xenial (1) setterm.1.gz

Provided by: util-linux_2.27.1-6ubuntu3.10_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 bold 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.

       --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

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

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 ⟨ftp://
       ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/⟩.