Pane Commands

Commands for creating, managing, and manipulating tmux panes

Overview

Each window displayed by tmux may be split into one or more panes. Each pane takes up a certain area of the display and is a separate terminal. Panes are numbered beginning from zero in the order they are created.

split-window

Alias: splitw

split-window [-bdefhIPvZ] [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-F format] 
             [-l size] [-t target-pane] [shell-command [argument ...]]

Create a new pane by splitting the target pane.

-b · flag

Create the new pane to the left of or above the target pane.

-d · flag

Do not make the new pane the active pane.

-e · string

Set an environment variable for the new pane in the form VARIABLE=value. May be specified multiple times.

-f · flag

Create a new pane spanning the full window height (with -h) or width (with -v) instead of splitting the active pane.

-h · flag

Split horizontally, creating a pane to the left or right.

-I · flag

Create an empty pane and forward any output from stdin to it.

-P · flag

Print information about the new pane after it has been created. Default format is #{session_name}:#{window_index}.#{pane_index} but can be changed with -F.

-v · flag

Split vertically, creating a pane above or below. This is the default.

-Z · flag

Zoom the active pane if the window is not zoomed, or keep it zoomed if it was zoomed.

-c · string

Specify the working directory for the new pane.

-F · string

Format for output when -P is used.

-l · string

Specify the size of the new pane in lines (for vertical split) or columns (for horizontal split). Can be specified as:

• A number of cells
• A percentage (e.g., 50%)

-t · string

The target pane to split.

shell-command · string

Shell command to execute in the new pane.

kill-pane

Alias: killp

kill-pane [-a] [-t target-pane]

Destroy the given pane.

-a · flag

Kill all panes except the specified one.

-t · string

The target pane to destroy.

select-pane

Alias: selectp

select-pane [-DdeLlMmRUZ] [-T title] [-t target-pane]

Make a pane the active pane in the window.

-D · flag

Select the pane below the active pane.

-d · flag

Disable input to the pane.

-e · flag

Enable input to the pane.

-L · flag

Select the pane to the left of the active pane.

-l · flag

Select the last (previously active) pane.

-M · flag

Clear the marked pane.

-m · flag

Mark the pane. The marked pane is the default target for -s to join-pane, move-pane, swap-pane, and swap-window.

-R · flag

Select the pane to the right of the active pane.

-U · flag

Select the pane above the active pane.

-Z · flag

Keep the window zoomed if it was zoomed.

-T · string

Set the pane title.

-t · string

The target pane to select.

resize-pane

Alias: resizep

resize-pane [-DLMRTUZ] [-t target-pane] [-x width] [-y height] [adjustment]

Resize a pane, up, down, left or right.

-D · flag

Resize downward by adjustment (default 1).

-L · flag

Resize to the left by adjustment.

-M · flag

Begin mouse resizing (only valid if bound to a mouse key binding).

-R · flag

Resize to the right by adjustment.

-T · flag

Trim all lines below the current cursor position and move lines out of the history.

-U · flag

Resize upward by adjustment.

-Z · flag

Toggle the zoom state of the pane.

-t · string

The target pane to resize.

-x · string

Set absolute width. Can be a number or a percentage (e.g., 50%).

-y · string

Set absolute height. Can be a number or a percentage.

adjustment · number

The number of cells to resize by (default 1).

list-panes

Alias: lsp

list-panes [-as] [-r] [-F format] [-f filter] [-O sort-order] [-t target-window]

List panes. By default, lists panes in the current window.

-a · flag

List all panes across all sessions.

-s · flag

List all panes in the session.

-r · flag

Reverse the sort order.

-F · string

Specify the format of each line.

-f · string

Only show panes for which the filter is true.

-O · string

Specify sort order: index, left, top, right, bottom.

-t · string

List panes in the target window.

swap-pane

Alias: swapp

swap-pane [-dDUZ] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]

Swap two panes.

-d · flag

Do not change the active pane.

-D · flag

Swap with the pane below (or the bottom pane if the target is the bottom pane).

-U · flag

Swap with the pane above (or the top pane if the target is the top pane).

-Z · flag

Keep the window zoomed if it was zoomed.

