GNU screen, how to get current sessionname programmably
- by Jimm Chen
[ This can be considered step 2 of my previous question Is it possible to change GNU screen session name after created? ]
Actually, I'd like to write a script that can display current screen session name and change current session name.
For example:
sren armcross
It will change the session name to armcross (ARM gcc cross compiler) and output something like:
screen session name changed from '25278.pts-15.linux-ic37' to 'armcross'
So, the key question now is how to get current session name. Not only for display the old session name, but according to Is it possible to change GNU screen session name after created? , I have to know it(pass to -d -r) before I can change it to something else.
Can we use $STY for current session name? No. $STY will not change after you have changed the session name to a user-defined one. However, for command
screen -d -r <oldsessname> -X sessionname armcross
should be the user-defined name(if ever defined) instead of $STY, otherwise, screen spouts error "No screen session found."
Maybe, there is a verbose way, use screen -list to list all sessions(user-defined name listed), then, match the pid part from $STY against those listed sessions and we will find current session's user-defined name. It should not be so verbose for such a straightforward question. Don't you think so?
The -d -D and -r -R options seems to expose too much implementation detail to screen's user. It seems, to rename a session, you have to detach it, then do the rename, then reattach it. Right?
My env: opensuse 11.3, GNU screen 4.00.03 (FAU) 23-Oct-06
Thank you.
