Provided by: tmate_2.4.0-1_amd64 
NAME
tmate — terminal multiplexer with instant terminal sharing
SYNOPSIS
tmate [show-messages] [-2CluvV] [-c shell-command] [-f file] [-L socket-name] [-S socket-path]
[command [flags]]
DESCRIPTION
tmate is a terminal multiplexer with instant terminal sharing: it enables a number of terminals to be
created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen and be shared with another mates. tmate may be
detached from a screen and continue running in the background, then later reattached, like as a daemon.
tmate provides an instant pairing solution, allowing you to share a terminal with one or several
teammates. Together with a voice call, it's almost like pairing in person. The terminal sharing works by
using SSH connections to backend servers maintained by tmate upstream developers; teammates need to be
given a randomly-generated token to be able to join a session.
tmate is a modified version of tmate, and uses the same configurations such as keybindings, color schemes
etc.
When tmate is started it creates a new session with a single window and displays it on screen. A status
line at the bottom of the screen shows information on the current session, such as ssh command to share
with your mate, and is used to enter interactive commands.
A session is a single collection of pseudo terminals under the management of tmate. Each session has one
or more windows linked to it. A window occupies the entire screen and may be split into rectangular
panes, each of which is a separate pseudo terminal (the pty(4) manual page documents the technical
details of pseudo terminals). Any number of tmate instances may connect to the same session, and any
number of windows may be present in the same session. Once all sessions are killed, tmate exits.
Each session is persistent and will survive accidental disconnection (such as ssh(1) connection timeout)
or intentional detaching (with the ‘C-b d’ key strokes). tmate may be reattached using:
$ tmate attach
In tmate, a session is displayed on screen by a client and all sessions are managed by a single server.
The server and each client are separate processes which communicate through a socket in /tmp.
The options are as follows:
-2 Force tmate to assume the terminal supports 256 colours.
-C Start in control mode (see the “CONTROL MODE” section). Given twice (-CC) disables echo.
-c shell-command
Execute shell-command using the default shell. If necessary, the tmate server will be
started to retrieve the default-shell option. This option is for compatibility with sh(1)
when tmate is used as a login shell.
-f file Specify an alternative configuration file. By default, tmate loads the system
configuration file from @SYSCONFDIR@/tmux.conf, if present, then looks for a user
configuration file at ~/.tmux.conf and ~/.tmate.conf.
The configuration file is a set of tmate commands which are executed in sequence when the
server is first started. tmate loads configuration files once when the server process has
started. The source-file command may be used to load a file later.
tmate shows any error messages from commands in configuration files in the first session
created, and continues to process the rest of the configuration file.
-L socket-name
tmate stores the server socket in a directory under TMUX_TMPDIR or /tmp if it is unset.
The default socket is named default. This option allows a different socket name to be
specified, allowing several independent tmate servers to be run. Unlike -S a full path is
not necessary: the sockets are all created in the same directory.
If the socket is accidentally removed, the SIGUSR1 signal may be sent to the tmate server
process to recreate it (note that this will fail if any parent directories are missing).
-l Behave as a login shell. This flag currently has no effect and is for compatibility with
other shells when using tmate as a login shell.
-S socket-path
Specify a full alternative path to the server socket. If -S is specified, the default
socket directory is not used and any -L flag is ignored.
-u tmate attempts to guess if the terminal is likely to support UTF-8 by checking the first of
the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE and LANG environment variables to be set for the string "UTF-8". This
is not always correct: the -u flag explicitly informs tmate that UTF-8 is supported.
Note that tmate itself always accepts UTF-8; this controls whether it will send UTF-8
characters to the terminal it is running (if not, they are replaced by ‘_’).
-v Request verbose logging. This option may be specified multiple times for increasing
verbosity. Log messages will be saved into tmux-client-PID.log and tmux-server-PID.log
files in the current directory, where PID is the PID of the server or client process.
-V Report the tmate version.
command [flags]
This specifies one of a set of commands used to control tmate, as described in the
following sections. If no commands are specified, the new-session command is assumed.
KEY BINDINGS
tmate may be controlled from an attached client by using a key combination of a prefix key, ‘C-b’ (Ctrl-
b) by default, followed by a command key.
The default command key bindings are:
C-b Send the prefix key (C-b) through to the application.
C-o Rotate the panes in the current window forwards.
C-z Suspend the tmate client.
! Break the current pane out of the window.
" Split the current pane into two, top and bottom.
# List all paste buffers.
$ Rename the current session.
% Split the current pane into two, left and right.
& Kill the current window.
' Prompt for a window index to select.
( Switch the attached client to the previous session.
) Switch the attached client to the next session.
, Rename the current window.
- Delete the most recently copied buffer of text.
. Prompt for an index to move the current window.
0 to 9 Select windows 0 to 9.
: Enter the tmate command prompt.
; Move to the previously active pane.
= Choose which buffer to paste interactively from a list.
? List all key bindings.
D Choose a client to detach.
L Switch the attached client back to the last session.
[ Enter copy mode to copy text or view the history.
] Paste the most recently copied buffer of text.
c Create a new window.
d Detach the current client.
f Prompt to search for text in open windows.
i Display some information about the current window.
l Move to the previously selected window.
n Change to the next window.
o Select the next pane in the current window.
p Change to the previous window.
q Briefly display pane indexes.
r Force redraw of the attached client.
m Mark the current pane (see select-pane -m).
M Clear the marked pane.
s Select a new session for the attached client interactively.
t Show the time.
w Choose the current window interactively.
x Kill the current pane.
z Toggle zoom state of the current pane.
{ Swap the current pane with the previous pane.
} Swap the current pane with the next pane.
~ Show previous messages from tmate, if any.
Page Up Enter copy mode and scroll one page up.
Up, Down
Left, Right
Change to the pane above, below, to the left, or to the right of the current pane.
M-1 to M-5 Arrange panes in one of the five preset layouts: even-horizontal, even-vertical, main-
horizontal, main-vertical, or tiled.
Space Arrange the current window in the next preset layout.
M-n Move to the next window with a bell or activity marker.
M-o Rotate the panes in the current window backwards.
M-p Move to the previous window with a bell or activity marker.
C-Up, C-Down
C-Left, C-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of one cell.
M-Up, M-Down
M-Left, M-Right
Resize the current pane in steps of five cells.
Key bindings may be changed with the bind-key and unbind-key commands.
COMMANDS
This section contains a list of the commands supported by tmate. Most commands accept the optional -t
(and sometimes -s) argument with one of target-client, target-session target-window, or target-pane.
These specify the client, session, window or pane which a command should affect.
target-client is the name of the pty(4) file to which the client is connected, for example either of
/dev/ttyp1 or ttyp1 for the client attached to /dev/ttyp1. If no client is specified, tmate attempts to
work out the client currently in use; if that fails, an error is reported. Clients may be listed with
the list-clients command.
target-session is tried as, in order:
1. A session ID prefixed with a $.
2. An exact name of a session (as listed by the list-sessions command).
3. The start of a session name, for example ‘mysess’ would match a session named ‘mysession’.
4. An fnmatch(3) pattern which is matched against the session name.
If the session name is prefixed with an ‘=’, only an exact match is accepted (so ‘=mysess’ will only
match exactly ‘mysess’, not ‘mysession’).
If a single session is found, it is used as the target session; multiple matches produce an error. If a
session is omitted, the current session is used if available; if no current session is available, the
most recently used is chosen.
target-window (or src-window or dst-window) specifies a window in the form session:window. session
follows the same rules as for target-session, and window is looked for in order as:
1. A special token, listed below.
2. A window index, for example ‘mysession:1’ is window 1 in session ‘mysession’.
3. A window ID, such as @1.
4. An exact window name, such as ‘mysession:mywindow’.
5. The start of a window name, such as ‘mysession:mywin’.
6. As an fnmatch(3) pattern matched against the window name.
Like sessions, a ‘=’ prefix will do an exact match only. An empty window name specifies the next unused
index if appropriate (for example the new-window and link-window commands) otherwise the current window
in session is chosen.
The following special tokens are available to indicate particular windows. Each has a single-character
alternative form.
Token Meaning
{start} ^ The lowest-numbered window
{end} $ The highest-numbered window
{last} ! The last (previously current) window
{next} + The next window by number
{previous} - The previous window by number
target-pane (or src-pane or dst-pane) may be a pane ID or takes a similar form to target-window but with
the optional addition of a period followed by a pane index or pane ID, for example:
‘mysession:mywindow.1’. If the pane index is omitted, the currently active pane in the specified window
is used. The following special tokens are available for the pane index:
Token Meaning
{last} ! The last (previously active) pane
{next} + The next pane by number
{previous} - The previous pane by number
{top} The top pane
{bottom} The bottom pane
{left} The leftmost pane
{right} The rightmost pane
{top-left} The top-left pane
{top-right} The top-right pane
{bottom-left} The bottom-left pane
{bottom-right} The bottom-right pane
{up-of} The pane above the active pane
{down-of} The pane below the active pane
{left-of} The pane to the left of the active pane
{right-of} The pane to the right of the active pane
The tokens ‘+’ and ‘-’ may be followed by an offset, for example:
select-window -t:+2
In addition, target-session, target-window or target-pane may consist entirely of the token ‘{mouse}’
(alternative form ‘=’) to specify the most recent mouse event (see the “MOUSE SUPPORT” section) or
‘{marked}’ (alternative form ‘~’) to specify the marked pane (see select-pane -m).
