background_task.md

Running tasks while disconnected

Use screen to keep long-running tasks running after you disconnect from SSH.

Quickstart

# start a new screen session
screen -S mytask
# launch script
python longscript.py

Either close the ssh client window or detach from the screen session with Ctrl-a d (control-A, then d). After reconnecting to the server later, you may reattach to the session with

screen -x mytask

Useful Commands

• screen -S [session_name] - create new screen session
• screen -list - list existing screen sessions
• screen -x [session_name] - reattach to existing screen session
• killall screen - kill all screen sessions

Useful Shortcuts

• Ctrl-a d - detach from current screen session and leave it running
• Ctrl-a k - kill current screen session