Back to Contents
TMUX(1) BSD General Commands Manual TMUX(1)
NAME
tmux — terminal multiplexer
SYNOPSIS
tmux [-2CluvV] [-c shell-command] [-f file] [-L socket-name]
[-S socket-path] [command [flags]]
DESCRIPTION
tmux is a terminal multiplexer: it enables a number of terminals to
be created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen. tmux may
be detached from a screen and continue running in the background,
then later reattached.
When tmux is started it creates a new session with a single window
and displays it on screen. A status line at the bottom of the
screen shows information on the current session and is used to enter
interactive commands.
A session is a single collection of pseudo terminals under the man‐
agement of tmux. Each session has one or more windows linked to it.
A window occupies the entire screen and may be split into rectangu‐
lar 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 ses‐
sions are managed by a single server. The server and each client
are separate processes which communicate through a socket in /tmp.
The options are as follows:
-2 Force tmux to assume the terminal supports 256
colours.
-C Start in control mode (see the CONTROL MODE section).
Given twice (-CC) disables echo.
-c shell-command
Execute shell-command using the default shell. If
necessary, the tmux server will be started to retrieve
the default-shell option. This option is for compati‐
bility with sh(1) when tmux is used as a login shell.
-f file Specify an alternative configuration file. By
default, tmux loads the system configuration file from
/etc/tmux.conf, if present, then looks for a user con‐
figuration file at ~/.tmux.conf.
The configuration file is a set of tmux commands which
are executed in sequence when the server is first
started. tmux loads configuration files once when the
server process has started. The source-file command
may be used to load a file later.
tmux shows any error messages from commands in config‐
uration files in the first session created, and con‐
tinues to process the rest of the configuration file.
-L socket-name
tmux stores the server socket in a directory under
TMUX_TMPDIR or /tmp if it is unset. The default
socket is named default. This option allows a differ‐
ent socket name to be specified, allowing several
independent tmux servers to be run. Unlike -S a full
path is not necessary: the sockets are all created in
the same directory.
If the socket is accidentally removed, the SIGUSR1
signal may be sent to the tmux server process to
recreate it (note that this will fail if any parent
directories are missing).
-l Behave as a login shell. This flag currently has no
effect and is for compatibility with other shells when
using tmux as a login shell.
-S socket-path
Specify a full alternative path to the server socket.
If -S is specified, the default socket directory is
not used and any -L flag is ignored.
-u Write UTF-8 output to the terminal even if the first
environment variable of LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG that
is set does not contain "UTF-8" or "UTF8".
-v Request verbose logging. Log messages will be saved
into tmux-client-PID.log and tmux-server-PID.log files
in the current directory, where PID is the PID of the
server or client process. If -v is specified twice,
an additional tmux-out-PID.log file is generated with
a copy of everything tmux writes to the terminal.
The SIGUSR2 signal may be sent to the tmux server
process to toggle logging between on (as if -v was
given) and off.
-V Report the tmux version.
command [flags]
This specifies one of a set of commands used to con‐
trol tmux, as described in the following sections. If
no commands are specified, the new-session command is
assumed.
DEFAULT KEY BINDINGS
tmux may be controlled from an attached client by using a key combi‐
nation 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 applica‐
tion.
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 ses‐
sion.
) 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 ses‐
sion.
[ 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.
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.
m Mark the current pane (see select-pane -m).
M Clear the marked pane.
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-5 Arrange panes in one of the five preset layouts:
even-horizontal, even-vertical, main-horizontal,
main-vertical, or tiled.
Space Arrange the current window in the next preset lay‐
out.
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 activ‐
ity 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 com‐
mands.
COMMAND PARSING AND EXECUTION
tmux supports a large number of commands which can be used to con‐
trol 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 con‐
figuration 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 com‐
mand. Commands like if-shell, run-shell and display-panes stop exe‐
cution of subsequent commands on the queue until something happens -
if-shell and run-shell until a shell command finishes and
display-panes until a key is pressed. For example, the following
commands:
new-session; new-window
if-shell "true" "split-window"
kill-session
Will execute new-session, new-window, if-shell, the shell command
true(1), split-window and kill-session in that order.
The COMMANDS section lists the tmux commands and their arguments.
PARSING SYNTAX
This section describes the syntax of commands parsed by tmux, for
example in a configuration file or at the command prompt. Note that
when commands are entered into the shell, they are parsed by the
shell - see for example ksh(1) or csh(1).
Each command is terminated by a newline or a semicolon (;). Com‐
mands separated by semicolons together form a ‘command sequence’ -
if a command in the sequence encounters an error, no subsequent com‐
mands are executed.
Comments are marked by the unquoted # character - any remaining text
after a comment is ignored until the end of the line.
If the last character of a line is \, the line is joined with the
following line (the \ and the newline are 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 continua‐
tion. 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 them‐
selves (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 environ‐
ment variable.
Braces are similar to single quotes in that the text inside is taken
literally without any replacements but this also includes line con‐
tinuation. Braces can span multiple lines in which case a literal
newline is included in the string. They are designed to avoid the
need for additional escaping when passing a group of tmux or shell
commands as an argument (for example to if-shell or pipe-pane).
These two examples produce an identical command - note that no
escaping is needed when using {}:
if-shell true {
display -p 'brace-dollar-foo: }$foo'
}
if-shell true "\n display -p 'brace-dollar-foo: }\$foo'\n"
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.
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. Con‐
ditionals may be given on one line, for example:
%if #{==:#{host},myhost} set -g status-style bg=red %endif
COMMANDS
This section describes the commands supported by tmux. Most com‐
mands 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. An fnmatch(3) pattern which is matched against the ses‐
sion 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; mul‐
tiple matches produce an error. If a session is omitted, the cur‐
rent session is used if available; if no current session is avail‐
able, the most recently used is chosen.
target-window (or src-window or dst-window) specifies a window in
the form session:window. session follows the same rules as for
target-session, and window is looked for in order as:
1. A special token, listed below.
2. A window index, for example ‘mysession:1’ is window 1 in
session ‘mysession’.
