How do you zoom a tmux pane to full screen?

tmux · Panes · updated 2026-08-23

Ctrl + B, Z — Zoom pane

Ctrl + B then Z toggles zoom on the active pane so it fills the whole window. Press the same sequence again to restore the previous pane layout.

Related tmux shortcuts: Panes

ShortcutActionNotes
Ctrl + B, %Split left and rightSplit the current pane into two, left and right.
Ctrl + B, "Split top and bottomSplit the current pane into two, top and bottom.
Ctrl + B, XKill paneKill the current pane.
Ctrl + B, ONext paneSelect the next pane in the current window.
Ctrl + B, ;Last paneMove to the previously active pane.
Ctrl + B, ↑/↓/←/→Select pane by directionChange to the pane above, below, to the left, or to the right of the current pane.
Ctrl + B, QShow pane numbersBriefly display pane indexes; press a number to jump to that pane.
Ctrl + B, ZZoom paneToggle zoom state of the current pane (fullscreen within the window).
Ctrl + B, {Swap with previous paneSwap the current pane with the previous pane.
Ctrl + B, }Swap with next paneSwap the current pane with the next pane.
Ctrl + B, Ctrl + ORotate panes forwardsRotate the panes in the current window forwards.
Ctrl + B, Alt + ORotate panes backwardsRotate the panes in the current window backwards.
Ctrl + B, !Break pane to windowBreak the current pane out of the window into its own window.
Ctrl + B, MMark paneMark the current pane, used as the default source for join and swap.
Ctrl + B, Shift + MClear marked paneClear the marked pane (uppercase M).
Ctrl + B, SpaceNext layoutArrange the current window in the next preset layout.
Ctrl + B, Alt + 1-7Preset layoutsArrange panes in one of the seven preset layouts: even-horizontal, even-vertical, main-horizontal, main-horizontal-mirrored, main-vertical, main-vertical-mirrored, or tiled.

From the tmux reference (73 entries) · all how-to answers