string. The -r and -N flags
can be used without command to alter an existing binding.
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 not have a note rather than
skipping them.
send-keys [-FHKlMRX] [-c target-client] [-N repeat-count] [-t
target-pane] [key ...]
(alias: send)
Send a key or keys to a window or client. 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. If -K is given, keys are sent
to target-client, so they are looked up in the client's
key table, rather than to target-pane. All arguments are
sent sequentially from first to last. If no keys are
given and the command is bound to a key, then that key is
used.
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 [-anq] [-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. The -q option prevents errors being returned.
The appearance and behaviour of tmux may be modified by changing
the value of various options. Each option belongs to one or
multiple scopes (server, session, window, and pane) and has a type
(string, number, key, colour, flag, choice, or command). Values of
flag-type options may be one of: 1, on, yes, 0, off, or no; for
possible choice values, see the respective option; for key
options, the “KEY BINDINGS” section; and for colour options, the
“STYLES” section.
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 background
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 set -wq @foo "abc123"
$ tmux show -wv @foo
abc123
Options are managed with these commands:
set-option [-aFgopqsuUw] [-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 scope 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 option from
the global options (or with -g, restores a global option
to the default). -U unsets an option (like -u) but if the
option is a pane option also unsets the option on any
panes in the window. value depends on the option and its
type and can be omitted for flag and choice options to
toggle its value (choice options toggle between the first
two choices).
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 option, -w or -s may be unnecessary -
tmux will infer the scope from the option name, assuming
-w for pane options. Global session or window options are
listed if -g is used. -v shows only the option 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.
Available server options are:
backspace key
Set the key sent by tmux for backspace.
buffer-limit number
Set the number of buffers; 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.
command-alias[] name=value
This is an array of custom aliases for commands. If an
unknown command matches name, it is replaced with value.
For example, after:
set -s command-alias[100] zoom='resize-pane -Z'
Using:
zoom -t:.1
Is equivalent to:
resize-pane -Z -t:.1
Note that aliases are expanded when a command is parsed
rather than when it is executed, so binding an alias with
bind-key will bind the expanded form.
codepoint-widths[] string
An array option allowing widths of Unicode codepoints to
be overridden. Note the new width applies to all clients.
Each entry is of the form codepoint=width, where codepoint
may be a UTF-8 character or an identifier of the form
‘U+number’ where the number is a hexadecimal number.
copy-command shell-command
Give the command to pipe to if the copy-pipe copy mode
command is used without arguments.
default-client-command command
Set the default command to run when tmux is called without
a command. The default is new-session.
default-terminal terminal
Set the default terminal for new windows created in this
session - the default value of the TERM environment
variable. For tmux to work correctly, this must be set to
‘screen’, ‘tmux’ or a derivative of them.
escape-time time
Set the time in milliseconds for which tmux waits after an
escape is input to determine if it is part of a function
or meta key sequences.
editor shell-command
Set the command used when tmux runs an editor.
exit-empty [on | off]
If enabled (the default), the server will exit when there
are no active sessions.
exit-unattached [on | off]
If enabled, the server will exit when there are no
attached clients.
extended-keys [on | off | always]
Controls how modified keys (keys pressed together with
Control, Meta, or Shift) are reported. This is the
equivalent of the modifyOtherKeys xterm(1) resource.
When set to on, the program inside the pane can request
one of two modes: mode 1 which changes the sequence for
only keys which lack an existing well-known
representation; or mode 2 which changes the sequence for
all keys. When set to always, modes 1 and 2 can still be
requested by applications, but mode 1 will be forced
instead of the standard mode. When set to off, this
feature is disabled and only standard keys are reported.
tmux will always request extended keys itself if the
terminal supports them. See also the extkeys feature for
the terminal-features option, the extended-keys-format
option and the pane_key_mode variable.
extended-keys-format [csi-u | xterm]
Selects one of the two possible formats for reporting
modified keys to applications. This is the equivalent of
the formatOtherKeys xterm(1) resource. For example, C-S-a
will be reported as ‘^[[27;6;65~’ when set to xterm, and
as ‘^[[65;6u’ when set to csi-u.
focus-events [on | off]
When enabled, focus events are requested from the terminal
if supported and passed through to applications running in
tmux. Attached clients should be detached and attached
again after changing this option.
history-file path
If not empty, a file to which tmux will write command
prompt history on exit and load it from on start.
input-buffer-size bytes
Maximum of bytes allowed to read in escape and control
sequences. Once reached, the sequence will be discarded.
message-limit number
Set the number of error or information messages to save in
the message log for each client.
prompt-history-limit number
Set the number of history items to save in the history
file for each type of command prompt.
set-clipboard [on | external | off]
Attempt to set the terminal clipboard content using the
xterm(1) escape sequence, if there is an Ms entry in the
terminfo(5) description (see the “TERMINFO EXTENSIONS”
section).
If set to on, tmux will both accept the escape sequence to
create a buffer and attempt to set the terminal clipboard.
If set to external, tmux will attempt to set the terminal
clipboard but ignore attempts by applications to set tmux
buffers. If off, tmux will neither accept the clipboard
escape sequence nor attempt to set the clipboard.
Note that this feature needs to be enabled in xterm(1) by
setting the resource:
disallowedWindowOps: 20,21,SetXprop
Or changing this property from the xterm(1) interactive
menu when required.
terminal-features[] string
Set terminal features for terminal types read from
terminfo(5). tmux has a set of named terminal features.
Each will apply appropriate changes to the terminfo(5)
entry in use.
tmux can detect features for a few common terminals; this
option can be used to easily tell tmux about features
supported by terminals it cannot detect. The
terminal-overrides option allows individual terminfo(5)
capabilities to be set instead, terminal-features is
intended for classes of functionality supported in a
standard way but not reported by terminfo(5). Care must
be taken to configure this only with features the terminal
actually supports.
This is an array option where each entry is a colon-
separated string made up of a terminal type pattern
(matched using glob(7) patterns) followed by a list of
terminal features. The available features are:
256 Supports 256 colours with the SGR escape
sequences.
clipboard
Allows setting the system clipboard.
ccolour
Allows setting the cursor colour.
cstyle Allows setting the cursor style.
extkeys
Supports extended keys.
focus Supports focus reporting.
hyperlinks
Supports OSC 8 hyperlinks.
ignorefkeys
Ignore function keys from terminfo(5) and use the
tmux internal set only.
margins
Supports DECSLRM margins.
mouse Supports xterm(1) mouse sequences.
osc7 Supports the OSC 7 working directory extension.
overline
Supports the overline SGR attribute.
rectfill
Supports the DECFRA rectangle fill escape
sequence.
