rename tmux window name to prompt_command, ps1 or remote ssh hostname?

Question

I would love to be able to have my tmux window title automatically renamed to prompt_command, ps1 or just the hostname of a machine I ssh to. having 9 windows opened labeled "ssh" is really useless. Doing sysadmin work I open new screens and ssh around to much to manually rename them.

One thing I noticed is tmux updates the xterm window title so I feel like it has to know.

Any help? I would even be willing to go back to screen if I could get this feature.

score 43 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 08 '12 at 18:00

43

tmux rename-window -t${TMUX_PANE} "Title Text"

This is the proper way to set tmux titles in a window. The $TMUX_PANE variable is set by tmux and is used to differentiate between different panes.

answered Oct 08 '12 at 18:00

UtahJarhead

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As it's the active window, I don't think the `-t${TMUX_PANE}` is necessary (at least it wasn't for me). – Christopher Dec 05 '12 at 17:03
10

@Christopher If you're running, say, `sleep 3` and switch windows, the prompt would otherwise issue the command to the wrong window when sleep completes. (This is the reason I came here, +1). – quornian Apr 02 '13 at 02:04

score 20 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

20

Just for people who came here by searching how to change the title of a tmux session:

Ctrl + B, $

This will give you a prompt, where you can rename the active session.

To change the active window use komma instead:

Ctrl + B, ,

see: How do I rename a session in tmux?

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

Community

1

answered Jun 20 '16 at 17:32

rubo77

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Exactly, what I was searching for. Thank you – Vinoj John Hosan Jun 29 '21 at 05:30

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 08 '12 at 16:11

16

I'm not aware of any way to make it look at your PS1 directly.

However, tmux understands the same commands to set the window name as screen does.

So you can define a function like this in your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

settitle() {
    printf "\033k$1\033\\"
}

and then call settitle from anywhere.

For example, you could include it in your PS1 variable, e.g.

PS1='$HOST:$PWD$(settitle $HOST:$PWD)$ '

or via PROMPT_COMMAND:

PROMPT_COMMAND='$(settitle $HOST:$PWD)'
# and don't change PS1

Now I understand you have tmux running on your desktop, and you want ssh commands to have the hostname rather than ssh, that's much easier.

Given you've added settitle to your local ~/.bashrc, all you want to do is add this too:

ssh() {
    settitle "$*"
    command ssh "$@"
    settitle "bash"
}

Replace bash with zsh, or something else more appropriate if necessary.

edited Oct 08 '12 at 16:11

Adrian Mester

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answered Feb 23 '11 at 10:54

Mikel

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This really dont name the window title to the hostname of remote box with out having the .bashrc setup on the remote box. Thank you though I did learn some slick. – user68782 Mar 04 '11 at 03:31
If all you want is the hostname on your local side, that's much easier. Hang on a sec... – Mikel Mar 04 '11 at 03:50
brilliant! thank you. Sorry my inability to explain my request resulted in two questions. again, Thanks! – user68782 Mar 04 '11 at 05:12
As tmux changes its window title on a whim, this can very quickly be overwritten by normal changes to the window title by tmux. – UtahJarhead Oct 08 '12 at 18:43
Thanks! I used `PROMPT_COMMAND='settitle $HOSTNAME:$PWD'` - since with @Mikel's code I got no hostname and a `-bash: : No such file or directory` error before each command prompt. It seems to me that the `$()` would make bash try to execute whatever `settitle` *returns*. (I'm running bash on linux.) – tuomassalo Feb 09 '18 at 13:34

score 9 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 14 '13 at 23:45

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Combining both Mikel's and UtahJarhead's answers, I used the following in .zshrc to solve this problem:

ssh() {
    tmux rename-window "$*"
    command ssh "$@"
    exit
}

I have automatic window renaming enabled by default, and I can't find a way to reenable it after exiting the remote host. Thus, I just exit the window entirely -- not an issue for my workflow. If you'd prefer to rename it to, say, 'bash', you could replace the exit line with tmux rename-window "bash".

edited Aug 14 '13 at 23:45

Stefan Lasiewski

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answered Dec 05 '12 at 17:07

Christopher

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I am using tmux rename-window `hostname -s` after the command ssh "@$", it basically "resets" the title to my "gateway" machine. – andrei May 16 '13 at 06:31

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 29 '13 at 06:15

8

Instead of exit or tmux rename-window "bash" you can use

ssh() {
    if [ "$(ps -p $(ps -p $$ -o ppid=) -o comm=)" = "tmux" ]; then
            tmux rename-window "$*"
            command ssh "$@"
            tmux set-window-option automatic-rename "on" 1>/dev/null
    else
            command ssh "$@"
    fi
}

This re-activates the normal function that renames automatically window for next commands.

