Chapter 6 : Workflows¶

Working Effectively with Panes and Windows¶

Turning a Pane into a Window¶

• For popping a pane into a window : PREFIX !

Turning a Window into a Pane¶

• We can use PREFIX :join-pane -s panes:1 to join first window in a session named panes to current window.

Maximizing and Restoring Panes¶

• We can temporarily make a pane go full screen : PREFIX z. It works kinda like toggle switch

Launching Commands in Panes¶

• To access two server in one window with two panes use this script.

tmux new-session -s servers -d "ssh deploy@burns"
tmux split-window -v "ssh dba@smithers"
tmux atttach -t servers

Note there is a handy side that when pipe breaks and server disconnects, panes will autoclose.

Opening a Pane in Current Directory¶

We can use #{pane_current_path} provided by tmux for this use.

# split pane and retain the current directory of existing pane
bind _ split-window -v -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind \ split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"

Issuing Commands in Many Panes Simultaneously¶

Using the command set-window-option synchronize-panes on, anything you type in one pane will be immediately broadcast to the other panes in the current session.

Then we will need to disabled the broadcast. set-window-option synchronize-panes off

Rather than that we can make a toggle binding : PREFIX CTRL-s

# shortcut for synchronize-panes toggle
bind C-s set-window-option synchronize-panes

Managing Sessions¶

Moving Between Sessions¶

Start two session as

tmux new -s editor -d vim
tmux new -s processes -d top

Then connect to editor session : tmux a -t editor

To switch session use : PREFIX ( and PREFIX )

To see list of active sessions : PREFIX s

bind ( switch-client -p
bind ) switch-client -n

Moving Windows Between Sessions¶

• You can use PREFIX :move-window or PREFIX ., so you can bring up window you want to move, press the key combination and write the name of target session.

Creating or Attaching to Existing Session¶

if ! tmux has-session -t development; then
    exec tmux new-session -s development -d
    # other setup commands before attaching...
fi
exec tmux attach -t development

Tmux and Your OS¶

Using a Different Shell¶

set -g default-shell /bin/zsh

Launching tmux by Default¶

Add following script block to load tmux by default

if [[ -z "$TMUX" ]]; then
    tmux new-session -A -s "$USER"
fi

Keeping Specific Configuration Separate¶

Move your OS-specific configuration into a separate file and tell tmux to load it up using tmux’s if-shell commands and the source command.

touch ~/.tmux.mac.conf

Add your mac specific stuff in the file above then in main .tmux.conf write

# load mac-specific settings
if-shell "uname | grep -q Darwin" "source-file ~/.tmux.mac.conf"

Similarly for loading your secret tmux sauce :)

# load private settings if they exists
if-shell "[ -f ~/.tmux.private ]" "source ~/.tmux.private"

Recording Program Output to a Log¶

With pipe-pane, you can toggle it on and off at will and you can start it after a program is already running.

To activate this : PREFIX :pipe-pane -o "cat >>mylog.txt"

fix the tmux conf

# log output to a text file on demand
bind P pipe-pane -o "cat >> ~/#W.log" \; display "Toggled logging to ~/#w.log"

Now you can use PREFIX P to toggle logging in file.

Adding Battery Life to Status Line¶

wget --no-check-certificate https://raw.github.com/richo/battery/bin/battery
chmod +x ~/batter
# check if its working
~/batter Discharging

Adding it to tmux config

# Status line right side - 50% | 31 Oct 13:37
set -g status-right "#(~/battery Discharging) | #[fg=cyan]%d %b %R"

Integrating Seamlessly with Vim¶

Install vim-tmux-navigator plugin in vim using Plug or Vundle.

Then to easily navigate add this config to your .tmux.conf

is_vim="ps -o state= -o comm= -t '#{pane_tty}' \
        | grep -iqE '^[^TXZ ]+ +(\\S+\\/)?g?(view|n?vim?x?)(diff)?$'"
bind-key -n C-h if-shell "$is_vim" "send-keys C-h"  "select-pane -L"
bind-key -n C-j if-shell "$is_vim" "send-keys C-j"  "select-pane -D"
bind-key -n C-k if-shell "$is_vim" "send-keys C-k"  "select-pane -U"
bind-key -n C-l if-shell "$is_vim" "send-keys C-l"  "select-pane -R"
bind-key -n C-\ if-shell "$is_vim" "send-keys C-\\" "select-pane -l"
# Clears screen
bind C-l send-keys 'C-l'

Extending tmux with Plugins¶

Bruno Sutic developed a solution TPM (tmux plugin manager to deal with the config file problems).

Let’s install tmux-resurrect to restore tmux session even after a reboot!!!

git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugin/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

Add following Lines to .tmux.conf

set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'
run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

To install plugin PREFIX I

To save current tmux window/pane state : PREFIX CTRL-s

To restore last state : PREFIX CTRL-r