dtach(1)						      General Commands Manual							  dtach(1)

NAME

       dtach - simple program that emulates the detach feature of screen.

SYNOPSIS

       dtach -a <socket> <options>
       dtach -A <socket> <options> <command...>
       dtach -c <socket> <options> <command...>
       dtach -n <socket> <options> <command...>

DESCRIPTION

       dtach  is  a  program that emulates the detach feature of screen. It is designed to be transparent and un-intrusive; it avoids interpreting
       the input and output between attached terminals and the program under its control. Consequently, it works best  with  full-screen  applica-
       tions such as emacs.

       dtach  is  intended  for  users	who  want the detach feature of screen without the other overhead of screen. It is tiny, does not use many
       libraries, and stays out of the way as much as possible.

   SESSIONS
       A session in dtach is a single instance in which a program is running under the control of dtach.  The program is  disassociated  from  the
       original terminal, and is thus protected from your original terminal being disconnected for some reason.

       Other instances of dtach can attach themselves to a particular session. Input and output is copied between the program running in the dtach
       session, and the attached terminals.

       dtach avoids interpreting the communication stream between the program and the attached terminals; it instead relies on the ability of  the
       attached terminals to manage the screen.

       Sessions  are represented by Unix-domain sockets in the filesystem. No other permission checking other than the filesystem access checks is
       performed.  dtach creates a master process that monitors the session socket, the program, and any attached terminals.

   MODES
       dtach has several modes of operation. It can create a new session in which a program is executed, or it can attach to an existing  session.
       The first argument specifies which mode dtach should operate in.

       -a     Attach to an existing session.  dtach attaches itself to the session specified by <socket>.  After the attach is completed, the win-
	      dow size of the current terminal is sent to the master process, and a redraw is also requested.

       -A     Attach to an existing session, or create a new one.  dtach first tries to attach to the session specified by <socket>  if  possible.
	      If the attempt to open the socket fails, dtach tries to create a new session before attaching to it.

       -c     Creates  a  new  session. A new session is created in which the specified program is executed.  dtach then tries to attach itself to
	      the newly created session.

       -n     Creates a new session, without attaching to it. A new session is created in which the specified program is executed.  dtach does not
	      try to attach to the newly created session, however, and exits instead.

   OPTIONS
       dtach  has  a few options that allow you to modify its behavior. Each attaching process can have separate settings for these options, which
       allows for some flexibility.

       -e <char>
	      Sets the detach character to <char>.  When the detach character is pressed, dtach detaches  itself  from	the  current  session  and
	      exits. The process running in the session is unaffected by the detach. By default, the detach character is set to ^ (Ctrl-).

       -E     Disables	the  detach  character.  dtach does not try to scan input from the terminal for a detach character. The only way to detach
	      from the session is then by sending the attaching process an appropriate signal.

       -z     Inhibits processing of the suspend key.  Normally, dtach will suspend itself when the suspend key is pressed. With this option,  the
	      suspend character is sent to the session instead of being handled by dtach.

EXAMPLES

       The  following example creates a new session that has the detach character and suspend processing disabled. A socket is created in the /tmp
       directory for the session.

	  $ dtach -c /tmp/foozle -Ez bash

       The following example attaches to the /tmp/foozle session if it exists, and if not, creates a new session using /tmp/foozle as  the  socket
       for the session.  Processing of the suspend character is also disabled for the attach instance.

	  $ dtach -A /tmp/foozle -z bash

AUTHORS

       Ned T. Crigler <crigler@hell-city.org>.

SEE ALSO

       screen(1)

dtach 0.5							   November 2001							  dtach(1)