For boolean options (on
or off
), the default is on
.
Below, an 8-color can be black
, red
, green
, yellow
, blue
,
magenta
, cyan
, or white
.
A 16-color can be an 8-color, or grey
, or bright
followed by red
,
green
, yellow
, blue
, magenta
, cyan
, or white
.
The various color options may be set independently, at least on
virtual consoles, though the results of setting multiple modes
(for example, --underline
and --half-bright
) are
hardware-dependent.
The optional arguments require '=' (equals sign) and not space
between the option and the argument. For example
--option=argument.
--appcursorkeys
on|off
Sets Cursor Key Application Mode on or off. When on, ESC O A,
ESC O B, etc. will be sent for the cursor keys instead of ESC
[ A, ESC [ B, etc. See the vi and Cursor-Keys section of the
Text-Terminal-HOWTO for how this can cause problems for vi
users. Virtual consoles only.
--append
console_number
Like --dump
, but appends to the snapshot file instead of
overwriting it. Only works if no --dump
options are given.
--background
8-color|default
Sets the background text color.
--blank
[=0-60|force|poke]
Sets the interval of inactivity, in minutes, after which the
screen will be automatically blanked (using APM if
available). Without an argument, it gets the blank status
(returns which vt was blanked, or zero for an unblanked vt).
Virtual consoles only.
The force
argument keeps the screen blank even if a key is
pressed.
The poke
argument unblanks the screen.
--bfreq
[=number]
Sets the bell frequency in Hertz. Without an argument, it
defaults to 0
. Virtual consoles only.
--blength
[=0-2000]
Sets the bell duration in milliseconds. Without an argument,
it defaults to 0
. Virtual consoles only.
--blink
on|off
Turns blink mode on or off. Except on a virtual console,
--blink off
turns off all attributes (bold, half-brightness,
blink, reverse).
--bold
on|off
urns bold (extra bright) mode on or off. Except on a virtual
console, --bold off
turns off all attributes (bold,
half-brightness, blink, reverse).
--clear
[=all|rest]
Without an argument or with the argument all
, the entire
screen is cleared and the cursor is set to the home position,
just like clear(1) does. With the argument rest
, the screen
is cleared from the current cursor position to the end.
--clrtabs
[=tab1 tab2 tab3 ...]
Clears tab stops from the given horizontal cursor positions,
in the range 1-160
. Without arguments, it clears all tab
stops. Virtual consoles only.
--cursor
on|off
Turns the terminal's cursor on or off.
--default
Sets the terminal's rendering options to the default values.
--dump
[=console_number]
Writes a snapshot of the virtual console with the given
number to the file specified with the --file
option,
overwriting its contents; the default is screen.dump. Without
an argument, it dumps the current virtual console. This
overrides --append
.
--file
filename
Sets the snapshot file name for any --dump
or --append
options on the same command line. If this option is not
present, the default is screen.dump in the current directory.
A path name that exceeds the system maximum will be
truncated, see PATH_MAX
from linux/limits.h for the value.
--foreground
8-color|default
Sets the foreground text color.
--half-bright
on|off
Turns dim (half-brightness) mode on or off. Except on a
virtual console, --half-bright off
turns off all attributes
(bold, half-brightness, blink, reverse).
--hbcolor
[bright] 16-color
Sets the color for half-bright characters.
--initialize
Displays the terminal initialization string, which typically
sets the terminal's rendering options, and other attributes
to the default values.
--inversescreen
on|off
Swaps foreground and background colors for the whole screen.
--linewrap
on|off
Makes the terminal continue on a new line when a line is
full.
--msg
on|off
Enables or disables the sending of kernel printk
() messages
to the console. Virtual consoles only.
--msglevel
0-8
Sets the console logging level for kernel printk()
messages.
All messages strictly more important than this will be
printed, so a logging level of 0
has the same effect as --msg
on
and a logging level of 8
will print all kernel messages.
klogd
(8) may be a more convenient interface to the logging of
kernel messages.
Virtual consoles only.
--powerdown
[=0-60]
Sets the VESA powerdown interval in minutes. Without an
argument, it defaults to 0
(disable powerdown). If the
console is blanked or the monitor is in suspend mode, then
the monitor will go into vsync suspend mode or powerdown mode
respectively after this period of time has elapsed.
--powersave
mode
Valid values for mode are:
vsync|on
Puts the monitor into VESA vsync suspend mode.
hsync
Puts the monitor into VESA hsync suspend mode.
powerdown
Puts the monitor into VESA powerdown mode.
off
Turns monitor VESA powersaving features.
--regtabs
[=1-160]
Clears all tab stops, then sets a regular tab stop pattern,
with one tab every specified number of positions. Without an
argument, it defaults to 8
. Virtual consoles only.
--repeat
on|off
Turns keyboard repeat on or off. Virtual consoles only.
--reset
Displays the terminal reset string, which typically resets
the terminal to its power-on state.
--resize
Reset terminal size by assessing maximum row and column. This
is useful when actual geometry and kernel terminal driver are
not in sync. Most notable use case is with serial consoles,
that do not use ioctl(3p) but just byte streams and breaks.
--reverse
on|off
Turns reverse video mode on or off. Except on a virtual
console, --reverse off
turns off all attributes (bold,
half-brightness, blink, reverse).
--store
Stores the terminal's current rendering options (foreground
and background colors) as the values to be used at
reset-to-default. Virtual consoles only.
--tabs
[=tab1 tab2 tab3 ...]
Sets tab stops at the given horizontal cursor positions, in
the range 1-160
. Without arguments, it shows the current tab
stop settings.
--term
terminal_name
Overrides the TERM
environment variable.
--ulcolor
[bright] 16-color
Sets the color for underlined characters. Virtual consoles
only.
--underline
on|off
Turns underline mode on or off.
--version
Displays version information and exits.
--help
Displays a help text and exits.