RGB Supports RGB colour with the SGR escape sequences.
sixel Supports SIXEL graphics.
strikethrough
Supports the strikethrough SGR escape sequence.
sync Supports synchronized updates.
title Supports xterm(1) title setting.
usstyle
Allows underscore style and colour to be set.
terminal-overrides[] string
Allow terminal descriptions read using terminfo(5) to be
overridden. Each entry is a colon-separated string made
up of a terminal type pattern (matched using glob(7)
patterns) and a set of name=value entries.
For example, to set the ‘clear’ terminfo(5) entry to
‘\e[H\e[2J’ for all terminal types matching ‘rxvt*’:
rxvt*:clear=\e[H\e[2J
The terminal entry value is passed through strunvis(3)
before interpretation.
user-keys[] key
Set list of user-defined key escape sequences. Each item
is associated with a key named ‘User0’, ‘User1’, and so
on.
For example:
set -s user-keys[0] "\e[5;30012~"
bind User0 resize-pane -L 3
variation-selector-always-wide [on | off]
Always treat Unicode variation selector 16 as marking a
wide character. This is a feature of some terminals as
part of their Unicode 14 support.
Available session options are:
activity-action [any | none | current | other]
Set action on window activity when monitor-activity is on.
any means activity in any window linked to a session
causes a bell or message (depending on visual-activity) in
the current window of that session, none means all
activity is ignored (equivalent to monitor-activity being
off), current means only activity in windows other than
the current window are ignored and other means activity in
the current window is ignored but not those in other
windows.
assume-paste-time milliseconds
If keys are entered faster than one in milliseconds, they
are assumed to have been pasted rather than typed and tmux
key bindings are not processed. The default is one
millisecond and zero disables.
base-index index
Set the base index from which an unused index should be
searched when a new window is created. The default is
zero.
bell-action [any | none | current | other]
Set action on a bell in a window when monitor-bell is on.
The values are the same as those for activity-action.
default-command shell-command
Set the command used for new windows (if not specified
when the window is created) to shell-command, which may be
any sh(1) command. The default is an empty string, which
instructs tmux to create a login shell using the value of
the default-shell option.
default-shell path
Specify the default shell. This is used as the login
shell for new windows when the default-command option is
set to empty, and must be the full path of the executable.
When 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 [off | on | keep-last | keep-group]
If on, destroy the session after the last client has
detached. If off (the default), leave the session
orphaned. If keep-last, destroy the session only if it is
in a group and has other sessions in that group. If
keep-group, destroy the session unless it is in a group
and is the only session in that group.
detach-on-destroy [off | on | no-detached | previous | next]
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. If no-detached, the client is
detached only if there are no detached sessions; if
detached sessions exist, the client is switched to the
most recently active. If previous or next, the client is
switched to the previous or next session in alphabetical
order.
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 appear.
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 windows - existing window
histories are not resized and retain the limit at the
point they were created.
initial-repeat-time time
Set the time in milliseconds for the initial repeat when a
key is bound with the -r flag. This allows multiple
commands to be entered without pressing the prefix key
again. See also the repeat-time option. If
initial-repeat-time is zero, repeat-time is used for the
first key press.
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.
menu-style style
Set the menu style. See the “STYLES” section on how to
specify style.
menu-selected-style style
Set the selected menu item style. See the “STYLES”
section on how to specify style.
menu-border-style style
Set the menu border style. See the “STYLES” section on
how to specify style.
menu-border-lines type
Set the type of characters used for drawing menu borders.
See popup-border-lines for possible values for
border-lines.
message-command-style style
Set status line message command style. This is used for
the command prompt with vi(1) keys when in command mode.
For how to specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
message-line [0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4]
Set line on which status line messages and the command
prompt are shown.
message-style style
Set status line message style. This is used for messages
and for the command prompt. 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’.
prefix-timeout time
Set the time in milliseconds for which tmux waits after
prefix is input before dismissing it. Can be set to zero
to disable any timeout.
prompt-cursor-colour colour
Set the colour of the cursor in the command prompt.
prompt-cursor-style style
Set the style of the cursor in the command prompt. See
the cursor-style options for available styles.
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 windows.
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.
See also the initial-repeat-time option.
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 | absolute-centre]
Set the position of the window list in the status line:
left, centre or right. centre puts the window list in the
relative centre of the available free space; absolute-
centre uses the centre of the entire horizontal space.
status-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in the status line, for
example at the command prompt. The default 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” section.
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 produced.
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 window 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.
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.
automatic-rename [on | off]
Control automatic window renaming. When this setting is
enabled, tmux will rename the window automatically using
the format specified by automatic-rename-format. This
flag is automatically disabled for an individual window
when a name is specified at creation with new-window or
new-session, or later with rename-window, or with a
terminal escape sequence. It may be switched off globally
with:
set-option -wg automatic-rename off
automatic-rename-format format
The format (see “FORMATS”) used when the automatic-rename
option is enabled.
clock-mode-colour colour
Set clock colour.
clock-mode-style [12 | 24]
Set clock hour format.
fill-character character
Set the character used to fill areas of the terminal
unused by a window.
main-pane-height height
main-pane-width width
Set the width or height of the main (left or top) pane in
the main-horizontal, main-horizontal-mirrored,
main-vertical, or main-vertical-mirrored layouts. If
suffixed by ‘%’, this is a percentage of the window size.
copy-mode-match-style style
Set the style of search matches in copy mode. For how to
specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
copy-mode-mark-style style
Set the style of the line containing the mark in copy
mode. For how to specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
copy-mode-current-match-style style
Set the style of the current search match in copy mode.
For how to specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
copy-mode-position-format format
Format of the position indicator in copy mode.
mode-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in copy mode. The
default is emacs, unless VISUAL or EDITOR contains ‘vi’.
copy-mode-position-style style
Set the style of the position indicator in copy mode. For
how to specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
copy-mode-selection-style style
Set the style of the selection in copy mode. For how to
specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
mode-style style
Set window modes style. For how to specify style, see the
“STYLES” section.
monitor-activity [on | off]
Monitor for activity in the window. Windows with activity
are highlighted in the status line.
monitor-bell [on | off]
Monitor for a bell in the window. Windows with a bell are
highlighted in the status line.
monitor-silence [interval]
Monitor for silence (no activity) in the window within
interval seconds. Windows that have been silent for the
interval are highlighted in the status line. An interval
of zero disables the monitoring.
other-pane-height height
Set the height of the other panes (not the main pane) in
the main-horizontal and main-horizontal-mirrored layouts.
