This is Info file screen.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the input file ./screen.texinfo. This file documents the `Screen' virtual terminal manager. Copyright (c) 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved by the Foundation.  File: screen.info, Node: Naming Windows, Next: Console, Up: Window Settings Naming Windows (Titles) ======================= You can customize each window's name in the window display (viewed with the `windows' command (*note Windows::.) by setting it with one of the title commands. Normally the name displayed is the actual command name of the program created in the window. However, it is sometimes useful to distinguish various programs of the same name or to change the name on-the-fly to reflect the current state of the window. The default name for all shell windows can be set with the `shelltitle' command (*note Shell::.). You can specify the name you want for a window with the `-t' option to the `screen' command when the window is created (*note Screen Command::.). To change the name after the window has been created you can use the title-string escape-sequence (`ESC k NAME ESC \') and the `title' command (C-a A). The former can be output from an application to control the window's name under software control, and the latter will prompt for a name when typed. You can also bind predefined names to keys with the `title' command to set things quickly without prompting. * Menu: * Title Command:: The `title' command. * Dynamic Titles:: Make shell windows change titles dynamically. * Title Prompts:: Set up your shell prompt for dynamic Titles. * Title Screenrc:: Set up Titles in your `.screenrc'.  File: screen.info, Node: Title Command, Next: Dynamic Titles, Up: Naming Windows Title Command ------------- - Command: title [WINDOWTITLE] (`C-a A') Set the name of the current window to WINDOWALIAS. If no name is specified, screen prompts for one.  File: screen.info, Node: Dynamic Titles, Next: Title Prompts, Prev: Title Command, Up: Naming Windows Dynamic Titles -------------- `screen' has a shell-specific heuristic that is enabled by setting the window's name to SEARCH|NAME and arranging to have a null title escape-sequence output as a part of your prompt. The SEARCH portion specifies an end-of-prompt search string, while the NAME portion specifies the default shell name for the window. If the NAME ends in a `:' `screen' will add what it believes to be the current command running in the window to the end of the specified name (e.g. NAME:CMD). Otherwise the current command name supersedes the shell name while it is running. Here's how it works: you must modify your shell prompt to output a null title-escape-sequence (ESC k ESC \) as a part of your prompt. The last part of your prompt must be the same as the string you specified for the SEARCH portion of the title. Once this is set up, `screen' will use the title-escape-sequence to clear the previous command name and get ready for the next command. Then, when a newline is received from the shell, a search is made for the end of the prompt. If found, it will grab the first word after the matched string and use it as the command name. If the command name begins with `!', `%', or `^', `screen' will use the first word on the following line (if found) in preference to the just-found name. This helps csh users get more accurate titles when using job control or history recall commands.  File: screen.info, Node: Title Prompts, Next: Title Screenrc, Prev: Dynamic Titles, Up: Naming Windows Setting up your prompt for shell titles --------------------------------------- One thing to keep in mind when adding a null title-escape-sequence to your prompt is that some shells (like the csh) count all the non-control characters as part of the prompt's length. If these invisible characters aren't a multiple of 8 then backspacing over a tab will result in an incorrect display. One way to get around this is to use a prompt like this: set prompt='k\% ' The escape-sequence `' not only normalizes the character attributes, but all the zeros round the length of the invisible characters up to 8. Tcsh handles escape codes in the prompt more intelligently, so you can specify your prompt like this: set prompt="%{\ek\e\\%}\% " Bash users will probably want to echo the escape sequence in the PROMPT_COMMAND: PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -n -e "\033k\033\134"' (I used `\134' to output a `\' because of a bug in v1.04).  