Sessions, window and panes are each numbered with a unique ID; session IDs are prefixed with a ‘$’,
windows with a ‘@’, and panes with a ‘%’. These are unique and are unchanged for the life of the
session, window or pane in the tmate server. The pane ID is passed to the child process of the pane in
the TMUX_PANE environment variable. IDs may be displayed using the ‘session_id’, ‘window_id’, or
‘pane_id’ formats (see the “FORMATS” section) and the display-message, list-sessions, list-windows or
list-panes commands.
shell-command arguments are sh(1) commands. This may be a single argument passed to the shell, for
example:
new-window 'vi /etc/passwd'
Will run:
/bin/sh -c 'vi /etc/passwd'
Additionally, the new-window, new-session, split-window, respawn-window and respawn-pane commands allow
shell-command to be given as multiple arguments and executed directly (without ‘sh -c’). This can avoid
issues with shell quoting. For example:
$ tmate new-window vi /etc/passwd
Will run vi(1) directly without invoking the shell.
command [arguments] refers to a tmate command, passed with the command and arguments separately, for
example:
bind-key F1 set-window-option force-width 81
Or if using sh(1):
$ tmate bind-key F1 set-window-option force-width 81
Multiple commands may be specified together as part of a command sequence. Each command should be
separated by spaces and a semicolon; commands are executed sequentially from left to right and lines
ending with a backslash continue on to the next line, except when escaped by another backslash. A
literal semicolon may be included by escaping it with a backslash (for example, when specifying a command
sequence to bind-key).
Example tmate commands include:
refresh-client -t/dev/ttyp2
rename-session -tfirst newname
set-window-option -t:0 monitor-activity on
new-window ; split-window -d
bind-key R source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; \
display-message "source-file done"
Or from sh(1):
$ tmate kill-window -t :1
$ tmate new-window \; split-window -d
$ tmate new-session -d 'vi /etc/passwd' \; split-window -d \; attach
CLIENTS AND SESSIONS
The tmate server manages clients, sessions, windows and panes. Clients are attached to sessions to
interact with them, either when they are created with the new-session command, or later with the
attach-session command. Each session has one or more windows linked into it. Windows may be linked to
multiple sessions and are made up of one or more panes, each of which contains a pseudo terminal.
Commands for creating, linking and otherwise manipulating windows are covered in the “WINDOWS AND PANES”
section.
The following commands are available to manage clients and sessions:
attach-session [-dEr] [-c working-directory] [-t target-session]
(alias: attach)
If run from outside tmate, create a new client in the current terminal and attach it to
target-session. If used from inside, switch the current client. If -d is specified, any other
clients attached to the session are detached. -r signifies the client is read-only (only keys
bound to the detach-client or switch-client commands have any effect)
If no server is started, attach-session will attempt to start it; this will fail unless sessions
are created in the configuration file.
The target-session rules for attach-session are slightly adjusted: if tmate needs to select the
most recently used session, it will prefer the most recently used unattached session.
-c will set the session working directory (used for new windows) to working-directory.
If -E is used, the update-environment option will not be applied.
detach-client [-aP] [-s target-session] [-t target-client]
(alias: detach)
Detach the current client if bound to a key, the client specified with -t, or all clients
currently attached to the session specified by -s. The -a option kills all but the client given
with -t. If -P is given, send SIGHUP to the parent process of the client, typically causing it
to exit.
has-session [-t target-session]
(alias: has)
Report an error and exit with 1 if the specified session does not exist. If it does exist, exit
with 0.
kill-server
Kill the tmate server and clients and destroy all sessions.
kill-session [-aC] [-t target-session]
Destroy the given session, closing any windows linked to it and no other sessions, and detaching
all clients attached to it. If -a is given, all sessions but the specified one is killed. The
-C flag clears alerts (bell, activity, or silence) in all windows linked to the session.
list-clients [-F format] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsc)
List all clients attached to the server. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS”
section. If target-session is specified, list only clients connected to that session.
list-commands
(alias: lscm)
List the syntax of all commands supported by tmate.
list-sessions [-F format]
(alias: ls)
List all sessions managed by the server. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS”
section.
lock-client [-t target-client]
(alias: lockc)
Lock target-client, see the lock-server command.
lock-session [-t target-session]
(alias: locks)
Lock all clients attached to target-session.
new-session [-AdDEP] [-c start-directory] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-s session-name] [-t
target-session] [-x width] [-y height] [shell-command]
(alias: new)
Create a new session with name session-name.
The new session is attached to the current terminal unless -d is given. window-name and
shell-command are the name of and shell command to execute in the initial window. If -d is used,
-x and -y specify the size of the initial window (80 by 24 if not given).
If run from a terminal, any termios(4) special characters are saved and used for new windows in
the new session.
The -A flag makes new-session behave like attach-session if session-name already exists; in this
case, -D behaves like -d to attach-session.
If -t is given, the new session is grouped with target-session. This means they share the same
set of windows - all windows from target-session are linked to the new session, any new windows
are linked to both sessions and any windows closed removed from both sessions. The current and
previous window and any session options remain independent and either session may be killed
without affecting the other. -n and shell-command are invalid if -t is used.
The -P option prints information about the new session after it has been created. By default, it
uses the format ‘#{session_name}:’ but a different format may be specified with -F.
If -E is used, the update-environment option will not be applied.
refresh-client [-S] [-t target-client]
(alias: refresh)
Refresh the current client if bound to a key, or a single client if one is given with -t. If -S
is specified, only update the client's status bar.
rename-session [-t target-session] new-name
(alias: rename)
Rename the session to new-name.
show-messages [-JT] [-t target-client]
(alias: showmsgs)
Show client messages or server information. Any messages displayed on the status line are saved
in a per-client message log, up to a maximum of the limit set by the message-limit server option.
With -t, display the log for target-client. -J and -T show debugging information about jobs and
terminals.
source-file path
(alias: source)
Execute commands from path.
start-server
(alias: start)
Start the tmate server, if not already running, without creating any sessions.
suspend-client [-t target-client]
(alias: suspendc)
Suspend a client by sending SIGTSTP (tty stop).
switch-client [-Elnpr] [-c target-client] [-t target-session] [-T key-table]
(alias: switchc)
Switch the current session for client target-client to target-session. If -l, -n or -p is used,
the client is moved to the last, next or previous session respectively. -r toggles whether a
client is read-only (see the attach-session command).
If -E is used, update-environment option will not be applied.
-T sets the client's key table; the next key from the client will be interpreted from key-table.
This may be used to configure multiple prefix keys, or to bind commands to sequences of keys.
For example, to make typing ‘abc’ run the list-keys command:
bind-key -Ttable2 c list-keys
bind-key -Ttable1 b switch-client -Ttable2
bind-key -Troot a switch-client -Ttable1
WINDOWS AND PANES
A tmate window may be in one of several modes. The default permits direct access to the terminal
attached to the window. The other is copy mode, which permits a section of a window or its history to be
copied to a paste buffer for later insertion into another window. This mode is entered with the
copy-mode command, bound to ‘[’ by default. It is also entered when a command that produces output, such
as list-keys, is executed from a key binding.
The keys available depend on whether emacs or vi mode is selected (see the mode-keys option). The
following keys are supported as appropriate for the mode:
Function vi emacs
Append selection A
Back to indentation ^ M-m
Bottom of history G M-<
Clear selection Escape C-g
Copy selection Enter M-w
Copy to named buffer "
Cursor down j Down
Cursor left h Left
Cursor right l Right
Cursor to bottom line L
Cursor to middle line M M-r
Cursor to top line H M-R
Cursor up k Up
Delete entire line d C-u
Delete/Copy to end of line D C-k
End of line $ C-e
Go to line : g
Half page down C-d M-Down
Half page up C-u M-Up
Jump again ; ;
Jump again in reverse , ,
Jump backward F F
Jump forward f f
Jump to backward T
Jump to forward t
Next page C-f Page down
Next space W
Next space, end of word E
Next word w
Next word end e M-f
Other end of selection o
Paste buffer p C-y
Previous page C-b Page up
Previous space B
Previous word b M-b
Quit mode q Escape
Rectangle toggle v R
Scroll down C-Down or C-e C-Down
Scroll up C-Up or C-y C-Up
Search again n n
Search again in reverse N N
Search backward ? C-r
Search forward / C-s
Select line V
Start of line 0 C-a
Start selection Space C-Space
Top of history g M->
Transpose characters C-t
The next and previous word keys use space and the ‘-’, ‘_’ and ‘@’ characters as word delimiters by
default, but this can be adjusted by setting the word-separators session option. Next word moves to the
start of the next word, next word end to the end of the next word and previous word to the start of the
previous word. The three next and previous space keys work similarly but use a space alone as the word
separator.
