1tput(1) User Commands tput(1)
2
6 tput - initialize a terminal or query terminfo database
7
9 tput [-T type] capname [parm]...
10 tput -S <<
13
16 The tput utility uses the terminfo database to make the values of ter‐
17 minal-dependent capabilities and information available to the shell
18 (see sh(1)); to clear, initialize or reset the terminal; or to return
19 the long name of the requested terminal type. tput outputs a string if
20 the capability attribute (capname) is of type string, or an integer if
21 the attribute is of type integer. If the attribute is of type boolean,
22 tput simply sets the exit status (0 for TRUE if the terminal has the
23 capability, 1 for FALSE if it does not), and produces no output. Before
24 using a value returned on standard output, the user should test the
25 exit status ($?, see sh(1)) to be sure it is 0. See the EXIT STATUS
26 section.
27
29 The following options are supported:
30 -Ttype Indicates the type of terminal. Normally this option is
32 unnecessary, because the default is taken from the environ‐
33 ment variable TERM. If -T is specified, then the shell vari‐
34 ables LINES and COLUMNS and the layer size will not be ref‐
35 erenced.
36 -S Allows more than one capability per invocation of tput. The
39 capabilities must be passed to tput from the standard input
40 instead of from the command line (see the example in the
41 EXAMPLES section). Only one capname is allowed per line. The
42 -S option changes the meaning of the 0 and 1 boolean and
43 string exit statuses (see the EXAMPLES section).
44
47 The following operands are supported:
48 capname Indicates the capability attribute from the terminfo data‐
50 base. See terminfo(4) for a complete list of capabilities
51 and the capname associated with each.
52 The following strings will be supported as operands by the
54 implementation in the "C" locale:
55 clear Display the clear-screen sequence.
57 init If the terminfo database is present and an
60 entry for the user's terminal exists (see
61 -Ttype, above), the following will occur:
62 1. if present, the terminal's initial‐
64 ization strings will be output
65 (is1, is2, is3, if, iprog),
66 2. any delays (for instance, newline)
68 specified in the entry will be set
69 in the tty driver,
70 3. tabs expansion will be turned on or
72 off according to the specification
73 in the entry, and
74 4. if tabs are not expanded, standard
76 tabs will be set (every 8 spaces).
77 If an entry does not contain the
78 information needed for any of the
79 four above activities, that activ‐
80 ity will silently be skipped.
81 reset Instead of putting out initialization strings,
84 the terminal's reset strings will be output if
85 present (rs1, rs2, rs3, rf). If the reset
86 strings are not present, but initialization
87 strings are, the initialization strings will
88 be output. Otherwise, reset acts identically
89 to init.
90 longname If the terminfo database is present and an
93 entry for the user's terminal exists (see
94 -Ttype above), then the long name of the ter‐
95 minal will be put out. The long name is the
96 last name in the first line of the terminal's
97 description in the terminfo database (see
98 term(5)).
99 parm If the attribute is a string that takes parameters, the
103 argument parm will be instantiated into the string. An all
104 numeric argument will be passed to the attribute as a num‐
105 ber.
106
109 Example 1 Initializing the terminal according to TERM
110 This example initializes the terminal according to the type of terminal
113 in the environment variable TERM. This command should be included in
114 everyone's .profile after the environment variable TERM has been
115 exported, as illustrated on the profile(4) manual page.
116 example% tput init
119 Example 2 Resetting a terminal
123 This example resets an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type of ter‐
126 minal in the environment variable TERM:
127 example% tput -T5620 reset
130 Example 3 Moving the cursor
134 The following example sends the sequence to move the cursor to row 0,
137 column 0 (the upper left corner of the screen, usually known as the
138 "home" cursor position).
139 example% tput cup 0 0
142 This next example sends the sequence to move the cursor to row 23, col‐
147 umn 4.
148 example% tput cup 23 4
151 Example 4 Echoing the clear-screen sequence
155 This example echos the clear-screen sequence for the current terminal.
158 example% tput clear
161 Example 5 Printing the number of columns
165 This command prints the number of columns for the current terminal.
168 example% tput cols
171 The following command prints the number of columns for the 450 termi‐
176 nal.
177 example% tput -T450 cols
180 Example 6 Setting shell variables
184 This example sets the shell variables bold, to begin stand-out mode
187 sequence, and offbold, to end standout mode sequence, for the current
188 terminal. This might be followed by a prompt:
189 echo "${bold}Please type in your name: ${offbold}\c"
192 example% bold='tput smso'
193 example% offbold='tput rmso'
194 Example 7 Setting the exit status
198 This example sets the exit status to indicate if the current terminal
201 is a hardcopy terminal.
202 example% tput hc
205 Example 8 Printing the long name from terminfo
209 This command prints the long name from the terminfo database for the
212 type of terminal specified in the environment variable TERM.
213 example% tput longname
216 Example 9 Processing several capabilities with one invocation
220 This example shows tput processing several capabilities in one invoca‐
223 tion. This example clears the screen, moves the cursor to position 10,
224 10 and turns on bold (extra bright) mode. The list is terminated by an
225 exclamation mark (!) on a line by itself.
226 example% tput -S <<!
229 > clear
230 > cup 10 10
231 > bold
232 > !
233
237 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
238 that affect the execution of tput: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
239 and NLSPATH.
240 TERM Determine the terminal type. If this variable is unset or
242 null, and if the -T option is not specified, an unspecified
243 default terminal type will be used.
244
247 The following exit values are returned:
248 0
250 o If capname is of type boolean and -S is not speci‐
251 fied, indicates TRUE.
252 o If capname is of type string and -S is not speci‐
254 fied, indicates capname is defined for this termi‐
255 nal type.
256 o If capname is of type boolean or string and -S is
258 specified, indicates that all lines were success‐
259 ful.
260 o capname is of type integer.
262 o The requested string was written successfully.
264 1
267 o If capname is of type boolean and -S is not speci‐
268 fied, indicates FALSE.
269 o If capname is of type string and -S is not speci‐
271 fied, indicates that capname is not defined for
272 this terminal type.
273 2 Usage error.
276 3 No information is available about the specified terminal
279 type.
280 4 The specified operand is invalid.
283 >4 An error occurred.
286 −1 capname is a numeric variable that is not specified in the
289 terminfo database. For instance, tput -T450 lines and tput
290 -T2621 xmc.
291
294 /usr/include/curses.h
295 curses(3CURSES) header
297 /usr/include/term.h
300 terminfo header
302 /usr/lib/tabset/*
305 Tab settings for some terminals, in a format appropriate to be out‐
307 put to the terminal (escape sequences that set margins and tabs).
308 For more information, see the "Tabs and Initialization" section of
309 terminfo(4)
310 /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
313 compiled terminal description database
315
318 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
319 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
324 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
325 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
326 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
327 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
328 │Interface Stability │Standard │
329 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
330
332 clear(1), sh(1), stty(1), tabs(1), curses(3CURSES), profile(4), ter‐
333 minfo(4), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5), term(5)
334SunOS 5.11 1 Feb 1995 tput(1)