# tput - initialize a terminal, exercise its capabilities, or q... - man(1) - [phpMan] > **TLDR:** View and modify terminal settings and capabilities. > - Move the cursor to a screen location: `tput cup {{row}} {{column}}` - Set foreground (af) or background (ab) color: `tput {{setaf|setab}} {{ansi_color_code}}` - Reverse text and background colors: `tput rev` - Reset all terminal text attributes: `tput sgr0` - Show number of columns, lines, or colors: `tput {{cols|lines|colors}}` - Enable or disable word wrap: `tput {{smam|rmam}}` - Hide or show the terminal cursor: `tput {{civis|cnorm}}` - Save or restore terminal text status (smcup also captures scroll wheel events): `tput {{smcup|rmcup}}` *Source: tldr-pages* --- [_tput_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tput/1/markdown) User commands [_tput_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tput/1/markdown) ## NAME **tput**, **init**, **reset **- initialize a terminal, exercise its capabilities, or query _terminfo_ data‐ base ## SYNOPSIS **tput **[**-T _**terminal-type_] {_cap-code_ [_parameter_ ...]} ... **tput **[**-T _**terminal-type_] [**-x**] **clear** **tput **[**-T _**terminal-type_] **init** **tput **[**-T _**terminal-type_] **reset** **tput **[**-T _**terminal-type_] **longname** ### tput -S ### tput -V ## DESCRIPTION **tput **uses the _terminfo_ library and database to make terminal-specific capabilities and infor‐ mation available to the shell, to initialize or reset the terminal, or to report a descrip‐ tion of the current (or specified) terminal type. Terminal capabilities are accessed by _cap-_ _code_. [**terminfo**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/terminfo/5/markdown) discusses terminal capabilities at length and presents a complete list of _cap-_ _codes._ When retrieving capability values, the result depends upon the capability's type. Boolean **tput **sets its exit status to **0 **if the terminal possesses _cap-code,_ and **1 **if it does not. numeric **tput **writes _cap-code_'s decimal value to the standard output stream if defined (**-1 **if it is not) followed by a newline. string **tput **writes _cap-code_'s value to the standard output stream if defined, without a trailing newline. Before using a value returned on the standard output, the application should test **tput**'s exit status to be sure it is 0; see section “EXIT STATUS” below. ### Operands Generally, an operand is a _cap-code,_ a capability code from the terminal database, or a para‐ meter thereto. Three others are specially recognized by **tput**: **init**, **reset**, and **longname**. Although these resemble capability codes, they in fact receive special handling; we term them “pseudo-capabilities”. _cap-code_ indicates a capability from the terminal database. If the capability is of string type and takes parameters, the arguments following the capability will be used as its parameters. Most parameters are numeric. Only a few terminal capabilities require string pa‐ rameters; **tput **uses a table to decide which to pass as strings. Normally **tput** uses [**tparm**(3NCURSES)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tparm/3NCURSES/markdown) to perform the substitution. If no parameters are given for the capability, **tput **writes the string without performing the substitution. **init **initializes the terminal. If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's terminal type exists, the following occur. (1) **tput **retrieves the terminal's mode settings. It successively tests the file descriptors corresponding to • the standard error stream, • the standard output stream, • the standard input stream, and • _/dev/tty_ to obtain terminal settings. Having retrieved them, **tput **remembers which de‐ scriptor to use for further updates. (2) If the terminal dimensions cannot be obtained from the operating system, but the environment or terminal type database entry describes them, **tput **updates the operating system's notion of them. (3) **tput **updates the terminal modes. • Any delays specified in the entry (for example, when a newline is sent) are set in the terminal driver. • Tab expansion is turned on or off per the specification in the entry, and • if tabs are not expanded, standard tabs (every 8 spaces) are set. (4) If initialization capabilities, detailed in subsection “Tabs and Initializa‐ tion” of [**terminfo**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/terminfo/5/markdown), are present, **tput **writes them to the standard output stream. (5) **tput **flushes the standard output stream. If an entry lacks the information needed for an activity above, that activity is silently skipped. **reset **re-initializes the terminal. A reset differs from initialization in two ways. (1) **tput **sets the the terminal modes to a “sane” state, • enabling cooked and echo modes, • disabling cbreak and raw modes, • enabling newline translation, and • setting any unset special characters to their default values. (2) If any reset capabilities are defined for the terminal type, **tput **writes them to the output stream. Otherwise, **tput **uses any defined initialization capa‐ bilities. Reset capabilities are detailed in subsection “Tabs and Initial‐ ization” of [**terminfo**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/terminfo/5/markdown). **longname **A _terminfo_ entry begins with one or more names by which an application can refer to the entry, before the list of terminal capabilities. The names are separated by “|” characters. X/Open Curses terms the last name the “long name”, and indi‐ cates that it may include blanks. **tic **warns if the last name does not include blanks, to accommodate old _terminfo_ entries that treated the long name as an optional feature. The long name is often referred to as the description field. If the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's terminal type ex‐ ists, **tput **reports its description to the standard output stream, without a trail‐ ing newline. See [**terminfo**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/terminfo/5/markdown). _Note:_ Redirecting the output of “**tput init**” or “**tput reset**” to a file will capture only part of their actions. Changes to the terminal modes are not affected by file descriptor redirec‐ tion, since the terminal modes are altered via [**ioctl**(2)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ioctl/2/markdown). ### Aliases If **tput **is invoked via link with any of the names **clear**, **init**, or **reset**, it operates as if run with the corresponding (pseudo-)capability operand. For example, executing a link named **reset **that points to **tput **has the same effect as “**tput reset**”. (The [**tset**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tset/1/markdown) utility also treats a link named **reset **specially.) If **tput **is invoked by a link named **init**, this has the same effect as “**tput init**”. Such a link is seldom employed because another program of that name is in widespread use. ### Terminal Size Besides the pseudo-capabilities (such as **init**), **tput **treats the **lines **and **cols _**cap-codes_ spe‐ cially: it may call [**setupterm**(3NCURSES)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/setupterm/3NCURSES/markdown) to obtain the terminal size. • First, **tput **attempts to obtain these capabilities from the terminal database. This gen‐ erally fails for terminal emulators, which lack a fixed window size and thus omit the ca‐ pabilities. • It then asks the operating system for the terminal's size, which generally works, unless the connection is via a serial line that does not support “NAWS”: negotiations about win‐ dow size. • Finally, it inspects the environment variables _LINES_ and _COLUMNS,_ which may override the terminal size. If the **-T **option is given, **tput **ignores the environment variables by calling **use_tioctl(TRUE)**, relying upon the operating system (or, ultimately, the terminal database). ## OPTIONS ### -S passed to **tput **from the standard input stream instead of from the command line (see section “EXAMPLES” below). Only one _cap-code_ is allowed per line. The **-S **option changes the meanings of the **0 **and **1 **exit statuses (see section “EXIT STATUS” below). Some capabilities use string parameters rather than numeric ones. **tput **employs a built-in table and the presence of parameters in its input to decide how to inter‐ pret them, and whether to use [**tparm**(3NCURSES)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tparm/3NCURSES/markdown). ### -T _ fault is taken from the _TERM_ environment variable. If specified, the environment variables _LINES_ and _COLUMNS_ are also ignored. ### -V status. ### -x ## EXIT STATUS Normally, one should interpret **tput**'s exit statuses as follows. ### Status Meaning When -S Not Specified ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── **0 **Boolean or string capability present **1 **Boolean or numeric capability absent **2 **usage error or no terminal type specified **3 **unrecognized terminal type **4 **unrecognized capability code **>4 **system error (4 + **errno**) When the **-S **option is used, some statuses change meanings. ### Status Meaning When -S Specified ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── **0 **all operands interpreted **1 **unused **4 **some operands not interpreted ## ENVIRONMENT **tput **command reads one environment variable. _TERM_ denotes the terminal type. Each terminal type is distinct, though many are similar. The **-T **option overrides its value. ## FILES _/usr/share/tabset_ tab stop initialization database _/etc/terminfo_ compiled terminal description database ## PORTABILITY Over time _ncurses_ **tput **has differed from that of System V in two important respects, one now mostly historical. • “**tput _**cap-code_” writes to the standard output, which need not be a terminal device. How‐ ever, the operands that manipulate terminal modes might not use the standard output. System V **tput**'s **init **and **reset **operands use logic from 4.1cBSD **tset**, manipulating termi‐ nal modes. It checks the same file descriptors (and _/dev/tty_) for association with a terminal device as _ncurses_ now does, and if none are, finally assumes a 1200 baud termi‐ nal. When updating terminal modes, it ignores errors. Until _ncurses_ 6.1 (see section “HISTORY” below), **tput **did not modify terminal modes. It now employs a scheme