Linux screen

Install and run

apt install screen
screen

To send a command press Ctrl+A then the command character. Use ? for help.

Multiple windows, detaching and reattaching

# Launch screen
screen
# start top
top
# Create a new window Ctrl+a c
# Launch a command in the new window
echo "this is window 2"
# Switch back to the window with top Ctrl-a n
# Detach Ctrl-a d

Now screen is running with the two windows in background. It is possible to close the ssh session and reopen a new one.

# Reconnect to screen
screen -r

It is possible to run multiple sessions of screen in parallel. To reattach we need the session id.

screen -ls
There are screens on:
	20097.pts-2.zap-bp	(03/29/2018 02:51:53 PM)	(Detached)
	19566.pts-2.zap-bp	(03/29/2018 02:42:50 PM)	(Detached)
2 Sockets in /run/screen/S-zap.

screen -r 19566

Logging and locking

Log all commands in a screen session using Ctrl+a H

Take a screenshot Ctrl+a h

Lock the screen Ctrl+a x

Windows and panels

Ctrl+a S Horizontal split

Ctrl+a | Vertical split

Ctrl+a tab Cycle panels

Ctrl+a c Create a window in the current panel

Ctrl+a n Select the next window in the current panel

Ctrl+a “ List windows