If this option is set to 0 (the default), it will have no
effect. If both the main-pane-height and
other-pane-height options are set, the main pane will grow
taller to make the other panes the specified height, but
will never shrink to do so. If suffixed by ‘%’, this is a
percentage of the window size.
other-pane-width width
Like other-pane-height, but set the width of other panes
in the main-vertical and main-vertical-mirrored layouts.
pane-active-border-style style
Set the pane border style for the currently active pane.
For how to specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
Attributes are ignored.
pane-base-index index
Like base-index, but set the starting index for pane
numbers.
pane-border-format format
Set the text shown in pane border status lines.
pane-border-indicators [off | colour | arrows | both]
Indicate active pane by colouring only half of the border
in windows with exactly two panes, by displaying arrow
markers, by drawing both or neither.
pane-border-lines type
Set the type of characters used for drawing pane borders.
type may be one of:
single single lines using ACS or UTF-8 characters
double double lines using UTF-8 characters
heavy heavy lines using UTF-8 characters
simple simple ASCII characters
number the pane number
‘double’ and ‘heavy’ will fall back to standard ACS line
drawing when UTF-8 is not supported.
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.
popup-style style
Set the popup style. See the “STYLES” section on how to
specify style. Attributes are ignored.
popup-border-style style
Set the popup border style. See the “STYLES” section on
how to specify style. Attributes are ignored.
popup-border-lines type
Set the type of characters used for drawing popup borders.
type may be one of:
single single lines using ACS or UTF-8 characters
(default)
rounded
variation of single with rounded corners using
UTF-8 characters
double double lines using UTF-8 characters
heavy heavy lines using UTF-8 characters
simple simple ASCII characters
padded simple ASCII space character
none no border
‘double’ and ‘heavy’ will fall back to standard ACS line
drawing when UTF-8 is not supported.
pane-scrollbars [off | modal | on]
When enabled, a character based scrollbar appears on the
left or right of each pane. A filled section of the
scrollbar, known as the ‘slider’, represents the position
and size of the visible part of the pane content.
If set to on the scrollbar is visible all the time. If
set to modal the scrollbar only appears when the pane is
in copy mode or view mode. When the scrollbar is visible,
the pane is narrowed by the width of the scrollbar and the
text in the pane is reflowed. If set to modal, the pane
is narrowed only when the scrollbar is visible.
See also pane-scrollbars-style.
pane-scrollbars-style style
Set the scrollbars style. For how to specify style, see
the “STYLES” section. The foreground colour is used for
the slider, the background for the rest of the scrollbar.
The width attribute sets the width of the scrollbar and
the pad attribute the padding between the scrollbar and
the pane. Other attributes are ignored.
pane-scrollbars-position [left | right]
Sets which side of the pane to display pane scrollbars on.
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” section.
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” section.
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 attached session is used;
if smallest, the size of the smallest. If manual, the
size of a new window 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.
Available pane options are:
allow-passthrough [on | off | all]
Allow programs in the pane to bypass tmux using a terminal
escape sequence (\ePtmux;...\e\\). If set to on,
passthrough sequences will be allowed only if the pane is
visible. If set to all, they will be allowed even if the
pane is invisible.
allow-rename [on | off]
Allow programs in the pane to change the window name using
a terminal escape sequence (\ek...\e\\).
allow-set-title [on | off]
Allow programs in the pane to change the title using the
terminal escape sequences (\e]2;...\e\\ or \e]0;...\e\\).
alternate-screen [on | off]
This option configures whether programs running inside the
pane may use the terminal alternate screen feature, which
allows the smcup and rmcup terminfo(5) capabilities. The
alternate screen feature preserves the contents of the
window when an interactive application starts and restores
it on exit, so that any output visible before the
application starts reappears unchanged after it exits.
cursor-colour colour
Set the colour of the cursor.
cursor-style style
Set the style of the cursor. Available styles are:
default, blinking-block, block, blinking-underline,
underline, blinking-bar, bar.
pane-colours[] colour
The default colour palette. Each entry in the array
defines the colour tmux uses when the colour with that
index is requested. The index may be from zero to 255.
remain-on-exit [on | off | failed]
A pane with this flag set is not destroyed when the
program running in it exits. If set to failed, then only
when the program exit status is not zero. The pane may be
reactivated with the respawn-pane command.
remain-on-exit-format string
Set the text shown at the bottom of exited panes when
remain-on-exit is enabled.
scroll-on-clear [on | off]
When the entire screen is cleared and this option is on,
scroll the contents of the screen into history before
clearing it.
synchronize-panes [on | off]
Duplicate input to all other panes in the same window
where this option is also on (only for panes that are not
in any mode).
window-active-style style
Set the pane style when it is the active pane. For how to
specify style, see the “STYLES” section.
window-style style
Set the pane style. For how to specify style, see the
“STYLES” section.
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. Like options
different hooks may be global or belong to a session, window or
pane. 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"
If a command fails, the ‘command-error’ hook will be fired. For
example, this could be used to write to a log file:
set-hook -g command-error "run-shell \"echo 'a tmux command failed' >>/tmp/log\""
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-active Run when a client becomes the latest
active client of its session.
client-attached Run when a client is attached.
client-detached Run when a client is detached
client-focus-in Run when focus enters a client
client-focus-out Run when focus exits a client
client-resized Run when a client is resized.
client-session-changed Run when a client's attached session is
changed.
client-light-theme Run when a client switches to a light
theme.
client-dark-theme Run when a client switches to a dark
theme.
command-error Run when a command fails.
pane-died Run when the program running in a pane
exits, but remain-on-exit is on so the
pane has not closed.
pane-exited Run when the program running in a pane
exits.
pane-focus-in Run when the focus enters a pane, if the
focus-events option is on.
pane-focus-out Run when the focus exits a pane, if the
focus-events option is on.
pane-set-clipboard Run when the terminal clipboard is set
using the xterm(1) escape sequence.
session-created Run when a new session created.
session-closed Run when a session closed.
session-renamed Run when a session is renamed.
window-layout-changed Run when a window layout is changed.
window-linked Run when a window is linked into a
session.
window-renamed Run when a window is renamed.
window-resized Run when a window is resized. This may be
after the client-resized hook is run.
window-unlinked Run when a window is unlinked from a
session.
Hooks are managed with these commands:
set-hook [-agpRuw] [-t target-pane] hook-name [command]
Without -R, sets (or with -u unsets) hook hook-name to
command. The flags are the same as for set-option.
With -R, run hook-name immediately.
show-hooks [-gpw] [-t target-pane] [hook]
Shows hooks. The flags are the same as for show-options.
