Using Alt-left/right to switch between windows in tmux - terminal

I am trying to configure tmux to switch between windows using alt-left, alt-right sequences. This is what I have in my .tmux.conf
bind-key -n M-Left previous-window
bind-key -n M-Right next-window
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. On my machine, alt-left and alt-right are bound to ^[[1;3D and ^[[1;3C respectively. I think I have to use terminfo override to tell tmux to use these sequences, but I have no idea how. So, any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!

If the xterm-keys option was off, tmux would ignore the keys (because it would recognize them and discard them when the option was not set). Users of tmux have been confused by this distinction for a while, and at the end of 2016, the developer changed the default for the option:
Change the xterm-keys option to default to on, so that tmux will generate xterm(1) escape sequences for function keys with modifiers.
With the option off most of these keys are ignored by default, except
for ctrl + arrows which use a variant that nothing else seems to use and
I don't remember why we chose. The xterm escape sequences are now the
most common.
This still relies upon the terminal description, as I pointed out in tmux on remote machine not getting correct prefix + arrow keys

Related

Rebinding tmux prefix to alt key

I'd like to change the tmux prefix from ctrl+b to a single key, specifically alt. Tried set-option -g prefix M, but it said bad key.
Anyone know how to accomplish this without having to create a macro on my entire system making alt trigger ctrl+b?
I'd settle for a macro that only triggers when inside of a tmux session.
A possible workaround is to use tmux's root table instead of the prefix key table (see bind-key in man page). To do this, you need to pass the -n argument to the bind-key command. This does imply that you will have to re-bind all the commands in your .tmux.conf that you want to support.
An example of how to create a window using alt+c is:
bind -n M-c new-window

macos iterm2 tmux remap ctrl-b to right option/alt-a

I thought this was a no brainer. I am using tmux with iterm2 (latest version) on maxOs on a MacBook.
Using ctrl-b as prefix is a terrible key combination for a MacBook, since the MacBook has only one control key, which is placed on the left hand side. So pressing these two buttons at the same time is almost painful for me. But tmux is awesome, so it lets you remap the prefix.
So, quite naively, I entered this line into my ~/.tmux.conf in order to set the prefix to option/alt-a:
set-option -g prefix M-a
However, that line didn't change a thing.
Entering tmux show-options -g still outputs
prefix C-b
Has anyone ever solved this?
BTW: I know I could use iterm2's tmux integration. But I don't want that. I want a plain text mode solution.
Yeah, so I found a solution:
1 # change ctrl-a to alt-a
2 unbind C-b
3 set-option -g prefix M-a
4 bind C-a send-prefix
And then in iterm2 -> profiles -> [your profile] > Keys
for Right Option/Alt Key
click Esc+
I'm sorry. I found this solution, after having posted the question.

Use Ctrl + Left/Right to move forward/back one word in tmux within Mobaxterm

When using tmux within Mobaxterm, Ctrl + Left/Right just moves the cursor forward/back one character, not one word.
In the following cases, Ctrl + Left/Right does behave as expected:
in bash within Mobaxterm
in screen within Mobaxterm
in tmux within Cygwin
in screen or bash within Cygwin
So it seems to be an issue only when combining tmux with Mobaxterm.
In all cases, I am ssh-ing to a remote linux machine, within either Cygwin or Mobaxterm. My /etc/inputrc is set as it should for the shortcuts to work.
Any clue?
Old question. But in case someone find his way here. This is sgzmd's answer:
Edit your ~/.tmux.conf and add lines:
set-window-option -g xterm-keys on
If you don’t want to make it permanent just yet, do:
C-b :set-window-option xterm-keys on
Reload your config in tmux by doing:
C-b :source-file ~/.tmux.conf
It worked for me.
original answer here

history-limit is not working after C-l in tmux

My environment is Fedora20 (32-bit) + Yakuake + fish + tmux.
Months ago, I started to use tmux, it is a great terminal multiplexer, but the scrollback (Use prefix then PageUp to scroll back) is not working as expected, the history limit is always under 2000 (around 1980 on the right above corner) even if I already set the scrollback limit to "unlimited scrollback" in Yakuake Setting.
Finally I could take it anymore and started to goole it for solution, found out that I could put set -g history-limit 30000 int my tmux.conf file, then check again, it worked, but I realized that every time I typed C-l to clear the screen(and I use it a lot), the scrollback history will be only under/around 30.
Then I found out at How do i clear tmux screen while tailing logs? that I could put bind l send-keys -R into .tmux.conf and use prefix-l to clear the terminal history buffer temporarily and still be able to scroll back, it worked just as I wanted. But What I really want is I use only C-l to do the trick without the prefix key, replacing the shell built-in C-l to do it...
Update:
Short ask, after setting a bind in .tmux.conf, in tmux, you have to type the prefix key before typing that key, then how to bind a key without the need to add the prefix key by default??
In order to bind a key without the need to add the prefix, use the -n flag for the tmux bind command.
Here's the example that should be put in tmux.conf:
bind -n C-l display-message 'foo'
The example binding is triggered when Ctrl-l is pressed (no prefix) and it displays message 'foo' in the tmux prompt.
All that said, be careful & conservative with setting these "direct" key bindings because the key will become unusable for any other terminal program.

tmux bind-key to kill all or maybe a grouping of windows/panels

I've created a script that opens up tmux and splits into 4 windows/panels, but i was wondering if theres a quick way to exit them all, preferably via a key binding.
Thanks.
[Edit]
What i'm looking for is a way to exit a selection of windows via a key binding.
Something maybe i can add to my .tmux.conf file like:
bind-key C-c exit-all
Or maybe a command i can pass in after setting up the split windows etc like: tmux bind-key C-c exit-all
I'm putting exit-all as the command there as thats what im looking for, but i don't know the real name for this function or way of doing this
From man tmux:
unlink-window [-k] [-t target-window]
(alias: unlinkw)
Unlink target-window. Unless -k is given, a window may be unlinked only if it is linked to multiple ses-
sions - windows may not be linked to no sessions; if -k is specified and the window is linked to only one
session, it is unlinked and destroyed.
I think unlink-window -k is what you're after.

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