tset(1) General Commands Manual tset(1)
NAME
tset, reset - terminal-dependent initialization
SYNOPSIS
[options] [ident] [test baudrate] [type]
DESCRIPTION
sets up the terminal when logging in on an HP-UX system. It does terminal-dependent processing, such as setting erase and kill characters,
setting or resetting delays, and sending any sequences needed to properly initialize the terminal. It first determines the type of termi-
nal involved, then does the necessary initializations and mode settings. The type of terminal attached to each HP-UX port is specified in
the data base. Type names for terminals can be found in the files under the directory (see terminfo(4)). If a port is not wired perma-
nently to a specific terminal (not hardwired), it is given an appropriate generic identifier, such as
performs a similar function, setting the terminal to a sensible default state.
In the case where no arguments are specified, simply reads the terminal type out of the environment variable and re-initializes the termi-
nal. The rest of this manual entry concerns itself with mode and environment initialization, typically done once at login, and options
used at initialization time to determine the terminal type and set up terminal modes.
When used in a startup script for sh(1), or for csh(1) users), it is desirable to give information about the type of terminal that will
normally be used on ports that are not hardwired. These ports are identified in as or etc. To specify what terminal type you usually use
on these ports, the (map) option flag is followed by the appropriate port type identifier, an optional baud rate specification, and the
terminal type. (The effect is to "map" from some conditions to a terminal type; that is, to tell that "If I am on this kind of port, I
will probably be on this kind of terminal.") If more than one mapping is specified, the first applicable mapping prevails. A missing port
type identifier matches all identifiers. A baudrate is specified as with (see stty(1)), and is compared with the speed of the diagnostic
output (which should be the control terminal). The baud rate test can be any combination of and is a synonym for and inverts the sense of
the test. To avoid problems with metacharacters, it is best to place the entire argument to within single quotes; users of csh(1) must
also put a before any used.
Thus,
causes the terminal type to be set to an HP 2622 if the port in use is a dialup at a speed greater than 300 baud, or to an HP 2624 if the
port is otherwise a dialup (i.e., at 300 baud or less). If the type finally determined by begins with a question mark, the user is asked
for verification that the type indicated is really the one desired. A null response means to use that type; otherwise, another type can be
entered. Thus, in the above case, if the user is on a plugboard port, he or she will be asked whether or not he or she is actually using
an HP 2623.
If no mapping applies and a final type option, not preceded by a is given on the command line, that type is used. Otherwise, the identi-
fier found in the data base is taken to be the terminal type. The latter should always be the case for hardwired ports.
It is usually desirable to return the terminal type, as finally determined by tset, and information about the terminal's capabilities to a
shell's environment. This can be done using the option. From sh(1), the command:
or using the C shell, (csh(1)):
These commands cause to generate as output a sequence of shell commands which place the variable in the environment; see environ(5).
Once the terminal type is known, engages in terminal mode setting. This normally involves sending an initialization sequence to the termi-
nal, setting the single character erase (and optionally the full line erase or line-kill) characters, and setting special character delays.
Tab and new-line expansion are turned off during transmission of the terminal initialization sequence.
On terminals that can backspace but not overstrike (such as a CRT), and when the erase character is the default erase character on standard
systems), the erase character is changed to Backspace.
Options
recognizes the following options:
Set the erase character to be the named character
c; c defaults to what the terminfo database (see terminfo(4)) entry reports to be the character sent by the Backspace key
(usually The character c can either be typed directly, or entered using circumflex notation used here (e.g., the circumflex
notation for control-H is
Set the kill character to
c. The default c is If c is not specified, the kill character remains unchanged unless the original value of the kill char-
acter is null, in which case the kill character is set to
Report terminal type.
Whatever type is decided on is reported. If no other flags are given, the only effect is to write the terminal type on the
standard output. Has no effect if used with
Generate appropriate commands (depending on current
environment variable) to set
Suppress transmitting terminal initialization strings.
Suppress printing the
and messages.
Ask the user for the
type.
Output the strings that would be assigned to
in the environment rather than generating commands for a shell. In sh(1), the following is an alternate way of setting
Force a read of
When is not specified, the terminal type is determined by reading the environment unless some mapping is specified.
For compatibility with earlier versions of the following flags are accepted, but their use is discouraged:
Report to the user in addition to other flags.
Set the erase character to
c only if the terminal can backspace. c defaults to what the terminfo database (see terminfo(4)) entry reports to be the
character sent by the Backspace key (usually
In addition to capabilities described in (see termio(7) and terminfo(4)), the following boolean terminfo capabilities are understood by and
and can be included in the terminfo database for the purpose of terminal setup:
"Uppercase" mode sets character mapping for terminals
that support only uppercase characters. Equivalent to
"Lowercase" mode permits input and output of lowercase characters.
Equivalent to
Set "even parity".
Equivalent to
Set "odd parity".
Equivalent to
Set "new line" mode.
Equivalent to
Set "half-duplex" mode.
Equivalent to
Set "print tabs" mode.
Equivalent to
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
if generate commands; otherwise generate sh(1) commands.
the (canonical) terminal name.
EXAMPLES
These examples all assume the sh(1). Note that a typical use of in a also uses the and options, and often the or options as well. These
options have been omitted here to keep the examples small.
Assume, for the moment, that you are on an HP 2622. This is suitable for typing by hand but not for a unless you are on a 2622.
Assume you have an HP 2623 at home that you dial up on, but your office terminal is hardwired and known in
Suppose you are accessing the system through a switching network that can connect any system to any incoming modem line in an arbitrary
combination, making it nearly impossible to key on what port you are coming in on. Your office terminal is an HP 2622, and your home ter-
minal is an HP 2623 running at 1200 baud on dial-up switch ports. Sometimes you use someone else's terminal at work, so you want it to
verify what terminal type you have at high speeds, but at 1200 baud you are always on a 2623. Note the placement of the question mark and
the quotes to protect the and from interpretation by the shell.
All of the above entries fall back on the terminal type specified in if none of the conditions hold. The following entry is appropriate if
you always dial up, always at the same baud rate, on many different kinds of terminals. Your most common terminal is an HP 2622. It
always asks you what kind of terminal you are on, defaulting to 2622.
If the file is not properly installed and you want to key entirely on the baud rate, the following can be used:
AUTHOR
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
FILES
port-name to terminal-type mapping data base
terminal information data base
SEE ALSO
csh(1), sh(1), stty(1), ttytype(4), environ(5).
tset(1)