Screen Quick Reference
Basic
| Description |
Command |
|---|
| Start a new session with session name |
screen -S <session_name> |
| List running sessions / screens |
screen -ls |
| Attach to a running session |
screen -x |
| Attach to a running session with name |
screen -r <session_name> |
| Detach a running session |
screen -d <session_name> |
| Kill a running session |
screen -X -S [session # you want to kill] kill |
| Accessing a screen that is already attached |
screen -r -d [session name] |
Escape Key
All screen commands are prefixed by an escape key, by default Ctrl-a (that's Control-a, sometimes written ^a). To send a literal Ctrl-a to the programs in screen, use Ctrl-a a. This is useful when when working with screen within screen. For example Ctrl-a a n will move screen to a new window on the screen within screen.
Getting Out
| Description |
Command |
|---|
| detach |
Ctrl-a d |
| detach and logout (quick exit) |
Ctrl-a D D |
| exit screen |
Ctrl-a : quit or exit all of the programs in screen. |
| force-exit screen |
Ctrl-a C-\ (not recommended) |
| Description |
Command |
|---|
| See help |
Ctrl-a ? (Lists keybindings) |
Window Management
| Description |
Command |
|---|
| Create new window |
Ctrl-a c |
| Change to last-visited active window |
Ctrl-a Ctrl-a (commonly used to flip-flop between two windows) |
| Change to window by number |
Ctrl-a <number> (only for windows 0 to 9) |
| Change to window by number or name |
Ctrl-a ' <number or title> |
| Change to next window in list |
Ctrl-a n or Ctrl-a <space> |
| Change to previous window in list |
Ctrl-a p or Ctrl-a <backspace> |
| See window list |
Ctrl-a " (allows you to select a window to change to) |
| Show window bar |
Ctrl-a w (if you don't have window bar) |
| Kill current window |
Ctrl-a k (not recommended) |
| Kill all windows |
Ctrl-a \ (not recommended) |
| Rename current window |
Ctrl-a A |
Split screen
| Description |
Command |
|---|
| Split display horizontally |
Ctrl-a S |
| Split display vertically |
`Ctrl-a |
| Jump to next display region |
Ctrl-a tab |
| Remove current region |
Ctrl-a X |
| Remove all regions but the current one |
Ctrl-a Q |
| Description |
Command |
|---|
| Redraw window |
Ctrl-a C-l |
| Enter copy mode |
Ctrl-a [ or Ctrl-a <esc> (also used for viewing scrollback buffer) |
| Paste |
Ctrl-a ] |
| Monitor window for activity |
Ctrl-a M |
| Monitor window for silence |
Ctrl-a _ |
| Enter digraph (for producing non-ASCII characters) |
Ctrl-a Ctrl-v |
| Lock (password protect) display |
Ctrl-a x |
| Enter screen command |
Ctrl-a : |
| Enable logging in the screen session |
Ctrl-a H |
Scrolling
| Description |
Command |
|---|
| Enter scrolling mode |
Ctrl-a esc |
| Scroll Up |
Ctrl-u |
| Scroll Down |
Ctrl-d |
| Exit scrolling mode |
esc esc |
This section is a contribution from: @mickpbarry
