Tribblix: manual page: tput.1

TPUT(1) User Commands TPUT(1)

NAME

tput - initialize a terminal or query terminfo database

SYNOPSIS

tput [-T type] capname [parm]...

tput -S <<

DESCRIPTION

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 clear, initialize or reset the terminal; or to
return the long name of the requested terminal type. tput outputs a
string if the capability attribute (capname) is of type string, or an
integer if the attribute is of type integer. If the attribute is of
type boolean, tput simply sets the exit status (0 for TRUE if the
terminal has the capability, 1 for FALSE if it does not), and
produces no output. Before using a value returned on standard
output, the user should test the exit status ($?, see sh(1)) to be
sure it is 0. See the EXIT STATUS section.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-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 and the layer size will
not be referenced.

-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 the example in
the EXAMPLES section). Only one capname is allowed per
line. The -S option changes the meaning of the 0 and 1
boolean and string exit statuses (see the EXAMPLES
section).

OPERANDS

The following operands are supported:

capname
Indicates the capability attribute from the terminfo
database. See terminfo(5) for a complete list of
capabilities and the capname associated with each.

The following strings will be supported as operands by
the implementation in the "C" locale:

clear
Display the clear-screen sequence.

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 (is1, is2, is3, if,
iprog),

2. any delays (for instance,
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 the four above
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
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(7)).

parm
If the attribute is a string that takes parameters, the
argument parm will be instantiated into the string. An
all numeric argument will be passed to the attribute as a
number.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Initializing the terminal according to TERM

This example initializes 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.

example% tput init

Example 2: Resetting a terminal

This example resets an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type of
terminal in the environment variable TERM:

example% tput -T5620 reset

Example 3: Moving the cursor

The following example sends 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).

example% tput cup 0 0

This next example sends the sequence to move the cursor to row 23,
column 4.

example% tput cup 23 4

Example 4: Echoing the clear-screen sequence

This example echos the clear-screen sequence for the current
terminal.

example% tput clear

Example 5: Printing the number of columns

This command prints the number of columns for the current terminal.

example% tput cols

The following command prints the number of columns for the 450
terminal.

example% tput -T450 cols

Example 6: Setting shell variables

This example sets 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 type in your name: ${offbold}\c"
example% bold='tput smso'
example% offbold='tput rmso'

Example 7: Setting the exit status

This example sets the exit status to indicate if the current terminal
is a hardcopy terminal.

example% tput hc

Example 8: Printing the long name from terminfo

This command prints the long name from the terminfo database for the
type of terminal specified in the environment variable TERM.

example% tput longname

Example 9: Processing several capabilities with one invocation

This example shows tput processing several capabilities in one
invocation. This example 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.

example% tput -S <<!
> clear
> cup 10 10
> bold
> !

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of tput: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

TERM
Determine the terminal type. If this variable is unset or
null, and if the -T option is not specified, an unspecified
default terminal type will be used.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0

o If capname is of type boolean and -S is not
specified, indicates TRUE.

o If capname is of type string and -S is not
specified, indicates capname is defined for this
terminal type.

o If capname is of type boolean or string and -S
is specified, indicates that all lines were
successful.

o capname is of type integer.

o The requested string was written successfully.

1

o If capname is of type boolean and -S is not
specified, indicates FALSE.

o If capname is of type string and -S is not
specified, indicates that capname is not defined
for this terminal type.

2
Usage error.

3
No information is available about the specified terminal
type.

4
The specified operand is invalid.

>4
An error occurred.

-1
capname is a numeric variable that is not specified in the
terminfo database. For instance, tput -T450 lines and tput
-T2621 xmc.

FILES

/usr/include/curses.h

curses(3CURSES) header

/usr/include/term.h

terminfo header

/usr/lib/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 "Tabs and Initialization"
section of terminfo(5)

/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*

compiled terminal description database

ATTRIBUTES