Managing several terminal tasks at once can be difficult, especially when you’re connected to a remote Linux server via SSH. tmux helps organize these tasks by letting you run multiple terminal sessions, windows, and panes from a single terminal.<\/p>\n
One useful feature of tmux is that a session can continue running even after you disconnect from the server. You can reconnect later and continue working from where you left off.<\/p>\n
This cheat sheet covers the most useful tmux commands and keyboard shortcuts for managing sessions, windows, panes, copied text, and configuration.<\/p>\n
tmux is a terminal multiplexer available on Linux systems. It allows you to run several terminal environments inside one terminal window and organize them according to your work.<\/p>\n
For example, you can use one pane to run a command, another to watch server logs, and another to edit or test a script. You can also create separate windows for different tasks within the same session.<\/p>\n
tmux is especially useful when working with remote servers over SSH. If you detach from a tmux session, the processes running inside it can continue. You can reconnect to the server later and attach to the same session.<\/p>\n
The three main parts of tmux are:<\/p>\n
| Command<\/th>\n | Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tmux<\/td>\n | Start a new tmux session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux new -s [session_name]<\/td>\n | Create a new session with a specified name.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux attach<\/td>\n | Reattach to the most recently active session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux detach<\/td>\n | Detach from the current session while keeping it running.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux attach -t [session_name] or<\/span> tmux a -t [session_name]<\/td>\n | Attach to a specific session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux switch -t [session_name]<\/td>\n | Switch to another session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux rename-session -t [old_name] [new_name]<\/td>\n | Rename an existing session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux list-sessions or<\/span> tmux ls<\/td>\n | Display active tmux sessions.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux kill-session -t [session_name]<\/td>\n | Close a specific session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux kill-session -a<\/td>\n | Close all sessions except the current session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux kill-session -a -t [session_name]<\/td>\n | Close all sessions except the specified session.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| tmux kill-server<\/td>\n | Stop the tmux server and close all its sessions.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n For example, create a session named project with:<\/p>\n tmux new -s project<\/span><\/p>\n You can later return to it with:<\/p>\n tmux attach -t project<\/span><\/p>\n A window is a separate workspace inside a tmux session. Windows are useful when you want to keep different tasks apart without creating separate tmux sessions.<\/p>\n For example, you could keep server monitoring in one window and application testing in another. Switching between them does not require creating another SSH<\/a> connection.<\/p>\n Panes divide a tmux window into multiple terminal sections. This lets you keep several commands visible at the same time.<\/p>\n You can also resize panes when the default size is not suitable.<\/p>\n Press:<\/p>\n CTRL+b then :<\/span><\/p>\n This opens tmux command mode. You can then use commands such as:<\/p>\n resize-pane -D These move the shared pane boundary down, up, right, or left.<\/p>\n You can also specify the number of cells:<\/p>\n resize-pane -U 10<\/span><\/p>\n This moves the pane boundary upward by 10 cells.<\/p>\n To maximize the active pane, use:<\/p>\n resize-pane -Z<\/span><\/p>\n Run the same command again to return the pane to its previous layout.<\/p>\n You can also adjust pane dimensions with arrow-key shortcuts:<\/p>\n Pane resizing works along the boundaries shared by neighboring panes. Changing one boundary can therefore change the size of the adjacent pane as well.<\/p>\n Copy Mode allows you to move through previous terminal output, select text, and copy it without relying on the terminal’s normal scrolling behavior. This is particularly useful when a command produces a large amount of output, and you need to retrieve a specific line or section.<\/p>\n For example, if a log command has produced several screens of output, press CTRL+b followed by [ to enter Copy Mode. Navigate to the required text, press SPACE to begin selecting, and press ENTER when the selection is complete.<\/p>\n tmux can be customized through its tmux.conf configuration file. You can change keyboard shortcuts, window and pane numbering, status bar settings, and other behavior.<\/p>\n For system-wide settings, edit:<\/p>\n sudo nano \/etc\/tmux.conf<\/span><\/p>\n For settings that apply only to your user account, edit:<\/p>\n nano ~\/.tmux.conf<\/span><\/p>\n Some useful configuration examples include:<\/p>\n After modifying the configuration file, save the changes and exit the editor.<\/p>\n Configuration changes may not appear in an already running tmux session. Restart the relevant tmux session for the updated settings to take effect.<\/p>\n The following compact reference covers the commands<\/a> and shortcuts most commonly used when working with tmux.<\/p>\n |