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tmux - A Terminal Multiplexer

Preslav Mihaylov on May 01, 2018

Last time, I wrote about why I think everyone should try using a bare bones text editor like vim at least for a while. After such an experience, s...

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Boris Jamot ✊ / • Aug 20 '18 • Edited

Hi, tmux is a really useful tool when using a terminal without split feature.
I use guake and I easily started tmux with your config, but I face a problem while trying to resize panes vertically with <ctrl+B><ctrl>Up or Down : nothing happens whereas it works perfectly for horizontal splitting.

Any piece of advise?

Preslav Mihaylov • Aug 21 '18

Hi Biros,

I tried doing that on my terminal and it worked (the resizing for vertical splits).
Maybe you have remapped Ctrl-Up/Down to something else in some of your configurations?

Try remapping the controls in tmux.conf to not C-up but something else, like C-u or something like that just to debug what the problem is.

Boris Jamot ✊ / • Aug 21 '18

In fact, the problem is only in full-screen mode with guake.
I also tried with another terminal and it works, whatever it is fullscreen or not.

p-mcgowan • May 1 '18 • Edited

Yes! Tmux + vim (with ctrlp-vim) is the way to go - only one or two terminals per project.

I also added set -g mouse on to .tmux.conf to click-select panes and mouse wheel to scroll (instead of scrolling through bash history).

Jon • May 1 '18

Nice to see love on this topic.

It's worth mentioning that with some config, you can use your mouse to switch tabs or resize splits in tmux. With x forwarding, this also works over ssh. Mouse is handy to have while you're learning the shortcuts

Dian Fay • May 1 '18

To add: if you don't want to deal with the complexity of a multiplexer, use neovim and you get a built-in terminal emulator that can run in a split :)

Jonathan Boudreau • May 1 '18

There's a couple of things that you can do to make tmux feel similar to VIM. I'm my tmux.conf file I have the following:

# When in clipboard selection mode, behave like vim. E.g., "b" will go back a
# word, "w" goes to the start of the next word, "e" goes to the end of the next
# word, etc.
setw -g mode-keys vi

# Start the selection with "v" just like in vim
bind-key -Tcopy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection

# Copy the selection just like in vim with "y"
bind-key -Tcopy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection

# Move around panes like you can with ctrl+w in VIM
bind-key j select-pane -D
bind-key k select-pane -U
bind-key h select-pane -L
bind-key l select-pane -R

Full config: github.com/AGhost-7/docker-dev/blo...

Preslav Mihaylov • May 1 '18

That's actually pretty useful. Thanks!

Preslav Mihaylov • May 1 '18

neovim is a great tool, I agree.

However, tmux can be useful outside of vim as well.

If you want to do a non-vim related task in the terminal, I wouldn't want to have to open vim just to be able to multiplex my terminal.

Correct me if I'm wrong. :P

Dian Fay • May 1 '18

It depends, as always. If you're just writing code and need a shell or two to start builds or commit things, the inline terminal emulator is everything you need and more. If you're managing a bunch of servers -- obviously not.

Ben Sinclair • May 2 '18

You don't need neovim to do that - it's been part of Vim for a while now.

Colin Morgan • May 1 '18

Great article. Tmux is an awesome tool and I highly recommend learning it. Tmux sessions also provide a great way to maintain your shell sessions across devices and also for sharing them with others.

Mike Vanbuskirk • May 1 '18

Any reason why you wouldn't use Vim buffers?

Preslav Mihaylov • May 1 '18

Sometimes you want to use tmux not only as an add-on to vim, but for more generic terminal-related tasks as well.

In those cases, I think it's pointless to have to open vim just to be able to multiplex your terminal.

Lê Thành • May 1 '18 • Edited

It makes windows live again :)

Fernando J. Iglesias García • May 2 '18

For very quick tasks, instead of opening a new tmux pane, I also like to Ctrl+z my vim window, do the quick job, and then go back in a microbeat to vim with fg.