# phpman > man > SCREENDUMP(1)

[SCREENDUMP(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/SCREENDUMP/1/markdown)                        General Commands Manual                        [SCREENDUMP(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/SCREENDUMP/1/markdown)

## NAME
       screendump - dump the contents of a virtual console to stdout

## SYNOPSIS
       screendump [ N ]

## DESCRIPTION
       The screendump command dumps the contents of virtual console N , (or the current console if N
       is omitted) to standard out.

       Just saying
              cat /dev/vcsN
       has a similar effect.

## NOTES
       For security reasons, screendump uses linux devices "virtual  console  screen"  and  "virtual
       console screen with attributes" to give access for screendump.

       Ensure these files exist, using

              cd /dev for i in 0 1 2 3 ...; do
                   mknod vcs$i c 7 $i
                   mknod vcsa$i c 7 `expr 128 + $i`
              done

       (filling  in  the ellipses) and give the device files appropriate permissions, or run screen-
       dump as root.

## SEE ALSO
       [setterm(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/setterm/1/markdown)

kbd                                         2002-02-24                              [SCREENDUMP(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/SCREENDUMP/1/markdown)