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Ctrl+a Was Already Taken

One socket, two plugs reaching for it
One socket, two plugs reaching for it

Some people change the tmux prefix from Ctrl+b to Ctrl+a in their config. Why Ctrl+a?

Because that is what the fingers learned on GNU Screen, whose prefix is Ctrl+a. In a shell, though, Ctrl+a means beginning of line. The prefix takes it, so on Screen you press Ctrl+a and then a to send the real one through to the shell.

tmux's Ctrl+b was not free either. In a shell it moves back one character, and the arrow keys cover that. In tmux, pressing Ctrl+b twice is how you take that stolen key back.

Whichever key you pick, something is taken. Choosing is deciding what you can take back.

Your Job Outlives the Connection

tmux Introduction

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tmux serversessionbashbuild.sh$ ./build.sh==> tsc==> vite build[0] 0:bash*clientattach
1
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Split the screen, work in parallel

Split the screen into panes and windows. Detach, and your jobs keep running.

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A page of the tmux cheat sheettmux keys and commands on one printable A4 cheat sheet (free PDF)