clear(1) [freebsd man page]
TPUT(1) BSD General Commands Manual TPUT(1) NAME
tput, clear -- terminal capability interface SYNOPSIS
tput [-T term] attribute ... clear DESCRIPTION
The tput utility makes terminal-dependent information available to users or shell applications. When invoked as the clear utility, the screen will be cleared as if tput clear had been executed. The options to tput are as follows: -T The terminal name as specified in the termcap(5) database, for example, ``vt100'' or ``xterm''. If not specified, tput retrieves the ``TERM'' variable from the environment. The tput utility outputs a string for each attribute that is of type string; a number for each of type integer. Otherwise, tput exits 0 if the terminal has the capability and 1 if it does not, without further action. If an attribute is of type string, and takes arguments (e.g. cursor movement, the termcap ``cm'' sequence) the arguments are taken from the command line immediately following the attribute. The following special attributes are available: clear Clear the screen (the termcap(5) ``cl'' sequence). init Initialize the terminal (the termcap(5) ``is'' sequence). longname Print the descriptive name of the user's terminal type. reset Reset the terminal (the termcap(5) ``rs'' sequence). EXIT STATUS
The exit status of tput is as follows: 0 If the last attribute attribute argument is of type string or integer, its value was successfully written to standard output. If the argument is of type boolean, the terminal has this attribute. 1 This terminal does not have the specified boolean attribute. 2 Usage error. 3 No information is available about the specified terminal type. SEE ALSO
termcap(5), terminfo(5) STANDARDS
The tput utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1''). HISTORY
The tput utility appeared in 4.4BSD. BUGS
The tput utility cannot really distinguish between different types of attributes. Some termcap entries depend upon having a '%' in them that is just a '%' and nothing more. Right now we just warn about them if they do not have a valid type declaration. These warnings are sent to stderr. BSD
June 15, 2002 BSD
Check Out this Related Man Page
tput(1) General Commands Manual tput(1) NAME
tput - Queries the terminal information database SYNOPSIS
tput [-S] [-T term] [capability_name [parameter...]] The tput command uses the terminfo database to make terminal-dependent information available to the shell. STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows: tput: XCU5.0 Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags. OPTIONS
[Tru64 UNIX] Specifies that input be received from standard input. Specifies the terminal type. By default, the terminal type is taken from the environment variable TERM. OPERANDS
The capability_name argument may be one of the following special strings: Displays the clear-screen sequence. Displays the sequences that initialize the user's terminal. [Tru64 UNIX] Displays the terminfo long name for the terminal. Displays the sequences that reset the user's terminal. DESCRIPTION
The capability_name argument indicates the attribute type from a terminfo file. The output of the tput command is a string if the attribute capability_name is of the type string, or an integer if the attribute is of the type integer. If the capability_name is of the type Boolean, the tput command sets the exit value to zero (0) for TRUE, 1 for FALSE, and produces no other output. For more information, see the terminfo(4) reference page. NOTES
If your terminal does not support the requested capability, it is not an error. EXIT STATUS
Equals FALSE Boolean value or the requested string was written successfully. [Tru64 UNIX] Equals TRUE Boolean value. Specifies a usage error. Specifies that information on this terminal is not available. Specifies that the capability_name is invalid. Specifies that an error occurred. EXAMPLES
To echo the clear-screen sequence for the current terminal: # tput clear To display the number of columns for the current terminal: # tput cols To set and unset the highlight-mode sequences for the current terminal: # bold=`tput smso` # unbold=`tput rmso` If you are using the C shell (csh), the argument to set and unset sequences must be enclosed in double quotes: # bold="`tput smso`" # unbold="`tput rmso`" Both of these examples can be followed by a prompt: echo "${bold}Please type in your name:${unbold} To set the exit value to indi- cate if the current terminal is a hardcopy terminal: tput hc If you are using the C shell (csh), the exit value for the preceding example is stored in $status; otherwise, the exit value is stored in $?. To move the cursor to line 2, row 2: tput cup 2 2 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the execution of tput: Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used. If any of the internationalization vari- ables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined. If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables. Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte characters in arguments). Determines the locale for the for- mat and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error. Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES. FILES
Terminal information database Definition files curses library definition file SEE ALSO
Commands: stty(1), tabs(1) Routines: curses(3) Files: terminfo(4) Standards: standards(5) tput(1)