File: screen.info, Node: Title Screenrc, Prev: Title Prompts, Up: Naming Windows Setting up shell titles in your `.screenrc' ------------------------------------------- Here are some .screenrc examples: screen -t top 2 nice top Adding this line to your .screenrc would start a niced version of the `top' command in window 2 named `top' rather than `nice'. shelltitle '> |csh' screen 1 This file would start a shell using the given shelltitle. The title specified is an auto-title that would expect the prompt and the typed command to look something like the following: /usr/joe/src/dir> trn (it looks after the '> ' for the command name). The window status would show the name `trn' while the command was running, and revert to `csh' upon completion. bind R screen -t '% |root:' su Having this command in your .screenrc would bind the key sequence `C-a R' to the `su' command and give it an auto-title name of `root:'. For this auto-title to work, the screen could look something like this: % !em emacs file.c Here the user typed the csh history command `!em' which ran the previously entered `emacs' command. The window status would show `root:emacs' during the execution of the command, and revert to simply `root:' at its completion. bind o title bind E title "" bind u title (unknown) The first binding doesn't have any arguments, so it would prompt you for a title when you type `C-a o'. The second binding would clear an auto-titles current setting (C-a E). The third binding would set the current window's title to `(unknown)' (C-a u).  File: screen.info, Node: Console, Next: Kill, Prev: Naming Windows, Up: Window Settings Console ======= - Command: console [STATE] (none) Grabs or ungrabs the machines console output to a window. When the argument is omitted the current state is displayed. *Note*: Only the owner of `/dev/console' can grab the console output. This command is only available if the host supports the ioctl `TIOCCONS'.  File: screen.info, Node: Kill, Next: Login, Prev: Console, Up: Window Settings Kill ==== - Command: kill (`C-a k', `C-a C-k') Kill the current window. If there is an `exec' command running (*note Exec::.) then it is killed. Otherwise the process (e.g. shell) running in the window receives a `HANGUP' condition, the window structure is removed and screen switches to the previously displayed window. When the last window is destroyed, `screen' exits. *Caution*: `emacs' users may find themselves killing their `emacs' session when trying to delete the current line. For this reason, it is probably wise to use a different command character (*note Command Character::.) or rebind `kill' to another key sequence, such as `C-a K' (*note Key Binding::.).  File: screen.info, Node: Login, Next: Mode, Prev: Kill, Up: Window Settings Login ===== - Command: deflogin STATE (none) Same as the `login' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. This defaults to `on' unless otherwise specified at compile time (*note Installation::.). Both commands are only present when `screen' has been compiled with utmp support. - Command: login [STATE] (`C-a L') Adds or removes the entry in `/etc/utmp' for the current window. This controls whether or not the window is "logged in". In addition to this toggle, it is convenient to have "log in" and "log out" keys. For instance, `bind I login on' and `bind O login off' will map these keys to be `C-a I' and `C-a O' (*note Key Binding::.).  File: screen.info, Node: Mode, Next: Monitor, Prev: Login, Up: Window Settings Mode ==== - Command: defmode MODE (none) The mode of each newly allocated pseudo-tty is set to MODE. MODE is an octal number as used by chmod(1). Defaults to 0622 for windows which are logged in, 0600 for others (e.g. when `-ln' was specified for creation. *Note Screen Command::).  File: screen.info, Node: Monitor, Next: Windows, Prev: Mode, Up: Window Settings Monitoring ========== - Command: activity MESSAGE (none) When any activity occurs in a background window that is being monitored, `screen' displays a notification in the message line. The notification message can be redefined by means of the `activity' command. Each occurrence of `%' in MESSAGE is replaced by the number of the window in which activity has occurred, and each occurrence of `~' is replaced by the definition for bell in your termcap (usually an audible bell). The default message is 'Activity in window %' Note that monitoring is off for all windows by default, but can be altered by use of the `monitor' command (`C-a M'). - Command: defmonitor STATE (none) Same as the `monitor' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. Initial setting is `off'. - Command: monitor [STATE] (`C-a M') Toggles monitoring of the current window. When monitoring is turned on and the affected window is switched into the background, the activity notification message will be displayed in the status line at the first sign of output, and the window will also be marked with an `@' in the window-status display (*note Windows::.). Monitoring defaults to `off' for all windows.  File: screen.info, Node: Windows, Next: Hardstatus, Prev: Monitor, Up: Window Settings Windows ======= - Command: windows (`C-a w', `C-a C-w') Uses the message line to display a list of all the windows. Each window is listed by number with the name of the program running in the window (or its title); the current window is marked with a `*'; the previous window is marked with a `-'; all the windows that are logged in are marked with a `$' (*note Login::.); a background window that has received a bell is marked with a `!'; a background window that is being monitored and has had activity occur is marked with an `@' (*note Monitor::.); a window which has output logging turned on is marked with `(L)'; windows occupied by other users are marked with `&'; windows in the zombie state are marked with `Z'. If this list is too long to fit on the terminal's status line only the portion around the current window is displayed.  