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screen

screen is a terminal multiplexer that allows users to manage multiple virtual terminal sessions within a single physical terminal. It enables users to detach from a running session, leave processes running in the background, and reattach to the session later, even from a different location.

Usually preinstalled with major distributions.

screen --version

Start session screen

Get list of commands - Ctrl a ?

Start named session

screen -S sesson_name

To create a new window with shell type Ctrl+a c, the first available number from the range 0...9 will be assigned to it.

Common Commands​

For managing Linux Screen Windows:

  • Ctrl+a c - Create a new window (with shell).
  • Ctrl+a " - List all windows.
  • Ctrl+a 0 - Switch to window 0 (by number).
  • Ctrl+a A - Rename the current window.
  • Ctrl+a S - Split current region horizontally into two regions.
  • Ctrl+a | - Split current region vertically into two regions.
  • Ctrl+a tab - Switch the input focus to the next region.
  • Ctrl+a Ctrl+a - Toggle between the current and previous windows
  • Ctrl+a Q - Close all regions but the current one.
  • Ctrl+a X - Close the current region.

Detach from screen session Ctrl a d

Reattach to linux session screen -r

In case you have multiple screen sessions, will need to append the screen session ID after the r switch. To find the session ID list the current running screen sessions with:

screen -ls
There are screens on:
    10835.pts-0.linuxize-desktop   (Detached)
    10366.pts-0.linuxize-desktop   (Detached)
2 Sockets in /run/screens/S-linuxize.

If you want to restore screen 10835.pts-0, then type the following command:

screen -r 10835

Customization​

Config locations:

/etc/screenrc or ~/.screenrc

# Turn off the welcome message
startup_message off

# Disable visual bell
vbell off

# Set scrollback buffer to 10000
defscrollback 10000

# Customize the status line
hardstatus alwayslastline
hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{= kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r}(%{W}%n*%f%t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B} %m-%d %{W}%c %{g}]'

Basic Usage​

  1. On the command prompt, type screen.
  2. Run the desired program.
  3. Use the key sequence Ctrl-a + Ctrl-d to detach from the screen session.
  4. Reattach to the screen session by typing screen -r