Setting an escape character on the command line

[Will Maier]

Hello all-

I've been reading through the archives, copying hardstatuses (stati?) massaging
my screenrc. My setup is nearly complete at this point, but I have one nagging
issue that I hope to (finally) resolve.

First, some details: I'm running screen version 4.00.02 (see output below) on
Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary). I use two separate screenrcs, one to define my settings (eg
hardstatus, bindings, etc) and the other to set up my environment (windows,
titling, etc). In the latter file, I source the main screenrc and create a
series of windows:

    source $HOME/.screenrc
    sessionname meta
    screen -t MAIL -M   1
    screen -t SSH -M    2 screen -e^\\\ -S ssh
    screen -t WWW       3 screen -e^\\\ -S www
    screen -t AUDIO     4
    screen -t CICQ -M   5 screen -e^\\\ -S cicq
    screen -t LOCAL     6

    select 1

The escape characters set for the nested screens work -- sort of. Pressing
CTRL-\ *does* allow me to go to the previous/next window, etc as normal.
However, the key sequence I use to go to the most recent region (not just
next/previous, but most recently visited) doesn't work unless I reset the escape
character (:escape ^\\\). The key sequence (CTRL-\,CTRL-\) works after setting
the escape sequence from within screen, but not when it's set on the command
line. I've also only experienced this behavior with the backslash character --
other strings (like ^Ee) behave as I'd expect them to.

I use zsh (see below for version info) as my shell; could it be somehow
interfering here?

Also, a quick bonus question: any way to create a window as a zombie?

Thanks in advance -- any help would be appreciated.

Will Maier

--screen and zsh versions below --
<vger 17:22> ~ % screen --version
Screen version 4.00.02 (FAU) 5-Dec-03
<vger 17:43> ~ % zsh --version
zsh 4.2.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu)