.TH SCREEN 1 "31 January 1992"
screen \- screen manager with VT100/ANSI terminal emulation
.BR \fI\fP[\fIpid.\fP]\fItty\fP[\fI.host\fP]
is a full-screen window manager that
multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes (typically
Each virtual terminal provides the functions
of the DEC VT100 terminal and, in addition, several control functions
from the ANSI X3.64 (ISO 6429) and ISO 2022 standards
(e.\|g. insert/delete line and support for multiple character sets).
There is a scrollback history buffer for each virtual terminal and a
copy-and-paste mechanism that allows moving text regions between
The name of this program was changed to
to be able to distinguish it from Oliver Laumann's original
program. Despite that fact, this manual will continue to use the name
This is, because often the binary is installed as 'screen'.
is called, it creates a single window with a shell in it (or the specified
command) and then gets out of your way so that you can use the program as you
Then, at any time, you can create new (full-screen) windows with other programs
in them (including more shells), kill existing windows, view a list of the
current windows, turn output logging on and off, copy-and-paste text between
windows, view the scrollback history, switch between windows
in whatever manner you wish, etc.
When a program terminates,
kills the window that contained it.
If this window was in the foreground, the display switches to the previous
window; if none are left,
Everything you type is sent to the program running in the current window.
The only exception to this is the one keystroke that is used to initiate
a command to the window manager.
By default, each command begins with a control-a (abbreviated C-a from
now on), and is followed by one other keystroke.
The command character and all the key bindings can be fully customized
to be anything you like, though they are always two characters in length.
The standard way to create a new window is to type \*QC-a c\*U.
This creates a new window running a shell and switches to that
window immediately, regardless of the state of the process running
Similarly, you can create a new window with a custom command in it by
first binding the command to a keystroke (in your .screenrc file) and
then using it just like the \*QC-a c\*U command.
In addition, new windows can be created by running a command like:
from a shell prompt within a previously created window.
This will not run another copy of
but will instead supply the
command name and its arguments to the window manager who will use it to
The above example would start the emacs editor (editing prog.c) and switch
If \*Q/etc/utmp\*U is writable by
an appropriate record will be written to this file for each window, and
removed when the window is terminated.
This is useful for working with \*Qtalk\*U, \*Qscript\*U, \*Qshutdown\*U,
\*Qrsend\*U, \*Qsccs\*U and other similar programs that use the utmp
file to determine who you are. As long as
is active on your terminal,
the terminals own record is removed from the utmp file. See also \*QC-a L\*U.
you'll need to make sure you have correctly selected your terminal type,
just as you would for any other termcap/terminfo program.
(You can do this by using
If you're impatient and want to get started without doing a lot more reading,
you should remember this one command: \*QC-a ?\*U.
Typing these two characters will display a list of the available
commands and their bindings. Each keystroke is discussed in
the section \*QCOMMAND KEYS\*U. The manual section \*QCUSTOMIZATION\*U
deals with the contents of your .screenrc.
If possible, choose a version of your terminal's termcap that has automatic
margins turned \fIoff\fP.
This will ensure an accurate and optimal update of the screen
The next best thing is an auto-margin terminal that allows the last position
on the screen to be updated without scrolling the screen (such as a vt100).
This also allows the entire screen to be updated.
Lastly, if all you've got is a \*Qtrue\*U auto-margin terminal
will be content to use it, but updating a character put into the last position
on the screen may not be possible until the screen scrolls or the character
is moved into a safe position in some other way.
This delay can be shortened by using a terminal with insert-character
If your terminal is of the second type (firm-margined `am'), you will
know about this, since a normal termcap doesn't distinguish this type of
automatic margins from a \*Qtrue\*U `am' terminal.
You do this by specifying the `LP' capability in your termcap
(see the \*Qtermcap\*U .screenrc command), or by using the
needs this information to correctly update the screen.
If you are using a \*Qtrue\*U auto-margin terminal (no `LP') at low baud
rates, you may want to turn on a more optimal output mode by including the
flag `OP' in your termcap entry, or by specifying the
will no-longer accurately emulate the vt100's line-end quirks (e.\|g. the
screen will scroll after putting \fIone\fP character in the last screen
\*QC-a\*U followed by one other character.
For your convenience, all commands that are bound to lower-case letters are
also bound to their control character counterparts (with the exception
of \*QC-a a\*U; see below), thus, \*QC-a c\*U as well as \*QC-a C-c\*U can
be used to create a window.
The following keystroke commands are available:
.IP "\fBC-a 0\fP - \fBC-a 9\fP (select0 - select9)"
Switch to the window with the number 0 through 9.
When a new window is established, the first available number from the
range 0..9 is assigned to this window.
Thus, the first window can be activated by \*QC-a 0\*U (there can be no more
than 10 windows present at any one time).
.IP "\fBC-a C-a\fP (other)"
Switch to the window displayed previously.
Note that this function defaults to the command character typed twice,
unless overridden; for instance, if you use the option \*Q\fB\-e]x\fP\*U,
this function becomes \*Q]]\*U, not \*Q]C-a\*U.
.IP "\fBC-a a\fP\0\0\0\0\0"
Send the command character (C-a) to the processes in the current window.
Allow the user to enter an a.\|k.\|a (also-known-as). for the current window.
.IP "\fBC-a c\fP or \fBC-a C-c\fP (shell)"
Create a new window with a shell and switch to that window.
.IP "\fBC-a C\fP (clear)"
.IP "\fBC-a d\fP or \fBC-a C-d\fP (detach)"
(disconnect it from the terminal and put it into the background).
can be resumed by invoking
option. (See also section \*QCOMMAND-LINE OPTIONS\*U.)
.IP "\fBC-a D D\fP (pow_detach)"
Power detach. Mainly the same as above, but also sends a HANGUP signal to
CAUTION: This will result in a logout, when
was started from your login shell.
.IP "\fBC-a f\fP or \fBC-a C-f\fP (flow)"
Cycles the current window's flow-control setting from "automatic" to "on" to
"off", see the section titled FLOW-CONTROL for details.
.IP "\fBC-a C-g\fP (vbell)"
visual bell mode. If your terminal does not support
a visual bell, a `vbell-message' is displayed in the status line.
.IP "\fBC-a h\fP or \fBC-a C-h\fP (hardcopy)"
Write a hardcopy of the current window to the file \*Qhardcopy.\fIn\fP\*U
in the window's default directory, where \fIn\fP is the number
Begins/ends logging of the current window to the file \*Qscreenlog.\fIn\fP\*U
in the window's default directory, where \fIn\fP is the number
The session log is appended to the previous contents of the file
The current contents and the contents of the scrollback history are not
included in the session log.
