Auto-update tmux status bar with active pane pwd

In addition to the previous answer, I'd like to add you don't have to rely on the status-interval option. Waiting to see the change isn't really elegant. You can manually update the status bar on events with:

tmux refresh-client -S

I use this option after pane/window/session switching. In my tmux config you will find for instance to switch panes:

bind -r k select-pane -U\; refresh-client -S
bind -r j select-pane -D\; refresh-client -S
bind -r l select-pane -R\; refresh-client -S
bind -r h select-pane -L\; refresh-client -S

I have previously posted on this: manually refresh status bar


Tmux pane PWD at the prompt

There are several ways that you can do this. I do it myself. The easiest and most customisable way is to set a global variable that tmux can access.

First add this to your .bashrc or .zshrc file, to set the PWD variable after every prompt:

# create a global per-pane variable that holds the pane's PWD
export PS1=$PS1'$( [ -n $TMUX ] && tmux setenv -g TMUX_PWD_$(tmux display -p "#D" | tr -d %) $PWD)'

Now, make a script that displays this variable such as ~/bin/display_tmux_pane_pwd.sh:

#!/bin/bash
tmux showenv -g TMUX_PWD_$(tmux display -p "#D" | tr -d %)  | sed 's/^.*=//'

All that is left is to add this to the satis-bar in .tmux.conf:

set -g status-left '#(~/bin/display_tmux_pane_pwd.sh)'

It may take awhile to update after switching panes, so you can change that with this command. By default it updates every 15 seconds, this will make it 5 seconds. Change it as you like.

set -g status-interval 5

Tmux-pane PWD in other programs

Sometimes it is useful to open up a pane or window and immediately execute a program instead of booting up another shell (e.g. tmux new-window vim). This way, when you close that program you also close the window. Unfortunately, the way I describe above requires a prompt in order to broadcast the status of PWD. However, in many programs, you can work around this fairly easily. Here's an example of what is in my .vimrc file so that vim updates the PWD status whenever it changes buffers.

if exists("$TMUX")
    " Get the environment variable
    let tmux_pane_name_cmd = 'tmux display -p \#D'
    let tmux_pane_name = substitute(system(g:tmux_pane_name_cmd), "\n", "", "")
    let tmux_env_var = "TMUX_PWD_" . substitute(g:tmux_pane_name, "%", "", "")
    unlet tmux_pane_name tmux_pane_name_cmd
    function! BroadcastTmuxCwd()
        let filename = substitute(expand("%:p:h"), $HOME, "~", "")
        let output = system("tmux setenv -g ".g:tmux_env_var." ".l:filename)
    endfunction
    autocmd BufEnter * call BroadcastTmuxCwd()
endif

If you want the current window name to reflect the directory name, here is a modified version of the original answer that does not require calling a script from tmux and updates instantly:

export PS1=$PS1'$( [ -n $TMUX ] && tmux rename-window $(basename $PWD))'

Note that this means that you can't display the current process name any longer. It is of little value for me anyway.


This is another way to do this.

Working ENV:

OS

  • OSX 10.14.5

Terminal

  • Alacritty 0.3.3 - https://github.com/jwilm/alacritty
  • iTerm2 3.2.9 - https://iterm2.com/
  • Apple Terminal 2.9.5

Tmux

  • tmux 2.9a

~/.tmux.config

set -g status-interval 1
set-window-option -g window-status-separator ""
set-window-option -g window-status-current-format " *#{b:pane_current_path} "
set-window-option -g window-status-format " #{b:pane_current_path} "

Note

  • Shows pwd #{b:pane_current_path}
  • Shows full path #{pane_current_path}

Make home display as ~

path="#(if [[ $HOME == #{pane_current_path} ]]; then echo \"~\" ; else echo #{b:pane_current_path}; fi)"


set-window-option -g window-status-separator ""
set-window-option -g window-status-current-format " $path "
set-window-option -g window-status-format " $path "

tmux plugin

tmux-space-theme

Tags:

Tmux

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