SETTERM(1)



SETTERM(1)                       User Commands                      SETTERM(1)

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  con-
       sulted  to  find the string to use.  Some options however (marked "vir-
       tual consoles only" below) do not correspond to a terminfo(5)  capabil-
       ity.  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.

       The optional arguments require '=' (equals sign) and not space  between
       the option and the argument. For example --option=argument.

       --appcursorkeys on|off
              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.  Virtual consoles only.

       --append console_number
              Like  --dump,  but appends to the snapshot file instead of over-
              writing it.  Only works if no --dump options are given.

       --background 8-color|default
              Sets the background text color.

       --blank[=0-60|force|poke]
              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).  Virtual consoles
              only.

              The force argument keeps the screen  blank  even  if  a  key  is
              pressed.

              The poke argument unblanks the screen.

       --bfreq[=number]
              Sets  the  bell frequency in Hertz.  Without an argument, it de-
              faults to 0.  Virtual consoles only.

       --blength[=0-2000]
              Sets the bell duration in milliseconds.  Without an argument, it
              defaults to 0.  Virtual consoles only.

       --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
              urns  bold  (extra  bright) mode on or off.  Except on a virtual
              console, --bold off turns off all attributes (bold, half-bright-
              ness, 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 ...]
              Clears tab stops from the given horizontal cursor positions,  in
              the  range  1-160.   Without arguments, it clears all tab stops.
              Virtual consoles only.

       --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 [bright] 16-color
              Sets the color for half-bright 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
              Enables  or  disables the sending of kernel printk() messages to
              the console.  Virtual consoles only.

       --msglevel 0-8
              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  mes-
              sages.

              Virtual consoles only.

       --powerdown[=0-60]
              Sets  the  VESA powerdown interval in minutes.  Without an argu-
              ment, 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 mode
              Valid values for mode are:

              vsync|on
                     Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.

              hsync  Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend mode.

              powerdown
                     Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.

              off    Turns monitor VESA powersaving features.

       --regtabs[=1-160]
              Clears all tab stops, then sets a regular tab stop pattern, with
              one tab every specified number of positions.  Without  an  argu-
              ment, it defaults to 8.  Virtual consoles only.

       --repeat on|off
              Turns keyboard repeat on or off.  Virtual consoles only.

       --reset
              Displays  the  terminal reset string, which typically resets the
              terminal to its power-on state.

       --resize
              Reset terminal size by assessing maximum row and  column.   This
              is  useful  when  actual geometry and kernel terminal driver are
              not in sync.  Most notable use case  is  with  serial  consoles,
              that do not use ioctl(3p) but just byte streams and breaks.

       --reverse on|off
              Turns  reverse  video  mode on or off.  Except on a virtual con-
              sole, --reverse off turns off all attributes (bold, half-bright-
              ness, blink, reverse).

       --store
              Stores  the terminal's current rendering options (foreground and
              background colors) as the values to be used at reset-to-default.
              Virtual consoles only.

       --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 [bright] 16-color
              Sets  the  color  for  underlined  characters.  Virtual consoles
              only.

       --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  hy-
       phens,  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.  Cur-
       rently there are no plans nor good reasons to discontinue single-hyphen
       compatibility.

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

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 <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
       linux/>.

util-linux                         May 2014                         SETTERM(1)

Man(1) output converted with man2html
list of all man pages