File: screen.info, Node: Hardstatus, Prev: Windows, Up: Window Settings Hardstatus ========== `Screen' maintains a hardstatus line for every window. If a window gets selected, the display's hardstatus will be updated to match the window's hardstatus line. If the display has no hardstatus the line will be displayed as a standard screen message. The hardstatus line can be changed with the ANSI Application Program Command (APC): `ESC_ESC\'. As a convenience for xterm users the sequence `ESC]0..2;^G' is also accepted. - Command: defhstatus (none) The hardstatus line that all new windows will get is set to STATUS. This command is useful to make the hardstatus of every window display the window number or title or the like. STATUS may contain the same directives as in the window messages, but the directive escape character is `^E' (octal 005) instead of `%'. This was done to make a misinterpretion of program generated hardstatus lines impossible. If the parameter STATUS is omitted, the current default string is displayed. Per default the hardstatus line of new windows is empty.  File: screen.info, Node: Virtual Terminal, Next: Copy and Paste, Prev: Window Settings, Up: Top Virtual Terminal **************** Each window in a `screen' session emulates a VT100 terminal, with some extra functions added. The VT100 emulator is hardcoded, no other terminal types can be emulated. The commands described here modify the terminal emulation. * Menu: * Control Sequences:: Details of the internal VT100 emulation. * Input Translation:: How keystrokes are remapped. * Digraph:: Entering digraph sequences. * Bell:: Getting your attention. * Clear:: Clear the window display. * Info:: Terminal emulation statistics. * Redisplay:: When the display gets confusing. * Wrap:: Automatic margins. * Reset:: Recovering from ill-behaved applications. * Window Size:: Changing the size of your terminal. * Character Processing:: Change the effect of special characters.  File: screen.info, Node: Control Sequences, Next: Input Translation, Up: Virtual Terminal Control Sequences ================= The following is a list of control sequences recognized by `screen'. `(V)' and `(A)' indicate VT100-specific and ANSI- or ISO-specific functions, respectively. ESC E Next Line ESC D Index ESC M Reverse Index ESC H Horizontal Tab Set ESC Z Send VT100 Identification String ESC 7 (V) Save Cursor and Attributes ESC 8 (V) Restore Cursor and Attributes ESC [s (A) Save Cursor and Attributes ESC [u (A) Restore Cursor and Attributes ESC c Reset to Initial State ESC g Visual Bell ESC Pn p Cursor Visibility (97801) Pn = 6 Invisible 7 Visible ESC = (V) Application Keypad Mode ESC > (V) Numeric Keypad Mode ESC # 8 (V) Fill Screen with E's ESC \ (A) String Terminator ESC ^ (A) Privacy Message String (Message Line) ESC ! Global Message String (Message Line) ESC k Title Definition String ESC P (A) Device Control String Outputs a string directly to the host terminal without interpretation. ESC _ (A) Application Program Command (Hardstatus) ESC ] (A) Operating System Command (Hardstatus, xterm title hack) Control-N (A) Lock Shift G1 (SO) Control-O (A) Lock Shift G0 (SI) ESC n (A) Lock Shift G2 ESC o (A) Lock Shift G3 ESC N (A) Single Shift G2 ESC O (A) Single Shift G3 ESC ( Pcs (A) Designate character set as G0 ESC ) Pcs (A) Designate character set as G1 ESC * Pcs (A) Designate character set as G2 ESC + Pcs (A) Designate character set as G3 ESC [ Pn ; Pn H Direct Cursor Addressing ESC [ Pn ; Pn f Direct Cursor Addressing ESC [ Pn J Erase in Display Pn = None or 0 From Cursor to End of Screen 1 From Beginning of Screen to Cursor 2 Entire Screen ESC [ Pn K Erase in Line Pn = None or 0 From Cursor to End of Line 1 From Beginning of Line to Cursor 2 Entire Line ESC [ Pn A Cursor Up ESC [ Pn B Cursor Down ESC [ Pn C Cursor Right ESC [ Pn D Cursor Left ESC [ Ps ;...; Ps m Select Graphic Rendition Ps = None or 0 Default Rendition 1 Bold 2 (A) Faint 3 (A) Standout Mode (ANSI: Italicized) 4 Underlined 5 Blinking 7 Negative Image 22 (A) Normal Intensity 23 (A) Standout Mode off (ANSI: Italicized off) 24 (A) Not Underlined 25 (A) Not Blinking 27 (A) Positive Image 30 (A) Foreground Black 31 (A) Foreground Red 32 (A) Foreground Green 33 (A) Foreground Yellow 34 (A) Foreground Blue 35 (A) Foreground Magenta 36 (A) Foreground Cyan 37 (A) Foreground White 39 (A) Foreground Default 40 (A) Background Black ... ... 49 (A) Background Default ESC [ Pn g Tab Clear Pn = None or 0 Clear Tab at Current Position 3 Clear All Tabs ESC [ Pn ; Pn r (V) Set Scrolling Region ESC [ Pn I (A) Horizontal Tab ESC [ Pn Z (A) Backward Tab ESC [ Pn L (A) Insert Line ESC [ Pn M (A) Delete Line ESC [ Pn @ (A) Insert Character ESC [ Pn P (A) Delete Character ESC [ Pn S Scroll Scrolling Region Up ESC [ Pn T Scroll Scrolling Region Down ESC [ Ps ;...; Ps h Set Mode ESC [ Ps ;...; Ps l Reset Mode Ps = 4 (A) Insert Mode 20 (A) `Automatic Linefeed' Mode. 34 Normal Cursor Visibility ?1 (V) Application Cursor Keys ?3 (V) Change Terminal Width to 132 columns ?5 (V) Reverse Video ?6 (V) `Origin' Mode ?7 (V) `Wrap' Mode ?25 (V) Visible Cursor ESC [ 5 i (A) Start relay to printer (ANSI Media Copy) ESC [ 4 i (A) Stop relay to printer (ANSI Media Copy) ESC [ 8 ; Ph ; Pw t Resize