Provided by: util-linux_2.34-0.1ubuntu9.6_amd64 bug

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.

       Below, an 8-color can be black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.

       A 16-color can be an 8-color, or grey, or bright followed by  red,  green,  yellow,  blue,
       magenta, cyan, or white.

       The  various  color options may be set independently, at least on virtual consoles, though
       the results of setting multiple modes (for example,  --underline  and  --half-bright)  are
       hardware-dependent.

       --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.

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

       --background 8-color|default
              Sets the background text color.

       --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, it  gets  the
              blank status (returns which vt was blanked, or zero for an unblanked vt).

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

              The poke option unblanks the screen.

       --bfreq [number]  (virtual consoles only)
              Sets the bell frequency in Hertz.  Without an argument, it defaults to 0.

       --blength [0-2000]  (virtual consoles only)
              Sets the bell duration in milliseconds.  Without an argument, it defaults to 0.

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

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

       --clear [all|rest]
              Without  an argument or with the argument all, the entire screen is cleared and the
              cursor is set to the home position, just like clear(1)  does.   With  the  argument
              rest, the screen is cleared from the current cursor position to the end.

       --clrtabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...]  (virtual consoles only)
              Clears  tab  stops  from the given horizontal cursor positions, in the range 1-160.
              Without arguments, it clears all tab stops.

       --cursor [on|off]
              Turns the terminal's cursor on or off.

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

       --dump [console_number]
              Writes a snapshot of the  virtual  console  with  the  given  number  to  the  file
              specified  with  the  --file  option,  overwriting  its  contents;  the  default is
              screen.dump.  Without an argument, it dumps  the  current  virtual  console.   This
              overrides --append.

       --file filename
              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.   A  path  name  that  exceeds the system maximum will be truncated, see
              PATH_MAX from linux/limits.h for the value.

       --foreground 8-color|default
              Sets the foreground text color.

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

       --hbcolor 16-color
              Sets the color for half-bright characters.

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

       --inversescreen [on|off]
              Swaps foreground and background colors for the whole screen.

       --linewrap [on|off]
              Makes the terminal continue on a new line when a line is full.

       --msg [on|off]  (virtual consoles only)
              Enables or disables the sending of kernel printk() messages to the console.

       --msglevel 0-8  (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.

       --powerdown [0-60]
              Sets the VESA powerdown interval in minutes.  Without an argument, it 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.

       --powersave off
              Turns off monitor VESA powersaving features.

       --powersave on|vsync
              Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.

       --powersave powerdown
              Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.

       --powersave hsync
              Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend mode.

       --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, it defaults to 8.

       --repeat [on|off]  (virtual consoles only)
              Turns keyboard repeat on or off.

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

       --resize
              Reset terminal size by assessing maximum row  and  column.   This  is  useful  when
              actual  geometry and kernel terminal driver are not in sync.  Most notable use case
              is with serial consoles, that do not use ioctl(3) but just byte streams and breaks.

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

       --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.

       --tabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...]
              Sets tab stops at the given  horizontal  cursor  positions,  in  the  range  1-160.
              Without arguments, it shows the current tab stop settings.

       --term terminal_name
              Overrides the TERM environment variable.

       --ulcolor 16-color  (virtual consoles only)
              Sets the color for underlined characters.

       --underline [on|off]
              Turns underline mode on or off.

       --version
              Displays version information and exits.

       --help Displays a help text and exits.

COMPATIBILITY

       Since  version  2.25  setterm  has  support for long options with two hyphens, for example
       --help, beside the historical long options with a single hyphen, for  example  -help.   In
       scripts  it  is better to use the backward-compatible single hyphen rather than the double
       hyphen.  Currently there are no  plans  nor  good  reasons  to  discontinue  single-hyphen
       compatibility.

SEE ALSO

       stty(1), tput(1), tty(4), terminfo(5)

BUGS

       Differences between the Minix and Linux versions are not documented.

AVAILABILITY

       The  setterm  command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel
       Archive ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/⟩.