similar to System V, using functions shared with **tset **(and ulti‐ mately based on 4.4BSD **tset**). If it is not able to open a terminal (for instance, when run by [_cron_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/cron/1/markdown)), **tput **exits with an error status. • System V **tput **assumes that the type of a _cap-code_ operand is numeric if all the charac‐ ters of its value are decimal numbers; if they are not, it treats _cap-code_ as a string capability. Most implementations that provide support for _cap-code_ operands use the [**tparm**(3NCURSES)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tparm/3NCURSES/markdown) function to expand its parameters. That function expects a mixture of numeric and string parameters, requiring **tput **to know which type to use. _ncurses_ **tput **uses a table to determine the parameter types for the standard _cap-code_ operands, and an internal function to analyze nonstandard _cap-code_ operands. While more reliable than System V's utility, a portability problem is introduced by this analysis. An OpenBSD developer adapted the internal library function from _ncurses_ to port NetBSD's _termcap_-based **tput **to _terminfo,_ and modified it to interpret multiple _cap-_ _codes_ (and parameters) on the command line. Portable applications should not rely upon this feature; _ncurses_ offers it to support applications written specifically for OpenBSD. This implementation, unlike others, accepts both _termcap_ and _terminfo_ _cap-codes_ if _termcap_ support is compiled in. In that case, however, the predefined _termcap_ and _terminfo_ codes have two ambiguities; _ncurses_ assumes the _terminfo_ code. • The _cap-code_ **dl **means **delete_line **to _termcap_ but **parm_delete_line **to _terminfo._ _termcap_ uses the code **DL **for **parm_delete_line**. _terminfo_ uses the code **dch1 **for **delete_line**. • The _cap-code_ **ed **means **exit_delete_mode **to _termcap_ but **clr_eos **to _terminfo._ _termcap_ uses the code **cd **for **clr_eos**. _terminfo_ uses the code **rmdc **for **exit_delete_mode**. The **longname **operand, **-S **option, and the parameter-substitution features used in the **cup **ex‐ ample below, were not supported in AT&T/USL _curses_ before SVr4 (1989). Later, 4.3BSD-Reno (1990) added support for **longname**, and in 1994, NetBSD added support for the parameter-sub‐ stitution features. IEEE Std 1003.1/The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7 (POSIX.1-2008) documents only the **clear**, **init**, and **reset **operands. A few observations of interest arise from that selection. • _ncurses_ supports **clear **as it does any other standard _cap-code._ The others (**init **and **longname**) do not correspond to terminal capabilities. • The **tput **on SVr4-based systems such as Solaris, IRIX64, and HP-UX, as well as others such as AIX and Tru64, also support standard _cap-code_ operands. • A few platforms such as FreeBSD recognize _termcap_ names rather than _terminfo_ capability names in their respective **tput **commands. Since 2010, NetBSD's **tput **uses _terminfo_ names. Before that, it (like FreeBSD) recognized _termcap_ names. Beginning in 2021, FreeBSD uses _ncurses_ **tput**, configured for both _terminfo_ (tested first) and _termcap_ (as a fallback). Because (apparently) all _certified_ Unix systems support the full set of capability codes, the reason for documenting only a few may not be apparent. • X/Open Curses Issue 7 documents **tput **differently, with _cap-code_ and the other features used in this implementation. • That is, there are two standards for **tput**: POSIX (a subset) and X/Open Curses (the full implementation). POSIX documents a subset to avoid the complication of including X/Open Curses and the terminal capability database. • While it is certainly possible to write a **tput **program without using _curses,_ no system with a _curses_ implementation provides a **tput **utility that does not also support standard _cap-codes._ X/Open Curses Issue 7 (2009) is the first version to document utilities. However that part of X/Open Curses does not follow existing practice (that is, System V _curses_ behavior). • It assigns exit status 4 to “invalid operand”, which may have the same meaning as “un‐ known capability”. For instance, the source code for Solaris _xcurses_ uses the term “in‐ valid” in this case. • It assigns exit status 255 to a numeric variable that is not specified in the _terminfo_ database. That likely is a documentation error, mistaking the “-1” written to the stan‐ dard output to indicate an absent or cancelled numeric capability for an (unsigned) exit status. The various System V implementations (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris) use the same exit statuses as _ncurses._ NetBSD _curses_ documents exit statuses that correspond to neither _ncurses_ nor X/Open Curses. ## HISTORY Bill Joy wrote a **tput **command during development of 4BSD in October 1980. This initial ver‐ sion only cleared the screen, and did not ship with official distributions. System V developed a different **tput **command. • SVr2 (1984) provided a rudimentary **tput **that checked the parameter against each prede‐ fined capability and