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
ScrollbarSlider the scrollbar slider
ScrollbarUp above the scrollbar slider
ScrollbarDown below the scrollbar slider
The following mouse events are available:
WheelUp WheelDown
MouseDown1 MouseUp1 MouseDrag1 MouseDragEnd1
MouseDown2 MouseUp2 MouseDrag2 MouseDragEnd2
MouseDown3 MouseUp3 MouseDrag3 MouseDragEnd3
SecondClick1 SecondClick2 SecondClick3
DoubleClick1 DoubleClick2 DoubleClick3
TripleClick1 TripleClick2 TripleClick3
The ‘SecondClick’ events are fired for the second click of a
double click, even if there may be a third click which will fire
‘TripleClick’ instead of ‘DoubleClick’.
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).
The send-keys -M flag may be used to forward a mouse event to a
pane.
The default key bindings allow the mouse to be used to select and
resize panes, to copy text and to change window using the status
line. These take effect if the mouse option is turned on.
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 option's
value, or the name of an environment variable. 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 ‘?’. For each pair
of two arguments, if the variable in the first of the pair exists
and is not zero, the second of the pair is chosen, otherwise it
continues. If no condition from paired arguments matches, the
default value is chosen. If there's an unpaired final argument,
that is the default. If not, the default is the empty string.
For example ‘#{?session_attached,attached,not attached}’ will
include the string ‘attached’ if the session 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.
‘#{?#{n:window_name},#{window_name} - }’ will include the window
name with a dash separator if there is a window name, or the empty
string if the window name is empty.
‘#{?session_format,format1,window_format,format2,format3}’ will
include format1 for a session format, format2 for a window format,
or format3 for neither a session nor a window format.
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 any or all of the comma-separated alternatives are
true, for example ‘#{||:#{pane_in_mode},#{alternate_on}}’. ‘!’
evaluates to true if the value is false and vice versa, for
example ‘#{!:#{pane_in_mode}}’. ‘!!’ converts a value to a
canonical boolean form, 1 for true and 0 for false, for example
‘#{!!:non-empty string}’ evaluates to 1.
An ‘m’ specifies a glob(7) pattern or regular expression
comparison. The first argument is the pattern and the second the
string to compare. An optional argument specifies flags: ‘r’
means the pattern is a regular expression instead of the default
glob(7) pattern, and ‘i’ means to ignore case. For example:
‘#{m:*foo*,#{host}}’ or ‘#{m/ri:^A,MYVAR}’. A ‘C’ performs a
search for a glob(7) 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:^Start}’
Numeric operators may be performed by prefixing two comma-
separated alternatives with an ‘e’ and an operator. An optional
‘f’ flag may be given after the operator to use floating point
numbers, otherwise integers are used. This may be followed by a
number giving the number of decimal places to use for the result.
The available operators are: addition ‘+’, subtraction ‘-’,
multiplication ‘*’, division ‘/’, modulus ‘m’ or ‘%’ (note that
‘%’ must be escaped as ‘%%’ in formats which are also expanded by
strftime(3)) and numeric comparison operators ‘==’, ‘!=’, ‘<’,
‘<=’, ‘>’ and ‘>=’. For example, ‘#{e|*|f|4:5.5,3}’ multiplies
5.5 by 3 for a result with four decimal places and ‘#{e|%%:7,3}’
returns the modulus of 7 and 3. ‘a’ replaces a numeric argument
by its ASCII equivalent, so ‘#{a:98}’ results in ‘b’. ‘c’
replaces a tmux colour by its six-digit hexadecimal RGB value.
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. ‘n’ expands to the length of the variable and ‘w’ to its
width when displayed, for example ‘#{n:window_name}’. ‘R’ repeats
the first argument by a number of times given by the second
argument, so ‘#{R:a,3}’ will result in ‘aaa’.
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’. Adding
‘p (’ ‘`t/p`’) will use shorter but less accurate time format for
times in the past. A custom format may be given using an ‘f’
suffix (note that ‘%’ must be escaped as ‘%%’ if the format is
separately being passed through strftime(3), for example in the
status-left option): ‘#{t/f/%%H#:%%M:window_activity}’, see
strftime(3).
The ‘b:’ and ‘d:’ prefixes are basename(3) and dirname(3) of the
variable respectively. ‘q:’ will escape sh(1) special characters
or with a ‘h’ suffix, escape hash characters (so ‘#’ becomes
‘##’). ‘E:’ will expand the format twice, for example
‘#{E:status-left}’ is the result of expanding the content of the
status-left option rather than the option itself. ‘T:’ is like
‘E:’ but also expands strftime(3) specifiers. ‘S:’, ‘W:’, ‘P:’ or
‘L:’ will loop over each session, window, pane or client and
insert the format once for each. ‘L:’, ‘S:’ and ‘W:’ can take an
optional sort argument ‘/i’, ‘/n’, ‘/t’ to sort by index, name, or
last activity time; additionally ‘/r’ to sort in reverse order.
‘/r’ can also be used with ‘P:’ to reverse the sort order by pane
index. For example, ‘S/nr:’ to sort sessions by name in reverse
order. For each, two comma-separated formats may be given: the
second is used for the current window, active pane, or active
session. For example, to get a list of windows formatted like the
status line:
#{W:#{E:window-status-format} ,#{E:window-status-current-format} }
‘N:’ checks if a window (without any suffix or with the ‘w’
suffix) or a session (with the ‘s’ suffix) name exists, for
example ‘`N/w:foo`’ is replaced with 1 if a window named ‘foo’
exists.
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 ‘s/a(.)/\1x/i:’ would change ‘abABab’ into ‘bxBxbx’. A
different delimiter character may also be used, to avoid
collisions with literal slashes in the pattern. For example,
‘s|foo/|bar/|:’ will substitute ‘foo/’ with ‘bar/’ throughout.
Multiple modifiers may be separated with a semicolon (;) as in
‘#{T;=10:status-left}’, which limits the resulting strftime(3)
-expanded string to at most 10 characters.
In addition, the last line of a shell command's output may be
inserted using ‘#()’. For example, ‘#(uptime)’ will insert the
system's uptime. When constructing formats, tmux does not wait
for ‘#()’ commands to finish; instead, the previous result from
running the same command is used, or a placeholder if the command
has not been run before. If the command hasn't exited, the most
recent line of output will be used, but the status line will not
be updated more than once a second. Commands are executed using
/bin/sh and with the tmux global environment set (see the “GLOBAL
AND SESSION ENVIRONMENT” section).
An ‘l’ specifies that a string should be interpreted literally and
not expanded. For example ‘#{l:#{?pane_in_mode,yes,no}}’ will be
replaced by ‘#{?pane_in_mode,yes,no}’.