.IP "\fBC-a i\fP or \fBC-a C-i\fP (info)"
Uses the message line to display some information about the current window:
the cursor position in the form \*Q(column,row)\*U starting with \*Q(1,1)\*U,
the terminal width and height plus the size of the scrollback buffer in lines,
like in \*U(80,24)+50\*U, various flag settings (flow-control, insert mode,
mode, wrap mode, application-keypad mode, output logging, and activity
monitoring (`+' indicates enabled, `-' not)),
the currently active character set (\fIG0\fP, \fIG1\fP, \fIG2\fP,
or \fIG3\fP), and in square brackets the terminal character sets that are
currently designated as \fIG0\fP through \fIG3\fP.
For system information use \*QC-a t\*U.
.IP "\fBC-a k\fP or \fBC-a C-k\fP (kill)"
Kill the current window and switch to the previously displayed window.
users should keep this command in mind, when killing a line.
It is recommended not to use \*QC-a\*U as the
escape key or that kill is rebound to \*QC-a K\*U.
.IP "\fBC-a l\fP or \fBC-a C-l\fP (redisplay)"
Redisplay the current window.
.IP "\fBC-a L\fP (login)"
Adds or removes the entry in /etc/utmp file for the current window.
This controls if the window is `logged in'. See also above.
Additionally to that toggle, it is convenient having a `log in' and a `log out'
key. E.\|g. `bind I set login on' and `bind O set login off' will map these
keys to be C-a I and C-a O.
.IP "\fBC-a m\fP or \fBC-a C-m\fP (lastmsg)"
Repeat the last message displayed in the message line.
Useful if you're typing when a message appears, because (unless your terminal
has a status line) the message goes away when you press a key.
.IP "\fBC-a M\fP (monitor)"
Toggles monitoring of the current window.
When monitoring is turned on and the affected window is switched into the
background, you will receive the activity notification message in the
status line at the first sign of output and the window will also be marked
with an `@' in the window-status display.
Monitoring is initially off for all windows.
.IP "\fBC-a space\fP or \fBC-a n\fP or \fBC-a C-n\fP (next)"
Switch to the next window.
This function can be used repeatedly to cycle through the list of windows.
(Some terminals require you to release the control key before pressing space.)
.IP "\fBC-a p\fP or \fBC-a C-p\fP (prev)"
Switch to the previous window (the opposite of \fBC-a n\fP).
.IP "\fBC-a q\fP or \fBC-a C-q\fP (xon)"
Send a control-q to the program in the current window.
.IP "\fBC-a r\fP or \fBC-a C-r\fP (wrap)"
Toggle the current window's line-wrap setting (turn the current window's
automatic margins on and off).
.IP "\fBC-a s\fP or \fBC-a C-s\fP (xoff)"
Send a control-s to the program in the current window.
.IP "\fBC-a t\fP or \fBC-a C-t\fP (time)"
Uses the message line to display the time of day, the host name, and the load
averages over 1, 5, and 15 minutes (if this is available on your system).
For window specific information use \*QC-a i\*U.
.IP "\fBC-a v\fP or \fBC-a C-v\fP (version)"
Display the version and compilation date.
.IP "\fBC-a w\fP or \fBC-a C-w\fP (windows)"
Uses the message line to display a list of all the windows.
Each window is listed by number with the name of process that has been
started in the window (or its a.\|k.\|a.);
the current window is marked with a `*';
the previous window is marked with a `-';
all the windows that are \*Qlogged in\*U are marked with a `$';
a background window that has received a bell is marked with a `!';
a background window that is being monitored and has had activity occur
a window which has output logging turned on is marked with `(L)'.
.IP "\fBC-a W\fP (width)"
Toggle the window width between 80 and 132 columns. As this command became
a toggle, \*QC-a N\*U is no longer supported.
This requires a capable terminal and the termcap entries \*QZ0\*U and \*QZ1\*U.
See the \*Qtermcap\*U command in section \*QCUSTOMIZATION\*U
.IP "\fBC-a x\fP or \fBC-a C-x\fP (lock)"
Call a screenlock program (/local/bin/lck or /usr/bin/lock or a builtin, if no
other is available). Screen does not accept any command keys until this program
terminates. Meanwhile processes in the windows may continue, as the windows
are in the `detached' state. The screenlock program may be changed through the
environment variable $LOCKPRG (which must be set in the shell from which
is started) and is executed with the user's uid and gid.
.IP "\fBC-a z\fP or \fBC-a C-z\fP (suspend)"
The windows are in the `detached' state, while
.IP "\fBC-a Z\fP (reset)"
Reset the virtual terminal to its \*Qpower-on\*U values.
.IP "\fBC-a .\fP (termcap)"
Write the termcap entry for the virtual terminal of the currently active
window to the file \*Q.termcap\*U in the user's \*Q$HOME/.screen\*U directory
stores its sockets. See the \*QFILES\*U section below).
This termcap entry is identical to the value of the environment variable
$TERMCAP that is set up by
for each window. For terminfo based systems you will need to run a converter
and then compile the entry with
Displays a help screen showing you all the key bindings.
The first pages list all the internal commands followed by their bindings.
Subsequent pages will display the custom commands, one command per key.
Press space when you're done reading each page, or return to exit early.
All other characters are ignored, except for the command character, which will
exit the help display and begin a command.
.IP "\fBC-a C-\e\fP (quit)"
Kill all windows and terminate
Note that on vt100-style terminals the keys C-4 and C-\e are identical.
So be careful not to write C-a C-4 when selecting window no. 4.
Use the empty bind command (as in \*Qbind '^\'\*U) to remove a key binding.
.IP "\fBC-a :\fP (colon)"
Allows you to enter \*Q.screenrc\*U command lines as well as names of
key-bound-functions. Useful for on-the-fly modification of key bindings,
specific window creation and changing settings. Settings of the current window
can be changed by prepending the command (if appropriate) with the keyword
\*Qset\*U. If you consider this as the `Ex command mode' of
you may regard \*QC-a esc\*U as its `Vi command mode'.
.IP "\fBC-a [\fP or \fBC-a C-[\fP or \fBC-a esc\fP (copy)"
Enter copy/scrollback mode. This allows you to copy text from the current
window and its history into the paste buffer. In this mode a vi-like
`full screen editor' is active:
\fBh\fP, \fBj\fP, \fBk\fP, \fBl\fP move the cursor line by line or column by column.
