tmux_introduction.md

An Introduction to tmux

Overview

• Terminal multiplexer
• Multiple terminals
• Panes & windows
• Maintains connections
• Configurable
• Easy to use!

Setup

• Install tmux via package manager or download
• Make ssh "keep alive" for all connections by adding this to ~/.ssh/config:

host *
  ServerAliveInternal 300
  ServerAliveCountMax 2

Session Control (command line)

• $ tmux begins a new session
• $ tmux ls lists available sessions
• $ tmux attach attaches to a running session

The Prefix

Ctrl-b is the prefix combination. Press the Ctrl key AND the letter b at the same time. When inside a tmux session, the prefix is nearly always pressed before the shortcut key to trigger a command.

For example, to display a list of tmux commands, type: Ctrl-b ?

That means press Control and b together, release, then press ?

You can change the prefix, see the config section.

Window Control

• Ctrl-b c creates a new window
• Ctrl-b n next window
• Ctrl-b p prior window
• Ctrl-b w list windows

Pane Control

• Ctrl-b " split pane horizontally
• Ctrl-b % split pane vertically
• Ctrl-b o next pane
• Ctrl-b ; prior pane
• Ctrl-b direction jump to pane
• Ctrl-b Ctrl-o swap panes
• Ctrl-b space arrange panes
• Ctrl-b + direction change pane size
• Ctrl-b ! pop a pane into a new window

Scrolling and copy/paste

• Ctrl-b [ enter scroll mode
• Ctrl-b esc exit scroll mode
• Ctrl-space begin highlight for copy
• Alt-w copy highlighted text
• Ctrl-b ] paste text

Config Options

~/.tmux.conf is a plaintext file used by tmux for local config. If it doesn't exist, create it! This example config file shows some common options:

# set scroll history to 10,000 lines
set-option -g history-limit 10000

# modern encoding and colors
set -g utf8 on
set-window-option -g utf8 on
set -g default-terminal screen-256color

# unbind the prefix and bind it to Ctrl-a like screen
unbind C-b
set -g prefix C-a
bind C-a send-prefix

# use zsh instead of bash
set -g default-command /bin/zsh
set -g default-shell /bin/zsh

To reload your .tmux.conf within a tmux session, type: Ctrl-b : then source-file ~/.tmux.conf.

tmux has a lot of configuration options, here is advanced config example

Learning Resources

• The official tmux website
• The tmux man page is extensive. Read it in the terminal by typing the command man tmux
• This youtube series by Jay LaCroix is a good introduction
• This is another helpful introduction video for tmux
• The Arch Linux tmux documentation goes deeper, covers advanced features
• tmux - Productive Mouse-Free Development by Pragmatic Bookshelf is thorough introduction to tmux

License

Licensed under the FreeBSD (two clause) license.

Author

© David Farrell 2015