Screen

HOWTO:

SSH and Attach and See Display and Detach

This is how to take a 'peek' at a running screen session...

ssh user@somehost "screen -x -X hardcopy /tmp/hardcopy.txt; cat /tmp/hardcopy.txt"

Thanks :-)

SSH and Attach

ssh -t server screen -rd

Start, Detach, Re-attach and Close

Start:

screen

Detach:

CTRL+A then D

Re-attach:

screen -rd

Close:

CTRL+D

Display Running Sessions

CTRL+A then W

Kill A Detached Screen Session

sudo screen -list
sudo screen -X -S [session # you want to kill] quit

Thanks to Stackoverflow.com

Delete A Screen Session

screen -ls

There are screens on:
       23487.pts-0.devxxx      (Detached)
       26727.pts-0.devxxx      (Attached)
2 Sockets in /tmp/uscreens/S-xxx.

screen -X -S 23487.pts-0.devxxx kill

screen -ls
There is a screen on:
       26727.pts-0.devxxx      (Attached)
1 Socket in /tmp/uscreens/S-xxx.

Log In And Attach To A Running Session On A Server

Log In > Switch To Root > Attach To Screen

ssh server > su - root > screen -rd

Log Out And Detach From A Running Session On A Server

Detach > Log Off Root > Log Out

CTRL+A then D > CTRL+D > CTRL+D

Connect To A Serial Port Device

I use this command to log in to a Cisco ASA5505...

screen /dev/ttyS0 9600,cs8

...then press Enter.

Thanks to Cyberciti.biz

HOWTO: CUSTOMISE:

The Perfect ~/.screenrc

• stop the welcome nag screen
• give you plenty of scrolling back room
• make your mouse wheel work to scroll back
• make command line auto-completion work

startup_message off
defscrollback 1000
termcapinfo xterm|xterms|xs|rxvt ti@:te@
defshell -bash

Add BASH Auto Completion

Add this to your ~/.screenrc file...

defshell -bash

Thanks to ServerFault.com

Add Hard Status Line On Terminal Title

Add the following line to your ~/.screenrc file...

hardstatus string "[screen %n%?: %t%?] %h"

Add A Custom Prompt #1

# Set up a decent prompt giving you the full hostname!
HOST=$( hostname -f )
if [[ $TERM =~ screen ]] ; then
    PS1="\[\033[01;31m\]\u@$HOST\[\033[01;34m\] \w \$\[\033[00m\] (screen) "
else
    PS1="\[\033[01;31m\]\u@$HOST\[\033[01;34m\] \w \$\[\033[00m\] "
fi

Thanks to Moretrix.com

Add A Custom Prompt #2

Edit your ~/.screenrc file and add the following line...

caption always "%{= bk} %-w%{bY}%n %t%{w}%+w %= [%H] %D %Y-%m-%d %c %A "

Add Scroll Back In A Screen Session

The Nice Way

Edit your ~/.screenrc and add the following lines...

defscrollback 5000
termcapinfo xterm* ti@:te@

Thanks to Slaptijack.com

The Not So Nice Way

CTRL+A [   (to enter copy mode)
PageUp or PageDown
ESC    (to leave copy mode)

Thanks to Saltycrane.com

Turn Welcome Message Off

Add the following line to your ~/.screenrc file...

startup_message off

HOWTO: FIX:

Mouse Scroll Wheel

UPDATE: May 2018 - XFCE has changed the 'name' of the terminal to 'xterm-256color' (found by typing 'env |grep term'), so you have to add that to the Screen setting file...

Add the following line to your ~/.screenrc file...

termcapinfo xterm|xterm-256color|xterms|xs|rxvt ti@:te@