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31 .\" $Id: tput.1,v 1.97 2023/12/31 00:16:41 tom Exp $
32 .TH @TPUT@ 1 2023-12-30 "ncurses 6.4" "User commands"
52 initialize a terminal or query \fI\%term\%info\fP database
54 \fB@TPUT@\fP [\fB\-T\fP \fIterminal-type\fP]
55 {\fIcap-code\fP [\fIparameter\fP .\|.\|.\&]} .\|.\|.
57 \fB@TPUT@\fP [\fB\-T\fP \fIterminal-type\fP] [\fB\-x\fP] \fBclear\fP
59 \fB@TPUT@\fP [\fB\-T\fP \fIterminal-type\fP] \fBinit\fP
61 \fB@TPUT@\fP [\fB\-T\fP \fIterminal-type\fP] \fBreset\fP
63 \fB@TPUT@\fP [\fB\-T\fP \fIterminal-type\fP] \fBlongname\fP
69 \fB@TPUT@\fP uses the \fI\%term\%info\fP library and database to make
70 the values of terminal-specific capabilities and information available
72 to initialize or reset the terminal,
73 or report the long name of the current
76 When retrieving capability values,
77 the result depends upon the capability's type.
78 .TP 9 \" "Boolean" + 2n
80 \fB@TPUT@\fP sets its exit status to
82 if the terminal possesses
91 decimal value to the standard output stream if defined
94 followed by a newline.
99 value to the standard output stream if defined,
100 without a trailing newline.
102 Before using a value returned on the standard output,
103 the application should test \fB@TPUT@\fP's exit status
105 using \fB$?\fP in \fIsh\fP(1))
106 to be sure it is \fB0\fP;
107 see sections \*(``EXIT STATUS\*('' and \*(``DIAGNOSTICS\*('' below.
108 For a complete list of
110 see \fB\%terminfo\fP(5).
114 allows more than one capability per invocation of \fB@TPUT@\fP.
115 The capabilities must be passed to \fB@TPUT@\fP from the standard input
116 instead of from the command line
118 Only one \fIcap-code\fP is allowed per line.
119 The \fB\-S\fP option changes the
120 meaning of the \fB0\fP and \fB1\fP Boolean and string exit statuses
121 (see section \*(``EXIT STATUS\*('' below).
123 Because some capabilities may use
124 \fIstring\fP parameters rather than \fInumbers\fP,
125 \fB@TPUT@\fP uses a table and the presence of parameters in its input
126 to decide whether to use \fBtparm\fP(3X),
127 and how to interpret the parameters.
130 indicates the \fItype\fP of terminal.
131 Normally this option is
132 unnecessary, because the default is taken from the environment
134 If \fB\-T\fP is specified, then the shell
135 variables \fILINES\fP and \fI\%COLUMNS\fP will also be ignored.
138 reports the version of \fI\%ncurses\fP which was used in this program,
142 prevents \fB\%@TPUT@\fP from attempting to clear the scrollback buffer.
144 A few commands (\fBinit\fP, \fBreset\fP and \fBlongname\fP) are
145 special; they are defined by the \fB@TPUT@\fP program.
146 The others are the names of \fIcapabilities\fP from the terminal database
147 (see \fB\%terminfo\fP(5) for a list).
148 Although \fBinit\fP and \fBreset\fP resemble capability names,
149 \fB@TPUT@\fP uses several capabilities to perform these special functions.
152 indicates the capability from the terminal database.
154 If the capability is a string that takes parameters, the arguments
155 following the capability will be used as parameters for the string.
157 Most parameters are numbers.
158 Only a few terminal capabilities require string parameters;
159 \fB@TPUT@\fP uses a table to decide which to pass as strings.
160 Normally \fB@TPUT@\fP uses \fBtparm\fP(3X) to perform the substitution.
161 If no parameters are given for the capability,
162 \fB@TPUT@\fP writes the string without performing the substitution.
165 If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's
166 terminal exists (see \fB\-T\fItype\fR, above), the following will
171 first, \fB@TPUT@\fP retrieves the current terminal mode settings
173 It does this by successively testing
182 ultimately \*(``/dev/tty\*(''
185 to obtain terminal settings.
186 Having retrieved these settings, \fB@TPUT@\fP remembers which
187 file descriptor to use when updating settings.
