tset(1B) SunOS/BSD Compatibility Package Commands tset(1B)NAME
tset, reset - establish or restore terminal characteristics
SYNOPSIStset [-InQrs] [-ec] [-kc]
[-m [port-ID [baudrate] : type]...] [type]
reset [-] [-ec] [-I] [-kc]
[-n] [-Q] [-r] [-s]
[-m [indent] [test baudrate] : type]... [type]
DESCRIPTION
The tset utility sets up your terminal, typically when you first log
in. It does terminal dependent processing such as setting erase and
kill characters, setting or resetting delays, sending any sequences
needed to properly initialized the terminal, and the like. tset first
determines the type of terminal involved, and then does necessary ini‐
tializations and mode settings. If a port is not wired permanently to a
specific terminal (not hardwired) it is given an appropriate generic
identifier such as dialup.
reset clears the terminal settings by turning off CBREAK and RAW
modes, output delays and parity checking, turns on NEWLINE translation,
echo and TAB expansion, and restores undefined special characters to
their default state. It then sets the modes as usual, based on the
terminal type (which probably overrides some of the above). See stty(1)
for more information. All arguments to tset may be used with reset.
reset also uses rs= and rf= to reset the initialization string and
file. This is useful after a program dies and leaves the terminal in a
funny state. Often in this situation, characters do not echo as you
type them. You may have to type LINEFEED reset LINEFEED since RETURN
may not work.
When no arguments are specified, tset reads the terminal type from the
TERM environment variable and re-initializes the terminal, and performs
initialization of mode, environment and other options at login time to
determine the terminal type and set up terminal modes.
When used in a startup script (.profile for sh(1) users or .login for
csh(1) users) it is desirable to give information about the type of
terminal you usually use on ports that are not hardwired. Any of the
alternate generic names given in the file /etc/termcap are possible
identifiers. Refer to the -m option for more information. If no mapping
applies and a final type option, not preceded by a -m, is given on the
command line then that type is used.
It is usually desirable to return the terminal type, as finally deter‐
mined by tset, and information about the terminal's capabilities, to a
shell's environment. This can be done using the −, -s, or -S options.
For the Bourne shell, put this command in your .profile file:
eval `tset -s options...`
or using the C shell, put these commands in your .login file:
set noglob
eval `tset -s options...`
unset noglob
With the C shell, it is also convenient to make an alias in your .cshrc
file:
alias ts 'eval `tset -s \!*`'
This also allows the command:
ts 2621
to be invoked at any time to set the terminal and environment. It is
not possible to get this aliasing effect with a Bourne shell script,
because shell scripts cannot set the environment of their parent. If a
process could set its parent's environment, none of this nonsense would
be necessary in the first place.
Once the terminal type is known, tset sets the terminal driver mode.
This normally involves sending an initialization sequence to the termi‐
nal, setting the single character erase (and optionally the line-kill
(full line erase)) characters, and setting special character delays.
TAB and NEWLINE expansion are turned off during transmission of the
terminal initialization sequence.
On terminals that can backspace but not overstrike (such as a CRT), and
when the erase character is `#', the erase character is changed as if
-e had been used.
OPTIONS
− The name of the terminal finally decided upon is output on the
standard output. This is intended to be captured by the shell
and placed in the TERM environment variable.
-ec Set the erase character to be the named character c on all ter‐
minals. Default is the BACKSPACE key on the keyboard, usually
^H (CTRL-H). The character c can either be typed directly, or
entered using the circumflex-character notation used here.
-ic Set the interrupt character to be the named character c on all
terminals. Default is ^C (CTRL-C). The character c can either
be typed directly, or entered using the circumflex-character
notation used here.
-I Suppress transmitting terminal-initialization strings.
-kc Set the line kill character to be the named character c on all
terminals. Default is ^U (CTRL-U). The kill character is left
alone if -k is not specified. Control characters can be speci‐
fied by prefixing the alphabetical character with a circumflex
(as in CTRL-U) instead of entering the actual control key
itself. This allows you to specify control keys that are cur‐
rently assigned.
-n Specify that the new tty driver modes should be initialized for
this terminal. Probably useless since stty new is the default.
-Q Suppress printing the `Erase set to' and `Kill set to' mes‐
sages.
-r In addition to other actions, reports the terminal type.
