Screen utility

Screen is a simple utility that maintains a session on the server that you can reattach to, so you don’t need to maintain a connection, or, if you get disconnected, you can reattach to your running session.

To start, type

    screen

or, to name the session:

    screen -S my_session_name

To detach from a session.

Press Ctrl-a then d. This leaves the session running in the background.

To reattach to a session (if it’s the only screen session you have running)-

    screen -r

If you have multiple detached sessions, you’ll need to reattach by specifying the session ID or name:

    screen -r <session_id>
    screen -r my_session_name

List active sessions

    screen -ls

Managing Windows within a Session:

All screen commands within a session are prefaced with Ctrl-a.

Create a new window: Ctrl-a then c
Switch to the next window: Ctrl-a then n
Switch to the previous window: Ctrl-a then p
Switch to a specific window by number: Ctrl-a then 0 (or the desired window number)
List all windows: Ctrl-a then " (double quote)
Rename the current window: Ctrl-a then A
Kill the current window: Ctrl-a then k

Some more advanced features:

Split screen horizontally: Ctrl-a then S
Split screen vertically: Ctrl-a then |
Navigate between split regions: Ctrl-a then Tab
Enter copy mode (for scrolling and selecting text): Ctrl-a then [
Paste copied text: Ctrl-a then ]