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 --versionInstall Screen Linux
CentOS / Fedora
yum install screen
Ubuntu / Debian
apt install screenOpen a new Screen
You can open a new screen by issuing the screen command
screenIf 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_NAMEOpen 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+cScreen Commands
The possible command for screen are listed below;
Cntrl+a+aList all windows
Cntrl+a+cCreate a new window
Cntrl+a+0Switch 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+dThat’s the basics of Screen and how to install Screen. Ensure your server is secured with a Firewall.
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