The following variables are available, where appropriate:
Variable name Alias Replaced with
active_window_index Index of active window in session
alternate_on 1 if pane is in alternate screen
alternate_saved_x Saved cursor X in alternate screen
alternate_saved_y Saved cursor Y in alternate screen
buffer_created Time buffer created
buffer_name Name of buffer
buffer_sample Sample of start of buffer
buffer_size Size of the specified buffer in
bytes
client_activity Time client last had activity
client_cell_height Height of each client cell in
pixels
client_cell_width Width of each client cell in
pixels
client_control_mode 1 if client is in control mode
client_created Time client created
client_discarded Bytes discarded when client behind
client_flags List of client flags
client_height Height of client
client_key_table Current key table
client_last_session Name of the client's last session
client_name Name of client
client_pid PID of client process
client_prefix 1 if prefix key has been pressed
client_readonly 1 if client is read-only
client_session Name of the client's session
client_termfeatures Terminal features of client, if
any
client_termname Terminal name of client
client_termtype Terminal type of client, if
available
client_tty Pseudo terminal of client
client_uid UID of client process
client_user User of client process
client_utf8 1 if client supports UTF-8
client_width Width of client
client_written Bytes written to client
command Name of command in use, if any
command_list_alias Command alias if listing commands
command_list_name Command name if listing commands
command_list_usage Command usage if listing commands
config_files List of configuration files loaded
cursor_blinking 1 if the cursor is blinking
copy_cursor_hyperlink Hyperlink under cursor in copy
mode
copy_cursor_line Line the cursor is on in copy mode
copy_cursor_word Word under cursor in copy mode
copy_cursor_x Cursor X position in copy mode
copy_cursor_y Cursor Y position in copy mode
current_file Current configuration file
cursor_character Character at cursor in pane
cursor_colour Cursor colour in pane
cursor_flag Pane cursor flag
cursor_shape Cursor shape in pane
cursor_very_visible 1 if the cursor is in very visible
mode
cursor_x Cursor X position in pane
cursor_y Cursor Y position in pane
history_bytes Number of bytes in window history
history_limit Maximum window history lines
history_size Size of history in lines
hook Name of running hook, if any
hook_client Name of client where hook was run,
if any
hook_pane ID of pane where hook was run, if
any
hook_session ID of session where hook was run,
if any
hook_session_name Name of session where hook was
run, if any
hook_window ID of window where hook was run,
if any
hook_window_name Name of window where hook was run,
if any
host #H Hostname of local host
host_short #h Hostname of local host (no domain
name)
insert_flag Pane insert flag
keypad_cursor_flag Pane keypad cursor flag
keypad_flag Pane keypad flag
last_session_index Index of last session
last_window_index Index of last window in session
line Line number in the list
loop_last_flag 1 if last window, pane, session,
client in the W:, P:, S:, or L:
loop
mouse_all_flag Pane mouse all flag
mouse_any_flag Pane mouse any flag
mouse_button_flag Pane mouse button flag
mouse_hyperlink Hyperlink under mouse, if any
mouse_line Line under mouse, if any
mouse_sgr_flag Pane mouse SGR flag
mouse_standard_flag Pane mouse standard flag
mouse_status_line Status line on which mouse event
took place
mouse_status_range Range type or argument of mouse
event on status line
mouse_utf8_flag Pane mouse UTF-8 flag
mouse_word Word under mouse, if any
mouse_x Mouse X position, if any
mouse_y Mouse Y position, if any
next_session_id Unique session ID for next new
session
origin_flag Pane origin flag
pane_active 1 if active pane
pane_at_bottom 1 if pane is at the bottom of
window
pane_at_left 1 if pane is at the left of window
pane_at_right 1 if pane is at the right of
window
pane_at_top 1 if pane is at the top of window
pane_bg Pane background colour
pane_bottom Bottom of pane
pane_current_command Current command if available
pane_current_path Current path if available
pane_dead 1 if pane is dead
pane_dead_signal Exit signal of process in dead
pane
pane_dead_status Exit status of process in dead
pane
pane_dead_time Exit time of process in dead pane
pane_fg Pane foreground colour
pane_format 1 if format is for a pane
pane_height Height of pane
pane_id #D Unique pane ID
pane_in_mode Number of modes pane is in
pane_index #P Index of pane
pane_input_off 1 if input to pane is disabled
pane_key_mode Extended key reporting mode in
this pane
pane_last 1 if last pane
pane_left Left of pane
pane_marked 1 if this is the marked pane
pane_marked_set 1 if a marked pane is set
pane_mode Name of pane mode, if any
pane_path Path of pane (can be set by
application)
pane_pid PID of first process in pane
pane_pipe 1 if pane is being piped
pane_right Right of pane
pane_search_string Last search string in copy mode
pane_start_command Command pane started with
pane_start_path Path pane started with
pane_synchronized 1 if pane is synchronized
pane_tabs Pane tab positions
pane_title #T Title of pane (can be set by
application)
pane_top Top of pane
pane_tty Pseudo terminal of pane
pane_unseen_changes 1 if there were changes in pane
while in mode
pane_width Width of pane
pid Server PID
rectangle_toggle 1 if rectangle selection is
activated
scroll_position Scroll position in copy mode
scroll_region_lower Bottom of scroll region in pane
scroll_region_upper Top of scroll region in pane
search_count Count of search results
search_count_partial 1 if search count is partial count
search_match Search match if any
search_present 1 if search started in copy mode
selection_active 1 if selection started and changes
with the cursor in copy mode
selection_end_x X position of the end of the
selection
selection_end_y Y position of the end of the
selection
selection_present 1 if selection started in copy
mode
selection_start_x X position of the start of the
selection
selection_start_y Y position of the start of the
selection
server_sessions Number of sessions
session_active 1 if session active
session_activity Time of session last activity
session_activity_flag 1 if any window in session has
activity
session_alerts List of window indexes with alerts
session_attached Number of clients session is
attached to
session_attached_list List of clients session is
attached to
session_bell_flag 1 if any window in session has
bell
session_created Time session created
session_format 1 if format is for a session
session_group Name of session group
session_group_attached Number of clients sessions in
group are attached to
session_group_attached_list List of clients sessions in group
are attached to
session_group_list List of sessions in group
session_group_many_attached 1 if multiple clients attached to
sessions in group
session_group_size Size of session group
session_grouped 1 if session in a group
session_id Unique session ID
session_index Index of session
session_last_attached Time session last attached
session_many_attached 1 if multiple clients attached
session_marked 1 if this session contains the
marked pane
session_name #S Name of session
session_path Working directory of session
session_silence_flag 1 if any window in session has
silence alert
session_stack Window indexes in most recent
order
session_windows Number of windows in session
socket_path Server socket path
sixel_support 1 if server has support for SIXEL
start_time Server start time
uid Server UID
user Server user
version Server version
window_active 1 if window active
window_active_clients Number of clients viewing this
window
window_active_clients_list List of clients viewing this
window
window_active_sessions Number of sessions on which this
window is active
window_active_sessions_list List of sessions on which this
window is active
window_activity Time of window last activity
window_activity_flag 1 if window has activity
window_bell_flag 1 if window has bell
window_bigger 1 if window is larger than client
window_cell_height Height of each cell in pixels
window_cell_width Width of each cell in pixels
window_end_flag 1 if window has the highest index
window_flags #F Window flags with # escaped as ##
window_format 1 if format is for a window
window_height Height of window
window_id Unique window ID
window_index #I Index of window
window_last_flag 1 if window is the last used
window_layout Window layout description,
ignoring zoomed window panes
window_linked 1 if window is linked across
sessions
window_linked_sessions Number of sessions this window is
linked to
window_linked_sessions_list List of sessions this window is
linked to
window_marked_flag 1 if window contains the marked
pane
window_name #W Name of window
window_offset_x X offset into window if larger
than client
window_offset_y Y offset into window if larger
than client
window_panes Number of panes in window
window_raw_flags Window flags with nothing escaped
window_silence_flag 1 if window has silence alert
window_stack_index Index in session most recent stack
window_start_flag 1 if window has the lowest index
window_visible_layout Window layout description,
respecting zoomed window panes
window_width Width of window
window_zoomed_flag 1 if window is zoomed
wrap_flag Pane wrap flag
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 brightblack, brightred, ...;
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.