the window to `Ph' lines and `Pw' columns (SunView special) ESC [ c Send VT100 Identification String ESC [ x (V) Send Terminal Parameter Report ESC [ > c Send Secondary Device Attributes String ESC [ 6 n Send Cursor Position Report  File: screen.info, Node: Input Translation, Next: Digraph, Prev: Control Sequences, Up: Virtual Terminal Input Translation ================= In order to do a full VT100 emulation `screen' has to detect that a sequence of characters in the input stream was generated by a keypress on the user's keyboard and insert the VT100 style escape sequence. `Screen' has a very flexible way of doing this by making it possible to map arbitrary commands on arbitrary sequences of characters. For standard VT100 emulation the command will always insert a string in the input buffer of the window (see also command `stuff', *note Paste::.). Because the sequences generated by a keypress can change after a reattach from a different terminal type, it is possible to bind commands to the termcap name of the keys. `Screen' will insert the correct binding after each reattach. *Note Bindkey:: for further details on the syntax and examples. Here is the table of the default key bindings. (A) means that the command is executed if the keyboard is switched into application mode. Key name Termcap name Command ----------------------------------------------------- Cursor up ku stuff \033[A stuff \033OA (A) Cursor down kd stuff \033[B stuff \033OB (A) Cursor right kr stuff \033[C stuff \033OC (A) Cursor left kl stuff \033[D stuff \033OD (A) Function key 0 k0 stuff \033[10~ Function key 1 k1 stuff \033OP Function key 2 k2 stuff \033OQ Function key 3 k3 stuff \033OR Function key 4 k4 stuff \033OS Function key 5 k5 stuff \033[15~ Function key 6 k6 stuff \033[17~ Function key 7 k7 stuff \033[18~ Function key 8 k8 stuff \033[19~ Function key 9 k9 stuff \033[20~ Function key 10 k; stuff \033[21~ Function key 11 F1 stuff \033[22~ Function key 12 F2 stuff \033[23~ Backspace kb stuff \010 Home kh stuff \033[1~ End kH stuff \033[4~ Insert kI stuff \033[2~ Delete kD stuff \033[3~ Page up kP stuff \033[5~ Page down kN stuff \033[6~ Keypad 0 f0 stuff 0 stuff \033Op (A) Keypad 1 f1 stuff 1 stuff \033Oq (A) Keypad 2 f2 stuff 2 stuff \033Or (A) Keypad 3 f3 stuff 3 stuff \033Os (A) Keypad 4 f4 stuff 4 stuff \033Ot (A) Keypad 5 f5 stuff 5 stuff \033Ou (A) Keypad 6 f6 stuff 6 stuff \033Ov (A) Keypad 7 f7 stuff 7 stuff \033Ow (A) Keypad 8 f8 stuff 8 stuff \033Ox (A) Keypad 9 f9 stuff 9 stuff \033Oy (A) Keypad + f+ stuff + stuff \033Ok (A) Keypad - f- stuff - stuff \033Om (A) Keypad * f* stuff * stuff \033Oj (A) Keypad / f/ stuff / stuff \033Oo (A) Keypad = fq stuff = stuff \033OX (A) Keypad . f. stuff . stuff \033On (A) Keypad , f, stuff , stuff \033Ol (A) Keypad enter fe stuff \015 stuff \033OM (A)  File: screen.info, Node: Digraph, Next: Bell, Prev: Input Translation, Up: Virtual Terminal Digraph ======= - Command: digraph [PRESET] (none) This command prompts the user for a digraph sequence. The next two characters typed are looked up in a builtin table and the resulting character is inserted in the input stream. For example, if the user enters `a"', an a-umlaut will be inserted. If the first character entered is a 0 (zero), `screen' will treat the following charcters (up to three) as an octal number instead. The optional argument PRESET is treated as user input, thus one can create an "umlaut" key. For example the command `bindkey ^K digraph '"'' enables the user to generate an a-umlaut by typing `CTRL-K a'.  File: screen.info, Node: Bell, Next: Clear, Prev: Digraph, Up: Virtual Terminal Bell ==== - Command: bell_msg [MESSAGE] (none) When a bell character is sent to a background window, `screen' displays a notification in the message line. The notification message can be re-defined by means of the `bell' command. Each occurrence of `%' in MESSAGE is replaced by the number of the window to which a bell has been sent, and each occurrence of `~' is replaced by the definition for bell in your termcap (usually an audible bell). The default message is 'Bell in window %' An empty message can be supplied to the `bell_msg' command to suppress output of a message line (`bell_msg ""'). - Command: vbell [STATE] (`C-a C-g') Sets or toggles the visual bell setting for the current window. If `vbell' is switched to `on', but your terminal does not support a visual bell, the visual bell message is displayed in the status line when the bell character is received. Visual bell support of a terminal is defined by the termcap variable `vb'. *Note Visual Bell: (termcap)Bell, for more information on visual bells. The equivalent terminfo capability is `flash'. Per default, `vbell' is `off', thus the audible bell is used. - Command: vbell_msg [MESSAGE] (none) Sets the visual bell message. MESSAGE is printed to the status line if the window receives a bell character (^G), `vbell' is set to `on' and the terminal does not support a visual bell. The default message is `Wuff, Wuff!!'. Without parameter, the current message is shown. - Command: vbellwait SEC (none) Define a delay in seconds after each display of `screen' 's visual bell message. The default is 1 second.  