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Commands

A command in screen can either be bound to a key, invoked from a screenrc file, or called from the colon prompt (see section Customizing Screen). As of version 3.3, all commands can be bound to keys, although some may be less useful than others. For a number of real life working examples of the most important commands see the files `etc/screenrc' and `etc/etcscreenrc' of your screen distribution.

In this manual, a command definition looks like this:

-- Command: command [-n] ARG1 [ARG2] ...
(keybindings)
This command does something, but I can't remember what.

An argument in square brackets (`[]') is optional. Many commands take an argument of `on' or `off', which is indicated as state in the definition.

Default Key Bindings

As mentioned previously, each keyboard command consists of a C-a followed by one other character. For your convenience, all commands that are bound to lower-case letters are also bound to their control character counterparts (with the exception of C-a a; see below). Thus, both C-a c and C-a C-c can be used to create a window.

The following table shows the default key bindings:

C-a '
(select)
Prompt for a window identifier and switch. See section Selecting a Window.
C-a "
(windowlist -b)
Present a list of all windows for selection. See section Selecting a Window.
C-a 0...9, -
(select 0...select 9, select -)
Switch to window number 0...9, or the blank window. See section Selecting a Window.
C-a Tab
(focus)
Switch the input focus to the next region. See section Regions.
C-a C-a
(other)
Toggle to the window displayed previously. If this window does no longer exist, other has the same effect as next. See section Selecting a Window.
C-a a
(meta)
Send the command character (C-a) to window. See escape command. See section Command Character.
C-a A
(title)
Allow the user to enter a title for the current window. See section Naming Windows (Titles).
C-a b
C-a C-b
(break)
Send a break to the tty. See section Break.
C-a B
(pow_break)
Close and reopen the tty-line. See section Break.
C-a c
C-a C-c
(screen)
Create a new window with a shell and switch to that window. See section Screen Command.
C-a C
(clear)
Clear the screen. See section Clear.
C-a d
C-a C-d
(detach)
Detach screen from this terminal. See section Detach.
C-a D D
(pow_detach)
Detach and logout. See section Power Detach.
C-a f
C-a C-f
(flow)
Cycle flow among `on', `off' or `auto'. See section Flow.
C-a F
(fit)
Resize the window to the current region size. See section Window Size.
C-a C-g
(vbell)
Toggle visual bell mode. See section Bell.
C-a h
(hardcopy)
Write a hardcopy of the current window to the file "hardcopy.n". See section hardcopy.
C-a H
(log)
Toggle logging of the current window to the file "screenlog.n". See section log.
C-a i
C-a C-i
(info)
Show info about the current window. See section Info.
C-a k
C-a C-k
(kill)
Destroy the current window. See section Kill.
C-a l
C-a C-l
(redisplay)
Fully refresh the current window. See section Redisplay.
C-a L
(login)
Toggle the current window's login state. See section Login.
C-a m
C-a C-m
(lastmsg)
Repeat the last message displayed in the message line. See section Display Last Message.
C-a M
(monitor) Toggle monitoring of the current window. See section Monitoring.
C-a SPC
C-a n
C-a C-n
(next)
Switch to the next window. See section Selecting a Window.
C-a N
(number)
Show the number (and title) of the current window. See section Number.
C-a p
C-a C-p
C-a C-h
C-a BackSpace
(prev)
Switch to the previous window (opposite of C-a n). See section Selecting a Window.
C-a q
C-a C-q
(xon)
Send a ^Q (ASCII XON) to the current window. See section XON and XOFF.
C-a Q
(only)
Delete all regions but the current one. See section Regions.
C-a r
C-a C-r
(wrap)
Toggle the current window's line-wrap setting (turn the current window's automatic margins on or off). See section Wrap.
C-a s
C-a C-s
(xoff)
Send a ^S (ASCII XOFF) to the current window. See section XON and XOFF.
C-a S
(split)
Split the current region into two new ones. See section Regions.
C-a t
C-a C-t
(time)
Show the load average and xref. See section Time.
C-a v
(version)
Display the version and compilation date. See section Version.
C-a C-v
(digraph)
Enter digraph. See section Digraph.
C-a w
C-a C-w
(windows)
Show a list of active windows. See section Windows.
C-a W
(width)
Toggle between 80 and 132 columns. See section Window Size.
C-a x
C-a C-x
(lockscreen)
Lock your terminal. See section Lock.
C-a X
(remove)
Kill the current region. See section Regions.
C-a z
C-a C-z
(suspend)
Suspend screen. See section Suspend.
C-a Z
(reset)
Reset the virtual terminal to its "power-on" values. See section Reset.
C-a .
(dumptermcap)
Write out a `.termcap' file. See section Write out the window's termcap entry.
C-a ?
(help)
Show key bindings. See section Help.
C-a C-\
(quit)
Kill all windows and terminate screen. See section Quit.
C-a :
(colon)
Enter a command line. See section Colon.
C-a [
C-a C-[
C-a ESC
(copy)
Enter copy/scrollback mode. See section Copying.
C-a ]
C-a C-]
(paste .)
Write the contents of the paste buffer to the stdin queue of the current window. See section Paste.
C-a {
C-a }
(history)
Copy and paste a previous (command) line. See section History.
C-a >
(writebuf)
Write the paste buffer out to the screen-exchange file. See section Screen Exchange.
C-a <
(readbuf)
Read the screen-exchange file into the paste buffer. See section Screen Exchange.
C-a =
(removebuf)
Delete the screen-exchange file. See section Screen Exchange.
C-a _
(silence)
Start/stop monitoring the current window for inactivity. See section Silence,
C-a ,
(license)
Show the copyright page.
C-a *
(displays)
Show the listing of attached displays.

