How to run a second command in same screen session

I'm starting the first command in screen like this:

screen -d -m -S testen -t lalala watch df -h

which gives me a screen session running in the background and I can reconnect at a later time.

How can I run a second command in a new window in the same screen session?

Solution 1:

Start a named screen session (-S) with a named window (-t) adapting to the terminal size (-A) in detached mode (-d -m):

screen -S mySessionName -t myWinName0 -A -d -m

Start another named window (-t) in the same screen session (-S):

screen -S mySessionName -X screen -t myWinName2

Stuff a few commands (-X stuff $'cmds') into the first named window (-p) in the session (-S):

screen -S mySessionName -p myWinName0 -X stuff $'echo myWinName0\necho cmd1\necho cmd2\n'

Stuff a few commands (-X stuff $'cmds') into the second named window (-p) in the session (-S):

screen -S mySessionName -p myWinName1 -X stuff $'echo myWinName1\necho cmd1\necho cmd2\n'

List the screen sessions and reattach to see what happened:

screen -ls
screen -r mySessionName

Note: The linefeed (\n) simulates pressing Enter. You could use semicolons to separate commands as well.

Solution 2:

Tried above approach, but the second command didn't execute on the second window. I slightly adjusted the example by using the window number, instead of the window name:

1. create session

   screen -S mySessionName -t 0 -A -d -m
   

2. create second window

   screen -S mySessionName -X screen -t 1
   

3. send command to first window

   screen -S mySessionName -p 0 -X stuff $'echo myWinName0\necho cmd1\necho cmd2\n'
   

4. send command to second window

   screen -S mySessionName -p 1 -X stuff $'echo myWinName0\necho cmd1\necho cmd2\n'
   

5. now check if the command has been runned on the first window

   screen -R mySessionName -p 0
   

6. now check if the command has been runned on the second window

   screen -R mySessionName -p 1
   

Tested with Screen 4.00.03 (CENTOS 6.3 x64).