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Let's say I have several shell "tabs" (or screens? sessions?) named bash1, bash2, etc. open in GNU screen. I want the status bar (i.e., the caption line) to display the names as "bash1 | bash2 | ..", with the currently open tab and the last open tab clearly marked.

How do I make this happen with my .screenrc?

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  • I don't see anything in the screen manpage (at least for 4.00.02) that enumerates the previous window. Current window sure (%t)
    – Ricky
    Commented Feb 10, 2014 at 7:07

2 Answers 2

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Edit or create (if not present) /etc/screenrc or (~/.screenrc) and add below code 

autodetach on 
startup_message off 
hardstatus alwayslastline 
shelltitle 'bash'

hardstatus string '%{gk}[%{wk}%?%-Lw%?%{=b kR}(%{W}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{=b kR})%{= w}%?%+Lw%?%? %{g}][%{d}%l%{g}][ %{= w}%Y/%m/%d %0C:%s%a%{g} ]%{W}'

shelltitle 'bash' can be changed once the screen is created. (Ctrla + A) session name can be changed to SESSSIONNAME with :sessionname SESSIONNAME.

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  • Yup, that does it. Need to customize it a little though - I don't want to see time, etc. Will figure that out later. Thanks!
    – ARV
    Commented Feb 10, 2014 at 8:37
  • @ARV , yeah it can be customized by user.
    – GC 13
    Commented Feb 13, 2014 at 9:29
  • 1
    This, without time etc: '%{wk}%?%-Lw%?%{=b kR}(%{W}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{=b kR})%{= w}%?%+Lw%?%? %{g}]'
    – Phlippie Bosman
    Commented Jun 1, 2017 at 11:30
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The "tab" you are referring is Window (correct me if I'm wrong). You should try Byobu, which is a wrapper around screen and tmux.

I'm sure it comes with caption line, highlighting current window by default, but I don't remember there's ability to mark the last open window.

BUT seriously you should try tmux.

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