> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.alphavps.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to install and use Screen in Linux - URL: https://blog.alphavps.com/how-to-use-install-and-use-screen/ - Published: 2023-03-28T13:08:14.000Z - Updated: 2026-04-28T07:44:43.000Z - Author: Vladislav Peev - Tags: Tutorials, Linux Basics Have you ever been in the following situation - you are working with the command line and you are jumping between multiple tasks and windows at the same time? If you've been, you might have experienced the frustration of losing track of where you are. Luckily for us, there's a tool that can make dealing with multiple tasks way easier: GNU Screen. GNU Screen is a terminal multiplexer. It lets you create and manage multiple terminal sessions within a single window. With Screen, you can run several shell sessions, detach them, and later reattach them from anywhere, even after logging out and logging back in. You can also split the terminal window into multiple regions and run different commands in each one. In this tutorial, you will get familiar with GNU Screen and some of its features. --- ## Installation Screen is pre-installed on most Linux distributions. You can check this by typing: ``` screen --version ``` If it is pre-installed, the output should be similar to the one below. ``` Screen version 4.08.00 (GNU) 05-Feb-20 ``` If not, you can easily install via the following commands: For Debian/Ubuntu ``` sudo apt install screen ``` For CentOS/Fedora/Alma/Rocky ``` sudo yum install screen ``` --- ## Starting Screen Screen can be started by simply typing "screen" in your console. ``` screen ``` The command opens a screen session, creates a new window, and starts a shell in it. A named session can be started by running: ``` screen -S session_name ``` --- ## Common Commands For your convenience, Screen relies on keyboard commands. They consist of a Control + a followed by one other character. All commands that are bound to lower-case letters are also bound to their control character counterparts. All commands below, which start with a `Ctrl+a` , are keyboard commands. These can be submitted only through sessions. ### Start a new session ``` screen ``` Invokes screen ``` screen -ls ``` List all available screen sessions ### Reattach to a session ``` screen -r ``` Reattaches to the last active Screen session. ``` screen -r session_id ``` Reattaches to a specific Screen session. The id of the active sessions can be viewed by listing the sessions with the 'screen -ls' command. ``` 951.pts-0.example (03/08/2023 08:16:30 AM) (Detached) 901.pts-0.example (03/08/2023 08:09:41 AM) (Detached) 890.pts-0.example (03/08/2023 08:08:54 AM) (Detached) 885.pts-0.example (03/08/2023 08:08:07 AM) (Detached) ``` ### Detach from a session `Ctrl+a d` \- Detaches from the current Screen session. You can also detach a running session via the following command: ``` screen -d ``` The `Ctrl+a D D` command lets you detach and logout directly. ### Create a new window `Ctrl+a c` \- Create a new window. ### Switch window `Ctrl+a` `num` \- Specify the window number and switch to it (example 2). `Ctrl+a` `session_name` \- Specify the window name and switch to it (example session-2). `Ctrl+a n` or `Ctrl+a `\- Switches to the next window. `Ctrl+a p` or `Ctrl+a `\- Switches to the previous window. `Ctrl+a ` \- Displays a list of all the available windows and lets you select one by using the arrow keys. `Ctrl+a A` \- Rename the current window ### Terminate window `Ctrl-a K`\- Kill the current window `Ctrl-a \` \- Kill all windows ### Split regions `Ctrl+a` `S` \- Split the currently active region horizontally into two. `Ctrl+a` `|` \- Split the currently active region vertically into two. `Ctrl+a` `tab` \- Switch the input focus to the next region. `Ctrl+a` `Ctrl+a` \- Toggle between windows. `Ctrl+a` `Q` \- Close all regions except the currently active one. `Ctrl+a` `X` \- Close the currently active region. ### Return to screen command prompt `Ctrl+a :` \- Enters the Screen command prompt, where you can execute various commands. For example, `quit` to exit Screen, `help` to show the help screen, `resize` to resize the current window. ### Other usable commands `ctrl+a x` \- Lets you lock the current session and protect it with a password. `ctrl+a H` \- Enables logging in to the screen session. `ctrl+a [` \-Enter copy mode. `ctrl+a ]` \- Paste. --- ## Customization Screen comes with a lot of useful features that can make your work with the terminal more efficient. However, Screen is also highly customizable, allowing you to modify its behavior and appearance as per your preference. You can modify the default settings for Screen through a personalized .screenrc file which contains commands to be executed at startup or using the `colon` command. Screen reads its configuration parameters from `/etc/screenrc` and `~/.screenrc`. Commands are listed one per line and empty lines are ignored. A command’s arguments are separated by tabs or spaces and may be surrounded by single or double quotes. A ‘#’ turns the rest of the line into a comment, except in quotes. Commands may contain references to environment variables. Your screen distribution comes with two configuration files: etc/screenrc and etc/etcscreenrc. They contain a number of useful examples for various commands.