The jump commands enable quick movement within a line. For instance, typing ‘f’ followed by ‘/’ will
move the cursor to the next ‘/’ character on the current line. A ‘;’ will then jump to the next
occurrence.
Commands in copy mode may be prefaced by an optional repeat count. With vi key bindings, a prefix is
entered using the number keys; with emacs, the Alt (meta) key and a number begins prefix entry. For
example, to move the cursor forward by ten words, use ‘M-1 0 M-f’ in emacs mode, and ‘10w’ in vi.
Mode key bindings are defined in a set of named tables: vi-edit and emacs-edit for keys used when line
editing at the command prompt; vi-choice and emacs-choice for keys used when choosing from lists (such as
produced by the choose-window command); and vi-copy and emacs-copy used in copy mode. The tables may be
viewed with the list-keys command and keys modified or removed with bind-key and unbind-key. If
append-selection, copy-selection, or start-named-buffer are given the -x flag, tmate will not exit copy
mode after copying. copy-pipe copies the selection and pipes it to a command. For example the following
will bind ‘C-w’ not to exit after copying and ‘C-q’ to copy the selection into /tmp as well as the paste
buffer:
bind-key -temacs-copy C-w copy-selection -x
bind-key -temacs-copy C-q copy-pipe "cat >/tmp/out"
The paste buffer key pastes the first line from the top paste buffer on the stack.
The synopsis for the copy-mode command is:
copy-mode [-Meu] [-t target-pane]
Enter copy mode. The -u option scrolls one page up. -M begins a mouse drag (only valid if bound
to a mouse key binding, see “MOUSE SUPPORT”). -e specifies that scrolling to the bottom of the
history (to the visible screen) should exit copy mode. While in copy mode, pressing a key other
than those used for scrolling will disable this behaviour. This is intended to allow fast
scrolling through a pane's history, for example with:
bind PageUp copy-mode -eu
Each window displayed by tmate may be split into one or more panes; each pane takes up a certain area of
the display and is a separate terminal. A window may be split into panes using the split-window command.
Windows may be split horizontally (with the -h flag) or vertically. Panes may be resized with the
resize-pane command (bound to ‘C-up’, ‘C-down’ ‘C-left’ and ‘C-right’ by default), the current pane may
be changed with the select-pane command and the rotate-window and swap-pane commands may be used to swap
panes without changing their position. Panes are numbered beginning from zero in the order they are
created.
A number of preset layouts are available. These may be selected with the select-layout command or cycled
with next-layout (bound to ‘Space’ by default); once a layout is chosen, panes within it may be moved and
resized as normal.
The following layouts are supported:
even-horizontal
Panes are spread out evenly from left to right across the window.
even-vertical
Panes are spread evenly from top to bottom.
main-horizontal
A large (main) pane is shown at the top of the window and the remaining panes are spread from
left to right in the leftover space at the bottom. Use the main-pane-height window option to
specify the height of the top pane.
main-vertical
Similar to main-horizontal but the large pane is placed on the left and the others spread from
top to bottom along the right. See the main-pane-width window option.
tiled Panes are spread out as evenly as possible over the window in both rows and columns.
In addition, select-layout may be used to apply a previously used layout - the list-windows command
displays the layout of each window in a form suitable for use with select-layout. For example:
$ tmate list-windows
0: ksh [159x48]
layout: bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}
$ tmate select-layout bb62,159x48,0,0{79x48,0,0,79x48,80,0}
tmate automatically adjusts the size of the layout for the current window size. Note that a layout
cannot be applied to a window with more panes than that from which the layout was originally defined.
Commands related to windows and panes are as follows:
break-pane [-dP] [-F format] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-window]
(alias: breakp)
Break src-pane off from its containing window to make it the only pane in dst-window. If -d is
given, the new window does not become the current window. The -P option prints information about
the new window after it has been created. By default, it uses the format
‘#{session_name}:#{window_index}’ but a different format may be specified with -F.
capture-pane [-aepPq] [-b buffer-name] [-E end-line] [-S start-line] [-t target-pane]
(alias: capturep)
Capture the contents of a pane. If -p is given, the output goes to stdout, otherwise to the
buffer specified with -b or a new buffer if omitted. If -a is given, the alternate screen is
used, and the history is not accessible. If no alternate screen exists, an error will be
returned unless -q is given. If -e is given, the output includes escape sequences for text and
background attributes. -C also escapes non-printable characters as octal \xxx. -J joins wrapped
lines and preserves trailing spaces at each line's end. -P captures only any output that the
pane has received that is the beginning of an as-yet incomplete escape sequence.
-S and -E specify the starting and ending line numbers, zero is the first line of the visible
pane and negative numbers are lines in the history. ‘-’ to -S is the start of the history and to
-E the end of the visible pane. The default is to capture only the visible contents of the pane.
choose-client [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into client choice mode, allowing a client to be selected interactively from a list.
After a client is chosen, ‘%%’ is replaced by the client pty(4) path in template and the result
executed as a command. If template is not given, "detach-client -t '%%'" is used. For the
meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS” section. This command works only if at least one
client is attached.
choose-session [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into session choice mode, where a session may be selected interactively from a list.
When one is chosen, ‘%%’ is replaced by the session name in template and the result executed as a
command. If template is not given, "switch-client -t '%%'" is used. For the meaning of the -F
flag, see the “FORMATS” section. This command works only if at least one client is attached.
choose-tree [-suw] [-b session-template] [-c window-template] [-S format] [-W format] [-t target-window]
Put a window into tree choice mode, where either sessions or windows may be selected
interactively from a list. By default, windows belonging to a session are indented to show their
relationship to a session.
Note that the choose-window and choose-session commands are wrappers around choose-tree.
If -s is given, will show sessions. If -w is given, will show windows.
By default, the tree is collapsed and sessions must be expanded to windows with the right arrow
key. The -u option will start with all sessions expanded instead.
If -b is given, will override the default session command. Note that ‘%%’ can be used and will
be replaced with the session name. The default option if not specified is "switch-client -t
'%%'". If -c is given, will override the default window command. Like -b, ‘%%’ can be used and
will be replaced with the session name and window index. When a window is chosen from the list,
the session command is run before the window command.
If -S is given will display the specified format instead of the default session format. If -W is
given will display the specified format instead of the default window format. For the meaning of
the -s and -w options, see the “FORMATS” section.
This command works only if at least one client is attached.
choose-window [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into window choice mode, where a window may be chosen interactively from a list.
After a window is selected, ‘%%’ is replaced by the session name and window index in template and
the result executed as a command. If template is not given, "select-window -t '%%'" is used.
For the meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS” section. This command works only if at least
one client is attached.
display-panes [-t target-client]
(alias: displayp)
Display a visible indicator of each pane shown by target-client. See the display-panes-time,
display-panes-colour, and display-panes-active-colour session options. While the indicator is on
screen, a pane may be selected with the ‘0’ to ‘9’ keys.
find-window [-CNT] [-F format] [-t target-window] match-string
(alias: findw)
Search for the fnmatch(3) pattern match-string in window names, titles, and visible content (but
not history). The flags control matching behavior: -C matches only visible window contents, -N
matches only the window name and -T matches only the window title. The default is -CNT. If only
one window is matched, it'll be automatically selected, otherwise a choice list is shown. For
the meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS” section. This command works only if at least one
client is attached.
join-pane [-bdhv] [-l size | -p percentage] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: joinp)
Like split-window, but instead of splitting dst-pane and creating a new pane, split it and move
src-pane into the space. This can be used to reverse break-pane. The -b option causes src-pane
to be joined to left of or above dst-pane.
If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see select-pane -m), the marked pane is used
rather than the current pane.
kill-pane [-a] [-t target-pane]
(alias: killp)
Destroy the given pane. If no panes remain in the containing window, it is also destroyed. The
-a option kills all but the pane given with -t.
kill-window [-a] [-t target-window]
(alias: killw)
Kill the current window or the window at target-window, removing it from any sessions to which it
is linked. The -a option kills all but the window given with -t.
last-pane [-de] [-t target-window]
(alias: lastp)
Select the last (previously selected) pane. -e enables or -d disables input to the pane.
last-window [-t target-session]
(alias: last)
Select the last (previously selected) window. If no target-session is specified, select the last
window of the current session.
link-window [-adk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: linkw)
Link the window at src-window to the specified dst-window. If dst-window is specified and no
such window exists, the src-window is linked there. With -a, the window is moved to the next
index up (following windows are moved if necessary). If -k is given and dst-window exists, it is
killed, otherwise an error is generated. If -d is given, the newly linked window is not
selected.
list-panes [-as] [-F format] [-t target]
(alias: lsp)
If -a is given, target is ignored and all panes on the server are listed. If -s is given, target
is a session (or the current session). If neither is given, target is a window (or the current
window). For the meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS” section.
list-windows [-a] [-F format] [-t target-session]
(alias: lsw)
If -a is given, list all windows on the server. Otherwise, list windows in the current session
or in target-session. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS” section.
move-pane [-bdhv] [-l size | -p percentage] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: movep)
Like join-pane, but src-pane and dst-pane may belong to the same window.
move-window [-ardk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: movew)
This is similar to link-window, except the window at src-window is moved to dst-window. With -r,
all windows in the session are renumbered in sequential order, respecting the base-index option.
new-window [-adkP] [-c start-directory] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-t target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: neww)
Create a new window. With -a, the new window is inserted at the next index up from the specified
target-window, moving windows up if necessary, otherwise target-window is the new window
location.