us=colour
Set the underscore colour.
none Set no attributes (turn off any active attributes).
acs, 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. acs is the terminal alternate
character set.
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 focus 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.
noattr Do not copy attributes from the default style.
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=session|X, range=window|X,
range=pane|X, range=user|X, norange
Mark a range for mouse events in the status-format option.
When a mouse event occurs in the range=left or range=right
range, the ‘StatusLeft’ and ‘StatusRight’ key bindings are
triggered.
range=session|X, range=window|X and range=pane|X are
ranges for a session, window or pane. These trigger the
‘Status’ mouse key with the target session, window or pane
given by the ‘X’ argument. ‘X’ is a session ID, window
index in the current session or a pane ID. For these, the
mouse_status_range format variable will be set to
‘session’, ‘window’ or ‘pane’.
range=user|X is a user-defined range; it triggers the
‘Status’ mouse key. The argument ‘X’ will be available in
the mouse_status_range format variable. ‘X’ must be at
most 15 bytes in length.
set-default
Set the current colours and attributes as the default,
overwriting any previous default. The previous default
cannot be restored.
Examples are:
fg=yellow bold underscore blink
bg=black,fg=default,noreverse
tmux distinguishes between names and titles. Windows and sessions
have names, which may be used to specify them in targets and are
displayed in the status line and various lists: the name is the
tmux identifier for a window or session. Only panes have titles.
A pane's title is typically set by the program running inside the
pane using an escape sequence (like it would set the xterm(1)
window title in X(7)). Windows themselves do not have titles - a
window's title is the title of its active pane. tmux itself may
set the title of the terminal in which the client is running, see
the set-titles option.
A session's name is set with the new-session and rename-session
commands. A window's name is set with one of:
1. A command argument (such as -n for new-window or
new-session).
2. An escape sequence (if the allow-rename option is turned
on):
$ printf '\033kWINDOW_NAME\033\\'
3. Automatic renaming, which sets the name to the active
command in the window's active pane. See the
automatic-rename option.
When a pane is first created, its title is the hostname. A pane's
title can be set via the title setting escape sequence, for
example:
$ printf '\033]2;My Title\033\\'
It can also be modified with the select-pane -T command.
When the server is started, tmux copies the environment into the
global environment; in addition, each session has a session
environment. When a window is created, the session and global
environments are merged. If a variable exists in both, the value
from the session environment is used. The result is the initial
environment passed to the new process.
The update-environment session option may be used to update the
session environment from the client when a new session is created
or an old reattached. tmux also initialises the TMUX variable
with some internal information to allow commands to be executed
from inside, and the TERM variable with the correct terminal
setting of ‘screen’.
Variables in both session and global environments may be marked as
hidden. Hidden variables are not passed into the environment of
new processes and instead can only be used by tmux itself (for
example in formats, see the “FORMATS” section).
Commands to alter and view the environment are:
set-environment [-Fhgru] [-t target-session] variable [value]
(alias: setenv)
Set or unset an environment variable. If -g is used, the
change is made in the global environment; otherwise, it is
applied to the session environment for target-session. If
-F is present, then value is expanded as a format. The -u
flag unsets a variable. -r indicates the variable is to
be removed from the environment before starting a new
process. -h marks the variable as hidden.
show-environment [-hgs] [-t target-session] [variable]
(alias: showenv)
Display the environment for target-session or the global
environment with -g. If variable is omitted, all
variables are shown. Variables removed from the
environment are prefixed with ‘-’. If -s is used, the
output is formatted as a set of Bourne shell commands. -h
shows hidden variables (omitted by default).
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 brackets; 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 option.
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:
clear-prompt-history [-T prompt-type]
(alias: clearphist)
Clear status prompt history for prompt type prompt-type.
If -T is omitted, then clear history for all types. See
command-prompt for possible values for prompt-type.
command-prompt [-1bFikN] [-I inputs] [-p prompts] [-t
target-client] [-T prompt-type] [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. With
-F, template is expanded as a format.
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 numeric key presses. -i
executes the command every time the prompt input changes
instead of when the user exits the command prompt.
-T tells tmux the prompt type. This affects what
completions are offered when Tab is pressed. Available
types are: ‘command’, ‘search’, ‘target’ and
‘window-target’.
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 q 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
With -b, the prompt is shown in the background and the
invoking client does not exit until it is dismissed.
confirm-before [-by] [-c confirm-key] [-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.
With -b, the prompt is shown in the background and the
invoking client does not exit until it is dismissed. -y
changes the default behaviour (if Enter alone is pressed)
of the prompt to run the command. -c changes the
confirmation key to confirm-key; the default is ‘y’.
display-menu [-OM] [-b border-lines] [-c target-client] [-C
starting-choice] [-H selected-style] [-s style] [-S
border-style] [-t target-pane] [-T title] [-x position]
[-y position] name key command [name key command ...]
