tmux Prefix L Previous Session

Switch to the previous tmux session with Prefix+L

What

Use tmux Prefix+L (uppercase L) to jump back to your previous session instantly—instead of opening the sessions list with Prefix+s and navigating with j/k.

Context

• Tool: tmux 3.x (default prefix is Ctrl+b).
• Binding: L (capital L) runs switch-client -l to toggle to the last session.
• Note: lowercase l typically switches to the last window, not session.

Steps / Snippet

# Inside tmux
# Jump to previous session (toggle):
# Press: PREFIX then L   # e.g., Ctrl+b then Shift+L

# Old way (for contrast):
# Press: PREFIX then s   # then j/k to select, Enter to attach

# Ensure the default binding exists (if your config overrides it):
tmux bind-key L switch-client -l

# Optional: also keep last-window on lowercase l
tmux bind-key l last-window

Pitfalls

• It’s uppercase L: fonts can make l/1/I/L look similar.
• Works only after you have at least two sessions visited; nothing to toggle otherwise.
• The “last session” is tracked per client; a new terminal/SSH will have its own history.
• If you rebind keys in .tmux.conf, confirm bind-key L switch-client -l is present.

Links

• tmux(1) manual — switch-client https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/tmux.1.html#SWITCH-CLIENT
• tmux key bindings (reference) https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/tmux.1.html#KEY_BINDINGS