{"id":2045,"date":"2023-02-25T23:51:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T23:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linuxdigest.com\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2023-02-25T23:53:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T23:53:52","slug":"how-to-change-the-title-in-gnu-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linuxdigest.com\/howto\/how-to-change-the-title-in-gnu-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Change the Title in GNU Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you are an experienced Linux user, chances are you have used GNU screen at some point. GNU screen is a powerful terminal multiplexer that enables you to create multiple virtual terminals within a single window. An added benefit is that you can exit your terminal session and come back to it as you left it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find that once I have more than one window or region<\/a> in my screen session, it becomes important to organize my terminal. That’s where window titles come in handy. You can name each window according to the task that is being performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I will show you how you can, name the window and browse windows by their titles. And at the end, I will show you how you can also name your sessions in case you are running more than one session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you change the title in GNU screen?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To change the name of a window or a region in GNU screen, all you need to do is hit Ctrl-a A<\/strong>. Once you do that, a prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen. There you can write the new name and hit enter to apply it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case you are unfamiliar with screen key bindings: Ctrl-a A<\/strong> means that you will press the Ctrl key and a simultaneously. Release them and then hit SHIFT and a for an upper case A. This key sequence is often written as C-a A<\/strong> in GNU screen documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The window should now have a new title. If it is not visible in your configuration, you can hit Ctrl-a N<\/strong> to display the current title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Browse windows by name.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can list all the current windows with Ctrl-a \u201c<\/strong>. This will bring up a list of the currently open windows and you can select a window using your arrow keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set the window title at startup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can set the window’s title before entering the screen by passing it the -t<\/strong> option. If the name contains spaces, you will have to wrap it in quotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

screen -t \"My new window\"<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
How do you change the name of a screen session?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When you have multiple sessions of screen running, each of them will have a name similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
linuxdigest@linuxdigest:~$ screen -ls\nThere are screens on:\n\t1695.pts-3.linuxdigest\t(03\/05\/23 00:54:10)\t(Attached)\n\t1554.console.linuxdigest\t(03\/05\/23 00:50:59)\t(Attached)\n2 Sockets in \/run\/screen\/S-linuxdigest.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
These names are constructed of the process ID, TTY, and hostname. If you have more than one session, remembering which session is which will start to get confusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can change the name of the session you are in by evoking the command mode with Ctrl-a :<\/strong> and issuing the command sessionname, like so:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
:sessionname myName<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Once you have done this, the session names will hopefully be easier to distinguish:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
linuxdigest@linuxdigest:~$ screen -ls\nThere are screens on:\n\t1695.myName\t(03\/05\/23 00:54:10)\t(Detached)\n\t1554.logViewer\t(03\/05\/23 00:50:59)\t(Detached)\n2 Sockets in \/run\/screen\/S-linuxdigest.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Set the session name when starting screen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Of course, you can also set the session name when you start a new screen session. This is done with the -S<\/strong> option. If you want to name the session ScreenTutorial, you will have to write the following on the command line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
screen -S ScreenTutorial<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Now when you list the running sessions with screen -ls<\/strong> or screen -list<\/strong>, you will see something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
linuxdigest@linuxdigest:~$ screen -list\nThere is a screen on:\n        1816.ScreenTutorial     (03\/05\/23 06:12:53)     (Attached)\n1 Socket in \/run\/screen\/S-linuxdigest.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Thats it! Now you should be able to name your windows and sessions like a pro! I hope you found this useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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