GNU Screen Cheatsheet (2026)

Quick reference for GNU Screen keyboard shortcuts, CLI flags, copy mode navigation, and region management.

Session Management

Action	Command
Start named session	`screen -S name`
List sessions	`screen -ls`
Reattach to session	`screen -r name`
Force-detach and reattach	`screen -D -r name`
Detach remote, reattach here	`screen -d -r name`
Multi-display attach	`screen -x name`
Start detached session	`screen -dmS name`
Remove dead sessions	`screen -wipe`
Send command to session	`screen -S name -X quit`
Enable logging from start	`screen -L -S name`

Keyboard Shortcuts

All shortcuts start with the prefix Ctrl-a (default escape key).

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl-a d`	Detach from session
`Ctrl-a c`	Create new window
`Ctrl-a n`	Next window
`Ctrl-a p`	Previous window
`Ctrl-a 0-9`	Jump to window by number
`Ctrl-a "`	List windows (interactive)
`Ctrl-a A`	Rename current window
`Ctrl-a k`	Kill current window
`Ctrl-a ?`	Show all key bindings

Region (Split) Management

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl-a S`	Split horizontally
`Ctrl-a \|`	Split vertically
`Ctrl-a Tab`	Move to next region
`Ctrl-a X`	Close current region
`Ctrl-a Q`	Close all regions except current
`Ctrl-a :resize +5`	Grow region by 5 lines
`Ctrl-a :resize -5`	Shrink region by 5 lines

Region layouts are lost on detach. Recreate them manually after reattaching.

Copy Mode

Enter copy mode with Ctrl-a [ or Ctrl-a Esc. Paste with Ctrl-a ].

Key	Action
Arrow keys / `h/j/k/l`	Move cursor
`Ctrl-u` / `Ctrl-d`	Scroll half page up / down
`0` / `$`	Beginning / end of line
`g` / `G`	Top / bottom of scrollback
`/` / `?`	Search forward / backward
`Space`	Set mark (start/end selection)
`Enter`	Copy selection and exit
`Esc`	Exit without copying

Increase the default 100-line scrollback buffer in .screenrc:

defscrollback 10000

Essential .screenrc

startup_message off
shell /bin/bash
defscrollback 10000
term screen-256color
vbell off
altscreen on
autodetach on
nonblock on
deflogin on
hardstatus alwayslastline
hardstatus string '%{= kG}[%{G}%H%{g}][%=%{=kw}%?%-Lw%?%{r}(%{W}%n*%f%t%?(%u)%?%{r})%{w}%?%+Lw%?%?%=%{g}][%{B}%Y-%m-%d %{W}%c%{g}]'

Troubleshooting Quick Fixes

Problem	Fix
Session stuck as "Attached"	`screen -D -r name`
Dead sessions in list	`screen -wipe`
Terminal frozen (XOFF)	`Ctrl-a q`
Garbled characters	Add `defutf8 on` and `term screen-256color` to `.screenrc`
Enable window logging	`Ctrl-a H` (logs to `screenlog.N`)

For the full tutorial, see How to Use GNU Screen on a Linux VPS.