Each window displayed by tmux may be split into one or more panes;
each pane takes up a certain area of the display and is a separate
terminal. A window may be split into panes using the split-window
command. Windows may be split horizontally (with the -h flag) or
vertically. Panes may be resized with the resize-pane command
(bound to 'C-Up', 'C-Down' 'C-Left' and 'C-Right' by default), the
current pane may be changed with the select-pane command and the
rotate-window and swap-pane commands may be used to swap panes
without changing their position. Panes are numbered beginning from
zero in the order they are created.
By default, a tmux pane permits direct access to the terminal
contained in the pane. A pane may also be put into one of several
modes:
- Copy mode, which permits a section of a window or its
history to be copied to a paste buffer for later
insertion into another window. This mode is entered with
the copy-mode command, bound to '[' by default. Copied
text can be pasted with the paste-buffer command, bound
to ']'.
- View mode, which is like copy mode but is entered when a
command that produces output, such as list-keys, is
executed from a key binding.
- Choose mode, which allows an item to be chosen from a
list. This may be a client, a session or window or pane,
or a buffer. This mode is entered with the
choose-buffer, choose-client and choose-tree commands.
In copy mode an indicator is displayed in the top-right corner of
the pane with the current position and the number of lines in the
history.
Commands are sent to copy mode using the -X flag to the send-keys
command. When a key is pressed, copy mode automatically uses one
of two key tables, depending on the mode-keys option: copy-mode for
emacs, or copy-mode-vi for vi. Key tables may be viewed with the
list-keys command.
The following commands are supported in copy mode:
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>]
copy-end-of-line-and-cancel [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-end-of-line [<command>] [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-end-of-line-and-cancel [<command>]
[<prefix>] D C-k
copy-line [<prefix>]
copy-line-and-cancel [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-line [<command>] [<prefix>]
copy-pipe-line-and-cancel [<command>]
[<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-down-and-cancel
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
jump-to-mark M-x M-x
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
pipe [<command>] [<prefix>]
pipe-no-clear [<command>] [<prefix>]
pipe-and-cancel [<command>] [<prefix>]
previous-matching-bracket M-C-b
previous-paragraph { M-{
previous-space B
previous-word b M-b
rectangle-on
rectangle-off
rectangle-toggle v R
refresh-from-pane r 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-backward-incremental
<for> C-r
search-backward-text <for>
search-forward <for> /
search-forward-incremental
<for> C-s
search-forward-text <for>
search-reverse N N
select-line V
select-word
set-mark X X
start-of-line 0 C-a
stop-selection
top-line H M-R
The search commands come in several varieties: 'search-forward' and
'search-backward' search for a regular expression; the '-text'
variants search for a plain text string rather than a regular
expression; '-incremental' perform an incremental search and expect
to be used with the -i flag to the command-prompt command.
'search-again' repeats the last search and 'search-reverse' does
the same but reverses the direction (forward becomes backward and
backward becomes forward).
Copy commands may take an optional buffer prefix argument which is
used to generate the buffer name (the default is 'buffer' so
buffers are named 'buffer0', 'buffer1' and so on). Pipe commands
take a command argument which is the command to which the selected
text is piped. 'copy-pipe' variants also copy the selection. The
'-and-cancel' variants of some commands exit copy mode after they
have completed (for copy commands) or when the cursor reaches the
bottom (for scrolling commands). '-no-clear' variants do not clear
the selection.
The next and previous word keys skip over whitespace and treat
consecutive runs of either word separators or other letters as
words. Word separators can be customized with the word-separators
session option. Next word moves to the start of the next word,
next word end to the end of the next word and previous word to the
start of the previous word. The three next and previous space keys
work similarly but use a space alone as the word separator.
Setting word-separators to the empty string makes next/previous
word equivalent to next/previous space.
The jump commands enable quick movement within a line. For
instance, typing 'f' followed by '/' will move the cursor to the
next '/' character on the current line. A ';' will then jump to
the next occurrence.
Commands in copy mode may be prefaced by an optional repeat count.
With vi key bindings, a prefix is entered using the number keys;
with emacs, the Alt (meta) key and a number begins prefix entry.
