GNU screen - Have a terminal in your terminal !

1. go to the window you'd like to re-number / move
2. type :
   Ctrl-a :number n
   with n : new number of the current window
   • if there is already a window n, the current window and the window n are swapped
   • otherwise, the current window becomes the window n
   If you mistype / forget the :, and actually start typing Ctrl-a n, you'll switch to the next window .

• when invoking screen from the command line
• or in .screenrc

What the docs say :

Back to our Emacs question :

# free the escape sequence ('Ctrl-a') by setting it to a suggested default I never use
escape ``
# set my own sequence
bindkey "²" command

1. declare a variable :
   setenv variableName variableValue
2. use it as any shell variable :
   cd "$variableName"

I have some repetitive commands to run manually and I want to make things easier : it would be great if, when I press F3, this is a long string and I'm a lazy guy could be added at the current cursor position in a terminal (Screen window, actually).
To do so :

1. append to ~/.screenrc :

   bindkey -k k3 stuff "this is a long command and I'm a lazy guy"

   • kn (1≤n≤9) matches the Fn keys
   • Fn (0≤n≤2) matches the F(10+n) keys

   source
2. To simulate the final key press, just add ^M after the command :

   bindkey -k k4 stuff "ls -1^M"

3. start a new screen to use it
4. enjoy !!!

screen -t screenWindowName

create a new window named screenWindowName

select screenWindowNumber

Equivalent to Ctrl-a, screenWindowNumber

stuff string

Put string into the input buffer of the current window, as if it were typed from the keyboard. If string is a shell command, you'll have to simulate the final keypress by sending the corresponding key code : \015

• you can also use ^M instead of \015
• list of key codes
• alternate solutions

Append to ~/.screenrc :

screen -t window_1
stuff "cd path/to/some/directory; clear^M"

screen -t window_2
stuff "cd some/other/directory; clear^M"

screen -t window_3

select 0	show window 0 (i.e. the one named window_1)

Get :

Set :

Altering Screen window settings can be done by sending the appropriate ANSI codes with the right value. For instance, it is fairly easy to set the Screen window title. Similar changes can be made with the font + background colors.

First things first, to change the font and background color of an XTERM via Bash, just run :

echo -e '\e]11;darkblue\a\e]10;gray\a'

To change the screen window title, we had to :

printf '\ek%s\e\\' "new window title"

This is all about printing the right control sequence in the format :

printf '[ESCAPE_SEQUENCE][SOME_VALUE][CLOSING_CONTROL_SEQUENCE]

Browsing these control sequences shows :

ESC k		Title Definition String

ESC P	(A)	Device Control String
		Outputs a string directly to the host
		terminal without interpretation.

So let's mix things up and see what happens :

• echo -e '\eP\e]11;darkblue\a\e]10;yellow\a\e\\'
• echo -e '\eP\e]11;black\a\e]10;white\a\e\\'

format : echo -e '\eP\e]11;backgroundColor\a\e]10;textColor\a\e\\'

Easy solution (source) :

Not-so-easy-but-interesting-though solution :

Read the current window title :

msgwait 0

Set the window title (source) :

1. Split the window with an horizontal or vertical line
2. Switch to the next sub-window
3. Once in the new sub-window, create a new Screen window
4. Have fun !
5. Leave the split-screen mode

There is a screen on:
PID.sessionName	(Attached)
1 Socket in /var/run/screen/userName.

screen -d -r sessionName

This procedure is pointless for small chunks of text that fit the display : just select/copy text with the mouse as usual

1. enter copy mode
2. move the cursor to one end of the chunk to select, then
3. move the cursor to the other end of the chunk to select, then again.
4. unless you're using a solid status line, it should display :

   Copied 42 characters into buffer

5. there are several solutions to retrieve the copied text from screen's buffer :
   1. paste it :
      • directly into the current shell window.
        This can be dangerous :

        • with long chunks of text
        • if the copied text contains commands and carriage returns
      • into a text editor : vi, nano, Emacs, This is much safer than pasting directly into the shell (but I can't remember how to do it with Emacs ).
      To proceed, paste the text from screen's buffer : Ctrl-a, ].
   2. Use heredocs, without even leaving your terminal window :
      1. just type :
          cat << EOF > path/to/someFile
         • this command is prefixed with a space so that it won't stay in your Bash history (if you have configured it accordingly).
         • you can copy-paste it : it won't interfere with screen's buffer
      2. at the prompt : paste the copied text with Ctrl-a, ]
      3. type the heredoc stop token : EOF
      4. the text is in path/to/someFile
   3. alternate (Emacs + process substitution + heredocs)-based solution : "pass" text as an argument while opening your editor :
      1. type (source) :
          emacs --insert <(cat <<EOF
      • this command is prefixed with a space so that it won't stay in your Bash history (if you have configured it accordingly).
      • you can copy-paste it : it won't interfere with screen's buffer
      2. at the prompt : paste the copied text with Ctrl-a, ]
      3. type the heredoc stop token : EOF
      4. type the closing ) +
      5. Emacs will open showing the pasted text
6. Enjoy !

1. chmod o+rw /dev/pts/11
2. screen -x sessionID

1. Kevin logs on hostScreen
2. Kevin starts a new Screen session : screen
3. Stuart logs on hostScreen
4. Stuart can look for existing Screen sessions (and their PID) : screen -list
5. Stuart attaches to the session in "sharing" mode : screen -x PID

• is a window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes (typically interactive shells)
• provides for each virtual terminal :
  • a scrollback history buffer
  • a copy-and-paste mechanism that allows moving text regions between windows
• has a detach feature allowing to save Screen processes when logging out and resume where you left off, saving the trouble of restarting them (which also makes network disconnections harmless)

autodetach on
startup_message off
hardstatus alwayslastline "%{kb}%{c}[%{w}%D %d/%m/%Y %c:%s%{c}] %{w}%-w%{rk}%n %t%{wb}%+w %=%{c}[%{W}%H %l%{c}]"

bindkey -k k6 prev
bindkey -k k7 next

How to list all the Screen sessions :

Screen and PuTTY :