Tput

This article will explore the tput command in Linux. It is a standard Unix operating system command, which is used to set terminal features.

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

Usage

Action	Parameters
Set background color	tput setab [1-7]
Set foreground color	tput setaf [1-7]
Set bold mode	tput bold
Set half-bright mode	tput dim
Set underline mode	tput smul
Exit underline mode	tput rmul
Reverse mode	tput rev
Set standout mode	tput smso
Exit standout mode	tput rmso
Reset all attributes	tput sgr0

Colors 

0=black; 1=red; 2=green; 3=yellow; 4=blue; 5=purple; 6=cyan; 7=white

For an example, to make the terminal font colour green, execute

tput setaf 1

References

• Tansley DSW (2000). "Creating screen output". Linux and UNIX shell programming. Safari Tech Books Online. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-67472-9.

External links

• tput man page (includes example usage)
• wikipedia:tput
• Colours and Cursor Movement With tput in Bash Prompt HOWTO
• Discover tput on IBM DeveloperWorks