Screen commands: screen (starts a screen session) ctrl a + d (detaches screen session) screen -ls (shows all screen sessions) screen -S dudeman (creates screen session dudeman) screen -r (use pid or the title in order to reattach) (reattaches screen session) screen -X -S dudeman quit (deletes the dudeman screen session) within screen session: ctrl a+k (kills the screen session or window)(if multiple windows within session, deletes only that window) crtl a+c (new window within screen session) ctrl a+w (shows all windows within screen session) ctrl a+n (shows next window) ctrl a+p (shows previous window) ctrl a+\ (kills all windows in session and closes session) ctrl a+ (integer)( goes to that specific window) ctrl a+" (shows a gui to select a window) ctrl a+A(shift a) ( changes window name) ctrl a+| (splits windows vertically) ctrl a+tab (switches between panes) ctrl a+S(shift s) (splits windows horizontally) ctrl a+X(shift x) (deletes the pane) if you ctrl a+d and detach, and then reattach, the panes will be gone ctrl a+x (locks the session) (default password is your login password) ctrl a+t (load average and time pops up) outside of window: screen -d -m python counter.py (runs the python program (counter.py) in the screen window) The screen session terminates once program is done ctrl a+? (shows all the key bindings ctrl a+: (shows the command, type remove and it removes the window)
@@kulajit It doesn't work with the default version of Screen installed on macOS (which is from 2006-you can see this by running `screen -version`). If that's the problem, you'll need to install a newer version.
My comment is still relevant, just like your content is, 6 years later!!!! Flames bro, learnt a lot in this short space amount of time. What a flow👏👏👏👏👏👏
0:35 start a screen session 0:59 detach from screen session - Ctrl + A then press D 1:15 screen -ls 1:46 create a new screen session - 1:50 screen -S newssesionname 2:34 re-attach
This was a really good tutorial on how to use "screen". I understood everything. So I know it was clearly explained. Video could have stood a few less commercial interruptions. Again, great job, and thank you.
First of all the Tutorial ist really good but in what order do I have to press buttons on the keyboard to rename a window? I dont get how to do strg + a + A properly to get into the bar where I can set the window-name. Thx in advance
Brilliant! Thanks. Superbly explained. I love the repetition and reinforcement i.e. always demonstrating the status of the sessions and windows and panes after completing an action. Add an academic sandwich and it would be perfect.
5 лет назад+2
Very much to the point and just what I was looking for thanks mate, good job!
Hi Dear Linux Leech Tutor :-) Thank you very much indeed for this detailed presented tutorial :-) But steel I have some questions to ask!! 5 month ago I started to study Linux Ubuntu Server 18.04.2 LTS (Bionic Beaver) and I have already learnt a lot of commands and I can really use and apply them correctly but I have got problems with some shortcut keys within SCREEN command usage, like: Control-a+? Display brief help Control-a+A Accept a title name for the current window. Control-a+b Send a break to window Control-a+F Resize the window to the current region size. Control-a+h Write a hardcopy of the current window to file "hardcopy.n" Control-a+H Begin/end logging of the current window to file "screenlog.n" Control-a+i Show info about this window. Control-a+k Kill (Destroy) the current window. - I can also kill window by using Ctrl+d in Ubuntu Server Control-a+l Fully refresh current window Control-a+M Monitor the current window for activity {toggle on/off} Control-a+N Show the Number and Title of window Control-a+q Send a control-q to the current window(xon) Control-a+Q Delete all regions but the current one.(only) Control-a+Control-\ Kill all windows and terminate screen(quit) Control-a+_ Monitor the current window for inactivity {toggle on/off} . The other shortcut keys seem to work correctly. I cannot also split my screen by using ctrl+a+| it doesn't work anyhow! Help me, please!!! I thank you for your consideration in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you. Dear Tutor tell me what do you suggest or propose on this matter?
If they don't work add them to you ~/.screenrc file. This should get you started. In ~/.screenrc bind | split -v You should now be able to ctrl+a | to split your screen. As for the others, same method.