3. A window ID, such as @1.
4. An exact window name, such as ‘mysession:mywindow’.
5. The start of a window name, such as ‘mysession:mywin’.
6. As an fnmatch(3) pattern matched against the window name.
Like sessions, a ‘=’ prefix will do an exact match only. An empty
window name specifies the next unused index if appropriate (for
example the new-window and link-window commands) otherwise the cur‐
rent 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 con‐
sist entirely of the token ‘{mouse}’ (alternative form ‘=’) to spec‐
ify 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; ses‐
sion IDs are prefixed with a ‘$’, windows with a ‘@’, and panes with
a ‘%’. These are unique and are unchanged for the life of the ses‐
sion, 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 /etc/passwd'
Will run:
/bin/sh -c 'vi /etc/passwd'
Additionally, the new-window, new-session, split-window,
respawn-window and respawn-pane commands allow shell-command to be
given as multiple arguments and executed directly (without ‘sh -c’).
This can avoid issues with shell quoting. For example:
$ tmux new-window vi /etc/passwd
Will run vi(1) directly without invoking the shell.
command [arguments] refers to a tmux command, either passed with the
command and arguments 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 /etc/passwd' \; split-window -d \; attach
CLIENTS AND SESSIONS
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] [-t target-session]
(alias: attach)
If run from outside tmux, create a new client in the current
terminal and attach it to target-session. If used from
inside, switch the current client. 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.
-r signifies the client is read-only (only keys bound to the
detach-client or switch-client commands have any effect)
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 win‐
dows) 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] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsc)
List all clients attached to the server. For the meaning of
the -F flag, see the FORMATS section. If target-session is
specified, list only clients connected to that session.
list-commands [-F format]
(alias: lscm)
List the syntax of all commands supported by tmux.
list-sessions [-F format]
(alias: ls)
List all sessions managed by the server. For the meaning of
the -F flag, see the FORMATS 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] [-F format] [-n
window-name] [-s session-name] [-t group-name] [-x width]
[-y height] [shell-command]
(alias: new)
Create a new session with name session-name.
The new session is attached to the current terminal unless
-d is given. window-name and shell-command are the name of
and shell command to execute in the initial window. With
-d, the initial size comes from the global default-size
option; -x and -y can be used to specify a different size.
‘-’ uses the size of the current client if any. If -x or -y
is given, the default-size option is set for the session.
If run from a terminal, any termios(4) special characters
are saved and used for new windows in the new session.
The -A flag makes new-session behave like attach-session if
session-name already exists; in this case, -D behaves like
-d to attach-session, and -X behaves like -x to
attach-session.
If -t is given, it specifies a session group. Sessions in
the same group share the same set of windows - new windows
are linked to all sessions in the group and any windows
closed removed from all sessions. The current and previous
window and any session options remain independent and any
session in a group may be killed without affecting the oth‐
ers. The group-name argument may be:
1. the name of an existing group, in which case the new
session is added to that group;
2. the name of an existing session - the new session is
added to the same group as that session, creating a
new group if necessary;
3. the name for a new group containing only the new
session.
-n and shell-command are invalid if -t is used.
The -P option prints information about the new session after
it has been created. By default, it uses the format
‘#{session_name}:’ but a different format may be specified
with -F.
If -E is used, the update-environment option will not be
applied.
refresh-client [-cDlLRSU] [-C XxY] [-F flags] [-t target-client]
[adjustment]
(alias: refresh)
Refresh the current client if bound to a key, or a single
client if one is given with -t. If -S is 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 omit‐
ted, 1 is used. Note that the visible position is a prop‐
erty of the client not of the window, changing the current
window in the attached session will reset it.
-C sets the width and height of a control client and -F sets
a comma-separated list of flags. Currently the only flag
available is ‘no-output’ to disable receiving pane output.
-l requests the clipboard from the client using the xterm(1)
escape sequence and stores it in a new paste buffer.
-L, -R, -U and -D move the visible portion of the window
left, right, up or down by adjustment, if the window is
larger than the client. -c resets so that the position fol‐
lows the cursor. See the window-size option.
rename-session [-t target-session] new-name
(alias: rename)
Rename the session to new-name.
show-messages [-JT] [-t target-client]
(alias: showmsgs)
Show client messages or server information. Any messages
displayed on the status line are saved in a per-client mes‐
sage log, up to a maximum of the limit set by the
message-limit server option. With -t, display the log for
target-client. -J and -T show debugging information about
jobs and terminals.
source-file [-nqv] path ...
(alias: source)
Execute commands from one or more files specified by path
(which may be glob(7) patterns). If -q is given, no error
will be returned if path does not exist. With -n, the file
is parsed but no commands are executed. -v shows the parsed
commands and line numbers if possible.
start-server
(alias: start)
Start the tmux server, if not already running, without cre‐
ating any sessions.
suspend-client [-t target-client]
(alias: suspendc)
Suspend a client by sending SIGTSTP (tty stop).
switch-client [-Elnpr] [-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 ‘%’), in which case the
session, window and pane are all changed. If -l, -n or -p
is used, the client is moved to the last, next or previous
session respectively. -r toggles whether a client is read-
only (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
WINDOWS AND PANES
A tmux window may be in one of two modes. The default permits
direct access to the terminal attached to the window. The other is
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. It is also entered when a command that produces output,
such as list-keys, is executed from a key binding.
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:
Command vi emacs
append-selection
append-selection-and-cancel A
back-to-indentation ^ M-m
begin-selection Space C-Space
bottom-line L
cancel q Escape
clear-selection Escape C-g
copy-end-of-line
[<prefix>] D C-k
copy-line [<prefix>]
copy-pipe <command> [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-no-clear <command> [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-and-cancel <command> [<prefix>]
copy-selection [<prefix>]
copy-selection-no-clear [<prefix>]
copy-selection-and-cancel
[<prefix>] Enter M-w
cursor-down j Down
cursor-left h Left
cursor-right l Right
cursor-up k Up
end-of-line $ C-e
goto-line <line> : g
halfpage-down C-d M-Down
halfpage-down-and-cancel
halfpage-up C-u M-Up
history-bottom G M->
history-top g M-<
jump-again ; ;
jump-backward <to> F F
jump-forward <to> f f
jump-reverse , ,
jump-to-backward <to> T
jump-to-forward <to> t
middle-line M M-r
next-matching-bracket % M-C-f
next-paragraph } M-}
next-space W
next-space-end E
next-word w
next-word-end e M-f
other-end o
page-down C-f PageDown
page-down-and-cancel
page-up C-b PageUp
previous-matching-bracket M-C-b
previous-paragraph { M-{
previous-space B
previous-word b M-b
rectangle-toggle v R
scroll-down C-e C-Down
scroll-down-and-cancel
scroll-up C-y C-Up
search-again n n
search-backward <for> ?