If -d is given, the session does not make the new window the current window. target-window
represents the window to be created; if the target already exists an error is shown, unless the
-k flag is used, in which case it is destroyed. shell-command is the command to execute. If
shell-command is not specified, the value of the default-command option is used. -c specifies
the working directory in which the new window is created.
When the shell command completes, the window closes. See the remain-on-exit option to change
this behaviour.
The TERM environment variable must be set to “screen” for all programs running inside tmate. New
windows will automatically have “TERM=screen” added to their environment, but care must be taken
not to reset this in shell start-up files.
The -P option prints information about the new window after it has been created. By default, it
uses the format ‘#{session_name}:#{window_index}’ but a different format may be specified with
-F.
next-layout [-t target-window]
(alias: nextl)
Move a window to the next layout and rearrange the panes to fit.
next-window [-a] [-t target-session]
(alias: next)
Move to the next window in the session. If -a is used, move to the next window with an alert.
pipe-pane [-o] [-t target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: pipep)
Pipe any output sent by the program in target-pane to a shell command. A pane may only be piped
to one command at a time, any existing pipe is closed before shell-command is executed. The
shell-command string may contain the special character sequences supported by the status-left
option. If no shell-command is given, the current pipe (if any) is closed.
The -o option only opens a new pipe if no previous pipe exists, allowing a pipe to be toggled
with a single key, for example:
bind-key C-p pipe-pane -o 'cat >>~/output.#I-#P'
previous-layout [-t target-window]
(alias: prevl)
Move to the previous layout in the session.
previous-window [-a] [-t target-session]
(alias: prev)
Move to the previous window in the session. With -a, move to the previous window with an alert.
rename-window [-t target-window] new-name
(alias: renamew)
Rename the current window, or the window at target-window if specified, to new-name.
resize-pane [-DLMRUZ] [-t target-pane] [-x width] [-y height] [adjustment]
(alias: resizep)
Resize a pane, up, down, left or right by adjustment with -U, -D, -L or -R, or to an absolute
size with -x or -y. The adjustment is given in lines or cells (the default is 1).
With -Z, the active pane is toggled between zoomed (occupying the whole of the window) and
unzoomed (its normal position in the layout).
-M begins mouse resizing (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding, see “MOUSE SUPPORT”).
respawn-pane [-k] [-t target-pane] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnp)
Reactivate a pane in which the command has exited (see the remain-on-exit window option). If
shell-command is not given, the command used when the pane was created is executed. The pane
must be already inactive, unless -k is given, in which case any existing command is killed.
respawn-window [-k] [-t target-window] [shell-command]
(alias: respawnw)
Reactivate a window in which the command has exited (see the remain-on-exit window option). If
shell-command is not given, the command used when the window was created is executed. The window
must be already inactive, unless -k is given, in which case any existing command is killed.
rotate-window [-DU] [-t target-window]
(alias: rotatew)
Rotate the positions of the panes within a window, either upward (numerically lower) with -U or
downward (numerically higher).
select-layout [-nop] [-t target-window] [layout-name]
(alias: selectl)
Choose a specific layout for a window. If layout-name is not given, the last preset layout used
(if any) is reapplied. -n and -p are equivalent to the next-layout and previous-layout commands.
-o applies the last set layout if possible (undoes the most recent layout change).
select-pane [-DdegLlMmRU] [-P style] [-t target-pane]
(alias: selectp)
Make pane target-pane the active pane in window target-window, or set its style (with -P). If
one of -D, -L, -R, or -U is used, respectively the pane below, to the left, to the right, or
above the target pane is used. -l is the same as using the last-pane command. -e enables or -d
disables input to the pane.
-m and -M are used to set and clear the marked pane. There is one marked pane at a time, setting
a new marked pane clears the last. The marked pane is the default target for -s to join-pane,
swap-pane and swap-window.
Each pane has a style: by default the window-style and window-active-style options are used,
select-pane -P sets the style for a single pane. For example, to set the pane 1 background to
red:
select-pane -t:.1 -P 'bg=red'
-g shows the current pane style.
select-window [-lnpT] [-t target-window]
(alias: selectw)
Select the window at target-window. -l, -n and -p are equivalent to the last-window, next-window
and previous-window commands. If -T is given and the selected window is already the current
window, the command behaves like last-window.
split-window [-bdhvP] [-c start-directory] [-l size | -p percentage] [-t target-pane] [shell-command] [-F
format]
(alias: splitw)
Create a new pane by splitting target-pane: -h does a horizontal split and -v a vertical split;
if neither is specified, -v is assumed. The -l and -p options specify the size of the new pane
in lines (for vertical split) or in cells (for horizontal split), or as a percentage,
respectively. The -b option causes the new pane to be created to the left of or above
target-pane. All other options have the same meaning as for the new-window command.
swap-pane [-dDU] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]
(alias: swapp)
Swap two panes. If -U is used and no source pane is specified with -s, dst-pane is swapped with
the previous pane (before it numerically); -D swaps with the next pane (after it numerically).
-d instructs tmate not to change the active pane.
If -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see select-pane -m), the marked pane is used
rather than the current pane.
swap-window [-d] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
(alias: swapw)
This is similar to link-window, except the source and destination windows are swapped. It is an
error if no window exists at src-window.
Like swap-pane, if -s is omitted and a marked pane is present (see select-pane -m), the window
containing the marked pane is used rather than the current window.
unlink-window [-k] [-t target-window]
(alias: unlinkw)
Unlink target-window. Unless -k is given, a window may be unlinked only if it is linked to
multiple sessions - windows may not be linked to no sessions; if -k is specified and the window
is linked to only one session, it is unlinked and destroyed.
KEY BINDINGS
tmate allows a command to be bound to most keys, with or without a prefix key. When specifying keys,
most represent themselves (for example ‘A’ to ‘Z’). Ctrl keys may be prefixed with ‘C-’ or ‘^’, and Alt
(meta) with ‘M-’. In addition, the following special key names are accepted: Up, Down, Left, Right,
BSpace, BTab, DC (Delete), End, Enter, Escape, F1 to F12, Home, IC (Insert), NPage/PageDown/PgDn,
PPage/PageUp/PgUp, Space, and Tab. Note that to bind the ‘"’ or ‘'’ keys, quotation marks are necessary,
for example:
bind-key '"' split-window
bind-key "'" new-window
Commands related to key bindings are as follows:
bind-key [-cnr] [-t mode-table] [-T key-table] key command [arguments]
(alias: bind)
Bind key key to command. Keys are bound in a key table. By default (without -T), the key is
bound in the prefix key table. This table is used for keys pressed after the prefix key (for
example, by default ‘c’ is bound to new-window in the prefix table, so ‘C-b c’ creates a new
window). The root table is used for keys pressed without the prefix key: binding ‘c’ to
new-window in the root table (not recommended) means a plain ‘c’ will create a new window. -n is
an alias for -T root. Keys may also be bound in custom key tables and the switch-client -T
command used to switch to them from a key binding. The -r flag indicates this key may repeat,
see the repeat-time option.
If -t is present, key is bound in mode-table: the binding for command mode with -c or for normal
mode without. See the “WINDOWS AND PANES” section and the list-keys command for information on
mode key bindings.
To view the default bindings and possible commands, see the list-keys command.
list-keys [-t mode-table] [-T key-table]
(alias: lsk)
List all key bindings. Without -T all key tables are printed. With -T only key-table.
With -t, the key bindings in mode-table are listed; this may be one of: vi-edit, emacs-edit,
vi-choice, emacs-choice, vi-copy or emacs-copy.
send-keys [-lMR] [-t target-pane] key ...
(alias: send)
Send a key or keys to a window. Each argument key is the name of the key (such as ‘C-a’ or
‘npage’ ) to send; if the string is not recognised as a key, it is sent as a series of
characters. The -l flag disables key name lookup and sends the keys literally. All arguments
are sent sequentially from first to last. The -R flag causes the terminal state to be reset.
-M passes through a mouse event (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding, see “MOUSE
SUPPORT”).
send-prefix [-2] [-t target-pane]
Send the prefix key, or with -2 the secondary prefix key, to a window as if it was pressed.
unbind-key [-acn] [-t mode-table] [-T key-table] key
(alias: unbind)
Unbind the command bound to key. -c, -n, -T and -t are the same as for bind-key. If -a is
present, all key bindings are removed.
