screen-delete: Delete Screen Sessions

Overview

screen-delete is useful for managing GNU Screen sessions and terminating unnecessary ones. It is particularly effective for cleaning up sessions that remain in a detached state. This command is typically used by users who create their own scripts.

Key Features

Terminate specific Screen sessions
Clean up detached sessions
Free up system resources

Main Options

screen-delete primarily takes a session ID as an argument to terminate that session. Additional options may vary depending on the script implementation.

Specify Session

Generated command:

Try combining the commands.

Description:

`screen-delete` Executes the command.

Combine the above options to virtually execute commands with AI.

Installation

screen-delete is not a command provided by default, so you need to create a script yourself. Here is a simple example of a `screen-delete` script.

Create Script and Grant Permissions

echo '#!/bin/bash\n\nif [ -z "$1" ]; then\n  echo "Usage: screen-delete <session_id>"\n  exit 1\nfi\n\nscreen -X -S "$1" quit\n\nif [ $? -eq 0 ]; then\n  echo "Screen session \"$1\" terminated."\nelse\n  echo "Failed to terminate Screen session \"$1\" or it does not exist."\nfi' | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/screen-delete > /dev/null\nsudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/screen-delete

Execute the following commands to create the script at `/usr/local/bin/screen-delete` and grant it execute permissions. This script uses the `screen -X -S <session_id> quit` command to terminate the specified session.

Check PATH Environment Variable

If you installed the script in `/usr/local/bin`, it should be automatically included in the PATH on most systems, allowing you to use it immediately. If you encounter an error like 'command not found,' verify that `/usr/local/bin` is included in your PATH by running `echo $PATH`, or you may need to add `export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin"` to your `.bashrc` or `.zshrc` file.

Usage Examples

Demonstrates how to terminate a specific Screen session using the screen-delete command.

List Active Screen Sessions

screen -ls

First, use the `screen -ls` command to list currently active Screen sessions and find the ID of the session you want to terminate.

Terminate a Specific Screen Session

screen-delete 1234.pts-0.hostname

This example terminates a session with the ID `1234.pts-0.hostname`. Remember to replace this with your actual session ID.

Attempt to Terminate a Non-existent Session

screen-delete 9999.nonexistent

If you specify a non-existent session ID, the script will output an error message.

Tips & Precautions

Useful tips and precautions when using screen-delete.

Importance of Verifying Session ID

Always verify the exact session ID using the `screen -ls` command before terminating a session. Terminating the wrong session can lead to data loss.

Accurately check session IDs with `screen -ls`
Carefully enter the session ID to be terminated

Script Permissions and PATH

Ensure that the script has the correct permissions (`chmod +x`) to be executable. Additionally, the directory where the script is installed must be included in your system's PATH environment variable.

Check script execute permissions (`chmod +x`)
Verify if the script's directory is included in the PATH environment variable

Alternative: `screen -wipe`

The `screen -wipe` command is used to remove entries for Screen sessions that no longer exist (dead sessions) from the `screen -ls` list. While `screen-delete` terminates active sessions, `screen -wipe` focuses on cleaning up the remnants of dead sessions to keep the list tidy.