key2pane

Sends a sequence of keys to any tmux pane, based on the pane's current command.

Contents
Introduction
Installation
Usage
Configuration
Troubleshooting
Contributing
License

Introduction

key2pane is a tmux plugin for sending a sequence of keys to a tmux pane, based on the target pane's command that is running. Which keys are sent can be configured in a json file:

{
  // Other settings ...

  "actions": [
    {
      "regex": "bash|zsh|fish",
      "keys": ["echo 'Hello, World!'", "Enter"]
    }
  ]
}

When the command of the target pane matches the regex, the keys are sent to the pane. In this case, the command: echo 'Hello, World!' is sent to the pane, and then the Enter key is sent.

** TODO: Add a demo gif here **

Installation

Install key2pane using pip:

pip install key2pane

which panel will install the key2pane command.

Usage

Expanding on the example in the introduction, consider the following configuration:

{
  // Other settings ...

  "session": "test",
  "window": 0,
  "index": 0,
  "actions": [
    {
      "regex": "bash|zsh|fish",
      "keys": ["echo '{0} {1}'", "Enter"]
    }
  ]
}

When we run the key2pane foo bar command, the following will happen:

For the session test, window 0, and pane 0, the command is retrieved.
If this command matches the regex bash|zsh|fish, the keys echo '{0} {1}' are selected.
The placeholders {0} and {1} are replaced with the positional arguments foo and bar.
The formatted keys are send to the pane, using tmux send-keys. After that, the Enter key is sent.
As a result, the command echo 'foo bar' is executed in the pane.

Configuration

When you run the key2pane command for the first time, no configuration file is exists yet. You need to create a configuration file in the default location ~/.config/key2pane/config.json, or specify a different location using the --config option. As a starting point, you can use the following example:

{
  "session": null,
  "window": null,
  "index": null,
  "reset": false,
  "logfile": null,
  "loglevel": null,
  "actions": [
    {
      "regex": "bash|zsh|fish",
      "keys": ["echo '{0}'", "Enter"]
    },
    {
      "regex": "python[0-9]*",
      "keys": ["print('{0}')", "Enter"]
    }
  ]
}

Since comments are not allowed in JSON, notes are placed here:

session: the session name. Default: current session.
window: the window index. Default: current window.
index: the pane index. Default: current pane.
reset: send a Ctrl-C before sending the keys. Default: false
logfile: the log file. Default: ~/.local/state/key2pane/key2pane.log
loglevel: the log level. Default: WARNING
actions: a list of actions, containing a regex, and a keys property. The keys are send to the target pane when the regex matches the command of the target pane.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues, please report them on the issue tracker at: tmux-key2pane issues

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING for more information.

License

Distributed under the MIT License.

BartSte/tmux-key2pane