\fB0\fP, \fB^\fP and \fB$\fP move to the leftmost column, to the first or last
\fBH\fP, \fBM\fP and \fBL\fP move the cursor to the leftmost column
of the top, center or bottom line of the window.
\fB+\fP and \fB-\fP positions one line up and down.
\fBG\fP moves to the specified absolute line (default: end of buffer).
\fB|\fP moves to the specified absolute column.
\fBw\fP, \fBb\fP, \fBe\fP move the cursor word by word.
\fBC-u\fP and \fBC-d\fP scroll the display up/down by the specified amount of
lines while preserving the cursor position. (Default: half screenfull).
\fBC-b\fP and \fBC-f\fP scroll the display up/down a full screen.
\fBg\fP moves to the beginning of the buffer, whereas
\fB%\fP jumps to the specified percentage.
Emacs style movement keys can be customized by a .screenrc command. (E.\|g.
markkeys "h=^B:l=^F:$=^E") There is no simple method for a full emacs-style
keymap, as this involves multi-character codes.
The copy range is specified by setting two marks. The text between these marks
will be highlighted. Press \fBspace\fP to set the first or second mark
\fBY\fP and \fBy\fP can be used to mark one whole line or to mark from
\fBW\fP marks exactly one word.
Any of these commands can be prefixed with a number (by pressing digits
is taken as a repeat count. Example: \*QC-a C-[ H 10 j 5 Y\*U will copy lines
11 to 15 into the pastebuffer.
There are however some keys that act differently here and in
does not allow to yank rectangular blocks of text, but
\fBc\fP or \fBC\fP to set the left or right margin respectively. If no repeat count is
given, both default to the current cursor position. Try this on a rather
full text screen as an example: \*QC-A [ S-M 20 l SPACE c 10 l 5 j S-C SPACE\*U.
\fBJ\fP joins lines. It toggles between
3 modes: lines separated by a newline character (012), lines glued seamless,
lines separated by a single whitespace. Note that you can prepend the newline
character with a carriage return character, by issuing a \*Qset crlf on\*U.
users with \*Q:set numbers\*U - it toggles the left margin between column 9
Press \fBa\fP before the final space key to toggle in append mode. Thus
the contents of the pastebuffer will not be overwritten, but appended to.
\fBA\fP toggles in append mode and sets a (second) mark.
\fB>\fP sets the (second) mark and writes the contents of the copybuffer to
the screen-exchange file (/tmp/screen-exchange per default) once copy-mode is
finished. This example demonstrates how to dump the whole scrollback buffer
to that file: \*QC-A [ g SPACE G $ >\*U.
\fB?\fP gives information about the current line and column.
.IP "\fBC-a ]\fP or \fBC-a C-]\fP (paste)"
Paste. Write the contents of the paste buffer to the stdin queue of the
.IP "\fBC-a {\fP (history)"
Usually users work with a shell that allows easy access to previous commands.
E.g. csh has the command \*Q!!\*U to repeat the last command executed.
allows you to have a primitive way of re-calling \*Qthe command that
started ...\*U: You just type the first letter of that command, then hit
tries to find a previous line that matches with the `prompt character'
to the left of the cursor. This line is pasted into this window's input queue.
Thus you have a crude command history (made up by the visible window and its
.IP "\fBC-a >\fP (write_buffer)"
Writes the contents of the paste buffer to a public accessible screen-exchange
file. This is thought of as a primitive means of communication between
users on the same host. See also \*QC-a esc\*U.
.IP "\fBC-a <\fP (read_buffer)"
Reads the screen-exchange file into the pastebuffer. See also \*QC-a ]\*U.
.IP "\fBC-a =\fP (kill_buffer)"
Removes the exchange file used by \*QC-a <\*U and \*QC-a >\*U.
.SH "COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS"
Screen has the following command-line options:
include \fIall\fP capabilities (with some minor exceptions) in each
window's termcap, even if
must redraw parts of the display in order to implement a function.
override the default configuration file from \*Q$HOME/.screenrc\*U
.B "\-d\fP|\fB\-D \fP[\fIpid.tty.host\fP\]\fB"
but detach the elsewhere running
session. It has the same effect as typing \*QC-a d\*U from
controlling terminal. \fB-D\fP is the equivalent to the power detach key.
If no session can be detached, this option is ignored.
The combination \*Qscreen -D -r\*U can be used to `transport' the elsewhere
running session to this terminal and logout there.
Note: It is a good idea to have the status of your sessions checked by means of
specifies the command character to be \fIx\fP and the character generating a
literal command character to \fIy\fP (when typed after the command character).
The default is \*QC-a\*U and `a', which can be specified as \*Q-e^Aa\*U.
See the \*Qescape\*U .screenrc command for more details.
.B "\-f\fP, \fB\-fn\fP, and \fB\-fa"
turns flow-control on, off, or \*Qautomatic switching mode\*U.
This can also be defined through the \*Qflow\*U .screenrc command.
Specifies the history scrollback buffer to be \fInum\fP lines high.
will cause the interrupt key (usually C-c) to interrupt the display
immediately when flow-control is on.
See the \*Qflow\*U .screenrc command for details.
turns login mode on or off (for /etc/utmp updating).
This can also be defined through the \*Qlogin\*U .screenrc command.
.B "\-ls \fPand\fB -list"
Sessions marked `detached' can be resumed with \*Qscreen -r\*U. Those marked
`attached' are running and have a controlling terminal. Sessions marked as
`dead' should be thoroughly checked and removed. Ask your system administrator
if you are not sure. Remove sessions with the \fB-wipe\fP option.
sets the title (a.\|k.\|a.) for the default shell or specified program.
See also the \*Qshellaka\*U .screenrc command.
does the same as \*Qscreen -ls\*U, but removes destroyed sessions instead of
your auto-margin terminal has a writable last-position on
This can also be set in your .screenrc by specifying `LP' in a \*Qtermcap\*U
selects a more optimal output mode for your terminal rather than true vt100
emulation (only affects auto-margin terminals without `LP').
This can also be set in your .screenrc by specifying `OP' in a \*Qtermcap\*U
.B "\-r \fP[\fIpid.tty.host\fP]"
No other options (except \*Q-d -r\*U or \*Q-D -r\*U) may be specified, though
an optional prefix of [\fIpid.\fP]\fItty.host\fP
may be needed to distinguish between multiple detached
attempts to resume the first detached
If successful, all other command-line options are ignored.
