tmux Copy Mode, Scrollback, and Clipboard

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tmux copy-mode commands, scrollback capture, search, buffers, and clipboard configuration patterns.

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## Copy mode and scrolling

Enter copy mode

↗#

tmux copy-mode

# Open scrollback for the active pane.

Scroll up half a page

↗#

tmux send-keys -X halfpage-up

# Send a copy-mode command to the current pane.

Search backward in history

↗#

tmux command-prompt -p "search" "send-keys -X search-backward-incremental "%%""

# Prompt for a reverse search term.

Capture visible history

↗#

tmux capture-pane -pS -100

# Dump pane contents into a paste buffer.

Write the top buffer to a file

↗#

tmux save-buffer ~/tmux-buffer.txt

# Persist copied text to disk.

## Clipboard workflows

List paste buffers

↗#

tmux list-buffers

# Show all saved buffers.

Show the current buffer

↗#

tmux show-buffer

# Print the active buffer contents.

Paste the current buffer

↗#

tmux paste-buffer

# Insert copied text into the active pane.

Enable clipboard integration

↗#

set -g set-clipboard on

# Tell tmux to use the terminal clipboard when supported.

Enable vi-style keys in copy mode

↗#

set -g mode-keys vi

# Use familiar vi navigation in copy mode.

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