The synopsis for the copy-mode command is:
copy-mode [-eHMqu] [-s src-pane] [-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). -H hides the position
indicator in the top right. -q cancels copy mode and any
other modes. -s copies from src-pane instead of
target-pane.
-e specifies that scrolling to the bottom of the history
(to the visible screen) should exit copy mode. While in
copy mode, pressing a key other than those used for
scrolling will disable this behaviour. This is intended to
allow fast scrolling through a pane's history, for example
with:
bind PageUp copy-mode -eu
A number of preset arrangements of panes are available, these are
called layouts. These may be selected with the select-layout
command or cycled with next-layout (bound to 'Space' by default);
once a layout is chosen, panes within it may be moved and resized
as normal.
The following layouts are supported:
even-horizontal
Panes are spread out evenly from left to right across the
window.
even-vertical
Panes are spread evenly from top to bottom.
main-horizontal
A large (main) pane is shown at the top of the window and
the remaining panes are spread from left to right in the
leftover space at the bottom. Use the main-pane-height
window option to specify the height of the top pane.
main-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 [-abdP] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-s src-pane] [-t
dst-window]
(alias: breakp)
Break src-pane off from its containing window to make it
the only pane in dst-window. With -a or -b, the window is
moved to the next index after or before (existing windows
are moved if necessary). If -d is given, the new window
does not become the current window. The -P option prints
information about the new window after it has been created.
By default, it uses the format
'#{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index}' but a
different format may be specified with -F.
capture-pane [-aepPqCJN] [-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. -N
preserves trailing spaces at each line's end and -J
preserves trailing spaces and joins any wrapped lines. -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 [-NrZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-K key-format] [-O
sort-order] [-t target-pane] [template]
Put a pane into client mode, allowing a client to be
selected interactively from a list. Each client is shown
on one line. A shortcut key is shown on the left in
brackets allowing for immediate choice, or the list may be
navigated and an item chosen or otherwise manipulated using
the keys below. -Z zooms the pane. 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 field
r Reverse sort order
v Toggle preview
q Exit mode
After a client is chosen, '%%' is replaced by the client
name in template and the result executed as a command. If
template is not given, "detach-client -t '%%'" is used.
-O specifies the initial sort field: one of 'name', 'size',
'creation', or 'activity'. -r reverses the sort order. -f
specifies an initial filter: the filter is a format - if it
evaluates to zero, the item in the list is not shown,
otherwise it is shown. If a filter would lead to an empty
list, it is ignored. -F specifies the format for each item
in the list and -K a format for each shortcut key; both are
evaluated once for each line. -N starts without the
preview. This command works only if at least one client is
attached.
choose-tree [-GNrswZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-K key-format] [-O
sort-order] [-t target-pane] [template]
Put a pane into tree mode, where a session, window or pane
may be chosen interactively from a tree. Each session,
window or pane is shown on one line. A shortcut key is
shown on the left in brackets allowing for immediate
choice, or the tree may be navigated and an item chosen or
otherwise manipulated using the keys below. -s starts with
sessions collapsed and -w with windows collapsed. -Z zooms
the pane. The following keys may be used in tree mode:
Key Function
Enter Choose selected item
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
+ Expand selected item
- Collapse selected item
M-+ Expand all items
M-- Collapse all items
x Kill selected item
X Kill tagged items
< Scroll list of previews left
> Scroll list of previews right
C-s Search by name
m Set the marked pane
M Clear the marked pane
n Repeat last search
t Toggle if item is tagged
T Tag no items
C-t Tag all items
: Run a command for each tagged item
f Enter a format to filter items
H Jump to the starting pane
O Change sort field
r Reverse sort order
v Toggle preview
q Exit mode
After a session, window or pane is chosen, the first
instance of '%%' and all instances of '%1' are replaced by
the target in template and the result executed as a
command. If template is not given, "switch-client -t '%%'"
is used.