If no detached session exists, starts a new session using the specified
sets the default shell to the program specified, instead of the value
in the environment variable $SHELL (or \*Q/bin/sh\*U if not defined).
This can also be defined through the \*Qshell\*U .screenrc command.
The \*Qsocket directory\*U defaults either to $HOME/.screen or preferably
is installed setuid-root, then the administrator
should compile screen with an adequate (not NFS mounted) SOCKDIR. If
is not running setuid-root, the user can specify any mode 777 directory
in the environment variable $SCREENDIR.
is invoked, it executes initialization commands from the files
\*Q/local/etc/screenrc\*U and
\*Q.screenrc\*U in the user's home directory. These are the \*Qprogrammer's
defaults\*U that can be overridden in the following ways: For the
searches for the environment variable $SYSSCREENRC. The user specific
screenrc file is searchend in $ISCREENRC, then $SCREENRC, then $HOME/.iscreenrc
and finally defaults to $HOME/.screenrc. The command line option \fB-c\fP takes
precedence over the user specific screenrc file.
Commands in these files are used to set options, bind functions to
keys, and to automatically establish one or more extra windows at the
Commands are listed one per line, with empty lines being ignored.
A command's arguments are separated by tabs or spaces, and may be
surrounded by single or double quotes.
A `#' turns the rest of the line into a comment, except in quotes.
Unintelligible lines are warned about and ignored.
Commands may contain references to environment variables. The
syntax is the shell-like "$VAR " or "${VAR}". Note that this causes
incompatibilities with previous
versions, as now the '$'-sign has to be protected with '\' if no
variable substitution shall be performed.
Customization can also be done 'on-line'. To enter the command mode type
`C-a :'. Setting flags (like scrollback, login, etc.) on-line may not have
the desired effect, as e.\|g. the command "C-a : login on" will affect
only the settings for the creation of new windows (just like within .screenrc).
If you intend to change flags
of the current window, then prepend the command with the keyword "set". E.\|g.
"C-a : set login on" will log this window in.
The following initialization commands are available:
.B "activity \fImessage\fP"
When any activity occurs in a background window that is being monitored,
displays a notification in the message line.
The notification message can be re-defined by means of the \*Qactivity\*U
Each occurrence of `%' in \fImessage\fP is replaced by
the number of the window in which activity has occurred,
and each occurrence of `~' is replaced by the definition for bell
in your termcap (usually an audible bell).
Note that monitoring is off for all windows by default, but can be altered
by use of the \*Qmonitor\*U command (C-a M).
.B "autodetach on\fP|\fBoff"
will automatically detach upon hangup, which
saves all your running programs until they are resumed with a
When turned off, a hangup signal will terminate
and all the processes it contains. Autodetach is on by default.
When a bell character is sent to a background window,
displays a notification in the message line.
The notification message can be re-defined by means of the \*Qbell\*U
Each occurrence of `%' in \fImessage\fP is replaced by
the number of the window to which a bell has been sent,
and each occurrence of `~' is replaced by the definition for bell
in your termcap (usually an audible bell).
An empty message can be supplied to the \*Qbell\*U command to suppress
output of a message line (bell "").
.B "bind \fP\fIkey\fP [\fIfunction\fP [\fIargs\fP]]"
Bind a function to a key.
By default, each function provided by
is bound to one or more keys as indicated by the above table, e.\|g. the
function to create a new window is bound to \*QC-c\*U and \*Qc\*U.
The \*Qbind\*U command can be used to redefine the key bindings and to
The \fIkey\fP argument is either a single character, a two-character sequence
of the form \*Q^x\*U (meaning \*QC-x\*U), a backslash followed by an octal
number (specifying the ASCII code of the character), or a backslash followed
by a second character, such as \*Q\e^\*U or \*Q\e\e\*U.
The argument can also be quoted, if you like.
If no further argument is given, any previously established binding
The \fIfunction\fP argument can be one of the following keywords:
select0 Switch to window #0
select9 Switch to window #9
aka Change the current window's a.\|k.\|a.
colon Enter one \*Q.screenrc\*U command on-the-fly.
copy Select a piece of text.
detach Detach \fIscreen\fP
flow Toggle the current window's flow-control setting
hardcopy Make hardcopy of current window
history Use cut&paste to fetch a recently displayed line.
help Display a list of the key bindings in effect
info Display the current window's status information
kill Kill the current window
lastmsg Redisplay the last message line
lock Run a screenlock program.
log Begin/end logging of the current window's output
login Toggle the window's \*Qlogin\*U setting (/etc/utmp entry)
monitor Toggle activity monitoring of the current window
next Switch to the next window
other Switch to the window displayed previously
paste Paste in a selected piece of text.
pow_detach Detach \fIscreen\fP and logout.
prev Switch to the previous window
quit Kill all windows and terminate
readbuffer Take text from the exchange file.
redisplay Redisplay current window
reset Reset the window to its \*Qpower-on\*U settings
screen Create a new window with the specified command
shell Create a new window with a shell
suspend Suspend \fIscreen\fP
termcap Write screen's termcap entry to $HOME/.screencap
vbell Toggle the window's \*Qvbell\*U setting.
version Display the version numbers and date last modified
width Toggle the terminal width between 80 and 132 columns
windows Display a list of all windows
wrap Toggle the current window's line-wrap setting
writebuffer Store the selected text in the exchange file.
xoff Send a control-s to the current program
xon Send a control-q to the current program
bind ^f screen telnet foobar
bind \e033 screen -ln -t root -h 1000 9 su
would bind the space key to the function that displays a list
of windows (so that the function usually invoked by \*QC-a C-w\*U
would also be available as \*QC-a space\*U),
bind \*QC-f\*U to the function \*Qcreate a window with a TELNET
connection to foobar\*U, and bind \*Qescape\*U to the function
that creates an non-login window with a.\|k.\|a. \*Qroot\*U in slot #9, with
a super-user shell and a scrollbackbuffer of 1000 lines.
.B "bufferfile \fIexchange-file\fP"
Change the filename used for reading and writing with the copybuffer.
The default is \*Q/tmp/screen-exchange\*U. The following example
will paste the system's password file into the screen window:
C-a : bufferfile /etc/passwd
.B "chdir \fP[\fIdirectory\fP]"
Change the \fIcurrent directory\fP of
to the specified directory or, if called without an argument,
to your home directory (the value of the environment variable $HOME).
