tty

Print the filename of the terminal connected to standard input

Synopsis

tty [option] ...

Main Purpose

• Print the filename of the terminal connected to standard input. Prints "not a tty" if standard input is not a terminal.

Options

-s, --silent, --quiet    Do not print anything, only return the exit status.
--help                   Display help information and exit.
--version                Display version information and exit.

Return Value

When using -s, --silent, --quiet, a return code of 0 indicates standard input is a terminal, 1 indicates it is not, 2 indicates an option error, and 3 indicates a write error occurred.

Example

Display the terminal device filename connected to current standard input.

[root@localhost ~]# tty
/dev/pts/2

Find the processes associated with the terminal (assuming it's pts/2):

# Note the filtering for the TTY column.
ps -ef | egrep "pts/2 " | grep -v grep

Notes

1. This command is part of the GNU coreutils package. For more help, see man -s 1 tty or info coreutils 'tty invocation'.