This section describes the commands supported by tmux. Most
commands 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
session 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;
multiple matches produce an error. If a session is omitted, the
current session is used if available; if no current session is
available, 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
current 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
consist entirely of the token '{mouse}' (alternative form '=') to
specify 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;
session IDs are prefixed with a '$', windows with a '@', and panes
with a '%'. These are unique and are unchanged for the life of the
session, 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 ~/.tmux.conf'
Will run:
/bin/sh -c 'vi ~/.tmux.conf'
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 ~/.tmux.conf
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 ~/.tmux.conf' \; split-window -d \; attach