Command Summary

acladd usernames
Allow other users in this session. See section Multiuser Session.
aclchg usernames permbits list
Change a user's permissions. See section Multiuser Session.
acldel username
Disallow other user in this session. See section Multiuser Session.
aclgrp usrname [groupname]
Inherit permissions granted to a group leader. See section Multiuser Session.
aclumask [users]+/-bits ...
Predefine access to new windows. See section aclumask.
activity message
Set the activity notification message. See section Monitoring.
addacl usernames
Synonym to acladd. See section Multiuser Session.
allpartial state
Set all windows to partial refresh. See section Redisplay.
altscreen state
Enables support for the "alternate screen" terminal capability. See section Redisplay.
at [ident][#|*|%] command [args]
Execute a command at other displays or windows. See section At.
attrcolor attrib [attribute/color-modifier]
Map attributes to colors. See section Attrcolor.
autodetach state
Automatically detach the session on SIGHUP. See section Detach.
autonuke state
Enable a clear screen to discard unwritten output. See section Autonuke.
backtick id lifespan autorefresh command [args]
Define a command for the backtick string escape. See section Backtick.
bce [state]
Change background color erase. See section Character Processing.
bell_msg [message]
Set the bell notification message. See section Bell.
bind [-c class] key [command [args]]
Bind a command to a key. See section The bind command.
bindkey [opts] [string [cmd args]]
Bind a string to a series of keystrokes. See section Bindkey.
blanker
Blank the screen. See section Screen Saver.
blankerprg
Define a blanker program. See section Screen Saver.
break [duration]
Send a break signal to the current window. See section Break.
breaktype [tcsendbreak | TCSBRK | TIOCSBRK]
Specify how to generate breaks. See section Break.
bufferfile [exchange-file]
Select a file for screen-exchange. See section Screen Exchange.
c1 [state]
Change c1 code processing. See section Character Processing.
caption mode [string]
Change caption mode and string. See section Regions.
chacl usernames permbits list
Synonym to aclchg. See section Multiuser Session.
charset set
Change character set slot designation. See section Character Processing.
chdir [directory]
Change the current directory for future windows. See section Chdir.
clear
Clear the window screen. See section Clear.
colon
Enter a screen command. See section Colon.
command [-c class]
Simulate the screen escape key. See section Command Character.
compacthist [state]
Selects compaction of trailing empty lines. See section Scrollback.
console [state]
Grab or ungrab console output. See section Console.
copy
Enter copy mode. See section Copying.
copy_reg [key]
Removed. Use paste instead. See section Registers.
crlf state
Select line break behavior for copying. See section CR/LF.
debug state
Suppress/allow debugging output. See section Debug.
defautonuke state
Select default autonuke behavior. See section Autonuke.
defbce state
Select background color erase. See section Character Processing.
defbreaktype [tcsendbreak | TCSBRK | TIOCSBRK]
Specify the default for generating breaks. See section Break.
defc1 state
Select default c1 processing behavior. See section Character Processing.
defcharset [set]
Change defaul character set slot designation. See section Character Processing.
defencoding enc
Select default window encoding. See section Character Processing.
defescape xy
Set the default command and meta characters. See section Command Character.
defflow fstate
Select default flow control behavior. See section Flow.
defgr state
Select default GR processing behavior. See section Character Processing.
defhstatus [status]
Select default window hardstatus line. See section Hardstatus.
deflog state
Select default window logging behavior. See section log.
deflogin state
Select default utmp logging behavior. See section Login.
defmode mode
Select default file mode for ptys. See section Mode.
defmonitor state
Select default activity monitoring behavior. See section Monitoring.
defnonblock state|numsecs
Select default nonblock mode. See section Nonblock.
defobuflimit limit
Select default output buffer limit. See section Obuflimit.
defscrollback num
Set default lines of scrollback. See section Scrollback.
defshell command
Set the default program for new windows. See section Shell.