-O specifies the initial sort field: one of 'index',
'name', or 'time'. -r reverses the sort order. -f
specifies an initial filter: the filter is a format - if it
evaluates to zero, the item in the list is not shown,
otherwise it is shown. If a filter would lead to an empty
list, it is ignored. -F specifies the format for each item
in the tree and -K a format for each shortcut key; both are
evaluated once for each line. -N starts without the
preview. -G includes all sessions in any session groups in
the tree rather than only the first. This command works
only if at least one client is attached.
customize-mode [-NZ] [-F format] [-f filter] [-t target-pane]
[template]
Put a pane into customize mode, where options and key
bindings may be browsed and modified from a list. Option
values in the list are shown for the active pane in the
current window. -Z zooms the pane. The following keys may
be used in customize mode:
Key Function
Enter Set pane, window, session or global option
value
Up Select previous item
Down Select next item
+ Expand selected item
- Collapse selected item
M-+ Expand all items
M-- Collapse all items
s Set option value or key attribute
S Set global option value
w Set window option value, if option is for pane
and window
d Set an option or key to the default
D Set tagged options and tagged keys to the
default
u Unset an option (set to default value if
global) or unbind a key
U Unset tagged options and unbind tagged keys
C-s Search by name
n Repeat last search
t Toggle if item is tagged
T Tag no items
C-t Tag all items
f Enter a format to filter items
v Toggle option information
q Exit mode
-f specifies an initial filter: the filter is a format - if
it evaluates to zero, the item in the list is not shown,
otherwise it is shown. If a filter would lead to an empty
list, it is ignored. -F specifies the format for each item
in the tree. -N starts without the option information.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
display-panes [-bN] [-d duration] [-t target-client] [template]
(alias: displayp)
Display a visible indicator of each pane shown by
target-client. See the display-panes-colour and
display-panes-active-colour session options. The indicator
is closed when a key is pressed (unless -N is given) or
duration milliseconds have passed. If -d is not given,
display-panes-time is used. A duration of zero means the
indicator stays until a key is pressed. While the
indicator is on screen, a pane may be chosen with the '0'
to '9' keys, which will cause template to be executed as a
command with '%%' substituted by the pane ID. The default
template is "select-pane -t '%%'". With -b, other commands
are not blocked from running until the indicator is closed.
find-window [-iCNrTZ] [-t target-pane] match-string
(alias: findw)
Search for a fnmatch(3) pattern or, with -r, regular
expression match-string in window names, titles, and
visible content (but not history). The flags control
matching behavior: -C matches only visible window contents,
-N matches only the window name and -T matches only the
window title. -i makes the search ignore case. The
default is -CNT. -Z zooms the pane.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
join-pane [-bdfhv] [-l size] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: joinp)
Like split-window, but instead of splitting dst-pane and
creating a new pane, split it and move src-pane into the
space. This can be used to reverse break-pane. The -b
option causes src-pane to be joined to left of or above
dst-pane.
If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see
select-pane -m), the marked pane is used rather than the
current pane.
kill-pane [-a] [-t target-pane]
(alias: killp)
Destroy the given pane. If no panes remain in the
containing window, it is also destroyed. The -a option
kills all but the pane given with -t.
kill-window [-a] [-t target-window]
(alias: killw)
Kill the current window or the window at target-window,
removing it from any sessions to which it is linked. The
-a option kills all but the window given with -t.
last-pane [-deZ] [-t target-window]
(alias: lastp)
Select the last (previously selected) pane. -Z keeps the
window zoomed if it was zoomed. -e enables or -d disables
input to the pane.
last-window [-t target-session]
(alias: last)
Select the last (previously selected) window. If no
target-session is specified, select the last window of the
current session.
link-window [-abdk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: linkw)
Link the window at src-window to the specified dst-window.
If dst-window is specified and no such window exists, the
src-window is linked there. With -a or -b the window is
moved to the next index after or before dst-window
(existing windows are moved if necessary). If -k is given
and dst-window exists, it is killed, otherwise an error is
generated. If -d is given, the newly linked window is not
selected.
list-panes [-as] [-F format] [-f filter] [-t target]
(alias: lsp)
If -a is given, target is ignored and all panes on the
server are listed. If -s is given, target is a session (or
the current session). If neither is given, target is a
window (or the current window). -F specifies the format of
each line and -f a filter. Only panes for which the filter
is true are shown. See the FORMATS section.
list-windows [-a] [-F format] [-f filter] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsw)
If -a is given, list all windows on the server. Otherwise,
list windows in the current session or in target-session.