All windows that are created by means of the \*Qscreen\*U command
from within \*Q.screenrc\*U or by means of \*QC-a : screen ...\*U
or \*QC-a c\*U use this as their default directory.
Without a chdir command, this would be the directory from which
Hardcopy and log files are always written to the \fIwindow's\fP default
directory, \fInot\fP the current directory of the process running in the
You can use this command multiple times in your .screenrc to start various
windows in different default directories, but the last chdir value will
affect all the windows you create interactively.
This affects the copying of text regions with the `C-a [' command. If it is set
to `on', lines will be separated by the two character sequence `CR' - `LF'.
Otherwise only `LF' is used.
.B "echo \fP[\fB-n\fP]\fB \fImessage\fP"
The echo command may be used to annoy
users with a 'message of the
day'. Typically installed in a global /usr/local/etc/screenrc. See also
Echo is also useful for online checking of environment variables.
Set the command character to \fIx\fP and the character generating a literal
command character to \fIy\fP (just like in the \-e option).
Each argument is either a single character, a two-character sequence
of the form \*Q^x\*U (meaning \*QC-x\*U), a backslash followed by an octal
number (specifying the ASCII code of the character), or a backslash followed
by a second character, such as \*Q\e^\*U or \*Q\e\e\*U.
The default is \*Q^Aa\*U, but \*Q``\*U is recommended by one of the authors.
.B "flow on\fP|\fBoff\fP|\fBauto \fP[\fBinterrupt\fP]\fB"
Sets the default flow-control mode for new windows.
Specifying \*Qflow auto interrupt\*U is the same as the command-line options
See the discussion on FLOW-CONTROL later on in this document for full details
and note, that this is subject to change in future releases.
.B "hardcopy_append on\fP|\fBoff"
will append to the "hardcopy.n" files created by the command \*QC-a h\*U,
otherwise these files are overwritten each time.
.B "hardstatus on\fP|\fBoff"
Toggles the use of the terminals hardware status line. If "on",
will use this facility to display one line messages. Otherwise these messages
are overlayed in reverse video mode at the display line. Note that the
hardstatus feature should only be used, if the termcap/terminfo capabilities
"hs", "ts", "fs" and "ds" are set properly.
Sets the login flag which determines if new windows should have /etc/utmp
The login state is also changeable on-the-fly by using the bindable version
of the \*Qlogin\*U command (C-a L) of by means of "C-a : set login on|off".
The default should be \*Qon\*U for a
that runs under suid-root.
.B "markkeys \fIstring\fP"
This is a method of changing the keymap used for copy/history mode.
The string is made up of \fIoldchar\fP=\fInewchar\fP pairs which are
separated by `:'. Example: The string \*QB=^B:F=^F\*U will change the
keys `C-b' and `C-f' from their (original emacs-style bindings) to the vi style
binding (scroll up/down full page), which is the default meaning of `B' and
The mode of each newly allocated pseudo-tty is set to \fImode\fP.
\fIMode\fP is an octal number.
When no \*Qmode\*U command is given, mode 0622 is used.
.B "nethack on\fP|\fBoff"
Changes the kind of error messages used by
When you are familiar with the game \*Qnethack\*U, you may enjoy the
nethack-style messages which will often blur the facts a little, but are
much funnier to read. Anyway, standard messages often tend to be unclear as
available, if screen was compiled with the NETHACK flag defined. The
default setting is then determined by the presence of the environment
variable $NETHACKOPTIONS.
.B "msgminwait \fIsec\fP"
delays all activity after a message was dispayled. The default is 1 second.
Defines the time a message is displayed, if
is not disturbed by other activity. The default is 5 seconds.
.B "password \fP[\fIcrypted_pw\fP]"
Present a crypted password in your \*Q.screenrc\*U file and screen will ask
for it, whenever a detached session is tried to be resumed. This is useful,
if you have privileged programs running under
and you want to protect your session from reattach attempts by users that
managed to have your uid. (I.e. any superuser.)
.B "pow_detach_msg \fImessage\fP"
The \fImessage\fP specified here is output whenever a `Power detach' was
performed. It may be used as a replacement for a logout message or to reset
.B "screen \fP[\fI-opts\fP] [\fIn\fP] [\fIcmd\fP [\fIargs\fP]]"
The flow-control options (\fB\-f\fP, \fB\-fn\fP and \fB\-fa\fP),
title (a.\|k.\|a.) option (\fB\-t\fP), login options (\fB-l\fP and \fB-ln\fP)
, terminal type option (\fB-T <term>\fP) and scrollback option (\fB-h\fP <num>)
may be specified for each command.
If an optional number \fIn\fP in the range 0..9 is given, the window
number \fIn\fP is assigned to the newly created window (or, if this
number is already in-use, the next available number).
If a command is specified after \*Qscreen\*U, this command (with the given
arguments) is started in the window; otherwise, a shell is created.
Thus, if your \*Q.screenrc\*U contains the lines
screen -fn -t foobar 2 telnet foobar
creates a shell window (in window #1), a window with a TELNET connection
to the machine foobar (with no flow-control using the a.\|k.\|a. \*Qfoobar\*U
in window #2), and finally, a second shell window
(the default window) which gets a window number of zero.
When the initialization is completed,
switches to the last window specified in your .screenrc file or, if none, it
opens a default window #0 that would be displayed in this
.B "scrollback \fP\fInum\fP"
Set the size of the scrollback buffer for new windows to \fInum\fP lines.
The default scrollback is 50 lines.
Use "C-a : set scrollback \fInum\fP" to change the scrollback size of the
current window and use "C-a i" to view the current setting.
Define whether the display should be refreshed (as done with "C-a l") after
switching to the current window. As usual when the "set" keyword is given,
this command only affects the current window. But unlike other commands,
"redraw off" (without "set") affects all windows, the window specific settings
come into effect again when "redraw on" (without "set") is entered.
Set the command to be used to create a new shell.
This overrides the value of the environment variable $SHELL, or \*Q/bin/sh\*U
This is useful if you'd like to run a tty-enhancer which is expecting to
execute the program specified in $SHELL.
.B "shellaka \fIa.\|k.\|a.\fP"
Set the a.\|k.\|a. for all shells created during startup or by
For details about what a.\|k.\|a.\|'s are, see the discussion
This command will pause the execution of a .screenrc file for \fInum\fP seconds.
It may be used to give users a chance to read the messages output by \*Qecho\*U.
