learntmux.dev
Task 8 of 11
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

Configure the pane border

Goal

Borders red, the active border on yellow, and a bold title above every pane.

Four window options own the borders:

pane-border-style
every border
pane-active-border-style
the active pane’s, layered on top
pane-border-status
top or bottom to add a line to each border
pane-border-format
what that line shows

The last one takes the same #{...} formats and #[...] styles you used on the status line, so everything from the previous two tasks applies here unchanged. All four are window options, set with set -g.

Do this

Run open ~/.tmux.conf, add these lines, and save with Ctrl-S:

set -g pane-border-style fg=red
set -g pane-active-border-style 'fg=red,bg=yellow'
set -g pane-border-status top
set -g pane-border-format '#[bold]#{pane_title}#[default]'

Press C-b :, type source ~/.tmux.conf, Enter.

A bold title appears above each pane and the borders turn red.

Press C-b Right, then C-b Left.

The yellow background follows the active pane.

The cost of pane title bars

The title bar costs one row per pane, which is worth remembering in a window split four ways.

#{pane_title} is what pane-border-format shows by default, and the title itself defaults to the host name until you set one.

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. pane-border-style has a foreground colour set— not done yet
  2. pane-active-border-style has a yellow background— not done yet
  3. pane-border-status is set to top— not done yet
  4. pane-border-format bolds the pane title— not done yet