How to turn down the timeout between prefix key and command key in tmux

timeouttmux

My ~/.tmux.conf:

set -g prefix C-a
unbind C-b
bind C-a send-prefix

bind-key o split-window -v
bind-key e split-window -h

bind-key w kill-pane

(to make the command keys same as GNOME Teminator)

The situation: after horizontal splitting window into 2 panes, switching to a pane with Ctrl+a Up arrow, I must wait for a while (2-3 seconds) to view shell history commands in this pane. Because if I press the Up again it will switch back to the other pane instead of showing me a shell history command. How can I turn down this?

Best Answer

Up, Down, Left, and Right (select-pane bindings; and Control- and Meta- of the same keys for resize-pane) are “repeatable” bindings by default (made via bind-key -r). After typing the prefix key and any single repeatable key, you can type any other repeatable key (without having to type the prefix again) within the number of milliseconds specified via the repeat-time session option (the default is 500ms).

You can examine the current value of repeat-time with these shell commands:

tmux show-options -g | grep \^repeat-time     # global
tmux show-options    | grep \^repeat-time     # this session

If you want to disable the repeat for the current session, then type your prefix, a colon, and enter this command:

set-option repeat-time 0

Or, you might be able to find a comfortable non-zero value. If you really do have a value of around 2000 (i.e. 2s), then I would guess that it is being set in /etc/tmux.conf.

If you want to disable repetition (or change the timeout) for all your sessions, then set the global value with this command:

set-option -g repeat-time 0

If you have set a per-session value, you will need to unset it before the global value will take effect in that session (set-option -u repeat-time). You may like to set the global value via your .tmux.conf if you prefer to leave it off “permanently”.

If you only have problems with Up, you could rebind it without -r:

bind-key Up select-pane -U

Related Solutions

Binding a command in tmux without using the prefix key

For your example, use:

bind-key -n C-1 select-pane -t 1

The -n argument is used to bind-key, it means no prefix.

How to keep the tmux prefix key pressed between commands

Holding down Control to enter multiple Control-modified keys is fairly standard. I am not sure if there is any kind of standard that controls what a terminal will send when you hold Control+A while also typing Control+N. The ones I tried are all consistent though: once I press N they all act as if I had released A (if ^A was auto-repeating, it stops; if I continue to hold ^N, then it starts to auto-repeat).

If the terminal under which you run tmux works similarly to the ones I tried, then you could use this (in your .tmux.conf, or directly in tmux after (your prefix) then :):

bind-key -r ^N next-window

The -r gives you 500ms (default, can be changed with the repeat-time session option) to press the key again (really, any -r flagged, “repeatable” key) without having to press the prefix key again: type your prefix key once, (release it, or not, depending on your terminal), then type any number of “repeatable” keys (as long as they are all within the configured timeout).

If you find yourself releasing both of Control and A, then you might also want to make plain N repeatable (via bind-key -r n next-window) so that both the plain and Control-modified versions are repeatable.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Binding a command in tmux without using the prefix key

How to keep the tmux prefix key pressed between commands

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