OPTIONS¶
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.
The optional arguments are recommended with '=' (equals sign) and
not space between the option and the argument. For example
--option=argument. setterm can interpret the next non-option argument
as an optional argument too.
--appcursorkeys on|off
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.
--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|default
Sets the background text color.
--blank[=0-60|force|poke]
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.
--bfreq[=number]
Sets the bell frequency in Hertz. Without an argument, it
defaults to 0. Virtual consoles only.
--blength[=0-2000]
Sets the bell duration in milliseconds. Without an
argument, it defaults to 0. Virtual consoles only.
--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
urns 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 ...]
Clears tab stops from the given horizontal cursor
positions, in the range 1-160. Without arguments, it clears all tab
stops. Virtual consoles only.
--cursor on|off
Turns the terminal’s cursor on or off.
--default
Sets 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 filename
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.
--foreground 8-color|default
Sets 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 [bright] 16-color
Sets the color for half-bright characters.
--initialize
Displays 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
Enables or disables the sending of kernel printk()
messages to the console. Virtual consoles only.
--msglevel 0-8
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.
--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 mode
Valid values for
mode are:
vsync|on
Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.
hsync
Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend mode.
powerdown
Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.
off
Turns monitor VESA powersaving features.
--regtabs[=1-160]
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.
--repeat on|off
Turns keyboard repeat on or off. Virtual consoles
only.
--reset
Displays the terminal reset string, which typically
resets the terminal to its power-on state.
--resize
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.
--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
Stores the terminal’s current rendering options
(foreground and background colors) as the values to be used at
reset-to-default. Virtual consoles only.
--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_name
Overrides the TERM environment variable.
--ulcolor [bright] 16-color
Sets the color for underlined characters. Virtual
consoles only.
--underline on|off
Turns underline mode on or off.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-V, --version
Print version and exit.
