How to remove a split region in Screen

A split Screen layout can stay on the display after the comparison, log watch, or editor view that needed it is finished. Removing a region closes only that visible display area; it does not kill the shell or command running in the Screen window shown there.

Screen separates regions from windows. The remove command closes the focused region, while only collapses the display back to the focused region and leaves the session's other windows available for selection.

Choose the region that should stay or go before pressing the binding. Region commands use the focused display area, so a quick C-a Tab check avoids closing the wrong side of a split layout.

Steps to remove Screen split regions:

Move focus to the region that should be removed or kept.
```
C-a Tab
```
Repeat the focus key until the cursor is in the target region. For remove, focus the region to close. For only, focus the region to keep.
Remove only the focused region when one split should close.
```
C-a X
```
The default remove binding closes the focused region and keeps its Screen window available in the session.
Keep only the focused region when the whole split layout should collapse.
```
C-a Q
```
The default only binding removes every other visible region.
Query the window list from a normal shell outside the attached display when you need proof that region cleanup did not kill windows.
```
$ screen -S work -Q windows
0 shell  1 logs  2 monitor
```
Use the session name shown by screen -ls when your session is not named work. Inside the attached session, C-a " opens the interactive window list.
Confirm the visible layout is back to the intended region count.
```
C-a Tab
```
After remove, focus should skip the closed region. After only, focus should stay in the single remaining region because the other regions are gone.

Author: Mohd Shakir Zakaria
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is a cloud architect with deep roots in software development and open-source advocacy. Certified in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, he specializes in designing and managing robust cloud and on-premises infrastructures.