Move pane to a new window in tmux

Question

I know that it's possible in tmux to join a window as a pane, but is it possible to move a pane to it's own window (tab)? I tried searching it up the man page but couldn't find it. I guess it is possible doing it through a shell script, but is there some other, more elegant way?

score 220 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

220

Relevant tmux Commands

join-pane -s
join-pane -t
break-pane

Bindings

You could add the following bindings to your ~/.tmux.conf:

## Join windows: <prefix> s, <prefix> j
bind-key j command-prompt -p "join pane from:"  "join-pane -s '%%'"
bind-key s command-prompt -p "send pane to:"  "join-pane -t '%%'"

The above can move panes between existing windows.

For breaking a pane to a new window, use break-pane ^{(which can also be bound)}.

Alterative Use

All three commands can be used from the tmux's prompt like: <prefix>+: then break-pane
Or at the shell's prompt ^{(inside tmux)} with: tmux break-pane.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

Community

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answered May 27 '13 at 14:15

demure

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It's worth noting that you target a pane using the following format: "mysession:mywindow.mypane" (if in a different session), and "mywindow.mypane" (if in the same session). You can also use "mysession:progname" if the program running in that pane is unique. – Ben Davis Feb 13 '14 at 00:32
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`bind-key !` from the other answer is all I need. – the Nov 10 '14 at 15:22
And what is the difference between `join-pane -s` and `join-pane -t`? – Jean Paul Jan 19 '21 at 13:48
@JeanPaul well, if the Answer didn't give you context, the tldr; is `-s` == "get the pane from there and bring it here"; while `-t` == "take this current pane and send it there". – demure Jan 20 '21 at 14:34
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Thanks. I also found by reading the man that if there are several panes in the window we want to import, we can choose the pane by doing for exampe `join-pane -s 4.0` (a bad habit from computer scientists to always want to start numerotation from 0 but it's another issue). – Jean Paul Jan 20 '21 at 15:36

score 208 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 15 '14 at 23:45

208

From the commands list, you can see that it's called break-pane and the command is just

bind-key !

where bind-key is defaulted to Ctrl+B

edited Jan 15 '14 at 23:45

Scott - Слава Україні

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answered Jan 15 '14 at 20:46

jimbog

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is there a away to attach back "breaked" pane? – nazikus Jun 29 '14 at 11:27
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@nazikus you can use `join-pane`. If you don't see any bindings for it in `bind-key ?` (I didn't), you can summon the command prompt with `bind-key :` and execute `join-pane -t `. – Austin Adams Jul 15 '15 at 19:14
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Don't forget the colon! It's `join-pane -t :` e.g. `join-pane -t :0` – Walf Jul 28 '16 at 07:11
WOW!! Thanks! :) +1! – rmbianchi Aug 05 '20 at 11:10

score 14 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 06 '14 at 21:13

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In the latest version of tmux, installed from homebrew on OSx - 1.9a - the default key-binding implements join-pane with a menu

bind-key          S choose-window "join-pane -v -s "%%""
bind-key          V choose-window "join-pane -h -s "%%""

answered Aug 06 '14 at 21:13

Andrew

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score 10 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 21 '21 at 08:46

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tmux 1.8 or above:

If you are intending to go to a "fullscreen" mode, you can use:

bind-keyz

to "zoom in" (and also zoom-out after you finished your work).

edited Feb 21 '21 at 08:46

Florian Wendelborn

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answered Oct 16 '19 at 06:24

Peyman Karimi

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Yes, but if from there I want to keep opening new windows and don't want the old context taking up space, I need to break away. – Francesco Oct 23 '20 at 18:48

Move pane to a new window in tmux

4 Answers4

Relevant tmux Commands

Bindings

Alterative Use