tmux – Renumbering Windows in Tmux

tmux

I frequently end up with more than ten windows in tmux. Later on, I close some of my older ones. Is there a way to renumber, say window 15, to window 3 (which doesn't exist anymore)? Or to pack them all up again, so that there are no empty slots? I'd like to do this because it is difficult to jump to higher numbered windows, because you can't do Ctrl+B, 15. I have to use Ctrl+B, w to list the windows and then type the letter corresponding to the window I want to open.

I know that I can swap windows. For example, I could create a new window (Ctrl+B, c) which would open in the empty slot 3. I can then swapw window 15 and window 3 and then close window 15. Obviously, this is a tedious approach.

How do you manage many windows in tmux?

Best Answer

Looks like you need this:

move-window [-rdk] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
              (alias: movew)
        This is similar to link-window, except the window at src-window
        is moved to dst-window.  With -r, all windows in the session are
        renumbered in sequential order, respecting the base-index option.

Calling movew without parameters moves current window to first free position. movew -r will renumber all the windows at once.

Related Solutions

Reorder tmux windows

swap-window can help you:

swap-window -t -1

It moves current window to the left by one position.

From man tmux:

swap-window [-d] [-s src-window] [-t dst-window]
             (alias: swapw)
This is similar to link-window, except the source and destination windows are swapped. 
It is an error if no window exists at src-window.

You can bind it to a key:

bind-key -n S-Left swap-window -t -1
bind-key -n S-Right swap-window -t +1

Then you can use Shift+Left and Shift+Right to change current window position.

Why are the windows highlighted when I first open tmux

From `man tmux':

 STATUS LINE
 [...]
 By default, the window list shows the index, name and (if
 any) flag of the windows present in the current session in ascending
 numerical order.  It may be customised with the window-status-format and
 window-status-current-format options.  The flag is one of the following
 symbols appended to the window name:

       Symbol    Meaning
       *         Denotes the current window.
       -         Marks the last window (previously selected).
       #         Window is monitored and activity has been detected.
       !         A bell has occurred in the window.
       ~         The window has been silent for the monitor-silence
                 interval.
       Z         The window's active pane is zoomed.

 The # symbol relates to the monitor-activity window option.  The window
 name is printed in inverted colours if an alert (bell, activity or
 silence) is present.

Since you didn't provide your .tmux.conf, it is hard to tell what triggers the alert. Try C-b : set-option -g monitor-activity off; set-option -g monitor-silence 0; set-option -g bell-action none and test if the problem persists. You could also forcefully disable the highlighting by adding window-status-activity-style none and window-status-bell-style none' to your.tmux.conf`.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Reorder tmux windows

Why are the windows highlighted when I first open tmux

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