tmux is a terminal multiplexer

Tmux is a terminal multiplexer, that’s how it gets its name: t(Terminal) mux(multiplexer), you can manage multiple terminals on one screen!

On a MAC, thanks to Iterm2, you can manage multiple terminal Windows quite easily. But on Linux, iterm2 is out of reach, and TMUx’s advantages come to the fore.

As I understand it, TMUX has many benefits on Linux or MAC

  1. Split screen

    Of course, iterm2 can do split-screen, but iterm2 has the disadvantage of iterm for Mac. If iterm2 is combined with SSH, the iterm2 split screen needs to be constantly SSH

    , resulting in multiple users connected to the who command to check the number of login users.

  2. attach

    Attach can protect the site so that the working environment will not be lost due to SSH timeout.

  3. The operation is simple and configurable

    You can use shortcuts to quickly switch between Windows, panels, paste and copy, and scroll endlessly.

As for its beauty, it is reflected in the status bar with customizable styles. You can set the status bar style, position, style of the current window, and richness of the status bar information. Such as the configuration of gpakosz/.tmux

This chapter covers the following

  • How to install on Contos/MACtmux
  • Automate batch installation using Ansibletmux
  • tmuxCommon operations
  • Window multiplexing with TMUx Github
  • Series of articles: Server operation notes

The installation

If you are on a MAC, you can install TMUx easily and quickly using Brew Install TMUx.

However, if you use yum to install software on centos, you will install very old versions and many useful functions will not be used. It is a good idea to compile and install tMUX source code

#Installation Software Dependency
$ yum install -y gcc automake libevent-devel ncurses-devel glibc-static

#Download the source code
$ git clone [email protected]:tmux/tmux.git

#Switch to version 2.8
$Git checkout 2.8
$ cd tmux

#Compile the source code
$ sh autogen.sh && ./configure && make

#Viewing the Version Number
$ ./tmux -VTmux 2.8Copy the code

Automate the installation using Ansible

When compiling and installing from source code is trivial and error-prone, and you may need to install TMUx on several servers, an automated installation using Ansible is a good choice. See this series of articles about Using Ansible for automated o&M.

$ git clone [email protected]:shfshanyue/ansible-op.git

#Install TMUX on multiple servers at once
$ ansible-playbook -i hosts tmux.yml
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Tmux This ansible role configuration is on my TMUX configuration. The configuration file is as follows

Install dependencies
- name: prepare
  yum:
    name: "{{item}}"
  with_items:
    - gcc
    - automake
    - libevent-devel
    # character terminal processing library
    - ncurses-devel
    - glibc-static

Download the TMUX source file
- name: install tmux
  git:
    repo: https://github.com/tmux/tmux.git
    dest: ~/Documents/tmux
    version: 2.8

- name: make tmux
  shell: sh autogen.sh && ./configure && make
  args:
    chdir: ~/Documents/tmux/

# make TMUx globally executable
- name: copy tmux
  copy:
    src: ~/Documents/tmux/tmux
    dest: /usr/bin/tmux
    remote_src: yes
    mode: 0755

# Use my profile
- name: clone config file
  when: USE_ME
  git:
    repo: https://github.com/shfshanyue/tmux-config.git 
    dest: ~/Documents/tmux-config

- name: copy config file
  copy:
    src: ~/Documents/tmux-config/.tmux.conf
    dest: ~/.tmux.conf
    remote_src: yes

- name: delete tmux-config 
  file:
    name: ~/Documents/tmux-config
    state: absent
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Quick start

The term

  • serverContains more than onesession
  • sessionContains more than onewindow
  • windowSimilar to theiterm2 的 Tab, contains multiplepane, the following Chinese will be translated as Windows
  • paneSimilar to theiterm2 的 Pane, the following Chinese will be translated as panel

Start the

#Create a TMUX session
$ tmux
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Split screen

Use the shortcut keys prefix % and prefix “to split the screen in tMUX

View all shortcut keys

prefix ?

Tmux high frequency operation

The prefix key is sent to the terminal

I used < crtl-s > as the prefix key, the default prefix is

. Send-prefix indicates that a prefix key is sent to the terminal. Send-prefix-2 indicates that a shortcut key is added to the prefix key.

#The following commands are directly executed in tmux command mode, or executed in shell with keyword 'tmux', or written to the configuration file ~/.tmux.conf to take effect
#'prefix:' can enter tMUx command mode

$ set -g prefix2 C-s
$ bind C-s send-prefix -2
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Keeping SSH Connections

Every time a new session is created, bring the name for the convenience of attaching next time.

Just to mention the detach command, the default shortcut

D will detach the current session first.

