- tput uses the terminfo library and database to make the values of
- terminal-specific capabilities and information available to the shell,
- to initialize or reset the terminal, or report the long name of the
- current (or specified) terminal type. When retrieving capability
- values, the result depends upon the capability's type.
+ tput uses the terminfo library and database to make terminal-specific
+ capabilities and information available to the shell, to initialize or
+ reset the terminal, or to report a description of the current (or
+ specified) terminal type. Terminal capabilities are accessed by cap-
+ code.
- Boolean tput sets its exit status to 0 if the terminal possesses cap-
+ terminfo(5) discusses terminal capabilities at length and presents a
+ complete list of cap-codes.
+
+ When retrieving capability values, the result depends upon the
+ capability's type.
+
+ Boolean tput sets its exit status to 0 if the terminal possesses cap-code, and 1 if it does not.
- integer tput writes cap-code's decimal value to the standard output
+ numeric tput writes cap-code's decimal value to the standard output
stream if defined (-1 if it is not) followed by a newline.
- string tput writes cap-code's value to the standard output stream if
+ string tput writes cap-code's value to the standard output stream if
defined, without a trailing newline.
- Before using a value returned on the standard output, the application
- should test tput's exit status (for example, using $? in sh(1)) to be
- sure it is 0; see sections "EXIT STATUS" and "DIAGNOSTICS" below. For
- a complete list of cap-codes, see terminfo(5).
-
-
-
- -S allows more than one capability per invocation of tput. The
- capabilities must be passed to tput from the standard input
- instead of from the command line (see example). Only one cap-
- code is allowed per line. The -S option changes the meaning of
- the 0 and 1 Boolean and string exit statuses (see section "EXIT
- STATUS" below).
+ Before using a value returned on the standard output, the application
+ should test tput's exit status to be sure it is 0; see section "EXIT
+ STATUS" below.
- Because some capabilities may use string parameters rather than
- numbers, tput uses a table and the presence of parameters in its
- input to decide whether to use tparm(3x), and how to interpret
- the parameters.
- -Ttype indicates the type of terminal. Normally this option is
- unnecessary, because the default is taken from the environment
- variable TERM. If -T is specified, then the shell variables
- LINES and COLUMNS will also be ignored.
+
+ Generally, an operand is a cap-code, a capability code from the
+ terminal database, or a parameter thereto. Three others are specially
+ recognized by tput: init, reset, and longname. Although these resemble
+ capability codes, they in fact receive special handling; we term them
+ "pseudo-capabilities".
- -V reports the version of ncurses which was used in this program,
- and exits.
+ cap-code indicates a capability from the terminal database.
- -x prevents tput from attempting to clear the scrollback buffer.
+ If the capability is of string type and takes parameters,
+ the arguments following the capability will be used as its
+ parameters.
+ Most parameters are numeric. Only a few terminal
+ capabilities require string parameters; tput uses a table to
+ decide which to pass as strings. Normally tput uses
+ tparm(3x) to perform the substitution. If no parameters are
+ given for the capability, tput writes the string without
+ performing the substitution.
-
- A few commands (init, reset and longname) are special; they are defined
- by the tput program. The others are the names of capabilities from the
- terminal database (see terminfo(5) for a list). Although init and
- reset resemble capability names, tput uses several capabilities to
- perform these special functions.
+ init initializes the terminal. If the terminal database is
+ present and an entry for the user's terminal type exists,
+ the following occur.
- cap-code
- indicates the capability from the terminal database.
+ (1) tput retrieves the terminal's mode settings. It
+ successively tests the file descriptors corresponding
+ to
- If the capability is a string that takes parameters, the
- arguments following the capability will be used as parameters
- for the string.
+ o the standard error stream,
- Most parameters are numbers. Only a few terminal capabilities
- require string parameters; tput uses a table to decide which to
- pass as strings. Normally tput uses tparm(3x) to perform the
- substitution. If no parameters are given for the capability,
- tput writes the string without performing the substitution.
+ o the standard output stream,
- init If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's
- terminal exists (see -Ttype, above), the following will occur:
+ o the standard input stream, and
- (1) first, tput retrieves the current terminal mode settings
- for your terminal. It does this by successively testing
+ o/dev/tty
- o the standard error,
+ to obtain terminal settings. Having retrieved them,
+ tput remembers which descriptor to use for further
+ updates.
