cycle tmux windows of the same name

Question

this question (to my knowledge) has not been asked before, yet would benefit anyone that uses tmux! I tried searching github too for plugins etc, but no luck yet.

What I'd like to achieve:

• Cycle between windows of the same name.

Why?

Imagine you have 6 tmux windows, in the following order, status bar would look similar to this:

[0:zsh][1:vim][2:zsh][3:vim][4:zsh][5:vim]

If Im currently in window 0 (zsh):

• I would like to cycle between the 3 'zsh' windows (0,2,4)

If Im currently in window 1 (vim):

• I would like to cycle between the 3 'vim' windows (1,3,5)

This would allow you to cycle windows of the same type without having to re-order all your windows first (vim next to vim, zsh next zsh etc). bliss!

I have tried myself, but no success :(

Answer 1

I created a basic solution.

1. Save the following script as _tmux-cycle-samename and make it executable (chmod +x _tmux-cycle-samename).

   #!/bin/sh
   
   if [ "$1" = "-r" ]; then filter=tac; else filter=cat; fi
   
   name="$(tmux display-message -p '#W' | sed 's|\(.\)|[\\\1]|g')"
   
   tmux select-window -t "$(
      tmux list-windows -F '#{window_active} #{window_id} #W' \
      | grep '^[01] @[0123456789]* '"$name"'$' | "$filter" \
      | awk '
         NR==1 {result=$2}
         { if (seen==1) {result=$2; exit} 
           seen=$1
         }
         END {print result}
      '
   )"
   

   The script retrieves the right name (tmux display-message …) and prepares the string (sed …), so when interpreted as regex later the name is matched literally. Then the script lists windows (tmux list-windows …), picks the matching ones (grep …), preserves or reverses the order (cat or tac from the expansion of $filter) and finds the next inactive window (awk …). Finally the found window is selected (tmux select-window …).

2. Add these to your ~/.tmux.conf:

   bind-key -T prefix > run-shell '/full/path/to/_tmux-cycle-samename'
   bind-key -T prefix < run-shell '/full/path/to/_tmux-cycle-samename -r'
   

   If _tmux-cycle-samename can be resolved via PATH then you don't need to specify the full path.

3. If already inside tmux then run tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf. A tmux server started anew will source the file automatically.

4. Try prefix> and prefix< in your tmux to test the solution (the default prefix is Ctrl+b).

Answer 2

There is a command to switch to the last visited pane: ctrl-b + ;

You can bind the # key (or anything you like) to switch to the last visited tmux pane. I chose # because it's like how:b# switches to the last buffer in vim:

# go to last pane (like b# in vim)
bind '#' select-pane -l

So you can just press you tmux prefix (by default ctrl-b) followed by #.