NAME
tput —
terminal capability
interface
SYNOPSIS
tput |
[-T term]
attribute [attribute-args]
... |
tput |
[-T term]
-S |
DESCRIPTION
The tput utility makes terminal-dependent
information available to users or shell applications.
The options are as follows:
-S- The attributes are read from stdin instead of the command line.
-T- The terminal name as found in the
terminfo database; for
example, “vt100” or “xterm”. If not specified,
tputretrieves theTERMvariable from the environment.
tput outputs a string if the
attribute is of type string or a number if it is of
type integer. If the attribute is of type boolean,
tput exits 0 if the terminal has the capability or 1
if it does not. Each attribute should be a string
defined in either
terminfo(5) or
termcap(5).
If the attribute is of type string and takes arguments (e.g., cursor movement, the terminfo “cup” sequence) the arguments are taken from the command line immediately following the attribute.
The following special attributes are available:
- clear
- Clear the screen (the terminfo “clear” sequence).
- init
- Print the terminfo initialization strings for the specified terminal.
- longname
- Print the descriptive name of the user's terminal type.
- reset
- Reset the terminal (using the terminfo reset sequences).
EXIT STATUS
The exit value of tput is based on the
last attribute specified. If the attribute is of type string or of type
integer the exit value is as follows:
- 0
- The requested string was written successfully.
- 2
- Usage error.
- 3
- Unknown terminal type.
- 4
- Unknown attribute name.
- >4
- An error occurred.
If the attribute is of type boolean, tput
exits with a value of 0 if the terminal has this attribute or 1 if it does
not.
EXAMPLES
tput clear cup 5 10- clear the screen and goto line 5 column 10
tput cup 6 11 dch 6- goto line 6 column 11 and delete 6 characters
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The tput utility is compliant with the
IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”)
specification.
The flag [-S] is an extension to that
specification.
HISTORY
A clear utility implementing the
functionality of tput clear
first appeared in 2BSD. The
tput utility appeared in
4.4BSD.
BUGS
tput can't really distinguish between
different types of attributes.