7 Dec
2005
7 Dec
'05
3 a.m.
SCREEN(1) SCREEN(1)
NAME
screen - screen manager with VT100/ANSI terminal emulation
SYNOPSIS
screen [ -options ] [ cmd [ args ] ]
screen -r [[pid.]tty[.host]]
screen -r sessionowner/[[pid.]tty[.host]]
DESCRIPTION
Screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical ter-
minal between several processes (typically interactive shells). Each
virtual terminal provides the functions of a DEC VT100 terminal and, in
addition, several control functions from the ISO 6429 (ECMA 48, ANSI
X3.64) and ISO 2022 standards (e.g. insert/delete line and support for
multiple character sets). There is a scrollback history buffer for
each virtual terminal and a copy-and-paste mechanism that allows moving
text regions between windows.
When screen is called, it creates a single window with a shell in it
(or the specified command) and then gets out of your way so that you
can use the program as you normally would. Then, at any time, you can
create new (full-screen) windows with other programs in them (including
more shells), kill existing windows, view a list of windows, turn out-
put logging on and off, copy-and-paste text between windows, view the
scrollback history, switch between windows in whatever manner you wish,
etc. All windows run their programs completely independent of each
other. Programs continue to run when their window is currently not vis-
ible and even when the whole screen session is detached from the user's
terminal. When a program terminates, screen (per default) kills the
window that contained it. If this window was in the foreground, the
display switches to the previous window; if none are left, screen
exits.
Everything you type is sent to the program running in the current win-
dow. The only exception to this is the one keystroke that is used to
initiate a command to the window manager. By default, each command
begins with a control-a (abbreviated C-a from now on), and is followed
by one other keystroke. The command character and all the key bindings
can be fully customized to be anything you like, though they are always
two characters in length.
<for more info, consult man>
On 12/7/05, Bert Thomas <bert at brothom.nl> wrote:
This is of
course assuming you have a monitor and a video adapter. If
you're on a serial console with a VT100 (i.e. a single session), then
screen is a godsend.
Forgive me my ignorance, but what does screen do?
Bert