tmux/Q/How can I query the current value of a tmux option?

• How can I query the current value of a tmux option?

  • AI Answer

    • Short answer: Use tmux show-options for session options and tmux show-window-options for window options; add -g to query the global (default) value.

    • Option types and their query commands

      • tmux options fall into two main scopes:

      • Scope	Command	Example option
        Session	show-options (alias show)	status-keys
        Window	show-window-options (alias showw)	mode-keys

    • Query a specific option

      • sh

        # Session option — controls status-bar / command-prompt key mode
        tmux show-options -g status-keys
        # → status-keys vi
        
        # Window option — controls copy-mode key bindings
        tmux show-window-options -g mode-keys
        # → mode-keys vi

      • The -g flag reads the global (config-level) default. Omit -g inside a tmux session to read the current session or window value, which may differ if overridden at runtime.

    • Show only the value (no key name)

      • sh

        tmux show-options -gv status-keys
        # → vi

    • Query from the tmux command prompt

      • Press Prefix + : to open the tmux command prompt and enter:

      • show-options -g status-keys
        show-window-options -g mode-keys

    • Show all options at once

      • sh

        tmux show-options -g          # all global session options
        tmux show-window-options -g   # all global window options

    • Sources

      • tmux(1) man page — show-options