Byobu

keyboard shortcuts

I haven't had time to differentiate between when tmux or screen is used here. I've just continued to add this page over time without considering when I'm using screen or tmux and whether or not I have the function keys disabled for whatever reason. Some may not work due to some specific configuration idiosyncrasy with your distribution or the package. Some keybindings are definitely deprecated or no longer valid, but I've kept them here because I haven't been able to check against the "official" version yet. Use at your discretion.

Basic

F2 or Ctrl + a + c - Create a new session

F3 or Ctrl + a + a - Go back to the previous session

F4 or Ctrl + a + n - Go to the next session

F7 or Ctrl + a + [ - Scrollback/search mode (Press Enter to exit)

F8 or Ctrl + a + A - Rename the screen

F9 or Ctrl + a + @ - Configuration menu

Utility

F5 or Ctrl + a + R - Refresh all status notifications

F6 or Ctrl + a + d - Detach from the session and logout

Ctrl + a <0-9> - Switch to screen #0-9 (quick toggle)

Ctrl + a " - View a list of the current screens, which will allow you to select one from the list

Ctrl + a \ - Kill all of the sessions and terminate

Ctrl + a ~ - Copy buffer into an editor

Split window management

Shift + F2 or Ctrl + a | - Split window horizontally

Ctrl + F2 or Ctrl + a S or Ctrl + a % - Split window vertically

Shift + F5 - Collapse all splits

Ctrl + a Tab - Focus on the next window

Ctrl + a X - Close the current window

Ctrl + a :resize +N - Increase the height

Ctrl + a :resize -N - Decrease the height

Ctrl + a :resize N - Set height

Ctrl + a :resize = - Make all windows equally high

Ctrl + a :resize max - Maximize the height

Ctrl + a :resize min - Minimize the height

Miscellaneous

Ctrl + a x - Lock the terminal

Ctrl + a d - Detach the whole screen session and fork to the background. Very useful for remote sessions you want to leave open. The command "screen -r" will resume your screen session.

Ctrl + a Esc - Scroll up through your command line "history" and see what output you previously got. Hitting <Escape> again cancels it.

Ctrl + a :help - Show screen keybindings (if using screen)

Ctrl + a + ! - Toggle f-key keybindings on

Ctrl + a + $ - Show detailed status

Possibly deprecated

Shift + F3 - Focus on next split

Shift + F4 - Focus on previous split

Shift + F6 - Detach from the session, but do not logout

Ctrl + a :resize-pane -L 20 - Resize increase left of current window pane by 20 units (other available ones are -D, -R, -U)

Ctrl + a :clear-history - clear history in the viewing buffer

Untested

Alt + F5 - Toggle UTF-8

Ctrl + F5 - Reconnect any SSH/GPG sockets or agents

Nested remote session

Shift+F12 - Toggle the outer byobu's keybindings on or off

Ctrl+a a c - Create a new session

Links

• https://gist.github.com/devhero/7b9a7281db0ac4ba683f (added on 2019-05-29)
• http://aperiodic.net/screen/quick_reference
• https://gist.github.com/jshaw/5255721

Terminal Multiplexers

• https://linuxcommand.org/lc3_adv_termmux.php