How to keep the window opened even after the command returned or is killed?

Solution 1:

Answer

You need to let screen know that you want a shell running in the new window with a command running in that shell. The simplest way (that I know) to accomplish this is to create the window separately from running the command in it:

screen -S session_name -X screen -t tab_name
screen -S session_name -p tab_name -X stuff "command_to_run \r"

Example:

screen -S test -X screen -t htop_tab
screen -S test -p htop_tab -X stuff "htop\r"

Notes:

The \r is there to simulate hitting the return key.
stuff will let you interact with any running process in that window

Explanation

The difference between the manual method and the command you are using is:

When you create a new window manually, you are creating a window with an interactive shell running in it, and then you type a command in the shell to start a program. When you kill that program, it goes back to the shell and you can do whatever you want.
Your command, on the other hand, is instructing screen to create a new window with the provided command running in it (i.e. don't run a shell), so when you kill it, there is no process running in the window and it closes

Relevant excerpts from the screen man page:

In the Default Key Bindings section:

  C-a c,             (screen)          Create a new window with
  C-a C-c                              a  shell  and  switch to
                                       that window.

In the description of the internal screen command: