- The tput utility uses the terminfo database to make the values of
+ 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
+ (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
+ tput writes the string to the standard output. No trailing
newline is supplied.
integer
- tput writes the decimal value to the standard output, with a
+ 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
+ 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 DIAGNOSTICS sections.) For a complete list of
- capabilities and the capname associated with each, see terminfo(5).
+ 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).
- -S allows more than one capability per invocation of tput. The
- capabilities must be passed to tput from the standard input
+ -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
+ 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
+ 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
+ -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.
+ 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,
+ -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
+ -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
+ 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
+ capname
indicates the capability from the terminal database.
If the capability is a string that takes parameters, the
@@ -127,393 +127,396 @@
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
+ 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.
+ 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:
+ 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
+ (1) first, tput retrieves the current terminal mode settings
for your terminal. It does this by successively testing
- o the standard error,
+ o the standard error,
- o standard output,
+ o standard output,
- o standard input and
+ o standard input and
- o ultimately "/dev/tty"
+ o ultimately "/dev/tty"
to obtain terminal settings. Having retrieved these
- settings, tput remembers which file descriptor to use when
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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,
+ 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:
+ 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 set cooked and echo modes,
- o turn off cbreak and raw modes,
+ o turn off cbreak and raw modes,
- o turn on newline translation and
+ o turn on newline translation and
- o reset any unset special characters to their default
+ 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
+ (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.
+ Otherwise, reset acts identically to init.
- longname
+ longname
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 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)].
+ first line of the terminal's description in the terminfo
+ database [see term(5)].
- tput handles the clear, init and reset commands specially: it allows
+ 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
+ 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).
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ o The tset program waits one second when resetting, in case it
happens to be a hardware terminal.
- 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 The two programs write the terminal initialization strings to
+ different streams (i.e., the standard error for tset and the
+ standard output for tput).
- Note: although these programs write to different streams,
+ 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.
- 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 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:
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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).
+ support NAWS: negotiations about window size).
- o finally, it inspects the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS
+ 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
+ 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
+ tputinit
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.
+ 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
+ tput-T5620reset
Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type of terminal in
- the environmental variable TERM.
+ the environmental variable TERM.
- tputcup00
- Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 0, column 0 (the upper
+ 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).
- tputclear
+ tputclear
Echo the clear-screen sequence for the current terminal.
- tputcols
+ tputcols
Print the number of columns for the current terminal.
- tput-T450cols
+ tput-T450cols
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}Please
- typeinyourname:${offbold}\c"
+ bold=`tputsmso`offbold=`tputrmso`
+ Set the shell variables bold, to begin stand-out mode sequence,
+ and offbold, to end standout mode sequence, for the current
+ terminal. This might be followed by a prompt: echo"${bold}Please
+ typeinyourname:${offbold}\c"
- tputhc
+ tputhc
Set exit code to indicate if the current terminal is a hard copy
terminal.
- tputcup234
+ tputcup234
Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 23, column 4.
- tputcup
+ tputcup
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.
+ tputlongname
+ Print the long name from the terminfo database for the type of
+ terminal specified in the environmental variable TERM.
- tput-S<<!
- >clear
- >cup1010
- >bold
- >!
+ tput-S<<!
+ >clear
+ >cup1010
+ >bold
+ >!
- This example shows tput processing several capabilities in one
+ 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.
+ terminated by an exclamation mark (!) on a line by itself.
- /usr/share/terminfo
+ /usr/share/terminfo
compiled terminal description database
- /usr/share/tabset/*
+ /usr/share/tabset/*
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)
+ 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
+ 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).
-
- integer
- 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.
+ 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).
+
+ integer
+ 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.
Any other exit code indicates an error; see the DIAGNOSTICS section.
- tput prints the following error messages and sets the corresponding
+ 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.
- tput-T450lines and tput-T2621xmc)
- 1 no error message is printed, see the EXITCODES section.
- 2 usage error
- 3 unknown terminal type or no terminfo database
- 4 unknown terminfo capability capname
- >4 error occurred in -S
+ 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
+ 3 unknown terminal type or no terminfo database
+ 4 unknown terminfo capability capname
+ >4 error occurred in -S
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- The tput command was begun by Bill Joy in 1980. The initial version
+ 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
+ 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.
+ 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.
+ 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.
+ tput to clear the screen.
Both of these appeared in 4.4BSD, becoming the "modern" BSD
- implementation of tput.
+ 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
+ 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.
+ 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.
- This implementation of tput differs from AT&T tput in two important
+ This implementation of tput differs from AT&T tput in two important
areas:
- otputcapname writes to the standard output. That need not be a
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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.
+ 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):
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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.
+ (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
+ 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
+ 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.
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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.
+ 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'
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
@@ -521,13 +524,13 @@