.B "slowpaste \fIusec\fP"
Define the speed text is inserted by the paste ("C-a ]") command. For each
80 characters (IOSIZE) pasted
will make a pause of \fIusec\fP milliseconds to allow the application the
processing of input. Use that, if you have to fear that your underlying system
In each window's environment
opens, it sets the $TERM variable to \*Qscreen\*U by default.
But when no description for \*Qscreen\*U is installed in the local termcap
or terminfo data base, you can pretend that the terminal emulator is - say -
\*Qvt100\*U. This won't do much harm, as
is VT100/ANSI compatible.
The use of the \*Qterm\*U command is discouraged for non-default purpose.
That is, one may want to specify special $TERM settings (e.g. vt100) for the
next \*Qscreen rlogin othermachine\*U command. Use the command \*Qscreen -T vt100
rlogin othermachine\*U rather than setting (\*Qterm vt100\*U) and resetting
(\*Qterm screen\*U) the default before and after the \*Qscreen\*U command.
.B "termcap \fIterm\fP \fIterminal-tweaks\fP \fP[\fIwindow-tweaks\fP]"
.B "terminfo \fIterm\fP \fIterminal-tweaks\fP \fP[\fIwindow-tweaks\fP]"
Use this command to modify your terminal's termcap entry without going through
all the hassles involved in creating a custom termcap entry.
Plus, you can optionally customize the termcap generated for the windows.
If your system works with terminfo-database rather than with
will understand the `terminfo' command which has the same effects as
the `termcap' command. Thus users can write one .screenrc file that handles
both cases, although terminfo syntax is slightly different
The first argument specifies which terminal(s) should be affected by this
You can specify multiple terminal names by separating them with `|'s.
Use `*' to match all terminals and `vt*' to match all terminals that begin
Each \fItweak\fP argument contains one or more termcap defines (separated
by `:'s) to be inserted at the start of the appropriate termcap entry,
enhancing it or overriding existing values.
The first tweak modifies your terminal's termcap, and contains definitions
that your terminal uses to perform certain functions.
Specify a null string to leave this unchanged (e.\|g. '').
The second (optional) tweak modifies all the window termcaps, and should
contain definitions that screen understands (see the \*QVIRTUAL TERMINAL\*U
that all terminals that begin with `xterm' have firm auto-margins that
allow the last position on the screen to be updated (LP), but they don't
really have a status line (no 'hs' -- append `@' to turn entries off).
Note that we assume `LP' for all terminal names that start with \*Qvt\*U,
but only if you don't specify a termcap command for that terminal.
termcap vt102|vt220 Z0=\eE[?3h:Z1=\eE[?3l
Specifies the firm-margined `LP' capability for all terminals that begin with
`vt', and the second line will also add the escape-sequences to switch
into (Z0) and back out of (Z1) 132-character-per-line mode if this is
(You must specify Z0 and Z1 in your termcap to use the width-changing
termcap vt100 "" l0=PF1:l1=PF2:l2=PF3:l3=PF4
This leaves your vt100 termcap alone and adds the function key labels to
each window's termcap entry.
termcap h19|z19 am@:im=\eE@:ei=\eEO dc=\eE[P
Takes a h19 or z19 termcap and turns off auto-margins (am@) and enables the
insert mode (im) and end-insert (ei) capabilities (the `@' in the `im'
string is after the `=', so it is part of the string).
Having the `im' and `ei' definitions put into your terminal's termcap will
cause screen to automatically advertise the character-insert capability in
Each window will also get the delete-character capability (dc) added to its
termcap, which screen will translate into a line-update for the terminal
(we're pretending it doesn't support character deletion).
If you would like to fully specify each window's termcap entry, you should
instead set the $SCREENCAP variable prior to running
See the discussion on the \*QVIRTUAL TERMINAL\*U in this manual, and the termcap(5)
man page for more information on termcap definitions.
Sets the visual bell setting for new windows. If your terminal does not support
a visual bell a message is printed to the status line. The default
message is \*QWuff, Wuff!!\*U.
.B "vbell_msg \fImessage\fP"
Sets the visual bell message. \fImessage\fP is printed to the status line if
the window receives a bell character (^G) and vbell is set to \*Qon\*U.
Define a delay in seconds after each display of
visual bell message. The default is 0 seconds.
Sets the line-wrap setting for new windows.
When line-wrap is on, the second consecutive printable character output at
the last column of a line will wrap to the start of the following line.
As an added feature, backspace (^H) will also wrap through the left margin
Line-wrap is on by default and can be toggled with the \*Qwrap\*U
command (\*QC-a r\*U) or by means of "C-a : set wrap on|off".
displays informational messages and other diagnostics in a \fImessage line\fP
at the bottom of the screen.
If your terminal has a status line defined in its termcap, screen will use
this for displaying its messages, otherwise the last line of the screen will
be temporarily overwritten and output will be momentarily interrupted.
The message line is automatically removed after a few seconds delay, but it
can also be removed early (on terminals without a status line) by beginning
The message line facility can be used by an application running in
the current window by means of the ANSI \fIPrivacy message\fP
For instance, from within the shell, try something like:
echo '<esc>^Hello world<esc>\e\e'
where '<esc>' is an \fIescape\fP, '^' is a literal up-arrow,
and '\e\e' turns into a single backslash.
Each window has a flow-control setting that determines how screen deals with
the XON and XOFF characters (and perhaps the interrupt character).
When flow-control is turned off, screen ignores the XON and XOFF characters,
which allows the user to send them to the current program by simply typing
them (useful for the \fIemacs\fP editor, for instance).
The trade-off is that it will take longer for output from a \*Qnormal\*U
program to pause in response to an XOFF.
With flow-control turned on, XON and XOFF characters are used to immediately
pause the output of the current window.
You can still send these characters to the current program, but you must use
the appropriate two-character screen commands (typically \*QC-a q\*U (xon)
The xon/xoff commands are also useful for typing C-s and C-q past a terminal
that intercepts these characters.
Each window has an initial flow-control value set with either the
option or the \*Qflow\*U .screenrc command. Per default the windows
are set to automatic flow-switching.
It can then be toggled between the three states 'fixed on', 'fixed off' and
'automatic' interactively with the \*Qflow\*U command bound to "C-a f".
The automatic flow-switching mode deals with
flow control using the TIOCPKT mode (like \*Qrlogin\*U does). If
the tty driver does not support TIOCPKT, screen tries to find out
the right mode based on the current setting of the application
keypad -- when it is enabled, flow-control is turned off and visa versa.
Of course, you can still manipulate flow-control manually when needed.
