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.. image:: imgs/icon_grouping.png
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:alt: Because nothing says grouping like three different coloured
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----------------------------
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Manipulating terminal groups
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----------------------------
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Grouping, as the name suggests, allows grouping of terminals allowing
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actions to be taken that affect more than one terminal. As usual,
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following along will help understanding, so lets start with a basic
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window, then split into a 2x2 grid.
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Let's have another look at the grouping menu for reference, because
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as we proceed, it will change:
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.. image:: imgs/grouping_01.png
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The first item **New group...** allows you to create a named group,
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using an editable field that will appear next to the 3-box icon. By
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default this will be given a randomly selected name from the names
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of the Greek alphabet. Here you can see **Phi** was selected:
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.. image:: imgs/grouping_02.png
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You can either start typing to replace the provided one with something
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more descriptive, or you can accept the default with ``Return``. For
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the purpose of this document I will just be using default names.
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If you again click the 3-box/group button, you will see that several
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new entries have been added to the menu:
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.. image:: imgs/grouping_03.png
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Because the terminal now has a group the first new entry is **None**
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which will remove the grouping for this terminal.
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Following that is a list of the known groups, in this case only *Phi*
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so far. This list (plus the *None* entry) can be used to change the
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group of this terminal.
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Next are two items: **Remove group Phi** and **Remove all groups**.
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You will only get the currently assigned group group as an option to
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remove, as well as an option to remove all groups. This does not
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close the group, but simply removes the group assignments from the
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The next option is more destructive: **Close group Phi** will exit
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the terminals assigned to this group.
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Here I've gone ahead and set the upper right terminal to the same
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*Phi* group, and the lower left terminal to a *New group...* of
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.. image:: imgs/grouping_04.png
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A quick glance at the menu again will show that the only change is
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the addition of the *Epsilon* group to the list.
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To change a group name you can either click on *New group...* again,
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or ``Shift``\ +\ ``click`` on the 3-box/group button, and the editable
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The current terminal is the one with focus. By clicking with key
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modifiers on other terminals 3-box/group button we can speed up group
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organisation. Here's a list of mouse actions (including some already
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+------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------+
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| Action | Mouse | Default Shortcut |
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+================================================+=======================================+==================+
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| Group menu popup | ``click`` | (TBD) |
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+------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------+
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| Edit group for terminal | ``Shift``\ +\ ``click`` | (TBD) |
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+------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------+
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| Edit group for all terminals in the "group" | ``Shift``\ +\ ``Super``\ +\ ``click`` | (TBD?) |
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+------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------+
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| Toggle to current terminals group [1]_ | ``Ctrl``\ +\ ``click`` | |
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+------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------+
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| Toggle "group" to current terminals group [1]_ | ``Ctrl``\ +\ ``Super``\ +\ ``click`` | |
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+------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+------------------+
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.. [1] These shortcuts will only work if you use them on terminals
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that are *not* the current terminal.
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.. warning:: The terminals with no named group are also considered a
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group. If you use one of the ``Super`` shortcuts on a
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terminal with no group, you will also include all the
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other terminals with no group.
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Skipping slightly ahead in the menu, there are two options that make
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more sense covered here. The **Split to this group** (default: off)
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option means that when you split the current terminal, the new one
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will inherit the group of the current terminal. It is off by default
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in which case new terminals have no group.
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The second option **Autoclean groups** (default: on) will remove a
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group from the menus group list when the last terminal with that
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group is closed. If off groups will remain in the list until the
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application exits, or the option is enabled.
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.. note:: Not shown in the above screenshots, there are also menu
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items for grouping all terminals in a tab in the menu. They
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only appear once a new tab is created - **Group all in tab**
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and **Ungroup all in tab**.
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Some final group related shortcuts are for grouping all terminals
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at once, or grouping terminals in the same tab.
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+------------------+-----------------------------------+
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| Action | Default Shortcut |
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+==================+===================================+
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| Group all | ``Super``\ +\ ``G`` |
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+------------------+-----------------------------------+
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| Ungroup all | ``Shift``\ +\ ``Super``\ +\ ``G`` |
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+------------------+-----------------------------------+
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| Group tab | ``Super``\ +\ ``T`` |
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+------------------+-----------------------------------+
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| Ungroup tab | ``Shift``\ +\ ``Super``\ +\ ``T`` |
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+------------------+-----------------------------------+
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| Group all toggle | |
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+------------------+-----------------------------------+
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| Group tab toggle | |
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+------------------+-----------------------------------+
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----------------------------------------
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Broadcasting input to multiple terminals
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----------------------------------------
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So first let me describe some terminology (no pun intended).