- o standard output,
+ (2) If the terminal dimensions cannot be obtained from the
+ operating system, but the environment or terminal type
+ database entry describes them, tput updates the
+ operating system's notion of them.
- o standard input and
+ (3) tput updates the terminal modes.
- o ultimately "/dev/tty"
+ o Any delays specified in the entry (for example,
+ when a newline is sent) are set in the terminal
+ driver.
- to obtain terminal settings. Having retrieved these
- settings, tput remembers which file descriptor to use when
- updating settings.
+ o Tab expansion is turned on or off per the
+ specification in the entry, and
- (2) if the window size cannot be obtained from the operating
- system, but the terminal description (or environment, e.g.,
- LINES and COLUMNS variables specify this), update the
- operating system's notion of the window size.
+ o if tabs are not expanded, standard tabs (every 8
+ spaces) are set.
- (3) the terminal modes will be updated:
+ (4) If initialization capabilities, detailed in subsection
+ "Tabs and Initialization" of terminfo(5), are present,
+ tput writes them to the standard output stream.
- o any delays (e.g., newline) specified in the entry will
- be set in the tty driver,
+ (5) tput flushes the standard output stream.
- o tabs expansion will be turned on or off according to
- the specification in the entry, and
+ If an entry lacks the information needed for an activity
+ above, that activity is silently skipped.
- o if tabs are not expanded, standard tabs will be set
- (every 8 spaces).
+ reset re-initializes the terminal. A reset differs from
+ initialization in two ways.
- (4) if present, the terminal's initialization strings will be
- output as detailed in the terminfo(5) section on Tabsand
- Initialization,
+ (1) tput sets the the terminal modes to a "sane" state,
- (5) output is flushed.
+ o enabling cooked and echo modes,
- If an entry does not contain the information needed for any of
- these activities, that activity will silently be skipped.
+ o disabling cbreak and raw modes,
- reset This is similar to init, with two differences:
+ o enabling newline translation, and
- (1) before any other initialization, the terminal modes will be
- reset to a "sane" state:
+ o setting any unset special characters to their
+ default values.
- o set cooked and echo modes,
+ (2) If any reset capabilities are defined for the terminal
+ type, tput writes them to the output stream.
+ Otherwise, tput uses any defined initialization
+ capabilities. Reset capabilities are detailed in
+ subsection "Tabs and Initialization" of terminfo(5).
- o turn off cbreak and raw modes,
+ longname A terminfo entry begins with one or more names by which an
+ application can refer to the entry, before the list of
+ terminal capabilities. The names are separated by "|"
+ characters. X/Open Curses terms the last name the "long
+ name", and indicates that it may include blanks.
- o turn on newline translation and
+ tic warns if the last name does not include blanks, to
+ accommodate old terminfo entries that treated the long name
+ as an optional feature. The long name is often referred to
+ as the description field.
- o reset any unset special characters to their default
- values
+ If the terminal database is present and an entry for the
+ user's terminal type exists, tput reports its description to
+ the standard output stream, without a trailing newline. See
+ terminfo(5).
- (2) Instead of putting out initialization strings, the
- terminal's reset strings will be output if present (rs1,
- rs2, rs3, rf). If the reset strings are not present, but
- initialization strings are, the initialization strings will
- be output.
-
- Otherwise, reset acts identically to init.
-
- longname
- If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's
- terminal exists (see -Ttype above), tput reports the terminal's
- description (or "long name") to the standard output, without a
- trailing newline. See term(5).
+ Note: Redirecting the output of "tputinit" or "tputreset" to a file
+ will capture only part of their actions. Changes to the terminal modes
+ are not affected by file descriptor redirection, since the terminal
+ modes are altered via ioctl(2).
- tput handles the clear, init and reset commands specially: it allows
- for the possibility that it is invoked by a link with those names.
+ If tput is invoked via link with any of the names clear, init, or
+ reset, it operates as if run with the corresponding (pseudo-)capability
+ operand. For example, executing a link named reset that points to tput
+ has the same effect as "tputreset". (The tset(1) utility also treats
+ a link named reset specially.)
- If tput is invoked by a link named reset, this has the same effect as
- tputreset. The tset(1) utility also treats a link named reset
- specially.
+ If tput is invoked by a link named init, this has the same effect as
+ "tputinit". Such a link is seldom employed because another program of
+ that name is in widespread use.
- Before ncurses 6.1, the two utilities were different from each other:
- otset utility reset the terminal modes and special characters (not
- done with tput).