OPTIONS
The appearance and behaviour of tmate may be modified by changing the value of various options. There
are three types of option: server options, session options and window options.
The tmate server has a set of global options which do not apply to any particular window or session.
These are altered with the set-option -s command, or displayed with the show-options -s command.
In addition, each individual session may have a set of session options, and there is a separate set of
global session options. Sessions which do not have a particular option configured inherit the value from
the global session options. Session options are set or unset with the set-option command and may be
listed with the show-options command. The available server and session options are listed under the
set-option command.
Similarly, a set of window options is attached to each window, and there is a set of global window
options from which any unset options are inherited. Window options are altered with the
set-window-option command and can be listed with the show-window-options command. All window options are
documented with the set-window-option command.
tmate also supports user options which are prefixed with a ‘@’. User options may have any name, so long
as they are prefixed with ‘@’, and be set to any string. For example:
$ tmate setw -q @foo "abc123"
$ tmate showw -v @foo
abc123
Commands which set options are as follows:
set-option [-agoqsuw] [-t target-session | target-window] option value
(alias: set)
Set a window option with -w (equivalent to the set-window-option command), a server option with
-s, otherwise a session option. If -g is given, the global session or window option is set. The
-u flag unsets an option, so a session inherits the option from the global options (or with -g,
restores a global option to the default).
The -o flag prevents setting an option that is already set and the -q flag suppresses errors
about unknown or ambiguous options.
With -a, and if the option expects a string or a style, value is appended to the existing
setting. For example:
set -g status-left "foo"
set -ag status-left "bar"
Will result in ‘foobar’. And:
set -g status-style "bg=red"
set -ag status-style "fg=blue"
Will result in a red background and blue foreground. Without -a, the result would be the default
background and a blue foreground.
Available window options are listed under set-window-option.
value depends on the option and may be a number, a string, or a flag (on, off, or omitted to
toggle).
Available server options are:
buffer-limit number
Set the number of buffers; as new buffers are added to the top of the stack, old ones are
removed from the bottom if necessary to maintain this maximum length.
default-terminal terminal
Set the default terminal for new windows created in this session - the default value of
the TERM environment variable. For tmate to work correctly, this must be set to
‘screen’, ‘tmux’, ‘tmate’ or a derivative of them.
escape-time time
Set the time in milliseconds for which tmate waits after an escape is input to determine
if it is part of a function or meta key sequences. The default is 500 milliseconds.
exit-unattached [on | off]
If enabled, the server will exit when there are no attached clients.
focus-events [on | off]
When enabled, focus events are requested from the terminal if supported and passed
through to applications running in tmate. Attached clients should be detached and
attached again after changing this option.
history-file path
If not empty, a file to which tmate will write command prompt history on exit and load it
from on start.
message-limit number
Set the number of error or information messages to save in the message log for each
client. The default is 100.
set-clipboard [on | off]
Attempt to set the terminal clipboard content using the \e]52;...\007 xterm(1) escape
sequences. This option is on by default if there is an Ms entry in the terminfo(5)
description for the client terminal. Note that this feature needs to be enabled in
xterm(1) by setting the resource:
disallowedWindowOps: 20,21,SetXprop
Or changing this property from the xterm(1) interactive menu when required.
terminal-overrides string
Contains a list of entries which override terminal descriptions read using terminfo(5).
string is a comma-separated list of items each a colon-separated string made up of a
terminal type pattern (matched using fnmatch(3)) and a set of name=value entries.
For example, to set the ‘clear’ terminfo(5) entry to ‘\e[H\e[2J’ for all terminal types
and the ‘dch1’ entry to ‘\e[P’ for the ‘rxvt’ terminal type, the option could be set to
the string:
"*:clear=\e[H\e[2J,rxvt:dch1=\e[P"
The terminal entry value is passed through strunvis(3) before interpretation. The
default value forcibly corrects the ‘colors’ entry for terminals which support 256
colours:
"*256col*:colors=256,xterm*:XT"
Available session options are:
assume-paste-time milliseconds
If keys are entered faster than one in milliseconds, they are assumed to have been pasted
rather than typed and tmate key bindings are not processed. The default is one
millisecond and zero disables.
base-index index
Set the base index from which an unused index should be searched when a new window is
created. The default is zero.
bell-action [any | none | current | other]
Set action on window bell. any means a bell in any window linked to a session causes a
bell in the current window of that session, none means all bells are ignored, current
means only bells in windows other than the current window are ignored and other means
bells in the current window are ignored but not those in other windows.
bell-on-alert [on | off]
If on, ring the terminal bell when an alert occurs.
default-command shell-command
Set the command used for new windows (if not specified when the window is created) to
shell-command, which may be any sh(1) command. The default is an empty string, which
instructs tmate to create a login shell using the value of the default-shell option.
default-shell path
Specify the default shell. This is used as the login shell for new windows when the
default-command option is set to empty, and must be the full path of the executable.
When started tmate tries to set a default value from the first suitable of the SHELL
environment variable, the shell returned by getpwuid(3), or /bin/sh. This option should
be configured when tmate is used as a login shell.
destroy-unattached [on | off]
If enabled and the session is no longer attached to any clients, it is destroyed.
detach-on-destroy [on | off]
If on (the default), the client is detached when the session it is attached to is
destroyed. If off, the client is switched to the most recently active of the remaining
sessions.
display-panes-active-colour colour
Set the colour used by the display-panes command to show the indicator for the active
pane.
display-panes-colour colour
Set the colour used by the display-panes command to show the indicators for inactive
panes.
display-panes-time time
Set the time in milliseconds for which the indicators shown by the display-panes command
appear.
display-time time
Set the amount of time for which status line messages and other on-screen indicators are
displayed. If set to 0, messages and indicators are displayed until a key is pressed.
time is in milliseconds.
history-limit lines
Set the maximum number of lines held in window history. This setting applies only to new
windows - existing window histories are not resized and retain the limit at the point
they were created.
key-table key-table
Set the default key table to key-table instead of root.
lock-after-time number
Lock the session (like the lock-session command) after number seconds of inactivity. The
default is not to lock (set to 0).
lock-command shell-command
Command to run when locking each client. The default is to run lock(1) with -np.
message-command-style style
Set status line message command style, where style is a comma-separated list of
characteristics to be specified.
These may be ‘bg=colour’ to set the background colour, ‘fg=colour’ to set the foreground
colour, and a list of attributes as specified below.
The colour is one of: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, aixterm
bright variants (if supported: brightred, brightgreen, and so on), colour0 to colour255
from the 256-colour set, default, or a hexadecimal RGB string such as ‘#ffffff’, which
chooses the closest match from the default 256-colour set.
The attributes is either none or a comma-delimited list of one or more of: bright (or
bold), dim, underscore, blink, reverse, hidden, or italics, to turn an attribute on, or
an attribute prefixed with ‘no’ to turn one off.
Examples are:
fg=yellow,bold,underscore,blink
bg=black,fg=default,noreverse
With the -a flag to the set-option command the new style is added otherwise the existing
style is replaced.
message-style style
Set status line message style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
mouse [on | off]
If on, tmate captures the mouse and allows mouse events to be bound as key bindings. See
the “MOUSE SUPPORT” section for details.
prefix key
Set the key accepted as a prefix key. In addition to the standard keys described under
“KEY BINDINGS”, prefix can be set to the special key ‘None’ to set no prefix.
prefix2 key
Set a secondary key accepted as a prefix key. Like prefix, prefix2 can be set to ‘None’.
renumber-windows [on | off]
If on, when a window is closed in a session, automatically renumber the other windows in
numerical order. This respects the base-index option if it has been set. If off, do not
renumber the windows.
repeat-time time
Allow multiple commands to be entered without pressing the prefix-key again in the
specified time milliseconds (the default is 500). Whether a key repeats may be set when
it is bound using the -r flag to bind-key. Repeat is enabled for the default keys bound
to the resize-pane command.
set-remain-on-exit [on | off]
Set the remain-on-exit window option for any windows first created in this session. When
this option is true, windows in which the running program has exited do not close,
instead remaining open but inactivate. Use the respawn-window command to reactivate such
a window, or the kill-window command to destroy it.
set-titles [on | off]
Attempt to set the client terminal title using the tsl and fsl terminfo(5) entries if
they exist. tmate automatically sets these to the \e]0;...\007 sequence if the terminal
appears to be xterm(1). This option is off by default.
set-titles-string string
String used to set the window title if set-titles is on. Formats are expanded, see the
“FORMATS” section.
status [on | off]
Show or hide the status line.
status-interval interval
Update the status bar every interval seconds. By default, updates will occur every 15
seconds. A setting of zero disables redrawing at interval.
status-justify [left | centre | right]
Set the position of the window list component of the status line: left, centre or right
justified.
status-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in the status line, for example at the command prompt.
