termios, tcgetattr, tcsetattr, tcsendbreak, tcdrain, tcflush, tcflow,
cfmakeraw, cfgetospeed, cfgetispeed, cfsetispeed, cfsetospeed, cfsetspeed -
get and set terminal attributes, line control, get and set baud rate
The termios functions describe a general terminal interface that is
provided to control asynchronous communications ports.
The termios structure
Many of the functions described here have a termios_p argument
that is a pointer to a termios structure.
This structure contains at least the following members:
tcflag_t c_iflag; /* input modes */
tcflag_t c_oflag; /* output modes */
tcflag_t c_cflag; /* control modes */
tcflag_t c_lflag; /* local modes */
cc_t c_cc[NCCS]; /* control chars */
The values that may be assigned to these fields are described below.
In the case of the first four bit-mask fields,
the definitions of some of the associated flags that may be set are
only exposed if a specific feature test macro (see
feature_test_macros(7))
is defined, as noted in brackets ("[]").
In the descriptions below, "not in POSIX" means that the
value is not specified in POSIX.1-2001,
and "XSI" means that the value is specified in POSIX.1-2001
as part of the XSI extension.
c_iflag flag constants:
IGNBRK
Ignore BREAK condition on input.
BRKINT
If IGNBRK is set, a BREAK is ignored.
If it is not set
but BRKINT is set, then a BREAK causes the input and output
queues to be flushed, and if the terminal is the controlling
terminal of a foreground process group, it will cause a
SIGINT to be sent to this foreground process group.
When neither IGNBRK nor BRKINT are set, a BREAK
reads as a null byte (aq\0aq), except when PARMRK is set,
in which case it reads as the sequence \377 \0 \0.
IGNPAR
Ignore framing errors and parity errors.
PARMRK
If IGNPAR is not set, prefix a character with a parity error or
framing error with \377 \0.
If neither IGNPAR nor PARMRK
is set, read a character with a parity error or framing error
as \0.
INPCK
Enable input parity checking.
ISTRIP
Strip off eighth bit.
INLCR
Translate NL to CR on input.
IGNCR
Ignore carriage return on input.
ICRNL
Translate carriage return to newline on input (unless IGNCR is set).
IUCLC
(not in POSIX) Map uppercase characters to lowercase on input.
IXON
Enable XON/XOFF flow control on output.
IXANY
(XSI) Typing any character will restart stopped output.
(The default is to allow just the START character to restart output.)
IXOFF
Enable XON/XOFF flow control on input.
IMAXBEL
(not in POSIX) Ring bell when input queue is full.
Linux does not implement this bit, and acts as if it is always set.
IUTF8 (since Linux 2.6.4)
(not in POSIX) Input is UTF8;
this allows character-erase to be correctly performed in cooked mode.
c_oflag flag constants defined in POSIX.1:
OPOST
Enable implementation-defined output processing.
The remaining c_oflag flag constants are defined in POSIX.1-2001,
unless marked otherwise.
OLCUC
(not in POSIX) Map lowercase characters to uppercase on output.
ONLCR
(XSI) Map NL to CR-NL on output.
OCRNL
Map CR to NL on output.
ONOCR
Don't output CR at column 0.
ONLRET
Don't output CR.
OFILL
Send fill characters for a delay, rather than using a timed delay.
OFDEL
(not in POSIX) Fill character is ASCII DEL (0177).
If unset, fill character is ASCII NUL (aq\0aq).
(Not implemented on Linux.)
NLDLY
Newline delay mask.
Values are NL0 and NL1.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE
or
_XOPEN_SOURCE]
CRDLY
Carriage return delay mask.
Values are CR0, CR1, CR2, or CR3.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE
or
_XOPEN_SOURCE]
TABDLY
Horizontal tab delay mask.
Values are TAB0, TAB1, TAB2, TAB3 (or XTABS).
A value of TAB3, that is, XTABS, expands tabs to spaces
(with tab stops every eight columns).
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE
or
_XOPEN_SOURCE]
BSDLY
Backspace delay mask.
Values are BS0 or BS1.
(Has never been implemented.)
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE
or
_XOPEN_SOURCE]
VTDLY
Vertical tab delay mask.
Values are VT0 or VT1.
FFDLY
Form feed delay mask.
Values are FF0 or FF1.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE
or
_XOPEN_SOURCE]
c_cflag flag constants:
CBAUD
(not in POSIX) Baud speed mask (4+1 bits).
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
CBAUDEX
(not in POSIX) Extra baud speed mask (1 bit), included in
CBAUD.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
(POSIX says that the baud speed is stored in the
termios
structure without specifying where precisely, and provides
cfgetispeed()
and
cfsetispeed()
for getting at it.
