Tmux Cheat Sheet
A practical tmux cheatsheet for daily use. Covers essential commands for session control, window switching, pane splitting, and other common tasks.
Tmux Architecture Overview
Tmux Terminology
Common Pane Layouts Visualized
Even-Horizontal
Even-Vertical
Main-Horizontal
Main-Vertical
Tiled
Mouse Navigation Tips
Enable Mouse Support for Easy Navigation
If you don't use tmux often, enabling mouse support makes it much easier to interact with tmux without memorizing keyboard shortcuts.
setw -g mouse on
1 Right-Click Context Menu
Holding the right mouse button brings up a context menu with options for horizontal split, vertical split, and more.
2 Click to Switch Panes
Simply click on any pane to make it active — no need to remember pane navigation shortcuts.
3 Scroll with the Mouse Wheel
Mouse wheel scrolling works natively in panes, automatically switching to copy mode when scrolling.
Essential Commands
The basic shortcuts you need to know to start using tmux effectively
Session Management
- tmux
Start a new session
- tmux new -s name
Start a new named session
- tmux ls
List all sessions
- tmux a
Attach to last session
- tmux a -t name
Attach to specific session
- C-b d
Detach from current session
C-b means Ctrl+b
- C-b $
Rename current session
Window Operations
- C-b c
Create a new window
- C-b ,
Rename current window
- C-b n
Move to next window
- C-b p
Move to previous window
- C-b w
List all windows
- C-b 0-9
Switch to window number 0-9
- C-b &
Kill current window
Pane Operations
- C-b %
Split pane vertically
- C-b "
Split pane horizontally
- C-b ←↑→↓
Navigate between panes
Arrow keys
- C-b o
Go to next pane
- C-b z
Toggle pane zoom
- C-b x
Kill current pane
- C-b Ctrl+←↑→↓
Resize pane
Hold Ctrl and press arrow keys
Copy Mode & Scrolling
- C-b [
Enter copy mode
- q
Exit copy mode
When in copy mode
- PgUp/PgDown
Scroll page up/down
When in copy mode
- ←↑→↓
Move cursor
When in copy mode
- Space
Start selection
When in copy mode
- Enter
Copy selection
When in copy mode
- C-b ]
Paste copied text
Session Management
How to start, attach to, and manage your tmux workspaces
Command Line Management
- tmux
Start a new tmux session
Creates unnamed session
- tmux new -s mysession
Start a new named session
Replace "mysession" with your session name
- tmux new -s mysession -n mywindow
Start a new session with a named window
- tmux attach
Attach to the most recently used session
- tmux attach -t mysession
Attach to a specific session by name
- tmux ls
List all running sessions
- tmux kill-session -t mysession
Kill/delete a specific session
- tmux kill-server
Kill the tmux server and all sessions
Use with caution - terminates all sessions
- tmux switch -t mysession
Switch to a specific session (from within tmux)
- tmux rename-session -t old-name new-name
Rename a session from outside tmux
Key Bindings
- C-b d
Detach from current session
Session continues running in background
- C-b $
Rename current session
Shows prompt to enter new name
- C-b )
Switch to next session
Cycles through available sessions
- C-b (
Switch to previous session
Cycles through available sessions
- C-b s
Show session list
Interactive session browser
- C-b D
Choose client to detach
Useful when multiple clients attached
- C-b :new -s name
Create new session
Uses command mode to create session
- C-b L
Switch to last session
Requires custom keybinding in .tmux.conf
Window Controls
How to create and organize multiple terminal windows in tmux
Basic Operations
- C-b c
Create a new window
Added at the end of the list
- C-b ,
Rename current window
Enter new name when prompted
- C-b &
Kill current window
Prompts for confirmation
- C-b w
List all windows
Shows interactive window list
- C-b f
Find window by name
Enter part of window name to search
Window Navigation
- C-b n
Next window
- C-b p
Previous window
- C-b l
Last active window
Toggle between current and previous
- C-b 0-9
Go to window number 0-9
- C-b '
Go to window by index
Prompts for window index
Window Arrangement
- C-b .
Move window to index
Prompts for new index
- C-b :
Enter command mode
Type "swap-window -t <target>" to swap windows
- C-b {
Swap with previous window
Custom binding in .tmux.conf
- C-b }
Swap with next window
Custom binding in .tmux.conf
Command Line Management
- tmux new-window
Create a new window
- tmux new-window -n name
Create a new window with specified name
Replace "name" with your window name
- tmux select-window -t :0-9
Select window by index (0-9)
- tmux select-window -t :name
Select window by name
- tmux rename-window "new name"
Rename current window
- tmux kill-window
Kill current window
- tmux list-windows
List all windows in current session
Pane Operations
How to split your terminal into multiple views and work with them
Creation
- C-b %
Split pane vertically (left/right)
- C-b "
Split pane horizontally (top/bottom)
- C-b !
Convert pane into a window
Creates a new window with this pane
- C-b x
Kill (close) the current pane
Navigation
- C-b ↑↓←→
Move between panes in the indicated direction
- C-b o
Go to next pane (cycle through all panes)
- C-b ;
Go to the previously active pane
- C-b q
Show pane numbers (press number to jump to that pane)
Numbers appear briefly - press the number key quickly
- C-b z
Toggle zoom (maximize/restore) current pane
Resizing
- C-b C-↑↓←→
Resize current pane in the indicated direction
Hold Ctrl while pressing arrow keys after prefix
- C-b Alt+↑↓←→
Resize panes in steps of 5 cells
Hold Alt (Meta) while pressing arrow keys after prefix
- C-b :resize-pane -D 10
Resize down by 10 cells
Can use -U (up), -L (left), -R (right)
- C-b {
Swap current pane with the previous pane
- C-b }
Swap current pane with the next pane
Layouts
- C-b space
Cycle through preset layouts
- C-b Alt+1
Switch to even-horizontal layout
- C-b Alt+2
Switch to even-vertical layout
- C-b Alt+3
Switch to main-horizontal layout
- C-b Alt+4
Switch to main-vertical layout
- C-b Alt+5
Switch to tiled layout
Copy Mode & Scrollback
How to scroll, search, and copy text from your terminal history
Basic Operations
- C-b [
Enter copy mode
- q
Exit copy mode
- C-b ]
Paste copied text
Paste content after copying
Navigation
- ↑, ↓, ←, →
Move cursor
In vi mode: h, j, k, l
- PgUp, PgDn
Scroll up/down one page
- g
Go to top of buffer
In vi mode: gg
- G
Go to bottom of buffer
In vi mode: G
- H, M, L
Move to top/middle/bottom of screen
- w, b
Move forward/backward one word
- 0, ^, $
Start/first non-space/end of line
Selection & Copying
- Space
Start selection
In vi mode: v
- Enter
Copy selection and exit copy mode
In vi mode: y
- Esc
Clear selection
- A
Append selection to buffer
- R
Rectangle toggle (block selection)
In vi mode: C-v
Search
- /
Forward search
Type text and press Enter
- ?
Backward search
Type text and press Enter
- n
Next search match
- N
Previous search match
- C-r
Incremental reverse search
Vim-style
- C-s
Incremental forward search
Vim-style
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