If you're running with flow-control enabled and find that pressing the
interrupt key (usually C-c) does not interrupt the display until another
6-8 lines have scrolled by, try running screen with the \*Qinterrupt\*U
option (add the \*Qinterrupt\*U flag to the \*Qflow\*U command in
your .screenrc, or use the
This causes the output that
has accumulated from the interrupted program to be flushed.
One disadvantage is that the virtual terminal's memory contains the
non-flushed version of the output, which in rare cases can cause
minor inaccuracies in the output.
For example, if you switch screens and return, or update the screen
with \*QC-a l\*U you would see the version of the output you would
have gotten without \*Qinterrupt\*U being on.
Also, you might need to turn off flow-control (or use auto-flow mode to turn
it off automatically) when running a program that expects you to type the
interrupt character as input, as it is possible to interrupt
the output of the virtual terminal to your physical terminal when flow-control
If this happens, a simple refresh of the screen with \*QC-a l\*U will
Give each mode a try, and use whichever mode you find more comfortable.
.SH "ALSO KNOWN AS (A.\|K.\|A.\|s)"
You can customize each window's name in the window display (viewed with the
\*Qwindows\*U command (C-a w)) by setting it with one of
Normally the name displayed is the actual command name of the program
However, it is sometimes useful to distinguish various programs of the same
name or to change the name on-the-fly to reflect the current state of
The default name for all shell windows can be set with the \*Qshellaka\*U
command in the .screenrc file, while all other windows are created with
a \*Qscreen\*U command and thus can have their name set with the
Interactively, there is the AKA-string escape-sequence
(<esc>k\fIname\fP<esc>\e) and the \*Qaka\*U command (C-a A).
The former can be output from an application to control the window's name
under software control, and the latter will prompt for a name when typed.
You can also bind pre-defined names to keys with the \*Qaka\*U command
to set things quickly without prompting.
has a shell-specific heuristic that is enabled by setting the window's name
to \*Q\fIsearch|name\fP\*U and arranging to have a null aka escape-sequence
output as a part of your prompt.
The \fIsearch\fP portion specifies an end-of-prompt search string, while
the \fIname\fP portion specifies the default shell name for the window.
If the \fIname\fP ends in a `:'
will add what it believes to be the current command running in the window
to the end of the window's shell name (e.\|g. \*Q\fIname:cmd\fP\*U).
Otherwise the current command name supersedes the shell name while it is
Here's how it works: you must modify your shell prompt to output a null
aka escape-sequence (<esc>k<esc>\e) as a part of your prompt.
The last part of your prompt must be the same as the string you specified
for the \fIsearch\fP portion of the a.\|k.\|a.
will use the aka escape-sequence to clear the previous command name and
get ready for the next command.
Then, when a newline is received from the shell, a search is made for the
If found, it will grab the first word after the matched string and use it
If the command name begins with either '!', '%', or '^'
will use the first word on the following line (if found) in preference to
This helps csh users get better command names when using job control or
Here's some .screenrc examples:
Adding this line to your .screenrc would start a niced version of the
\*Qtop\*U command in window 2 name \*Qtop\*U rather than \*Qnice\*U.
This file would start two shells (one specified, one default) using
The a.\|k.\|a. specified is an auto-aka that would expect the prompt and
the typed command to look something like the following:
(it looks after the '> ' for the command name).
The window status would show the name \*Qtrn\*U while the command was
running, and revert to \*Qcsh\*U upon completion.
bind R screen -t '% |root:' su
Having this command in your .screenrc would bind the key
sequence \*QC-a R\*U to the \*Qsu\*U command and give it an
auto-aka name of \*Qroot:\*U.
For this auto-aka to work, the screen could look something
Here the user typed the csh history command \*Q!em\*U which ran the
previously entered \*Qemacs\*U command.
The window status would show \*Qroot:emacs\*U during the execution
of the command, and revert to simply \*Qroot:\*U at its completion.
The first binding doesn't have any arguments, so it would prompt you
for an a.\|k.\|a. when you type \*QC-a o\*U.
The second binding would clear an auto-aka's current setting (C-a E).
The third binding would set the current window's a.\|k.\|a. to \*Q(unknown)\*U
One thing to keep in mind when adding a null aka escape-sequence to
your prompt is that some shells (like the csh) count all the non-control
characters as part of the prompt's length.
If these invisible characters aren't a multiple of 8 then backspacing over
a tab will result in an incorrect display.
One way to get around this is to use a prompt like this:
set prompt='^[[0000m^[k^[\e% '
The escape-sequence \*Q<esc>[0000m\*U not only normalizes the character
attributes, but all the zeros round the length of the invisible characters
Bash users will probably want to echo the escape sequence in the
PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -n -e "\e033k\e033\e134"'
(I used \*Q\134\*U to output a `\e' because of a bug in v1.04).
.SH "THE VIRTUAL TERMINAL"
tries to emulate as much of the VT100/ANSI standard
as possible. But if your terminal lacks certain capabilities
the emulation may not be complete. In these cases
has to tell the applications that some of the features
are missing. This is no problem on machines using termcap,
can use the $TERMCAP variable to
customize the standard screen termcap.
rlogin on another machine or your machine supports only
terminfo this method fails. Because of this
offers a way to deal with these cases. Here is how it works:
tries to figure out a terminal name for itself,
for an entry named \*Qscreen.<term>\*U, where <term> is
the contents of your $TERM variable.
tries \*Qscreen\*U (or \*Qscreen-w\*U, if the terminal is wide
If even this entry cannot be found, \*Qvt100\*U is used as a
The idea is that if you have a terminal which doesn't
support an important feature (e.g. delete char or clear to EOS)
you can build a new termcap/terminfo entry for
(named \*Qscreen.<dumbterm>\*U) in which this capability
has been disabled. If this entry is installed on your
machines you are able to do
a rlogin and still keep the correct termcap/terminfo entry.
The terminal name is put in the $TERM variable
also sets the $TERMCAP variable reflecting the capabilities
of the virtual terminal emulated. Notice that, however, on machines
using the terminfo database this variable has no effect.
Furthermore, the variable $WINDOW is set to the window number
The actual set of capabilities supported by the virtual terminal
depends on the capabilities supported by the physical terminal.
If, for instance, the physical terminal does not support underscore mode,
does not put the `us' and `ue' capabilities into the window's $TERMCAP
However, a minimum number of capabilities must be supported by a
namely scrolling, clear screen, and direct cursor addressing
does not run on hardcopy terminals or on terminals that over-strike).
