TCGETATTR(3P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual						     TCGETATTR(3P)

PROLOG

       This  manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the correspond-
       ing Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       tcgetattr - get the parameters associated with the terminal

SYNOPSIS

       #include <termios.h>

       int tcgetattr(int fildes, struct termios *termios_p);

DESCRIPTION

       The tcgetattr() function shall get the parameters associated with the terminal referred to by fildes and store them in the  termios  struc-
       ture referenced by termios_p.  The fildes argument is an open file descriptor associated with a terminal.

       The termios_p argument is a pointer to a termios structure.

       The tcgetattr() operation is allowed from any process.

       If  the	terminal  device  supports different input and output baud rates, the baud rates stored in the termios structure returned by tcge-
       tattr() shall reflect the actual baud rates, even if they are equal. If differing baud rates are not supported, the rate  returned  as  the
       output baud rate shall be the actual baud rate. If the terminal device does not support split baud rates, the input baud rate stored in the
       termios structure shall be the output rate (as one of the symbolic values).

RETURN VALUE

       Upon successful completion, 0 shall be returned. Otherwise, -1 shall be returned and errno set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The tcgetattr() function shall fail if:

       EBADF  The fildes argument is not a valid file descriptor.

       ENOTTY The file associated with fildes is not a terminal.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE

       None.

RATIONALE

       Care must be taken when changing the terminal attributes. Applications should always do a tcgetattr(), save the	termios  structure  values
       returned,  and  then do a tcsetattr(), changing only the necessary fields. The application should use the values saved from the tcgetattr()
       to reset the terminal state whenever it is done with the terminal. This is necessary because terminal attributes apply  to  the	underlying
       port and not to each individual open instance; that is, all processes that have used the terminal see the latest attribute changes.

       A  program that uses these functions should be written to catch all signals and take other appropriate actions to ensure that when the pro-
       gram terminates, whether planned or not, the terminal device's state is restored to its original state.

       Existing practice dealing with error returns when only part of a request can be honored is based on calls to the ioctl() function. In  his-
       torical	BSD  and System V implementations, the corresponding ioctl() returns zero if the requested actions were semantically correct, even
       if some of the requested changes could not be made. Many existing applications assume this behavior and would no longer work  correctly	if
       the return value were changed from zero to -1 in this case.

       Note  that  either specification has a problem. When zero is returned, it implies everything succeeded even if some of the changes were not
       made. When -1 is returned, it implies everything failed even though some of the changes were made.

       Applications that need all of the requested changes made to work properly should follow tcsetattr() with a call to tcgetattr() and  compare
       the appropriate field values.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       tcsetattr(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Chapter 11, General Terminal Interface, <termios.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
       ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical  and	Electronics  Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE
       and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can  be  obtained
       online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE
/The Open Group						       2003							     TCGETATTR(3P)