File: screen.info, Node: Clear, Next: Info, Prev: Bell, Up: Virtual Terminal Clear ===== - Command: clear (`C-a C') Clears the screen and saves its contents to the scrollback buffer.  File: screen.info, Node: Info, Next: Redisplay, Prev: Clear, Up: Virtual Terminal Info ==== - Command: info (`C-a i', `C-a C-i') Uses the message line to display some information about the current window: the cursor position in the form `(COLUMN,ROW)' starting with `(1,1)', the terminal width and height plus the size of the scrollback buffer in lines, like in `(80,24)+50', various flag settings (flow-control, insert mode, origin mode, wrap mode, application-keypad mode, output logging, activity monitoring, and redraw (`+' indicates enabled, `-' not)), the currently active character set (`G0', `G1', `G2', or `G3'), and in square brackets the terminal character sets that are currently designated as `G0' through `G3'. For system information use `time'.  File: screen.info, Node: Redisplay, Next: Wrap, Prev: Info, Up: Virtual Terminal Redisplay ========= - Command: allpartial STATE (none) If set to on, only the current cursor line is refreshed on window change. This affects all windows and is useful for slow terminal lines. The previous setting of full/partial refresh for each window is restored with `allpartial off'. This is a global flag that immediately takes effect on all windows overriding the `partial' settings. It does not change the default redraw behaviour of newly created windows. - Command: partial STATE (none) Defines whether the display should be refreshed (as with `redisplay') after switching to the current window. This command only affects the current window. To immediately affect all windows use the `allpartial' command. Default is `off', of course. This default is fixed, as there is currently no `defpartial' command. - Command: redisplay (`C-a l', `C-a C-l') Redisplay the current window. Needed to get a full redisplay in partial redraw mode.  File: screen.info, Node: Wrap, Next: Reset, Prev: Redisplay, Up: Virtual Terminal Wrap ==== - Command: wrap STATE (`C-a r', `C-a C-r') Sets the line-wrap setting for the current window. When line-wrap is on, the second consecutive printable character output at the last column of a line will wrap to the start of the following line. As an added feature, backspace (^H) will also wrap through the left margin to the previous line. Default is `on'. - Command: defwrap STATE (none) Same as the `wrap' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. Initially line-wrap is on and can be toggled with the `wrap' command (`C-a r') or by means of "C-a : wrap on|off".  File: screen.info, Node: Reset, Next: Window Size, Prev: Wrap, Up: Virtual Terminal Reset ===== - Command: reset (`C-a Z') Reset the virtual terminal to its "power-on" values. Useful when strange settings (like scroll regions or graphics character set) are left over from an application.  File: screen.info, Node: Window Size, Next: Character Processing, Prev: Reset, Up: Virtual Terminal Window Size =========== - Command: width [NUM] (`C-a W') Toggle the window width between 80 and 132 columns, or set it to NUM columns if an argument is specified. This requires a capable terminal and the termcap entries `Z0' and `Z1'. See the `termcap' command (*note Termcap::.), for more information. - Command: height [LINES] (none) Set the display height to a specified number of lines. When no argument is given it toggles between 24 and 42 lines display.  File: screen.info, Node: Character Processing, Prev: Window Size, Up: Virtual Terminal Character Processing ==================== - Command: c1 [STATE] (none) Change c1 code processing. `c1 on' tells screen to treat the input characters between 128 and 159 as control functions. Such an 8-bit code is normally the same as ESC followed by the corresponding 7-bit code. The default setting is to process c1 codes and can be changed with the `defc1' command. Users with fonts that have usable characters in the c1 positions may want to turn this off. - Command: gr [STATE] (none) Turn GR charset switching on/off. Whenever screens sees an input char with an 8th bit set, it will use the charset stored in the GR slot and print the character with the 8th bit stripped. The default (see also `defgr') is not to process GR switching because otherwise the ISO88591 charset would not work. - Command: kanji WTYPE [DTYPE] (none) Tell screen how to process kanji input/output. WTYPE and DTYPE must be one of the strings `jis', `euc' or `sjis'. The first argument sets the kanji type of the current window. Each window can emulate a different type. The optional second parameter tells screen how to write the kanji codes to the connected terminal. The preferred method of setting the display type is to use the `KJ' termcap entry. *Note Special Capabilities::. See also `defkanji', which changes the default setting of a new window. - Command: charset SET (none) Change the current character set slot designation and charset mapping. The first four character of SET are treated as charset designators while the fifth and sixth character must be in range `0' to `3' and set the GL/GR charset mapping. On every position a `.' may be used to indicate that the corresponding charset/mapping should not be changed (SET is padded to six characters internally by appending `.' chars). New windows have `BBBB02' as default charset, unless a `kanji' command is active. The current setting can be viewed with the *Note Info:: command. - Command: defc1 STATE (none) Same as the `c1' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. Initial setting is `on'. - Command: defgr STATE (none) Same as the `gr' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. Initial setting is `off'. - Command: defkanji WTYPE (none) Same as the `kanji' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. Initial setting is `off', i.e. `jis'. - Command: defcharset [SET] Like the `charset' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. Shows current default if called without argument.  