SETTERM

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (1)
Updated: 7 January 2000
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NAME

setterm - set terminal attributes

SYNOPSIS

setterm [options]

DESCRIPTION

setterm writes to standard output a character string that will invoke the specified terminal capabilities. Where possible terminfo is consulted to find the string to use. Some options however (marked "virtual consoles only" below) do not correspond to a terminfo(5) capability. In this case, if the terminal type is "con" or "linux" the string that invokes the specified capabilities on the PC Minix virtual console driver is output. Options that are not implemented by the terminal are ignored.

OPTIONS

For boolean options (on or off), the default is on. For conciseness, an 8-color below is black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white. A 16-color is an 8-color, grey, or bright followed by red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white. The various color options may be set independently, at least at virtual consoles, though the results of setting multiple modes (for example, -underline and -half-bright) are hardware-dependent.

-term terminal_name

Overrides the TERM environment variable.

-reset

Displays the terminal reset string, which typically resets the terminal to its power on state.

-initialize

Displays the terminal initialization string, which typically sets the terminal's rendering options, and other attributes to the default values.

-cursor [on|off]

Turns the terminal's cursor on or off.

-repeat [on|off] (virtual consoles only)

Turns keyboard repeat on or off.

-appcursorkeys [on|off] (virtual consoles only)

Sets Cursor Key Application Mode on or off. When on, ESC O A, ESC O B, etc. will be sent for the cursor keys instead of ESC [ A, ESC [ B, etc. See the "vi and Cursor-Keys" section of the Text-Terminal-HOWTO for how this can cause problems for vi users.

-linewrap [on|off] (virtual consoles only)

Turns automatic line-wrapping on or off.

-default

Sets the terminal's rendering options to the default values.

-foreground 8-color|default (virtual consoles only)

Sets the foreground text color.

-background 8-color|default (virtual consoles only)

Sets the background text color.

-ulcolor 16-color (virtual consoles only)

Sets the color for underlined characters.

-hbcolor 16-color (virtual consoles only)

Sets the color for half-bright characters.

-inversescreen [on|off] (virtual consoles only)

Inverts the screen colors. Foreground and background are swapped, as are underline and half-brightness.

-bold [on|off]

Turns bold (extra bright) mode on or off. Except at a virtual console, -bold off turns off all attributes (bold, half-brightness, blink, reverse).

-half-bright [on|off]

Turns dim (half-brightness) mode on or off (see -hbcolor). Except at a virtual console, -half-bright off turns off all attributes (bold, half-brightness, blink, reverse).

-blink [on|off]

Turns blink mode on or off. Except at a virtual console, -blink off turns off all attributes (bold, half-brightness, blink, reverse).

-reverse [on|off]

Turns reverse video mode on or off. Except at a virtual console, -reverse off turns off all attributes (bold, half-brightness, blink, reverse).

-underline [on|off]

Turns underline mode on or off (see -ulcolor).

-store (virtual consoles only)

Stores the terminal's current rendering options (foreground and background colors) as the values to be used at reset-to-default.

-clear [all]

Clears the screen and "homes" the cursor, as clear(1).

-clear rest

Clears from the current cursor position to the end of the screen.

-tabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...] (virtual consoles only)

Sets tab stops at the given horizontal cursor positions, in the range 1-160. Without arguments, shows the current tab stop settings.

-clrtabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...] (virtual consoles only)

Clears tab stops from the given horizontal cursor positions, in the range 1-160. Without arguments, clears all tab stops.

-regtabs [1-160] (virtual consoles only)

Clears all tab stops, then sets a regular tab stop pattern, with one tab every specified number of positions. Without an argument, defaults to 8.

-blank [0-60|force|poke] (virtual consoles only)

Sets the interval of inactivity, in minutes, after which the screen will be automatically blanked (using APM if available). Without an argument, gets the blank status (returns which vt was blanked or zero for unblanked vt).

The force option keeps screen blank even if a key is pressed.

The poke option unblank the screen.

-dump [1-NR_CONS]

Writes a snapshot of the given virtual console (with attributes) to the file specified in the -file option, overwriting its contents; the default is screen.dump. Without an argument, dumps the current virtual console. Overrides -append.

-append [1-NR_CONS]

Like -dump, but appends to the snapshot file instead of overwriting it. Only works if no -dump options are given.

-file dumpfilename

Sets the snapshot file name for any -dump or -append options on the same command line. If this option is not present, the default is screen.dump in the current directory.

-msg [on|off] (virtual consoles only)

Enables or disables the sending of kernel printk() messages to the console.

-msglevel 1-8 (virtual consoles only)

Sets the console logging level for kernel printk() messages. All messages strictly more important than this will be printed, so a logging level of 0 has the same effect as -msg on and a logging level of 8 will print all kernel messages. klogd(8) may be a more convenient interface to the logging of kernel messages.

-powersave on|vsync

Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.

-powersave hsync

Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend mode.

-powersave powerdown

Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.

-powersave [off]

Turns off monitor VESA powersaving features.

-powerdown [0-60]

Sets the VESA powerdown interval in minutes. Without an argument, defaults to 0 (disable powerdown). If the console is blanked or the monitor is in suspend mode, then the monitor will go into vsync suspend mode or powerdown mode respectively after this period of time has elapsed.

-blength [0-2000]

Sets the bell duration in milliseconds. Without an argument, defaults to 0.

-bfreq [freqnumber]

Sets the bell frequency in Hz. Without an argument, defaults to 0.

BUGS

Differences between the Minix and Linux versions are not documented.

AVAILABILITY

The setterm command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.