GNU Screen is great. So great that I find myself always using it. (Pressing the Window key and T launches an XTerm with a new Screen ready on my system, while I have to add Shift if I don’t want the screen.) This means that when I login into a some other machine through SSH—an occasion for which Screen is particularly useful—I will often end up with nested screens. So which Screen will receive my Ctrl+a presses?
The answer (courtesy of Google and Yacin Nadji) is that Ctrl+a will target the outer screen. Each a that you add after that will go down one nesting level.
Not that I don’t still find controlling nested screen confusing, but now at least I don’t feel helpless and stuck whenever it happens. 
Extra tips
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Visible captions make it easier:
GNU Screen within Screen with captions
(If you don’t know how to configure Screen with captions, I’ve blogged about his previously.)
- Debian Administration, a very high-quality site has an article about GNU Screen.
2 Comments ( Add comment / trackback )
Thanks for sharing, just what i needed
Great info. THanks for the post.