(alias: menu)
Display a menu on target-client. target-pane gives the
target for any commands run from the menu.
A menu is passed as a series of arguments: first the menu
item name, second the key shortcut (or empty for none) and
third the command to run when the menu item is chosen.
The name and command are formats, see the “FORMATS” and
“STYLES” sections. If the name begins with a hyphen (-),
then the item is disabled (shown dim) and may not be
chosen. The name may be empty for a separator line, in
which case both the key and command should be omitted.
-b sets the type of characters used for drawing menu
borders. See popup-border-lines for possible values for
border-lines.
-H sets the style for the selected menu item (see
“STYLES”).
-s sets the style for the menu and -S sets the style for
the menu border (see “STYLES”).
-T is a format for the menu title (see “FORMATS”).
-C sets the menu item selected by default, if the menu is
not bound to a mouse key binding.
-x and -y give the position of the menu. Both may be a
row or column number, or one of the following special
values:
Value Flag Meaning
C Both The centre of the terminal
R -x The right side of the terminal
P Both The bottom left of the pane
M Both The mouse position
W Both The window position on the status
line
S -y The line above or below the status
line
Or a format, which is expanded including the following
additional variables:
Variable name Replaced with
popup_centre_x Centered in the client
popup_centre_y Centered in the client
popup_height Height of menu or
popup
popup_mouse_bottom Bottom of at the mouse
popup_mouse_centre_x Horizontal centre at
the mouse
popup_mouse_centre_y Vertical centre at the
mouse
popup_mouse_top Top at the mouse
popup_mouse_x Mouse X position
popup_mouse_y Mouse Y position
popup_pane_bottom Bottom of the pane
popup_pane_left Left of the pane
popup_pane_right Right of the pane
popup_pane_top Top of the pane
popup_status_line_y Above or below the
status line
popup_width Width of menu or popup
popup_window_status_line_x At the window position
in status line
popup_window_status_line_y At the status line
showing the window
Each menu consists of items followed by a key shortcut
shown in brackets. If the menu is too large to fit on the
terminal, it is not displayed. Pressing the key shortcut
chooses the corresponding item. If the mouse is enabled
and the menu is opened from a mouse key binding, releasing
the mouse button with an item selected chooses that item
and releasing the mouse button without an item selected
closes the menu. -O changes this behaviour so that the
menu does not close when the mouse button is released
without an item selected the menu is not closed and a
mouse button must be clicked to choose an item.
-M tells tmux the menu should handle mouse events; by
default only menus opened from mouse key bindings do so.
The following keys are available in menus:
Key Function
Enter Choose selected item
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
q Exit menu
display-message [-aCIlNpv] [-c target-client] [-d delay] [-t
target-pane] [message]
(alias: display)
Display a message. If -p is given, the output is printed
to stdout, otherwise it is displayed in the target-client
status line for up to delay milliseconds. If delay is not
given, the display-time option is used; a delay of zero
waits for a key press. ‘N’ ignores key presses and closes
only after the delay expires. If -C is given, the pane
will continue to be updated while the message is
displayed. If -l is given, message is printed unchanged.
Otherwise, the format of message is described in the
“FORMATS” section; information is taken from target-pane
if -t is given, otherwise the active pane.
-v prints verbose logging as the format is parsed and -a
lists the format variables and their values.
-I forwards any input read from stdin to the empty pane
given by target-pane.
display-popup [-BCE] [-b border-lines] [-c target-client] [-d
start-directory] [-e environment] [-h height] [-s style]
[-S border-style] [-t target-pane] [-T title] [-w width]
[-x position] [-y position] [shell-command [argument ...]]
(alias: popup)
Display a popup running shell-command (or default-command
when omitted) on target-client. A popup is a rectangular
box drawn over the top of any panes. Panes are not
updated while a popup is present.
-E closes the popup automatically when shell-command
exits. Two -E closes the popup only if shell-command
exited with success.
-x and -y give the position of the popup, they have the
same meaning as for the display-menu command. -w and -h
give the width and height - both may be a percentage
(followed by ‘%’). If omitted, half of the terminal size
is used.
-B does not surround the popup by a border.
-b sets the type of characters used for drawing popup
borders. When -B is specified, the -b option is ignored.
See popup-border-lines for possible values for
border-lines.
-s sets the style for the popup and -S sets the style for
the popup border (see “STYLES”).
-e takes the form ‘VARIABLE=value’ and sets an environment
variable for the popup; it may be specified multiple
times.
-T is a format for the popup title (see “FORMATS”).
The -C flag closes any popup on the client.
show-prompt-history [-T prompt-type]
(alias: showphist)
Display status prompt history for prompt type prompt-type.
If -T is omitted, then show history for all types. See
command-prompt for possible values for prompt-type.
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).
The buffer commands are as follows:
choose-buffer [-NryZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-K key-format] [-O
sort-order] [-t target-pane] [template]
Put a pane into buffer mode, where a buffer may be chosen
interactively from a list. Each buffer is shown on one
line. A shortcut key is shown on the left in brackets
allowing for immediate choice, or the list may be
navigated and an item chosen or otherwise manipulated
using the keys below. -Z zooms the pane. -y disables any
confirmation prompts. The following keys may be used in
buffer mode:
Key Function
Enter Paste selected buffer
Up Select previous buffer
Down Select next buffer
C-s Search by name or content
n Repeat last search forwards
N Repeat last search backwards
t Toggle if buffer is tagged
T Tag no buffers
C-t Tag all buffers
p Paste selected buffer
P Paste tagged buffers
d Delete selected buffer
D Delete tagged buffers
e Open the buffer in an editor
f Enter a format to filter items
O Change sort field
r Reverse sort order
v Toggle preview
q Exit mode
After a buffer is chosen, ‘%%’ is replaced by the buffer
name in template and the result executed as a command. If
template is not given, "paste-buffer -p -b '%%'" is used.
-O specifies the initial sort field: one of ‘time’
(creation), ‘name’ or ‘size’. -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 and -K a format for each shortcut
key; both are evaluated once for each line. -N starts
without the preview. This command works only if at least
one client is attached.
clear-history [-H] [-t target-pane]
(alias: clearhist)
Remove and free the history for the specified pane. -H
also removes all hyperlinks.
delete-buffer [-b buffer-name]
(alias: deleteb)
Delete the buffer named buffer-name, or the most recently
added automatically named buffer if not specified.
list-buffers [-F format] [-f filter]
(alias: lsb)
List the global buffers. -F specifies the format of each
line and -f a filter. Only buffers for which the filter
is true are shown. See the “FORMATS” section.
load-buffer [-w] [-b buffer-name] [-t target-client] path
(alias: loadb)
Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from path.