The default is emacs, unless the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables are set and
contain the string ‘vi’.
status-left string
Display string (by default the session name) to the left of the status bar. string will
be passed through strftime(3) and formats (see “FORMATS”) will be expanded. It may also
contain any of the following special character sequences:
Character pair Replaced with
#[attributes] Colour or attribute change
## A literal ‘#’
For details on how the names and titles can be set see the “NAMES AND TITLES” section.
For a list of allowed attributes see the message-command-style option.
Examples are:
#(sysctl vm.loadavg)
#[fg=yellow,bold]#(apm -l)%%#[default] [#S]
The default is ‘[#S] ’.
status-left-length length
Set the maximum length of the left component of the status bar. The default is 10.
status-left-style style
Set the style of the left part of the status line. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
status-position [top | bottom]
Set the position of the status line.
status-right string
Display string to the right of the status bar. By default, the current window title in
double quotes, the date and the time are shown. As with status-left, string will be
passed to strftime(3) and character pairs are replaced.
status-right-length length
Set the maximum length of the right component of the status bar. The default is 40.
status-right-style style
Set the style of the right part of the status line. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
status-style style
Set status line style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option.
update-environment variables
Set a space-separated string containing a list of environment variables to be copied into
the session environment when a new session is created or an existing session is attached.
Any variables that do not exist in the source environment are set to be removed from the
session environment (as if -r was given to the set-environment command). The default is
"DISPLAY SSH_ASKPASS SSH_AUTH_SOCK SSH_AGENT_PID SSH_CONNECTION WINDOWID XAUTHORITY".
visual-activity [on | off]
If on, display a status line message when activity occurs in a window for which the
monitor-activity window option is enabled.
visual-bell [on | off]
If this option is on, a message is shown on a bell instead of it being passed through to
the terminal (which normally makes a sound). Also see the bell-action option.
visual-silence [on | off]
If monitor-silence is enabled, prints a message after the interval has expired on a given
window.
word-separators string
Sets the session's conception of what characters are considered word separators, for the
purposes of the next and previous word commands in copy mode. The default is ‘ -_@’.
set-window-option [-agoqu] [-t target-window] option value
(alias: setw)
Set a window option. The -a, -g, -o, -q and -u flags work similarly to the set-option command.
Supported window options are:
aggressive-resize [on | off]
Aggressively resize the chosen window. This means that tmate will resize the window to
the size of the smallest session for which it is the current window, rather than the
smallest session to which it is attached. The window may resize when the current window
is changed on another sessions; this option is good for full-screen programs which
support SIGWINCH and poor for interactive programs such as shells.
allow-rename [on | off]
Allow programs to change the window name using a terminal escape sequence (\ek...\e\\).
The default is on.
alternate-screen [on | off]
This option configures whether programs running inside tmate may use the terminal
alternate screen feature, which allows the smcup and rmcup terminfo(5) capabilities. The
alternate screen feature preserves the contents of the window when an interactive
application starts and restores it on exit, so that any output visible before the
application starts reappears unchanged after it exits. The default is on.
automatic-rename [on | off]
Control automatic window renaming. When this setting is enabled, tmate will rename the
window automatically using the format specified by automatic-rename-format. This flag is
automatically disabled for an individual window when a name is specified at creation with
new-window or new-session, or later with rename-window, or with a terminal escape
sequence. It may be switched off globally with:
set-window-option -g automatic-rename off
automatic-rename-format format
The format (see “FORMATS”) used when the automatic-rename option is enabled.
clock-mode-colour colour
Set clock colour.
clock-mode-style [12 | 24]
Set clock hour format.
force-height height
force-width width
Prevent tmate from resizing a window to greater than width or height. A value of zero
restores the default unlimited setting.
main-pane-height height
main-pane-width width
Set the width or height of the main (left or top) pane in the main-horizontal or
main-vertical layouts.
mode-keys [vi | emacs]
Use vi or emacs-style key bindings in copy and choice modes. As with the status-keys
option, the default is emacs, unless VISUAL or EDITOR contains ‘vi’.
mode-style style
Set window modes style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style option.
monitor-activity [on | off]
Monitor for activity in the window. Windows with activity are highlighted in the status
line.
monitor-silence [interval]
Monitor for silence (no activity) in the window within interval seconds. Windows that
have been silent for the interval are highlighted in the status line. An interval of
zero disables the monitoring.
other-pane-height height
Set the height of the other panes (not the main pane) in the main-horizontal layout. If
this option is set to 0 (the default), it will have no effect. If both the
main-pane-height and other-pane-height options are set, the main pane will grow taller to
make the other panes the specified height, but will never shrink to do so.
other-pane-width width
Like other-pane-height, but set the width of other panes in the main-vertical layout.
pane-active-border-style style
Set the pane border style for the currently active pane. For how to specify style, see
the message-command-style option. Attributes are ignored.
pane-base-index index
Like base-index, but set the starting index for pane numbers.
pane-border-style style
Set the pane border style for panes aside from the active pane. For how to specify
style, see the message-command-style option. Attributes are ignored.
remain-on-exit [on | off]
A window with this flag set is not destroyed when the program running in it exits. The
window may be reactivated with the respawn-window command.
synchronize-panes [on | off]
Duplicate input to any pane to all other panes in the same window (only for panes that
are not in any special mode).
window-active-style style
Set the style for the window's active pane. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
window-status-activity-style style
Set status line style for windows with an activity alert. For how to specify style, see
the message-command-style option.
window-status-bell-style style
Set status line style for windows with a bell alert. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
window-status-current-format string
Like window-status-format, but is the format used when the window is the current window.
window-status-current-style style
Set status line style for the currently active window. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
window-status-format string
Set the format in which the window is displayed in the status line window list. See the
status-left option for details of special character sequences available. The default is
‘#I:#W#F’.
window-status-last-style style
Set status line style for the last active window. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
window-status-separator string
Sets the separator drawn between windows in the status line. The default is a single
space character.
window-status-style style
Set status line style for a single window. For how to specify style, see the
message-command-style option.
window-style style
Set the default window style. For how to specify style, see the message-command-style
option.
xterm-keys [on | off]
If this option is set, tmate will generate xterm(1) -style function key sequences; these
have a number included to indicate modifiers such as Shift, Alt or Ctrl. The default is
off.
wrap-search [on | off]
If this option is set, searches will wrap around the end of the pane contents. The
default is on.
show-options [-gqsvw] [-t target-session | target-window] [option]
(alias: show)
Show the window options (or a single window option if given) with -w (equivalent to
show-window-options), the server options with -s, otherwise the session options for target
session. Global session or window options are listed if -g is used. -v shows only the option
value, not the name. If -q is set, no error will be returned if option is unset.
show-window-options [-gv] [-t target-window] [option]
(alias: showw)
List the window options or a single option for target-window, or the global window options if -g
is used. -v shows only the option value, not the name.
HOOKS
tmate allows commands to run on various triggers, called hooks. Each hook has a name. The following
hooks are available:
alert-activity Run when a window has activity. See monitor-activity.
alert-bell Run when a window has received a bell.
alert-silence Run when a window has been silent. See monitor-silence.
client-attached Run when a client is attached.
client-detached Run when a client is detached
client-resized Run when a client is resized.
pane-died Run when the program running in a pane exits, but remain-on-exit is on so the pane has
not closed.
pane-exited Run when the program running in a pane exits.
Hooks are managed with these commands:
set-hook [-g] [-t target-session] hook-name command
Sets hook hook-name to command. If -g is given, hook-name is added to the global list of hooks,
otherwise it is added to the session hooks (for target-session with -t). Like options, session
hooks inherit from the global ones.
show-hooks [-g] [-t target-session]
Shows the global list of hooks with -g, otherwise the session hooks.
MOUSE SUPPORT
If the mouse option is on (the default is off), tmate allows mouse events to be bound as keys. The name
of each key is made up of a mouse event (such as ‘MouseUp1’) and a location suffix (one of ‘Pane’ for the
contents of a pane, ‘Border’ for a pane border or ‘Status’ for the status line). The following mouse
events are available:
MouseDown1 MouseUp1 MouseDrag1 MouseDragEnd1
MouseDown2 MouseUp2 MouseDrag2 MouseDragEnd2
MouseDown3 MouseUp3 MouseDrag3 MouseDragEnd3
WheelUp WheelDown
Each should be suffixed with a location, for example ‘MouseDown1Status’.
The special token ‘{mouse}’ or ‘=’ may be used as target-window or target-pane in commands bound to mouse
key bindings. It resolves to the window or pane over which the mouse event took place (for example, the
window in the status line over which button 1 was released for a ‘MouseUp1Status’ binding, or the pane
over which the wheel was scrolled for a ‘WheelDownPane’ binding).
The send-keys -M flag may be used to forward a mouse event to a pane.
The default key bindings allow the mouse to be used to select and resize panes, to copy text and to
change window using the status line. These take effect if the mouse option is turned on.
