Screen allows for multi window connection using a single ssh session. It also allows to detach from the session screen while still running a remote session.

Screen

sudo apt-get install screen

Key terms

The server holds sessions and the windows and panes within them:

session - there may be multiple sessions on a server
window - each session may have many separate windows that you can switch between
region(pane) -your terminal screen can be divided in regions where each can hold multiple windows

Useful commands and key bindings

$ screen -ls   #list detached sessions
$ screen -r    #re attach

Quick start

C^a c create new prompt
C^a tab move to a next window
C^a | split vertically
C^a S split horizontly
C^a \ kill all windows, terminate any ssh sessions and exit GNU Screen program

Key bindings

Key	Action	Notes
`Ctrl+a c`	new window
`Ctrl+a n`	next window	I bind F12 to this
`Ctrl+a p`	previous window	I bind F11 to this
`Ctrl+a "`	select window from list	I have window list in the status line
`Ctrl+a`	previous window viewed

`Ctrl+a S`	split terminal horizontally into regions	`Ctrl+a c` to create new window there
`Ctrl+a \|`	split terminal vertically into regions	Requires screen >= 4.1
`Ctrl+a :resize`	resize region
`Ctrl+a :fit`	fit screen size to new terminal size	`Ctrl+a F` is the same. Do after resizing xterm
`Ctrl+a :remove`	remove region	`Ctrl+a X` is the same
`Ctrl+a tab`	Move to next region

`Ctrl+a d`	detach screen from terminal	Start screen with -r option to reattach
`Ctrl+a A`	set window title
`Ctrl+a x`	lock session	Enter user password to unlock
`Ctrl+a [`	enter scrollback/copy mode	Enter to start and end copy region. `Ctrl+a ]` to leave this mode
`Ctrl+a ]`	paste buffer	Supports pasting between windows
`Ctrl+a >`	write paste buffer to file	useful for copying between screens
`Ctrl+a <`	read paste buffer from file	useful for pasting between screens

`Ctrl+a ?`	show key bindings/command names	Note unbound commands only in man page
`Ctrl+a :`	goto screen command prompt	up shows last command entered

Scroll back - a copy mode

In GNU Screen press Ctrl + a + [ or C^a C^ESC to enter Copy Mode, then scroll PgUp/PgDown or up/down using keys j or k. Use Enter key to start and end selection coping to registry/buffer. Below are some other navigation keys:

h -    Move the cursor left by one character
j -    Move the cursor down by one line
k -    Move the cursor up by one line
l -    Move the cursor right by one character
0 -    Move to the beginning of the current line
$ -    Move to the end of the current line.
G -    Moves to the specified line
       (defaults to the end of the buffer).
C-u -  Scrolls a half page up.
C-b -  Scrolls a full page up.
C-d -  Scrolls a half page down.
C-f -  Scrolls the full page down.
PgUp / PgDown - Scrolls a page up/down

Define scrollback buffer size start screen with the following key (5000 lines in this example):

screen -h 5000

Update: You can use activate copy mode of GNU Screen also by Ctrl + Esc that might be more useful than Ctrl + a + [ shortcut (thanks to Yu-Jie Lin for this tip).

Custom configuration

By default the config is kept in ~/.screenrc file but using -c option we can pass a custom config

~$ screen -c screen-4regions.screen

Example of a config file:

~$ cat screen-4regions.screen
layout FourScreens    #it's a new feature, makes screen aware of regions layout
# Region 0
screen -t mail1-queue     #creates new terminal/prompt
select 0                  #select window0
stuff "echo Window0^M"    #echo a string between quotes, ^M translates to EOL means enter-return key
stuff "sshpass -p 'password' ssh -o PubkeyAuthentication=no root@example.com^M"  #ssh interactively
 
split      #split horizontally
split -v   #split vertically

# Region 1 
select 1
focus #get focus on a selected region
screen -t mail2-queue sshpass -p 'password' ssh -o PubkeyAuthentication=no root@example.com
                      #create a new terminal/prompt '''-t mail2-queue''' in the focus window and
                      #executes the command
stuff "echo Window1^M"

