Ubuntu Manpages

script

make typescript of terminal session

script [options] [file]

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.

Append the output to file or to typescript, retaining the prior contents.
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.
Return the exit code of the child process. Uses the same format as bash termination on signal termination exit code is 128+n.
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'.
Allow the default output destination, i.e. the typescript file, to be a hard or symbolic link. The command will follow a symbolic link.
Be quiet (do not write start and done messages to either standard output or the typescript 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.
Display version information and exit.
Display help text and exit.

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.

The following environment variable is utilized by script:

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).

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

The script command appeared in 3.0BSD.

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.

The script command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive.