setterm — set terminal attributes
setterm [options]
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.
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.
−−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 [console_number]Like −−dump,
            but appends to the snapshot file instead of overwriting
            it. Only works if no −−dump options are
            given.
−−background 8-color|defaultSets 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, it gets the blank status (returns which vt was blanked, or zero for an unblanked vt).
The force option keeps the screen blank even if a key is pressed.
The poke option unblanks the screen.
−−bfreq [number] (virtual
          consoles only)Sets the bell frequency in Hertz. Without an
            argument, it defaults to 0.
−−blength [0-2000] (virtual consoles
          only)Sets the bell duration in milliseconds. Without an
            argument, it defaults to 0.
−−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]Turns bold (extra bright) mode on or off. Except on
            a virtual console, −−bold off turns off all
            attributes (bold, half-brightness, 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 ...] (virtual
          consoles only)Clears tab stops from the given horizontal cursor
            positions, in the range 1-160. Without
            arguments, it clears all tab stops.
−−cursor [on|off]Turns the terminal's cursor on or off.
−−defaultSets 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 filenameSets 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|defaultSets 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 16-colorSets the color for bold characters.
−−initializeDisplays 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] (virtual consoles
          only)Enables or disables the sending of kernel
            printk() messages to the
            console.
−−msglevel 0-8 (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, 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 offTurns off monitor VESA powersaving features.
−−powersave on|vsyncPuts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.
−−powersave powerdownPuts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.
−−powersave hsyncPuts 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, it defaults to
            8.
−−repeat [on|off] (virtual consoles
          only)Turns keyboard repeat on or off.
−−resetDisplays 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 on 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
          ...]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_nameOverrides the TERM environment variable.
−−ulcolor 16-color (virtual consoles
          only)Sets the color for underlined characters.
−−underline
          [on|off]Turns underline mode on or off.
−−versionDisplays version information and exits.
−−helpDisplays a help text and exits.
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.
The setterm command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive
| Copyright 1990 Gordon Irlam (gordonics.ua.oz.au) Copyright 1992 Rickard E. Faith (faithcs.unc.edu) Copyright 2000 Colin Watson (cjw44cam.ac.uk) Do not restrict distribution. May be distributed under the GNU General Public License |