search-forward <for> /
search-backward-incremental
<for> C-r
search-forward-incremental
<for> C-s
search-reverse N N
select-line V
select-word
start-of-line 0 C-a
stop-selection
top-line H M-R
Copy commands may take an optional buffer prefix argument which is
used to generate the buffer name (the default is ‘buffer’ so buffers
are named ‘buffer0’, ‘buffer1’ and so on). Pipe commands take a
command argument which is the command to which the copied text is
piped. The ‘-and-cancel’ variants of some commands exit copy mode
after they have completed (for copy commands) or when the cursor
reaches the bottom (for scrolling commands). ‘-no-clear’ variants
do not clear the selection.
The next and previous word keys use space and the ‘-’, ‘_’ and ‘@’
characters as word delimiters by default, but this can be adjusted
by setting the word-separators session option. Next word moves to
the start of the next word, next word end to the end of the next
word and previous word to the start of the previous word. The three
next and previous space keys work similarly but use a space alone as
the word separator.
The jump commands enable quick movement within a line. For
instance, typing ‘f’ followed by ‘/’ will move the cursor to the
next ‘/’ character on the current line. A ‘;’ will then jump to the
next occurrence.
Commands in copy mode may be prefaced by an optional repeat count.
With vi key bindings, a prefix is 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 [-Meu] [-t target-pane]
Enter copy mode. The -u option scrolls one page up. -M
begins a mouse drag (only valid if bound to a mouse key
binding, see MOUSE SUPPORT). -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
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 with‐
out changing their position. Panes are numbered beginning from zero
in the order they are created.
A number of preset layouts are available. 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 win‐
dow option to specify the height of the top pane.
main-vertical
Similar to main-horizontal but the large pane is placed on
the left and the others spread from top to bottom along the
right. See the main-pane-width window option.
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 [-dP] [-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. 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}’ but a different format may
be specified with -F.
capture-pane [-aepPqCJ] [-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. If -e is given, the output includes escape
sequences for text and background attributes. -C also
escapes non-printable characters as octal \xxx. -J joins
wrapped lines and preserves trailing spaces at each line's
end. -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 [-NZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-O sort-order] [-t
target-pane] [template]
Put a pane into client mode, allowing a client to be
selected interactively from a list. -Z zooms the pane. 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
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 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 order: one of ‘name’, ‘size’,
‘creation’, or ‘activity’. -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 fil‐
ter would lead to an empty list, it is ignored. -F speci‐
fies the format for each item in the list. -N starts with‐
out the preview. This command works only if at least one
client is attached.
choose-tree [-GNswZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-O sort-order] [-t
target-pane] [template]
Put a pane into tree mode, where a session, window or pane
may be chosen interactively from a list. -s starts with
sessions collapsed and -w with windows collapsed. -Z zooms
the pane. The following keys may be used in tree mode:
Key Function
Enter Choose selected item
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
x Kill selected item
X Kill tagged items
< Scroll list of previews left
> Scroll list of previews right
C-s Search by name
n Repeat last search
t Toggle if item is tagged
T Tag no items
C-t Tag all items
: Run a command for each tagged item
f Enter a format to filter items
O Change sort order
v Toggle preview
q Exit mode
After a session, window or pane is chosen, ‘%%’ is replaced
by the target in template and the result executed as a com‐
mand. If template is not given, "switch-client -t '%%'" is
used.
-O specifies the initial sort order: one of ‘index’, ‘name’,
or ‘time’. -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 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.
display-panes [-b] [-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 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 [-rCNTZ] [-t target-pane] match-string
(alias: findw)
Search for a fnmatch(3) pattern or, with -r, regular expres‐
sion match-string in window names, titles, and visible con‐
tent (but not history). The flags control matching behav‐
ior: -C matches only visible window contents, -N matches
only the window name and -T matches only the window title.
The default is -CNT. -Z zooms the pane.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
join-pane [-bdhv] [-l size | -p percentage] [-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 contain‐
ing 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 [-de] [-t target-window]
(alias: lastp)
Select the last (previously selected) pane. -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 [-adk] [-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, the window is moved to
the next index up (following windows are moved if neces‐
sary). 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] [-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 win‐
dow (or the current window). For the meaning of the -F
flag, see the FORMATS section.
list-windows [-a] [-F format] [-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.
For the meaning of the -F flag, see the FORMATS section.
move-pane [-bdhv] [-l size | -p percentage] [-s src-pane] [-t
dst-pane]
(alias: movep)
Like join-pane, but src-pane and dst-pane may belong to the
same window.
move-window [-ardk] [-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 [-adkP] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-F format]
[-n window-name] [-t target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: neww)
Create a new window. With -a, the new window is inserted at
the next index up from 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.
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 envi‐
ronment, 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 cur‐
rent pipe (if any) is closed.
-I and -O specify which of the shell-command output streams
are connected to the pane: with -I stdout is connected (so
anything shell-command prints is written to the pane as if
it were typed); with -O stdin is connected (so any output in
the pane is piped to shell-command). Both may be used
together and if neither are specified, -O is used.
The -o option only opens a new pipe if no previous pipe
exists, allowing a pipe to be toggled with a single key, for
example:
bind-key C-p pipe-pane -o 'cat >>~/output.#I-#P'
previous-layout [-t target-window]
(alias: prevl)
Move to the previous layout in the session.
previous-window [-a] [-t target-session]
(alias: prev)
Move to the previous window in the session. With -a, move
to the previous window with an alert.
rename-window [-t target-window] new-name
(alias: renamew)
Rename the current window, or the window at target-window if
specified, to new-name.
resize-pane [-DLMRUZ] [-t target-pane] [-x width] [-y height]
[adjustment]
(alias: resizep)
Resize a pane, up, down, left or right by adjustment with
-U, -D, -L or -R, or to an absolute size with -x or -y. The
adjustment is given in lines or cells (the default is 1).
