Making tmux command-prompt more intuitive

gistfile1.txt

bind B command-prompt -pbuffer 'pasteb -b "%%"'

In this Stack Overflow article unix - tmux: Bind key to open command prompt with predefined command Nicholas Marriott provided the above syntax to add to a tmux.conf.

See the article for the Original Poster's question. Essentially, the use of this shortcut is to paste from a specific known buffer other than the most recent buffer.

Pressing C-b B one is presented with a prompt to enter the name of a buffer to paste from in the form bufferX X = a number in the buffer list.

The intent of the shortcut is to easily paste from a known specified buffer number other than the last item in the buffer list [ C-b ] ].

Without the shortcut, the conventional tmux method is the interactive list to choose a buffer to paste from. Press C-b = and an interactive screen opens displaying all the buffers used in tmux so far. Type a number corresponding to the left most column. That entry is pasted to the command prompt. In total the keystrokes are 4 C-b = 0, for example.

On its own, the above shortcut is inefficient for it is necessary to type bufferX. That is 7 keystrokes plus Enter.

My solution:

bind B command-prompt -pbuffer 'pasteb -b "buffer%%"'

Reloading tmux.conf and pressing C-b B one is presented with a prompt to enter the buffer number only, plus Enter. E.g., C-b B 0 Enter