Linux screen - most useful commands with practical examples

In this article we are gonna have a look at most useful linux screen commands. Most of the time we just need a few screen commands to get the job done. Below we have a lot of them.

If we run some program from command line and our terminal will shutdown (internet problem, lack of energy) we can't go back to that session. Especially if we run some important installation or download some large file via ssh from another server. It is important to have backup and run this with screen or nohup.

• If we have debian or ubuntu:

xxxxxxxxxx

apt-get install screen

• If we have centos:

xxxxxxxxxx

yum -y install screen

• screen create new session

xxxxxxxxxx

screen -S my_first_screen_session

• screen detach press keys (in this order - first ctrl, second a, third d)

xxxxxxxxxx

ctrl + a + d

• screen list all sessions

xxxxxxxxxx

screen -ls

Usage example:

xxxxxxxxxx

root@mail:/# screen -ls

There is a screen on:

        21173.my_first_screen_session   (03/27/2020 09:54:27 PM)        (Detached)

1 Socket in /run/screen/S-root.

• screen connect to detached session (21173 - id of screen session - NOT ENTIRE NAME, just ID), we can get id by using screen -ls

xxxxxxxxxx

screen -r 21173

• screen kill session (21173 - id of screen session - NOT ENTIRE NAME, just ID)

xxxxxxxxxx

screen -X -S 21173 quit

Usage example:

xxxxxxxxxx

[detached from 21173.my_first_screen_session]

root@mail:/# screen -ls

There is a screen on:

        21173.my_first_screen_session   (03/27/2020 09:54:27 PM)        (Detached)

1 Socket in /run/screen/S-root.

root@mail:/# screen -X -S 21173 quit

root@mail:/# screen -ls

No Sockets found in /run/screen/S-root.