With -Z, the active pane is toggled between zoomed (occupy‐
ing the whole of the window) and unzoomed (its normal posi‐
tion in the layout).
-M begins mouse resizing (only valid if bound to a mouse key
binding, see MOUSE SUPPORT).
resize-window [-aADLRU] [-t target-window] [-x width] [-y height]
[adjustment]
(alias: resizew)
Resize a window, up, down, left or right by adjustment with
-U, -D, -L or -R, or to an 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 win‐
dow; -a the size of the smallest. This command will auto‐
matically set window-size to manual in the window options.
respawn-pane [-k] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-t
target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnp)
Reactivate a pane in which the command has exited (see the
remain-on-exit window option). If shell-command is not
given, the command used when the pane was created is exe‐
cuted. The pane must be already inactive, unless -k is
given, in which case any existing command is killed. -c
specifies a new working directory for the pane. The -e
option has the same meaning as for the new-window command.
respawn-window [-k] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-t
target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnw)
Reactivate a window in which the command has exited (see the
remain-on-exit window option). If shell-command is not
given, the command used when the window was created is exe‐
cuted. The window must be already inactive, unless -k is
given, in which case any existing 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 [-DU] [-t target-window]
(alias: rotatew)
Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either
upward (numerically lower) with -U or downward (numerically
higher).
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 reap‐
plied. -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 [-DdeLlMmRU] [-T title] [-t target-pane]
(alias: selectp)
Make pane target-pane the active pane in window
target-window. If one of -D, -L, -R, or -U is used, respec‐
tively the pane below, to the left, to the right, or above
the target pane is used. -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, swap-pane and swap-window.
select-window [-lnpT] [-t target-window]
(alias: selectw)
Select the window at target-window. -l, -n and -p are
equivalent to the last-window, next-window and
previous-window commands. If -T is given and the selected
window is already the current window, the command behaves
like last-window.
split-window [-bdfhIvP] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-l
size | -p percentage] [-t target-pane] [shell-command] [-F
format]
(alias: splitw)
Create a new pane by splitting target-pane: -h does a hori‐
zontal split and -v a vertical split; if neither is speci‐
fied, -v is assumed. The -l and -p options specify the size
of the new pane in lines (for vertical split) or in cells
(for horizontal split), or as a percentage, respectively.
The -b option causes the new pane to be created to the left
of or above target-pane. The -f option creates a new pane
spanning the full window height (with -h) or full window
width (with -v), instead of splitting the active pane.
An empty shell-command ('') will create a pane with no com‐
mand 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 [-dDU] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: swapp)
Swap two panes. If -U is used and no source pane is speci‐
fied 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.
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 desti‐
nation windows are swapped. It is an error if no window
exists at src-window.
Like swap-pane, if -s is omitted and a marked pane is
present (see select-pane -m), the window containing the
marked pane is used rather than the current window.
unlink-window [-k] [-t target-window]
(alias: unlinkw)
Unlink target-window. Unless -k is given, a window may be
unlinked only if it is linked to multiple sessions - windows
may not be linked to no sessions; if -k is specified and the
window is linked to only one session, it is unlinked and
destroyed.
KEY BINDINGS
tmux allows a command to be bound to most keys, with or without a
prefix key. When specifying keys, most represent themselves (for
example ‘A’ to ‘Z’). Ctrl keys may be prefixed with ‘C-’ or ‘^’,
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
Commands related to key bindings are as follows:
bind-key [-nr] [-T key-table] key command [arguments]
(alias: bind)
Bind key key to command. Keys are bound in a key table. By
default (without -T), the key is bound in the prefix key ta‐
ble. 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 recom‐
mended) means a plain ‘c’ will create a new window. -n is
an alias for -T root. Keys may also be bound in custom key
tables and the switch-client -T command used to switch to
them from a key binding. The -r flag indicates this key may
repeat, see the repeat-time option.
To view the default bindings and possible commands, see the
list-keys command.
list-keys [-T key-table]
(alias: lsk)
List all key bindings. Without -T all key tables are
printed. With -T only key-table.
send-keys [-HlMRX] [-N repeat-count] [-t target-pane] key ...
(alias: send)
Send a key or keys to a window. Each argument key is the
name of the key (such as ‘C-a’ or ‘NPage’) to send; if the
string is not recognised as a key, it is sent as a series of
characters. All arguments are sent sequentially from first
to last.
The -l flag disables key name lookup and processes the keys
as literal UTF-8 characters. The -H flag expects each key
to be a hexadecimal number for an ASCII character.
The -R flag causes the terminal state to be reset.
-M passes through a mouse event (only valid if bound to a
mouse key binding, see MOUSE SUPPORT).
-X is used to send a command into copy mode - see the
WINDOWS AND PANES section. -N specifies a repeat count.
send-prefix [-2] [-t target-pane]
Send the prefix key, or with -2 the secondary prefix key, to
a window as if it was pressed.
unbind-key [-an] [-T key-table] key
(alias: unbind)
Unbind the command bound to key. -n and -T are the same as
for bind-key. If -a is present, all key bindings are
removed.
OPTIONS
The appearance and behaviour of tmux may be modified by changing the
value of various options. There are four types of option: server
options, session options window options and pane options.
The tmux server has a set of global 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 setw -q @foo "abc123"
$ tmux showw -v @foo
abc123
Commands which set options are as follows:
set-option [-aFgopqsuw] [-t target-pane] option value
(alias: set)
Set a pane option with -p, a window option with -w, a server
option with -s, otherwise a session option. If the option
is not a user option, -w or -s may be unnecessary - tmux
will infer the type from the option name, assuming -w for
pane options. If -g is given, the global session or window
option is set.
-F expands formats in the option value. The -u flag unsets
an option, so a session inherits the option from the global
options (or with -g, restores a global option to the
default).
The -o flag prevents setting an option that is already set
and the -q flag suppresses errors about unknown or ambiguous
options.