-s Output commands to set and export TERM. This can be used with
set noglob
eval `tset -s ...`
unset noglob
to bring the terminal information into the environment. Doing
so makes programs such as vi(1) start up faster. If the SHELL
environment variable ends with csh, C shell commands are out‐
put, otherwise Bourne shell commands are output.
-m [ port-ID [ baudrate ] : type ] ...
Specify (map) a terminal type when connected to a generic port
(such as dialup or plugboard) identified by port-ID. The baudrate
argument can be used to check the baudrate of the port and set the
terminal type accordingly. The target rate is prefixed by any com‐
bination of the following operators to specify the conditions under
which the mapping is made:
> Greater than.
@ Equals or at.
< Less than.
! It is not the case that (negates the specified operators).
? Prompt for the terminal type. If no response is given, then
type is selected by default.
In the following example, the terminal type is set to adm3a if the
port is a dialup with a speed of greater than 300 or to dw2 if the
port is a dialup at 300 baud or less. In the third case, the ques‐
tion mark preceding the terminal type indicates that the user is to
verify the type desired. A NULL response indicates that the named
type is correct. Otherwise, the user's response is taken to be the
type desired.
tset-m 'dialup>300:adm3a'-m 'dialup:dw2'-m 'plugboard:?adm3a'
To prevent interpretation as metacharacters, the entire argument to
-m should be enclosed in single quotes. When using the C shell,
exclamation points should be preceded by a backslash (\).
EXAMPLES
These examples all use the `−' option. A typical use of tset in a
.profile or .login also uses the -e and -k options, and often the -n or
-Q options as well. These options have been omitted here to keep the
examples short.
Example 1 Selecting a Terminal
To select a 2621, you might put the following sequence of commands in
your .login file (or .profile for Bourne shell users).
set noglob
eval `tset -s 2621`
unset noglob
If you want to make the selection based only on the baud rate, you
might use the following:
set noglob
eval `tset -s -m '>1200:wy' 2621`
unset noglob
Example 2 Selecting Terminals According to Speed or Baud rate
If you have a switch which connects to various ports (making it imprac‐
tical to identify which port you may be connected to), and use various
terminals from time to time, you can select from among those terminals
according to the speed or baud rate. In the example below, tset prompts
you for a terminal type if the baud rate is greater than 1200 (say,
9600 for a terminal connected by an RS-232 line), and use a Wyse 50 by
default. If the baud rate is less than or equal to 1200, it selects a
2621. Note the placement of the question mark, and the quotes to pro‐
tect the > and ? from interpretation by the shell.
set noglob
eval `tset -s -m 'switch>1200:?wy' -m 'switch<=1200:2621'`
unset noglob
Example 3 Selecting the Terminal Used Most Often
The following entry is appropriate if you always dial up, always at the
same baud rate, on many different kinds of terminals, and the terminal
you use most often is an adm3a.
set noglob
eval `tset -s ?adm3a`
unset noglob
Example 4 Selecting a Terminal with Specific Settings
The following example quietly sets the erase character to BACKSPACE,
and kill to CTRL-U. If the port is switched, it selects a Concept 100
for speeds less than or equal to 1200, and asks for the terminal type
otherwise (the default in this case is a Wyse 50). If the port is a
direct dialup, it selects Concept 100 as the terminal type. If logging
in over the ARPANET, the terminal type selected is a Datamedia 2500
terminal or emulator. Note the backslash escaping the NEWLINE at the
end of the first line in the example.
set noglob
eval `tset -e -k^U -Q -s -m 'switch<=1200:concept100' -m\
'switch:?wy' -m dialup:concept100 -m arpanet:dm2500`
unset noglob
FILES
.login
.profile
/etc/termcap
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWscpu │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOcsh(1), sh(1), stty(1), vi(1), attributes(5), environ(5)NOTES
The tset command is one of the first commands a user must master when
getting started on a UNIX system. Unfortunately, it is one of the most
complex, largely because of the extra effort the user must go through
to get the environment of the login shell set. Something needs to be
done to make all this simpler, either the login program should do this
stuff, or a default shell alias should be made, or a way to set the
environment of the parent should exist.
This program cannot intuit personal choices for erase, interrupt and
line kill characters, so it leaves these set to the local system stan‐
dards.
It could well be argued that the shell should be responsible for ensur‐
ing that the terminal remains in a sane state; this would eliminate the
need for the reset program.
SunOS 5.10 15 Feb 1995 tset(1B)
