How can I tell whether I'm in a screen?

linux shell gnu-screen
user8125 picture user8125 · Mar 22, 2011 · Viewed 18.2k times · Source

When using screen in linux, how can I tell if I'm in a screen or not? I could do exit and I'll exit a screen if I was in one, but if I wasn't, then I'll end up closing my terminal.

When doing screen -r, I could see if I have other screens attached, but how do I know if my current terminal is one of those attached screens?

Answer

jho picture jho · Mar 22, 2011

Check $STY. If it's null, you're on a "real" terminal. If it contains anything, it's the name of the screen you're in.

If you are not in screen:

eric@dev ~ $ echo $STY
eric@dev ~ $

If you are in screen:

eric@dev ~ $ echo $STY
2026.pts-0.ip-10-0-1-71

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