March 29, 2004 TPUT 1

### NAME

tput, clear - terminal capability interface

### SYNOPSIS

tput [-T term] attribute [attribute-args] ...

### DESCRIPTION

tput makes terminal-dependent information available to users or shell applications. The options 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.

tput outputs a string if the attribute is of type string; a number if it is of type integer. Otherwise, tput exits 0 if the terminal has the capability and 1 if it does not, without further action.

If the 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 based on the last attribute specified. If the attribute is of type string or of type integer, tput exits 0 if the attribute is defined for this terminal type and 1 if it is not. If the attribute is of type boolean, tput exits 0 if the terminal has this attribute, and 1 if it does not. tput exits 2 if any error occurred.

### EXAMPLES

```tput cl cm 5 10`
  clear the screen and goto line 5 column 10

```tput cm 6 11 DC 6`
  goto line 6 column 11 and delete 6 characters

### SEE ALSO

termcap(3), termcap(5)

### HISTORY

The tput command appears in 4.4BSD.

### BUGS

tput can't really distinguish between different types of attributes.

Not all termcap entries contain the reset sequence, so using the init sequence may be more useful.