With -a, and if the option expects a string or a style,
value is appended to the existing setting. For example:
set -g status-left "foo"
set -ag status-left "bar"
Will result in ‘foobar’. And:
set -g status-style "bg=red"
set -ag status-style "fg=blue"
Will result in a red background and blue foreground. With‐
out -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 pro‐
vided) 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 type from the option name, assuming -w
for pane options. Global session or window options are
listed if -g is used. -v shows only the 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. value depends on
the option and may be a number, a string, or a flag (on,
off, or omitted to toggle).
Available server options are:
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.
default-terminal terminal
Set the default terminal for new windows created in this
session - the default value of the TERM environment vari‐
able. 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. The default is 500 milliseconds.
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.
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.
message-limit number
Set the number of error or information messages to save in
the message log for each client. The default is 100.
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 sec‐
tion).
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-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 fnmatch(3)) 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
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 cur‐
rent 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 mil‐
lisecond 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 [on | off]
If enabled and the session is no longer attached to any
clients, it is destroyed.
detach-on-destroy [on | off]
If on (the default), the client is detached when the session
it is attached to is destroyed. If off, the client is
switched to the most recently active of the remaining ses‐
sions.
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, mes‐
sages 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.
key-table key-table
Set the default key table to key-table instead of root.
lock-after-time number
Lock the session (like the lock-session command) after
number seconds of inactivity. The default is not to lock
(set to 0).
lock-command shell-command
Command to run when locking each client. The default is to
run lock(1) with -np.
message-command-style style
Set status line message command style. For how to specify
style, see the STYLES section.
message-style style
Set status line message style. For how to specify style,
see the STYLES section.
mouse [on | off]
If on, tmux captures the mouse and allows mouse events to be
bound as key bindings. See the MOUSE SUPPORT section for
details.
prefix key
Set the key accepted as a prefix key. In addition to the
standard keys described under KEY BINDINGS, prefix can be
set to the special key ‘None’ to set no prefix.
prefix2 key
Set a secondary key accepted as a prefix key. Like prefix,
prefix2 can be set to ‘None’.
renumber-windows [on | off]
If on, when a window is closed in a session, automatically
renumber the other windows in numerical order. This
respects the base-index option if it has been set. If off,
do not renumber the 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.
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 vari‐
ous 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 dis‐
ables redrawing at interval.
status-justify [left | centre | right]
Set the position of the window list component of the status
line: left, centre or right justified.
status-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in the status line, for
example at the command prompt. The default is emacs, unless
the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables are set and con‐
tain 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 ses‐
sion environment when a new session is created or an exist‐
ing session is attached. Any variables that do not exist in
the source environment are set to be removed from the ses‐
sion 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 mes‐
sage 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 consid‐
ered word separators, for the purposes of the next and pre‐
vious word commands in copy mode. The default is ‘ -_@’.
Available window options are:
aggressive-resize [on | off]
Aggressively resize the chosen window. This means that tmux
will resize the window to the size of the smallest or
largest session (see the window-size option) for which it is
the current window, rather than the session to which it is
attached. The window may resize when the current window is
changed on another session; this option is good for full-
screen programs which support SIGWINCH and poor for interac‐
tive 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.
main-pane-height height
main-pane-width width
Set the width or height of the main (left or top) pane in
the main-horizontal or main-vertical layouts.
mode-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in copy mode. The
default is emacs, unless VISUAL or EDITOR contains ‘vi’.
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 layout. 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 spec‐
ified height, but will never shrink to do so.
other-pane-width width
Like other-pane-height, but set the width of other panes in
the main-vertical layout.
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 num‐
bers.
pane-border-format format
Set the text shown in pane border status lines.
pane-border-status [off | top | bottom]
Turn pane border status lines off or set their position.
pane-border-style style
Set the pane border style for panes aside from the active
pane. For how to specify style, see the STYLES section.
Attributes are ignored.
synchronize-panes [on | off]
Duplicate input to any pane to all other panes in the same
window (only for panes that are not in any special mode).
window-status-activity-style style
Set status line style for windows with an activity alert.
For how to specify style, see the STYLES section.
window-status-bell-style style
Set status line style for windows with a bell alert. For
how to specify style, see the STYLES 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 sta‐
tus 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 spec‐
ify style, see the STYLES section.
window-size largest | smallest | manual
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 win‐
dows are resized automatically. See also the resize-window
command and the aggressive-resize option.
wrap-search [on | off]
If this option is set, searches will wrap around the end of
the pane contents. The default is on.
xterm-keys [on | off]
If this option is set, tmux will generate xterm(1) -style
function key sequences; these have a number included to
indicate modifiers such as Shift, Alt or Ctrl.
Available pane options are:
allow-rename [on | off]
Allow programs in the pane to change the window name using a
terminal escape sequence (\ek...\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 win‐
dow when an interactive application starts and restores it
on exit, so that any output visible before the application
starts reappears unchanged after it exits.
remain-on-exit [on | off]
A pane with this flag set is not destroyed when the program
running in it exits. The pane may be reactivated with the
respawn-pane command.
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.
HOOKS
tmux allows commands to run on various triggers, called hooks. Most
tmux commands have an after hook and there are a number of hooks not
associated with commands.
Hooks are stored as array options, members of the array are executed
in order when the hook is triggered. Hooks may be configured with
the set-hook or set-option commands and displayed with show-hooks or
show-options -H. The following two commands are equivalent:
set-hook -g pane-mode-changed[42] 'set -g status-left-style bg=red'
set-option -g pane-mode-changed[42] 'set -g status-left-style bg=red'
Setting a hook without specifying an array index clears the hook and
sets the first member of the array.
A command's after hook is run after it completes, except when the
command is run as part of a hook itself. They are named with an
‘after-’ prefix. For example, the following command adds a hook to
select the even-vertical layout after every split-window:
set-hook -g after-split-window "selectl even-vertical"
All the notifications listed in the CONTROL MODE section are hooks
(without any arguments), except %exit. The following additional
hooks are available:
alert-activity Run when a window has activity. See
monitor-activity.
alert-bell Run when a window has received a bell. See
monitor-bell.
alert-silence Run when a window has been silent. See
monitor-silence.
client-attached Run when a client is attached.
client-detached Run when a client is detached
client-resized Run when a client is resized.
client-session-changed Run when a client's attached session is
changed.
pane-died Run when the program running in a pane
exits, but remain-on-exit is on so the pane
has not closed.
