Multiple commands running in a single shell (windows in tmux)

I'll just jump straight to it. Sometimes, your app needs a lot of commands running.

You're probably running babel on your Javascript, using react-native start, running gulpfiles and gruntfiles and webpacks and whatever other new JS build systems there are, and you've got your test suite running and there's some CSS pre-processing and..

The list goes on. You're probably running a lot of commands that just need to.. run, and sometimes you'll need to check their output.

Does that mean you need a million terminal windows open? No. You just need one, and a terminal multiplexer.

Enter tmux.

tmux is the tool you need. It allows you to do all sorts of things in a single shell. We'll cover the absolute basics here, but there's a lot more to know:

• To start, Ctrl-b takes you into the command mode. The next bullet points all require you to be in command mode.
• c creates a new window
• n takes you to the next window
• p takes you to the previous window
• & deletes the current window

In each window, you can have a command running (you can actually run more, but you need to know more about tmux). You can only view one window at a time and you use the commands above to cycle through them.

That's all for now!

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Want more tips on tmux, VIM, and general productivity in Linux? Follow me here on dev.to or hit me up on Twitter @connorbode. I can also be found on the web at matix.io.

Comments

[Thomas H Jones II]

Out of curiosity, what made you choose tmux vice screen?

[Connor Bode]

I didn't make a choice, when I looked to solve my problem tmux was the solution I found. Didn't discover screen until later, at which point I was comfortable with tmux.

[Thomas H Jones II]

Cool. I've been using screen since 1989. I'm always interested in new-to-me tools and know a lot of people use tmux, but haven't seen anyone post that "this is why you must switch" capability-note. Occasionally, I like to ask, in case the tmuxer in question has used both enough to be able to tell me "this is the differentiator that was key to me." =)

[Connor Bode]

Yeah I don't think there is a difference really, I think they satisfy the same goal equally well.