IT lexicon Programming GNU Screen

GNU Screen

Programming På svenska → Updated: 2026-07-28
More info
Released
Type
Terminal multiplexer
License
GPL-3.0
Website

The original terminal multiplexer — lets you detach from a session and find it still running when you log back in.

From 1987. The core feature is detach/attach: start a long job over SSH, detach with Ctrl-a d, lose your connection on the train, reattach with screen -r and the job has been running the whole time. Plus multiple windows inside one terminal.

Largely superseded by tmux, which has cleaner configuration, proper split panes and active development. Screen is preinstalled on more systems, though, which makes it the safe fallback on an unfamiliar server.

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