File: screen.info, Node: Copy and Paste, Next: Subprocess Execution, Prev: Virtual Terminal, Up: Top Copy and Paste ************** For those confined to a hardware terminal, these commands provide a cut and paste facility more powerful than those provided by most windowing systems. * Menu: * Copy:: Copy from scrollback to buffer * Paste:: Paste from buffer into window * Registers:: Longer-term storage * Screen-Exchange:: Sharing data between screen users * History:: Recalling previous input  File: screen.info, Node: Copy, Next: Paste, Up: Copy and Paste Copying ======= - Command: copy (`C-a [', `C-a C-[', `C-a ESC') Enter copy/scrollback mode. This allows you to copy text from the current window and its history into the paste buffer. In this mode a `vi'-like full screen editor is active, with controls as outlined below. * Menu: * Line Termination:: End copied lines with CR/LF * Scrollback:: Set the size of the scrollback buffer * Copy Mode Keys:: Remap keys in copy mode * Movement:: Move around in the scrollback buffer * Marking:: Select the text you want * Repeat count:: Repeat a command * Searching:: Find the text you want * Specials:: Other random keys  File: screen.info, Node: Line Termination, Next: Scrollback, Up: Copy CR/LF ----- - Command: crlf [STATE] (none) This affects the copying of text regions with the `C-a [' command. If it is set to `on', lines will be separated by the two character sequence `CR'/`LF'. Otherwise only `LF' is used. `crlf' is off by default. When no parameter is given, the state is toggled.  File: screen.info, Node: Scrollback, Next: Copy Mode Keys, Prev: Line Termination, Up: Copy Scrollback ---------- - Command: defscrollback NUM (none) Same as the `scrollback' command except that the default setting for new windows is changed. Defaults to 100. - Command: scrollback NUM (none) Set the size of the scrollback buffer for new windows to NUM lines. The default scrollback is 100 lines. Use `C-a i' to view the current setting.  File: screen.info, Node: Copy Mode Keys, Next: Movement, Prev: Scrollback, Up: Copy markkeys -------- - Command: markkeys STRING (none) This is a method of changing the keymap used for copy/history mode. The string is made up of OLDCHAR=NEWCHAR pairs which are separated by `:'. Example: The command `markkeys h=^B:l=^F:$=^E' would set some keys to be more familiar to `emacs' users. If your terminal sends characters, that cause you to abort copy mode, then this command may help by binding these characters to do nothing. The no-op character is `' and is used like this: `markkeys @=L=H' if you do not want to use the `H' or `L' commands any longer. As shown in this example, multiple keys can be assigned to one function in a single statement.  File: screen.info, Node: Movement, Next: Marking, Prev: Copy Mode Keys, Up: Copy Movement Keys ------------- `h', `j', `k', `l' move the cursor line by line or column by column. `0', `^' and `$' move to the leftmost column or to the first or last non-whitespace character on the line. `H', `M' and `L' move the cursor to the leftmost column of the top, center or bottom line of the window. `+' and `-' move the cursor to the leftmost column of the next or previous line. `G' moves to the specified absolute line (default: end of buffer). `|' moves to the specified absolute column. `w', `b', `e' move the cursor word by word. `C-u' and `C-d' scroll the display up/down by the specified amount of lines while preserving the cursor position. (Default: half screenfull). `C-b' and `C-f' move the cursor up/down a full screen. `g' moves to the beginning of the buffer. `%' jumps to the specified percentage of the buffer. Note that Emacs-style movement keys can be specified by a .screenrc command. (`markkeys "h=^B:l=^F:$=^E"') There is no simple method for a full emacs-style keymap, however, as this involves multi-character codes.  File: screen.info, Node: Marking, Next: Repeat count, Prev: Movement, Up: Copy Marking ------- The copy range is specified by setting two marks. The text between these marks will be highlighted. Press `space' to set the first or second mark respectively. `Y' and `y' can be used to mark one whole line or to mark from start of line. `W' marks exactly one word.  File: screen.info, Node: Repeat count, Next: Searching, Prev: Marking, Up: Copy Repeat Count ------------ Any command in copy mode can be prefixed with a number (by pressing digits `0...9') which is taken as a repeat count. Example: `C-a C-[ H 10 j 5 Y' will copy lines 11 to 15 into the paste buffer.  