screen Cheat Sheet
CLI
screen # Start new instance
screen -S <name> # Start named instance
screen -x # Attach to latest instance
screen -x <name> # Attach to named instance
screen -ls # Show instances
Initial layout using .screenrc
Here is an example .screenrc that provides 3 panes with titles each running different commands inside
screen -t "top" top
split -v
focus
screen -t "df" watch df -h
split
focus
screen -t "Shell" bash
Use split and split -v to split horizontally or vertically. Also you need to use focus to move the initial cursor to the preferred pane.
You can also start specific screen sessions with other splitting by running screen -c <screenrc file>.
Screen compared to tmux
Here is a side by side comparison of screen and tmux commands and hotkeys.
| Function | Screen | tmux |
|---|---|---|
| Start instance | screen or screen -S <name> | tmux |
| Attach to instance | screen -r <name> or screen -x <name> | tmux attach |
| List instances | screen -ls or screen -ls <user name>/ | tmux ls |
| New Window | \^a c | \^b c |
| Switch Window | \^a n \^a p | \^b n \^b p |
| List Windows | \^a “ | \^b w |
| Name Window | \^a A | \^b , |
| Split Horizontal | \^a S | \^b “ |
| Split Vertical | \^a | | \^b % |
| Switch Pane | \^a Tab | \^b o |
| Kill Pane | \^a x | \^b x |
| Paging | \^b PgUp \^b PgDown | |
| Scrolling Mode | \^a [ | \^b [ |