Setting Up .screenrc

General Information

Messing with screen, making it work for you!

Requirements

None

Installation

As root (duh )

# cd /usr/ports/sysutilites/screen && make install clean

Configuration

All right once you install screen go back to using your normal user. In your home dir do the following (whatever text editor you like):

$ vim .screenrc

There are a lot of options for your screenrc but for the most part these are the ones I have found to be useful.

#These are keybindings, you can also use the F1-F10 to map to specific screens
#F11 = previous screen | F12 = next screen
bindkey -k F2 next
bindkey -k F1 prev

startup_message off
nethack on
deflogin on
defscrollback 1000

# Optional name and command to execute
# These are great it will display all the screens rather than having to detach and the do 'screen -ls'
screen -t irssi 0
screen -t mail 1
screen -t news 2
screen -t notes 3
screen -t freebsd 4
screen -t unix 5
screen -t admin 6
screen -t systm 7
select 0 #This selects screen 0 (irssi) as the default screen when its started

# Display $USER and screen titles in a neat way  
caption always "%{=b dy}{ %{= dm}${USER} %{=b dy}}%={ %?%{= dc}%-Lw%?%{+b dy}(%{-b r}%n:%t%{+b dy})%?(%u)%?%{-dc}%?%{= dc}%+Lw%? %{=b dy}}"

Well this is a very basic setup but it should get you started. I personally love the keymapping cause pressing one key is a lot faster than pressing a combo, (not to mention it’s easier to remember).