ttytype(1)ttytype(1)NAMEttytype - terminal identification program
SYNOPSIS
type]
DESCRIPTION
automatically identifies the current terminal type by sending an iden‐
tification request sequence to the terminal. This method works for
local, modem, and remote terminal connections, as well as for the and
terminal emulators.
Once the terminal has been identified, prints the terminal's type to
the standard output (see terminfo(4)). This string is usually used as
the value for the environment variable.
If is unable to determine the correct terminal type, it prompts the
user for the correct terminal identification string.
Options
recognizes the following options:
Causes to return an ID of "unknown" instead of prompting for
the terminal type if auto-identification fails. If
this option is not present, interactively prompts the
user for the terminal type if it is unable to deter‐
mine the correct type automatically.
Causes to prompt for the terminal type before it sends the
terminal identification request sequence. If the user
responds with only a carriage return, proceeds with
the automatic terminal identification process. Any
other response is taken as the correct terminal type.
Note that the and variables are not set if the user
manually enters a terminal type.
The option is normally used only for terminals that do
not behave well when presented with terminal identifi‐
cation request sequence. It gives the user a chance
to respond with the correct terminal type before any
escape sequences are sent that could have an adverse
effect on the terminal.
The option can be used in conjunction with the option.
The option only inhibits interactive prompting after
has failed to identify the terminal by other means.
Tells to print a series of shell commands to set the and
environment variables to appropriate values. In addi‐
tion, the variable is set to the two-character
sequence representing the appropriate erase character
for the terminal (DEL for ANSI terminals, backspace
for all others). This two-character sequence can then
be used as an argument to or (see stty(1) and
tset(1)).
The environment variable is consulted to see which
shell syntax to use for setting the environment vari‐
ables. This output is normally used with a command of
the form:
normally attempts identification of Wyse, ANSI and HP terminals.
The type argument can be used to restrict the inquiry
to that required for terminals of the specified type.
The accepted types are and Multiple options can be
specified.
Enable verbose messages to standard error.
On terminals where the response is slow, two additional options are
provided:
Causes to wait up to xxx milliseconds to get the response
from the terminal.
Causes to wait up to yyy milliseconds between two successive
attempts to read the response from the terminal.
Notes
Use of the option is highly recommended because many terminals support
variable-size displays. This option provides the only means for auto‐
matically configuring the user environment in such a manner that appli‐
cations can handle these terminals correctly. Note that and are not
set if the option is used and the user manually enters a terminal type.
The following steps are performed in the order indicated when identify‐
ing a terminal:
1. tries the Wyse 30/50/60 id request sequence.
2. tries the standard ANSI ID request sequence. If a response is
received, it is converted to a string according to an internal ta‐
ble.
3. tries the HP id request sequence.
4. If none of the above steps succeed, prompts interactively for the
correct terminal type unless the option has been given.
may skip one or more of the first three steps, depending on the pres‐
ence of options.
The HP ID request sequence can switch some ANSI terminals into an unex‐
pected operating mode. Recovery from such a condition sometimes
requires cycling power on the terminal. To avoid this problem, always
sends the HP identification sequence last.
EXAMPLES
is most commonly used as part of the login sequence. The following
shell script fragment can be used during login shell initialization:
#
# If TERM is not set, see if our port is listed in /etc/ttytype.
# If /etc/ttytype doesn't have information for our port, run
# ttytype(1) to try to determine the type of terminal we have.
#
# To have ttytype(1) prompt for the terminal type before trying
# to automatically identify the terminal, add the "-p" option
# to the "ttytype -s" command below.
#
if [ -z "$TERM" -o "$TERM" = network ]; then
unset TERM
eval `tset -s -Q`
if [ -z "$TERM" -o "$TERM" = unknown ]; then
eval `ttytype -s`
tset -Q -e ${ERASE:-\^h} $TERM
fi
fi
WARNINGS
The terminal identification sequences sent by can cause unexpected
behavior on terminals other than the Wyse 30/50/60, standard ANSI or HP
terminals. If you have such terminals in your configuration, use the
or options to prevent from sending sequences that cause unexpected
behavior.
AUTHOR
was developed by HP.
SEE ALSOcsh(1), ksh(1), sh(1), stty(1), ttytype(4), environ(5).
ttytype(1)