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-linked Run when a window is linked into a session.
window-renamed Run when a window is renamed.
window-unlinked Run when a window is unlinked from a ses‐
sion.
Hooks are managed with these commands:
set-hook [-agRu] [-t target-session] hook-name command
Without -R, sets (or with -u unsets) hook hook-name to
command. If -g is given, hook-name is added to the global
list of hooks, otherwise it is added to the session hooks
(for target-session with -t). -a appends to a hook. Like
options, session hooks inherit from the global ones.
With -R, run hook-name immediately.
show-hooks [-g] [-t target-session]
Shows the global list of hooks with -g, otherwise the ses‐
sion hooks.
MOUSE SUPPORT
If the mouse option is on (the default is off), tmux allows mouse
events to be bound as keys. The name of each key is made up of a
mouse event (such as ‘MouseUp1’) and a location suffix, one of the
following:
Pane the contents of a pane
Border a pane border
Status the status line window list
StatusLeft the left part of the status line
StatusRight the right part of the status line
StatusDefault any other part of the status line
The following mouse events are available:
WheelUp WheelDown
MouseDown1 MouseUp1 MouseDrag1 MouseDragEnd1
MouseDown2 MouseUp2 MouseDrag2 MouseDragEnd2
MouseDown3 MouseUp3 MouseDrag3 MouseDragEnd3
DoubleClick1 DoubleClick2 DoubleClick3
TripleClick1 TripleClick2 TripleClick3
Each should be suffixed with a location, for example
‘MouseDown1Status’.
The special token ‘{mouse}’ or ‘=’ may be used as target-window or
target-pane in commands bound to mouse key bindings. It resolves to
the window or pane over which the mouse event took place (for exam‐
ple, 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.
FORMATS
Certain commands accept the -F flag with a format argument. This is
a string which controls the output format of the command. Format
variables are enclosed in ‘#{’ and ‘}’, for example
‘#{session_name}’. The possible variables are listed in the table
below, or the name of a tmux option may be used for an option's
value. Some variables have a shorter alias such as ‘#S’; ‘##’ is
replaced by a single ‘#’, ‘#,’ by a ‘,’ and ‘#}’ by a ‘}’.
Conditionals are available by prefixing with ‘?’ and separating two
alternatives with a comma; if the specified variable exists and is
not zero, the first alternative is chosen, otherwise the second is
used. For example ‘#{?session_attached,attached,not attached}’ will
include the string ‘attached’ if the 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. Conditionals can be nested arbitrarily.
Inside a conditional, ‘,’ and ‘}’ must be escaped as ‘#,’ and ‘#}’,
unless they are part of a ‘#{...}’ replacement. For example:
#{?pane_in_mode,#[fg=white#,bg=red],#[fg=red#,bg=white]}#W .
String comparisons may be expressed by prefixing two comma-separated
alternatives by ‘==’, ‘!=’, ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘<=’ or ‘>=’ and a colon. For
example ‘#{==:#{host},myhost}’ will be replaced by ‘1’ if running on
‘myhost’, otherwise by ‘0’. ‘||’ and ‘&&’ evaluate to true if
either or both of two comma-separated alternatives are true, for
example ‘#{||:#{pane_in_mode},#{alternate_on}}’.
An ‘m’ specifies an fnmatch(3) or regular expression comparison.
The first argument is the pattern and the second the string to com‐
pare. An optional third argument specifies flags: ‘r’ means the
pattern is a regular expression instead of the default fnmatch(3)
pattern, and ‘i’ means to ignore case. For example:
‘#{m:*foo*,#{host}}’ or ‘#{m/ri:^A,MYVAR}’. A ‘C’ performs a search
for an fnmatch(3) pattern or regular expression in the pane content
and evaluates to zero if not found, or a line number if found. Like
‘m’, an ‘r’ flag means search for a regular expression and ‘i’
ignores case. For example: ‘#{C/r:^Start}’
A limit may be placed on the length of the resultant string by pre‐
fixing 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.
Prefixing a time variable with ‘t:’ will convert it to a string, so
if ‘#{window_activity}’ gives ‘1445765102’, ‘#{t:window_activity}’
gives ‘Sun Oct 25 09:25:02 2015’. The ‘b:’ and ‘d:’ prefixes are
basename(3) and dirname(3) of the variable respectively. ‘q:’ will
escape sh(1) special characters. ‘E:’ will expand the format twice,
for example ‘#{E:status-left}’ is the result of expanding the con‐
tent of the status-left option rather than the option itself. ‘T:’
is like ‘E:’ but also expands strftime(3) specifiers. ‘S:’, ‘W:’ or
‘P:’ will loop over each session, window or pane and insert the for‐
mat once for each. For windows and panes, two comma-separated for‐
mats may be given: the second is used for the current window or
active pane. For example, to get a list of windows formatted like
the status line:
#{W:#{E:window-status-format} ,#{E:window-status-current-format} }
A prefix of the form ‘s/foo/bar/:’ will substitute ‘foo’ with ‘bar’
throughout. The first argument may be an extended regular expres‐
sion and a final argument may be ‘i’ to ignore case, for example
‘s/a(.)/\1x/i:’ would change ‘abABab’ into ‘bxBxbx’.
