- The tput utility uses the terminfo database to make the
- values of terminal-dependent capabilities and information
- available to the shell (see sh(1)), to initialize or reset
- the terminal, or return the long name of the requested
- terminal type. The result depends upon the capability's
- type:
+ The tput utility uses the terminfo database to make the values of
+ terminal-dependent capabilities and information available to the shell
+ (see sh(1)), to initialize or reset the terminal, or return the long
+ name of the requested terminal type. The result depends upon the
+ capability's type:
string
- tput writes the string to the standard output. No
- trailing newline is supplied.
+ tput writes the string to the standard output. No trailing
+ newline is supplied.
integer
- tput writes the decimal value to the standard out-
- put, with a trailing newline.
+ tput writes the decimal value to the standard output, with a
+ trailing newline.
boolean
- tput simply sets the exit code (0 for TRUE if the
- terminal has the capability, 1 for FALSE if it
- does not), and writes nothing to the standard out-
- put.
+ tput simply sets the exit code (0 for TRUE if the terminal has
+ the capability, 1 for FALSE if it does not), and writes nothing
+ to the standard output.
- Before using a value returned on the standard output, the
- application should test the exit code (e.g., $?, see
- sh(1)) to be sure it is 0. (See the EXITCODES and DIAG-
- NOSTICS sections.) For a complete list of capabilities
- and the capname associated with each, see terminfo(5).
+ Before using a value returned on the standard output, the application
+ should test the exit code (e.g., $?, see sh(1)) to be sure it is 0.
+ (See the EXITCODES and DIAGNOSTICS sections.) For a complete list of
+ capabilities and the capname associated with each, see terminfo(5).
- -Ttype indicates the type of terminal. Normally this
- option is unnecessary, because the default is taken
- from the environment variable TERM. If -T is spec-
- ified, then the shell variables LINES and COLUMNS
- will also be ignored.
+ -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
+ capname is allowed per line. The -S option changes the meaning
+ of the 0 and 1 boolean and string exit codes (see the EXIT CODES
+ section).
- -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 capname is allowed per
- line. The -S option changes the meaning of the 0
- and 1 boolean and string exit codes (see the EXIT
- CODES section).
+ 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.
- Again, tput uses a table and the presence of param-
- eters 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.
- -V reports the version of ncurses which was used in
- this program, and exits.
+ -V reports the version of ncurses which was used in this program,
+ and exits.
+
+ -x do not attempt to clear the terminal's scrollback buffer using
+ the extended "E3" capability.
+ 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.
+
capname
- indicates the capability from the terminfo data-
- base. When termcap support is compiled in, the
- termcap name for the capability is also accepted.
-
- If the capability is a string that takes parame-
- ters, the arguments following the capability will
- be used as parameters for the string.
-
- Most parameters are numbers. Only a few terminfo
- 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 substitu-
- tion.
-
- init If the terminfo database is present and an entry
- for the user's terminal exists (see -Ttype, above),
- the following will occur:
-
- (1) if present, the terminal's initialization
- strings will be output as detailed in the ter-
- minfo(5) section on TabsandInitialization,
-
- (2) any delays (e.g., newline) specified in the
- entry will be set in the tty driver,
-
- (3) tabs expansion will be turned on or off
- according to the specification in the entry,
- and
-
- (4) if tabs are not expanded, standard tabs will
- be set (every 8 spaces).
-
- If an entry does not contain the information needed
- for any of these activities, that activity will
- silently be skipped.
-
- reset 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 ini-
- tialization strings will be output. Otherwise,
- reset acts identically to init.
+ indicates the capability from the terminal database.
+
+ If the capability is a string that takes parameters, the
+ arguments following the capability will be used as parameters
+ for the string.
+
+ 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.
+
+ init If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's
+ terminal exists (see -Ttype, above), the following will occur:
+
+ (1) first, tput retrieves the current terminal mode settings
+ for your terminal. It does this by successively testing
+
+ o the standard error,
+
+ o standard output,
+
+ o standard input and
+
+ o ultimately "/dev/tty"
+
+ to obtain terminal settings. Having retrieved these
+ settings, tput remembers which file descriptor to use when
+ updating settings.
+
+ (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.
+
+ (3) the terminal modes will be updated:
+
+ o any delays (e.g., newline) specified in the entry will
+ be set in the tty driver,
+
+ o tabs expansion will be turned on or off according to
+ the specification in the entry, and
+
+ o if tabs are not expanded, standard tabs will be set
+ (every 8 spaces).
+
+ (4) if present, the terminal's initialization strings will be
+ output as detailed in the terminfo(5) section on Tabsand
+ Initialization,
+
+ (5) output is flushed.
+
+ If an entry does not contain the information needed for any of
+ these activities, that activity will silently be skipped.
