How to add a horizontal split to tmux window that spans the whole width of the parent window?

Question

When I have a tmux window vertically split into two panes, how can i spawn a new third horizontal pane that stretches over the full width?

e.g. How do I get from this:

Ctr-b %

+–––––––––+–––––––––+
|         |         |
|         |         |
|         |         |  
|         |         |
|         |         |
+–––––––––+–––––––––+

---

to this?

Ctr-b %
Ctr-b ...now what?

+–––––––––+–––––––––+
|         |         |
|         |         |
|         |         |  
|         |         |
|         |         |
+–––––––––+–––––––––+
|                   |
|                   |
+–––––––––––––––––––+

---

instead of this?

Ctr-b %
Ctr-b "

+––––––––+––––––––––+
|        |          |
|        |          |  
|        |          |
|        |          |
|        |          |
|        +––––––––––+
|        |          |  
|        |          |
+––––––––+––––––––––+

Note: I don't want to cycle through all possible layout combinations via Ctr-b Space to eventually get to the desired layout - it should be achieved with as much brevity as possible.

Answer 1

tmux 2.3 supports the -f switch in split-window which does exactly what you are looking for (check man here):

The -f option creates a new pane spanning the full window height (with -h) or full window width (with -v), instead of splitting the active pane.

For example, in your case:

1) ctrl-b %

+–––––––––+–––––––––+
|         |         |
|         |         |
|         |         |  
|         |         |
|         |         |
|         |         |
|         |         |
|         |         |
+–––––––––––––––––––+

---

2) ctrl-b :splitw -fv

Note that after ctrl-b :, you will be typing in the tmux command-prompt (look at the bottom bar).

+–––––––––+–––––––––+
|         |         |
|         |         |
|         |         |  
|         |         |
+–––––––––+–––––––––+
|                   |
|                   |
|                   |
+–––––––––––––––––––+

Answer 2

You can use one of the five preset layout modes (tiled) to achieve this. From your starting point (a single vertical split), open a new pane, which by default will split the active pane and then arrange the panes into tiled mode:

Ctrlb,Alt5

From man tmux:

M-1 to M-5    Arrange panes in one of the five preset layouts: even-horizontal,even-vertical, main-horizontal, main-vertical, or tiled.

You could optionally add a select-layout tiled to a keybind in your .tmux.conf if this was a layout you wanted regularly.

Answer 3

Get a newer version of tmux (at least 2.3).

From the man page:

The -f option creates a new pane spanning the full window height (with -h) or full window width (with -v), instead of splitting the active pane.

Answer 4

If you'd like to spawn a new third horizontal pane that stretches over the full width, I suggest you try this

Ctrl-b "

or to cycle through

Ctrl-b space

Answer 5

I wound up here looking for a way to move an existing pane to the left, right, top, or botton of the terminal and span the full height or width.

If anyone else ends up here looking for the same thing, the solution is to use split-window, swap-pane, and then kill-pane together.

For example, add this to your .tmux.conf file:

# Pane moving
bind S-Left  split-window -hbf \; swap-pane -t ! \; kill-pane -t !
bind S-Right split-window -hf  \; swap-pane -t ! \; kill-pane -t !
bind S-Up    split-window -bf  \; swap-pane -t ! \; kill-pane -t !
bind S-Down  split-window -f   \; swap-pane -t ! \; kill-pane -t !

Then you can use ctrl+b, shift+left to move the current pane to the left side of the terminal, spanning its full height.

Answer 6

Old question but wanted to add, if there is a layout you want to use often you can use

   tmux list-windows

to give you the current layout (this will be a string like c904,273x74,0,0{81x74,0,0[81x29,0,0,1,81x21,0,30,2,81x22,0,52,3],191x74,82,0,0})

Then pass that string to select-layout to apply it. Look for select-layout in the man page for more info.

Answer 7

Ctrl + B then " (double quotes) to split into two horizontal windows

Ctrl + B "o" to switch back to top window (check your cursor, that will tell you where you are)

Ctrl + B then % (shift + 5) to split the top window

That should work with the default key bindings.