HOWTO: screen command quickstart

Screen is a window manager for unix shells. It’s useful when logged in to a remote server because it allows you to have more than one shell running through the same terminal window. So you don’t have to log in multiple times through SSH to, for example, run a long running command in one shell and continue working in another.

This is just a quick note to help remember the most common commands. For more information see man screen.

Getting in and out

Start screen

Type screen in the terminal

Detach from a screen session (session remains open)

Ctrl+a d

Reattach to an open screen session

screen -D -R

Quit screen completely (session closed)

Ctrl+a Ctrl+\

Controlling windows

Create a new window with a shell and switch to it:

Ctrl+a c

List currently open windows for selection:

Ctrl+a "

Close current window:

Ctrl+a k

Controlling Regions

Using regions allows you to display more than one shell on your terminal.

Split the current region into 2 new ones (note: new region will be blank, you need to switch to it then select a window to display in it):

Ctrl+a S

Switch focus to the next region:

Ctrl+a TAB

Remove the current region:

Ctrl+a X

That should be enough to get started