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2SETTERM(1)                       User Commands                      SETTERM(1)
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NAME

7       setterm - set terminal attributes
8

SYNOPSIS

10       setterm [options]
11

DESCRIPTION

13       setterm  writes  to standard output a character string that will invoke
14       the specified terminal capabilities.  Where possible terminfo  is  con‐
15       sulted  to  find the string to use.  Some options however (marked "vir‐
16       tual consoles only" below) do not correspond to a terminfo(5)  capabil‐
17       ity.  In this case, if the terminal type is "con" or "linux" the string
18       that invokes the specified capabilities on the PC Minix virtual console
19       driver is output.  Options that are not implemented by the terminal are
20       ignored.
21

OPTIONS

23       For boolean options (on or off), the default is on.
24
25       For conciseness, an 8-color below is black, red, green,  yellow,  blue,
26       magenta, cyan, or white.
27
28       A  16-color is an 8-color, grey, or bright followed by red, green, yel‐
29       low, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.
30
31       The various color options may be set independently, at least at virtual
32       consoles,  though  the  results of setting multiple modes (for example,
33       -underline and -half-bright) are hardware-dependent.
34
35       -appcursorkeys [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
36              Sets Cursor Key Application Mode on or off. When on,  ESC  O  A,
37              ESC O B, etc.  will be sent for the cursor keys instead of ESC [
38              A, ESC [ B, etc.  See the "vi and Cursor-Keys"  section  of  the
39              Text-Terminal-HOWTO  for  how  this  can  cause  problems for vi
40              users.
41
42       -append [1-NR_CONS]
43              Like -dump, but appends to the snapshot file  instead  of  over‐
44              writing it.  Only works if no -dump options are given.
45
46       -background 8-color|default (virtual consoles only)
47              Sets the background text color.
48
49       -blank [0-60|force|poke] (virtual consoles only)
50              Sets  the  interval  of  inactivity, in minutes, after which the
51              screen will be automatically blanked (using APM  if  available).
52              Without an argument, gets the blank status (returns which vt was
53              blanked or zero for unblanked vt).
54
55              The force option keeps screen blank even if a key is pressed.
56
57              The poke option unblank the screen.
58
59       -bfreq [freqnumber]
60              Sets the bell frequency in Hz.  Without an argument, defaults to
61              0.
62
63       -blength [0-2000]
64              Sets  the  bell  duration in milliseconds.  Without an argument,
65              defaults to 0.
66
67       -blink [on|off]
68              Turns blink mode on or off.  Except at a virtual console, -blink
69              off  turns  off  all  attributes  (bold, half-brightness, blink,
70              reverse).
71
72       -bold [on|off]
73              Turns bold (extra bright) mode on or off.  Except at  a  virtual
74              console,  -bold off turns off all attributes (bold, half-bright‐
75              ness, blink, reverse).
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77       -clear [all]
78              Clears the screen and "homes" the cursor, as clear(1).
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80       -clear rest
81              Clears from the current  cursor  position  to  the  end  of  the
82              screen.
83
84       -clrtabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...] (virtual consoles only)
85              Clears  tab stops from the given horizontal cursor positions, in
86              the range 1-160.  Without arguments, clears all tab stops.
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88       -cursor [on|off]
89              Turns the terminal's cursor on or off.
90
91       -default
92              Sets the terminal's rendering options to the default values.
93
94       -dump [1-NR_CONS]
95              Writes a snapshot of the given virtual console (with attributes)
96              to  the file specified in the -file option, overwriting its con‐
97              tents; the default is screen.dump.  Without an  argument,  dumps
98              the current virtual console.  Overrides -append.
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100       -append [1-NR_CONS]
101              Like  -dump,  but  appends to the snapshot file instead of over‐
102              writing it.  Only works if no -dump options are given.
103
104       -file dumpfilename
105              Sets the snapshot file name for any -dump or -append options  on
106              the  same  command  line.   If  this  option is not present, the
107              default is screen.dump in the current directory.   A  path  name
108              that exceeds system maximum will be truncated, see PATH_MAX from
109              linux/limits.h for the value.
110
111       -msg [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
112              Enables or disables the sending of kernel printk()  messages  to
113              the console.
114
115       -msglevel 1-8 (virtual consoles only)
116              Sets  the  console  logging  level for kernel printk() messages.
117              All messages strictly more important than this will be  printed,
118              so  a  logging  level  of 0 has the same effect as -msg on and a
119              logging level of 8 will print all kernel messages.  klogd(8) may
120              be  a  more  convenient  interface to the logging of kernel mes‐
121              sages.
122
123       -powerdown [0-60]
124              Sets the VESA powerdown interval in minutes.  Without  an  argu‐
125              ment,  defaults  to  0  (disable  powerdown).  If the console is
126              blanked or the monitor is in suspend mode, then the monitor will
127              go  into vsync suspend mode or powerdown mode respectively after
128              this period of time has elapsed.
129
130       -underline [on|off]
131              Turns underline mode on or off (see -ulcolor).
132
133       -powersave [off]
134              Turns off monitor VESA powersaving features.
135
136       -powersave on|vsync
137              Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.
138
139       -powersave powerdown
140              Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.
141
142       -powersave hsync
143              Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend mode.
144
145       -regtabs [1-160] (virtual consoles only)
146              Clears all tab stops, then sets a regular tab stop pattern, with
147              one  tab  every specified number of positions.  Without an argu‐
148              ment, defaults to 8.
149
150       -repeat [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
151              Turns keyboard repeat on or off.
152
153       -reset Displays the terminal reset string, which typically  resets  the
154              terminal to its power on state.
155
156       -reverse [on|off]
157              Turns  reverse  video  mode on or off.  Except at a virtual con‐
158              sole, -reverse off turns off all attributes (bold,  half-bright‐
159              ness, blink, reverse).
160
161       -store (virtual consoles only)
162              Stores  the terminal's current rendering options (foreground and
163              background colors) as the values to be used at reset-to-default.
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165       -tabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...] (virtual consoles only)
166              Sets tab stops at the given horizontal cursor positions, in  the
167              range 1-160.  Without arguments, shows the current tab stop set‐
168              tings.
169
170       -term terminal_name
171              Overrides the TERM environment variable.
172
173       -ulcolor 16-color (virtual consoles only)
174              Sets the color for underlined characters.
175
176       -version
177              Output version information and exit.
178
179       -help  Output help screen and exit.
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SEE ALSO

182       tput(1), stty(1), terminfo(5), tty(4)
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BUGS

185       Differences between the Minix and Linux versions are not documented.
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AVAILABILITY

188       The setterm command is part of the util-linux package and is  available
189       from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
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193util-linux                       January 2000                       SETTERM(1)
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