In addition, the last line of a shell command's output may be
inserted using ‘#()’. For example, ‘#(uptime)’ will insert the sys‐
tem'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 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
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_control_mode 1 if client is in control mode
client_created Time client created
client_discarded Bytes discarded when client behind
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 readonly
client_session Name of the client's session
client_termname Terminal name of client
client_termtype Terminal type of client
client_tty Pseudo terminal of client
client_utf8 1 if client supports utf8
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
cursor_character Character at cursor in pane
cursor_flag Pane cursor flag
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_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
line Line number in the list
mouse_all_flag Pane mouse all flag
mouse_any_flag Pane mouse any flag
mouse_button_flag Pane mouse button flag
mouse_line Line under mouse, if any
mouse_sgr_flag Pane mouse SGR flag
mouse_standard_flag Pane mouse standard flag
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
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_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_status Exit status of process in dead pane
pane_format 1 if format is for a pane (not
assuming the current)
pane_height Height of pane
pane_id #D Unique pane ID
pane_in_mode 1 if pane is in a mode
pane_index #P Index of pane
pane_input_off 1 if input to pane is disabled
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_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_synchronized 1 if pane is synchronized
pane_tabs Pane tab positions
pane_title #T Title of pane
pane_top Top of pane
pane_tty Pseudo terminal of pane
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
selection_present 1 if selection started in copy mode
session_activity Time of session last activity
session_alerts List of window indexes with alerts
session_attached Number of clients session is
attached to
session_created Time session created
session_format 1 if format is for a session (not
assuming the current)
session_group Name of session group
session_group_list List of sessions in group
session_group_size Size of session group
session_grouped 1 if session in a group
session_id Unique session ID
session_last_attached Time session last attached
session_many_attached 1 if multiple clients attached
session_name #S Name of session
session_stack Window indexes in most recent order
session_windows Number of windows in session
socket_path Server socket path
start_time Server start time
version Server version
window_active 1 if window 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_end_flag 1 if window has the highest index
window_flags #F Window flags
window_format 1 if format is for a window (not
assuming the current)
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_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_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
STYLES
tmux offers various options to specify the colour and attributes of
aspects of the interface, for example status-style for the status
line. In addition, embedded styles may be specified in format
options, such as status-left-format, by enclosing them in ‘#[’ and
‘]’.
A style may be the single term ‘default’ to specify the default
style (which may inherit from another option) or a space or comma
separated list of the following:
fg=colour
Set the foreground colour. The colour is one of: black,
red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white; if supported
the bright variants brightred, brightgreen, brightyellow;
colour0 to colour255 from the 256-colour set; default for
the default colour; terminal for the terminal default
colour; or a hexadecimal RGB string such as ‘#ffffff’.
bg=colour
Set the background colour.
none Set no attributes (turn off any active attributes).
bright (or bold), dim, underscore, blink, reverse, hidden, italics,
overline, strikethrough, double-underscore,
curly-underscore, dotted-underscore, dashed-underscore
Set an attribute. Any of the attributes may be prefixed
with ‘no’ to unset.
align=left (or noalign), align=centre, align=right
Align text to the left, centre or right of the available
space if appropriate.
fill=colour
Fill the available space with a background colour if appro‐
priate.
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.
range=left, range=right, range=window|X, norange
Mark a range in the status-format option. range=left and
range=right are the text used for the ‘StatusLeft’ and
‘StatusRight’ mouse keys. range=window|X is the range for a
window passed to the ‘Status’ mouse key, where ‘X’ is a win‐
dow index.
Examples are:
fg=yellow bold underscore blink
bg=black,fg=default,noreverse
NAMES AND TITLES
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 com‐
mands. 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 com‐
mand 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.
GLOBAL AND SESSION ENVIRONMENT
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 envi‐
ronments are merged. If a variable exists in both, the value from
the session environment is used. The result is the initial environ‐
ment passed to the new process.
The update-environment session option may be used to update the ses‐
sion 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’.
Commands to alter and view the environment are:
set-environment [-gru] [-t target-session] name [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. The
-u flag unsets a variable. -r indicates the variable is to
be removed from the environment before starting a new
process.
show-environment [-gs] [-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 pre‐
fixed with ‘-’. If -s is used, the output is formatted as a
set of Bourne shell commands.
STATUS LINE
tmux includes an optional status line which is displayed in the bot‐
tom 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 cus‐
tomised with the window-status-format and
window-status-current-format options. The flag is one of the fol‐
lowing 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, activ‐
ity 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 indi‐
vidual 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:
command-prompt [-1Ni] [-I inputs] [-p prompts] [-t target-client]
[template]
Open the command prompt in a client. This may be used from
inside tmux to execute commands interactively.
If template is specified, it is used as the command. If
present, -I is a comma-separated list of the initial text
for each prompt. If -p is given, prompts is a comma-sepa‐
rated list of prompts which are displayed in order; other‐
wise 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. -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.
The following keys have a special meaning in the command
prompt, depending on the value of the status-keys option:
Function vi emacs
Cancel command prompt Escape Escape
Delete from cursor to start of word C-w
Delete entire command d C-u
Delete from cursor to end D C-k
Execute command Enter Enter
Get next command from history Down
Get previous command from history Up
Insert top paste buffer p C-y
Look for completions Tab Tab
Move cursor left h Left
Move cursor right l Right
Move cursor to end $ C-e
Move cursor to next word w M-f
Move cursor to previous word b M-b
Move cursor to start 0 C-a
Transpose characters C-t
confirm-before [-p prompt] [-t target-client] command
(alias: confirm)
Ask for confirmation before executing command. If -p is
given, prompt is the prompt to display; otherwise a prompt
is constructed from command. It may contain the special
character sequences supported by the status-left option.
This command works only from inside tmux.
display-menu [-c target-client] [-t target-pane] [-T title] [-x
position] [-y position] name key command ...
(alias: menu)
Display a menu on target-client. target-pane gives the tar‐
get 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.
-T is a format for the menu title (see FORMATS).
-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
R -x The right side of the terminal
P Both The bottom left of the pane
M Both The mouse position
W -x The window position on the status
line
S -y The line above or below the status
line
Each menu consists of items followed by a key shortcut shown
in brackets. If the menu is too large to fit on the termi‐
nal, 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 will choose that item. The
following keys are also available:
Key Function
Enter Choose selected item
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
q Exit menu
display-message [-aIpv] [-c target-client] [-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 sta‐
tus line. 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.
BUFFERS
tmux maintains a set of named paste buffers. Each buffer may be
either explicitly or automatically named. Explicitly named buffers
are named when created with the set-buffer or load-buffer commands,
or by renaming an automatically named buffer with set-buffer -n.
Automatically named buffers are given a name such as ‘buffer0001’,
‘buffer0002’ and so on. When the buffer-limit option is reached,
the oldest automatically named buffer is deleted. Explicitly named
buffers are not subject to buffer-limit and may be deleted with
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 [-NZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-O sort-order] [-t
target-pane] [template]
Put a pane into buffer mode, where a buffer may be chosen
interactively from a list. -Z zooms the pane. The follow‐
ing 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
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
f Enter a format to filter items
O Change 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 -b '%%'" is used.