190 if the window size cannot be obtained from the operating system,
191 but the terminal description
194 \fILINES\fP and \fI\%COLUMNS\fP variables specify this),
195 update the operating system's notion of the window size.
198 the terminal modes will be updated:
201 any delays (e.g., newline) specified in the entry will
202 be set in the tty driver,
204 tabs expansion will be turned on or off according to
205 the specification in the entry, and
207 if tabs are not expanded,
208 standard tabs will be set (every 8 spaces).
212 if present, the terminal's initialization strings will be
213 output as detailed in the \fB\%terminfo\fP(5) section on
214 .IR "Tabs and Initialization" ,
221 contain the information needed for any of these activities,
222 that activity will silently be skipped.
225 This is similar to \fBinit\fP, with two differences:
229 before any other initialization,
230 the terminal modes will be reset to a \*(``sane\*('' state:
233 set cooked and echo modes,
235 turn off cbreak and raw modes,
237 turn on newline translation and
239 reset any unset special characters to their default values
243 Instead of putting out \fIinitialization\fP strings, the terminal's
244 \fIreset\fP strings will be output if present
245 (\fBrs1\fP, \fBrs2\fP, \fBrs3\fP, \fBrf\fP).
246 If the \fIreset\fP strings are not present, but \fIinitialization\fP
247 strings are, the \fIinitialization\fP strings will be output.
250 Otherwise, \fBreset\fP acts identically to \fBinit\fP.
253 A terminfo entry begins with one or more names by which an
254 application can refer to the entry,
255 before the list of terminal capabilities.
256 The names are separated by \*(``|\*('' characters.
257 X/Open states that the last name is the \*(``long name\*(''
258 and also that it may include blanks.
260 \fB\%@TIC@\fP warns if the last name does not include blanks,
261 to accommodate old terminfo entries which treated
262 the long name as an optional feature.
263 The long name is often referred to as the description field.
265 If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's terminal
271 \fB\%@TPUT@\fP reports the terminal's description
272 (or \*(``long name\*('')
273 to the standard output,
274 without a trailing newline.
275 See \fB\%term\%info\fP(5).
277 \fB@TPUT@\fP handles the \fBclear\fP, \fBinit\fP and \fBreset\fP
279 it allows for the possibility that it is invoked by a link with those names.
281 If \fB@TPUT@\fP is invoked by a link named \fBreset\fP, this has the
282 same effect as \fB@TPUT@ reset\fP.
283 The \fB@TSET@\fP(1) utility also treats a link named \fBreset\fP specially.
285 Before \fI\%ncurses\fP 6.1,
286 the two utilities were different from each other:
288 \fB@TSET@\fP utility reset the terminal modes and special characters
289 (not done with \fB@TPUT@\fP).
291 On the other hand, \fB@TSET@\fP's repertoire of terminal capabilities for
292 resetting the terminal was more limited,
293 i.e., only \fBreset_1string\fP, \fBreset_2string\fP and \fBreset_file\fP
294 in contrast to the tab-stops and margins which are set by this utility.
296 The \fBreset\fP program is usually an alias for \fB@TSET@\fP,
297 because of this difference with resetting terminal modes and special characters.
299 With the changes made for \fI\%ncurses\fP 6.1,
300 the \fIreset\fP feature of the two programs is (mostly) the same.
301 A few differences remain:
303 The \fB@TSET@\fP program waits one second when resetting,
304 in case it happens to be a hardware terminal.
306 The two programs write the terminal initialization strings
307 to different streams (i.e., the standard error for \fB@TSET@\fP and the
308 standard output for \fB@TPUT@\fP).
310 \fBNote:\fP although these programs write to different streams,
311 redirecting their output to a file will capture only part of their actions.
312 The changes to the terminal modes are not affected by redirecting the output.
314 If \fB@TPUT@\fP is invoked by a link named \fBinit\fP, this has the
315 same effect as \fB@TPUT@ init\fP.
316 Again, you are less likely to use that link because another program
317 named \fBinit\fP has a more well-established use.
319 Besides the special commands (e.g., \fBclear\fP),
320 @TPUT@ treats certain terminfo capabilities specially:
321 \fBlines\fP and \fBcols\fP.
