TPUT(1)

NAME
tput, clear - terminal capability interface

SYNOPSIS
tput [-T term] attribute ...
clear

DESCRIPTION
The tput utility makes terminal-dependent information available to users or shell applications. When invoked as the clear utility, the screen will be cleared as if
    tput clear
had been executed. The options to tput 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.

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

If an 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 as follows:

0   If the last attribute attribute argument is of type string or integer, its value was successfully written to standard output. If the argument is of type boolean, the terminal has this attribute.

1   This terminal does not have the specified boolean attribute.

2   Usage error.

3   No information is available about the specified terminal type.

SEE ALSO
termcap(5), terminfo(5)

STANDARDS
The tput utility conforms to p1003.1-2001.

HISTORY
The tput utility appeared in 4.4BSD.

BUGS
The tput utility cannot really distinguish between different types of attributes.

Some termcap entries depend upon having a ‘%’ in them that is just a ‘%’ and nothing more. Right now we just warn about them if they do not have a valid type declaration. These warnings are sent to stderr.