defsilence state
Select default idle monitoring behavior. See section Silence.
defslowpaste msec
Select the default inter-character timeout when pasting. See section Paste.
defutf8 state
Select default character encoding. See section Character Processing.
defwrap state
Set default line-wrapping behavior. See section Wrap.
defwritelock on|off|auto
Set default writelock behavior. See section Multiuser Session.
defzombie [keys]
Keep dead windows. See section Zombie.
detach [-h]
Disconnect screen from the terminal. See section Detach.
digraph
Enter digraph sequence. See section Digraph.
dinfo
Display terminal information. See section Info.
displays
List currently active user interfaces. See section Displays.
dumptermcap
Write the window's termcap entry to a file. See section Write out the window's termcap entry.
echo [-n] message
Display a message on startup. See section Startup.
encoding enc [denc]
Set the encoding of a window. See section Character Processing.
escape xy
Set the command and meta characters. See section Command Character.
eval command1 [command2 ...]
Parse and execute each argument. See section Eval.
exec [[fdpat] command [args ...]]
Run a subprocess (filter). See section Exec.
fit
Change window size to current display size. See section Window Size.
flow [fstate]
Set flow control behavior. See section Flow.
focus
Move focus to next region. See section Regions.
gr [state]
Change GR charset processing. See section Character Processing.
hardcopy [-h] [file]
Write out the contents of the current window. See section hardcopy.
hardcopy_append state
Append to hardcopy files. See section hardcopy.
hardcopydir directory
Place, where to dump hardcopy files. See section hardcopy.
hardstatus [state]
Use the hardware status line. See section Hardware Status Line.
height [lines [cols]]
Set display height. See section Window Size.
help [-c class]
Display current key bindings. See section Help.
history
Find previous command beginning .... See section History.
hstatus status
Change the window's hardstatus line. See section Hardstatus.
idle [timeout [cmd args]]
Define a screen saver command. See section Screen Saver.
ignorecase [state]
Ignore character case in searches. See section Searching.
info
Display window settings. See section Info.
ins_reg [key]
Removed, use paste instead. See section Registers.
kill
Destroy the current window. See section Kill.
lastmsg
Redisplay the last message. See section Display Last Message.
license
Display licensing information. See section Startup.
lockscreen
Lock the controlling terminal. See section Lock.
log [state]
Log all output in the current window. See section log.
logfile filename
Place where to collect logfiles. See section log.
login [state]
Log the window in `/etc/utmp'. See section Login.
logtstamp [state]
Configure logfile time-stamps. See section log.
mapdefault
Use only the default mapping table for the next keystroke. See section Bindkey Control.
mapnotnext
Don't try to do keymapping on the next keystroke. See section Bindkey Control.
maptimeout timo
Set the inter-character timeout used for keymapping. See section Bindkey Control.
markkeys string
Rebind keys in copy mode. See section markkeys.
maxwin n
Set the maximum window number. See section Maxwin.
meta
Insert the command character. See section Command Character.
monitor [state]
Monitor activity in window. See section Monitoring.
msgminwait sec
Set minimum message wait. See section Message Wait.
msgwait sec
Set default message wait. See section Message Wait.
multiuser state
Go into single or multi user mode. See section Multiuser Session.
nethack state
Use nethack-like error messages. See section Nethack.
next
Switch to the next window. See section Selecting a Window.
nonblock [state|numsecs]
Disable flow control to the current display. See section Nonblock.|numsecs]
number [n]
Change/display the current window's number. See section Number.
obuflimit [limit]
Select output buffer limit. See section Obuflimit.
only
Kill all other regions. See section Regions.
other
Switch to the window you were in last. See section Selecting a Window.
partial state
Set window to partial refresh. See section Redisplay.
password [crypted_pw]
Set reattach password. See section Detach.
paste [src_regs [dest_reg]]
Paste contents of paste buffer or registers somewhere. See section Paste.
pastefont [state]
