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I am using terminal, vim, mutt, etc daily. I use windows, tabs and panes. Now I came to know about Tmux, terminal-multiplexer. But I am not quite sure why I need to use it. I already using windows and panes which Tmux is talking about.

Can anyone give me good reason(s) why or when I should use it.

Thanks in advance.

shinokada
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    Does this answer your question? [What are the differences between multiplexing using tmux/screen and opening tabs in a terminal emulator?](https://superuser.com/questions/1378470/what-are-the-differences-between-multiplexing-using-tmux-screen-and-opening-tabs) – mloning Jan 29 '23 at 14:34

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Tmux (and the older screen) allow one terminal session (eg. ssh connection) to act like many sessions. The panes allows sections of the terminal screen to be divided among sessions, much like windows (Mac/Win/X11.)

The most valuable feature is the ability to disconnect, and reconnect to a session, and even connect to the same session multiple times (ie. from one than one location.)

Ricky
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  • You mean that if you are using ssh, then it is a good idea. Otherwise not. – shinokada Dec 31 '13 at 01:19
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    I use it even when I have a windowed environment -- so I can reconnect to my sessions. – Ricky Dec 31 '13 at 01:29
  • @RickyBeam: But do you use it for local windows, those that aren't connected to sessions? Personally, I don't like using `tmux` locally because scrolling is awkward, but the split-window feature can be useful even locally for editing a program in one window and running it in another because jumping between `tmux` windows is so easy. For ssh sessions, `tmux` is great, for the reasons you gave. – garyjohn Dec 31 '13 at 01:55
  • Running local commands in tmux can be nice. If you are someone who uses/likes the terminator terminal emulator, tmux makes it unnecessary. And another nice thing about using it locally, is you can then connect remotely from other computers/servers to your local instance. @garyjohn: For your awkward scrolling, are you using mouse mode? I find tmux scrolling is great (both with mouse, and keyboard) – demure Dec 31 '13 at 16:42
  • @demure: No, I hadn't tried mode-mouse. It seems to work pretty well. I'd prefer something like Shift-Up and Shift-Down because that's what my fingers are used to, but I'll give mode-mouse a try. Thanks. – garyjohn Dec 31 '13 at 18:12