Screen Cheat Sheet

Screen is a terminal multiplexer that allows you to run multiple terminal sessions within a single window. This cheat sheet provides an extensive list of commands and shortcuts for using Screen.

Starting and Exiting Screen

Command	Description
screen	Start a new screen session
screen -S session_name	Start a new screen session with a specific name
screen -r	Reattach to a detached screen session
screen -r session_name	Reattach to a specific detached screen session
screen -ls	List all screen sessions
exit	Exit the current screen session
Ctrl + A D	Detach from the current screen session

Creating and Managing Windows

Command	Description
Ctrl + A C	Create a new window
Ctrl + A N	Switch to the next window
Ctrl + A P	Switch to the previous window
Ctrl + A 0-9	Switch to a specific window
Ctrl + A ""	List all windows
Ctrl + A W	Show a list of all windows
Ctrl + A K	Kill the current window
Ctrl + A &	Kill the current window and terminate the screen session

Splitting the Screen

Command	Description
Ctrl + A S	Split the screen horizontally
Ctrl + A |	Split the screen vertically
Ctrl + A Tab	Switch between split regions
Ctrl + A Q	Show pane numbers
Ctrl + A X	Kill the current region

Copy and Paste

Command	Description
Ctrl + A [	Enter copy mode
Ctrl + A ]	Paste the contents of the clipboard
Ctrl + A =	Show information about the current region
Ctrl + A : writebuf filename	Write the contents of the clipboard to a file
Ctrl + A : readbuf filename	Read the contents of a file into the clipboard

Miscellaneous

Command	Description
Ctrl + A ?	Show a list of all key bindings
Ctrl + A : quit	Quit screen
Ctrl + A : version	Show the version of screen
Ctrl + A : source .screenrc	Reload the .screenrc file
Ctrl + A : sessionname session_name	Rename the current session
Ctrl + A : title window_title	Rename the current window

For more information, see the Screen User’s Manual.