stty

Modify terminal command line settings

Description

The stty command is used to change and print terminal line settings.

Syntax

stty (options) (parameters)

Options

-a: Print all current settings in a human-readable format.
-g: Print all current settings in a format readable by stty.

Parameters

Terminal settings: Specify terminal command line setting options.

Examples

Disable uppercase output on the command line:

stty iuclc     # Enable
stty -iuclc    # Restore

Disable lowercase output on the command line:

stty olcuc    # Enable
stty -olcuc   # Restore

Print terminal rows and columns:

stty size

Change the Ctrl+D (EOF) key:

stty eof "string"

The system defaults to Ctrl+D to indicate EOF; this method allows you to change it.

Toggle echoing:

stty -echo   # Disable echo
stty echo    # Enable echo

Test method:

stty -echo; read; stty echo; read

Ignore carriage returns:

stty igncr     # Enable
stty -igncr    # Restore

Timed input:

timeout_read()
{
    timeout=$1
    old_stty_settings=`stty -g`    # Save current settings
    stty -icanon min 0 time 100    # Set to 10 seconds (time is in deciseconds)
    eval read varname              # Read into varname
    stty "$old_stty_settings"      # Recover settings
}

A simpler method is using the -t option of the read command:

read -t 10 varname