Ubuntu Manpage: TIOCLINUX - ioctls for console terminal and virtual consoles

NAME

       TIOCLINUX - ioctls for console terminal and virtual consoles

SYNOPSIS

       #include <linux/tiocl.h>  /* Definition of TIOCL_* constants */
       #include <sys/ioctl.h>

       int ioctl(int fd, TIOCLINUX, void *argp);

DESCRIPTION

The action of the following ioctls depends on the first byte in the struct pointed to by argp, referred
to here as the subcode. These are legal only for the superuser or the owner of the current terminal.

subcode=0
Dump the screen. Disappeared in Linux 1.1.92. (With Linux 1.1.92 or later, read from /dev/vcsN
or /dev/vcsaN instead.)

subcode=1
Get task information. Disappeared in Linux 1.1.92.

subcode=TIOCL_SETSEL
Set selection. argp points to a

struct {
char subcode;
short xs, ys, xe, ye;
short sel_mode;
};

xs and ys are the starting column and row. xe and ye are the ending column and row. (Upper left
corner is row=column=1.) sel_mode may be one of the following operations:

TIOCL_SELCHAR
Select character-by-character. The indicated screen characters are highlighted and saved
in a kernel buffer.

Since Linux 6.7, using this selection mode requires the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

TIOCL_SELWORD
Select word-by-word, expanding the selection outwards to align with word boundaries. The
indicated screen characters are highlighted and saved in a kernel buffer.

Since Linux 6.7, using this selection mode requires the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

TIOCL_SELLINE
Select line-by-line, expanding the selection outwards to select full lines. The indicated
screen characters are highlighted and saved in a kernel buffer.

Since Linux 6.7, using this selection mode requires the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

TIOCL_SELPOINTER
Show the pointer at position (xs, ys) or (xe, ye), whichever is later in text flow order.

TIOCL_SELCLEAR
Remove the current selection highlight, if any, from the console holding the selection.

This does not affect the stored selected text.

TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT
Make the terminal report (xs, ys) as the current mouse location using the xterm(1) mouse
tracking protocol (see console_codes(4)). The lower 4 bits of sel_mode
(TIOCL_SELBUTTONMASK) indicate the desired button press and modifier key information for
the mouse event.

If mouse reporting is not enabled for the terminal, this operation yields an EINVAL error.

Since Linux 6.7, using this selection mode requires the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

subcode=TIOCL_PASTESEL
Paste selection. The characters in the selection buffer are written to fd.

Since Linux 6.7, using this subcode requires the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

subcode=TIOCL_UNBLANKSCREEN
Unblank the screen.

subcode=TIOCL_SELLOADLUT
Sets contents of a 256-bit look up table defining characters in a "word", for word-by-word
selection. (Since Linux 1.1.32.)

Since Linux 6.7, using this subcode requires the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

subcode=TIOCL_GETSHIFTSTATE
argp points to a char which is set to the value of the kernel variable shift_state. (Since Linux
1.1.32.)

subcode=TIOCL_GETMOUSEREPORTING
argp points to a char which is set to the value of the kernel variable report_mouse. (Since Linux
1.1.33.)

subcode=8
Dump screen width and height, cursor position, and all the character-attribute pairs. (Linux
1.1.67 through Linux 1.1.91 only. With Linux 1.1.92 or later, read from /dev/vcsa* instead.)

subcode=9
Restore screen width and height, cursor position, and all the character-attribute pairs. (Linux
1.1.67 through Linux 1.1.91 only. With Linux 1.1.92 or later, write to /dev/vcsa* instead.)

subcode=TIOCL_SETVESABLANK
Handles the Power Saving feature of the new generation of monitors. VESA screen blanking mode is
set to argp[1], which governs what screen blanking does:

0 Screen blanking is disabled.

1 The current video adapter register settings are saved, then the controller is programmed to
turn off the vertical synchronization pulses. This puts the monitor into "standby" mode.
If your monitor has an Off_Mode timer, then it will eventually power down by itself.

2 The current settings are saved, then both the vertical and horizontal synchronization
pulses are turned off. This puts the monitor into "off" mode. If your monitor has no
Off_Mode timer, or if you want your monitor to power down immediately when the blank_timer
times out, then you choose this option. (Caution: Powering down frequently will damage the
monitor.) (Since Linux 1.1.76.)

subcode=TIOCL_SETKMSGREDIRECT
Change target of kernel messages ("console"): by default, and if this is set to 0, messages are
written to the currently active VT. The VT to write to is a single byte following subcode.
(Since Linux 2.5.36.)

subcode=TIOCL_GETFGCONSOLE
Returns the number of VT currently in foreground. (Since Linux 2.5.36.)

subcode=TIOCL_SCROLLCONSOLE
Scroll the foreground VT by the specified amount of lines down, or half the screen if 0. lines is
*(((int32_t *)&subcode) + 1). (Since Linux 2.5.67.)

subcode=TIOCL_BLANKSCREEN
Blank the foreground VT, ignoring "pokes" (typing): can only be unblanked explicitly (by switching
VTs, to text mode, etc.). (Since Linux 2.5.71.)

subcode=TIOCL_BLANKEDSCREEN
Returns the number of VT currently blanked, 0 if none. (Since Linux 2.5.71.)

subcode=16
Never used.

subcode=TIOCL_GETKMSGREDIRECT
Returns target of kernel messages. (Since Linux 2.6.17.)

subcode=TIOCL_GETBRACKETEDPASTE
Returns 1 if the application advertised bracketed paste compatibility to the terminal, 0
otherwise. (Since Linux 6.16.)

RETURN VALUE

       On success, 0 is returned (except where indicated).  On failure, -1 is returned,  and  errno  is  set  to
       indicate the error.

ERRORS

       EINVAL argp is invalid.

       EPERM  Insufficient permission.

STANDARDS

       Linux.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

RETURN VALUE

ERRORS

STANDARDS

SEE ALSO