TPUT(1)                    POSIX Programmer's Manual                   TPUT(1)



PPRROOLLOOGG
       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The OS
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
       OS manual page for details of OS behavior), or the interface may not be
       implemented on OS.

NNAAMMEE
       tput -- change terminal characteristics

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       tput [[-T _t_y_p_e]] _o_p_e_r_a_n_d...

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       The _t_p_u_t utility shall display terminal-dependent information. The
       manner in which this information is retrieved is unspecified. The
       information displayed shall clear the terminal screen, initialize the
       user's terminal, or reset the user's terminal, depending on the operand
       given. The exact consequences of displaying this information are
       unspecified.

OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       The _t_p_u_t utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
       POSIX.1-2017, _S_e_c_t_i_o_n _1_2_._2, _U_t_i_l_i_t_y _S_y_n_t_a_x _G_u_i_d_e_l_i_n_e_s.

       The following option shall be supported:

       --TT _t_y_p_e   Indicate the type of terminal. If this option is not supplied
                 and the _T_E_R_M variable is unset or null, an unspecified
                 default terminal type shall be used. The setting of _t_y_p_e
                 shall take precedence over the value in _T_E_R_M.

OOPPEERRAANNDDSS
       The following strings shall be supported as operands by the
       implementation in the POSIX locale:

       cclleeaarr     Display the clear-screen sequence.

       iinniitt      Display the sequence that initializes the user's terminal in
                 an implementation-defined manner.

       rreesseett     Display the sequence that resets the user's terminal in an
                 implementation-defined manner.

       If a terminal does not support any of the operations described by these
       operands, this shall not be considered an error condition.

SSTTDDIINN
       Not used.

IINNPPUUTT FFIILLEESS
       None.

EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT VVAARRIIAABBLLEESS
       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of _t_p_u_t:

       _L_A_N_G      Provide a default value for the internationalization
                 variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions
                 volume of POSIX.1-2017, _S_e_c_t_i_o_n _8_._2, _I_n_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_i_z_a_t_i_o_n
                 _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s for the precedence of internationalization
                 variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)

       _L_C___A_L_L    If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of
                 all the other internationalization variables.

       _L_C___C_T_Y_P_E  Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
                 bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
                 opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).

       _L_C___M_E_S_S_A_G_E_S
                 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
                 and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard
                 error.

       _N_L_S_P_A_T_H   Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing
                 of _L_C___M_E_S_S_A_G_E_S.

       _T_E_R_M      Determine the terminal type. If this variable is unset or
                 null, and if the --TT option is not specified, an unspecified
                 default terminal type shall be used.

AASSYYNNCCHHRROONNOOUUSS EEVVEENNTTSS
       Default.

SSTTDDOOUUTT
       If standard output is a terminal device, it may be used for writing the
       appropriate sequence to clear the screen or reset or initialize the
       terminal. If standard output is not a terminal device, undefined
       results occur.

SSTTDDEERRRR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OOUUTTPPUUTT FFIILLEESS
       None.

EEXXTTEENNDDEEDD DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       None.

EEXXIITT SSTTAATTUUSS
       The following exit values shall be returned:

        0    The requested string was written successfully.

        1    Unspecified.

        2    Usage error.

        3    No information is available about the specified terminal type.

        4    The specified operand is invalid.

       >4    An error occurred.

CCOONNSSEEQQUUEENNCCEESS OOFF EERRRROORRSS
       If one of the operands is not available for the terminal, _t_p_u_t
       continues processing the remaining operands.

       _T_h_e _f_o_l_l_o_w_i_n_g _s_e_c_t_i_o_n_s _a_r_e _i_n_f_o_r_m_a_t_i_v_e_.

AAPPPPLLIICCAATTIIOONN UUSSAAGGEE
       The difference between resetting and initializing a terminal is left
       unspecified, as they vary greatly based on hardware types. In general,
       resetting is a more severe action.

       Some terminals use control characters to perform the stated functions,
       and on such terminals it might make sense to use _t_p_u_t to store the
       initialization strings in a file or environment variable for later use.
       However, because other terminals might rely on system calls to do this
       work, the standard output cannot be used in a portable manner, such as
       the following non-portable constructs:


           ClearVar=`tput clear`
           tput reset | mailx -s "Wake Up" ddg

EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS
        1. Initialize the terminal according to the type of terminal in the
           environmental variable _T_E_R_M.  This command can be included in a
           ..pprrooffiillee file.


               tput init

        2. Reset a 450 terminal.


               tput -T 450 reset

RRAATTIIOONNAALLEE
       The list of operands was reduced to a minimum for the following
       reasons:

        *  The only features chosen were those that were likely to be used by
           human users interacting with a terminal.

        *  Specifying the full _t_e_r_m_i_n_f_o set was not considered desirable, but
           the standard developers did not want to select among operands.

        *  This volume of POSIX.1-2017 does not attempt to provide
           applications with sophisticated terminal handling capabilities, as
           that falls outside of its assigned scope and intersects with the
           responsibilities of other standards bodies.

       The difference between resetting and initializing a terminal is left
       unspecified as this varies greatly based on hardware types. In general,
       resetting is a more severe action.

       The exit status of 1 is historically reserved for finding out if a
       Boolean operand is not set. Although the operands were reduced to a
       minimum, the exit status of 1 should still be reserved for the Boolean
       operands, for those sites that wish to support them.

FFUUTTUURREE DDIIRREECCTTIIOONNSS
       None.

SSEEEE AALLSSOO
       _s_t_t_y, _t_a_b_s

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, _C_h_a_p_t_e_r _8, _E_n_v_i_r_o_n_m_e_n_t
       _V_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s, _S_e_c_t_i_o_n _1_2_._2, _U_t_i_l_i_t_y _S_y_n_t_a_x _G_u_i_d_e_l_i_n_e_s

CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology --
       Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the
       Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open
       Group.  In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the
       original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The
       Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can
       be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
       files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .



IEEE/The Open Group                  2017                              TPUT(1)