+
+ reset This is similar to init, with two differences:
+
+ (1) before any other initialization, the terminal modes will be
+ reset to a "sane" state:
+
+ o set cooked and echo modes,
+
+ o turn off cbreak and raw modes,
+
+ o turn on newline translation and
+
+ o reset any unset special characters to their default
+ values
+
+ (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 terminfo database is present and an entry
- for the user's terminal exists (see -Ttype above),
- then the long name of the terminal will be put out.
- The long name is the last name in the first line of
- the terminal's description in the terminfo database
- [see term(5)].
+ If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's
+ terminal exists (see -Ttype above), then the long name of the
+ terminal will be put out. The long name is the last name in the
+ first line of the terminal's description in the terminfo
+ database [see term(5)].
- tput handles the init and reset commands specially: it
- allows for the possibility that it is invoked by a link
- with those names.
+ 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 by a link named reset, this has the same effect as
+ tputreset. The tset(1) utility also treats a link named reset
+ specially.
+
+ 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:
+
+ o The tset program waits one second when resetting, in case it
+ happens to be a hardware terminal.
- 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:
+ 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 That utility resets the terminal modes and special
- characters (not done here).
+ 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 On the other hand, tset's repertoire of terminal capa-
- bilities for resetting the terminal is 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.
+ 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.
- o The reset program is usually an alias for tset, due to
- the resetting of terminal modes and special charac-
- ters.
- 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.
+
+ 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:
+
+ 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)
+
+ 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).
+
+ o finally, it inspects the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS
+ which may override the terminal size.
+
+ 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).
tputinit
- Initialize the terminal according to the type of ter-
- minal in the environmental variable TERM. This com-
- mand should be included in everyone's .profile after
- the environmental variable TERM has been exported, as
- illustrated on the profile(5) manual page.
+ Initialize the terminal according to the type of terminal in the
+ environmental variable TERM. This command should be included in
+ everyone's .profile after the environmental variable TERM has been
+ exported, as illustrated on the profile(5) manual page.
tput-T5620reset
- Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type of
- terminal in the environmental variable TERM.
+ Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type of terminal in
+ the environmental variable TERM.
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).
+ 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).
tputclear
- Echo the clear-screen sequence for the current termi-
- nal.
+ Echo the clear-screen sequence for the current terminal.
tputcols
Print the number of columns for the current terminal.
@@ -224,28 +293,25 @@
Print the number of columns for the 450 terminal.
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}Pleasetypeinyourname:
- ${offbold}\c"
+ Set the shell variables bold, to begin stand-out mode sequence,
+ and offbold, to end standout mode sequence, for the current
+ terminal. This might be followed by a prompt: echo"${bold}Please
+ typeinyourname:${offbold}\c"tputhc
- Set exit code to indicate if the current terminal is
- a hard copy terminal.
+ Set exit code to indicate if the current terminal is a hard copy
+ terminal.
tputcup234
- Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 23, col-
- umn 4.
+ Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 23, column 4.
tputcup
- Send the terminfo string for cursor-movement, with no
- parameters substituted.
+ Send the terminfo string for cursor-movement, with no parameters
+ substituted.
tputlongname
- Print the long name from the terminfo database for
- the type of terminal specified in the environmental
- variable TERM.
+ Print the long name from the terminfo database for the type of
+ terminal specified in the environmental variable TERM.
tput-S<<!>clear
@@ -253,11 +319,10 @@
>bold>!
- This example shows tput processing several capabili-
- ties in one invocation. It clears the screen, moves
- the cursor to position 10, 10 and turns on bold
- (extra bright) mode. The list is terminated by an
- exclamation mark (!) on a line by itself.
+ This example shows 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. The list is
+ terminated by an exclamation mark (!) on a line by itself.
@@ -265,56 +330,50 @@
compiled terminal description database
/usr/share/tabset/*
- tab settings for some terminals, in a format appro-
- priate to be output to the terminal (escape
- sequences that set margins and tabs); for more
- information, see the "Tabs and Initialization" sec-
- tion of terminfo(5)
+ tab settings for some terminals, in a format appropriate to be
+ output to the terminal (escape sequences that set margins and
+ tabs); for more information, see the TabsandInitialization,
+ section of terminfo(5)
- If the -S option is used, tput checks for errors from each
- line, and if any errors are found, will set the exit code
- to 4 plus the number of lines with errors. If no errors
- are found, the exit code is 0. No indication of which
- line failed can be given so exit code 1 will never appear.
- Exit codes 2, 3, and 4 retain their usual interpretation.
- If the -S option is not used, the exit code depends on the
- type of capname:
+ If the -S option is used, tput checks for errors from each line, and if
+ any errors are found, will set the exit code to 4 plus the number of
+ lines with errors. If no errors are found, the exit code is 0. No
+ indication of which line failed can be given so exit code 1 will never
+ appear. Exit codes 2, 3, and 4 retain their usual interpretation. If
+ the -S option is not used, the exit code depends on the type of
+ capname:
boolean
a value of 0 is set for TRUE and 1 for FALSE.