File: screen.info, Node: Searching, Next: Specials, Prev: Repeat count, Up: Copy Searching --------- `/' `vi'-like search forward. `?' `vi'-like search backward. `C-a s' `emacs' style incremental search forward. `C-r' `emacs' style reverse i-search.  File: screen.info, Node: Specials, Prev: Searching, Up: Copy Specials -------- There are, however, some keys that act differently here from in `vi'. `Vi' does not allow to yank rectangular blocks of text, but `screen' does. Press `c' or `C' to set the left or right margin respectively. If no repeat count is given, both default to the current cursor position. Example: Try this on a rather full text screen: `C-a [ M 20 l SPACE c 10 l 5 j C SPACE'. This moves one to the middle line of the screen, moves in 20 columns left, marks the beginning of the paste buffer, sets the left column, moves 5 columns down, sets the right column, and then marks the end of the paste buffer. Now try: `C-a [ M 20 l SPACE 10 l 5 j SPACE' and notice the difference in the amount of text copied. `J' joins lines. It toggles between 3 modes: lines separated by a newline character (012), lines glued seamless, or lines separated by a single space. Note that you can prepend the newline character with a carriage return character, by issuing a `set crlf on'. `v' is for all the `vi' users who use `:set numbers' - it toggles the left margin between column 9 and 1. `a' before the final space key turns on append mode. Thus the contents of the paste buffer will not be overwritten, but appended to. `A' turns on append mode and sets a (second) mark. `>' sets the (second) mark and writes the contents of the paste buffer to the screen-exchange file (`/tmp/screen-exchange' per default) once copy-mode is finished. *Note Screen-Exchange::. This example demonstrates how to dump the whole scrollback buffer to that file: `C-a [ g SPACE G $ >'. `C-g' gives information about the current line and column. `x' exchanges the first mark and the current cursor position. You can use this to adjust an already placed mark. `@' does nothing. Absolutely nothing. Does not even exit copy mode. All keys not described here exit copy mode.  File: screen.info, Node: Paste, Next: Registers, Prev: Copy, Up: Copy and Paste Paste ===== - Command: paste [REGISTERS [DESTINATION]] (`C-a ]', `C-a C-]') Write the (concatenated) contents of the specified registers to the stdin stream of the current window. The register `.' is treated as the paste buffer. If no parameter is specified the user is prompted to enter a single register. The paste buffer can be filled with the `copy', `history' and `readbuf' commands. Other registers can be filled with the `register', `readreg' and `paste' commands. If `paste' is called with a second argument, the contents of the specified registers is pasted into the named destination register rather than the window. If `.' is used as the second argument, the display's paste buffer is the destination. Note, that `paste' uses a wide variety of resources: Usually both, a current window and a current display are required. But whenever a second argument is specified no current window is needed. When the source specification only contains registers (not the paste buffer) then there need not be a current display (terminal attached), as the registers are a global resource. The paste buffer exists once for every user. - Command: pastefont [STATE] Tell screen to include font information in the paste buffer. The default is not to do so. This command is especially usefull for multi character fonts like kanji. - Command: slowpaste MSEC (none) Define the speed text is inserted by the `paste' command. If the slowpaste value is nonzero text is written character by character. `screen' will pause for MSEC milliseconds after each write to allow the application to process the input. only use `slowpaste' if your underlying system exposes flow control problems while pasting large amounts of text. - Command: readreg [REGISTER [FILENAME]] (none) Does one of two things, dependent on number of arguments: with zero or one arguments it it duplicates the paste buffer contents into the register specified or entered at the prompt. With two arguments it reads the contents of the named file into the register, just as `readbuf' reads the screen-exchange file into the paste buffer. The following example will paste the system's password file into the screen window (using register p, where a copy remains): C-a : readreg p /etc/passwd C-a : paste p  File: screen.info, Node: Registers, Next: Screen-Exchange, Prev: Paste, Up: Copy and Paste Registers ========= - Command: copy_reg [KEY] (none) Removed. Use `readreg' instead. - Command: ins_reg [KEY] (none) Removed. Use `paste' instead. - Command: process [KEY] (none) Stuff the contents of the specified register into the `screen' input queue. If no argument is given you are prompted for a register name. The text is parsed as if it had been typed in from the user's keyboard. This command can be used to bind multiple actions to a single key. - Command: register KEY STRING (none) Save the specified STRING to the register KEY. - Command: stuff STRING (none) Stuff the string