tmux

tmux (terminal multiplexer) is a Linux program that lets you open multiple terminal windows and sessions in the same terminal window.

Sessions

Create a new session:

$ tmux

When you have multiple windows, the * indicates what window you have in focus.

Create a new horizontal pane with CTRL + b and then % (SHIFT + 5). To switch between horizontal panes, use CTRL + b and then the arrow key (-> or <-) that points to the pane that you want to put in focus.

Create a vertical pane beneath the in-focus pane, use CTRL + b and the quotation mark ("). To switch between vertical panes, use CTRL + b and then the up or down arrow key that points to the pane that you want to put in focus.

To close a pane, either use CTRL + D or type exit.

Detach a session

tmux sessions preserve state.

To detach from a session, use CTRL + b and d. This brings you back to your normal terminal session.

To view the sessions that are currently running, enter the following:

$ tmux ls
0: 2 windows (created Sun Apr  2 22:34:09 2023)

In the previous example, 0 is the name of the session. 0 is the default session name.

# Rejoin a session: 
$ tmux attach -t <session-name>

# Rename a session:
$ tmux rename-session -t <current-name> <new-name>

# Give a session a custom name from the outset:
$ tmux new -s <session-name>

# Delete a session:
$ tmux kill-session -t <session-name>

Windows

A window is like a new tab in the terminal. You can see the different window names at the bottom of the terminal.

# Create a new window:
$ CTRL + b
$ c

# Switch between windows:
$ CTRL + b
$ <number of the window> # e.g. `0`. Terminal windows are zero-indexed.

# Rename your window:
$ CTRL + b
$ comma # (`,`)
$ <window name>

# Close a window:
$ CTRL + D 
# or
$ exit