Is it possible to scroll in a window without using keys? If not, why? Say I wanted to edit a file (vim file.py) in window 1, execute a file in window 2, and then ls -la a directory with window 3. Not being able to scroll defeats the purpose. Is there another program that can do this?
Hi Ctrl a + w does not work for me ,any solutions ?Also is there any way to display the windows bar permanently inside screen like it is theer for tmux multiplexer .....?
Hi! Great video. Learnt a lot from it. Just a question. Can screen be used to replicate an action across several terminals? Let's say I have several machines in which I need to perform the same tasks. I'd ssh to them (each on a different pane) and then start typing commands or editing files. Is this possible? I'm aware of the "at # stuff ", but what if i want to edit (via vi command) a file? Would that be possible to edit all at once? Thanks!
Hi Matias, The first part of your question is definitely possible (connecting to several machines each in different panes). If you are looking to execute the same task on several machines at once I would recommend that you look at a tool called fabric www.fabfile.org/index.html . It is a python library but has a command-line tool. You will be able to specify the IP addresses of all of the machines that you want to run tasks on and have fabric run your tasks in parallel, on all of the machines that you specify. To make edits to files using vi/vim (assuming you want to make the same changes to the same files on all of your machines) You could download the file from one of them to your local machine make your edits, and then use fabric to upload to all of your machines in one go. As I mentioned earlier fabric is a python library you will need to write a little python to do the uploading/ downloading of files, but it isn't a lot, probably 15 short lines of python code would give you all of the functionality that you would need. To get you started with fabric you could try this: fab -H IPOfMachineOne, IPOfMachineTwo -u username -p password -- uptime That will run uptime on the two machines that you have provided IP addresses for. To run it in parallel just add -P so: fab -H IPOfMachineOne, IPOfMachineTwo -u username -p password -P -- uptime Hope that helps.
Everything with me was great and thank you very much for the demo. I am using iMac M1 zsh terminal. When you reach in your demo to window splitting (using the command ctrl a | for vertical split) It didn't respond at all. The horizontal splitting (ctrl a tab) is ok and I didn't have a problem with it. Can you please or anyone here can help or suggest advice. Thank you all
Best tutorial available of using screen. Thanks for making it. I always wondered , why wasn't it made part of the bash shell, in the first place? It is so common and dates way back. Very useful when attaching and detaching on remote servers.
I think it might be because it is not essential i.e you can do everything you need to do without a multiplexer. If something like screen does get included with the bash shell then it probably wouldn't be too long before other tools get added, and bash as a project would become unmanageable.
But separating it, all in bits and pieces, scattered around. Needs a master to assemble per need. For example, tmux, it is good. But I don't need it. If I know screen. Have VIM. And I access an array of small servers I build on PI devices. Sure on my powerful desktop. I can also have multiple desktops and terminals open. Don't need screen, or to detach. To wait for me. :)
This was an excellent tutorial. Thanks for sharing. Everything went fine except for the part about locking a session using cntl + a x. It won't accept my logon password. Any ideas?
ctrl a k does not work for me I read the man screen and it says ctrl a k should kill the screen, however, it does not work did anyone have similar problems ctrl a S also does not work while ctrl a n and ctrl a p and ctrl a c work fine
Maybe your key bindings are not the default ones. try: ctrl +a : split -v I have also done a tutorial that specifically covers screen splitting ruclips.net/video/bTbDxaGo4tA/видео.html Might be worth checking out
I tried with :split -v It says split: no arguments required I found this solution, It works : old.evanmeagher.net/2010/12/patching-screen-with-vertical-split-in-os
okey very nice, but... meen, what a ball breaker linux is, if i must remember every command posiblity of every app... i end up someone with some attached and some detached sessions, i dont know the diference,
@@sivamachina3160 I solved by creating a sh and setting it in the crontab. (Restart.sh) #! / Bin / bash screen -S server -X stuff "stop`echo -ne '05'`" sleep 30 screen -S server -X stuff "bash ./start.sh` echo -ne '05'` "
@@linuxleech So you thought she was cute too eh? :) Now that I have your attention, please answer my question about the password problem. When I lock the screen using ctrl a x, it won't accept my login password. I'm using Sun OS. I'm thinking that the reason it won't even take my password may be because of the Duo Multifactor Authentication that is set up for our Unix systems. What can I do to make it work? Any ideas?
