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Comment by spraak | Hacker News Reader

One of the biggest improvements in my tmux productivity came when I changed my prefix (default Ctrl + b) to backtick (i.e. to `) I am a heavy user of tmux and spend a lot of time switching panes, switching windows, entering visual mode, detatching etc. so this really feels faster.

    # change prefix to backtick
    unbind-key C-b
    set-option -g prefix `
    bind-key   ` send-prefix

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Backtick is a bit far away, isn't it? I literally have to stretch my left ring finger to hit it, so doing this for each tmux key command does add up I suppose?

I've been using C-z for the prefix for ages. It's conveniently nearly under the default position where my fingers lay and it also masks the mostly useless suspend signal which I seemed to accidentally hit every now and then. (If I really want to suspend my program 'C-z z' will do just fine.)

Switching around using, for example, C-z C-n/C-p is pretty fast to key in. You can keep ctrl down for support and then it reduces down to typing 'zn' / 'zp'. YMMV.

Ah you're right, I forgot that the keyboard I use isn't common/standard. Backtick is right above Q for me.

I might be missing something but how do you input character ` as is (in vim inside tmux for example) if it's bound to prefix?

I think sending double prefix actually sends the prefix to active window.

Yes, which also enables using tmux in ssh/mosh in a tmux session.

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