322 @TPUT@ calls \fBsetupterm\fP(3X) to obtain the terminal size:
324 first, it gets the size from the terminal database
325 (which generally is not provided for terminal emulators
326 which do not have a fixed window size)
328 then it asks the operating system for the terminal's size
329 (which generally works, unless connecting via a serial line which
330 does not support \fINAWS\fP: negotiations about window size).
332 finally, it inspects the environment variables \fILINES\fP and
333 \fI\%COLUMNS\fP which may override the terminal size.
335 If the \fB\-T\fP option is given
336 @TPUT@ ignores the environment variables by calling \fBuse_tioctl(TRUE)\fP,
337 relying upon the operating system (or finally, the terminal database).
339 If the \fB\-S\fP option is used,
340 \fB@TPUT@\fP checks for errors from each line,
341 and if any errors are found, will set the exit status to 4 plus the
342 number of lines with errors.
343 If no errors are found, the exit status is \fB0\fP.
344 No indication of which line failed can be given so
345 exit status \fB1\fP will never appear.
346 Exit statuses \fB2\fP, \fB3\fP, and
347 \fB4\fP retain their usual interpretation.
348 If the \fB\-S\fP option is not used,
349 the exit status depends on the type of \fIcap-code\fP:
353 a value of \fB0\fP is set for TRUE and \fB1\fP for FALSE.
356 a value of \fB0\fP is set if the
357 \fIcap-code\fP is defined for this terminal \fItype\fP (the value of
358 \fIcap-code\fP is returned on standard output);
359 a value of \fB1\fP is set if \fIcap-code\fP
360 is not defined for this terminal \fItype\fP
361 (nothing is written to standard output).
364 a value of \fB0\fP is always set,
365 whether or not \fIcap-code\fP is defined for this terminal \fItype\fP.
366 To determine if \fIcap-code\fP is defined for this terminal \fItype\fP,
367 the user must test the value written to standard output.
369 means that \fIcap-code\fP is not defined for this terminal \fItype\fP.
372 \fBreset\fP or \fBinit\fP may fail to find their respective files.
373 In that case, the exit status is set to 4 + \fBerrno\fP.
376 Any other exit status indicates an error;
377 see section \*(``DIAGNOSTICS\*('' below.
379 \fB@TPUT@\fP prints the following error messages and sets the
380 corresponding exit statuses.
385 exit status error message
388 (\fIcap-code\fP is a numeric variable that is not specified in the
389 \fB\%terminfo\fP(5) database for this terminal type, e.g.
390 \fB@TPUT@ \-T450 lines\fP and \fB@TPUT@ \-Thp2621 xmc\fP)
392 \fB1\fP no error message is printed, see the \fBEXIT STATUS\fP section.
394 \fB3\fP unknown terminal \fItype\fP or no \fI\%term\%info\fP database
395 \fB4\fP unknown \fI\%term\%info\fP capability \fIcap-code\fP
396 \fB>4\fP error occurred in \-S
402 tab stop initialization database
405 compiled terminal description database
407 This implementation of \fBtput\fP differs from AT&T \fBtput\fP in
410 \fB@TPUT@\fP \fIcap-code\fP writes to the standard output.
411 That need not be a regular terminal.
412 However, the subcommands which manipulate terminal modes
413 may not use the standard output.
415 The AT&T implementation's \fBinit\fP and \fBreset\fP commands
416 use the BSD (4.1c) \fBtset\fP source, which manipulates terminal modes.
417 It successively tries standard output, standard error, standard input
418 before falling back to \*(``/dev/tty\*('' and finally just assumes
420 When updating terminal modes, it ignores errors.
422 Until changes made after \fI\%ncurses\fP 6.0,
423 \fB@TPUT@\fP did not modify terminal modes.
424 \fB@TPUT@\fP now uses a similar scheme,
425 using functions shared with \fB@TSET@\fP
426 (and ultimately based on the 4.4BSD \fBtset\fP).
427 If it is not able to open a terminal, e.g., when running in \fBcron\fP(1),
428 \fB@TPUT@\fP will return an error.
430 AT&T \fBtput\fP guesses the type of its \fIcap-code\fP operands by
431 seeing if all of the characters are numeric,
434 Most implementations which provide support for \fIcap-code\fP operands
435 use the \fBtparm\fP function to expand parameters in it.
436 That function expects a mixture of numeric and string parameters,
437 requiring \fB@TPUT@\fP to know which type to use.
