Screen a must for ssh

If you've ever used SSH to connect to a server, you'll know its limitations: if you want to open a new window, you'll need to create a second SSH connection to the server. And if the connection breaks during the SSH tunnel, you've lost your progress. This is where Screen comes in.

Introduction

Screen? A must for ssh.

Screen, which calls itself a "full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes (typically interactive shells)." is a usefull tool to use 1 SSH connection, but use multiple screens to work in. So you can have 1 screen to write some scripts in, another to tail a logfile and a third to check your IRC messages.

Screen is installed by default on most installations, you can verify this by running the which screen command.

Usage

You can start screen by typing:

$ screen

Once you've opened screen, you can see a command list by typing "CTRL + A", followed by "?" (the question mark). By typing "CTRL + A" you state that the next signal is to be sent to the program screen, in stead of to the Shell (like you would in a normal shell). You'll see a list of all bindings known to screen.

To detach the session use "CTRL + A d" or jast break the session connection.

To list the existing sessions:

$ screen -ls
There is a screen on:
        6378.pts-1.nettop       (Detached)
1 Socket in /home/kx/.screen.

To connect to the already existing session:

$ screen -r 6378.pts-1.nettop

To terminate the current session type "exit" (like you would in a normal shell):

$ exit
[screen is terminating]

This will cause you to fall back to the previous monitor you opened, or to your main prompt where you started screen, showing you a message such as [screen is terminating] so you'll know you've hit the main shell.

If the screen dead, use:

$ screen -wipe

Links

• More detailed information you can find at page created by Mattias Geniar.

Enjoy.