Some systems use bits selected by
CBAUD
in
c_cflag,
other systems use separate fields, for example,
sg_ispeed
and
sg_ospeed.)
CSIZE
Character size mask.
Values are CS5, CS6, CS7, or CS8.
CSTOPB
Set two stop bits, rather than one.
CREAD
Enable receiver.
PARENB
Enable parity generation on output and parity checking for input.
PARODD
If set, then parity for input and output is odd;
otherwise even parity is used.
HUPCL
Lower modem control lines after last process closes the device (hang up).
CLOCAL
Ignore modem control lines.
LOBLK
(not in POSIX) Block output from a non-current shell layer.
For use by shl (shell layers). (Not implemented on Linux.)
CIBAUD
(not in POSIX) Mask for input speeds.
The values for the
CIBAUD
bits are
the same as the values for the
CBAUD
bits, shifted left
IBSHIFT
bits.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
(Not implemented on Linux.)
CMSPAR
(not in POSIX)
Use "stick" (mark/space) parity (supported on certain serial
devices): if
PARODD
is set, the parity bit is always 1; if
PARODD
is not set, then the parity bit is always 0).
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
CRTSCTS
(not in POSIX) Enable RTS/CTS (hardware) flow control.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
c_lflag flag constants:
ISIG
When any of the characters INTR, QUIT, SUSP, or DSUSP are received,
generate the corresponding signal.
ICANON
Enable canonical mode (described below).
XCASE
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux)
If ICANON is also set, terminal is uppercase only.
Input is converted to lowercase, except for characters preceded by \.
On output, uppercase characters are preceded by \ and lowercase
characters are converted to uppercase.
[requires _BSD_SOURCE or _SVID_SOURCE or _XOPEN_SOURCE]
ECHO
Echo input characters.
ECHOE
If ICANON is also set, the ERASE character erases the preceding
input character, and WERASE erases the preceding word.
ECHOK
If ICANON is also set, the KILL character erases the current line.
ECHONL
If ICANON is also set, echo the NL character even if ECHO is not set.
ECHOCTL
(not in POSIX) If ECHO is also set, ASCII control signals other than
TAB, NL, START, and STOP are echoed as ^X,
where X is the character with
ASCII code 0x40 greater than the control signal.
For example, character
0x08 (BS) is echoed as ^H.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
ECHOPRT
(not in POSIX) If ICANON and IECHO are also set, characters
are printed as they are being erased.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
ECHOKE
(not in POSIX) If ICANON is also set, KILL is echoed by erasing
each character on the line, as specified by ECHOE and ECHOPRT.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
DEFECHO
(not in POSIX) Echo only when a process is reading.
(Not implemented on Linux.)
FLUSHO
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux)
Output is being flushed.
This flag is toggled by typing
the DISCARD character.
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
NOFLSH
Disable flushing the input and output queues when generating the
SIGINT,
SIGQUIT,
and
SIGSUSP
signals.
TOSTOP
Send the
SIGTTOU
signal to the process group of a background process
which tries to write to its controlling terminal.
PENDIN
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux)
All characters in the input queue are reprinted when
the next character is read.
(bash(1)
handles typeahead this way.)
[requires
_BSD_SOURCE
or
_SVID_SOURCE]
IEXTEN
Enable implementation-defined input processing.
This flag, as well as ICANON must be enabled for the
special characters EOL2, LNEXT, REPRINT, WERASE to be interpreted,
and for the IUCLC flag to be effective.
The c_cc array defines the special control characters.
The symbolic indices (initial values) and meaning are:
VINTR
(003, ETX, Ctrl-C, or also 0177, DEL, rubout)
Interrupt character.
Send a
SIGINT
signal.
Recognized when
ISIG
is set, and then not passed as input.
VQUIT
(034, FS, Ctrl-\)
Quit character.
Send
SIGQUIT
signal.
Recognized when
ISIG
is set, and then not passed as input.
VERASE
(0177, DEL, rubout, or 010, BS, Ctrl-H, or also #)
Erase character.
This erases the previous not-yet-erased character,
but does not erase past EOF or beginning-of-line.
Recognized when
ICANON
is set, and then not passed as input.
VKILL
(025, NAK, Ctrl-U, or Ctrl-X, or also @)
Kill character.
This erases the input since the last EOF or beginning-of-line.
Recognized when
ICANON
is set, and then not passed as input.
VEOF
(004, EOT, Ctrl-D)
End-of-file character.
More precisely: this character causes the pending tty buffer to be sent
to the waiting user program without waiting for end-of-line.
If it is the first character of the line, the
read(2)
in the user program returns 0, which signifies end-of-file.
Recognized when
ICANON
is set, and then not passed as input.
VMIN
Minimum number of characters for non-canonical read.