Prefix defaults to < ctrl-b >

$ tmux new -s shanyue

#Or use the shortcut prefix + D
$ tmux detach
$ tmux attach -t shanyue
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Fast-moving panel

The move panel command is select-pane, which can be configured as a Vim-style move command.

#The following commands are directly executed in tmux command mode, or executed in shell with keyword 'tmux', or written to the configuration file ~/.tmux.conf to take effect
#'prefix:' can enter tMUx command mode

# bindBind shortcut key
#-r The key can be repeated
#Select-pane Selects the panel
$ bind -r h select-pane -L 
$ bind -r l select-pane -R
$ bind -r j select-pane -D
$ bind -r k select-pane -U
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The -r parameter indicates the repeatable button. For example, prefix r r indicates prefix r, prefix r. The keystroke time needs to be set through repeat-time, which is generally 500ms.

You can also enable mouse support to move the panel quickly.

Rename the window name

Rename -window command to rename a window, default shortcut prefix,

But there is a small problem, every time after renaming the window name, typing a few Spaces will automatically rename, their hard work was destroyed…

You need to configure the following two configurations to turn them off and finally rename them

#The following commands are directly executed in tmux command mode, or executed in shell with keyword 'tmux', or written to the configuration file ~/.tmux.conf to take effect
#'prefix:' can enter tMUx command mode

set -wg allow-rename off                                                            
set -wg automatic-rename off
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Enabling mouse Support

$ tmux set -g mouse on
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Mouse support is disabled by default. After the mouse is enabled, you can copy, flip screen, switch panel, switch window, and resize.

The mouse support is powerful, and so far an Iterm2 has been successfully built. But I don’t like the mouse mode, so it’s banned.

Besides, after opening the mouse support, who can operate my terminal, a bit forced case also did not have

Save the current path

When pane and Window are new, keep the current path. Add the -c parameter to the previous command to indicate the path to a new window or panel.

The command to open a new panel is split-window

#The following commands are directly executed in tmux command mode, or executed in shell with keyword 'tmux', or written to the configuration file ~/.tmux.conf to take effect
#'prefix:' can enter tMUx command mode

bind c new-window -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind % split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind '"' split-window -c "#{pane_current_path}"
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Maximize the current panel

The command is tmux resize-pane-z, and the default shortcut is prefix Z. To view more detailed information, press Prefix Z to enter the full screen. After that, press Resume again. Pretty cool feature.

Turn over the screen

The first time you use TMUx, with Webpack, the output is a lot and useful error messages are overwritten. At this point, scrolling up is very important. Now let’s talk about the two modes in TMUx Window,

  • default-mode

    It’s just entered the tMUX default mode.

  • copy-mode

    Press prefix to enter this mode, which is similar to normal mode vi(Emacs) and supports copy, paste, search, and page turning. The default mode is vi. If not, set it to vi. If not, set it to vi

    $ tmux show-window-options -g mode-keys
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    Same as vi, you can use C-D and C-u for page up and down (half screen), but you can also use HJKL.

Alternatively, you can turn on mouse support and use the scroll wheel to scroll through the screen.

Copy and paste

So copy-mode, copy and paste. After entering copy-mode, v will be selected and Y will copy and exit copy-mode. Use prefix] to paste.

Copy and paste is the most important and useful feature in Linux

V & Y is a user-defined configuration. The configuration is as follows

bind -t vi-copy v begin-selection
bind -t vi-copy y copy-selection
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The copy operation stores the contents into buffer. You can become more familiar with the following commands to manipulate buffer

$ tmux list-buffers           List all buffers
$ tmux show-buffer -b [name]  The latest buffer is displayed
$tmux choose-buffer&emsp; &emsp; &emsp;Enter the buffer selection screen, more flexible
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Alternatively, you can turn on mouse support and use the mouse to select text.

Find keywords

Now that you are in copy-mode, those familiar with vi must know that the search is/and? .

Quick location window

Suppose you create multiple Windows and need to locate a window quickly. You know what’s in that window, but you can’t remember the window number.

A good solution is the find-window command, and even better is the default prefix F shortcut. Enter the keyword of the window content, you can quickly locate the window, but there is a small disadvantage, it is unable to locate the panel!

Last but not least

Man tmux! ** do not see the document is not skilled, do not see the source code is not proficient. ** As a result, you need to read more documents and commands.

summary

In this chapter you will become very comfortable with using TMUx to manage multiple Windows at the same time on a server, and with vim you will be able to do whatever you want on a server. For viM usage, configuration, and plugins, see the previous chapter viM Quick Start, Configuration, and Plugins.