**Screen is a window manager for the console. It is possible to create and manage several virtual console sessions via a single access (e.g. ssh). In addition, sessions can be disconnected and resumed later.**

A window with a view of a garden — Photo by Rob Wingate on Unsplash

Here is a small example to demonstrate the power of **screen**. You log in to a server via ssh and start a program or pull a large Docker image. When you end the ssh session, the program stops automatically. With **screen** you can prevent this behavior. You log in via ssh. Then start **screen** and the desired program. In the next step, you call the detach command and can log out. The program continues to work in the background. You can resume the session with the program the next time you log in via ssh. In this post, we will introduce the basic functionalities of screen. The steps are the following: 1. Install screen 2. Difference between session and window 3. Important commands 4. Conclusion ## Install screen Use the following command to install **screen**: ```bash sudo apt-get install screen ``` You can start **screen** with the following command: ```bash screen ``` After calling **screen**, it seems as if nothing has happened. But this is not true, because screen is now running in the background. ## Difference between session and window You can imagine **screen** like a web browser. A **screen** session corresponds to a browser window and a **screen** window corresponds to a browser tab. Several **screen** sessions can run at the same time. In addition, several screen windows can be opened in each **screen** session. ## Important commands First, you create a new session. The following command creates a new session with the name "session1". ```bash screen -S session1 ``` ### Keyboard shortcuts * Ctrl + A + C: Creates a new window in a session * Ctrl + A + Space: Switching between the individual windows of a session * Ctrl + A + D: Disconnect (detach) the connection to the current session. The session then continues to run in the background ### More commands Resumes the session with the name “session1”: ```bash screen -r session1 ``` Resumes the session if only one session exists: ```bash screen -r ``` Listing of all ongoing screen sessions: ```bash screen -ls ``` ## Conclusion The window manager **screen** allows tasks to perform in the background. For example, you can connect to a remote computer via ssh and start a program. With **screen**, you can start the program and close the ssh connection again.