-
- o On the other hand, tset's repertoire of terminal capabilities for
- resetting the terminal was more limited, i.e., only reset_1string,
- reset_2string and reset_file in contrast to the tab-stops and
- margins which are set by this utility.
-
- o The reset program is usually an alias for tset, because of this
- difference with resetting terminal modes and special characters.
-
- With the changes made for ncurses 6.1, the reset feature of the two
- programs is (mostly) the same. A few differences remain:
+
+ Besides the pseudo-capabilities (such as init), tput treats the lines
+ and colscap-codes specially: it may call setupterm(3x) to obtain the
+ terminal size.
- o The tset program waits one second when resetting, in case it
- happens to be a hardware terminal.
+ o First, tput attempts to obtain these capabilities from the terminal
+ database. This generally fails for terminal emulators, which lack
+ a fixed window size and thus omit the capabilities.
- o The two programs write the terminal initialization strings to
- different streams (i.e., the standard error for tset and the
- standard output for tput).
+ o It then asks the operating system for the terminal's size, which
+ generally works, unless the connection is via a serial line that
+ does not support "NAWS": negotiations about window size.
- Note: although these programs write to different streams,
- redirecting their output to a file will capture only part of their
- actions. The changes to the terminal modes are not affected by
- redirecting the output.
+ o Finally, it inspects the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS,
+ which may override the terminal size.
- If tput is invoked by a link named init, this has the same effect as
- tputinit. Again, you are less likely to use that link because another
- program named init has a more well-established use.
+ If the -T option is given, tput ignores the environment variables by
+ calling use_tioctl(TRUE), relying upon the operating system (or,
+ ultimately, the terminal database).
-
- Besides the special commands (e.g., clear), tput treats certain
- terminfo capabilities specially: lines and cols. tput calls
- setupterm(3x) to obtain the terminal size:
+
+ -S retrieves more than one capability per invocation of tput.
+ The capabilities must be passed to tput from the standard
+ input stream instead of from the command line (see section
+ "EXAMPLES" below). Only one cap-code is allowed per line.
+ The -S option changes the meanings of the 0 and 1 exit
+ statuses (see section "EXIT STATUS" below).
- o first, it gets the size from the terminal database (which generally
- is not provided for terminal emulators which do not have a fixed
- window size)
+ Some capabilities use string parameters rather than numeric
+ ones. tput employs a built-in table and the presence of
+ parameters in its input to decide how to interpret them, and
+ whether to use tparm(3x).
- o then it asks the operating system for the terminal's size (which
- generally works, unless connecting via a serial line which does not
- support NAWS: negotiations about window size).
+ -Ttype indicates the terminal's type. Normally this option is
+ unnecessary, because a default is taken from the TERM
+ environment variable. If specified, the environment variables
+ LINES and COLUMNS are also ignored.
- o finally, it inspects the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS
- which may override the terminal size.
+ -V reports the version of ncurses associated with tput, and exits
+ with a successful status.
- If the -T option is given tput ignores the environment variables by
- calling use_tioctl(TRUE), relying upon the operating system (or
- finally, the terminal database).
+ -x prevents "tputclear" from attempting to clear the scrollback
+ buffer.
- If the -S option is used, tput checks for errors from each line, and if
- any errors are found, will set the exit status to 4 plus the number of
- lines with errors. If no errors are found, the exit status is 0. No
- indication of which line failed can be given so exit status 1 will
- never appear. Exit statuses 2, 3, and 4 retain their usual
- interpretation. If the -S option is not used, the exit status depends
- on the type of cap-code:
+ Normally, one should interpret tput's exit statuses as follows.
- Boolean
- a value of 0 is set for TRUE and 1 for FALSE.
+ StatusMeaningWhen-SNotSpecified
+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 0 Boolean or string capability present
+ 1 Boolean or numeric capability absent
+ 2 usage error or no terminal type specified
+ 3 unrecognized terminal type
+ 4 unrecognized capability code
+ >4 system error (4 + errno)
- string a value of 0 is set if the cap-code is defined for this
- terminal type (the value of cap-code is returned on standard
- output); a value of 1 is set if cap-code is not defined for
- this terminal type (nothing is written to standard output).
+ When the -S option is used, some statuses change meanings.
