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tput(1)								       tput(1)

NAME
       tput, reset - initialize a terminal or query terminfo database

SYNOPSIS
       tput [-Ttype] capname [parameters]
       tput [-Ttype] [-x] clear
       tput [-Ttype] init
       tput [-Ttype] reset
       tput [-Ttype] longname
       tput -S	<<
       tput -V

DESCRIPTION
       The  tput utility uses the terminfo database to make the values of ter‐
       minal-dependent capabilities and information  available	to  the	 shell
       (see  sh(1)),  to  initialize or reset the terminal, or return the long
       name of the requested terminal type.  The result depends upon the capa‐
       bility's type:

	  string
	       tput  writes  the  string  to the standard output.  No trailing
	       newline is supplied.

	  integer
	       tput writes the decimal value to the standard  output,  with  a
	       trailing newline.

	  boolean
	       tput  simply sets the exit code (0 for TRUE if the terminal has
	       the capability, 1 for FALSE if it does not), and writes nothing
	       to the standard output.

       Before  using  a value returned on the standard output, the application
       should test the exit code (e.g., $?, see sh(1)) to be  sure  it	is  0.
       (See  the EXIT CODES and DIAGNOSTICS sections.)	For a complete list of
       capabilities and the capname associated with each, see terminfo(5).

   Options
       -S     allows more than one capability per  invocation  of  tput.   The
	      capabilities  must  be  passed  to  tput from the standard input
	      instead of from the command line (see example).  Only  one  cap‐
	      name  is allowed per line.  The -S option changes the meaning of
	      the 0 and 1 boolean and string exit codes (see  the  EXIT	 CODES
	      section).

	      Because  some capabilities may use string parameters rather than
	      numbers, tput uses a table and the presence of parameters in its
	      input  to	 decide whether to use tparm(3X), and how to interpret
	      the parameters.

       -Ttype indicates the type of terminal.  Normally this option is	unnec‐
	      essary,  because the default is taken from the environment vari‐
	      able TERM.  If -T is specified, then the shell  variables	 LINES
	      and COLUMNS will also be ignored.

       -V     reports  the  version of ncurses which was used in this program,
	      and exits.

       -x     do not attempt to clear the terminal's scrollback	 buffer	 using
	      the extended “E3” capability.

   Commands
       A few commands (init, reset and longname) are special; they are defined
       by the tput program.  The others are the names of capabilities from the
       terminal	 database  (see	 terminfo(5)  for  a list).  Although init and
       reset resemble capability names, tput uses several capabilities to per‐
       form these special functions.

       capname
	      indicates the capability from the terminal database.

	      If  the  capability is a string that takes parameters, the argu‐
	      ments following the capability will be used  as  parameters  for
	      the string.

	      Most  parameters	are numbers.  Only a few terminal capabilities
	      require string parameters; tput uses a table to decide which  to
	      pass  as	strings.   Normally tput uses tparm(3X) to perform the
	      substitution.  If no parameters are given	 for  the  capability,
	      tput writes the string without performing the substitution.

       init   If  the terminal database is present and an entry for the user's
	      terminal exists (see -Ttype, above), the following will occur:

	      (1)  first, tput retrieves the current  terminal	mode  settings
		   for your terminal.  It does this by successively testing

		   ·   the standard error,

		   ·   standard output,

		   ·   standard input and

		   ·   ultimately “/dev/tty”

		   to  obtain  terminal settings.  Having retrieved these set‐
		   tings, tput remembers which file  descriptor	 to  use  when
		   updating settings.

	      (2)  if  the  window  size cannot be obtained from the operating
		   system, but the terminal description (or environment, e.g.,
		   LINES and COLUMNS variables specify this), update the oper‐
		   ating system's notion of the window size.

	      (3)  the terminal modes will be updated:

		   ·   any delays (e.g., newline) specified in the entry  will
		       be set in the tty driver,

		   ·   tabs  expansion	will  be turned on or off according to
		       the specification in the entry, and

		   ·   if tabs are not expanded, standard  tabs	 will  be  set
		       (every 8 spaces).

	      (4)  if  present,	 the terminal's initialization strings will be
		   output as detailed in the terminfo(5) section on  Tabs  and
		   Initialization,

	      (5)  output is flushed.

	      If  an  entry does not contain the information needed for any of
	      these activities, that activity will silently be skipped.

       reset  This is similar to init, with two differences:

	      (1)  before any other initialization, the terminal modes will be
		   reset to a “sane” state:

		   ·   set cooked and echo modes,

		   ·   turn off cbreak and raw modes,

		   ·   turn on newline translation and

		   ·   reset  any  unset  special  characters to their default
		       values

	      (2)  Instead of putting out initialization strings,  the	termi‐
		   nal's  reset	 strings  will be output if present (rs1, rs2,
		   rs3, rf).  If the reset strings are not present,  but  ini‐
		   tialization strings are, the initialization strings will be
		   output.

