1SETTERM(1) Linux Programmer's Manual SETTERM(1)
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6 setterm - set terminal attributes
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9 setterm [options]
10
12 setterm writes to standard output a character string that will invoke
13 the specified terminal capabilities. Where possible terminfo is con‐
14 sulted to find the string to use. Some options however (marked "vir‐
15 tual consoles only" below) do not correspond to a terminfo(5) capabil‐
16 ity. In this case, if the terminal type is "con" or "linux" the string
17 that invokes the specified capabilities on the PC Minix virtual console
18 driver is output. Options that are not implemented by the terminal are
19 ignored.
20
22 For boolean options (on or off), the default is on.
23 For conciseness, an 8-color below is black, red, green, yellow, blue,
25 magenta, cyan, or white.
26 A 16-color is an 8-color, grey, or bright followed by red, green, yel‐
28 low, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.
29 The various color options may be set independently, at least at virtual
31 consoles, though the results of setting multiple modes (for example,
32 -underline and -half-bright) are hardware-dependent.
33 -term terminal_name
35 Overrides the TERM environment variable.
36 -reset Displays the terminal reset string, which typically resets the
38 terminal to its power on state.
39 -initialize
41 Displays the terminal initialization string, which typically
42 sets the terminal's rendering options, and other attributes to
43 the default values.
44 -cursor [on|off]
46 Turns the terminal's cursor on or off.
47 -repeat [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
49 Turns keyboard repeat on or off.
50 -appcursorkeys [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
52 Sets Cursor Key Application Mode on or off. When on, ESC O A,
53 ESC O B, etc. will be sent for the cursor keys instead of ESC [
54 A, ESC [ B, etc. See the "vi and Cursor-Keys" section of the
55 Text-Terminal-HOWTO for how this can cause problems for vi
56 users.
57 -linewrap [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
59 Turns automatic line-wrapping on or off.
60 -default
62 Sets the terminal's rendering options to the default values.
63 -foreground 8-color|default (virtual consoles only)
65 Sets the foreground text color.
66 -background 8-color|default (virtual consoles only)
68 Sets the background text color.
69 -ulcolor 16-color (virtual consoles only)
71 Sets the color for underlined characters.
72 -hbcolor 16-color (virtual consoles only)
74 Sets the color for half-bright characters.
75 -inversescreen [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
77 Inverts the screen colors. Foreground and background are
78 swapped, as are underline and half-brightness.
79 -bold [on|off]
81 Turns bold (extra bright) mode on or off. Except at a virtual
82 console, -bold off turns off all attributes (bold, half-bright‐
83 ness, blink, reverse).
84 -half-bright [on|off]
86 Turns dim (half-brightness) mode on or off (see -hbcolor).
87 Except at a virtual console, -half-bright off turns off all
88 attributes (bold, half-brightness, blink, reverse).
89 -blink [on|off]
91 Turns blink mode on or off. Except at a virtual console, -blink
92 off turns off all attributes (bold, half-brightness, blink,
93 reverse).
94 -reverse [on|off]
96 Turns reverse video mode on or off. Except at a virtual con‐
97 sole, -reverse off turns off all attributes (bold, half-bright‐
98 ness, blink, reverse).
99 -underline [on|off]
101 Turns underline mode on or off (see -ulcolor).
102 -store (virtual consoles only)
104 Stores the terminal's current rendering options (foreground and
105 background colors) as the values to be used at reset-to-default.
106 -clear [all]
108 Clears the screen and "homes" the cursor, as clear(1).
109 -clear rest
111 Clears from the current cursor position to the end of the
112 screen.
113 -tabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...] (virtual consoles only)
115 Sets tab stops at the given horizontal cursor positions, in the
116 range 1-160. Without arguments, shows the current tab stop set‐
117 tings.
118 -clrtabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...] (virtual consoles only)
120 Clears tab stops from the given horizontal cursor positions, in
121 the range 1-160. Without arguments, clears all tab stops.
122 -regtabs [1-160] (virtual consoles only)
124 Clears all tab stops, then sets a regular tab stop pattern, with
125 one tab every specified number of positions. Without an argu‐
126 ment, defaults to 8.
127 -blank [0-60|force|poke] (virtual consoles only)
129 Sets the interval of inactivity, in minutes, after which the
130 screen will be automatically blanked (using APM if available).
131 Without an argument, gets the blank status (returns which vt was
132 blanked or zero for unblanked vt).
133 The force option keeps screen blank even if a key is pressed.
135 The poke option unblank the screen.
137 -dump [1-NR_CONS]
139 Writes a snapshot of the given virtual console (with attributes)
140 to the file specified in the -file option, overwriting its con‐
141 tents; the default is screen.dump. Without an argument, dumps
142 the current virtual console. Overrides -append.
143 -append [1-NR_CONS]
145 Like -dump, but appends to the snapshot file instead of over‐
146 writing it. Only works if no -dump options are given.
147 -file dumpfilename
149 Sets the snapshot file name for any -dump or -append options on
150 the same command line. If this option is not present, the
151 default is screen.dump in the current directory.
152 -msg [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
154 Enables or disables the sending of kernel printk() messages to
155 the console.
156 -msglevel 1-8 (virtual consoles only)
158 Sets the console logging level for kernel printk() messages.
159 All messages strictly more important than this will be printed,
160 so a logging level of 0 has the same effect as -msg on and a
161 logging level of 8 will print all kernel messages. klogd(8) may
162 be a more convenient interface to the logging of kernel mes‐
163 sages.
164 -powersave on|vsync
166 Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.
167 -powersave hsync
169 Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend mode.
170 -powersave powerdown
172 Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.
173 -powersave [off]
175 Turns off monitor VESA powersaving features.
176 -powerdown [0-60]
178 Sets the VESA powerdown interval in minutes. Without an argu‐
179 ment, defaults to 0 (disable powerdown). If the console is
180 blanked or the monitor is in suspend mode, then the monitor will
181 go into vsync suspend mode or powerdown mode respectively after
182 this period of time has elapsed.
183 -blength [0-2000]
185 Sets the bell duration in milliseconds. Without an argument,
186 defaults to 0.
187 -bfreq [freqnumber]
189 Sets the bell frequency in Hz. Without an argument, defaults to
190 0.
191
193 tput(1), stty(1), terminfo(5), tty(4)
194
196 Differences between the Minix and Linux versions are not documented.
197
199 The setterm command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is avail‐
200 able from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.
201Util-Linux 2.10 7 January 2000 SETTERM(1)