====== Default Key Bindings ======

As mentioned, each screen command consists of a "''C-a''" followed by one other character.  For your convenience, all commands that are bound to lower-case letters are also bound to their control character counterparts (with the exception of "''[[commands:meta|C-a a]]''"; see below), thus, "''[[commands:screen|C-a c]]''" as well as "''[[commands:screen|C-a C-c]]''" can be used to create a window. See section "[[Customization]]" for a description of the command.

The following table shows the default key bindings:

| ''C-a %%'%% ''     | ''[[commands:select]]''     | Prompt for a window name or number to switch to. |
| ''C-a %%"%%''      | ''[[commands:windowlist]] -b'' | Present a list of all windows for selection. |
| ''C-a 0''\\ ...\\ ''C-a 9''\\ ''C-a -'' | ''[[commands:select]] 0''\\ ...\\ ''[[commands:select]] 9''\\ ''[[commands:select]] -'' | Switch  to window number 0-9, or to the blank window. |
| ''C-a tab''    | ''[[commands:focus]]''      | Switch the input focus to the next region.  See also ''[[commands:split]]'', ''[[commands:remove]]'', ''[[commands:only]]''. |
| ''C-a C-a''    | ''[[commands:other]]''      | Toggle  to  the  window  displayed previously.  Note that this binding defaults to the command  character typed  twice,  unless  overridden.  For instance, if you use the  option  "''-e]x''",  this  command  becomes "'']]''". |
| ''C-a a''      | ''[[commands:meta]]''       | Send  the  command  character  (''C-a'')  to window. See ''[[commands:escape]]'' command. |
| ''C-a A''      | ''[[commands:title]]''      | Allow the user to enter a name for the current  window. |
| ''C-a b''\\ ''C-a C-b'' | ''[[commands:break]]''      | Send a break to window. |
| ''C-a B''      | ''[[commands:pow_break]]''  | Reopen the terminal line and send a break. |
| ''C-a c''\\ ''C-a C-c'' | ''[[commands:screen]]'' | Create  a new window with a shell and switch to that window. |
| ''C-a C''      | ''[[commands:clear]]''      | Clear the screen. |
| ''C-a d''\\ ''C-a C-d'' | ''[[commands:detach]]'' | Detach ''screen'' from this terminal. |
| ''C-a D D''    | ''[[commands:pow_detach]]'' | Detach and logout. |
| ''C-a f''\\ ''C-a C-f''    | ''[[commands:flow]]''       | Toggle flow on, off or auto. |
| ''C-a F''      | ''[[commands:fit]]''        | Resize the window to the current region size. |
| ''C-a C-g''    | ''[[commands:vbell]]''      | Toggles ''screen'''s visual bell mode. |
| ''C-a h''      | ''[[commands:hardcopy]]''   | Write a hardcopy of the current window to  the  file "hardcopy.//n//". |
| ''C-a H''      | ''[[commands:log]]''        | Begins/ends  logging  of  the  current window to the file "screenlog.//n//". |
| ''C-a i''\\ ''C-a C-i''    | ''[[commands:info]]''       | Show info about this window. |
| ''C-a k''\\ ''C-a C-k''    | ''[[commands:kill]]''       | Destroy current window. |
| ''C-a l''\\ ''C-a C-l''    | ''[[commands:redisplay]]''  | Fully refresh current window. |
| ''C-a L''      | ''[[commands:login]]''      | Toggle this window's login slot.  Available  only  if ''screen'' is configured to update the utmp database. |
| ''C-a m''\\ ''C-a C-m''    | ''[[commands:lastmsg]]''    | Repeat  the  last  message  displayed in the message line. |
| ''C-a M''      | ''[[commands:monitor]]''    | Toggles monitoring of the current window. |
