NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | EXAMPLE | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON
TTY_IOCTL(4) Linux Programmer's Manual TTY_IOCTL(4)
tty ioctl - ioctls for terminals and serial lines
#include <termios.h>
int ioctl(int fd, int cmd, ...);
The ioctl() call for terminals and serial ports accepts many possible command
arguments. Most require a third argument, of varying type, here called argp
or arg.
Use of ioctl makes for non-portable programs. Use the POSIX interface
described in termios(3) whenever possible.
TCGETS struct termios *argp
Equivalent to tcgetattr(fd, argp).
Get the current serial port settings.
TCSETS const struct termios *argp
Equivalent to tcsetattr(fd, TCSANOW, argp).
Set the current serial port settings.
TCSETSW const struct termios *argp
Equivalent to tcsetattr(fd, TCSADRAIN, argp).
Allow the output buffer to drain, and set the current serial port
settings.
TCSETSF const struct termios *argp
Equivalent to tcsetattr(fd, TCSAFLUSH, argp).
Allow the output buffer to drain, discard pending input, and set the
current serial port settings.
The following four ioctls are just like TCGETS, TCSETS, TCSETSW, TCSETSF,
except that they take a struct termio * instead of a struct termios *.
TCGETA struct termio *argp
TCSETA const struct termio *argp
TCSETAW const struct termio *argp
TCSETAF const struct termio *argp
The termios structure of a terminal can be locked. The lock is itself a
termios structure, with non-zero bits or fields indicating a locked value.
TIOCGLCKTRMIOS struct termios *argp
Gets the locking status of the termios structure of the terminal.
TIOCSLCKTRMIOS const struct termios *argp
Sets the locking status of the termios structure of the terminal. Only
root (more precisely: a process with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability) can
do this.
Window sizes are kept in the kernel, but not used by the kernel (except in the
case of virtual consoles, where the kernel will update the window size when
the size of the virtual console changes, for example, by loading a new font).
The following constants and structure are defined in <sys/ioctl.h>.
TIOCGWINSZ struct winsize *argp
Get window size.
TIOCSWINSZ const struct winsize *argp
Set window size.
The struct used by these ioctls is defined as
struct winsize {
unsigned short ws_row;
unsigned short ws_col;
unsigned short ws_xpixel; /* unused */
unsigned short ws_ypixel; /* unused */
};
When the window size changes, a SIGWINCH signal is sent to the foreground
process group.
TCSBRK int arg
Equivalent to tcsendbreak(fd, arg).
If the terminal is using asynchronous serial data transmission, and arg
is zero, then send a break (a stream of zero bits) for between 0.25 and
0.5 seconds. If the terminal is not using asynchronous serial data
transmission, then either a break is sent, or the function returns
without doing anything. When arg is non-zero, nobody knows what will
happen.
(SVr4, UnixWare, Solaris, Linux treat tcsendbreak(fd,arg) with non-zero
arg like tcdrain(fd). SunOS treats arg as a multiplier, and sends a
stream of bits arg times as long as done for zero arg. DG/UX and AIX
treat arg (when non-zero) as a time interval measured in milliseconds.
HP-UX ignores arg.)
TCSBRKP int arg
So-called "POSIX version" of TCSBRK. It treats non-zero arg as a
timeinterval measured in deciseconds, and does nothing when the driver
does not support breaks.
TIOCSBRK void
Turn break on, that is, start sending zero bits.
TIOCCBRK void
Turn break off, that is, stop sending zero bits.
TCXONC int arg
Equivalent to tcflow(fd, arg).
See tcflow(3) for the argument values TCOOFF, TCOON, TCIOFF, TCION.
FIONREAD int *argp
Get the number of bytes in the input buffer.
TIOCINQ int *argp
Same as FIONREAD.
TIOCOUTQ int *argp
Get the number of bytes in the output buffer.
TCFLSH int arg
Equivalent to tcflush(fd, arg).
See tcflush(3) for the argument values TCIFLUSH, TCOFLUSH, TCIOFLUSH.
TIOCSTI const char *argp
Insert the given byte in the input queue.
TIOCCONS void
Redirect output that would have gone to /dev/console or /dev/tty0 to
the given terminal. If that was a pseudo-terminal master, send it to
the slave. In Linux before version 2.6.10, anybody can do this as long
as the output was not redirected yet; since version 2.6.10, only root
(a process with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability) may do this. If output
was redirected already EBUSY is returned, but redirection can be
stopped by using this ioctl with fd pointing at /dev/console or
/dev/tty0.
TIOCSCTTY int arg
Make the given terminal the controlling terminal of the calling
process. The calling process must be a session leader and not have a
controlling terminal already. If this terminal is already the
controlling terminal of a different session group then the ioctl fails
with EPERM, unless the caller is root (more precisely: has the
CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability) and arg equals 1, in which case the terminal
is stolen, and all processes that had it as controlling terminal lose
it.
