Install Screen and Use Screen In Linux

Screen is a great program that allows you to run different things in different “screens” from the console. We will go through the basic Screen commands and how to install screen in a Linux VPS Server. Think of Screen like your browser. You opened different tabs in the browser to browse different websites and switch between the different tabs.

Screen also has the added advantage that when you run commands in a screen session. For example, an install process. So, If you get cut off or your session times out. Screen will carry on running your install. On most Linux installs screen is installed by default. To check screen is installed call the version variable.

Check Screen version

To check your screen version;

screen --version

Install Screen Linux

CentOS / Fedora

yum install screen

Ubuntu / Debian

apt install screen

Open a new Screen

You can open a new screen by issuing the screen command

screen

If like us you work on multiple things at the same time by having many different screens open it can get complicated. So, it’s best to create named screens.

Named Sessions

So, to create a named session issue the -S argument

screen -S YOUR_SCREEN_NAME

Open new Screen

By naming your screen you know exactly what it’s doing. When you have five or ten or fifty screens open it’s much easier to see which screen is which. To create a named screen you press cntrl+a+c.

cntrl+a+c

Screen Commands

The possible command for screen are listed below;

Cntrl+a+a

List all windows

Cntrl+a+c

Create a new window

Cntrl+a+0

Switch to window 1 (by number )

Cntrl+a+S 

Split current region

Cntrl+a+tab 

Switch the input to the next region

Cntrl+a+A 

Rename the current window

Cntrl+a+Ctrl+a 

Toggle between the current and previous region

Cntrl+a+Q 

Close all regions but the current one

Cntrl+a+X 

Close the current region

Terminate Screen Session

You can close the screen session by using the cntrl+a+d

cntrl+a+d

That’s the basics of Screen and how to install Screen. Ensure your server is secured with a Firewall.

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