-F specifies the format of each line and -f a filter. Only
windows for which the filter is true are shown. See the
FORMATS section.
move-pane [-bdfhv] [-l size] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: movep)
Does the same as join-pane.
move-window [-abrdk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: movew)
This is similar to link-window, except the window at
src-window is moved to dst-window. With -r, all windows in
the session are renumbered in sequential order, respecting
the base-index option.
new-window [-abdkPS] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-F
format] [-n window-name] [-t target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: neww)
Create a new window. With -a or -b, the new window is
inserted at the next index after or before the specified
target-window, moving windows up if necessary; otherwise
target-window is the new window location.
If -d is given, the session does not make the new window
the current window. target-window represents the window to
be created; if the target already exists an error is shown,
unless the -k flag is used, in which case it is destroyed.
If -S is given and a window named window-name already
exists, it is selected (unless -d is also given in which
case the command does nothing).
shell-command is the command to execute. If shell-command
is not specified, the value of the default-command option
is used. -c specifies the working directory in which the
new window is created.
When the shell command completes, the window closes. See
the remain-on-exit option to change this behaviour.
-e takes the form 'VARIABLE=value' and sets an environment
variable for the newly created window; it may be specified
multiple times.
The TERM environment variable must be set to 'screen' or
'tmux' for all programs running inside tmux. New windows
will automatically have 'TERM=screen' added to their
environment, but care must be taken not to reset this in
shell start-up files or by the -e option.
The -P option prints information about the new window after
it has been created. By default, it uses the format
'#{session_name}:#{window_index}' but a different format
may be specified with -F.
next-layout [-t target-window]
(alias: nextl)
Move a window to the next layout and rearrange the panes to
fit.
next-window [-a] [-t target-session]
(alias: next)
Move to the next window in the session. If -a is used,
move to the next window with an alert.
pipe-pane [-IOo] [-t target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: pipep)
Pipe output sent by the program in target-pane to a shell
command or vice versa. A pane may only be connected to one
command at a time, any existing pipe is closed before
shell-command is executed. The shell-command string may
contain the special character sequences supported by the
status-left option. If no shell-command is given, the
current pipe (if any) is closed.
-I and -O specify which of the shell-command output streams
are connected to the pane: with -I stdout is connected (so
anything shell-command prints is written to the pane as if
it were typed); with -O stdin is connected (so any output
in the pane is piped to shell-command). Both may be used
together and if neither are specified, -O is used.
The -o option only opens a new pipe if no previous pipe
exists, allowing a pipe to be toggled with a single key,
for example:
bind-key C-p pipe-pane -o 'cat >>~/output.#I-#P'
previous-layout [-t target-window]
(alias: prevl)
Move to the previous layout in the session.
previous-window [-a] [-t target-session]
(alias: prev)
Move to the previous window in the session. With -a, move
to the previous window with an alert.
rename-window [-t target-window] new-name
(alias: renamew)
Rename the current window, or the window at target-window
if specified, to new-name.
resize-pane [-DLMRTUZ] [-t target-pane] [-x width] [-y height]
[adjustment]
(alias: resizep)
Resize a pane, up, down, left or right by adjustment with
-U, -D, -L or -R, or to an absolute size with -x or -y.
The adjustment is given in lines or columns (the default is
1); -x and -y may be a given as a number of lines or
columns or followed by '%' for a percentage of the window
size (for example '-x 10%'). With -Z, the active pane is
toggled between zoomed (occupying the whole of the window)
and unzoomed (its normal position in the layout).
-M begins mouse resizing (only valid if bound to a mouse
key binding, see MOUSE SUPPORT).
-T trims all lines below the current cursor position and
moves lines out of the history to replace them.
resize-window [-aADLRU] [-t target-window] [-x width] [-y height]
[adjustment]
(alias: resizew)
Resize a window, up, down, left or right by adjustment with
-U, -D, -L or -R, or to an absolute size with -x or -y.