# Region 2
select 2
focus
screen -t mail1
stuff "echo Window2^M"

split -v

# Region 3
select 3
focus
screen -t mail2
stuff "echo Window3^M"

altscreen on                                                                                       
term screen-256color                                                                               
bind ',' prev                                                                                      
bind '.' next                                                                                      
#                                                                                                  
#change the hardstatus settings to give an window list at the bottom of the                        
#screen, with the time and date and with the current window highlighted                            
hardstatus alwayslastline                                                                          
#hardstatus string '%{= kG}%-Lw%{= kW}%50> %n%f* %t%{= kG}%+Lw%< %{= kG}%-=%c:%s%{-}'              
hardstatus string '%{= kG}[ %{G}%H %{g}][%= %{= kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r}(%{W}%n*%f%t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}][%{B} %m-%d %{W}%c %{g}]'
#layout save default   #makes regions saved when you re-attach a session

Tmux

Install - linux - use package manager

sudo apt-get install tmux

Install - Windows

Install Git for Windows SDK
run /bin/pacman -S tmux

Quick Start

/usr/bin/tmux

Key bindings

C^b c create a window aka new virtual desktop, it creates a full size window on top of your panes
C^b " split a pane horizontly
C^b % split a pane vertically
C^b z full screen pane resize, repeat to get back
C^d close a pane, also type 'exit'
C^b Up,Down,Left,Right arrow move to neighbouring pane
C^b 0-9 move to the window based on index
C^b {} swap panes { to left or to } right swap
C^b , rename the current window
C^b d detach the current session
C^b D gives you a choice what session you wish to detach

Screen navigation, scroll and search

Function                     vi              emacs
--------                     --              -----
Half page down               C-d             M-Down
Half page up                 C-u             M-Up
Next page                    C-f             Page down
Previous page                C-b             Page up
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

Copy mode default Emacs style

C^b,[       # enter copy mode
# navigate to beginning of text, you want to select
C^Space     # to activate highlighting
# move around using arrow keys to select region
Alt+w       # copy the region
C^b,]       # paste the selection

Managging sessions

tmux new -s database #start new session named 'database'
tmux ls              #lists all detached sessions
tmux attach -t 0     #attach to terminal 0 session
tmux rename-session -t 0 database
tmux switch         -t <session_name>
tmux kill-session   -t <session_name>

Key bindings

C-b :new<CR> new session
C-b $ name session
C-b ( previous session
C-b ) next session
C-b L 'last' (previously used) session
C-b s choose a session from a list

Terminator

Terminator is user frendly, gui scalable terminal with layouts, multi windows, tabs and broadcast function

$ sudo apt install terminator

Useful key bindings

Alt+Arrow      Move to another terminal
C^+Shift+X     Maximise current window, press again to revert
C^+Shift+Z     Zooms the current terminal, press again to revert
C^+Shift+O     Split terminals Horizontally.
C^+Shift+E     Split terminals Vertically.
C^+Shift+Arrow Resize windows by moving parent dragbar
C^+Shift+T     Open new tab
C^+Shift+PgUp  Switch between tabs, PgDown in reverse order
C^+Shift+W     Close the current terminal.
C^+Shift+Q     Quit terminator
C^+Plus (+)    Increase  font  size. Note: this may require you to press shift, depending on your keyboard
C^+Minus(-)    Decrease font size. Note: this may require you to  press  shift
C^+Zero        Restore font size to original setting.
Super+G        Group all
Super+Shift+G  Ungroup all

Windows ComEmu

References

User Guide HTML one page
Tmux Official website
tmux cheat sheet TOP CLASS!
Terminator Key bindings man page

Linux multi window terminal Screen and Tmux

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