tmux cheatsheet

A single collection of pseudo terminals under tmux control. See tmux sessions

You can have one or more windows to a session. Each window is a pseudo terminal.

Each window can be split into panes, each of which are a pseudo terminal

a tmux session will survive a disconnection from the network. To re-attach to that tmux session use tmux attach or tmux -a

The client and server are separate processes that communicate through a socket in /tmp

.tmux.conf is a set of tmux commands which are executed in sequence when the server is first started. If you want to reload the config file later one can use the "source ~/.tmux.conf" command later.

-f file : to specify an alternative tmux configuration file, over-riding the usual ~/.tmux.conf

Usual key bindings are as follows: C-b prefix i.e. so you can C-b <command> to run a tmux command. C-z suspend tmux client

So all of these next commands use C-b prefix first, followed by the letter or symbol. For example C-b w to list all the w indows.

• & kill current window # force kills all processes in unresponsive window
• , rename current window
• . ~prompt for an index to move the current window
• : enter the tmux command prompt : often used to split-window horizontally
• = choose which buffer to paste interactively from a list
• [ enter copy mode to copy text or history
• ] paste the buffer of text
• c create new window
• n move to next window * one of my favs as b and n are side by side i.e. C-b n cycles through the open windows.
• p move to previous window
• l move to previously selected window
• w which window (lists them all) * another of my absolute favs i.e. C-b w then use arrow keys to peak at all the windows. hammer to select
• 0-9 select window 0 to 9
• f search for text in open windows
• i info
• exit closes a window

EOF C-d closes the window if on the last remaining window Called "shut" by some. or EOF by others.

• C-b prefix
• C-z suspend tmux client\
• C-o rotate the panes in the current window
• ! break the current pane out of the window
• " split the current pane into two, top and bottom
• % split the current pane into two, left and right think of the / in the % as the vertical split line.
• # list all pane buffers
• $ rename current session
• ; move to the previously active pane_
• o next pane in current window *
• q briefly display pane indexes i.e. where am I?
• { swap current pane with previous

• - } swap current pane with next
  • : enter the tmux command prompt : often used to "split-window" horizontally so C-b : split-window
  • = choose which buffer to paste interactively from a list
  • [ enter copy mode to copy text or history
  • ] paste the buffer of text
  • m mark current pane
  • M clear mark
  • x kill current pane
  • z toggle zoom state of current pane i.e. zooms into the window then back out again. I use this lots.
  • arrows change to a pane # popular usage to switch window focus
  • alt-arrows resize current pane
  • M-1 to M-5 use preset pane layouts
  • space to cycle through the above preset pane layouts

EOF C-d closes the pane you are on. Called "shut" by some. or EOF by others.

These commands are run from the bash shell, before you start a tmux session. So, for example to create a session and call it "backup-session" presumably to run some back-up job that could take a couple of hours, you can type:

• tmux new -s backupsession where -s allows you to name the session from the next string argument, in this case "backupsession".

Then if you close the session, it will

C-b d is dettach from the session. The session will survive even a logout.

• tmux ls
• tmux attach -t 0 To re-connect to a previously dettached session tmux a also works with the last attached session.
• tmux attach -t backupsession To re-connect to a named session
• tmux detach-session
• tmux new -s batch-jobs-for-payroll
• tmux new -t editing-configs
• tmux kill-session batch-jobs-for-payroll
• tmux list-clients
• tmux list-sessions What sessions have I previously dettached.
• tmux list-commands
• tmux suspend-client
• tmux switch-client
• tmux list-commands
• tmux kill-server

- ~C-b prefix for all of these controls too.

• ~
  • ( switch the attached client to the previous session
  • ) switch the attached client to the next session
  • : enter the tmux command prompt : often used to "split-window" horizontally
  • = choose which buffer to paste interactively from a list
  • D choose a client to detach
  • L switch the client attached back to the Last session

  - ~ d detach the current client

  • r redraw attached client
  • s select a session for the attached client interactively

• C-d is a usual "end of inpu:dt" command that when entered in a pane, closes that shell, and then because there is no more shell, closes the pane too Called "shut" by some. or EOF by others.

I find myself using C-b-) a lot. Just cycle through my sessions.

tmux list-sessions

sessions, windows and panes are each numbered with a unique ID. sessions IDs are prefixed with a $ (ding) windows are prefixed with a @ (at) panes are prefixed with a % (mod)