The adjustment is given in lines or cells (the default is
1). -A sets the size of the largest session containing the
window; -a the size of the smallest. This command will
automatically set window-size to manual in the window
options.
respawn-pane [-k] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-t
target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnp)
Reactivate a pane in which the command has exited (see the
remain-on-exit window option). If shell-command is not
given, the command used when the pane was created or last
respawned is executed. The pane must be already inactive,
unless -k is given, in which case any existing command is
killed. -c specifies a new working directory for the pane.
The -e option has the same meaning as for the new-window
command.
respawn-window [-k] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-t
target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnw)
Reactivate a window in which the command has exited (see
the remain-on-exit window option). If shell-command is not
given, the command used when the window was created or last
respawned is executed. The window must be already
inactive, unless -k is given, in which case any existing
command is killed. -c specifies a new working directory
for the window. The -e option has the same meaning as for
the new-window command.
rotate-window [-DUZ] [-t target-window]
(alias: rotatew)
Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either
upward (numerically lower) with -U or downward (numerically
higher). -Z keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed.
select-layout [-Enop] [-t target-pane] [layout-name]
(alias: selectl)
Choose a specific layout for a window. If layout-name is
not given, the last preset layout used (if any) is
reapplied. -n and -p are equivalent to the next-layout and
previous-layout commands. -o applies the last set layout
if possible (undoes the most recent layout change). -E
spreads the current pane and any panes next to it out
evenly.
select-pane [-DdeLlMmRUZ] [-T title] [-t target-pane]
(alias: selectp)
Make pane target-pane the active pane in its window. If
one of -D, -L, -R, or -U is used, respectively the pane
below, to the left, to the right, or above the target pane
is used. -Z keeps the window zoomed if it was zoomed. -l
is the same as using the last-pane command. -e enables or
-d disables input to the pane. -T sets the pane title.
-m and -M are used to set and clear the marked pane. There
is one marked pane at a time, setting a new marked pane
clears the last. The marked pane is the default target for
-s to join-pane, move-pane, swap-pane and swap-window.
select-window [-lnpT] [-t target-window]
(alias: selectw)
Select the window at target-window. -l, -n and -p are
equivalent to the last-window, next-window and
previous-window commands. If -T is given and the selected
window is already the current window, the command behaves
like last-window.
split-window [-bdfhIvPZ] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-l
size] [-t target-pane] [shell-command] [-F format]
(alias: splitw)
Create a new pane by splitting target-pane: -h does a
horizontal split and -v a vertical split; if neither is
specified, -v is assumed. The -l option specifies the size
of the new pane in lines (for vertical split) or in columns
(for horizontal split); size may be followed by '%' to
specify a percentage of the available space. The -b option
causes the new pane to be created to the left of or above
target-pane. The -f option creates a new pane spanning the
full window height (with -h) or full window width (with
-v), instead of splitting the active pane. -Z zooms if the
window is not zoomed, or keeps it zoomed if already zoomed.
An empty shell-command ('') will create a pane with no
command running in it. Output can be sent to such a pane
with the display-message command. The -I flag (if
shell-command is not specified or empty) will create an
empty pane and forward any output from stdin to it. For
example:
$ make 2>&1|tmux splitw -dI &
All other options have the same meaning as for the
new-window command.
swap-pane [-dDUZ] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: swapp)
Swap two panes. If -U is used and no source pane is
specified with -s, dst-pane is swapped with the previous
pane (before it numerically); -D swaps with the next pane
(after it numerically). -d instructs tmux not to change
the active pane and -Z keeps the window zoomed if it was
zoomed.
If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see
select-pane -m), the marked pane is used rather than the
current pane.
swap-window [-d] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: swapw)
This is similar to link-window, except the source and
destination windows are swapped. It is an error if no
window exists at src-window. If -d is given, the new
window does not become the current window.
If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see
select-pane -m), the window containing the marked pane is
used rather than the current window.
unlink-window [-k] [-t target-window]
(alias: unlinkw)
Unlink target-window. Unless -k is given, a window may be
unlinked only if it is linked to multiple sessions -
windows may not be linked to no sessions; if -k is
specified and the window is linked to only one session, it
is unlinked and destroyed.
