Screen Quick Reference
Basic Operation
| 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] quit |
| Accessing a screen that is already attached | screen -r -d [session name] |
Getting Out
| Description | Command |
| detach | Ctrl-a d |
| detach and logout | Ctrl-a D D |
| exit screen | Ctrl-a : |
| force-exit screen | Ctrl a C-\ |
Help
| Description | Command |
| Show help | Ctrl-a ? |
Window Management
| Description | Command | Notes |
| Create new window | Ctrl-a c | |
| Change to last-visited active window | Ctrl-a Ctrl-a | 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 “ | select a window to change to |
| Show window bar | Show window bar | if you don't have window bar |
| Kill current window | Kill current window | not recommended |
| Kill all windows | Kill all windows | 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 split | Ctrl-a tab |
| Remove current split | Ctrl-a X |
| Remove all splitsbut the current one | Ctrl-a Q |
TIP:
On Ubuntu you can install progress which can monitor running progresses such as tar, rsync, cp, mv and more. Install it like this.
apt install progress