-s · string

The source pane. If not specified, uses the marked pane.

-t · string

The destination pane.

break-pane

Alias: breakp

break-pane [-abdP] [-F format] [-n window-name] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-window]

Break a pane off from its containing window to make it the only pane in a new window.

-a · flag

Move the window to the next index after dst-window.

-b · flag

Move the window to the next index before dst-window.

-d · flag

Do not make the new window the current window.

-P · flag

Print information about the new window after it has been created.

-F · string

Format for output when -P is used.

-n · string

Name for the new window.

-s · string

The source pane to break out.

-t · string

The destination window position.

join-pane

Alias: joinp, movep

join-pane [-bdfhv] [-l size] [-s src-pane] [-t dst-pane]

Join a pane to another pane, creating a split. This is the reverse of break-pane.

-b · flag

Join the pane to the left of or above the target pane.

-d · flag

Do not make the joined pane the active pane.

-f · flag

Create a pane spanning the full window height (with -h) or width (with -v).

-h · flag

Join horizontally (create a pane to the left or right).

-v · flag

Join vertically (create a pane above or below). This is the default.

-l · string

Specify the size of the joined pane in lines (for vertical) or columns (for horizontal).

-s · string

The source pane to join. If not specified, uses the marked pane.

-t · string

The destination pane.

display-panes

Alias: displayp

display-panes [-bN] [-d duration] [-t target-client] [template]

Display a visible indicator of each pane shown by the target client. Panes are numbered beginning from zero in the order they are created.

-b · flag

Do not block other commands from running until the indicator is closed.

-N · flag

Ignore keys pressed.

-d · number

Duration in milliseconds for which the indicator is shown. A duration of 0 means until a key is pressed.

-t · string

The target client.

template · string

If a key is pressed, template is executed as a command with %% replaced by the pane ID.

respawn-pane

Alias: respawnp

respawn-pane [-c start-directory] [-e environment] [-k] [-t target-pane] 
             [shell-command [argument ...]]

Reactivate a pane where the command has exited.

-c · string

Specify the working directory for the command.

-e · string

Set an environment variable in the form VARIABLE=value. May be specified multiple times.

-k · flag

Kill the existing command if it is still running.

-t · string

The target pane to respawn.

shell-command · string

Shell command to execute. If not specified, the command used when the pane was created is reused.

pipe-pane

Alias: pipep

pipe-pane [-IOo] [-t target-pane] [shell-command]

Pipe output sent to a pane to a shell command or vice versa.

-I · flag

Pipe output from stdin to the pane.

-O · flag

Pipe output from the pane to shell-command.

-o · flag

Only open a new pipe if none is currently open.

-t · string

The target pane.

shell-command · string

Shell command to pipe output to or from. If not specified and a pipe is currently open, it is closed.

capture-pane

Alias: capturep

capture-pane [-aCeJNpPq] [-b buffer-name] [-E end-line] [-S start-line] 
             [-t target-pane]

Capture the contents of a pane.

-a · flag

Use the alternate screen if present.

-C · flag

Escape non-printable characters as octal \ooo.

-e · flag

Include escape sequences for attributes.

-J · flag

Join wrapped lines and preserve trailing whitespace.

-N · flag

Preserve trailing spaces.

-p · flag

Print the captured text to stdout.

-P · flag

Only capture text that is the beginning of an as-yet incomplete line.

-q · flag

Do not output to stdout when -p is used.

-b · string

Name for the paste buffer to store the captured text.

-E · number

End line number. Negative numbers count from the bottom, 0 is the first line of visible pane content.

-S · number

Start line number. Negative numbers count from the bottom, 0 is the first line of visible pane content.

-t · string

The target pane.

select-layout

Alias: selectl

select-layout [-Enop] [-t target-pane] [layout-name]

Choose a specific layout for a window.

-E · flag

Spread the panes out evenly.

-n · flag

Select the next layout.

-o · flag

Undo the last layout change.

-p · flag

Select the previous layout.

-t · string

The target pane (window will be selected).

layout-name · string

Layout name: even-horizontal, even-vertical, main-horizontal, main-vertical, tiled, or a custom layout string.