Jul 18
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
screenin 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

August 13th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
[...] Unceremoniously stolen from: http://munckfish.net/blog/archive/2006/07/18/howto-screen-command-quickstart/ [...]
August 16th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
[...] also like to use the screen utility so I can walk away/logout etc and return later. See my previous post on how to use that. Finally the script runs a WAV file so I know when it’s [...]