screen title and vim (a.k.a. vi)

I use "screen" everyday whether I am on Grml Linux or MacOSX.  And also every time I log on to any unix servers, I have to run screen too as it is the best way to keep my sessions safely whenever there is Internet connection disruption.

Normally, when I do coding, I run multiple vim s under screen like this:

The blue status line comes from a setting in my .screenrc :

hardstatus on

hardstatus alwayslastline

hardstatus string "%{.bW}%-w%{.rW}%n %t%{-}%+w %=%{..G} %H %{..Y} %m/%d %C%a "

As you may notice, all the title of each screen are just the same "vi" even though I ran:

• [screen 0] vi a
• [screen 1] vi b
• [screen 2] vi c

Therefore, I have no idea which file it is unless I switch to that screen which can be cumbersome most of the time.

Luckily, vi can send some special status to shell and screen to display a customized title.  All you need to do is to add these lines in your .vimrc file:

let &titlestring = "vi(" . expand("%:t") . ")"

if &term == "screen"

  set t_ts=^[k

  set t_fs=^[\

endif

if &term == "screen" || &term == "xterm"

  set title

endif

Note that the "^[k]" and "^[\" are control characters which you have to enter them by (in vim):

• [in edit mode] ctrl+v => esc => k
• [in edit mode] ctrl+v => esc => \

After that you re-run screen and use vi to open files and it should look like this:

Notice the vi(a), vi(b) and vi(c) - Now they display which file names they are opening!

references:

• http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Documentation/Gnu/screen-3.9.4/html_chapter/screen_10.html
• http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Automatically_set_screen_title