Screen command not showing status bar

gnu-screen

I have a ~/.screenrc file that contains the following lines:

# 2.2) hardstatus = navigation bar @ bottom
hardstatus alwayslastline "%H %-Lw%{= BW}%50>%n%f* %t%{-}%+Lw%<"

I have to admit that I don't know about the magical syntax there, but it has worked on countless Ubuntu machines to show something like this at the bottom of my terminals:
screenshot

That line only shows up, of course, when I'm actually running the screen command in the terminal.

I just installed Ubuntu 12.04.5 server amd64 on VirtualBox 4.2 and I'm not seeing that status bar at the bottom of my screen. The .screenrc file is exactly the same as it is on my other machines.

What could be going on?

Best Answer

As you've stated, your status line works fine in my own .screenrc - good lookin', too.

From within a new screen session, enter ^a to initiate command mode, then enter source $HOME/.screenrc (I've seen ~ fail to work in some instances).

If that doesn't work, again from command mode, enter echo $HOME to see where GNU screen thinks your home directory lies.

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Screen status bar multiple lines

I turn off the status bar, myself, because that's not a pratical way to manage screen with 40+ windows. Using Ctrl-A + " will open a list of all screens. You can name individual windows with Ctrl-A + A. I also use a customized .screenrc that, among other things, shows the Shell Title message in the Window listing.

# terminfo and termcap for nice 256 color terminal
# allow bold colors - necessary for some reason
attrcolor b ".I"
# tell screen how to set colors. AB = background, AF=foreground
#termcapinfo xterm 'ti=\E[?1049h:te=\E[?1049l'
#termcapinfo xterm 'Co#256:AB=\E[48;5;%dm:AF=\E[38;5;%dm:hs:ts=\E]2;:fs=\007:ds=\E]2;screen\007'
termcapinfo xterm* 'Co#256:AB=\E[48;5;%dm:AF=\E[38;5;%dm:hs:ts=\E]2;:fs=\007:ds=\E]2;screen\007:ti=\E[?1049h:te=\E[?1049l:XT'
termcapinfo screen* 'Co#256:AB=\E[48;5;%dm:AF=\E[38;5;%dm:hs:ts=\E]2;:fs=\E\\:ds=\E]2;screen\E\\:ti=\E[?1049h:te=\E[?1049l:XT'
# erase background with current bg color
defbce "on"
altscreen on
#hardstatus on
defscrollback 2000
multiuser on

hardstatus string "[%n%?: %t%?] %h"
windowlist string "%3n %t   %h%=%f"

Shell – Convert gnu screen status line to tmux status line

With the exception of the red brackets around the highlighted window, this is the closest approximation that I can easily configure in tmux 1.5:

# default statusbar colors
set -g status-fg white
set -g status-bg default

# default window title colors
set-window-option -g window-status-fg white
set-window-option -g window-status-bg default
set-window-option -g window-status-attr dim

# active window title colors
set-window-option -g window-status-current-fg white
set-window-option -g window-status-current-bg default
set-window-option -g window-status-current-attr bright

# statusline
set -g status-left '#[fg=green][ #H ]['
set -g status-right '#[fg=green]][ #[fg=blue]%Y-%m-%d #[fg=white]%I:%M #[fg=green]]'

tmux statusline

If you want the highlighted window in red, use:

set-window-option -g window-status-current-fg red

Best Answer

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Screen status bar multiple lines

Shell – Convert gnu screen status line to tmux status line

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