Persistent Remote Shells
with screen

Serge Y. Stroobandt

Copyright 2014–2022, licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

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Connecting with ssh

Connect to the remote host computer using ssh:

$ ssh username@hostname.url:port

Evoking screen

Screen sockets and screen sessions are one and the same thing. By default, screen sessions are named according to the scheme pid.tty.hostname. Here are a number of commands to evoke screen from a normal shell.

Commands to evoke screen from a terminal
command	function
`$ screen -S sessionname`	Start a new screen session with a given name and attach to it.
`$ screen -ls`	Lists all existing screen sessions.
`$ screen -r`	Reattach^* this terminal to the only existing screen session.
`$ screen -r -S sessionname`	Reattach^* this terminal to an existing screen session by name.
`$ screen -r ttynumber`	Reattach^* this terminal to an existing screen session by `tty` number.
`$ screen -S oldsessionname -X newsessionname`	Rename a screen session.
`$ screen -S sessionname -X quit`	Kill the specified screen session by executing `quit`.

Note:

^* If there exists only one screen session, it is not necessary to specify any name; just type screen -r at the command line.

Within a session

All commands that can be issued within a screen session start by hitting the Ctrl+A key combination, followed by another keystroke.

Keystroke commands for use within a screen session
keystroke sequence	function
`Ctrl`+`A` `?`	Show the help screen.
`Ctrl`+`A` `d`	Detach^* the current screen session from this terminal. The screen session and its processes remain in existence.
`Ctrl`+`A` `c`	Create a new window and switch to it.
`Ctrl`+`A` `C`	Clear the screen.
`Ctrl`+`A` `K`	Kill the current window.
`Ctrl`+`A` `p`	Go to the previous screen.
`Ctrl`+`A` `n`	Go to the next screen.
`Ctrl`+`A` `#`	Go to a specific screen number.
`Ctrl`+`A` `"`	Select a screen from a list using the arrow keys.
`Ctrl`+`A` `S`	Split the current window in half horizontally.
`Ctrl`+`A` `\|`	Split the current window in half vertically.
`Ctrl`+`A` `Tab`	Cycle through window regions.
`Ctrl`+`A` `X`	Eliminate a window split.
`Ctrl`+`A` `H`	Log the current screen sessions in logfiles called `screenlog.n` where `n` is the number of the screen session.
`Ctrl`+`A` `h`	Create a screenshot of the current window in a file called `hardcopy.n`.
`Ctrl`+`A` `x`	Lock the screen session with the password of the current user.
`Ctrl`+`A` `Esc`	Enter the copy and scrollback mode.
`Esc`	Leave the copy and scrollback mode.

Note:

^* Closing the ssh connection also results in a detachment of the screen session.
Typing exit at the command line of a screen session will destroy that screen session.

Where am I?

Experiencing an Inception moment? Of course, you can always hit Ctrl+A ? and see if you get the screen help information. Another way is to let the environment variable $TERM tell you what terminal type you are currently employing.

Inside a screen session:

$ echo $TERM
screen.xterm-256color

Inside a normal terminal:

$ echo $TERM
xterm-256color

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