NAME

     cu — serial terminal emulator

SYNOPSIS

     cu [-dr] [-E escape_char] [-l line] [-s speed | -speed]
     cu [host]

DESCRIPTION

     cu is used to connect to another system over a serial link.  In the era before modern
     networks, it was typically used to connect to a modem in order to dial in to a remote host.
     It is now frequently used for tasks such as attaching to the serial console of another
     machine for administrative or debugging purposes.

     The options are as follows:

     -d    Specify that the line is directly connected and cu should not allow the driver to
           block waiting for a carrier to be detected.

     -E escape_char
           Specify an escape character to use instead of the default tilde.

     -l line
           Specify the line to use.  Either of the forms like cua00 or /dev/cua00 are permitted.
           The default is /dev/cua00.  See cua(4) for information on terminal devices.  Users in
           group “dialer” are permitted to use cua(4) devices by default.

     -r    Start cu in restricted mode.  This prevents all local filesystem operations (~R, ~X,
           and ~>) and command executions (~C and ~$).

     -s speed | -speed
           Set the speed of the connection.  The default is 9600.

     If host is given, cu uses the remote(5) database to retrieve the dc (directly connected), dv
     (device) and br (baud rate) capabilities for that host.  The cu utility ignores other
     capabilities found in that database.

     Typed characters are normally transmitted directly to the remote machine (which does the
     echoing as well).  A tilde (‘~’) appearing as the first character of a line is an escape
     signal; the following are recognized:

           ~^D or ~.   Drop the connection and exit.  Only the connection is dropped – the login
                       session is not terminated.

           ~>          Copy file from local to remote.  cu prompts for the name of a local file
                       to transmit.

           ~$          Pipe the output from a local UNIX process to the remote host.  The command
                       string sent to the local UNIX system is processed by the shell.

           ~#          Send a BREAK to the remote system.

           ~^Z         Stop cu (only available with job control).

           ~C          Fork a child process on the local system to perform special protocols such
                       as XMODEM.  The child program will be run with the following arrangement
                       of file descriptors:

                             0 ↔ remote tty in
                             1 ↔ remote tty out
                             2 ↔ local tty stderr

           ~D          Deassert the data terminal ready (DTR) line briefly.

           ~R          Record all output from the remote system to a file.  If the given file
                       already exists, it is appended to.  If no file is specified, any existing
                       recording is stopped.

           ~S          Change the speed of the connection.

           ~X          Send a file with the XMODEM protocol.

           ~?          Get a summary of the tilde escapes.

     When cu prompts for an argument, for example during setup of a file transfer, the line typed
     may be edited with the standard erase and kill characters.  A null line in response to a
     prompt, or an interrupt, will abort the dialogue and return the user to the remote machine.

     cu guards against multiple users connecting to a remote system by opening modems and
     terminal lines with exclusive access.

ENVIRONMENT

     HOST       The default value for host if none is specified via the command line.

     REMOTE     A system description, or an absolute path to a remote(5) system description
                database.

FILES

     /etc/remote  host description file

EXIT STATUS

     The cu utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO

     remote(5)

HISTORY

     The cu command appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.  This version was written for OpenBSD 5.4 by
     Nicholas Marriott.