How to target tmux windows with special tokens?
Short answer
tmux select-window -t '{end}' # jump to the highest-numbered window
tmux select-window -t '{start}' # jump to the lowest-numbered window
tmux select-window -t '!' # toggle back to the previously active window
tmux swap-window -s '{start}' -t '{end}' # tokens work anywhere a window target doesAnywhere a command takes a window target (-t or -s), you can use a special token instead of
an index or a name: {start} and {end} are the lowest and highest numbered windows, {last}
is the previously active one, and {next} and {previous} are the neighbours by number.
Details
Each token has a one-character alias: ^ for {start}, $ for {end}, ! for {last},
+ for {next} and - for {previous}. The last two accept an offset: +2 means two windows
ahead, -2 two behind.
Quote the tokens in a shell. {, $ and ! all mean something to it: an unquoted {end}
survives by luck, but $ starts a variable expansion and ! triggers history expansion in an
interactive shell. Single quotes cover every case.
The point of tokens is scripting: select-window -t '{end}' keeps working whatever the actual
indexes are, with base-index 1, after windows were closed, or after a renumbering. Interactive
equivalents already exist as keys (prefix n, prefix p and prefix l walk next, previous and
last); the tokens give the same moves to scripts and to one-off commands. They also resolve
before the number rules apply, so unlike a bare number they can never be misread as a pane index.
Verified on tmux 3.2a.