Screen Command
☰ Table of Content
Cheat sheet.
Start and Exit
| Command | Usage |
|---|---|
| screen | Start a screen session with a window with a shell. Start a new window if already in a screen session. |
| exit | Exiting the shell will exit the current window. Screen session will also end if it is the last window. |
| screen <program> | Start a program within a screen window. Exiting the program will also terminate the window. |
Hot Key
Screen default hot-key is ctrl+a, then follow by a command key. Following are some frequently used command keys:
Press ctrl+a, then press one of the following keys.
| Command Key | Usage |
|---|---|
| ? | Display help. |
| c | Create and enter a new window. |
| " | List and choose window. |
| A | Change name / title of a window. |
| S | Split the terminal. |
| Q | Remove all split areas other than the current focused one. |
| X | Remove the currently focused split area. |
| ctrl+I | Cycle cursor focus through split area. |
| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | Quick switch between window 0-9. |
| k | Kill current window. |
| d | Detect the screen session. |
| ctrl+\ | Kill all windows and exit screen. |
Command Line Options
Some frequently use command line options:
| |
| Options | Usage |
|---|---|
| -ls | List socket name and status. |
| -D | If inside a screen session, will detach the session and terminate the terminal process with it. |
| -r <socket> | Re-attach to a detached screen session. |
| -x <socket> | Join a screen session. |
| -S | Set socket name other than <pid>.<tty>.<host>. |
John Siu
Update: 2022-05-12