- integer
- a value of 0 is always set, whether or not cap-code is
- defined for this terminal type. To determine if cap-code is
- defined for this terminal type, the user must test the value
- written to standard output. A value of -1 means that cap-
- code is not defined for this terminal type.
+ StatusMeaningWhen-SSpecified
+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 0 all operands interpreted
+ 1 unused
+ 4 some operands not interpreted
- otherreset or init may fail to find their respective files. In
- that case, the exit status is set to 4 + errno.
- Any other exit status indicates an error; see section "DIAGNOSTICS"
- below.
+
- tput prints the following error messages and sets the corresponding
- exit statuses.
-
- exit status error message
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 0 (cap-code is a numeric variable that is not specified in
- the terminfo(5) database for this terminal type, e.g.
- tput-T450lines and tput-Thp2621xmc)
- 1 no error message is printed, see the EXITSTATUS section.
- 2 usage error
- 3 unknown terminal type or no terminfo database
- 4 unknown terminfo capability cap-code
- >4 error occurred in -S
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ TERM denotes the terminal type. Each terminal type is distinct,
+ though many are similar. The -T option overrides its value.
- This implementation of tput differs from AT&T tput in two important
- areas:
+ Over time ncursestput has differed from that of System V in two
+ important respects, one now mostly historical.
- otputcap-code writes to the standard output. That need not be a
- regular terminal. However, the subcommands which manipulate
- terminal modes may not use the standard output.
+ o "tputcap-code" writes to the standard output, which need not be a
+ terminal device. However, the operands that manipulate terminal
+ modes might not use the standard output.
- The AT&T implementation's init and reset commands use the BSD
- (4.1c) tset source, which manipulates terminal modes. It
- successively tries standard output, standard error, standard input
- before falling back to "/dev/tty" and finally just assumes a 1200Bd
+ System V tput's init and reset operands use logic from 4.1cBSD
+ tset, manipulating terminal modes. It checks the same file
+ descriptors (and /dev/tty) for association with a terminal device
+ as ncurses now does, and if none are, finally assumes a 1200 baud
terminal. When updating terminal modes, it ignores errors.
- Until changes made after ncurses 6.0, tput did not modify terminal
- modes. tput now uses a similar scheme, using functions shared with
- tset (and ultimately based on the 4.4BSD tset). If it is not able
- to open a terminal, e.g., when running in cron(1), tput will return
- an error.
+ Until ncurses 6.1 (see section "HISTORY" below), tput did not
+ modify terminal modes. It now employs a scheme similar to
+ System V, using functions shared with tset (and ultimately based on
+ 4.4BSD tset). If it is not able to open a terminal (for instance,
+ when run by cron(1)), tput exits with an error status.
- o AT&T tput guesses the type of its cap-code operands by seeing if
- all of the characters are numeric, or not.
+ o System V tput assumes that the type of a cap-code operand is
+ numeric if all the characters of its value are decimal numbers; if
+ they are not, it treats cap-code as a string capability.
- Most implementations which provide support for cap-code operands
- use the tparm function to expand parameters in it. That function
+ Most implementations that provide support for cap-code operands use
+ the tparm(3x) function to expand its parameters. That function
expects a mixture of numeric and string parameters, requiring tput
to know which type to use.
- This implementation uses a table to determine the parameter types
- for the standard cap-code operands, and an internal library
- function to analyze nonstandard cap-code operands.
-
- Besides providing more reliable operation than AT&T's utility, a
- portability problem is introduced by this analysis: An OpenBSD
- developer adapted the internal library function from ncurses to
- port NetBSD's termcap-based tput to terminfo. That had been
- modified to interpret multiple commands on a line. Portable
- applications should not rely upon this feature; ncurses provides it
- to support applications written specifically for OpenBSD.
-
- This implementation (unlike others) can accept both termcap and
- terminfo names for the cap-code feature, if termcap support is compiled
- in. However, the predefined termcap and terminfo names have two
- ambiguities in this case (and the terminfo name is assumed):
-
- o The termcap name dl corresponds to the terminfo name dl1 (delete
- one line).
- The terminfo name dl corresponds to the termcap name DL (delete a
- given number of lines).
-
- o The termcap name ed corresponds to the terminfo name rmdc (end
- delete mode).
- The terminfo name ed corresponds to the termcap name cd (clear to
- end of screen).
-
- The longname and -S options, and the parameter-substitution features
- used in the cup example, were not supported in AT&T/USL curses before
- SVr4 (1989). Later, 4.3BSD-Reno (1990) added support for longname, and
- NetBSD (1994) added support for the parameter-substitution features.
