Screen provides an escape mechanism to insert information like
the current time into messages or file names. The escape
character is '%' with one exception: inside of a window's
hardstatus '^%' ('^E') is used instead.
Here is the full list of supported escapes:
% the escape character itself
C The count of screen windows. Prefix with '-' to limit to
current window group.
E sets %? to true if the escape character has been pressed.
f flags of the window, see "windows" for meanings of the
various flags
F sets %? to true if the window has the focus
h hardstatus of the window
H hostname of the system
n window number
P sets %? to true if the current region is in copy/paste
mode
S session name
s window size
t window title
u all other users on this window
w all window numbers and names. With '-' qualifier: up to
the current window; with '+' qualifier: starting with the
window after the current one.
W all window numbers and names except the current one
x the executed command including arguments running in this
windows
X the executed command without arguments running in this
windows
? the part to the next '%?' is displayed only if a '%'
escape inside the part expands to a non-empty string
: else part of '%?'
= pad the string to the display's width (like TeX's hfill).
If a number is specified, pad to the percentage of the
window's width. A '0' qualifier tells screen to treat the
number as absolute position. You can specify to pad
relative to the last absolute pad position by adding a '+'
qualifier or to pad relative to the right margin by using
'-'. The padding truncates the string if the specified
position lies before the current position. Add the 'L'
qualifier to change this.
< same as '%=' but just do truncation, do not fill with
spaces
> mark the current text position for the next truncation.
When screen needs to do truncation, it tries to do it in a
way that the marked position gets moved to the specified
percentage of the output area. (The area starts from the
last absolute pad position and ends with the position
specified by the truncation operator.) The 'L' qualifier
tells screen to mark the truncated parts with '...'.
{ attribute/color modifier string terminated by the next "}"
` Substitute with the output of a 'backtick' command. The
length qualifier is misused to identify one of the
commands.
The 'c' and 'C' escape may be qualified with a '0' to make screen
use zero instead of space as fill character. The '0' qualifier
also makes the '=' escape use absolute positions. The 'n' and '='
escapes understand a length qualifier (e.g. '%3n'), 'D' and 'M'
can be prefixed with 'L' to generate long names, 'w' and 'W' also
show the window flags if 'L' is given.
An attribute/color modifier is used to change the attributes or
the color settings. Its format is "[attribute modifier] [color
description]". The attribute modifier must be prefixed by a
change type indicator if it can be confused with a color
description. The following change types are known:
+ add the specified set to the current attributes
- remove the set from the current attributes
! invert the set in the current attributes
= change the current attributes to the specified set
The attribute set can either be specified as a hexadecimal number
or a combination of the following letters:
d dim
u underline
b bold
r reverse
s standout
B blinking
The old format of specifying colors by letters (k,r,g,y,b,m,c,w)
is now deprecated. Colors are coded as 0-7 for basic ANSI, 0-255
for 256 color mode, or for truecolor, either a hexadecimal code
starting with x, or HTML notation as either 3 or 6 hexadecimal
digits. Foreground and background are specified by putting a
semicolon between them. Ex: "#FFF;#000" or "i7;0" is white on a
black background.
The following numbers are for basic ANSI:
0 black
1 red
2 green
3 yellow
4 blue
5 magenta
6 cyan
7 white
You can also use the pseudo-color 'i' to set just the brightness
and leave the color unchanged.
As a special case, "%{-}" restores the attributes and colors that
were set before the last change was made (i.e., pops one level of
the color-change stack).
Examples:
"i2" set color to bright green
"+b r" use bold red
"#F00;FFA"
write in bright red color on a pale yellow background.
%-Lw%{#AAA;#006}%50>%n%f* %t%{-}%+Lw%<
The available windows centered at the current window and
truncated to the available width. The current window is
displayed white on blue. This can be used with
"hardstatus alwayslastline".
%?%F%{;2}%?%3n %t%? [%h]%?
The window number and title and the window's hardstatus,
if one is set. Also use a red background if this is the
active focus. Useful for "caption string".
