How can I turn off “scrolling the history” in iTerm2

361
votes

I have installed the new iTerm 2. It asked me in a yellow bar at the top if I'd like to enable a mouse feature. Unfortunately I don't remember the exact sentence anymore.

By accident I approved. Now when I use the scroll wheel on the mouse in iTerm, it doesn't scroll the up anymore but instead it goes triggers the command history. Like if I would press the up-cursor.

I couldn't find the right settings to turn that off again. Does anyone know where I can toggle this option?

Thx for helping!

7
terminaliterm2
I assume that you use iTerm2.9, and the message you saw is "Do you want the scroll wheel to move the cursor in interactive programs like this?".However i can't find a interface to toggle it, do you still have the problem? – sel-fish
Yes but only when I'm logged into a server via ssh. I don't know how this could be connected. – Gambo
"only when I'm logged into a server via ssh", you mean that when you use iTerm2 for local operations, that will not happen? Do you use a different 'profile' when 'logged into a server via ssh' ? – sel-fish
this just started happening randomly for me.. frustrating when you're trying to look through logs – SgtPooki
It's a mode (alternate screen) for terminal emulation set by the remote to your terminal which is then left on and not set back if you exit the program setting it (like less, vim, or others) unexpectedly (eg disconnect ssh). The command reset will assert to set the initial conditions for your terminal again. I know it has a scary name, feel free to read the man page first. Likewise tput rmcup sets it off IF you're sure it's on. There's probably a way to ask for the state to be shown, but terminals get complicated. – dlamblin

7 Answers

604
votes

A few terminals, including iTerm2, have a feature where they change the behavior of the wheel mouse when a full-screen program such as vi, or screen or tmux is running. This happens when those programs use the alternate screen, to provide a useful function. Normally, when using the alternate screen in iTerm2, the wheel mouse acts like the scrollbar, scrolling the entire screen up/down. But when this feature is enabled, iTerm2 sends cursor up/down keys, making your command-history change.

As suggested in another comment, select the Preferences menu:

enter image description here

and in that, select the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the Mouse section,

enter image description here

and toggle the entry for

Scroll wheel sends arrow keys when in alternate screen mode

from Yes to No. You will have to restart iTerm2 for the change to take effect. (With iTerm2 v3.1.5 changes take effect without restarting.)

81
votes

If you are trap in the scrolling history mode, you can escape by running vi and exit directly. You can also choose another program that use the alternate screen and exit directly.

Scrolling the history with the mouse wheel should in theory never happens. It happens in practice because sometimes the alternate screen mode is not correctly switched back. The accepted answer solves the problem by deactivating a feature that is useful, namely scrolling in vi, less, ... with the mouse wheel or trackpad. You can keep the option from the advanced preferences:

Scroll wheel sends arrow keys when in alternate screen mode

set to yes. You will sometimes be trap in the scroll history mode. But if you know how to escape, it's not a problem.

54
votes

You probably just need to get out of alternate console.

Try: tput rmcup

14
votes

With iTerm2 you can also hold Option while using the scroll wheel to force window scrolling, in case you do want the wheel to continue to work in vim.

12
votes

Preferences:Advanced:Mouse:Scroll wheel sends arrow keys when in alternate mode

5
votes

The behavior you're seeing is the expected (and correct) behavior when in the alternate screen. The only problem you have is that you dropped into bash, or whatever, on the alternate screen, possibly while losing a connection or from a killed vim or less. EG you were in less +F /var/log/something and got disconnected.

You see someone has already written that the tput rmcup command will exit to the main screen.

I also went ahead and looked up some terminal control characters. It can be any of: ESC [ ? 1 0 4 9 l or ESC [ ? 1 0 4 7 l or ESC [ ? 47 l (gnu.org/software/screen/manual/html_node/Control-Sequences.html) with a preference to the first.

I'm generally successful in iTerm2 with echo -e '\e[?1049l' I actually don't find rmcup any easier to remember, restore memory of console up?.

1
votes

I was having this same problem and none of the solutions I read and tried worked. What fixed my problem was turning Secure Keyboard Entry off and now when I use the mouse to scroll it in ssh and in terminal mode on macOS 10.13 it works like I expect it too!