illumos: 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