Also, you can customize the $TERMCAP value used by
by using the \*Qtermcap\*U .screenrc command, or
by defining the variable $SCREENCAP prior to startup.
When the latter defined, its value will be copied verbatim into each
window's $TERMCAP variable.
This can either be the full terminal definition, or a filename where the
terminal \*Qscreen\*U (and/or \*Qscreen-w\*U) is defined.
honors the \*Qterminfo\*U .screenrc command if the system uses the
terminfo database rather than termcap.
When the boolean `G0' capability is present in the termcap entry
for the terminal on which
has been called, the terminal emulation of
supports multiple character sets.
This allows an application to make use of, for instance,
the VT100 graphics character set or national character sets.
The following control functions from ISO 2022 are supported:
\fIlock shift G0\fP (\fISI\fP), \fIlock shift G1\fP (\fISO\fP),
\fIlock shift G2\fP, \fIlock shift G3\fP, \fIsingle shift G2\fP,
and \fIsingle shift G3\fP.
When a virtual terminal is created or reset, the ASCII character
set is designated as \fIG0\fP through \fIG3\fP.
When the `G0' capability is present, screen evaluates the capabilities
`S0', `E0', and `C0' if present. `S0' is the sequence the terminal uses
to enable and start the graphics character set rather than \fISI\fP.
`E0' is the corresponding replacement for \fISO\fP. `C0' gives a character
by character translation string that is used during semi-graphics mode. This
string is built like the `acsc' terminfo capability.
When the `po' and `pf' capabilities are present in the terminal's
termcap entry, applications running in a
window can send output to the printer port of the terminal.
This allows a user to have an application in one window
sending output to a printer connected to the terminal, while all
other windows are still active (the printer port is enabled
and disabled again for each chunk of output).
As a side-effect, programs running in different windows can
send output to the printer simultaneously.
Data sent to the printer is not displayed in the window.
Some capabilities are only put into the $TERMCAP
variable of the virtual terminal if they can be efficiently
implemented by the physical terminal.
For instance, `dl' (delete line) is only put into the $TERMCAP
variable if the terminal supports either delete line itself or
scrolling regions. Note that this may provoke confusion, when
the session is reattached on a different terminal, as the value
of $TERMCAP cannot be modified by parent processes.
The following is a list of control sequences recognized by
\*Q(V)\*U and \*Q(A)\*U indicate VT100-specific and ANSI- or
ISO-specific functions, respectively.
(V) Save Cursor and Attributes
(V) Restore Cursor and Attributes
(A) Save Cursor and Attributes
(A) Restore Cursor and Attributes
(V) Application Keypad Mode
(A) Privacy Message String (Message Line)
A.\|k.\|a. Definition String
(A) Device Control String
Outputs a string directly to the host
terminal without interpretation.
(A) Application Program Command (not used)
(A) Operating System Command (not used)
(A) Designate character set as G0
(A) Designate character set as G1
(A) Designate character set as G2
(A) Designate character set as G3
.B "ESC [ \fPPn\fB ; \fPPn\fB H"
.B "ESC [ \fPPn\fB ; \fPPn\fB f"
\h'\w'ESC 'u'Pn = None or \fB0\fP
From Cursor to End of Screen
\h'\w'ESC Pn = 'u'\fB1\fP
From Beginning of Screen to Cursor
\h'\w'ESC Pn = 'u'\fB2\fP
\h'\w'ESC 'u'Pn = None or \fB0\fP
From Cursor to End of Line
\h'\w'ESC Pn = 'u'\fB1\fP
From Beginning of Line to Cursor
\h'\w'ESC Pn = 'u'\fB2\fP
.B "ESC [ \fPPs\fB ;\fP...\fB; \fPPs\fB m"
\h'\w'ESC 'u'Ps = None or \fB0\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB1\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB2\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB3\fP
(A) \fIStandout\fP Mode (ANSI: Italicized)
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB4\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB5\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB7\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB22\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB23\fP
(A) \fIStandout\fP Mode off (ANSI: Italicized off)
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB24\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB25\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB27\fP
\h'\w'ESC 'u'Pn = None or \fB0\fP
Clear Tab at Current Position
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB3\fP
.B "ESC [ \fPPn\fB ; \fPPn\fB r"
.B "ESC [ \fPPs\fB ;\fP...\fB; \fPPs\fB h"
.B "ESC [ \fPPs\fB ;\fP...\fB; \fPPs\fB l"
\h'\w'ESC 'u'Ps = \fB4\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB?3\fP
(V) Change Terminal Width
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB?5\fP
(V) Visible Bell (\fIOn\fP followed by \fIOff\fP)
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB?6\fP
\h'\w'ESC Ps = 'u'\fB?7\fP
(A) Start relay to printer (ANSI Media Copy)
(A) Stop relay to printer (ANSI Media Copy)
/local/etc/screenrc \fIscreen\fP initialization commands
$HOME/.screenrc Read in after /usr/local/etc/screenrc
/local/screens/S-<login> Socket directories (default)
/usr/tmp/screens/S-<login> Alternate socket directories.
<socket directory>/.termcap Written by the "termcap" output function
/usr/tmp/screens/screen-exchange or
/tmp/screen-exchange \fIscreen\fP `interprocess communication buffer'
hardcopy.[0-9] Screen images created by the hardcopy function
screenlog.[0-9] Output log files created by the log function
/etc/termcap Terminal capability databases
$LOCKPRG Program that locks a terminal.
termcap(5), utmp(5), vi(1), captoinfo(1), tic(1)
Originally created by Oliver Laumann, this latest version was
produced by Wayne Davison, Juergen Weigert and Michael Schroeder.
This is version 3.2. It's roots are a merge of a custom version
and several enhancements to Oliver Laumann's version 2.0. Note that all versions
numbered 2.x are copyright by Oliver Laumann.
`dm' (delete mode), `xn', and `xs' are not handled
correctly (they are ignored).
The \fIGR\fP set of ISO 2022 is not supported.
There is no keyboard input translation to VT100 sequences.
It is not possible to change the environment variable $TERMCAP when
reattaching under a different terminal type.
The support of terminfo based systems is very limited. Adding extra
capabilities to $TERMCAP may not have any effects.
does not make use of hardware tabs.
must be installed as set-uid with owner root in order to be able
to correctly change the owner of the tty device file for each
Special permission may also be required to write the file \*Q/etc/utmp\*U.
Entries in \*Q/etc/utmp\*U are not removed when
This will cause some programs (like "w" or "rwho")
to advertise that a user is logged on who really isn't.
projects / unix-history / blob