Tmux Logging

Features:

1. Enables logging of all output in the current pane
   After you start logging, everything that's typed and all the output will be saved to a file. Convenient for keeping track of your work.
2. Enables "screen capture" of the current pane
   All the text visible in the current pane is saved to a file. Like a screenshot, but textual.
3. Enables saving a complete history of the current pane
   Everything that has been typed and all the output since the creation of the current pane can be saved to a file.
4. Clear pane history with prefix + alt + c

Tested and working on Linux, OSX and Cygwin.

1. Logging

Key binding: prefix + shift + p
File path: $HOME (user home dir)
File name format:

tmux-#{session_name}-#{window_index}-#{pane_index}-%Y%m%dT%H%M%S.log
# Example file:
# tmux-my-session-0-1-20140527T165614.log

Toggles (start/stop) logging in the current pane.

This feature improves the default pipe-pane logging mechanism by stripping ANSI codes. This is how the plain pipe-pane log output looks like if you're using terminal with coloring:

Garbled characters are called ANSI codes. They enable colors in terminal, but are just making 'noise' in the textual log output.

A user will probably want to filter ANSI codes out of the log. Here's the same log as above when this plugin is used:

2. "Screen capture"

Key binding: prefix + alt + p
File path: $HOME (user home dir)
File name format:

tmux-screen-capture-#{session_name}-#{window_index}-#{pane_index}-%Y%m%dT%H%M%S.log
# Example file:
# tmux-screen-capture-my-session-0-1-20140527T165614.log

Visible text in the current pane is saved to a file. Equivalent of a "texual screenshot".

3. Save complete history

Key binding: prefix + alt + shift + p
File path: $HOME (user home dir)
File name format:

tmux-history-#{session_name}-#{window_index}-#{pane_index}-%Y%m%dT%H%M%S.log
# Example file:
# tmux-history-my-session-0-1-20140527T165614.log

Saves complete pane history to a file. Convenient if you retroactively remember you need to log/save all the work.

NOTE: this functionality depends on the value of history-limit - it determines the number of lines Tmux keeps in the scrollback buffer. Everything Tmux kept will also be saved to a file.

With modern computers it is ok to set this option to a high number:

# in .tmux.conf
set -g history-limit 50000

4. Clear pane history

Key binding: prefix + alt + c

This is just a convenience key binding.

Installation with Tmux Plugin Manager (recommended)

Add plugin to the list of TPM plugins in .tmux.conf:

set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-logging'

Hit prefix + I to fetch the plugin and source it.

You should now have all tmux-logging key bindings defined.

Manual Installation

Clone the repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-logging ~/clone/path

Add this line to the bottom of .tmux.conf:

run-shell ~/clone/path/logging.tmux

Reload TMUX environment:

# type this in terminal
$ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

You should now have all tmux-logging key bindings defined.

Installing ansifilter (recommended for OSX users)

ansifilter is a program specialized for removing (or working with) ANSI codes.

If you're on OSX, it is recommeneded to install ansifilter: $ brew install ansifilter

It helps with removing ANSI codes from the log. If ansifilter is not present, ANSI codes are removed with sed.

Other plugins

You might also find these useful:

• resurrect - restore tmux environment after system restart
• pain control - useful standard bindings for controlling panes
• sessionist - lightweight tmux utils for switching and creating sessions

You might want to follow @brunosutic on twitter if you want to hear about new tmux plugins or feature updates.

License

MIT