returned the corresponding value. This version of **tput **did not use [**tparm**(3NCURSES)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tparm/3NCURSES/markdown) for parameterized capabilities. • SVr3 (1987) replaced that with a more extensive program whose support for **init **and **reset** operands (more than half the program) incorporated the **reset **feature of BSD **tset **written by Eric Allman. • SVr4 (1989) added color initialization by using the **orig_colors **(**oc**) and **orig_pair **(**op**) capabilities in its **init **logic. Keith Bostic refactored BSD **tput **for shipment in 4.3BSD-Tahoe (1988), then replaced it the next year with a new implementation based on System V **tput**. Bostic's version similarly ac‐ cepted some parameters named for _terminfo_ (pseudo-)capabilities: **clear**, **init**, **longname**, and **reset**. However, because he had only _termcap_ available, it accepted _termcap_ names for other capabilities. Also, Bostic's BSD **tput **did not modify the terminal modes as the earlier BSD **tset **had done. At the same time, Bostic added a shell script named “clear” that used **tput **to clear the screen. Both of these appeared in 4.4BSD, becoming the “modern” BSD implementation of **tput**. The origin of _ncurses_ **tput **lies outside both System V and BSD, in Ross Ridge's _mytinfo_ pack‐ age, published on _comp.sources.unix_ in December 1992. Ridge's program made more sophisti‐ cated use of the terminal capabilities than the BSD program. Eric Raymond used that **tput** program (and other parts of _mytinfo_) in _ncurses_ in June 1995. Incorporating the portions dealing with terminal capabilities almost without change, Raymond made improvements to the way command-line parameters were handled. Before _ncurses_ 6.1 (2018), its **tset **and **tput **utilities differed. • **tset **was more effective, resetting the terminal modes and special characters. • On the other hand, **tset**'s repertoire of terminal capabilities for resetting the terminal was more limited; it had only equivalents of **reset_1string **(**rs1**), **reset_2string **(**rs2**), and **reset_file **(**rf**), and not the tab stop and margin update features of **tput**. The **reset **program is traditionally an alias for **tset **due to its ability to reset terminal modes and special characters. As of _ncurses_ 6.1, the “reset” features of the two programs are (mostly) the same. Two minor differences remain. • The **tset **program waits one second when resetting, in case the terminal happens to be a hardware device. • The two programs write the terminal initialization strings to different streams; that is, standard error for **tset **and standard output for **tput**. ## EXAMPLES ### tput init Initialize the terminal according to the type of terminal in the _TERM_ environment variable. If the system does not reliably initialize the terminal upon login, this command can be included in _$HOME/.profile_ after exporting the _TERM_ environment vari‐ able. ### tput -T5620 reset Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the terminal type in the _TERM_ environment variable. ### tput cnorm Set cursor to normal visibility. ### tput home Move the cursor to row 0, column 0: the upper left corner of the screen, usually known as the “home” cursor position. ### tput clear Clear the screen: write the **clear_screen **capability's value to the standard output stream. ### tput cols Report the number of columns used by the current terminal type. ### tput -Tadm3a cols Report the number of columns used by an ADM-3A terminal. ### strong=`tput smso` normal=`tput rmso` Set shell variables to capability values: **strong **and **normal**, to begin and end, respec‐ tively, stand-out mode for the terminal. One might use these to present a prompt. printf "${strong}Username:${normal} " ### tput hc Indicate via exit status whether the terminal is a hard copy device. ### tput cup 23 4 Move the cursor to row 23, column 4. ### tput cup Report the value of the **cursor_address **(**cup**) capability (used for cursor movement), with no parameters substituted. ### tput longname Report the _terminfo_ database's description of the terminal type specified in the _TERM_ environment variable. ### tput -S Process multiple capabilities. The **-S **option can be profitably used with a shell “here document”. $ **tput -S < **clear** > **cup 10 10** > **bold** > **!** The foregoing clears the screen, moves the cursor to position (10, 10) and turns on bold (extra bright) mode. ### tput clear cup 10 10 bold Perform the same actions as the foregoing “**tput -S**” example. ## SEE ALSO [**clear**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/clear/1/markdown), [**stty**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/stty/1/markdown), [**tabs**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tabs/1/markdown), [**tset**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tset/1/markdown), [**termcap**(3NCURSES)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/termcap/3NCURSES/markdown), [**terminfo**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/terminfo/5/markdown) ncurses 6.4 2024-01-13 [_tput_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tput/1/markdown)