learntmux.dev
Task 9 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

Use vi keys in copy mode

Goal

mode-keys and status-keys are vi, v starts a selection, and the deploy key line is copied.

Copy mode keys live in two tables — copy-mode (emacs) and copy-mode-vi — and the mode-keys option picks which one is consulted. set -g mode-keys vi switches to the vi table:

h j k l
move
0 / $
start and end of the line
/ and ?
search forward and back
Enter
copy and leave

status-keys vi does the same for the command prompt.

One rebind is worth making: in the vi table v is rectangle-toggle by default, and Space begins a selection. bind -T copy-mode-vi v send -X begin-selection gives v the meaning it has in vi. Copy mode commands are always sent with send-keys -X, so any binding in either table reads send -X command.

Do this

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

set -g mode-keys vi
set -g status-keys vi
bind -T copy-mode-vi v send -X begin-selection

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

Editing the file alone changed nothing; this is what applies it.

Press C-b [, then k until the cursor is on deploy key: deploy-key-7f3a9c2e, then 0.

The cursor sits at the start of the line.

Press v, then $, then Enter.

The line highlights, then copy mode ends with the line in a buffer.

The default copy-mode tables

Both tables default to emacs — unless VISUAL or EDITOR contained vi when the server started, in which case tmux picks vi for you.

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 window option mode-keys is set to vi— not done yet
  2. The session option status-keys is set to vi— not done yet
  3. v in the copy-mode-vi table is bound to begin-selection— not done yet
  4. The most recent paste buffer holds the deploy key line— not done yet