-
- IEEE Std 1003.1/The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7
- (POSIX.1-2008) documents only the operands for clear, init and reset.
- There are a few interesting observations to make regarding that:
-
- o In this implementation, clear is part of the cap-code support. The
- others (init and longname) do not correspond to terminal
+ ncursestput uses a table to determine the parameter types for the
+ standard cap-code operands, and an internal function to analyze
+ nonstandard cap-code operands.
+
+ While more reliable than System V's utility, a portability problem
+ is introduced by this analysis. An OpenBSD developer adapted the
+ internal library function from ncurses to port NetBSD's termcap-
+ based tput to terminfo, and modified it to interpret multiple cap-
+ codes (and parameters) on the command line. Portable applications
+ should not rely upon this feature; ncurses offers it to support
+ applications written specifically for OpenBSD.
+
+ This implementation, unlike others, accepts both termcap and terminfo
+ cap-codes if termcap support is compiled in. In that case, however,
+ the predefined termcap and terminfo codes have two ambiguities; ncurses
+ assumes the terminfo code.
+
+ o The cap-codedl means delete_line to termcap but parm_delete_line
+ to terminfo.termcap uses the code DL for parm_delete_line. term-
+ info uses the code dch1 for delete_line.
+
+ o The cap-codeed means exit_delete_mode to termcap but clr_eos to
+ terminfo.termcap uses the code cd for clr_eos. terminfo uses the
+ code rmdc for exit_delete_mode.
+
+ The longname operand, -S option, and the parameter-substitution
+ features used in the cup example below, were not supported in AT&T/USL
+ curses before SVr4 (1989). Later, 4.3BSD-Reno (1990) added support for
+ longname, and in 1994, NetBSD added support for the parameter-
+ substitution features.
+
+ IEEE Std 1003.1/The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7
+ (POSIX.1-2008) documents only the clear, init, and reset operands. A
+ few observations of interest arise from that selection.
+
+ oncurses supports clear as it does any other standard cap-code. The
+ others (init and longname) do not correspond to terminal
capabilities.
- o Other implementations of tput on SVr4-based systems such as
- Solaris, IRIX64 and HP-UX as well as others such as AIX and Tru64
- provide support for cap-code operands.
+ o The tput on SVr4-based systems such as Solaris, IRIX64, and HP-UX,
+ as well as others such as AIX and Tru64, also support standard cap-
+ code operands.
- o A few platforms such as FreeBSD recognize termcap names rather than
- terminfo capability names in their respective tput commands. Since
- 2010, NetBSD's tput uses terminfo names. Before that, it (like
- FreeBSD) recognized termcap names.
+ o A few platforms such as FreeBSD recognize termcap names rather than
+ terminfo capability names in their respective tput commands. Since
+ 2010, NetBSD's tput uses terminfo names. Before that, it (like
+ FreeBSD) recognized termcap names.
- Beginning in 2021, FreeBSD uses the ncursestput, configured for
- both terminfo (tested first) and termcap (as a fallback).
+ Beginning in 2021, FreeBSD uses ncursestput, configured for both
+ terminfo (tested first) and termcap (as a fallback).
- Because (apparently) all of the certified Unix systems support the full
- set of capability names, the reasoning for documenting only a few may
- not be apparent.
+ Because (apparently) all certified Unix systems support the full set of
+ capability codes, the reason for documenting only a few may not be
+ apparent.
o X/Open Curses Issue 7 documents tput differently, with cap-code and
the other features used in this implementation.
- o That is, there are two standards for tput: POSIX (a subset) and
- X/Open Curses (the full implementation). POSIX documents a subset
- to avoid the complication of including X/Open Curses and the
- terminal capabilities database.
+ o That is, there are two standards for tput: POSIX (a subset) and
+ X/Open Curses (the full implementation). POSIX documents a subset
+ to avoid the complication of including X/Open Curses and the
+ terminal capability database.
- o While it is certainly possible to write a tput program without
- using curses, no system with a curses implementation provides a
- tput utility that does not also supply the cap-code feature.
+ o While it is certainly possible to write a tput program without
+ using curses, no system with a curses implementation provides a
+ tput utility that does not also support standard cap-codes.
X/Open Curses Issue 7 (2009) is the first version to document
utilities. However that part of X/Open Curses does not follow existing
practice (that is, System V curses behavior).
- o It assigns exit status 4 to "invalid operand", which may be the
- same as unknowncapability. For instance, the source code for
- Solaris' xcurses uses the term "invalid" in this case.
+ o It assigns exit status 4 to "invalid operand", which may have the
+ same meaning as "unknown capability". For instance, the source
+ code for Solaris xcurses uses the term "invalid" in this case.
- o It assigns exit status 255 to a numeric variable that is not
- specified in the terminfo database. That likely is a documentation
- error, confusing the -1 written to the standard output for an
- absent or cancelled numeric value versus an (unsigned) exit status.
+ o It assigns exit status 255 to a numeric variable that is not
+ specified in the terminfo database. That likely is a documentation
+ error, mistaking the "-1" written to the standard output to
+ indicate an absent or cancelled numeric capability for an
+ (unsigned) exit status.
- The various Unix systems (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris) use the same exit
- statuses as ncurses.
+ The various System V implementations (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris) use the same
+ exit statuses as ncurses.
- NetBSD curses documents different exit statuses which do not correspond
- to either ncurses or X/Open.
+ NetBSD curses documents exit statuses that correspond to neither
+ ncurses nor X/Open Curses.
- The tput command was begun by Bill Joy in 1980. The initial version
- only cleared the screen.
-
- AT&T System V provided a different tput command:
+ Bill Joy wrote a tput command during development of 4BSD in October
+ 1980. This initial version only cleared the screen, and did not ship
+ with official distributions.
+
+ System V developed a different tput command.
+
+ o SVr2 (1984) provided a rudimentary tput that checked the parameter
+ against each predefined capability and returned the corresponding
+ value. This version of tput did not use tparm(3x) for
+ parameterized capabilities.
+
+ o SVr3 (1987) replaced that with a more extensive program whose
+ support for init and reset operands (more than half the program)
+ incorporated the reset feature of BSD tset written by Eric Allman.
+
+ o SVr4 (1989) added color initialization by using the orig_colors
+ (oc) and orig_pair (op) capabilities in its init logic.
+
+ Keith Bostic refactored BSD tput for shipment in 4.3BSD-Tahoe (1988),
+ then replaced it the next year with a new implementation based on
+ System V tput. Bostic's version similarly accepted some parameters
+ named for terminfo (pseudo-)capabilities: clear, init, longname, and
+ reset. However, because he had only termcap available, it accepted
+ termcap names for other capabilities. Also, Bostic's BSD tput did not
+ modify the terminal modes as the earlier BSD tset had done.
+
+ At the same time, Bostic added a shell script named "clear" that used
+ tput to clear the screen. Both of these appeared in 4.4BSD, becoming
+ the "modern" BSD implementation of tput.
+
+ The origin of ncursestput lies outside both System V and BSD, in Ross
+ Ridge's mytinfo package, published on comp.sources.unix in December
+ 1992. Ridge's program made more sophisticated use of the terminal
+ capabilities than the BSD program. Eric Raymond used that tput program
+ (and other parts of mytinfo) in ncurses in June 1995. Incorporating
+ the portions dealing with terminal capabilities almost without change,
+ Raymond made improvements to the way command-line parameters were
+ handled.
+
+ Before ncurses 6.1 (2018), its tset and tput utilities differed.
+
+ otset was more effective, resetting the terminal modes and special
+ characters.
- o SVr2 provided a rudimentary tput which checked the parameter
- against each predefined capability and returned the corresponding
- value. This version of tput did not use tparm(3x) for the
- capabilities which are parameterized.
-
- o SVr3 replaced that, a year later, by a more extensive program whose
- init and reset subcommands (more than half the program) were
- incorporated from the reset feature of BSD tset written by Eric
- Allman.
-
- o SVr4 added color initialization using the orig_colors and orig_pair
- capabilities in the init subcommand.
+ o On the other hand, tset's repertoire of terminal capabilities for
+ resetting the terminal was more limited; it had only equivalents of
+ reset_1string (rs1), reset_2string (rs2), and reset_file (rf), and
+ not the tab stop and margin update features of tput.
- Keith Bostic replaced the BSD tput command in 1989 with a new
- implementation based on the AT&T System V program tput. Like the AT&T
- program, Bostic's version accepted some parameters named for terminfo
- capabilities (clear, init, longname and reset). However (because he
- had only termcap available), it accepted termcap names for other
- capabilities. Also, Bostic's BSD tput did not modify the terminal I/O
- modes as the earlier BSD tset had done.