-O specifies the initial sort order: one of ‘time’, ‘name’
or ‘size’. -f specifies an initial filter: the filter is a
format - if it evaluates to zero, the item in the list is
not shown, otherwise it is shown. If a filter would lead to
an empty list, it is ignored. -F specifies the format for
each item in the list. -N starts without the preview. This
command works only if at least one client is attached.
clear-history [-t target-pane]
(alias: clearhist)
Remove and free the history for the specified pane.
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]
(alias: lsb)
List the global buffers. For the meaning of the -F flag,
see the FORMATS section.
load-buffer [-b buffer-name] path
(alias: loadb)
Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from path.
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 sep‐
arator, 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.
set-buffer [-a] [-b buffer-name] [-n new-buffer-name] data
(alias: setb)
Set the contents of the specified buffer to data. The -a
option appends to rather than overwriting the buffer. The
-n option renames the buffer to new-buffer-name.
show-buffer [-b buffer-name]
(alias: showb)
Display the contents of the specified buffer.
MISCELLANEOUS
Miscellaneous commands are as follows:
clock-mode [-t target-pane]
Display a large clock.
if-shell [-bF] [-t target-pane] shell-command command [command]
(alias: if)
Execute the first command if shell-command returns success
or the second command 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 speci‐
fied by the lock-command option.
run-shell [-b] [-t target-pane] shell-command
(alias: run)
Execute shell-command in the background without creating a
window. Before being executed, shell-command is expanded
using the rules specified in the FORMATS section. With -b,
the command is run in the background. After it finishes,
any output to stdout is displayed in copy mode (in the pane
specified by -t or the current pane if omitted). If the
command doesn't return success, the exit status is also dis‐
played.
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.
TERMINFO EXTENSIONS
tmux understands some unofficial extensions to terminfo(5):
Cs, Cr Set the cursor colour. The first takes a single string
argument and is used to set the colour; the 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\\'
Smol Enable the overline attribute. The capability is usually
SGR 53 and can be added to terminal-overrides as:
Smol=\E[53m
Smulx Set a styled underscore. The single parameter is one of: 0
for no underscore, 1 for normal underscore, 2 for double
underscore, 3 for curly underscore, 4 for dotted underscore
and 5 for dashed underscore. The capability can typically
be added to terminal-overrides as:
Smulx=\E[4::%p1%dm
Setulc Set the underscore colour. The argument is (red * 65536) +
(green * 256) + blue where each is between 0 and 255. The
capability can typically be added to terminal-overrides as:
Setulc=\E[58::2::%p1%{65536}%/%d::%p1%{256}%/%{255}%&%d::%p1%{255}%&%d%;m
Ss, Se Set or reset the cursor style. If set, a sequence such as
this may be used to change the cursor to an underline:
$ printf '\033[4 q'
If Se is not set, Ss with argument 0 will be used to reset
the cursor style instead.
Tc Indicate that the terminal supports the ‘direct colour’ RGB
escape sequence (for example, \e[38;2;255;255;255m).
If supported, this is used for the initialize colour escape
sequence (which may be enabled by adding the ‘initc’ and
‘ccc’ capabilities to the tmux terminfo(5) entry).
Ms Store the current buffer in the host terminal's selection
(clipboard). See the set-clipboard option above and the
xterm(1) man page.
CONTROL MODE
tmux offers a textual interface called control mode. This allows
applications to communicate with tmux using a simple text-only pro‐
tocol.
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 out‐
put block ends with a %end or %error. %begin and matching %end or
%error have two arguments: an integer time (as seconds from epoch)
and command number. For example:
%begin 1363006971 2
0: ksh* (1 panes) [80x24] [layout b25f,80x24,0,0,2] @2 (active)
%end 1363006971 2
The refresh-client -C command may be used to set the size of a
client in control mode.
In control mode, tmux outputs notifications. A notification will
never occur inside an output block.
The following notifications are defined:
%client-session-changed client session-id name
The client is now attached to the session with ID
session-id, which is named name.
%exit [reason]
The tmux client is exiting immediately, either because it is
not attached to any session or an error occurred. If
present, reason describes why the client exited.
%layout-change window-id window-layout window-visible-layout
window-flags
The layout of a window with ID window-id changed. The new
layout is window-layout. The window's visible layout is
window-visible-layout and the window flags are window-flags.
%output pane-id value
A window pane produced output. value escapes non-printable
characters and backslash as octal \xxx.
%pane-mode-changed pane-id
The pane with ID pane-id has changed mode.
%session-changed session-id name
The client is now attached to the session with ID
session-id, which is named name.
%session-renamed name
The current session was renamed to name.
%session-window-changed session-id window-id
The session with ID session-id changed its active window to
the window with ID window-id.
%sessions-changed
A session was created or destroyed.
%unlinked-window-add window-id
The window with ID window-id was created but is not linked
to the current session.
%window-add window-id
The window with ID window-id was linked to the current ses‐
sion.
%window-close window-id
The window with ID window-id closed.
%window-pane-changed window-id pane-id
The active pane in the window with ID window-id changed to
the pane with ID pane-id.
%window-renamed window-id name
The window with ID window-id was renamed to name.
ENVIRONMENT
When tmux is started, it inspects the following environment vari‐
ables:
EDITOR If the command specified in this variable contains the
string ‘vi’ and VISUAL is unset, use vi-style key bind‐
ings. Overridden by the mode-keys and status-keys
options.
HOME The user's login directory. If unset, the passwd(5) data‐
base is consulted.
LC_CTYPE The character encoding locale(1). It is used for two sep‐
arate 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.
FILES
~/.tmux.conf Default tmux configuration file.
/etc/tmux.conf System-wide configuration file.
EXAMPLES
To create a new tmux session running vi(1):
$ tmux new-session vi
Most commands have a shorter form, known as an alias. For new-ses‐
sion, 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'"
SEE ALSO
pty(4)
AUTHORS
Nicholas Marriott <nicholas.marriott@gmail.com>
BSD October 4, 2020 BSD