I had this problem too. "Control + a and [" will allow you to scroll using the "hjkl" keys similar to how vim works. Then press "Esc" to exit scrolling. I wanted to use screen for this exact purpose (cat files on one window & edit in another) but it doesn't appear to work that way.
Just about every Big Book of UNIX I've ever known introduces the screen utility in a couple of incomprehensible paragraphs on page 1500, having spent its first 600 pages on some meticulous analysis of how to customize your cursor. Clearly that should be the other way around, and the fact that it isn't has to qualify as one of the modern era's most blatant cases of epistemological bottlenecking. And that's some almighty competitive field.
How to use screen: Step 1) Don't use screen Step 2) Use tmux instead Jokes aside, great tutorial :D unfortunately for me, I'm using a "pre-installed" Virtual Machine which I can't connect properly to internet, so I can't install tmux on that... the only other option available on the system is screen, so this is why I'm here :)
I agree with your steps. But it is useful to know both. It is very common to not have access to install the tools you want to use. I guess in those situations the real question is multiplexer or nothing.
The purpose is to get multiple screens when you are on a single terminal. For example you ssh into a server, and you want to edit a file in nano or vi, but meanwhile also do something like reading directory content. Normally that would be difficult. When you are in your editor, you can not give ls commands or start another program. This is when screen comes in handy. You can either split your terminal session, or switch between full-screen sessions. Screen makes it look like you have multiple screens.
Screen commands:
screen (starts a screen session)
ctrl a + d (detaches screen session)
screen -ls (shows all screen sessions)
screen -S dudeman (creates screen session dudeman)
screen -r (use pid or the title in order to reattach) (reattaches screen session)
screen -X -S dudeman quit (deletes the dudeman screen session)
within screen session:
ctrl a+k (kills the screen session or window)(if multiple windows within session, deletes only that window)
crtl a+c (new window within screen session)
ctrl a+w (shows all windows within screen session)
ctrl a+n (shows next window)
ctrl a+p (shows previous window)
ctrl a+\ (kills all windows in session and closes session)
ctrl a+ (integer)( goes to that specific window)
ctrl a+" (shows a gui to select a window)
ctrl a+A(shift a) ( changes window name)
ctrl a+| (splits windows vertically)
ctrl a+tab (switches between panes)
ctrl a+S(shift s) (splits windows horizontally)
ctrl a+X(shift x) (deletes the pane)
if you ctrl a+d and detach, and then reattach, the panes will be gone
ctrl a+x (locks the session) (default password is your login password)
ctrl a+t (load average and time pops up)
outside of window:
screen -d -m python counter.py (runs the python program (counter.py) in the screen window)
The screen session terminates once program is done
ctrl a+? (shows all the key bindings
ctrl a+: (shows the command, type remove and it removes the window)
saved my time
ctrl a+| (splits windows vertically) - somewhat does not work for me. Any other option?
@@kulajit It doesn't work with the default version of Screen installed on macOS (which is from 2006-you can see this by running `screen -version`). If that's the problem, you'll need to install a newer version.
My comment is still relevant, just like your content is, 6 years later!!!! Flames bro, learnt a lot in this short space amount of time. What a flow👏👏👏👏👏👏
How time flies...
Everything I wanted to know and then some in just one video, and perfectly explained, this is how to do a tutorial. Thank you
0:35 start a screen session
0:59 detach from screen session - Ctrl + A then press D
1:15 screen -ls
1:46 create a new screen session - 1:50 screen -S newssesionname
2:34 re-attach
Thank you very much, was struggling with the darn manual, you just demystyfied all, great tutorial!
great that I could actually see your terminal. So many videos are almost impossible to see. Thanks for the video
very good! I'm learning to use screen and this is by far the best video I've seen about it
Excellent tutorial, very well presented. Sometimes the documentation is very dry and terse or not easily followed. This helped me a lot. Thanks!
most usefull video ive seen all DAY
Very informative. keep making such a high quality tutorials.
