How to exit nested Tmux session

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! We’ve all been there – deep into nested tmux sessions, lost in a labyrinth of panes and windows, and then suddenly – we need to get out. Getting stuck in nested tmux sessions can feel like a maze, but don’t worry! Today, I’ll be your guide, helping you find your way out. In this blog post, we’re going to explore how to exit nested tmux sessions swiftly and smoothly. So let’s dive in!

If you’re taking your first steps with Tmux, the basics of Tmux is a great starting point. For the Tmux veterans, let’s get this show on the road!

Let’s consider the default prefix for tmux, which is Ctrl-B and let’s go over the commands below using the same.

Let’s look at how to terminate a pane and window when you are inside a tmux window and from outside of tmux as well.

Exit a nested tmux session

Let’s look at detaching a tmux, tmux detach -E takes a shell command as argument, which is executed. Here is the snippet from its documentation for the same-

detach-client [-aP] [-E shell-command] [-s target-session] [-t target-client]

So, we will use-

detach-client -E <shell-command>

To exit a nested tmux session, you have to just use the following keyboard shortcuts.

At first, let’s configure a linux function by adding the following in the ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile.

tm() { tmux detach -E "tmux new -A -s '$1'"; }

Now you can use

tm 3

You can also exit a tmux session or in case you are in a tmux session and you are looking to detach from the session, that’s fairly simple using the Ctrl-B + d command.

You can reset a tmux config in case you feel some of your tmux plugins are not working as expected and start with a clean config.

Congratulations! You’ve just learned how to exit or kill nested tmux sessions. With this knowledge, you’ll never have to feel stuck in the tmux labyrinth again. I hope you found this guide helpful in navigating your way around tmux. As always, keep exploring, keep learning, and remember, every problem has a solution. Until next time, happy coding!

You can also check out the complete tmux cheatsheet of keyboard shortcuts and mouse shortcuts.