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**Broadcasting** is the act of sending your input to multiple
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terminals. The current terminal (the one with the red titlebar by
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default) is always the **broadcaster**. Any terminal that is in
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the same group as the current terminal is a potential **receiver**.
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I say potential because the act of broadcasting can be turned on
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and off independently of the grouping.
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This can be an invaluable time-saver when having to do active
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investigation across multiple machines where you would be repeating
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the same commands on each of them.
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Terminator's titlebar is colour-coded to help you quickly see which
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terminals are potential receivers, and whether they *will* receive
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The titlebar is split into two parts. The leftmost part is the
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3-box/group button that has one of three background colours as defined
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in the :ref:`prefs-global` tab of :ref:`preferences`:
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- *Red* - The current terminal and broadcaster.
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- *Blue* - A terminal that is in the same group as the broadcaster.
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- *Grey* - A terminal in a different group, or no group.
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The second part consists of the title, and uses the same colouring
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to show the following:
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- *Red* - The current terminal and broadcaster.
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- *Blue* - A terminal that is acting as a receiver and will duplicate
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input from the broadcaster.
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- *Grey* - A terminal that is not a receiver.
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There are three settings for broadcasting, selected from the *Group
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menu*. Following are an image of each of these modes, with ``test``
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typed into the current broadcasting terminal:
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.. image:: imgs/broadcast_01.png
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Here you can see that only the current terminal receives input, even
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though the upper right terminal is also a part of the *Phi* group.
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.. image:: imgs/broadcast_02.png
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Here you can see that all terminals, including those in other groups,
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or with no group, receive the input.
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- *Broadcast group* (default mode; can be changed in the
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:ref:`prefs-global` tab of :ref:`preferences`.)
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.. image:: imgs/broadcast_03.png
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Here you can see that only the terminal(s) in the same group in the
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same group as the broadcaster receive input.
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Be careful with additional tabs, windows, or when you are zoomed or
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maximised on a single terminal. Just because you cannot see a terminal
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does not mean the terminal is not receiving. This can cause problems
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if you are typing a destructive command without realising that this
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command is going to other terminals.
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Those with good eyesight may have spotted the other visual indicator
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of the colours in the 3-box icon changing for the different status of
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the terminals too. When you are zoomed or maximised, the presence of
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blue in this icon might be the only visual indicator of receivers.
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As with all things in Terminator, we have shortcuts to help you keep
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your hands on the keyboard:
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+-----------------+-------------------+
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| Action | Default Shortcut |
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+=================+===================+
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| Broadcast off | ``Alt``\ +\ ``O`` |
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+-----------------+-------------------+
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| Broadcast all | ``Alt``\ +\ ``A`` |
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+-----------------+-------------------+
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| Broadcast group | ``Alt``\ +\ ``G`` |
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+-----------------+-------------------+
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.. warning:: It has become apparent that IBus causes problems with
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broadcast input. When multiple keystrokes are used to
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*compose* a letter, such as the ``AltGr``\ +\ ``[``
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followed by ``a``\ , ``o``\ , ``u`` keys to get **ä**,
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**ö**, **ü** characters for the German language.
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Instead of getting your composed letter in all receivers,
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you will only get the composed letter in the current
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terminal. If you copy and paste the character into the
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current terminal then it will be input into the
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You may not even realise that you are running IBus.
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Killing it will temporarily fix the problem. There is
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a fix for IBus and VTE, but only in the newer builds of
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VTE. For that we would need the experimental GTK3
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version of Terminator.
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----------------------
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Insert terminal number
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----------------------
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The last two menu items are slightly out of place here. They are the
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same function as the shortcuts mentioned :ref:`here <insert-termnum_shortcut>`.
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They were added early on when the broadcast feature was added, and
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the argument could be made for removing them. So far no-one has
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though, so for now they will stay here.
added
removed
source/grouping.rst
