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Screen User's Manual

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21. String Escapes

Screen provides an escape mechanism to insert information like the current time into messages or file names. The escape character is % with one exception: inside of a window's hardstatus ^% (^E) is used instead.

Here is the full list of supported escapes:

%: the escape character itself
a: either am or pm
A: either AM or PM
c: current time HH:MM in 24h format
C: current time HH:MM in 12h format
d: day number
D: weekday name
h: hardstatus of the window
l: current load of the system
m: month number
M: month name
n: window number
s: seconds
t: window title
u: all other users on this window
w: all window numbers and names
W: all window numbers and names except the current one
y: last two digits of the year number
Y: full year number
?: the part to the next %? is displayed only if an escape expands to an nonempty string
:: else part of %?
{: attribute/color modifier string terminated by the next }

The c and C escape may be qualified with a 0 to make screen use zero instead of space as fill character. The n escape understands a length qualifier (e.g. %3n).

An attribute/color modifier is is used to change the attributes or the color settings. Its format is `[attribute modifier] [color description]'. The attribute modifier must be prefixed by a change type indicator if it can be confused with a color desciption. The following change types are known:

+: add the specified set to the current attributes
-: remove the set from the current attributes
!: invert the set in the current attributes
=: change the current attributes to the specified set

The attribute set can either be specified as a hexadecimal number or a combination of the following letters:

u: underline
b: bold
r: reverse
s: standout
B: blinking

Colors are coded either as a hexadecimal number or two letters specifying the desired background and foreground color (in that order). The following colors are known:

k: black
r: red
g: green
y: yellow
b: blue
m: magenta
c: cyan
w: white
d: default color
.: leave color unchanged

The capitalized versions of the letter specify bright colors. You can also use the pseudo-color `i' to set just the brightness and leave the color unchanged.

A one digit/letter color description is treated as foreground or background color dependant on the current attributes: if reverse mode is set, the background color is changed instead of the foreground color. If you don't like this, prefix the color with a `.'. If you want the same behaviour for two-letter color descriptions, also prefix them with a `.'.

Examples:

`G': set color to bright green
`+b r': use bold red
`= yd': clear all attributes, write in default color on yellow background.