439 This implementation uses a table to determine the parameter types for
440 the standard \fIcap-code\fP operands, and an internal library
441 function to analyze nonstandard \fIcap-code\fP operands.
443 Besides providing more reliable operation than AT&T's utility,
444 a portability problem is introduced by this analysis:
445 An OpenBSD developer adapted the internal library function from
446 \fI\%ncurses\fP to port NetBSD's termcap-based \fBtput\fP to terminfo.
447 That had been modified to interpret multiple commands on a line.
448 Portable applications should not rely upon this feature;
449 \fI\%ncurses\fP provides it to support applications written
450 specifically for OpenBSD.
452 This implementation (unlike others) can accept both \fItermcap\fP
453 and \fIterminfo\fP names for the \fIcap-code\fP feature,
455 \fItermcap\fP support is compiled in.
456 However, the predefined \fItermcap\fP and \fIterminfo\fP names have two
457 ambiguities in this case (and the \fIterminfo\fP name is assumed):
459 The \fItermcap\fP name \fBdl\fP corresponds to
460 the \fIterminfo\fP name \fBdl1\fP (delete one line).
462 The \fIterminfo\fP name \fBdl\fP corresponds to
463 the \fItermcap\fP name \fBDL\fP (delete a given number of lines).
465 The \fItermcap\fP name \fBed\fP corresponds to
466 the \fIterminfo\fP name \fBrmdc\fP (end delete mode).
468 The \fIterminfo\fP name \fBed\fP corresponds to
469 the \fItermcap\fP name \fBcd\fP (clear to end of screen).
471 The \fBlongname\fP and \fB\-S\fP options, and the parameter-substitution
472 features used in the \fBcup\fP example,
473 were not supported in
477 Later, 4.3BSD-Reno (1990) added support for \fBlongname\fP,
478 .\" longname was added in October 1989.
479 and NetBSD (1994) added support for the parameter-substitution features.
481 IEEE Std 1003.1/The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7 (POSIX.1-2008)
482 documents only the operands for \fBclear\fP, \fBinit\fP and \fBreset\fP.
483 There are a few interesting observations to make regarding that:
485 In this implementation,
486 \fBclear\fP is part of the \fIcap-code\fP support.
487 The others (\fBinit\fP and \fBlongname\fP) do not correspond to terminal
490 Other implementations of \fBtput\fP on
491 SVr4-based systems such as Solaris, IRIX64 and HP-UX
492 as well as others such as AIX and Tru64
493 provide support for \fIcap-code\fP operands.
495 A few platforms such as FreeBSD recognize termcap names rather
496 than terminfo capability names in their respective \fBtput\fP commands.
497 Since 2010, NetBSD's \fBtput\fP uses terminfo names.
498 Before that, it (like FreeBSD) recognized termcap names.
500 Beginning in 2021, FreeBSD uses the \fI\%ncurses\fP \fBtput\fP,
501 configured for both terminfo (tested first) and termcap (as a fallback).
503 Because (apparently) \fIall\fP of the certified Unix systems
504 support the full set of capability names, the reasoning for documenting
505 only a few may not be apparent.
507 X/Open Curses Issue 7 documents \fBtput\fP differently,
508 with \fIcap-code\fP and the other features used in this implementation.
510 That is, there are two standards for \fBtput\fP:
511 POSIX (a subset) and X/Open Curses (the full implementation).
512 POSIX documents a subset to avoid the complication of including X/Open Curses
513 and the terminal capabilities database.
515 While it is certainly possible to write a \fBtput\fP program
520 implementation provides a \fBtput\fP utility that does not also supply
521 the \fIcap-code\fP feature.
523 X/Open Curses Issue 7 (2009) is the first version to document utilities.
524 However that part of X/Open Curses does not follow existing practice
530 It assigns exit status 4 to \*(``invalid operand\*('',
531 which may be the same as \fIunknown capability\fP.
532 For instance, the source code for Solaris' xcurses uses the term
533 \*(``invalid\*('' in this case.
535 It assigns exit status 255 to a numeric variable that is not specified in
536 the terminfo database.
537 That likely is a documentation error,
538 confusing the \fB\-1\fP written to the standard output for an absent
539 or cancelled numeric value versus an (unsigned) exit status.
