termios(3) Library Functions Manual termios(3)
NAME
termios, tcgetattr, tcsetattr, tcsendbreak, tcdrain, tcflush, tcflow, cfmakeraw, cfgetospeed, cfgetispeed, cfsetispeed, cf‐
setospeed, cfsetspeed - get and set terminal attributes, line control, get and set baud rate
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <termios.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int tcgetattr(int fd, struct termios *termios_p);
int tcsetattr(int fd, int optional_actions,
const struct termios *termios_p);
int tcsendbreak(int fd, int duration);
int tcdrain(int fd);
int tcflush(int fd, int queue_selector);
int tcflow(int fd, int action);
void cfmakeraw(struct termios *termios_p);
speed_t cfgetispeed(const struct termios *termios_p);
speed_t cfgetospeed(const struct termios *termios_p);
int cfsetispeed(struct termios *termios_p, speed_t speed);
int cfsetospeed(struct termios *termios_p, speed_t speed);
int cfsetspeed(struct termios *termios_p, speed_t speed);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
cfsetspeed(), cfmakeraw():
Since glibc 2.19:
_DEFAULT_SOURCE
glibc 2.19 and earlier:
_BSD_SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
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]; /* special characters */
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 exposed only if a specific feature test macro (see fea‐
ture_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 ('\0'), 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 this bit is set, input bytes with parity or framing errors are marked when passed to the program. This bit is
meaningful only when INPCK is set and IGNPAR is not set. The way erroneous bytes are marked is with two preceding
bytes, \377 and \0. Thus, the program actually reads three bytes for one erroneous byte received from the terminal.
If a valid byte has the value \377, and ISTRIP (see below) is not set, the program might confuse it with the prefix
that marks a parity error. Therefore, a valid byte \377 is passed to the program as two bytes, \377 \377, in this
case.
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:
OPOST Enable implementation-defined output processing.
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 The NL character is assumed to do the carriage-return function; the kernel's idea of the current column is set to 0
after both NL and CR.
OFILL Send fill characters for a delay, rather than using a timed delay.
OFDEL Fill character is ASCII DEL (0177). If unset, fill character is ASCII NUL ('\0'). (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, but see the BUGS section). 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 noncurrent 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 in glibc, supported on Linux via
TCGET* and TCSET* ioctls; see ioctl_tty(2))
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, terminal special characters other than TAB, NL, START, and STOP are echoed as ^X,
where X is the character with ASCII code 0x40 greater than the special character. For example, character 0x08 (BS)
is echoed as ^H. [requires _BSD_SOURCE or _SVID_SOURCE]
ECHOPRT
(not in POSIX) If ICANON and ECHO 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 char‐
acter. [requires _BSD_SOURCE or _SVID_SOURCE]
NOFLSH Disable flushing the input and output queues when generating signals for the INT, QUIT, and SUSP characters.
TOSTOP Send the SIGTTOU signal to the process group of a background process which tries to write to its controlling termi‐
nal.
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 charac‐
ters EOL2, LNEXT, REPRINT, WERASE to be interpreted, and for the IUCLC flag to be effective.
The c_cc array defines the terminal special characters. The symbolic indices (initial values) and meaning are:
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.
VDSUSP (not in POSIX; not supported under Linux; 031, EM, Ctrl-Y) Delayed suspend character (DSUSP): 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.
VEOF (004, EOT, Ctrl-D) End-of-file character (EOF). 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.
VEOL (0, NUL) Additional end-of-line character (EOL). Recognized when ICANON is set.
VEOL2 (not in POSIX; 0, NUL) Yet another end-of-line character (EOL2). Recognized when ICANON is set.
VERASE (0177, DEL, rubout, or 010, BS, Ctrl-H, or also #) Erase character (ERASE). 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.
VINTR (003, ETX, Ctrl-C, or also 0177, DEL, rubout) Interrupt character (INTR). Send a SIGINT signal. Recognized when
ISIG is set, and then not passed as input.
VKILL (025, NAK, Ctrl-U, or Ctrl-X, or also @) Kill character (KILL). This erases the input since the last EOF or begin‐
ning-of-line. Recognized when ICANON is set, and then not passed as input.
VLNEXT (not in POSIX; 026, SYN, Ctrl-V) Literal next (LNEXT). Quotes the next input character, depriving it of a possible
special meaning. Recognized when IEXTEN is set, and then not passed as input.
VMIN Minimum number of characters for noncanonical read (MIN).
VQUIT (034, FS, Ctrl-\) Quit character (QUIT). Send SIGQUIT signal. Recognized when ISIG is set, and then not passed as
input.
VREPRINT
(not in POSIX; 022, DC2, Ctrl-R) Reprint unread characters (REPRINT). Recognized when ICANON and IEXTEN are set, and
then not passed as input.
VSTART (021, DC1, Ctrl-Q) Start character (START). Restarts output stopped by the Stop character. Recognized when IXON is
set, and then not passed as input.
VSTATUS
(not in POSIX; not supported under Linux; status request: 024, DC4, Ctrl-T). Status character (STATUS). Display
status information at terminal, including state of foreground process and amount of CPU time it has consumed. Also
sends a SIGINFO signal (not supported on Linux) to the foreground process group.
VSTOP (023, DC3, Ctrl-S) Stop character (STOP). Stop output until Start character typed. Recognized when IXON is set, and
then not passed as input.
VSUSP (032, SUB, Ctrl-Z) Suspend character (SUSP). Send SIGTSTP signal. Recognized when ISIG is set, and then not passed
as input.
VSWTCH (not in POSIX; not supported under Linux; 0, NUL) Switch character (SWTCH). Used in System V to switch shells in
shell layers, a predecessor to shell job control.