- string a value of 0 is set if the capname is defined
- for this terminal type (the value of capname is
- returned on standard output); a value of 1 is
- set if capname is not defined for this terminal
- type (nothing is written to standard output).
+ string a value of 0 is set if the capname is defined for this
+ terminal type (the value of capname is returned on standard
+ output); a value of 1 is set if capname is not defined for
+ this terminal type (nothing is written to standard output).
integer
- a value of 0 is always set, whether or not cap-
- name is defined for this terminal type. To
- determine if capname is defined for this termi-
- nal type, the user must test the value written
- to standard output. A value of -1 means that
- capname is not defined for this terminal type.
+ a value of 0 is always set, whether or not capname is defined
+ for this terminal type. To determine if capname is defined
+ for this terminal type, the user must test the value written
+ to standard output. A value of -1 means that capname is not
+ defined for this terminal type.
- otherreset or init may fail to find their respective
- files. In that case, the exit code is set to 4
- + errno.
+ otherreset or init may fail to find their respective files. In
+ that case, the exit code is set to 4 + errno.
- Any other exit code indicates an error; see the DIAGNOS-
- TICS section.
+ Any other exit code indicates an error; see the DIAGNOSTICS section.
- tput prints the following error messages and sets the cor-
- responding exit codes.
+ tput prints the following error messages and sets the corresponding
+ exit codes.
exit code error message
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- 0 (capname is a numeric variable that is not specified in
- the terminfo(5) database for this terminal type, e.g.
+ 0 (capname is a numeric variable that is not specified in
+ the terminfo(5) database for this terminal type, e.g.
tput-T450lines and tput-T2621xmc)
1 no error message is printed, see the EXITCODES section.
2 usage error
@@ -324,70 +383,154 @@
---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ 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, whose init and reset
+ subcommands (more than half the program) were incorporated from the
+ reset feature of BSD tset written by Eric Allman.
+
+ 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 termcapnames for other
+ capabilities. Also, Bostic's BSD tput did not modify the terminal I/O
+ modes as the earlier BSD tset had done.
+
+ At the same time, Bostic added a shell script named "clear", which used
+ tput to clear the screen.
+
+ Both of these appeared in 4.4BSD, becoming the "modern" BSD
+ implementation of tput.
+
+ 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.
+
+
- The longname and -S options, and the parameter-substitu-
- tion features used in the cup example, are not supported
- in BSD curses or in AT&T/USL curses before SVr4.
-
- 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 capname
- support. The others (init and longname) do not corre-
- spond to terminal capabilities.
-
- o Other implementations of tput on SVr4-based systems
- such as Solaris, IRIX64 and HPUX as well as others
- such as AIX and Tru64 provide support for capname op-
- erands.
-
- 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.
-
- 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.
-
- o X/Open Curses Issue 7 documents tput differently, with
- capname and the other features used in this implemen-
- tation.
-
- 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 While it is certainly possible to write a tput program
- without using curses, none of the systems which have a
- curses implementation provide a tput utility which
- does not provide the capname feature.
-
- Most implementations which provide support for capname op-
- erands use the tparm function to expand parameters in it.
- 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 that for the
- standard capname operands, and an internal library func-
- tion to analyze nonstandard capname operands. Other
- implementations may simply guess that an operand contain-
- ing only digits is intended to be a number.
+ This implementation of tput differs from AT&T tput in two important
+ areas:
+
+ otputcapname 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.
+
+ 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
+ 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, tput will return an
+ error.
+
+ o AT&T tput guesses the type of its capname operands by seeing if all
+ of the characters are numeric, or not.
+
+ Most implementations which provide support for capname operands use
+ the tparm function to expand parameters in it. 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 capname operands, and an internal library function
+ to analyze nonstandard capname operands.
+
+ This implementation (unlike others) can accept both termcap and
+ terminfo names for the capname 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 BSD curses before
+ 4.3reno (1989) or in AT&T/USL curses before SVr4 (1988).
+
+ 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 capname support. 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 HPUX as well as others such as AIX and Tru64
+ provide support for capname 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.
+
+ Beginning in 2021, FreeBSD uses the ncurses tput, 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.
+
+ o X/Open Curses Issue 7 documents tput differently, with capname 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 While it is certainly possible to write a tput program without
+ using curses, none of the systems which have a curses
+ implementation provide a tput utility which does not provide the
+ capname feature.
+
+ 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 (i.e., Unix features documented in SVID 3):
+
+ o It assigns exit code 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 code 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 code.
+
+ The various Unix systems (AIX, HPUX, Solaris) use the same exit-codes
+ as ncurses.
+
+ NetBSD curses documents different exit codes which do not correspond to
+ either ncurses or X/Open.