Terminal Tab, Pane, and Window Management Shortcuts

Terminal Tab and Pane Management

Modern terminal emulators support tabbed interfaces and split panes. Managing them with keyboard shortcuts keeps your hands on the keyboard while multitasking.

iTerm2 (macOS)

iTerm2 is the most popular terminal emulator on macOS:

• New Tab (⌘+T) — open a new terminal tab
• Close Tab (⌘+W) — close the current tab
• Split Horizontal (⌘+D) — split the current pane horizontally
• Split Vertical (⌘+Shift+D) — split vertically
• Navigate Panes (⌘+⌥+Arrow) — move focus between split panes
• Move Between Tabs (⌘+Shift+[/]) — switch to previous/next tab
• Broadcast to All Panes (⌘+⌥+I) — type the same command in all panes simultaneously
• Toggle Fullscreen (⌘+Enter) — maximize the terminal window

macOS Terminal

• New Tab (⌘+T) — new terminal tab
• New Window (⌘+N) — new terminal window
• Move Between Tabs (⌘+Shift+[/]) — switch tabs

Windows Terminal

• New Tab (Ctrl+Shift+T) — open a new tab
• Close Tab (Ctrl+Shift+W) — close the current tab
• Split Pane (Alt+Shift+D) — duplicate the current pane
• Split Horizontal (Alt+Shift+-) — split horizontally
• Split Vertical (Alt+Shift++) — split vertically
• Navigate Panes (Alt+Arrow) — move between panes
• Move Between Tabs (Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab) — cycle through tabs
• Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) — open the command palette

tmux Integration

For developers using tmux inside their terminal:

• Prefix (default Ctrl+B) + % — split horizontal
• Prefix + " — split vertical
• Prefix + Arrow — navigate panes
• Prefix + c — new window
• Prefix + n/p — next/previous window