How to target the right tmux pane by number?
A bare number in a tmux pane target means a pane of the current window when that pane exists, otherwise a whole window, and it flips silently. Qualify with window.pane, a pane id, or a window name.
Tag: Tips
Short, self-contained answers to the small problems worth writing down once.
10 articles tagged with "Tips"
2026
How to make tmux number windows and panes from 1?
Windows and panes start at 0 by default, so the leftmost one sits under a key at the far end of the keyboard. Set base-index and pane-base-index to 1 in ~/.tmux.conf so key 1 selects the first one.
How to select and copy text with the mouse in tmux?
The mouse is off by default. Add set -g mouse on to ~/.tmux.conf, then drag to select and copy into the tmux buffer. Hold Shift to fall back to the terminal's own selection.
How to resize a tmux pane?
Use resize-pane with -L/-R/-U/-D to push a border by N cells, or -x/-y to set an exact size. A resize only works when there is a neighbour to trade space with.
How to zoom a tmux pane to fullscreen?
Press Ctrl-A z to expand the active pane to the whole window, and again to restore the split. Nothing closes, it is a temporary toggle.
How to jump back to the last active tmux pane?
Press Ctrl-A ; to toggle focus between the current pane and the one you were on just before, the pane-level twin of Ctrl-A l for windows.
How to move between tmux panes?
Use Ctrl-A then an arrow key for directional focus, Ctrl-A o to cycle panes, and Ctrl-A q to jump by number.
How to get notified of activity or silence in a tmux window?
Use monitor-activity to flag a window when output appears, or monitor-silence to flag it when output stops, so you can watch a long job from another window.
How to stop tmux from renaming your windows?
tmux renames windows after the running program by default. Turn automatic-rename off to keep the names you set.
How to renumber tmux windows and close the gaps?
Repack tmux window indexes to 0, 1, 2 with move-window -r, or set renumber-windows on to do it automatically.