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This article mainly explains "how to split the Linux terminal". The content of the article is simple and clear, and it is easy to learn and understand. Please follow the editor's train of thought to study and learn how to split the Linux terminal.

There is no problem that can't be solved with one Linux terminal. If not, use two.

A long time ago, the terminal was actually a physical device, but now the terminal is actually an application simulated on the computer. When you use a terminal to interact with a computer, you will find that it is not enough to open only one terminal. When doing long tasks such as compilation and data processing, you have to open a new terminal or a new tab tab to do other work at the same time.

If you are a system administrator, you need more terminal windows to connect to multiple different hosts to work in parallel.

In Linux systems, terminal applications have been equipped with tabs for a long time. In today's terminal applications, tabs are already a standard function, which is a very popular trend. Nevertheless, switching back and forth between multiple tabs at work can more or less distract us and even cause inconvenience.

The best solution is to divide the entire screen into multiple parts so that multiple terminals can exist in the same terminal application window at the same time. There are also a number of related tools available in the Linux distribution to implement this feature.

Shell, terminal, and console

Before that, we need to clarify the three concepts of Shell, terminal terminal, and console console. For more information, please refer to the relevant articles on the Enable Sysadmin blog.

In short:

Shell is an interface for input and output with the command prompt prompt. To be exact, there is also a Shell running at the bottom of the POSIX desktop, even if the Shell is not visible to the user, because the user session is initiated by this Shell.

A terminal is an application that runs in a graphical interface server, such as X11 or Wayland, where a Shell is loaded. A terminal is running only after the terminal window is started. The terminal can be thought of as an entrance to the operation of Shell.

The console (or "virtual console") usually refers to Shell used outside the desktop environment. You can access the console through Alt+Ctrl+F2. Usually, there are different consoles from F3 to F7, where the desktop environment may be F1 or F7, which may vary from release to release.

Therefore, the function of some applications is to split the Shell or console, while the function of some applications is to split the terminal.

Tmux

Tmux terminal

Tmux is arguably the most flexible and powerful screen splitting tool. It controls the reuse of multiple terminals through the keyboard, so you can stack one console on top of the other and switch between the two consoles. You can also divide the entire screen into multiple consoles to observe the situation on different consoles at the same time.

All the operations of the tmux are done through the keyboard, which means that your hand does not need to leave the keyboard to find the mouse. To do this, you need to remember some key combinations.

If you only use tmux to split the screen, you only need to remember these commands:

Ctrl-B% split screen vertically (two Shell on the left and right)

Ctrl-B "split screen horizontally (the two Shell are on top and bottom respectively)

Ctrl-B O switches to another Shell

Ctrl-B? View help

Ctrl-B d disconnect tmux and let it run in the background (you can re-enter using tmux attach)

One of the benefits of tmux is that after you start a tmux session on one computer, you can also enter the session from another computer, so you can see that tmux has a daemonic daemonize for Shell.

For example, when I run tmux on a raspberry pie, I can connect to the raspberry pie from my computer and log in to IRC. When I disconnect, the tmux on the raspberry pie continues to run and waits for my next connection, during which time IRC is logged in continuously.

GNU Screen

GNU Screen terminal

GNU Screen is also a Shell reuse tool, similar to tmux, where you can reconnect after you disconnect an active session. It also supports split screens vertically or horizontally.

Screen is less flexible than tmux. Its default binding key combination is Ctrl-A, which is the same as the shortcut key in Bash where the cursor moves to the beginning of the line. So when you are running screen, if you want to move the cursor to the beginning of the line, you need to press Ctrl-An one more time. My own approach is to reset the binding key combination to Ctrl-J in the $HOME/.screenrc file.

Escape ^ jJ

Although screen does a good job of screen splitting, some shortcomings in tmux also exist on Screen. For example, when splitting a Shell, instead of launching a new Shell in a new panel, you need to use Ctrl-A Tab to navigate to another panel (if you reset the key combination the way I did, you need to change the Ctrl-A to Ctrl-J accordingly), and then manually create a new Shell through Ctrl-A C.

Unlike tmux, the screen split state does not change when screen exits a Shell, which is appropriate in some cases, but the trouble is that you need to manage the screen split state manually.

Nevertheless, screen is a fairly reliable and flexible application, and when you can't use tmux, you can choose screen as an alternative.

Under the default keystroke scheme, basic commands commonly used by screen include:

Ctrl-A | split the screen vertically (the two Shell are on the left and right)

Ctrl-A S split screen horizontally (two Shell on top and bottom respectively)

Ctrl-A Tab switches to another Shell

Ctrl-A? View help

Ctrl-A d disconnect screen and let it run in the background (you can re-enter using screen-r)

Konsole

Konsole screen

Konsole is a terminal application used by KDE Plasma desktops. Like KDE, Konsole is known for its highly customizable and powerful features.

Like tmux and GNU Screen, Konsole also has the ability to split the screen. Because Konsole is the terminal of the graphical interface, you can also use the mouse to control its screen splitting.

The screen split function of Konsole is in the View View menu. It also supports split vertically and horizontally, which can be switched to another panel at the click of a mouse. Each panel is a separate terminal, so you can have separate themes and tabs.

The biggest difference between Konsole and tmux and GNU Screen is that you cannot disconnect and reconnect Konsole. Unless you use remote desktop software, you can only use it when you open Konsole, just like most graphical interface applications.

Emacs

Emacs rpg

Strictly speaking, Emacs is not a terminal reuse tool, but its user interface supports splitting and resizing, as well as a built-in terminal.

If Emacs is your daily text editor, you can easily switch between different applications without closing the editor. Because the Emacs eshell module is implemented through eLISP, you can interact with the same commands in Emacs, making some tedious operations easier.

If you are using Emacs in a graphical interface, you can also use the mouse to do so. For example, by clicking the toggle panel, resizing the split screen with the mouse, and so on. Nevertheless, the keyboard is faster, so it is necessary to remember some keyboard shortcuts.

Some of the key shortcuts for Emacs include:

Ctrl-X 3 split screen vertically (two Shell on the left and right)

Ctrl-X 2 split screen horizontally (two Shell on top and bottom respectively)

Ctrl-X O (capital O) switch to another Shell (you can also use the mouse)

Ctrl-X 0 (number 0) closes the current panel

If you run emacs-client, you can disconnect and reconnect to Emacs like tmux and GNU Screen.

Window manager

Ratpoison split screen

In addition to text editors, some Linux desktops also have functions such as splitting screens and loading terminals. For example, Ratpoison, Herbsluftwm, i3, Awesome, and even KDE Plasma desktops with specific settings enabled, can display multiple applications in blocks on the desktop.

These desktops allow applications to occupy a fixed position on the screen instead of floating on your desktop, so you can easily switch between multiple application windows. You can also open multiple terminals and arrange them into a grid, just like terminal reuse tools. Further, you can also load a terminal reuse tool in your desktop reuse tool.

Also, nothing can stop you from loading Emacs in it and splitting the buffer. No one knows what will happen if you take it a step further, and most Linux users won't spread the secret.

Unlike tmux and GNU Screen, you cannot reconnect to the same desktop session after you are disconnected from the desktop, unless you use remote desktop software to connect.

Thank you for your reading, the above is the content of "how to split the Linux terminal", after the study of this article, I believe you have a deeper understanding of how to split the Linux terminal, and the specific use needs to be verified in practice. Here is, the editor will push for you more related knowledge points of the article, welcome to follow!

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