learntmux.dev
Task 6 of 8
Level 1 · BasicsOverview
  1. 1Start your first session
  2. 2The prefix key and new windows
  3. 3Find any key with the help list
  4. 4Run commands from the command prompt
  5. 5Detach and come back
  6. 6Read the session list and juggle sessions
  7. 7Split the window into panes
  8. 8Split with flags
  9. 9Move between panes
  10. 10Kill the server
  11. 11Challenge: morning on the build boxchallenge
Level 2 · IntermediateOverview
  1. 1Change the current window
  2. 2Rename the session and a window
  3. 3Kill a pane, a window and a session
  4. 4Zoom a pane
  5. 5Resize panes
  6. 6Apply window layouts
  7. 7Mark and swap panes
  8. 8Move and renumber windows
  9. 9Browse in tree mode
  10. 10Tag and kill from the tree
  11. 11Kick out a stale client
  12. 12Challenge: tidy a messy sessionchallenge
Level 3 · AdvancedOverview
  1. 1Copy text in copy mode
  2. 2Scroll, search the scrollback and paste
  3. 3Choose and delete buffers in buffer mode
  4. 4Name, save and load buffers
  5. 5Find a window by its content or name
  6. 6Use the mouse
  7. 7Break out, join and send keys
  8. 8Challenge: recover the secret from the logschallenge
Level 4 · ConfigureOverview
  1. 1Show, set and unset options
  2. 2Write the configuration file
  3. 3Add and remove key bindings
  4. 4Change the prefix key
  5. 5Customize the status line
  6. 6Formats and embedded styles
  7. 7Embedded shell commands
  8. 8Configure the pane border
  9. 9Use vi keys in copy mode
  10. 10Mouse copying behaviour
  11. 11Challenge: write your own tmux.confchallenge
Cheat sheet

Use the mouse

Goal

Mouse on, right pane active, window logs current, and a drag has copied text.

set -g mouse on at the prompt turns mouse support on. Nothing visibly changes — but four things start working:

click a pane
make it active
click a window name in the status line
switch to it
drag over text and release
copy it into a buffer
drag a border
resize

mouse is an option: a named setting held on the server, a session or a window, changed with set-option (set for short). -g sets it globally, for every session.

Do this

Press C-b :, type set -g mouse on, Enter.

Nothing on screen changes.

Click the right pane, the one showing right pane.

Its border highlights — it is now active.

Click logs in the status line.

Window logs is current.

Drag across a word in the pane and release.

The text is now in a buffer.

How mouse bindings work

With the mouse on, mouse events are key bindings like any other: a click runs select-pane or select-window, a border drag runs resize-pane. A right click opens a menu with each command’s key shown beside it.

Stuck on this one?

This is a live terminal. Typing goes to the machine, including Tab. Press Shift and Tab together to move focus back out to the page.

A real terminal, in this tab

about 15 MB, once

session learn

Done when

not started
  1. The mouse option is on— not done yet
  2. The right pane of window 0 (index 1) is active— not done yet
  3. Window logs (index 2) is the current window of session learn— not done yet
  4. A drag copied text into an automatically named buffer— not done yet