If -w is given, the buffer is also sent to the clipboard
for target-client using the xterm(1) escape sequence, if
possible. If path is ‘-’, the contents are read from
stdin.
paste-buffer [-dpr] [-b buffer-name] [-s separator] [-t
target-pane]
(alias: pasteb)
Insert the contents of a paste buffer into the specified
pane. If not specified, paste into the current one. With
-d, also delete the paste buffer. When output, any
linefeed (LF) characters in the paste 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 overwriting the file.
If path is ‘-’, the contents are written to stdout.
set-buffer [-aw] [-b buffer-name] [-t target-client] [-n
new-buffer-name] data
(alias: setb)
Set the contents of the specified buffer to data. If -w
is given, the buffer is also sent to the clipboard for
target-client using the xterm(1) escape sequence, if
possible. 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 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 (run with
/bin/sh) returns success or the second command otherwise.
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 [-bCE] [-c start-directory] [-d delay] [-t target-pane]
[shell-command]
(alias: run)
Execute shell-command using /bin/sh or (with -C) a tmux
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
command is run in the background. -d waits for delay
seconds before starting the command. -E redirects the
command's stderr to stdout instead of ignoring it. If -c
is given, the current working directory is set to
start-directory. If -C is not given, any output to stdout
is displayed in view mode (in the pane specified by -t or
the current pane if omitted) after the command finishes.
If the command fails, 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.
When a tmux client detaches, it prints a message. This may be one
of:
detached (from session ...)
The client was detached normally.
detached and SIGHUP
The client was detached and its parent sent the SIGHUP
signal (for example with detach-client -P).
lost tty
The client's tty(4) or pty(4) was unexpectedly destroyed.
terminated
The client was killed with SIGTERM.
too far behind
The client is in control mode and became unable to keep up
with the data from tmux.
exited The server exited when it had no sessions.
server exited
The server exited when it received SIGTERM.
server exited unexpectedly
The server crashed or otherwise exited without telling the
client the reason.
tmux understands some unofficial extensions to terminfo(5). It is
not normally necessary to set these manually, instead the
terminal-features option should be used.
AX An existing extension that tells tmux the terminal
supports default colours.
Bidi Tell tmux that the terminal supports the VTE bidirectional
text extensions.
Cs, Cr Set the cursor colour. The first takes a single string
argument and is used to set the colour; the second 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\\'
The colour is an X(7) colour, see XParseColor(3).
Cmg, Clmg, Dsmg, Enmg
Set, clear, disable or enable DECSLRM margins. These are
set automatically if the terminal reports it is VT420
compatible.
Dsbp, Enbp
Disable and enable bracketed paste. These are set
automatically if the XT capability is present.
Dseks, Eneks
Disable and enable extended keys.
Dsfcs, Enfcs
Disable and enable focus reporting. These are set
automatically if the XT capability is present.
Hls Set or clear a hyperlink annotation.
Nobr Tell tmux that the terminal does not use bright colors for
bold display.
Rect Tell tmux that the terminal supports rectangle operations.
Smol Enable the overline attribute.
Smulx Set a styled underscore. The single parameter is one of:
0 for no underscore, 1 for normal underscore, 2 for double
underscore, 3 for curly underscore, 4 for dotted
underscore and 5 for dashed underscore.
Setulc, Setulc1, ol
Set the underscore colour or reset to the default. Setulc
is for RGB colours and Setulc1 for ANSI or 256 colours.
The Setulc argument is (red * 65536) + (green * 256) +
blue where each is between 0 and 255.
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.
Swd Set the opening sequence for the working directory
notification. The sequence is terminated using the
standard fsl capability.
Sxl Indicates that the terminal supports SIXEL.
Sync Start (parameter is 1) or end (parameter is 2) a
synchronized update.
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).
This is equivalent to the RGB terminfo(5) capability.
Ms Store the current buffer in the host terminal's selection
(clipboard). See the set-clipboard option above and the
xterm(1) man page.
XT This is an existing extension capability that tmux uses to
mean that the terminal supports the xterm(1) title set
sequences and to automatically set some of the
capabilities above.
tmux offers a textual interface called control mode. This allows
applications to communicate with tmux using 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 three arguments: an integer time (as
seconds from epoch), command number and flags (currently not
used). For example:
%begin 1363006971 2 1
0: ksh* (1 panes) [80x24] [layout b25f,80x24,0,0,2] @2 (active)
%end 1363006971 2 1
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-detached client
The client has detached.
%client-session-changed client session-id name
The client is now attached to the session with ID
session-id, which is named name.
%config-error error
An error has happened in a configuration file.
%continue pane-id
The pane has been continued after being paused (if the
pause-after flag is set, see refresh-client -A).
%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.
%extended-output pane-id age ... : value
New form of %output sent when the pause-after flag is set.
age is the time in milliseconds for which tmux had
buffered the output before it was sent. Any subsequent
arguments up until a single ‘:’ are for future use and
should be ignored.
%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.
%message message
A message sent with the display-message command.
%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.
%paste-buffer-changed name
Paste buffer name has been changed.
%paste-buffer-deleted name
Paste buffer name has been deleted.
%pause pane-id
The pane has been paused (if the pause-after flag is set).
%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.
%subscription-changed name session-id window-id window-index
pane-id ... : value
The value of the format associated with subscription name
has changed to value. See refresh-client -B. Any
arguments after pane-id up until a single ‘:’ are for
future use and should be ignored.
%unlinked-window-add window-id
The window with ID window-id was created but is not linked
to the current session.
%unlinked-window-close window-id
The window with ID window-id, which is not linked to the
current session, was closed.
%unlinked-window-renamed window-id
The window with ID window-id, which is not linked to the
current session, was renamed.
%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.
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 terminal, 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
underscores (‘_’). For input, tmux always runs with a
UTF-8 locale. If en_US.UTF-8 is provided 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 contains 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 details.
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.
~/.tmux.conf
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tmux/tmux.conf
~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf Default tmux configuration file.
@SYSCONFDIR@/tmux.conf System-wide configuration file.
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 followed 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 reattached 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'"
pty(4)
Nicholas Marriott <nicholas.marriott@gmail.com>
This page is part of the tmux (terminal multiplexer) project.
Information about the project can be found at
https://tmux.github.io/. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, send it to tmux-users@googlegroups.com. This page was
obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/tmux/tmux.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At that time,
the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2025-08-04.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
GNU $Mdocdate$ TMUX(1)
Pages that refer to this page: logind.conf(5), user_caps(5), pty(7)
|
HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
|