1SCRIPT(1) User Commands SCRIPT(1)
2
6 script - make typescript of terminal session
7
9 script [options] [file]
10
12 script makes a typescript of everything on your terminal session. The
13 terminal data are stored in raw form to the log file and information
14 about timing to another (optional) structured log file. The timing log
15 file is necessary to replay the session later by scriptreplay (1) and
16 to store additional information about the session.
17 Since version 2.35 script supports multiple streams and allows to log
19 input and output to separate files or all the one file. This version
20 also supports new timing file which records additional information.
21 The command scriptreplay --summary then provides all the information.
22 If the argument file or option --log-out file is given, script saves
25 the dialogue in this file. If no filename is given, the dialogue is
26 saved in the file typescript.
27 Note that log input by --log-in or --log-io may be security sensitive
29 operation as the log file contains all terminal session input (it means
30 also passwords) independently on the terminal echo flag setting.
31
33 Below, the size argument may be followed by the multiplicative suffixes
34 KiB (=1024), MiB (=1024*1024), and so on for GiB, TiB, PiB, EiB, ZiB
35 and YiB (the "iB" is optional, e.g., "K" has the same meaning as
36 "KiB"), or the suffixes KB (=1000), MB (=1000*1000), and so on for GB,
37 TB, PB, EB, ZB and YB.
38 -a, --append
40 Append the output to file or to typescript, retaining the prior
41 contents.
42 -c, --command command
44 Run the command rather than an interactive shell. This makes it
45 easy for a script to capture the output of a program that
46 behaves differently when its stdout is not a tty.
47 -E, --echo when
49 This option controls the ECHO flag for pseudoterminal within the
50 session. The supported modes are always, never, or auto. The
51 default is auto -- in this case, ECHO is disabled if the current
52 standard input is a terminal to avoid double-echo, and enabled
53 if standard input is not terminal (for example pipe: echo date |
54 script) to avoid missing input in the session log.
55 -e, --return
57 Return the exit code of the child process. Uses the same format
58 as bash termination on signal termination exit code is 128+n.
59 The exit code of the child process is always stored in type
60 script file too.
61 -f, --flush
63 Flush output after each write. This is nice for telecoopera‐
64 tion: one person does `mkfifo foo; script -f foo', and another
65 can supervise real-time what is being done using `cat foo'.
66 Note that flush has an impact on performance, it's possible to
67 use SIGUSR1 to flush logs on demand.
68 --force
70 Allow the default output file typescript to be a hard or sym‐
71 bolic link. The command will follow a symbolic link.
72 -B, --log-io file
74 Log input and output to the same file. Note, this option makes
75 sense only if --log-timing is also specified, otherwise it's
76 impossible to separate output and input streams from the log
77 file.
78 -I, --log-in file
80 Log input to the file. The log output is disabled if only
81 --log-in specified.
82 Use this logging functionality carefully as it logs all input,
84 including input when terminal has disabled echo flag (for exam‐
85 ple password inputs).
86 -O, --log-out file
88 Log output to the file. The default is to log output to the
89 file with name typescript if the option --log-out or --log-in is
90 not given. The log output is disabled if only --log-in speci‐
91 fied.
92 -T, --log-timing file
94 Log timing information to the file. Two timing file formats are
95 supported now. The classic format is used when only one stream
96 (input or output) logging is enabled. The multi-stream format
97 is used on --log-io or when --log-in and --log-out are used
98 together. See also --logging-format.
99 -m, --logging-format format
101 Force use advanced or classic format. The default is the clas‐
102 sic format to log only output and the advanced format when input
103 as well as output logging is requested.
104 Classic format
106 The log contains two fields, separated by a space. The first
108 field indicates how much time elapsed since the previous output.
109 The second field indicates how many characters were output this
110 time.
111 Advanced (multi-stream) format
113 The first field is entry type itentifier ('I'nput, 'O'utput,
115 'H'eader, 'S'ignal). The socond field is how much time elapsed
116 since the previous entry, and rest of the entry is type specific
117 data.
118 -o, --output-limit size
120 Limit the size of the typescript and timing files to size and
121 stop the child process after this size is exceeded. The calcu‐
122 lated file size does not include the start and done messages
123 that the script command prepends and appends to the child
124 process output. Due to buffering, the resulting output file
125 might be larger than the specified value.
126 -q, --quiet
128 Be quiet (do not write start and done messages to standard out‐
129 put).
130 -t[file], --timing[=file]
132 Output timing data to standard error, or to file when given.
133 This option is deprecated in favour of --log-timing where the
134 file argument is not optional.
135 -V, --version
137 Display version information and exit.
138 -h, --help
140 Display help text and exit.
141
143 The script ends when the forked shell exits (a control-D for the Bourne
144 shell (sh(1p)), and exit, logout or control-d (if ignoreeof is not set)
145 for the C-shell, csh(1)).
146 Certain interactive commands, such as vi(1), create garbage in the
148 typescript file. script works best with commands that do not manipu‐
149 late the screen, the results are meant to emulate a hardcopy terminal.
150 It is not recommended to run script in non-interactive shells. The
152 inner shell of script is always interactive, and this could lead to
153 unexpected results. If you use script in the shell initialization
154 file, you have to avoid entering an infinite loop. You can use for
155 example the .profile file, which is read by login shells only:
156 if test -t 0 ; then
158 script
159 exit
160 fi
161 You should also avoid use of script in command pipes, as script can
163 read more input than you would expect.
164
166 Upon receiving SIGUSR1, script immediately flushes the output files.
167
169 The following environment variable is utilized by script:
170 SHELL If the variable SHELL exists, the shell forked by script will be
172 that shell. If SHELL is not set, the Bourne shell is assumed.
173 (Most shells set this variable automatically).
174
176 csh(1) (for the history mechanism), scriptreplay(1), scriptlive(1),
177
179 The script command appeared in 3.0BSD.
180
182 script places everything in the log file, including linefeeds and
183 backspaces. This is not what the naive user expects.
184 script is primarily designed for interactive terminal sessions. When
186 stdin is not a terminal (for example: echo foo | script), then the ses‐
187 sion can hang, because the interactive shell within the script session
188 misses EOF and script has no clue when to close the session. See the
189 NOTES section for more information.
190
192 The script command is part of the util-linux package and is available
193 from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
194 linux/⟩.
195util-linux October 2019 SCRIPT(1)