	      Otherwise, reset acts identically to init.

       longname
	      If the terminal database is present and an entry for the	user's
	      terminal	exists	(see  -Ttype above), then the long name of the
	      terminal will be put out.	 The long name is the last name in the
	      first  line  of the terminal's description in the terminfo data‐
	      base [see term(5)].

   Aliases
       tput handles the clear, init and reset commands	specially:  it	allows
       for the possibility that it is invoked by a link with those names.

       If  tput	 is invoked by a link named reset, this has the same effect as
       tput reset.  The tset(1) utility also treats a link  named  reset  spe‐
       cially.

       Before ncurses 6.1, the two utilities were different from each other:

       ·   tset	 utility  reset the terminal modes and special characters (not
	   done with tput).

       ·   On the other hand, tset's repertoire of terminal  capabilities  for
	   resetting  the terminal was more limited, i.e., only reset_1string,
	   reset_2string and reset_file in contrast to the tab-stops and  mar‐
	   gins which are set by this utility.

       ·   The	reset  program	is  usually an alias for tset, because of this
	   difference with resetting terminal modes and special characters.

       With the changes made for ncurses 6.1, the reset	 feature  of  the  two
       programs is (mostly) the same.  A few differences remain:

       ·   The	tset  program waits one second when resetting, in case it hap‐
	   pens to be a hardware terminal.

       ·   The two programs write the terminal initialization strings to  dif‐
	   ferent streams (i.e.,. the standard error for tset and the standard
	   output for tput).

	   Note: although these programs write to different streams, redirect‐
	   ing their output to a file will capture only part of their actions.
	   The changes to the terminal modes are not affected  by  redirecting
	   the output.

       If  tput	 is  invoked by a link named init, this has the same effect as
       tput init.  Again, you are less likely to use that link because another
       program named init has a more well-established use.

EXAMPLES
       tput init
	    Initialize	the  terminal according to the type of terminal in the
	    environmental variable TERM.  This command should be  included  in
	    everyone's .profile after the environmental variable TERM has been
	    exported, as illustrated on the profile(5) manual page.

       tput -T5620 reset
	    Reset an AT&T 5620 terminal, overriding the type  of  terminal  in
	    the environmental variable TERM.

       tput cup 0 0
	    Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 0, column 0 (the upper
	    left corner of the screen, usually	known  as  the	“home”	cursor
	    position).

       tput clear
	    Echo the clear-screen sequence for the current terminal.

       tput cols
	    Print the number of columns for the current terminal.

       tput -T450 cols
	    Print the number of columns for the 450 terminal.

       bold=`tput smso` offbold=`tput rmso`
	    Set	 the  shell  variables bold, to begin stand-out mode sequence,
	    and offbold, to end standout mode sequence, for the current termi‐
	    nal.  This might be followed by a prompt: echo "${bold}Please type
	    in your name: ${offbold}\c"

       tput hc
	    Set exit code to indicate if the current terminal is a  hard  copy
	    terminal.

       tput cup 23 4
	    Send the sequence to move the cursor to row 23, column 4.

       tput cup
	    Send  the  terminfo string for cursor-movement, with no parameters
	    substituted.

       tput longname
	    Print the long name from the terminfo database  for	 the  type  of
	    terminal specified in the environmental variable TERM.

	    tput -S <<!
	    > clear
	    > cup 10 10
	    > bold
	    > !

	    This  example  shows  tput	processing several capabilities in one
	    invocation.	 It clears the screen, moves the  cursor  to  position
	    10,	 10 and turns on bold (extra bright) mode.  The list is termi‐
	    nated by an exclamation mark (!) on a line by itself.

FILES
       /etc/terminfo
	      compiled terminal description database

       /usr/share/tabset/*
	      tab settings for some terminals, in a format appropriate	to  be
	      output  to  the  terminal (escape sequences that set margins and
	      tabs); for more information, see the  Tabs  and  Initialization,
	      section of terminfo(5)

EXIT CODES
       If the -S option is used, tput checks for errors from each line, and if
       any errors are found, will set the exit code to 4 plus  the  number  of
       lines  with  errors.   If  no errors are found, the exit code is 0.  No
       indication of which line failed can be given so exit code 1 will	 never
       appear.	 Exit codes 2, 3, and 4 retain their usual interpretation.  If
       the -S option is not used, the exit code depends on the	type  of  cap‐
       name:

	  boolean
		 a value of 0 is set for TRUE and 1 for FALSE.

	  string a value of 0 is set if the capname is defined for this termi‐
		 nal type (the value of capname is returned on	standard  out‐
		 put);	a value of 1 is set if capname is not defined for this
		 terminal type (nothing is written to standard output).

	  integer
		 a value of 0 is always set, whether or not capname is defined
		 for  this  terminal type.  To determine if capname is defined
		 for this terminal type, the user must test the value  written
		 to  standard output.  A value of -1 means that capname is not
		 defined for this terminal type.

	  other	 reset or init may fail to find their  respective  files.   In
		 that case, the exit code is set to 4 + errno.

       Any other exit code indicates an error; see the DIAGNOSTICS section.