The if block prevents from (without it) renaming tmux current window from ssh commands used on other shells (out of tmux).

edited Aug 29 '13 at 06:15

Jawa

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answered Aug 29 '13 at 01:53

tarczewski

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I've gone for a `if env | grep -q "TMUX_PANE"; then` instead of the `ps -p...` stuff, but same principle. – atomicules Apr 18 '18 at 07:52
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Most common shells have `$PPID` defined, FWIW. But I prefer to use `[[ -n "${TMUX_PANE:-}" ]]` as the test - that way the whole test is done with string comparison builtins; no fork or subshell required. :) – dannysauer Aug 24 '20 at 15:32

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 12 '18 at 23:08

1

I would note in all of these examples with:

command ssh "$@"

You might want to grab the exitcode, and exit the function with it, otherwise things like:

ssh server false

Will return 0.

command ssh"$@"
_exitcode=$?
#other code
exit $_exitcode

Will exit ssh with the return code of the ssh.

answered Feb 12 '18 at 23:08

josefwells

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Very helpful note! – Paul Hedderly Jan 22 '21 at 16:04

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 19 '18 at 08:08

Another solution would be to rename the active window to its previous name, after the ssh session :

ssh() {

local code=0
local ancien

ancien=$(tmux display-message -p '#W')

if [ $TERM = tmux -o $TERM = tmux-256color ]; then

    tmux rename-window "$*"

    command ssh "$@"

    code=$?
else
    command ssh "$@"

    code=$?
fi

tmux rename-window $ancien

return $code
}

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 26 '13 at 16:10

1

I know this has been answered a long time ago, but I thought I would add what I have fiddled with and found (based on the accepted answer).. I have added this to the /etc/bashrc of all my servers (easy to do with fabric, puppet, etc)

settitle() {
    printf "\033k$1\033\\"
}
bash_prompt_command() {
    settitle "`hostname -s`:$PWD"
}
PROMPT_COMMAND=bash_prompt_command

And it sets the window name automatically in screen or tmux.

answered Feb 26 '13 at 16:10

Brian

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we use internal dns, so `hostname -s` removes the extra domain stuff, so that server1.internal.local shows up as just server1 – Brian Feb 26 '13 at 16:11
It's ideal to always use `hostname -s` and `hostname -f` if you want just the short or fully-qualified hostnames, respectively. So, thumbs-up for that part. Though, technically `man(1) hostname` (see the FILES section) and `man(5) hostname` both indicate that there should probably not be periods in the contents of /etc/hostname. ;) – dannysauer Aug 24 '20 at 15:45

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 04 '15 at 18:29

This works for in tmux 2.1 and with zsh locally and on servers:

ssh() {
    tmux set-option allow-rename off 1>/dev/null
    tmux rename-window "ssh/$*"
    command ssh "$@"
    tmux set-option allow-rename on 1>/dev/null
}

I had to disable the allow-rename option manually before changing the windows name - otherwise it got changed to the current path on most of my servers (also using zsh there). The good thing is: if you reenable the allow-rename option it works immediately.

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Dec 22 '15 at 15:57

0

Add this to .profile or .bashrc

# Change window name for `tmux`
ssh() {
    if [ "$(ps -p $(ps -p $$ -o ppid=) -o comm=)" = "tmux" ]; then
        #tmux rename-window "$(echo $* | cut -d . -f 1)"
        tmux rename-window "$(echo $* | cut -d @ -f 2)"
        command ssh "$@"
        tmux set-window-option automatic-rename "on" 1>/dev/null
    else
        command ssh "$@"
    fi
}

edited Dec 22 '15 at 15:57

DavidPostill

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answered Dec 22 '15 at 12:31

user536642

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 05 '21 at 08:37

First create a (callback) function to set/restore tmux window name like this, the default name here to restore is bash.

set_tmux_window_name()
{
    [[ -z "$TMUX" ]] && return
    [[ -z "$1" ]] && tmux rename-window "bash" || tmux rename-window $1
}

and then create a ssh wrapper which will restore the tmux window name back to bash as you defined once the ssh wrapper exited due to signals like KILL/TERM/ABORT/..

ssh_wrapper ()
{ 
    trap set_tmux_window_name SIGINT SIGQUIT SIGILL SIGABRT SIGEMT SIGFPE SIGKILL SIGBUS SIGSEGV SIGTERM

    ssh_cmd=$@
    [[ "$ssh_cmd" = "" ]] && return
    eval $ssh_cmd
}

now set the tmux window name before setting up the ssh connection

alias ssh1='set_tmux_window_name "ssh1"; ssh_wrapper username@hostname'

rename tmux window name to prompt_command, ps1 or remote ssh hostname?

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