path: root/tmux.1

.\" $Id: tmux.1,v 1.57 2009-01-11 23:14:57 nicm Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2007 Nicholas Marriott <nicm@users.sourceforge.net>
.\"
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.Dd June 30, 2008
.Dt TMUX 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm tmux
.Nd "terminal multiplexer"
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm tmux
.Bk -words
.Op Fl 2dquVv
.Op Fl f Ar file
.Op Fl S Ar socket-path
.Op Ar command Op Ar flags
.Ek
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a terminal multiplexer; it enables a number of terminals (or windows) to be
accessed and controlled from a single terminal.
.Pp
.Nm
runs as a server-client system.
A server is created automatically when necessary and holds a number of
.Em sessions ,
each of which may have a number of
.Em windows
linked to it.
Any number of
.Em clients
may connect to a session, or the server
may be controlled by issuing commands with
.Nm .
Communication takes place through a socket, by default placed in
.Pa /tmp .
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width "XXXXXXXXXXXX"
.It Fl 2
Force
.Nm
to assume the terminal supports 256 colours.
.It Fl d
Force
.Nm
to assume the terminal support default colours.
.It Fl f Ar file
Specify an alternative configuration file.
By default,
.Nm
will look for a config file at
.Pa ~/.tmux.conf .
The configuration file is a set of
.Nm
commands which are executed in sequence when the server is first started.
.It Fl q
Prevent the server sending various information messages, for example when
window flags are altered.
.It Fl S Ar socket-path
Specify an alternative path to the server socket.
The default is
.Pa /tmp/tmux-UID ,
where
.Em UID
is the uid of the user who invoked
.Nm .
.It Fl u
Intruct
.Nm
that the terminal support UTF-8.
.It Fl V
Print program version.
.It Fl v
Request verbose logging.
This option may be specified multiple times for increasing verbosity.
Log messages will be saved into
.Pa tmux-client-PID.log
and
.Pa tmux-server-PID.log
files in the current directory, where
.Em PID
is the pid of the server or client process.
.It Ar command Op Ar flags
This specifies one of a set of commands used to control
.Nm ,
and described in the following sections.
If no command and flags is specified, the
.Ic new-session
command is assumed.
.Pp
.El
.Sh QUICK START
To create a new tmux session running
.Xr vi 1 :
.Pp
.Dl $ tmux new-session vi
.Pp
Most commands have a shorter form, known as an alias.
For new-session, this is
.Ic new :
.Pp
.Dl $ tmux new vi
.Pp
Alternatively, the shortest unambiguous form of a command is accepted.
If there are several options, they are listed:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ tmux n
ambiguous command: n, could be: new-session, new-window, next-window
$
.Ed
.Pp
Within an active session, a new window may be created by typing
.Ql C-b
(ctrl-b, known as the prefix key)
followed by the
.Ql c
key.
.Pp
Windows may be navigated with:
.Ql C-b 0
(to select window 0),
.Ql C-b 1
(to select window 1), and so on;
.Ql C-b n
to select the next window; and
.Ql C-b p
to select the previous window.
.Pp
A session may be detached using
.Ql C-b d
and reattached with:
.Pp
.Dl $ tmux attach-session
.Pp
Typing
.Ql C-b \&?
lists the current key bindings in the current window; up and down may be used
to navigate the list or
.Ql Q
to exit from it.
.Sh KEY BINDINGS
.Nm
may be controlled from an attached client by using a key combination of a
prefix key,
.Ql C-b
(ctrl-b) by default, followed by a command key.
.Pp
Some of the default key bindings include:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Ql d
Detach current client.
.It Ql c
Create new window.
.It Ql n
Change to next window in the current session.
.It Ql p
Change to previous window in the current session.
.It Ql l
Move to last (previously selected) window in the current session.
.It Ql \&?
List current key bindings.
.El
.Pp
A complete list may be obtained with the
.Ic list-keys
command (bound to
.Ql \&?
by default).
Key bindings may be changed with the
.Ic bind-key
and
.Ic unbind-key
commands.
.Sh HISTORY
.Nm
maintains a configurable history buffer for each window.
By default, up to 2000 lines are kept, this can be altered with the
.Ic history-limit
option (see the
.Ic set-option
command below).
.Sh MODES
A
.Nm
window may be in one of several modes.
The default permits direct access to the terminal attached to the window.
The others are:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Em output mode
This is entered when a command which produces output, such as
.Ic list-keys ,
is executed from a key binding.
.It Em scroll mode
This is entered with the
.Ic scroll-mode
command (bound to
.Ql =
by default) and permits the window history buffer to be inspected.
.It Em copy mode
This permits a section of a window or its history to be copied to a
.Em paste buffer
for later insertion into another window.
This mode is entered with the
.Ic copy-mode
command, bound to
.Ql [
by default.
.El
The keys available depend on whether
.Xr emacs 1
or
.Xr vi 1
mode is selected (see the
.Ic mode-keys
option).
The following keys are supported as appropriate for the mode:
.Bl -column "FunctionXXXXXXXXXXXX" "viXXXXXX" "emacs" -offset indent
.It Sy "Function" Ta Sy "vi" Ta Sy "emacs"
.It Li "Start of line" Ta "0 or ^" Ta "C-a"
.It Li "Clear selection" Ta "Escape" Ta "C-g"
.It Li "Copy selection" Ta "Enter" Ta "M-w"
.It Li "Cursor down" Ta "j" Ta "Down"
.It Li "End of line" Ta "$" Ta "C-e"
.It Li "Cursor left" Ta "h" Ta "Left"
.It Li "Next page" Ta "C-f" Ta "Page down"
.It Li "Next word" Ta "w" Ta "M-f"
.It Li "Previous page" Ta "C-u" Ta "Page up"
.It Li "Previous word" Ta "b" Ta "M-b"
.It Li "Quit mode" Ta "q" Ta "Escape"
.It Li "Cursor right" Ta "l" Ta "Right"
.It Li "Start selection" Ta "Space" Ta "C-Space"
.It Li "Cursor up" Ta "k" Ta "Up"
.El
.Pp
.Sh BUFFERS
.Nm
maintains a stack of
.Em paste buffers
for each session.
Up to the value of the
.Ic buffer-limit
option are kept; when a new buffer is added, the buffer at the bottom of the
stack is removed.
Buffers may be added using
.Ic copy-mode
or the
.Ic set-buffer
command, and pasted into a window using the
.Ic paste-buffer
command.
.Sh COMMANDS
This section contains a list of the commands supported by
.Nm .
Most commands accept the optional
.Fl t
argument with one of
.Ar target-client ,
.Ar target-session
or
.Ar target-window .
These specify the client, session or window which a command should affect.
.Ar target-client
is the name of the
.Xr pty 4
file to which the client is connected, for example
.Pa /dev/ttyp1 .
Clients may be listed with the
.Ic list-clients
command.
.Pp
.Ar target-session
is either the name of a session (as listed by the
.Ic list-sessions
command); or the name of a client as for
.Ar target-client ,
in this case, the session attached to the client is used.
An
.Xr fnmatch 3
pattern may be used to match the session name.
If a session is omitted when required,
.Nm tmux
attempts to use the current session; if no current session is available, the
most recently created is chosen.
If no client is specified, the current client is chosen, if possible, or an
error is reported.
.Pp
.Ar target-window
specifies a window in the form
.Em session Ns \&: Ns Em index ,
for example mysession:1.
The session is in the same form as for
.Ar target-session .
.Em session ,
.Em index
or both may be omitted.
If
.Em session
is omitted, the same rules as for
.Ar target-session
are followed; if
.Em index
is not present, the current window for the given session is used.
When the argument does not contain a colon (:),
.Nm
first attempts to parse it as window index; if that fails, an attempt is made
to match a session or client name.
.Pp
Examples include:
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2