DIAGNOSTICS
       tput  prints  the  following  error messages and sets the corresponding
       exit codes.

       exit code   error message
       ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       0	   (capname is a numeric variable that is not specified	 in
		   the	terminfo(5)  database  for this terminal type, e.g.
		   tput -T450 lines and tput -T2621 xmc)
       1	   no error message is printed, see the EXIT CODES section.
       2	   usage error
       3	   unknown terminal type or no terminfo database
       4	   unknown terminfo capability capname
       >4	   error occurred in -S
       ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

HISTORY
       The tput command was begun by Bill Joy in 1980.	 The  initial  version
       only cleared the screen.

       AT&T  System  V provided a different tput command, whose init and reset
       subcommands (more than half the program)	 were  incorporated  from  the
       reset feature of BSD tset written by Eric Allman.

       Keith Bostic replaced the BSD tput command in 1989 with a new implemen‐
       tation based on the AT&T System V program tput.	Like the AT&T program,
       Bostic's	 version accepted some parameters named for terminfo capabili‐
       ties (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 I/O	modes  as  the
       earlier BSD tset had done.

       At the same time, Bostic added a shell script named “clear”, which used
       tput to clear the screen.

       Both of these appeared in 4.4BSD, becoming the “modern” BSD implementa‐
       tion of tput.

       This  implementation of tput began from a different source than AT&T or
       BSD: Ross Ridge's mytinfo package, published  on	 comp.sources.unix  in
       December 1992.  Ridge's program made more sophisticated use of the ter‐
       minal capabilities than the BSD program.	 Eric Raymond  used  the  tput
       program	(and  other  parts of mytinfo) in ncurses in June 1995.	 Using
       the portions dealing with terminal capabilities almost without  change,
       Raymond	made  improvements to the way the command-line parameters were
       handled.

PORTABILITY
       This implementation of tput differs from AT&T  tput  in	two  important
       areas:

       ·   tput	 capname  writes  to  the standard output.  That need not be a
	   regular terminal.  However, the subcommands which manipulate termi‐
	   nal modes may not use the standard output.

	   The	AT&T  implementation's	init  and  reset  commands use the BSD
	   (4.1c) tset source, which manipulates terminal modes.   It  succes‐
	   sively tries standard output, standard error, standard input before
	   falling back to “/dev/tty” and finally just assumes a 1200Bd termi‐
	   nal.	 When updating terminal modes, it ignores errors.

	   Until  changes made after ncurses 6.0, tput did not modify terminal
	   modes.  tput now uses a similar scheme, using functions shared with
	   tset	 (and ultimately based on the 4.4BSD tset).  If it is not able
	   to open a terminal, e.g., when running in cron, tput will return an
	   error.

       ·   AT&T tput guesses the type of its capname operands by seeing if all
	   of the characters are numeric, or not.

	   Most implementations which provide support for capname operands use
	   the	tparm  function	 to  expand  parameters	 in it.	 That function
	   expects a mixture of numeric and string parameters, requiring  tput
	   to know which type to use.

	   This	 implementation	 uses a table to determine the parameter types
	   for the standard capname operands, and an internal library function
	   to analyze nonstandard capname operands.

       This  implementation  (unlike  others) can accept both termcap and ter‐
       minfo names for the capname feature, if termcap support is compiled in.
       However, the predefined termcap and terminfo names have two ambiguities
       in this case (and the terminfo name is assumed):

       ·   The termcap name dl corresponds to the terminfo  name  dl1  (delete
	   one line).
	   The	terminfo  name dl corresponds to the termcap name DL (delete a
	   given number of lines).

       ·   The termcap name ed corresponds to  the  terminfo  name  rmdc  (end
	   delete mode).
	   The	terminfo  name ed corresponds to the termcap name cd (clear to
	   end of screen).

       The longname and -S options, and	 the  parameter-substitution  features
       used  in	 the  cup  example,  were  not	supported in BSD curses before
       4.3reno (1989) or in AT&T/USL curses before SVr4 (1988).

       IEEE  Std  1003.1/The  Open  Group    Base   Specifications   Issue   7
       (POSIX.1-2008)  documents  only the operands for clear, init and reset.
       There are a few interesting observations to make regarding that:

       ·   In this implementation, clear is part of the capname support.   The
	   others  (init and longname) do not correspond to terminal capabili‐
	   ties.

       ·   Other  implementations  of  tput  on	 SVr4-based  systems  such  as
	   Solaris,  IRIX64  and  HPUX as well as others such as AIX and Tru64
	   provide support for capname 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.

       Because (apparently) all of the certified Unix systems support the full
       set of capability names, the reasoning for documenting only a  few  may
       not be apparent.

       ·   X/Open  Curses Issue 7 documents tput differently, with capname 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 termi‐
	   nal capabilities database.

       ·   While  it  is  certainly  possible  to write a tput program without
	   using curses, none of the systems which have a  curses  implementa‐
	   tion provide a tput utility which does not provide the capname fea‐
	   ture.

SEE ALSO
       clear(1), stty(1), tabs(1), tset(1), terminfo(5), termcap(3NCURSES).

       This describes ncurses version 6.0 (patch 20171125).

								       tput(1)
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