1dtach(1) General Commands Manual dtach(1)
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6 dtach - simple program that emulates the detach feature of screen.
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9 dtach -a <socket> <options>
10 dtach -A <socket> <options> <command...>
11 dtach -c <socket> <options> <command...>
12 dtach -n <socket> <options> <command...>
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16 dtach is a program that emulates the detach feature of screen. It is
17 designed to be transparent and un-intrusive; it avoids interpreting the
18 input and output between attached terminals and the program under its
19 control. Consequently, it works best with full-screen applications such
20 as emacs.
21 dtach is intended for users who want the detach feature of screen with‐
23 out the other overhead of screen. It is tiny, does not use many
24 libraries, and stays out of the way as much as possible.
25 SESSIONS
28 A session in dtach is a single instance in which a program is running
29 under the control of dtach. The program is disassociated from the
30 original terminal, and is thus protected from your original terminal
31 being disconnected for some reason.
32 Other instances of dtach can attach themselves to a particular session.
34 Input and output is copied between the program running in the dtach
35 session, and the attached terminals.
36 dtach avoids interpreting the communication stream between the program
38 and the attached terminals; it instead relies on the ability of the
39 attached terminals to manage the screen.
40 Sessions are represented by Unix-domain sockets in the filesystem. No
42 other permission checking other than the filesystem access checks is
43 performed. dtach creates a master process that monitors the session
44 socket, the program, and any attached terminals.
45 MODES
48 dtach has several modes of operation. It can create a new session in
49 which a program is executed, or it can attach to an existing session.
50 The first argument specifies which mode dtach should operate in.
51 -a Attach to an existing session. dtach attaches itself to the
53 session specified by <socket>. After the attach is completed,
54 the window size of the current terminal is sent to the master
55 process, and a redraw is also requested.
56 -A Attach to an existing session, or create a new one. dtach first
58 tries to attach to the session specified by <socket> if possi‐
59 ble. If the attempt to open the socket fails, dtach tries to
60 create a new session before attaching to it.
61 -c Creates a new session. A new session is created in which the
63 specified program is executed. dtach then tries to attach
64 itself to the newly created session.
65 -n Creates a new session, without attaching to it. A new session is
67 created in which the specified program is executed. dtach does
68 not try to attach to the newly created session, however, and
69 exits instead.
70 OPTIONS
73 dtach has a few options that allow you to modify its behavior. Each
74 attaching process can have separate settings for these options, which
75 allows for some flexibility.
76 -e <char>
79 Sets the detach character to <char>. When the detach character
80 is pressed, dtach detaches itself from the current session and
81 exits. The process running in the session is unaffected by the
82 detach. By default, the detach character is set to ^\ (Ctrl-\).
83 -E Disables the detach character. dtach does not try to scan input
86 from the terminal for a detach character. The only way to detach
87 from the session is then by sending the attaching process an
88 appropriate signal.
89 -r <method>
92 Sets the redraw method to <method>. The valid methods are none,
93 ctrl_l, or winch.
94 none disables redrawing completely, ctrl_l sends a Ctrl L char‐
96 acter to the program if the terminal is in character-at-a-time
97 and no-echo mode, and winch forces a WINCH signal to be sent to
98 the program.
99 When creating a new session, the specified method is used as the
101 default redraw method for the session. If not specified, the
102 ctrl_l method is used.
103 -z Disables processing of the suspend key. Normally, dtach will
106 suspend itself when the suspend key is pressed. With this
107 option, the suspend character is sent to the session instead of
108 being handled by dtach.
109
112 The following example creates a new session that has the detach charac‐
113 ter and suspend processing disabled. A socket is created in the /tmp
114 directory for the session.
115 $ dtach -c /tmp/foozle -Ez bash
117 The following example attaches to the /tmp/foozle session if it exists,
119 and if not, creates a new session using /tmp/foozle as the socket for
120 the session. Processing of the suspend character is also disabled for
121 the attach instance.
122 $ dtach -A /tmp/foozle -z bash
124 The following example attaches to the /tmp/foozle session, using the
126 winch redraw method to redraw the screen.
127 $ dtach -a /tmp/foozle -r winch
129 The following example creates a new session and sets the default redraw
131 method for the session to the winch redraw method.
132 $ dtach -c /tmp/foozle -r winch bash
134
137 Ned T. Crigler <crigler@users.sourceforge.net>.
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141 screen(1)
142dtach 0.8 Jan 2008 dtach(1)