setterm

setterm [options]

setterm writes a character string to standard output that invokes the requested terminal capabilities. Where possible it consults terminfo(5) for the string to send. Options marked as virtual-console-only have no terminfo equivalent; for those, if the terminal type is con or linux, setterm emits the sequence used on the PC Minix virtual console. Capabilities the terminal does not implement are ignored.Color options can be set independently, at least on virtual consoles, but combining modes (for example --underline with --half-bright) is hardware-dependent.Since util-linux 2.25, long options accept two hyphens (--help) as well as the older single-hyphen form (-help). Scripts that must run on older util-linux should keep the single hyphen.

Boolean options take on or off; the default is on. Write optional arguments as --option=argument.--foreground 8-color|default

Set the foreground text color. An 8-color is black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.

Set the background text color.

Color for underlined characters. A 16-color is an 8-color, grey, or bright followed by an 8-color (except black). Virtual consoles only.

Color for half-bright characters.

Extra-bright (bold) mode. Except on a virtual console, --bold off turns off bold, half-brightness, blink, and reverse together.

Dim (half-brightness) mode. Except on a virtual console, off also turns off bold, blink, and reverse.

Blink mode. Except on a virtual console, off also turns off bold, half-brightness, and reverse.

Underline mode.

Reverse-video mode. Except on a virtual console, off also turns off bold, half-brightness, and blink.

Swap foreground and background colors for the whole screen.

Show or hide the terminal cursor.

With no argument or all, clear the whole screen and home the cursor (like clear(1)). With rest, clear from the cursor to the end of the screen.

Write the terminal reset string, which typically restores power-on state.

Write the terminal initialization string (rendering options and related attributes back to defaults).

Set rendering options to the default values.

Store the current foreground and background as the reset-to-default colors. Virtual consoles only.

Blank after this many minutes of inactivity. With no argument, print which VT is blanked (0 means unblanked). force keeps the screen blank even if a key is pressed. poke unblanks. Virtual consoles only.

VESA powersave: vsync|on, hsync, powerdown, or off.

VESA powerdown interval in minutes. No argument defaults to 0 (disabled).

Bell frequency in Hertz. No argument defaults to 0. Virtual consoles only.

Bell duration in milliseconds. No argument defaults to 0. Virtual consoles only.

Snapshot that virtual console into the file given by --file (default screen.dump). No argument dumps the current console. Overrides --append.

Like --dump, but appends. Only works when no --dump is given.

Snapshot path for --dump / --append. Default is screen.dump in the current directory.

Allow kernel printk messages on the console. Virtual consoles only.

Console log level for kernel messages. 0 is like --msg on; 8 prints all kernel messages. Virtual consoles only.

Continue on a new line when the current line is full.

Keyboard repeat. Virtual consoles only.

Cursor Key Application Mode. Virtual consoles only.

Set tab stops at those columns (1–160). With no arguments, print the current tab stops.

Clear those tab stops. With no arguments, clear all. Virtual consoles only.

Clear all tabs, then set a regular stop every N columns (default 8). Virtual consoles only.

Reassess maximum row and column and reset the terminal size. Useful when the kernel driver and the real geometry have drifted, especially on serial consoles.

Override the TERM environment variable.

Print help and exit.

Print version and exit.

Redirect both stdin and stdout to the same device when piping: some options operate on stdin, so redirecting only stdout can apply the change to the wrong terminal. Many options work only on Linux virtual consoles. On other terminals, --bold off, --blink off, --half-bright off, and --reverse off each clear bold, half-brightness, blink, and reverse together.

setterm is part of the util-linux package. It grew as a Linux console helper that maps named attributes onto terminfo strings, with extra sequences for the kernel’s virtual consoles.

tput(1), stty(1), clear(1), reset(1), tty(1)

Source code · Documentation