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@(#)tput.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 3/19/94
.Dd April 5, 2012 .Dt TPUT 1 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm tput , .Nm clear .Nd terminal capability interface .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl T Ar term .Ar attribute .Op Ar attribute-args .Ar ... .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm makes terminal-dependent information available to users or shell applications. The options are as follows: l -tag -width Ds t Fl T The terminal name as specified in the .Xr terminfo 5 database, for example, .Dq vt100 or .Dq xterm . If not specified, .Nm retrieves the .Dq Ev TERM variable from the environment. .El
p .Nm outputs a string if the .Ar attribute is of type string; a number if it is of type integer. Otherwise, .Nm exits 0 if the terminal has the capability and 1 if it does not, without further action.
p If the .Ar attribute is of type string, and takes arguments (e.g. cursor movement, the terminfo .Dq cup sequence) the arguments are taken from the command line immediately following the attribute.
p The following special attributes are available: l -tag -width Ar t clear Clear the screen (the .Xr terminfo 5 .Dq cl sequence). t init Initialize the terminal (the .Xr terminfo 5 .Dq is2 sequence). t longname Print the descriptive name of the user's terminal type. t reset Reset the terminal (the .Xr terminfo 5 .Dq rs1 , rs2 , rs3 and .Dq rf sequence). .El .Sh EXIT STATUS The exit status of .Nm is based on the last attribute specified. If the attribute is of type string or of type integer, .Nm exits 0 if the attribute is defined for this terminal type and 1 if it is not. If the attribute is of type boolean, .Nm exits 0 if the terminal has this attribute, and 1 if it does not. .Nm exits 2 if any error occurred. .Sh EXAMPLES l -tag -width "tput cm 6 11 DC 6" -compact t Li "tput cl cm 5 10" clear the screen and goto line 5 column 10
p t Li "tput cm 6 11 DC 6" goto line 6 column 11 and delete 6 characters .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr termcap 3 , .Xr terminfo 3 , .Xr terminfo 5 .Sh HISTORY The .Nm command appears in x 4.4 . .Sh BUGS .Nm can't really distinguish between different types of attributes.
p Not all terminfo entries contain the reset sequence, so using the init sequence may be more useful.
Indexes created Sun Sep 21 16:09:51 GMT 2025