rename-session -tfirst newname

set-window-option -t:0 monitor-activity on
.Ed
.Pp
The following commands are available:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Xo Ic attach-session
.Op Fl d
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic attach )
Create a new client in the current terminal and attach it to a session.
If
.Fl d
is specified, any other clients attached to the session are detached.
.It Xo Ic bind-key
.Ar key Ar command Op Ar arguments
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic bind )
Bind key
.Ar key
to
.Ar command .
Keys may be specified prefixed with
.Ql C-
or
.Ql ^
for ctrl keys, or
.Ql M-
for alt (meta) keys.
.It Xo Ic command-prompt
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Xc
Open the command prompt in a client.
This may be used from inside
.Nm
to execute commands interactively.
.It Xo Ic copy-mode
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
Enter copy mode.
.It Xo Ic delete-buffer
.Op Fl b Ar buffer-index
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic deleteb )
Delete the buffer at
.Ar buffer-index ,
or the top buffer if not specified.
.It Xo Ic detach-client
.Op Fl t Ar target-client
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic detach )
Detach the current client if bound to a key, or the specified client with
.Fl t .
.It Xo Ic has-session
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic has )
Report an error and exit with 1 if the specified session does not exist.
If it does exist, exit with 0.
.It Xo Ic kill-server
.Xc
Kill the
.Nm
server and clients and destroy all sessions.
.It Xo Ic kill-session
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
Destroy the given session, closing any windows linked to it and no other
sessions, and detaching all clients attached to it.
.It Xo Ic kill-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-window
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic killw )
Kill the current window or the window at
.Ar target-window ,
removing it from any sessions to which it is linked.
.It Xo Ic last-window
.Op Fl t Ar target-session
.Xc
.D1 (alias: Ic last )
Select the last (previously selected) window.
If no
.Ar target-session
is specified, select the last window of the current session.
.It Xo Ic link-window
.Op Fl