VTIME Timeout in deciseconds for noncanonical read (TIME).
VWERASE
(not in POSIX; 027, ETB, Ctrl-W) Word erase (WERASE). Recognized when ICANON and IEXTEN are set, and then not passed
as input.
An individual terminal special character can be disabled by setting the value of the corresponding c_cc element to
_POSIX_VDISABLE.
The above symbolic subscript values are all different, except that VTIME, VMIN may have the same value as VEOL, VEOF, re‐
spectively. In noncanonical mode the special character meaning is replaced by the timeout meaning. For an explanation of
VMIN and VTIME, see the description of noncanonical 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 refer‐
enced by termios_p. This function may be invoked from a background process; however, the terminal attributes may be subse‐
quently 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 ef‐
fect:
TCSANOW
the change occurs immediately.
TCSADRAIN
the change occurs after all output written to fd has been transmitted. This option should be used when changing pa‐
rameters 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 noncanonical mode
The setting of the ICANON canon flag in c_lflag determines whether the terminal is operating in canonical mode (ICANON set)
or noncanonical mode (ICANON unset). By default, ICANON is 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).
• The maximum line length is 4096 chars (including the terminating newline character); lines longer than 4096 chars are
truncated. After 4095 characters, input processing (e.g., ISIG and ECHO* processing) continues, but any input data after
4095 characters up to (but not including) any terminating newline is discarded. This ensures that the terminal can al‐
ways receive more input until at least one line can be read.
In noncanonical mode input is available immediately (without the user having to type a line-delimiter character), no input
processing is performed, and line editing is disabled. The read buffer will only accept 4095 chars; this provides the nec‐
essary space for a newline char if the input mode is switched to canonical. 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 (polling read)
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 (blocking read)
read(2) blocks until MIN bytes are available, and returns up to the number of bytes requested.
MIN == 0, TIME > 0 (read with timeout)
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. If data is already available at the time of the call to read(2),
the call behaves as though the data was received immediately after the call.
MIN > 0, TIME > 0 (read with interbyte timeout)
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 when any of the following conditions is met:
• MIN bytes have been received.
• The interbyte timer expires.
• The number of bytes requested by read(2) has been received. (POSIX does not specify this termination condition,
and on some other implementations read(2) does not return in this case.)
Because the timer is started only after the initial byte becomes available, at least one byte will be read. If data
is already available at the time of the call to read(2), the call behaves as though the data was received immediately
after the call.
POSIX does not specify whether the setting of the O_NONBLOCK file status flag takes precedence over the MIN and TIME set‐
tings. If O_NONBLOCK is set, a read(2) in noncanonical mode may return immediately, regardless of the setting of MIN or
TIME. Furthermore, if no data is available, POSIX permits a read(2) in noncanonical mode to return either 0, or -1 with er‐
rno set to EAGAIN.
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:
termios_p->c_iflag &= ~(IGNBRK | BRKINT | PARMRK | ISTRIP
| INLCR | IGNCR | ICRNL | IXON);
termios_p->c_oflag &= ~OPOST;
termios_p->c_lflag &= ~(ECHO | ECHONL | ICANON | ISIG | IEXTEN);
termios_p->c_cflag &= ~(CSIZE | PARENB);
termios_p->c_cflag |= CS8;
Line control
tcsendbreak() transmits a continuous stream of zero-valued bits for a specific duration, if the terminal is using asynchro‐
nous serial data transmission. If duration is zero, it transmits zero-valued bits for at least 0.25 seconds, and not more
than 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, depend‐
ing 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:
B0
B50
B75
B110
B134
B150
B200
B300
B600
B1200
B1800
B2400
B4800
B9600
B19200
B38400
B57600
B115200
B230400
B460800
B500000
B576000
B921600
B1000000
B1152000
B1500000
B2000000
These constants are additionally supported on the SPARC architecture:
B76800
B153600
B307200
B614400
These constants are additionally supported on non-SPARC architectures:
B2500000
B3000000
B3500000
B4000000
Due to differences between architectures, portable applications should check if a particular Bnnn constant is defined prior
to using it.
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 nonzero.
Setting the baud rate to a value other than those defined by Bnnn constants is possible via the TCSETS2 ioctl; see
ioctl_tty(2).
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 the literal constant 0 (not the symbolic con‐
stant B0), 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.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
│Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
│tcgetattr(), tcsetattr(), tcdrain(), tcflush(), tcflow(), tcsendbreak(), cfmakeraw(), │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
│cfgetispeed(), cfgetospeed(), cfsetispeed(), cfsetospeed(), cfsetspeed() │ │ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘
STANDARDS
tcgetattr(), tcsetattr(), tcsendbreak(), tcdrain(), tcflush(), tcflow(), cfgetispeed(), cfgetospeed(), cfsetispeed(), and
cfsetospeed() are specified in POSIX.1-2001.
cfmakeraw() and cfsetspeed() are nonstandard, but available on the BSDs.
NOTES
UNIX V7 and several later systems have a list of baud rates where after the values B0 through B9600 one finds the two con‐
stants EXTA, EXTB ("External A" and "External B"). Many systems extend the list with much higher baud rates.
The effect of a nonzero 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 nonzero duration behaves like
tcdrain().
BUGS
On the Alpha architecture before Linux 4.16 (and glibc before glibc 2.28), the XTABS value was different from TAB3 and it
was ignored by the N_TTY line discipline code of the terminal driver as a result (because as it wasn't part of the TABDLY
mask).
SEE ALSO
reset(1), setterm(1), stty(1), tput(1), tset(1), tty(1), ioctl_console(2), ioctl_tty(2), cc_t(3type), speed_t(3type),
tcflag_t(3type), setserial(8)
Linux man-pages 6.03 2023-02-05 termios(3)