+ The reset program is traditionally an alias for tset due to its ability
+ to reset terminal modes and special characters.
- At the same time, Bostic added a shell script named "clear", which used
- tput to clear the screen.
+ As of ncurses 6.1, the "reset" features of the two programs are
+ (mostly) the same. Two minor differences remain.
- Both of these appeared in 4.4BSD, becoming the "modern" BSD
- implementation of tput.
+ o The tset program waits one second when resetting, in case the
+ terminal happens to be a hardware device.
- This implementation of tput began from a different source than AT&T or
- BSD: Ross Ridge's mytinfo package, published on comp.sources.unix in
- December 1992. Ridge's program made more sophisticated use of the
- terminal capabilities than the BSD program. Eric Raymond used that
- tput program (and other parts of mytinfo) in ncurses in June 1995.
- Using the portions dealing with terminal capabilities almost without
- change, Raymond made improvements to the way the command-line
- parameters were handled.
+ o The two programs write the terminal initialization strings to
+ different streams; that is, standard error for tset and standard
+ output for tput.
tputinit
- Initialize the terminal according to the type of terminal in the
- environment variable TERM. This command should be included in
- everyone's .profile after the environment variable TERM has been
- exported, as illustrated on the profile(5) manual page.
+ Initialize the terminal according to the type of terminal in the
+ TERM environment variable. If the system does not reliably
+ initialize the terminal upon login, this command can be included
+ in $HOME/.profile after exporting the TERM environment variable.
tput-T5620reset
- Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type of terminal in
- the environment variable TERM.
+ Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the terminal type in the
+ TERM environment variable.
- tputcup00
- Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 0, column 0 (the upper
- left corner of the screen, usually known as the "home" cursor
- position).
+ tputcnorm
+ Set cursor to normal visibility.
+
+ tputhome
+ Move the cursor to row 0, column 0: the upper left corner of the
+ screen, usually known as the "home" cursor position.
tputclear
- Echo the clear-screen sequence for the current terminal.
+ Clear the screen: write the clear_screen capability's value to
+ the standard output stream.
tputcols
- Print the number of columns for the current terminal.
+ Report the number of columns used by the current terminal type.
+
+ tput-Tadm3acols
+ Report the number of columns used by an ADM-3A terminal.
- tput-T450cols
- Print the number of columns for the 450 terminal.
+ strong=`tputsmso`normal=`tputrmso`
+ Set shell variables to capability values: strong and normal, to
+ begin and end, respectively, stand-out mode for the terminal.
+ One might use these to present a prompt.
- bold=`tputsmso`offbold=`tputrmso`
- Set the shell variables bold, to begin stand-out mode sequence,
- and offbold, to end standout mode sequence, for the current
- terminal. This might be followed by a prompt: echo"${bold}Please
- typeinyourname:${offbold}\c"
+ printf "${strong}Username:${normal} "
tputhc
- Set exit status to indicate if the current terminal is a hard copy
- terminal.
+ Indicate via exit status whether the terminal is a hard copy
+ device.
tputcup234
- Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 23, column 4.
+ Move the cursor to row 23, column 4.
tputcup
- Send the terminfo string for cursor-movement, with no parameters
- substituted.
+ Report the value of the cursor_address (cup) capability (used
+ for cursor movement), with no parameters substituted.
tputlongname
- Print the long name from the terminfo database for the type of
- terminal specified in the environment variable TERM.
+ Report the terminfo database's description of the terminal type
+ specified in the TERM environment variable.
tput-S
- The -S option can be profitably used with a shell "here document".
-
- $ tput-S<<!
- > clear
- > cup1010
- > bold
- > !
+ Process multiple capabilities. The -S option can be profitably
+ used with a shell "here document".
- We see tput processing several capabilities in one invocation. It
- clears the screen, moves the cursor to position (10, 10) and turns
- on bold (extra bright) mode.
+ $ tput-S<<!
+ > clear
+ > cup1010
+ > bold
+ > !
- The same sequence of commands can be combined using the OpenBSD
- feature:
+ The foregoing clears the screen, moves the cursor to position
+ (10, 10) and turns on bold (extra bright) mode.
- $ tputclearcup1010bold
+ tputclearcup1010bold
+ Perform the same actions as the foregoing "tput-S" example.