This was a really good tutorial on how to use "screen".
I understood everything. So I know it was clearly explained.
Video could have stood a few less commercial interruptions.
Again, great job, and thank you.
I was searching such command from long time, you did great job here ... Thank a lot mate.
As a regular tmuxer i must admit screens default bindings are way more intuitive and easier to remember compared to tmux
First of all the Tutorial ist really good but in what order do I have to press buttons on the keyboard to rename a window? I dont get how to do strg + a + A properly to get into the bar where I can set the window-name. Thx in advance
Brilliant! Thanks. Superbly explained. I love the repetition and reinforcement i.e. always demonstrating the status of the sessions and windows and panes after completing an action. Add an academic sandwich and it would be perfect.
Very much to the point and just what I was looking for thanks mate, good job!
Very Clear and Detailed explaination. Thank you a lot!
I finally learn how to use screen! Thank man, your tutorial is very helpful.
Is there a way to use a terminal and have another window to visualize what you're doing at the same time?
Great Tutorial
Hi Dear Linux Leech Tutor :-) Thank you very much indeed for this detailed presented tutorial :-) But steel I have some questions to ask!!
5 month ago I started to study Linux Ubuntu Server 18.04.2 LTS (Bionic Beaver) and I have already learnt a lot of commands and I can really use and apply them correctly but I have got problems with some shortcut keys within SCREEN command usage, like:
Control-a+? Display brief help
Control-a+A Accept a title name for the current window.
Control-a+b Send a break to window
Control-a+F Resize the window to the current region size.
Control-a+h Write a hardcopy of the current window to file "hardcopy.n"
Control-a+H Begin/end logging of the current window to file "screenlog.n"
Control-a+i Show info about this window.
Control-a+k Kill (Destroy) the current window. - I can also kill window by using Ctrl+d in Ubuntu Server
Control-a+l Fully refresh current window
Control-a+M Monitor the current window for activity {toggle on/off}
Control-a+N Show the Number and Title of window
Control-a+q Send a control-q to the current window(xon)
Control-a+Q Delete all regions but the current one.(only)
Control-a+Control-\ Kill all windows and terminate screen(quit)
Control-a+_ Monitor the current window for inactivity {toggle on/off}
.
The other shortcut keys seem to work correctly.
I cannot also split my screen by using ctrl+a+| it doesn't work anyhow!
Help me, please!!!
I thank you for your consideration in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you. Dear Tutor tell me what do you suggest or propose on this matter?
If they don't work add them to you ~/.screenrc file. This should get you started.
In ~/.screenrc
bind | split -v
You should now be able to ctrl+a | to split your screen. As for the others, same method.
@@linuxleech Thank you very much indeed !!! :-)
Great tutorial, maybe reduce the number of ads by a factor of 100
Is it possible to scroll in a window without using keys? If not, why? Say I wanted to edit a file (vim file.py) in window 1, execute a file in window 2, and then ls -la a directory with window 3. Not being able to scroll defeats the purpose. Is there another program that can do this?
Hi
Ctrl a + w does not work for me ,any solutions ?Also is there any way to display the windows bar permanently inside screen like it is theer for tmux multiplexer .....?
ctrl a+| (splits windows vertically) - somewhat does not work for me. Any other option?
Hi! Great video. Learnt a lot from it. Just a question. Can screen be used to replicate an action across several terminals? Let's say I have several machines in which I need to perform the same tasks. I'd ssh to them (each on a different pane) and then start typing commands or editing files. Is this possible? I'm aware of the "at # stuff ", but what if i want to edit (via vi command) a file? Would that be possible to edit all at once? Thanks!
Hi Matias, The first part of your question is definitely possible (connecting to several machines each in different panes). If you are looking to execute the same task on several machines at once I would recommend that you look at a tool called fabric www.fabfile.org/index.html .
It is a python library but has a command-line tool. You will be able to specify the IP addresses of all of the machines that you want to run tasks on and have fabric run your tasks in parallel, on all of the machines that you specify.
To make edits to files using vi/vim (assuming you want to make the same changes to the same files on all of your machines) You could download the file from one of them to your local machine make your edits, and then use fabric to upload to all of your machines in one go.
As I mentioned earlier fabric is a python library you will need to write a little python to do the uploading/ downloading of files, but it isn't a lot, probably 15 short lines of python code would give you all of the functionality that you would need.
To get you started with fabric you could try this:
fab -H IPOfMachineOne, IPOfMachineTwo -u username -p password -- uptime
That will run uptime on the two machines that you have provided IP addresses for.
To run it in parallel just add -P so:
fab -H IPOfMachineOne, IPOfMachineTwo -u username -p password -P -- uptime
Hope that helps.
Great tutorial. Thanks for helping me learn the basics of the Screen.
Everything with me was great and thank you very much for the demo. I am using iMac M1 zsh terminal. When you reach in your demo to window splitting (using the command ctrl a | for vertical split) It didn't respond at all. The horizontal splitting (ctrl a tab) is ok and I didn't have a problem with it. Can you please or anyone here can help or suggest advice. Thank you all
Hi, I was having the same problem, the solution was to update `screen` I did it using `brew install screen`
best screen tutorial. learnt a lot thanks
Thank you, this was a very good tutorial.
Best tutorial available of using screen.
Thanks for making it.
I always wondered , why wasn't it made part of the bash shell, in the first place?
It is so common and dates way back.
Very useful when attaching and detaching on remote servers.
I think it might be because it is not essential i.e you can do everything you need to do without a multiplexer.
If something like screen does get included with the bash shell then it probably wouldn't be too long before other tools get added, and bash as a project would become unmanageable.
But separating it, all in bits and pieces, scattered around. Needs a master to assemble per need. For example, tmux, it is good. But I don't need it. If I know screen. Have VIM. And I access an array of small servers I build on PI devices. Sure on my powerful desktop. I can also have multiple desktops and terminals open. Don't need screen, or to detach. To wait for me. :)
Seems like a fun tool, but as leech mentioned, I don't really see a lot of point to it. Maybe on remote connections to servers.
i finally really get screen! Thanks!
Very interesting tool - never played with it. The instruction flow was very organized. Looking forward to testing it.
GREAT WORK, BUT when i use "ctrl + A + (N OR P)" doesnt work I am using aws ec2 server Any tip? thanks in advanced
I like that you can also copy/paste via keyboard in screen.
Simply awesome ...
Thank you so much.
thanks, that was really straight forward...you're a life saver!
very good material! thank you so much!
This was an excellent tutorial. Thanks for sharing. Everything went fine except for the part about locking a session using cntl + a x. It won't accept my logon password. Any ideas?
Best tutorial on this topic :) Thanks
Great great tutorial 👍👍👍
Great video. Thank you!
ctrl a k does not work for me
I read the man screen and it says ctrl a k should kill the screen, however, it does not work
did anyone have similar problems
ctrl a S also does not work while ctrl a n and ctrl a p and ctrl a c work fine
Five star tutorial. I can actually read everything clearly due to the font size. What screen recording software do you use for doing your video's?
Hi Michael. I just use FFMpeg to do screen recordings.
Subscribed for voice quality, content and peaceful tutorial. However I use Terminix and sometmes tmux.
7:23 -- killing all windows, 'ctrl A + \ ' doesn't work for me, but doing 'ctrl A + ctrl \' works..
Very useful, thanks!
Very clear tutorial.
Thank you sooooooooo much! This is awesome.
Thank you very much, this helped a lot.
Thanks for making this video!
I am unable to split screen vertically. Any idea what might be the problem?
Maybe your key bindings are not the default ones. try:
ctrl +a : split -v
I have also done a tutorial that specifically covers screen splitting ruclips.net/video/bTbDxaGo4tA/видео.html
Might be worth checking out
I tried with :split -v
It says split: no arguments required
I found this solution, It works : old.evanmeagher.net/2010/12/patching-screen-with-vertical-split-in-os
maybe you have an old version of screen, try to update it! That happened to me also
okey very nice, but... meen, what a ball breaker linux is, if i must remember every command posiblity of every app...
i end up someone with some attached and some detached sessions, i dont know the diference,
Hello, please help. "screen -dmS litepack && screen -X -S litepack java -Xmx3G -jar fabric-server-launch.jar nogui" don't work.
Make a script to start your server. Make sure it works.
Then run
screen -dmS MC-server /path/to/script
@@sivamachina3160 I solved by creating a sh and setting it in the crontab.
(Restart.sh)
#! / Bin / bash
screen -S server -X stuff "stop`echo -ne '05'`"
sleep 30
screen -S server -X stuff "bash ./start.sh` echo -ne '05'` "
Great video !!
thank you ❤😊
Very well done. Thanks
Perfect tutorial.. two thumbs up :D
ctrl + ak didn't work for me. Ubuntu server 16.04
Really nice explanation, thank you!
Glad you found it useful. Thanks for commenting.
@@linuxleech So you thought she was cute too eh? :)
Now that I have your attention, please answer my question about the password problem. When I lock the screen using ctrl a x, it won't accept my login password. I'm using Sun OS. I'm thinking that the reason it won't even take my password may be because of the Duo Multifactor Authentication that is set up for our Unix systems. What can I do to make it work? Any ideas?
great explanation! thx a lot.
thanks for making this
Very useful, thx
Glad to hear that!
But how do I restore the split layout?
Indeed I've been wondering that today. I wonder if it's "a thing".
It says Screen command not found I'm using juicessh
Not sure why, But i am using PUTTY to ssh into a raspberry pi and some of the commands do not work like ctrl + a + k. Anyone know why?
Try doing ctrl+a and *then* pressing k after
THANK YOU!!
I love it!
New user here.... WOW!
thank you
How to scroll multiply screen terminal?
I had this problem too. "Control + a and [" will allow you to scroll using the "hjkl" keys similar to how vim works. Then press "Esc" to exit scrolling. I wanted to use screen for this exact purpose (cat files on one window & edit in another) but it doesn't appear to work that way.
Awesome, Thanks
much appreciated
Ctrl-a k not working :| why ?!
Thanks a lot every youtube tutorial is soooooooo bad and soooooooooooooooo stupid but this one is awesome
Just about every Big Book of UNIX I've ever known introduces the screen utility in a couple of incomprehensible paragraphs on page 1500, having spent its first 600 pages on some meticulous analysis of how to customize your cursor. Clearly that should be the other way around, and the fact that it isn't has to qualify as one of the modern era's most blatant cases of epistemological bottlenecking. And that's some almighty competitive field.
Another good tool is tmux and the ohmyzsh shell
How to use screen:
Step 1) Don't use screen
Step 2) Use tmux instead
Jokes aside, great tutorial :D unfortunately for me, I'm using a "pre-installed" Virtual Machine which I can't connect properly to internet, so I can't install tmux on that... the only other option available on the system is screen, so this is why I'm here :)
I agree with your steps. But it is useful to know both. It is very common to not have access to install the tools you want to use. I guess in those situations the real question is multiplexer or nothing.
Yes, you are definitely right :) Indeed, I'm exactly in one of those situations :D
I will hearing "slash ls" in my dreams
yeah but what the purpose of screen. You jumped right into commands with no explanation at all.
The purpose is to get multiple screens when you are on a single terminal.
For example you ssh into a server, and you want to edit a file in nano or vi, but meanwhile also do something like reading directory content. Normally that would be difficult. When you are in your editor, you can not give ls commands or start another program.
This is when screen comes in handy. You can either split your terminal session, or switch between full-screen sessions. Screen makes it look like you have multiple screens.
it was cool 30 years ago. now you all have GUI you tab TAB your terminal emulator
I was trying to watch the RUclips ads, but they kept being interrupted by brief, fleeting snippets of content.
Watching video with pinhole
Blocked over 100 ads
Please, deleted "sudo" & Ubuntu
This is like micro-emacs!
Do you use micro-emacs?