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Unreleased libtmux has not been released. Its API may change during development. This site's structure and URLs may change too.

function libtmux-ocaml latest

Client.send_keys

Send named tmux keys in order, without an implicit Enter. Use send_text for literal bytes rather than key interpretation.

Source and package
Qualified name
Libtmux_unix.Client.send_keys
Module
Libtmux_unix
Declared in
Client
Package
libtmux-unix
Source
unix/libtmux_unix.mli
Other languages
Perlmethod Erlang PowerShell Julia Elixir Haskell Common LispPythonRubyLuaTypeScriptRustGo Java C#C++SwiftKotlinScala F# Clojure
val send_keys : ?cancel:Cancellation.t -> t -> Libtmux.Pane.target -> Libtmux.Key.t list -> (unit, Libtmux.Error.t) result

Public owner: Libtmux_unix

Examples#

Send literal input and keys. This complete program creates a private daemon, checks its result and closes its clients. Use OCaml 5.5.2 on Linux with tmux 3.3a through 3.8. Run it from the source checkout after following the installation guide. View source

open Libtmux
module Client = Libtmux_unix.Client
module Workspace = Libtmux_unix.Workspace
module Config = Libtmux_workspace.Config
module Plan = Libtmux_workspace.Plan
module Execution = Libtmux_workspace.Execution
let get = function
| Ok value -> value
| Error error -> failwith (Format.asprintf "%a" Error.pp error)
let send_keys client (initial : Created.t) _spawn =
let text = "literal: $HOME; #{pane_id}" in
let pane =
Snapshot.find_pane
(get (Client.capture client))
(Pane.Target.id initial.pane)
|> Option.get
in
get (Client.send_text client (Pane.target pane) ~text);
get (Client.send_keys client (Pane.target pane) [ Key.Enter ]);
ignore (get (Client.wait_for_text ~timeout:0.5 client pane ~text));
Printf.printf "sent: %s\n" text
let with_demo binary use =
let directory = Filename.temp_dir "libtmux-ocaml-showcase-" "" in
Fun.protect
~finally:(fun () ->
Sys.readdir directory
|> Array.iter (fun name -> Sys.remove (Filename.concat directory name));
Unix.rmdir directory)
(fun () ->
let socket = Filename.concat directory "server" in
(* Give this private daemon a lifetime even if startup fails. *)
let config_file = Filename.concat directory "tmux.conf" in
Out_channel.with_open_text config_file (fun output ->
output_string output "set-option -s exit-unattached on\n");
let wrapper = Filename.concat directory "tmux" in
Out_channel.with_open_text wrapper (fun output ->
Printf.fprintf output "#!/bin/sh\nexec %s -f %s \"$@\"\n"
(Filename.quote binary)
(Filename.quote config_file));
Unix.chmod wrapper 0o700;
let channel = Unix.open_process_args_in binary [| binary; "-V" |] in
let version =
Fun.protect
~finally:(fun () ->
if Unix.close_process_in channel <> Unix.WEXITED 0 then
failwith "tmux version discovery failed")
(fun () -> String.trim (input_line channel))
in
if not (String.starts_with ~prefix:"tmux " version) then
failwith "invalid tmux version";
let version = String.sub version 5 (String.length version - 5) in
let ready = Filename.concat directory "ready.txt" in
Out_channel.with_open_text ready (fun output ->
output_string output "showcase ready\n");
let spawn =
Spawn.make (Exec { program = "/bin/cat"; args = [ "-u"; ready; "-" ] })
in
let config =
match
Config.make ~directory ~session:"showcase"
[ Config.window ~name:"editor" [ Config.pane ~spawn () ] ]
with
| Ok value -> value
| Error error -> failwith (Format.asprintf "%a" Config.pp_error error)
in
let plan =
match
Plan.make
~endpoint:(Endpoint.socket_path socket)
~version ~observed:None config
with
| Ok value -> value
| Error error -> failwith (Format.asprintf "%a" Plan.pp_error error)
in
let operation = get (Workspace.submit_bootstrap ~binary:wrapper plan) in
Fun.protect
~finally:(fun () -> get (Workspace.close operation))
(fun () ->
let receipt = get (Workspace.await operation) in
if receipt.status <> Execution.Succeeded then
failwith "workspace setup failed";
let client = Option.get (Workspace.client operation) in
let initial = List.hd (Iarray.get receipt.steps 0).created in
Printf.printf "socket=%s\n%!" socket;
let pane =
Snapshot.find_pane
(get (Client.capture client))
(Pane.Target.id initial.pane)
|> Option.get
in
ignore
(get
(Client.wait_for_text ~timeout:0.5 client pane
~text:"showcase ready"));
use client initial spawn))
let () =
let binary = if Array.length Sys.argv = 2 then Sys.argv.(1) else "tmux" in
with_demo binary send_keys

Run the recorded entry point:

Terminal window
$ opam exec -- dune exec examples/showcase_send_keys.exe -- tmux

Expected outcome line, after the temporary socket path:

sent: literal: $HOME; #{pane_id}

tmux command#

The tmux commands behind send_keys.

tmux C API#

The C declarations in tmux that implement these commands.

In other ports#

Send keystrokes to a pane

Equivalents of Send keystrokes to a pane in other languages
Language Equivalent
Python libtmux.Pane.send_keys
Ruby LibTmux::Pane#send_keys
Lua libtmux.Pane:send_keys
Erlang tmux_pane:send_keys/2
Haskell No public Haskell equivalent is implemented; the current modules expose scalar values and version parsing.
Common Lisp libtmux:send-keys
TypeScript pane.Pane.sendKeys
Rust pane.Pane.send_keys
Go tmux.Pane.SendKeys
Java no direct equivalent; Pane.paste writes a buffer instead
Clojure libtmux.core/send-keys!
Kotlin io.github.libtmux.kotlin.Pane.sendKeys
Scala io.github.libtmux.scaladsl.Pane.sendKeys
C# LibTmux.Pane.SendKeysAsync
C++ libtmux::Pane::send_text
Swift Server.sendKeys(_:to:literally:)
Perl LibTmux::Server::send_keys Explicit Server operation. Captured entities remain local observations; use a new snapshot to observe changes.

No equivalent is recorded in PowerShell, Julia, Elixir or F#.

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