| ''C-a space''\\ ''C-a n''\\ ''C-a C-n''    | ''[[commands:next]]''       | Switch to the next window. |
| ''C-a N''      | ''[[commands:number]]''     | Show the number (and title) of the current window. |
| ''C-a backspace''\\ ''C-a h''\\ ''C-a p''\\ ''C-a C-p''    | ''[[commands:prev]]''       | Switch to the previous window (opposite of ''[[commands:next|C-a n]]''). |
| ''C-a q''\\ ''C-a C-q''    | ''[[commands:xon]]''        | Send a control-q to the current window. |
| ''C-a Q''      | ''[[commands:only]]''       | Delete all regions but the current  one.   See  also ''[[commands:split]]'', ''[[commands:remove]]'', ''[[commands:focus]]''. |
| ''C-a r''\\ ''C-a C-r''    | ''[[commands:wrap]]''       | Toggle  the current window's line-wrap setting (turn the current window's automatic margins on and off). |
| ''C-a s''\\ ''C-a C-s''    | ''[[commands:xoff]]''       | Send a control-s to the current window. |
| ''C-a S''      | ''[[commands:split]]''      | Split the current region horizontally into  two  new ones.  See also ''[[commands:only]]'', ''[[commands:remove]]'', ''[[commands:focus]]''. |
| ''C-a t''\\ ''C-a C-t''    | ''[[commands:time]]''       | Show system information. |
| ''C-a v''      | ''[[commands:version]]''    | Display the version and compilation date. |
| ''C-a C-v''    | ''[[commands:digraph]]''    | Enter digraph. |
| ''C-a w''\\ ''C-a C-w''    | ''[[commands:windows]]''    | Show a list of windows. |
| ''C-a W''      | ''[[commands:width]]''      | Toggle 80/132 columns. |
| ''C-a x''\\ ''C-a C-x''    | ''[[commands:lockscreen]]'' | Lock this terminal. |
| ''C-a X''      | ''[[commands:remove]]''     | Kill  the  current  region.   See  also ''[[commands:split]]'', ''[[commands:only]]'', ''[[commands:focus]]''. |
| ''C-a z''\\ ''C-a C-z''    | ''[[commands:suspend]]''    | Suspend ''screen''.  Your system must support  BSD-style job-control. |
| ''C-a Z''      | ''[[commands:reset]]''      | Reset the virtual terminal to its "power-on" values. |
| ''C-a .''      | ''[[commands:dumptermcap]]''| Write out a ".termcap" file. |
| ''C-a ?''      | ''[[commands:help]]''       | Show key bindings. |
| ''C-a C-\''    | ''[[commands:quit]]''       | Kill all windows and terminate ''screen''. |
| ''C-a :''      | ''[[commands:colon]]''      | Enter command line mode. |
| ''C-a [''\\ ''C-a C-[''\\ ''C-a esc''    | ''[[commands:copy]]''       | Enter copy/scrollback mode. |
| ''C-a ]''      | ''[[commands:paste]] .''    | Write  the contents of the paste buffer to the stdin queue of the current window. |
| ''C-a {''\\ ''C-a }''      | ''[[commands:history]]''    | Copy and paste a previous (command) line. |
| ''C-a >''      | ''[[commands:writebuf]]''   | Write paste buffer to a file. |
| ''C-a <''      | ''[[commands:readbuf]]''    | Reads the screen-exchange file into the  paste  buffer. |
| ''C-a =''      | ''[[commands:removebuf]]''  | Removes the file used by ''[[commands:readbuf|C-a <]]'' and ''[[commands:writebuf|C-a >]]''. |
| ''C-a ,''      | ''[[commands:license]]''    | Shows  where ''screen'' comes from, where it went to and why you can use it. |
| ''C-a _''      | ''[[commands:silence]]''    | Start/stop monitoring the current window  for  inactivity. |
| ''C-a |''      | ''[[commands:split]] -v''   | Split  the  current  region  vertically into two new ones. |
| ''C-a *''      | ''[[commands:displays]]''   | Show a listing of all currently attached displays. |