Wikipedia

tput

In computing, tput is a standard Unix operating system command which makes use of terminal capabilities.

tput
Initial release1980s; 45 years ago (1980s)
Operating systemUnix and Unix-like
PlatformCross-platform
TypeCommand

Depending on the system, tput uses the terminfo or termcap database, as well as looking into the environment for the terminal type.

History

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tput was provided in UNIX System V in the early 1980s. A clone of the AT&T tput was submitted to volume 7 of the mod.sources newsgroup (later comp.sources.unix) in September 1986.[1][2] In contrast to the System V program, the clone used termcap rather than terminfo. It accepted command-line parameters for the cm (cursor addressing) capability, and recognized terminfo capability names.

System V Release 3 provided an improved version which combined the different initialization capabilities as a new option init, and the reset capabilities as reset, thereby simplifying use of tput for initializing or reinitializing the terminal.[3] System V Release 3.2 added several printer-specific capabilities to the terminfo database, such as swidm (enter_doublewide_mode) which tput could use. It also added capabilities for color.

System V Release 4 defined additional terminfo capabilities including standardized ANSI color capabilities setaf and setab, which could be used by tput.

BSD platforms provided a different implementation of tput in 4.3BSD-Reno (June 1990).[4] It used termcap, recognizing only termcap capability names, and did not accept command-line parameters for cursor-addressing. FreeBSD used this in 1994, improving it by accepting one or two numeric command-line parameters.[5]

Ross Ridge's mytinfo package in 1992[6] provided a tput which accepted either termcap or terminfo capability names. Like the Reno implementation, it did not pass command-line arguments to parameterized capabilities. ncurses incorporated the mytinfo code in June 1995. The initial version added a -S option, and interpreted command-line parameters as described in the System V Release 4 documentation.

Portability

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The Open Group defines one option (-T, to specify the terminal type) and three keywords (init, clear and reset). Most implementations accept the name of a terminal capability together with any parameters that may be needed for that. However, some implementations expect a termcap name, while others expect a terminfo name.

All System V Release 4 implementations, as well as those which are designed to be compatible, also recognize a -S option (to tell tput to read data from the standard input), and an additional keyword longname. They also accept command-line parameters, usually distinguishing numeric from string parameters by the form of the parameter, checking for all-numeric characters. That makes it impossible for example to set a function-key label to a string of digits. Using a different approach, ncurses determines the expected type of the parameters with a table of the terminfo capabilities which use string parameters, eliminating the ambiguity.

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Lokanathan, Badri (1986-08-28). "Public-domain tput(1) program". Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  2. ↑ Lokanathan, Badri (1986-09-19). "Public-domain TPUT (corrected implementation)". Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  3. ↑ Strang, John; Mui, Linda; O'Reilly, Tim (1988). Termcap and terminfo. O'Reilly. p. 56–57. ISBN 0-937175-22-6. Archived from the original on 2026-01-02. Retrieved 2026-02-03.
  4. ↑ "3BSD/4BSD versions". The Unix Heritage Society. 2000-06-25. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  5. ↑ "CVS log for src/usr.bin/tput/tput.c". May 27, 1994.
  6. ↑ Ross Ridge (December 27, 1992). "mytinfo - a replacement for terminfo and termcap". Newsgroup: comp.sources.unix. Archived from the original on September 15, 2025. Retrieved February 3, 2026.

Further reading

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