FORMATS
Certain commands accept the -F flag with a format argument. This is a string which controls the output
format of the command. Replacement variables are enclosed in ‘#{’ and ‘}’, for example
‘#{session_name}’. The possible variables are listed in the table below, or the name of a tmate option
may be used for an option's value. Some variables have a shorter alias such as ‘#S’, and ‘##’ is
replaced by a single ‘#’.
Conditionals are available by prefixing with ‘?’ and separating two alternatives with a comma; if the
specified variable exists and is not zero, the first alternative is chosen, otherwise the second is used.
For example ‘#{?session_attached,attached,not attached}’ will include the string ‘attached’ if the
session is attached and the string ‘not attached’ if it is unattached, or ‘#{?automatic-rename,yes,no}’
will include ‘yes’ if automatic-rename is enabled, or ‘no’ if not.
A limit may be placed on the length of the resultant string by prefixing it by an ‘=’, a number and a
colon. Positive numbers count from the start of the string and negative from the end, so
‘#{=5:pane_title}’ will include at most the first 5 characters of the pane title, or ‘#{=-5:pane_title}’
the last 5 characters. Prefixing a time variable with ‘t:’ will convert it to a string, so if
‘#{window_activity}’ gives ‘1445765102’, ‘#{t:window_activity}’ gives ‘Sun Oct 25 09:25:02 2015’. The
‘b:’ and ‘d:’ prefixes are basename(3) and dirname(3) of the variable respectively. A prefix of the form
‘s/foo/bar/:’ will substitute ‘foo’ with ‘bar’ throughout.
In addition, the first line of a shell command's output may be inserted using ‘#()’. For example,
‘#(uptime)’ will insert the system's uptime. When constructing formats, tmate does not wait for ‘#()’
commands to finish; instead, the previous result from running the same command is used, or a placeholder
if the command has not been run before. Commands are executed with the tmate global environment set (see
the “ENVIRONMENT” section).
The following variables are available, where appropriate:
Variable name Alias Replaced with
alternate_on If pane is in alternate screen
alternate_saved_x Saved cursor X in alternate screen
alternate_saved_y Saved cursor Y in alternate screen
buffer_sample Sample of start of buffer
buffer_size Size of the specified buffer in bytes
client_activity Integer time client last had activity
client_created Integer time client created
client_control_mode 1 if client is in control mode
client_height Height of client
client_key_table Current key table
client_last_session Name of the client's last session
client_pid PID of client process
client_prefix 1 if prefix key has been pressed
client_readonly 1 if client is readonly
client_session Name of the client's session
client_termname Terminal name of client
client_tty Pseudo terminal of client
client_utf8 1 if client supports utf8
client_width Width of client
command_name Name of command in use, if any
cursor_flag Pane cursor flag
cursor_x Cursor X position in pane
cursor_y Cursor Y position in pane
history_bytes Number of bytes in window history
history_limit Maximum window history lines
history_size Size of history in bytes
host #H Hostname of local host
host_short #h Hostname of local host (no domain name)
insert_flag Pane insert flag
keypad_cursor_flag Pane keypad cursor flag
keypad_flag Pane keypad flag
line Line number in the list
mouse_any_flag Pane mouse any flag
mouse_button_flag Pane mouse button flag
mouse_standard_flag Pane mouse standard flag
pane_active 1 if active pane
pane_bottom Bottom of pane
pane_current_command Current command if available
pane_current_path Current path if available
pane_dead 1 if pane is dead
pane_dead_status Exit status of process in dead pane
pane_height Height of pane
pane_id #D Unique pane ID
pane_in_mode If pane is in a mode
pane_input_off If input to pane is disabled
pane_index #P Index of pane
pane_left Left of pane
pane_pid PID of first process in pane
pane_right Right of pane
pane_start_command Command pane started with
pane_synchronized If pane is synchronized
pane_tabs Pane tab positions
pane_title #T Title of pane
pane_top Top of pane
pane_tty Pseudo terminal of pane
pane_width Width of pane
pid Server PID
scroll_region_lower Bottom of scroll region in pane
scroll_region_upper Top of scroll region in pane
scroll_position Scroll position in copy mode
session_alerts List of window indexes with alerts
session_attached Number of clients session is attached to
session_activity Integer time of session last activity
session_created Integer time session created
session_last_attached Integer time session last attached
session_group Number of session group
session_grouped 1 if session in a group
session_height Height of session
session_id Unique session ID
session_many_attached 1 if multiple clients attached
session_name #S Name of session
session_width Width of session
session_windows Number of windows in session
socket_path Server socket path
start_time Server start time
window_activity Integer time of window last activity
window_active 1 if window active
window_bell_flag 1 if window has bell
window_find_matches Matched data from the find-window
window_flags #F Window flags
window_height Height of window
window_id Unique window ID
window_index #I Index of window
window_last_flag 1 if window is the last used
window_layout Window layout description, ignoring zoomed window panes
window_linked 1 if window is linked across sessions
window_name #W Name of window
window_panes Number of panes in window
window_silence_flag 1 if window has silence alert
window_visible_layout Window layout description, respecting zoomed window panes
window_width Width of window
window_zoomed_flag 1 if window is zoomed
wrap_flag Pane wrap flag
NAMES AND TITLES
tmate distinguishes between names and titles. Windows and sessions have names, which may be used to
specify them in targets and are displayed in the status line and various lists: the name is the tmate
identifier for a window or session. Only panes have titles. A pane's title is typically set by the
program running inside the pane and is not modified by tmate. It is the same mechanism used to set for
example the xterm(1) window title in an X(7) window manager. Windows themselves do not have titles - a
window's title is the title of its active pane. tmate itself may set the title of the terminal in which
the client is running, see the set-titles option.
A session's name is set with the new-session and rename-session commands. A window's name is set with
one of:
1. A command argument (such as -n for new-window or new-session).
2. An escape sequence:
$ printf '\033kWINDOW_NAME\033\\'
3. Automatic renaming, which sets the name to the active command in the window's active pane. See
the automatic-rename option.
When a pane is first created, its title is the hostname. A pane's title can be set via the OSC title
setting sequence, for example:
$ printf '\033]2;My Title\033\\'
ENVIRONMENT
When the server is started, tmate copies the environment into the global environment; in addition, each
session has a session environment. When a window is created, the session and global environments are
merged. If a variable exists in both, the value from the session environment is used. The result is the
initial environment passed to the new process.
The update-environment session option may be used to update the session environment from the client when
a new session is created or an old reattached. tmate also initialises the TMUX variable with some
internal information to allow commands to be executed from inside, and the TERM variable with the correct
terminal setting of ‘screen’.
Commands to alter and view the environment are:
set-environment [-gru] [-t target-session] name [value]
(alias: setenv)
Set or unset an environment variable. If -g is used, the change is made in the global
environment; otherwise, it is applied to the session environment for target-session. The -u flag
unsets a variable. -r indicates the variable is to be removed from the environment before
starting a new process.
show-environment [-gs] [-t target-session] [variable]
(alias: showenv)
Display the environment for target-session or the global environment with -g. If variable is
omitted, all variables are shown. Variables removed from the environment are prefixed with ‘-’.
If -s is used, the output is formatted as a set of Bourne shell commands.
STATUS LINE
tmate includes an optional status line which is displayed in the bottom line of each terminal. By
default, the status line is enabled (it may be disabled with the status session option) and contains,
from left-to-right: the name of the current session in square brackets; the window list; the title of the
active pane in double quotes; and the time and date.
The status line is made of three parts: configurable left and right sections (which may contain dynamic
content such as the time or output from a shell command, see the status-left, status-left-length,
status-right, and status-right-length options below), and a central window list. By default, the window
list shows the index, name and (if any) flag of the windows present in the current session in ascending
numerical order. It may be customised with the window-status-format and window-status-current-format
options. The flag is one of the following symbols appended to the window name:
Symbol Meaning
* Denotes the current window.
- Marks the last window (previously selected).
# Window is monitored and activity has been detected.
! A bell has occurred in the window.
~ The window has been silent for the monitor-silence interval.
M The window contains the marked pane.
Z The window's active pane is zoomed.
The # symbol relates to the monitor-activity window option. The window name is printed in inverted
colours if an alert (bell, activity or silence) is present.
The colour and attributes of the status line may be configured, the entire status line using the
status-style session option and individual windows using the window-status-style window option.
The status line is automatically refreshed at interval if it has changed, the interval may be controlled
with the status-interval session option.
Commands related to the status line are as follows:
command-prompt [-I inputs] [-p prompts] [-t target-client] [template]
Open the command prompt in a client. This may be used from inside tmate to execute commands
interactively.
If template is specified, it is used as the command. If present, -I is a comma-separated list of
the initial text for each prompt. If -p is given, prompts is a comma-separated list of prompts
which are displayed in order; otherwise a single prompt is displayed, constructed from template
if it is present, or ‘:’ if not.
Both inputs and prompts may contain the special character sequences supported by the status-left
option.
