tput

tput [options] capname [arguments]

Print the value of the terminal capability capname (and its associated numeric or string arguments) from the terminfo database. capname is a terminfo capability such as clear or col. (See the Nutshell Handbook, termcap & terminfo.) The last four options are mutually exclusive and are not used when specifying a capname. Exit statuses are: 0 when a Boolean capname is set to true or when a string capname is defined; 1 when a Boolean is false or when a string is undefined; 2 for usage errors; 3 for unknown terminal type; 4 for unknown capname.

Options

-Ttype

Print the capabilities of terminal type (default is the terminal in use).

-S

Read capname from standard input (this allows tput to evaluate more than one capname).

init

Print initialization strings and expand tabs.

reset

Print reset strings if present; act like init if not.

longname

Print the terminal's long name.

Examples

Show the number of columns for the xterm window:

tput -Txterm cols

Define shell variable restart to reset terminal characteristics:

restart=`tput reset`