STRING in the input buffer of the current window. This is like the `paste' command, but with much less overhead. You cannot paste large buffers with the `stuff' command. It is most useful for key bindings. *Note Bindkey::  File: screen.info, Node: Screen-Exchange, Next: History, Prev: Registers, Up: Copy and Paste Screen-Exchange =============== - Command: bufferfile [EXCHANGE-FILE] (none) Change the filename used for reading and writing with the paste buffer. If the EXCHANGE-FILE parameter is omitted, `screen' reverts to the default of `/tmp/screen-exchange'. The following example will paste the system's password file into the screen window (using the paste buffer, where a copy remains): C-a : bufferfile /etc/passwd C-a < C-a ] C-a : bufferfile - Command: readbuf (`C-a <') Reads the contents of the current screen-exchange file into the paste buffer. - Command: removebuf (`C-a =') Unlinks the screen-exchange file. - Command: writebuf (`C-a >') Writes the contents of the paste buffer to a public accessible screen-exchange file. This is thought of as a primitive means of communication between `screen' users on the same host. See also `C-a ESC' (*note Copy::.).  File: screen.info, Node: History, Prev: Screen-Exchange, Up: Copy and Paste History ======= - Command: history (`C-a {') Usually users work with a shell that allows easy access to previous commands. For example, `csh' has the command `!!' to repeat the last command executed. `screen' provides a primitive way of recalling "the command that started ...": You just type the first letter of that command, then hit `C-a {' and `screen' tries to find a previous line that matches with the prompt character to the left of the cursor. This line is pasted into this window's input queue. Thus you have a crude command history (made up by the visible window and its scrollback buffer).  File: screen.info, Node: Subprocess Execution, Next: Key Binding, Prev: Copy and Paste, Up: Top Subprocess Execution ******************** Control Input or Output of a window by another filter process. Use with care! * Menu: * Exec:: The `exec' command syntax. * Using Exec:: Weird things that filters can do.  File: screen.info, Node: Exec, Next: Using Exec, Up: Subprocess Execution Exec ==== - Command: exec [[FDPAT] NEWCOMMAND [ARGS ... ]] (none) Run a unix subprocess (specified by an executable path NEWCOMMAND and its optional arguments) in the current window. The flow of data between newcommand's stdin/stdout/stderr, the process already running (shell) and screen itself (window) is controlled by the filedescriptor pattern FDPAT. This pattern is basically a three character sequence representing stdin, stdout and stderr of newcommand. A dot (`.') connects the file descriptor to screen. An exclamation mark (`!') causes the file descriptor to be connected to the already running process. A colon (`:') combines both. User input will go to newcommand unless newcommand requests the old process' output (FDPATs first character is `!' or `:') or a pipe symbol (`|') is added to the end of FDPAT. Invoking `exec' without arguments shows name and arguments of the currently running subprocess in this window. When a subprocess is running the `kill' command will affect it instead of the window's process. Refer to the postscript file `doc/fdpat.ps' for a confusing illustration of all 21 possible combinations. Each drawing shows the digits 2, 1, 0 representing the three file descriptors of newcommand. The box marked `W' is usual pty that has the application-process on its slave side. The box marked `P' is the secondary pty that now has screen at its master side.  File: screen.info, Node: Using Exec, Prev: Exec, Up: Subprocess Execution Using Exec ========== Abbreviations: * Whitespace between the word `exec' and FDPAT and the command name can be omitted. * Trailing dots and a FDPAT consisting only of dots can be omitted. * A simple `|' is synonymous for the `!..|' pattern. * The word `exec' can be omitted when the `|' abbreviation is used. * The word `exec' can always be replaced by leading `!'. Examples: `!/bin/sh' `exec /bin/sh' `exec ... /bin/sh' Creates another shell in the same window, while the original shell is still running. Output of both shells is displayed and user input is sent to the new `/bin/sh'. `!!stty 19200' `exec!stty 19200' `exec !.. stty 19200' Set the speed of the window's tty. If your stty command operates on stdout, then add another `!'. This is a useful command, when a screen window is directly connected to a serial line that needs to be configured. `|less' `exec !..| less' This adds a pager to the window output. The special character `|' is needed to give the user control over the pager although it gets its input from the window's process. This works, because `less' listens on stderr (a behavior that `screen' would not expect without the `|') when its stdin is not a tty. `Less' versions newer than 177 fail miserably here; good old `pg' still works. `!:sed -n s/.*Error.*/\007/p' Sends window output to both, the user and the sed command. The sed inserts an additional bell character (oct. 007) to the window output seen by screen. This will cause 'Bell in window x' messages, whenever the string `Error' appears in the window.