VEOL
(0, NUL)
Additional end-of-line character.
Recognized when
ICANON
is set.
VTIME
Timeout in deciseconds for non-canonical read.
VEOL2
(not in POSIX; 0, NUL)
Yet another end-of-line character.
Recognized when
ICANON
is set.
VSWTCH
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux; 0, NUL)
Switch character.
(Used by shl only.)
VSTART
(021, DC1, Ctrl-Q)
Start character.
Restarts output stopped by the Stop character.
Recognized when
IXON
is set, and then not passed as input.
VSTOP
(023, DC3, Ctrl-S)
Stop character.
Stop output until Start character typed.
Recognized when
IXON
is set, and then not passed as input.
VSUSP
(032, SUB, Ctrl-Z)
Suspend character.
Send
SIGTSTP
signal.
Recognized when
ISIG
is set, and then not passed as input.
VDSUSP
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux; 031, EM, Ctrl-Y)
Delayed suspend character:
send
SIGTSTP
signal when the character is read by the user program.
Recognized when
IEXTEN
and
ISIG
are set, and the system supports
job control, and then not passed as input.
VLNEXT
(not in POSIX; 026, SYN, Ctrl-V)
Literal next.
Quotes the next input character, depriving it of
a possible special meaning.
Recognized when
IEXTEN
is set, and then not passed as input.
VWERASE
(not in POSIX; 027, ETB, Ctrl-W)
Word erase.
Recognized when
ICANON
and
IEXTEN
are set, and then not passed as input.
VREPRINT
(not in POSIX; 022, DC2, Ctrl-R)
Reprint unread characters.
Recognized when
ICANON
and
IEXTEN
are set, and then not passed as input.
VDISCARD
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux; 017, SI, Ctrl-O)
Toggle: start/stop discarding pending output.
Recognized when
IEXTEN
is set, and then not passed as input.
VSTATUS
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux;
status request: 024, DC4, Ctrl-T).
These symbolic subscript values are all different, except that
VTIME,
VMIN
may have the same value as
VEOL,
VEOF,
respectively.
In non-canonical mode the special character meaning is replaced
by the timeout meaning.
For an explanation of
VMIN
and
VTIME,
see the description of
non-canonical mode below.
Retrieving and changing terminal settings
tcgetattr()
gets the parameters associated with the object referred by fd and
stores them in the termios structure referenced by
termios_p.
This function may be invoked from a background process;
however, the terminal attributes may be subsequently changed by a
foreground process.
tcsetattr()
sets the parameters associated with the terminal (unless support is
required from the underlying hardware that is not available) from the
termios structure referred to by termios_p.
optional_actions specifies when the changes take effect:
TCSANOW
the change occurs immediately.
TCSADRAIN
the change occurs after all output written to
fd
has been transmitted.
This function should be used when changing
parameters that affect output.
TCSAFLUSH
the change occurs after all output written to the object referred by
fd
has been transmitted, and all input that has been received but not read
will be discarded before the change is made.
Canonical and non-canonical mode
The setting of the
ICANON
canon flag in
c_lflag
determines whether the terminal is operating in canonical mode
(ICANON
set) or
non-canonical mode
(ICANON
unset).
By default,
ICANON
set.
In canonical mode:
*
Input is made available line by line.
An input line is available when one of the line delimiters
is typed (NL, EOL, EOL2; or EOF at the start of line).
Except in the case of EOF, the line delimiter is included
in the buffer returned by
read(2).
*
Line editing is enabled (ERASE, KILL;
and if the
IEXTEN
flag is set: WERASE, REPRINT, LNEXT).
A
read(2)
returns at most one line of input; if the
read(2)
requested fewer bytes than are available in the current line of input,
then only as many bytes as requested are read,
and the remaining characters will be available for a future
read(2).
In non-canonical mode input is available immediately (without
the user having to type a line-delimiter character),
and line editing is disabled.
The settings of MIN
(c_cc[VMIN])
and TIME
(c_cc[VTIME])
determine the circumstances in which a
read(2)
completes; there are four distinct cases:
*
MIN == 0; TIME == 0:
If data is available,
read(2)
returns immediately, with the lesser of the number of bytes
available, or the number of bytes requested.
If no data is available,
read(2)
returns 0.
*
MIN > 0; TIME == 0:
read(2)
blocks until the lesser of MIN bytes or the number of bytes requested
are available, and returns the lesser of these two values.
*
MIN == 0; TIME > 0:
TIME specifies the limit for a timer in tenths of a second.
The timer is started when
read(2)
is called.
read(2)
returns either when at least one byte of data is available,
or when the timer expires.
If the timer expires without any input becoming available,
read(2)
returns 0.
*
MIN > 0; TIME > 0:
TIME specifies the limit for a timer in tenths of a second.
