NAME
setterm - set terminal attributesSYNOPSIS
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.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.
Like --dump, but appends to the
snapshot file instead of overwriting it. Only works if no --dump
options are given.
Sets the background text color.
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.
Sets the bell frequency in Hertz. Without an
argument, it defaults to 0. Virtual consoles only.
Sets the bell duration in milliseconds.
Without an argument, it defaults to 0. Virtual consoles only.
Turns blink mode on or off. Except on a
virtual console, --blink off turns off all attributes (bold,
half-brightness, blink, reverse).
urns bold (extra bright) mode on or off.
Except on a virtual console, --bold off turns off all attributes (bold,
half-brightness, blink, reverse).
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.
Clears tab stops from the given horizontal
cursor positions, in the range 1-160. Without arguments, it clears all
tab stops. Virtual consoles only.
Turns the terminal’s cursor on or
off.
Sets the terminal’s rendering options
to the default values.
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.
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.
Sets the foreground text color.
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).
Sets the color for half-bright
characters.
Displays the terminal initialization string,
which typically sets the terminal’s rendering options, and other
attributes to the default values.
Swaps foreground and background colors for the
whole screen.
Makes the terminal continue on a new line when
a line is full.
Enables or disables the sending of kernel
printk() messages to the console. 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.
Virtual consoles only.
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.
Valid values for mode are:
vsync|on
hsync
powerdown
off
Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend
mode.
Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend
mode.
Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown
mode.
Turns monitor VESA powersaving features.
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. Virtual consoles only.
Turns keyboard repeat on or off. Virtual
consoles only.
Displays the terminal reset string, which
typically resets the terminal to its power-on state.
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.
Turns reverse video mode on or off. Except on
a virtual console, --reverse off turns off all attributes (bold,
half-brightness, blink, reverse).
Stores the terminal’s current rendering
options (foreground and background colors) as the values to be used at
reset-to-default. Virtual consoles only.
Sets tab stops at the given horizontal cursor
positions, in the range 1-160. Without arguments, it shows the current
tab stop settings.
Overrides the TERM environment
variable.
Sets the color for underlined characters.
Virtual consoles only.
Turns underline mode on or off.
Display help text and exit.
Print version and exit.
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.BUGS
Differences between the Minix and Linux versions are not documented.SEE ALSO
stty(1), tput(1), tty(4), terminfo(5)REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker at <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.AVAILABILITY
The setterm command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.2022-05-11 | util-linux 2.38.1 |