Before the command is executed, the first occurrence of the string ‘%%’ and all occurrences of
‘%1’ are replaced by the response to the first prompt, the second ‘%%’ and all ‘%2’ are replaced
with the response to the second prompt, and so on for further prompts. Up to nine prompt
responses may be replaced (‘%1’ to ‘%9’).
confirm-before [-p prompt] [-t target-client] command
(alias: confirm)
Ask for confirmation before executing command. If -p is given, prompt is the prompt to display;
otherwise a prompt is constructed from command. It may contain the special character sequences
supported by the status-left option.
This command works only from inside tmate.
display-message [-p] [-c target-client] [-t target-pane] [message]
(alias: display)
Display a message. If -p is given, the output is printed to stdout, otherwise it is displayed in
the target-client status line. The format of message is described in the “FORMATS” section;
information is taken from target-pane if -t is given, otherwise the active pane for the session
attached to target-client.
BUFFERS
tmate maintains a set of named paste buffers. Each buffer may be either explicitly or automatically
named. Explicitly named buffers are named when created with the set-buffer or load-buffer commands, or
by renaming an automatically named buffer with set-buffer -n. Automatically named buffers are given a
name such as ‘buffer0001’, ‘buffer0002’ and so on. When the buffer-limit option is reached, the oldest
automatically named buffer is deleted. Explicitly named are not subject to buffer-limit and may be
deleted with delete-buffer command.
Buffers may be added using copy-mode or the set-buffer and load-buffer commands, and pasted into a window
using the paste-buffer command. If a buffer command is used and no buffer is specified, the most
recently added automatically named buffer is assumed.
A configurable history buffer is also maintained for each window. By default, up to 2000 lines are kept;
this can be altered with the history-limit option (see the set-option command above).
The buffer commands are as follows:
choose-buffer [-F format] [-t target-window] [template]
Put a window into buffer choice mode, where a buffer may be chosen interactively from a list.
After a buffer is selected, ‘%%’ is replaced by the buffer name in template and the result
executed as a command. If template is not given, "paste-buffer -b '%%'" is used. For the
meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS” section. This command works only if at least one
client is attached.
clear-history [-t target-pane]
(alias: clearhist)
Remove and free the history for the specified pane.
delete-buffer [-b buffer-name]
(alias: deleteb)
Delete the buffer named buffer-name, or the most recently added automatically named buffer if not
specified.
list-buffers [-F format]
(alias: lsb)
List the global buffers. For the meaning of the -F flag, see the “FORMATS” section.
load-buffer [-b buffer-name] path
(alias: loadb)
Load the contents of the specified paste buffer from path.
paste-buffer [-dpr] [-b buffer-name] [-s separator] [-t target-pane]
(alias: pasteb)
Insert the contents of a paste buffer into the specified pane. If not specified, paste into the
current one. With -d, also delete the paste buffer. When output, any linefeed (LF) characters
in the paste buffer are replaced with a separator, by default carriage return (CR). A custom
separator may be specified using the -s flag. The -r flag means to do no replacement (equivalent
to a separator of LF). If -p is specified, paste bracket control codes are inserted around the
buffer if the application has requested bracketed paste mode.
save-buffer [-a] [-b buffer-name] path
(alias: saveb)
Save the contents of the specified paste buffer to path. The -a option appends to rather than
overwriting the file.
set-buffer [-a] [-b buffer-name] [-n new-buffer-name] data
(alias: setb)
Set the contents of the specified buffer to data. The -a option appends to rather than
overwriting the buffer. The -n option renames the buffer to new-buffer-name.
show-buffer [-b buffer-name]
(alias: showb)
Display the contents of the specified buffer.
MISCELLANEOUS
Miscellaneous commands are as follows:
clock-mode [-t target-pane]
Display a large clock.
if-shell [-bF] [-t target-pane] shell-command command [command]
(alias: if)
Execute the first command if shell-command returns success or the second command otherwise.
Before being executed, shell-command is expanded using the rules specified in the “FORMATS”
section, including those relevant to target-pane. With -b, shell-command is run in the
background.
If -F is given, shell-command is not executed but considered success if neither empty nor zero
(after formats are expanded).
lock-server
(alias: lock)
Lock each client individually by running the command specified by the lock-command option.
run-shell [-b] [-t target-pane] shell-command
(alias: run)
Execute shell-command in the background without creating a window. Before being executed, shell-
command is expanded using the rules specified in the “FORMATS” section. With -b, the command is
run in the background. After it finishes, any output to stdout is displayed in copy mode (in the
pane specified by -t or the current pane if omitted). If the command doesn't return success, the
exit status is also displayed.
wait-for [-L | -S | -U] channel
(alias: wait)
When used without options, prevents the client from exiting until woken using wait-for -S with
the same channel. When -L is used, the channel is locked and any clients that try to lock the
same channel are made to wait until the channel is unlocked with wait-for -U. This command only
works from outside tmate.
TERMINFO EXTENSIONS
tmate understands some unofficial extensions to terminfo(5):
Cs, Cr Set the cursor colour. The first takes a single string argument and is used to set the colour;
the second takes no arguments and restores the default cursor colour. If set, a sequence such as
this may be used to change the cursor colour from inside tmate:
$ printf '\033]12;red\033\\'
Ss, Se Set or reset the cursor style. If set, a sequence such as this may be used to change the cursor
to an underline:
$ printf '\033[4 q'
If Se is not set, Ss with argument 0 will be used to reset the cursor style instead.
Tc Indicate that the terminal supports the ‘direct colour’ RGB escape sequence (for example,
\e[38;2;255;255;255m).
Ms Store the current buffer in the host terminal's selection (clipboard). See the set-clipboard
option above and the xterm(1) man page.
CONTROL MODE
tmate offers a textual interface called control mode. This allows applications to communicate with tmate
using a simple text-only protocol.
In control mode, a client sends tmate commands or command sequences terminated by newlines on standard
input. Each command will produce one block of output on standard output. An output block consists of a
%begin line followed by the output (which may be empty). The output block ends with a %end or %error.
%begin and matching %end or %error have two arguments: an integer time (as seconds from epoch) and
command number. For example:
%begin 1363006971 2
0: ksh* (1 panes) [80x24] [layout b25f,80x24,0,0,2] @2 (active)
%end 1363006971 2
In control mode, tmate outputs notifications. A notification will never occur inside an output block.
The following notifications are defined:
%exit [reason]
The tmate client is exiting immediately, either because it is not attached to any session or an
error occurred. If present, reason describes why the client exited.
%layout-change window-id window-layout window-visible-layout window-flags
The layout of a window with ID window-id changed. The new layout is window-layout. The window's
visible layout is window-visible-layout and the window flags are window-flags.
%output pane-id value
A window pane produced output. value escapes non-printable characters and backslash as octal
\xxx.
%session-changed session-id name
The client is now attached to the session with ID session-id, which is named name.
%session-renamed name
The current session was renamed to name.
%sessions-changed
A session was created or destroyed.
%unlinked-window-add window-id
The window with ID window-id was created but is not linked to the current session.
%window-add window-id
The window with ID window-id was linked to the current session.
%window-close window-id
The window with ID window-id closed.
%window-renamed window-id name
The window with ID window-id was renamed to name.
FILES
~/.tmux.conf Default tmate configuration file.
@SYSCONFDIR@/tmux.conf System-wide configuration file.
EXAMPLES
To create a new tmate session running vi(1):
$ tmate new-session vi
Most commands have a shorter form, known as an alias. For new-session, this is new:
$ tmate new vi
Alternatively, the shortest unambiguous form of a command is accepted. If there are several options,
they are listed:
$ tmate n
ambiguous command: n, could be: new-session, new-window, next-window
Within an active session, a new window may be created by typing ‘C-b c’ (Ctrl followed by the ‘b’ key
followed by the ‘c’ key).
Windows may be navigated with: ‘C-b 0’ (to select window 0), ‘C-b 1’ (to select window 1), and so on;
‘C-b n’ to select the next window; and ‘C-b p’ to select the previous window.
A session may be detached using ‘C-b d’ (or by an external event such as ssh(1) disconnection) and
reattached with:
$ tmate attach-session
Typing ‘C-b ?’ lists the current key bindings in the current window; up and down may be used to navigate
the list or ‘q’ to exit from it.
Commands to be run when the tmate server is started may be placed in the ~/.tmux.conf configuration file.
Common examples include:
Changing the default prefix key:
set-option -g prefix C-a
unbind-key C-b
bind-key C-a send-prefix
Turning the status line off, or changing its colour:
set-option -g status off
set-option -g status-style bg=blue
Setting other options, such as the default command, or locking after 30 minutes of inactivity:
set-option -g default-command "exec /bin/ksh"
set-option -g lock-after-time 1800
Creating new key bindings:
bind-key b set-option status
bind-key / command-prompt "split-window 'exec man %%'"
bind-key S command-prompt "new-window -n %1 'ssh %1'"
SEE ALSO
pty(4)
AUTHORS
Nicholas Marriott <nicholas.marriott@gmail.com>
Debian March 25, 2013 TMATE(1)