TIOCNOTTY void
If the given terminal was the controlling terminal of the calling
process, give up this controlling terminal. If the process was session
leader, then send SIGHUP and SIGCONT to the foreground process group
and all processes in the current session lose their controlling
terminal.
TIOCGPGRP pid_t *argp
When successful, equivalent to *argp = tcgetpgrp(fd).
Get the process group ID of the foreground process group on this
terminal.
TIOCSPGRP const pid_t *argp
Equivalent to tcsetpgrp(fd, *argp).
Set the foreground process group ID of this terminal.
TIOCGSID pid_t *argp
Get the session ID of the given terminal. This will fail with ENOTTY
in case the terminal is not a master pseudo-terminal and not our
controlling terminal. Strange.
TIOCEXCL void
Put the terminal into exclusive mode. No further open(2) operations on
the terminal are permitted. (They will fail with EBUSY, except for
root, that is, a process with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.)
TIOCNXCL void
Disable exclusive mode.
TIOCGETD int *argp
Get the line discipline of the terminal.
TIOCSETD const int *argp
Set the line discipline of the terminal.
TIOCPKT const int *argp
Enable (when *argp is non-zero) or disable packet mode. Can be applied
to the master side of a pseudo-terminal only (and will return ENOTTY
otherwise). In packet mode, each subsequent read(2) will return a
packet that either contains a single non-zero control byte, or has a
single byte containing zero (' ') followed by data written on the slave
side of the pseudo-terminal. If the first byte is not TIOCPKT_DATA
(0), it is an OR of one or more of the following bits:
TIOCPKT_FLUSHREAD The read queue for the terminal is flushed.
TIOCPKT_FLUSHWRITE The write queue for the terminal is flushed.
TIOCPKT_STOP Output to the terminal is stopped.
TIOCPKT_START Output to the terminal is restarted.
TIOCPKT_DOSTOP The start and stop characters are ^S/^Q.
TIOCPKT_NOSTOP The start and stop characters are not ^S/^Q.
While this mode is in use, the presence of control status information
to be read from the master side may be detected by a select(2) for
exceptional conditions.
This mode is used by rlogin(1) and rlogind(8) to implement a remote-
echoed, locally ^S/^Q flow-controlled remote login.
The BSD ioctls TIOCSTOP, TIOCSTART, TIOCUCNTL, TIOCREMOTE have not been
implemented under Linux.
TIOCMGET int *argp
get the status of modem bits.
TIOCMSET const int *argp
set the status of modem bits.
TIOCMBIC const int *argp
clear the indicated modem bits.
TIOCMBIS const int *argp
set the indicated modem bits.
Bits used by these four ioctls:
TIOCM_LE DSR (data set ready/line enable)
TIOCM_DTR DTR (data terminal ready)
TIOCM_RTS RTS (request to send)
TIOCM_ST Secondary TXD (transmit)
TIOCM_SR Secondary RXD (receive)
TIOCM_CTS CTS (clear to send)
TIOCM_CAR DCD (data carrier detect)
TIOCM_CD see TIOCM_CAR
TIOCM_RNG RNG (ring)
TIOCM_RI see TIOCM_RNG
TIOCM_DSR DSR (data set ready)
TIOCGSOFTCAR int *argp
("Get software carrier flag") Get the status of the CLOCAL flag in the
c_cflag field of the termios structure.
TIOCSSOFTCAR const int *argp
("Set software carrier flag") Set the CLOCAL flag in the termios
structure when *argp is non-zero, and clear it otherwise.
If the CLOCAL flag for a line is off, the hardware carrier detect (DCD) signal
is significant, and an open(2) of the corresponding terminal will block until
DCD is asserted, unless the O_NONBLOCK flag is given. If CLOCAL is set, the
line behaves as if DCD is always asserted. The software carrier flag is
usually turned on for local devices, and is off for lines with modems.
For the TIOCLINUX ioctl, see console_ioctl(4).
#include <linux/tty.h>
TIOCTTYGSTRUCT struct tty_struct *argp
Get the tty_struct corresponding to fd.
The ioctl() system call returns 0 on success. On error it returns -1 and sets
errno appropriately.
EINVAL Invalid command parameter.
ENOIOCTLCMD
Unknown command.
ENOTTY Inappropriate fd.
EPERM Insufficient permission.
Check the condition of DTR on the serial port.
#include <termios.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
int
main(void)
{
int fd, serial;
fd = open("/dev/ttyS0", O_RDONLY);
ioctl(fd, TIOCMGET, &serial);
if (serial & TIOCM_DTR)
puts("TIOCM_DTR is not set");
else
puts("TIOCM_DTR is set");
close(fd);
}
ioctl(2), termios(3), console_ioctl(4), pty(7)
This page is part of release 3.23 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/.
Linux 2008-10-29 TTY_IOCTL(4)