NAME

       script - make typescript of terminal session

SYNOPSIS

       script [options] [file]

DESCRIPTION

       script  makes  a  typescript  of  everything displayed on your terminal.  It is useful for
       students who need a hardcopy record of an interactive session as proof of  an  assignment,
       as the typescript file can be printed out later with lpr(1).

       If  the argument file is given, script saves the dialogue in this file.  If no filename is
       given, the dialogue is saved in the file typescript.

OPTIONS

       -a, --append
              Append the output to file or to typescript, retaining the prior contents.

       -c, --command command
              Run the command rather than an interactive shell.  This makes it easy for a  script
              to  capture the output of a program that behaves differently when its stdout is not
              a tty.

       -e, --return
              Return the exit  code  of  the  child  process.   Uses  the  same  format  as  bash
              termination on signal termination exit code is 128+n.

       -f, --flush
              Flush  output  after each write.  This is nice for telecooperation: one person does
              `mkfifo foo; script -f foo', and another can supervise real-time what is being done
              using `cat foo'.

       --force
              Allow  the  default  output  destination, i.e. the typescript file, to be a hard or
              symbolic link.  The command will follow a symbolic link.

       -q, --quiet
              Be quiet (do not write start and done messages to either  standard  output  or  the
              typescript file).

       -t, --timing[=file]
              Output  timing  data  to standard error, or to file when given.  This data contains
              two fields, separated by a space.  The first field indicates how much time  elapsed
              since  the  previous  output.   The second field indicates how many characters were
              output this time.   This  information  can  be  used  to  replay  typescripts  with
              realistic typing and output delays.

       -V, --version
              Display version information and exit.

       -h, --help
              Display help text and exit.

NOTES

       The script ends when the forked shell exits (a control-D for the Bourne shell (sh(1)), and
       exit, logout or control-d (if ignoreeof is not set) for the C-shell, csh(1)).

       Certain interactive commands, such as  vi(1),  create  garbage  in  the  typescript  file.
       script  works  best with commands that do not manipulate the screen, the results are meant
       to emulate a hardcopy terminal.

       It is not recommended to run script in non-interactive shells. The inner shell  of  script
       is always interactive, and this could lead to unexpected results. If you use script in the
       shell initialization file, you have to avoid entering an infinite loop. Use e. g.  profile
       file, which is read by login shells only:

              if test -t 0 ; then
                  script
                  exit
              fi

       You should also avoid use of script in command pipes, as script can read more input than
       you would expect.

ENVIRONMENT

       The following environment variable is utilized by script:

       SHELL  If the variable SHELL exists, the shell forked by script will be that shell.  If
              SHELL is not set, the Bourne shell is assumed.  (Most shells set this variable
              automatically).

SEE ALSO

       csh(1) (for the history mechanism), scriptreplay(1).

HISTORY

       The script command appeared in 3.0BSD.

BUGS

       script places everything in the log file, including linefeeds and backspaces.  This is not
       what the naive user expects.

       script is primarily designed for interactive terminal sessions, it's possible that when
       stdin is not a terminal (for example "echo foo | script") then all session hung ups,
       because interactive shell within script session miss EOF and the script has no clue when
       close the session. See the NOTES section for more information.

AVAILABILITY

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