Once an initial byte of input becomes available,
the timer is restarted after each further byte is received.
read(2)
returns either when the lesser of the number of bytes requested or
MIN byte have been read,
or when the inter-byte timeout expires.
Because the timer is only started after the initial byte
becomes available, at least one byte will be read.
Raw mode
cfmakeraw()
sets the terminal to something like the
"raw" mode of the old Version 7 terminal driver:
input is available character by character,
echoing is disabled, and all special processing of
terminal input and output characters is disabled.
The terminal attributes are set as follows:
tcsendbreak()
transmits a continuous stream of zero-valued bits for a specific
duration, if the terminal is using asynchronous serial data
transmission.
If duration is zero, it transmits zero-valued bits
for at least 0.25 seconds, and not more that 0.5 seconds.
If duration is not zero, it sends zero-valued bits for some
implementation-defined length of time.
If the terminal is not using asynchronous serial data transmission,
tcsendbreak()
returns without taking any action.
tcdrain()
waits until all output written to the object referred to by
fd
has been transmitted.
tcflush()
discards data written to the object referred to by
fd
but not transmitted, or data received but not read, depending on the
value of
queue_selector:
TCIFLUSH
flushes data received but not read.
TCOFLUSH
flushes data written but not transmitted.
TCIOFLUSH
flushes both data received but not read, and data written but not
transmitted.
tcflow()
suspends transmission or reception of data on the object referred to by
fd,
depending on the value of
action:
TCOOFF
suspends output.
TCOON
restarts suspended output.
TCIOFF
transmits a STOP character, which stops the terminal device from
transmitting data to the system.
TCION
transmits a START character, which starts the terminal device
transmitting data to the system.
The default on open of a terminal file is that neither its input nor its
output is suspended.
Line speed
The baud rate functions are provided for getting and setting the values
of the input and output baud rates in the termios structure.
The new values do not take effect
until
tcsetattr()
is successfully called.
Setting the speed to B0 instructs the modem to "hang up".
The actual bit rate corresponding to B38400 may be altered with
setserial(8).
The input and output baud rates are stored in the termios
structure.
cfgetospeed()
returns the output baud rate stored in the termios structure
pointed to by
termios_p.
cfsetospeed()
sets the output baud rate stored in the termios structure pointed
to by termios_p to speed, which must be one of these constants:
The zero baud rate, B0,
is used to terminate the connection.
If B0 is specified, the modem control lines shall no longer be asserted.
Normally, this will disconnect the line.
CBAUDEX is a mask
for the speeds beyond those defined in POSIX.1 (57600 and above).
Thus, B57600 & CBAUDEX is non-zero.
cfgetispeed()
returns the input baud rate stored in the termios structure.
cfsetispeed()
sets the input baud rate stored in the termios structure to
speed,
which must be specified as one of the Bnnn constants listed above for
cfsetospeed().
If the input baud rate is set to zero, the input baud rate will be
equal to the output baud rate.
cfsetspeed()
is a 4.4BSD extension.
It takes the same arguments as
cfsetispeed(),
and sets both input and output speed.
RETURN VALUE
cfgetispeed()
returns the input baud rate stored in the
termios
structure.
cfgetospeed()
returns the output baud rate stored in the termios structure.
All other functions return:
0
on success.
-1
on failure and set
errno
to indicate the error.
Note that
tcsetattr()
returns success if any of the requested changes could be
successfully carried out.
Therefore, when making multiple changes
it may be necessary to follow this call with a further call to
tcgetattr()
to check that all changes have been performed successfully.
CONFORMING TO
tcgetattr(),
tcsetattr(),
tcsendbreak(),
tcdrain(),
tcflush(),
tcflow(),
cfgetispeed(),
cfgetospeed(),
cfsetispeed(),
and
cfsetospeed()
are specified in POSIX.1-2001.
cfmakeraw()
and
cfsetspeed()
are non-standard, but available on the BSDs.
NOTES
Unix V7 and several later systems have a list of baud rates
where after the fourteen values B0, ..., B9600 one finds the
two constants EXTA, EXTB ("External A" and "External B").
Many systems extend the list with much higher baud rates.
The effect of a non-zero duration with
tcsendbreak()
varies.
SunOS specifies a break of
duration * N
seconds, where N is at least 0.25, and not more than 0.5.
Linux, AIX, DU, Tru64 send a break of
duration
milliseconds.
FreeBSD and NetBSD and HP-UX and MacOS ignore the value of
duration.
Under Solaris and Unixware,
tcsendbreak()
with non-zero
duration
behaves like
tcdrain().
This page is part of release 3.14 of the Linux
man-pages
project.
A description of the project,
and information about reporting bugs,
can be found at
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.