541 The various Unix systems (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris) use the same exit statuses
544 NetBSD curses documents different exit statuses which do not correspond
545 to either \fI\%ncurses\fP or X/Open.
547 The \fBtput\fP command was begun by Bill Joy in 1980.
548 The initial version only cleared the screen.
550 AT&T System V provided a different \fBtput\fP command:
552 SVr2 provided a rudimentary \fBtput\fP
553 which checked the parameter against each
554 predefined capability and returned the corresponding value.
555 This version of \fBtput\fP did not use \fBtparm\fP(3X) for
556 the capabilities which are parameterized.
558 SVr3 replaced that, a year later, by a more extensive program
559 whose \fBinit\fP and \fBreset\fP subcommands
560 (more than half the program) were incorporated from
561 the \fBreset\fP feature of BSD \fBtset\fP written by Eric Allman.
563 SVr4 added color initialization using the \fBorig_colors\fP and
564 \fBorig_pair\fP capabilities in the \fBinit\fP subcommand.
566 Keith Bostic replaced the BSD \fBtput\fP command in 1989
567 with a new implementation
568 based on the AT&T System V program \fBtput\fP.
569 Like the AT&T program, Bostic's version
570 accepted some parameters named for \fIterminfo\fP capabilities
571 (\fBclear\fP, \fBinit\fP, \fBlongname\fP and \fBreset\fP).
572 However (because he had only \fItermcap\fP available),
573 it accepted \fItermcap\fP names for other capabilities.
574 Also, Bostic's BSD \fBtput\fP did not modify the terminal I/O modes
575 as the earlier BSD \fBtset\fP had done.
577 At the same time, Bostic added a shell script named \*(``clear\*('',
578 which used \fBtput\fP to clear the screen.
580 Both of these appeared in 4.4BSD,
581 becoming the \*(``modern\*('' BSD implementation of \fBtput\fP.
583 This implementation of \fBtput\fP began from a different source than
584 AT&T or BSD: Ross Ridge's \fImytinfo\fP package, published on
585 \fIcomp.sources.unix\fP in December 1992.
586 Ridge's program made more sophisticated use of the terminal capabilities
587 than the BSD program.
588 Eric Raymond used that \fBtput\fP program
589 (and other parts of \fImytinfo\fP) in \fI\%ncurses\fP in June 1995.
590 Using the portions dealing with terminal capabilities
591 almost without change,
592 Raymond made improvements to the way the command-line parameters
597 Initialize the terminal according to the type of
598 terminal in the environment variable \fITERM\fP.
599 This command should be included in everyone's .profile after
600 the environment variable \fITERM\fP has been exported,
601 as illustrated on the \fBprofile\fP(5) manual page.
603 \fB@TPUT@ \-T5620 reset\fP
604 Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type of
605 terminal in the environment variable \fITERM\fP.
608 Send the sequence to move the cursor to row \fB0\fP, column \fB0\fP
609 (the upper left corner of the screen, usually known as the \*(``home\*(''
613 Echo the clear-screen sequence for the current terminal.
616 Print the number of columns for the current terminal.
618 \fB@TPUT@ \-T450 cols\fP
619 Print the number of columns for the 450 terminal.
621 \fBbold=\(ga@TPUT@ smso\(ga offbold=\(ga@TPUT@ rmso\(ga\fP
622 Set the shell variables \fBbold\fP, to begin stand-out mode
623 sequence, and \fBoffbold\fP, to end standout mode sequence,
624 for the current terminal.
625 This might be followed by a
626 prompt: \fBecho "${bold}Please type in your name: ${offbold}\ec"\fP
629 Set exit status to indicate if the current terminal is a hard copy terminal.
631 \fB@TPUT@ cup 23 4\fP
632 Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 23, column 4.
635 Send the terminfo string for cursor-movement, with no parameters substituted.
637 \fB@TPUT@ longname\fP
638 Print the long name from the \fI\%term\%info\fP database for the
639 type of terminal specified in the environment
643 The \fB\-S\fP option can be profitably used with a shell
644 \*(``here document\*(''.
647 $ \fB@TPUT@ \-S <<!\fP
654 We see \fB@TPUT@\fP processing several capabilities in one invocation.
655 It clears the screen,
656 moves the cursor to position
662 .B @TPUT@ clear cup 10 10 bold
663 Perform the same actions as the foregoing
672 \fB\%curs_termcap\fP(3X),
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