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 "virtual 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.

       For conciseness, an 8-color below is black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.

       A 16-color is an 8-color, grey, or bright followed by red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.

       The various color options may be set independently, at least at virtual consoles, though the results of setting multiple modes  (for  exam-
       ple, -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 [1-NR_CONS]
	      Like -dump, but appends to the snapshot file instead of overwriting it.  Only works if no -dump options are given.

       -background 8-color|default (virtual consoles only)
	      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, gets the blank status (returns which vt was blanked or zero for unblanked vt).

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

	      The poke option unblank the screen.

       -bfreq [freqnumber]
	      Sets the bell frequency in Hz.  Without an argument, defaults to 0.

       -blength [0-2000]
	      Sets the bell duration in milliseconds.  Without an argument, defaults to 0.

       -blink [on|off]
	      Turns  blink  mode  on  or  off.	 Except  at  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 at a virtual console, -bold off turns off all attributes  (bold,  half-brightness,
	      blink, reverse).

       -clear [all]
	      Clears the screen and "homes" the cursor, as clear(1).

       -clear rest
	      Clears from the current cursor position to the end of the screen.

       -clrtabs [tab1 tab2 tab3 ...] (virtual consoles only)
	      Clears tab stops from the given horizontal cursor positions, in the range 1-160.	Without arguments, 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 [1-NR_CONS]
	      Writes  a  snapshot  of  the given virtual console (with attributes) to the file specified in the -file option, overwriting its con-
	      tents; the default is screen.dump.  Without an argument, dumps the current virtual console.  Overrides -append.

       -append [1-NR_CONS]
	      Like -dump, but appends to the snapshot file instead of overwriting it.  Only works if no -dump options are given.

       -file dumpfilename
	      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 system maximum will be truncated, see PATH_MAX from linux/lim-
	      its.h for the value.

       -msg [on|off] (virtual consoles only)
	      Enables or disables the sending of kernel printk() messages to the console.

       -msglevel 1-8 (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, 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.

       -underline [on|off]
	      Turns underline mode on or off (see -ulcolor).

       -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,
	      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 at 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 ...] (virtual consoles only)
	      Sets tab stops at the given horizontal cursor positions, in the range 1-160.  Without arguments, shows the  current  tab	stop  set-
	      tings.

       -term terminal_name
	      Overrides the TERM environment variable.

       -ulcolor 16-color (virtual consoles only)
	      Sets the color for underlined characters.

       -version
	      Output version information and exit.

       -help  Output help screen and exit.

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

util-linux							   January 2000 							SETTERM(1)