Include font information in the paste buffer. See section Paste.
pow_break
Close and Reopen the window's terminal. See section Break.
pow_detach
Detach and hang up. See section Power Detach.
pow_detach_msg [message]
Set message displayed on pow_detach. See section Power Detach.
prev
Switch to the previous window. See section Selecting a Window.
printcmd [cmd]
Set a command for VT100 printer port emulation. See section Printcmd.
process [key]
Treat a register as input to screen. See section Registers.
quit
Kill all windows and exit. See section Quit.
readbuf [-e encoding] [filename]
Read the paste buffer from the screen-exchange file. See section Screen Exchange.
readreg [-e encoding] [reg [file]]
Load a register from paste buffer or file. See section Registers.
redisplay
Redisplay the current window. See section Redisplay.
register [-e encoding] key string
Store a string to a register. See section Registers.
remove
Kill current region. See section Regions.
removebuf
Delete the screen-exchange file. See section Screen Exchange.
reset
Reset the terminal settings for the window. See section Reset.
resize [(+/-)lines]
Grow or shrink a region
screen [opts] [n] [cmd [args]]
Create a new window. See section Screen Command.
scrollback num
Set size of scrollback buffer. See section Scrollback.
select [n]
Switch to a specified window. See section Selecting a Window.
sessionname [name]
Name this session. See section Session Name.
setenv [var [string]]
Set an environment variable for new windows. See section Setenv.
setsid state
Controll process group creation for windows. See section Setsid.
shell command
Set the default program for new windows. See section Shell.
shelltitle title
Set the default name for new windows. See section Shell.
silence [state|seconds]
Monitor a window for inactivity. See section Silence.
silencewait seconds
Default timeout to trigger an inactivity notify. See section Silence.
sleep num
Pause during startup. See section Startup.
slowpaste msec
Slow down pasting in windows. See section Paste.
source file
Run commands from a file. See section Source.
sorendition [attr [color]]
Change text highlighting. See section Sorendition.
split
Split region into two parts. See section Regions.
startup_message state
Display copyright notice on startup. See section Startup.
stuff string
Stuff a string in the input buffer of a window. See section Paste.
su [username [password [password2]]]
Identify a user. See section Multiuser Session.
suspend
Put session in background. See section Suspend.
term term
Set $TERM for new windows. See section Term.
termcap term terminal-tweaks [window-tweaks]
Tweak termcap entries for best performance. See section The termcap command.
terminfo term terminal-tweaks [window-tweaks]
Ditto, for terminfo systems. See section The termcap command.
termcapinfo term terminal-tweaks [window-tweaks]
Ditto, for both systems. See section The termcap command.
time [string]
Display time and load average. See section Time.
title [windowtitle]
Set the name of the current window. See section Title Command.
umask [users]+/-bits ...
Synonym to aclumask. See section aclumask.
unsetenv var
Unset environment variable for new windows. See section Setenv.
utf8 [state [dstate]]
Select character encoding of the current window. See section Character Processing.
vbell [state]
Use visual bell. See section Bell.
vbell_msg [message]
Set vbell message. See section Bell.
vbellwait sec
Set delay for vbell message. See section Bell.
version
Display screen version. See section Version.
wall message
Write a message to all displays. See section Multiuser Session.
width [cols [lines]]
Set the width of the window. See section Window Size.
windowlist [-b] | string [string] | title [title]
Present a list of all windows for selection. See section Windowlist.
windows
List active windows. See section Windows.
wrap [state]
Control line-wrap behavior. See section Wrap.
writebuf [-e encoding] [filename]
Write paste buffer to screen-exchange file. See section Screen Exchange.
writelock on|off|auto
Grant exclusive write permission. See section Multiuser Session.
xoff
Send an XOFF character. See section XON and XOFF.
xon
Send an XON character. See section XON and XOFF.
zmodem [off|auto|catch|pass]
Define how screen treats zmodem requests. See section Zmodem.
zombie [keys]
Keep dead windows. See section Zombie.

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