• Home
  • Line#
  • Scopes#
  • Navigate#
  • Raw
  • Download
1:mod:`!termios` --- POSIX style tty control
2===========================================
3
4.. module:: termios
5   :platform: Unix
6   :synopsis: POSIX style tty control.
7
8.. index::
9   pair: POSIX; I/O control
10   pair: tty; I/O control
11
12--------------
13
14This module provides an interface to the POSIX calls for tty I/O control. For a
15complete description of these calls, see :manpage:`termios(3)` Unix manual
16page.  It is only available for those Unix versions that support POSIX
17*termios* style tty I/O control configured during installation.
18
19.. availability:: Unix.
20
21All functions in this module take a file descriptor *fd* as their first
22argument.  This can be an integer file descriptor, such as returned by
23``sys.stdin.fileno()``, or a :term:`file object`, such as ``sys.stdin`` itself.
24
25This module also defines all the constants needed to work with the functions
26provided here; these have the same name as their counterparts in C.  Please
27refer to your system documentation for more information on using these terminal
28control interfaces.
29
30The module defines the following functions:
31
32
33.. function:: tcgetattr(fd)
34
35   Return a list containing the tty attributes for file descriptor *fd*, as
36   follows: ``[iflag, oflag, cflag, lflag, ispeed, ospeed, cc]`` where *cc* is a
37   list of the tty special characters (each a string of length 1, except the
38   items with indices :const:`VMIN` and :const:`VTIME`, which are integers when
39   these fields are defined).  The interpretation of the flags and the speeds as
40   well as the indexing in the *cc* array must be done using the symbolic
41   constants defined in the :mod:`termios` module.
42
43
44.. function:: tcsetattr(fd, when, attributes)
45
46   Set the tty attributes for file descriptor *fd* from the *attributes*, which is
47   a list like the one returned by :func:`tcgetattr`.  The *when* argument
48   determines when the attributes are changed:
49
50   .. data:: TCSANOW
51
52      Change attributes immediately.
53
54   .. data:: TCSADRAIN
55
56      Change attributes after transmitting all queued output.
57
58   .. data:: TCSAFLUSH
59
60      Change attributes after transmitting all queued output and
61      discarding all queued input.
62
63
64.. function:: tcsendbreak(fd, duration)
65
66   Send a break on file descriptor *fd*.  A zero *duration* sends a break for
67   0.25--0.5 seconds; a nonzero *duration* has a system dependent meaning.
68
69
70.. function:: tcdrain(fd)
71
72   Wait until all output written to file descriptor *fd* has been transmitted.
73
74
75.. function:: tcflush(fd, queue)
76
77   Discard queued data on file descriptor *fd*.  The *queue* selector specifies
78   which queue: :const:`TCIFLUSH` for the input queue, :const:`TCOFLUSH` for the
79   output queue, or :const:`TCIOFLUSH` for both queues.
80
81
82.. function:: tcflow(fd, action)
83
84   Suspend or resume input or output on file descriptor *fd*.  The *action*
85   argument can be :const:`TCOOFF` to suspend output, :const:`TCOON` to restart
86   output, :const:`TCIOFF` to suspend input, or :const:`TCION` to restart input.
87
88
89.. function:: tcgetwinsize(fd)
90
91   Return a tuple ``(ws_row, ws_col)`` containing the tty window size for file
92   descriptor *fd*. Requires :const:`termios.TIOCGWINSZ` or
93   :const:`termios.TIOCGSIZE`.
94
95   .. versionadded:: 3.11
96
97
98.. function:: tcsetwinsize(fd, winsize)
99
100   Set the tty window size for file descriptor *fd* from *winsize*, which is
101   a two-item tuple ``(ws_row, ws_col)`` like the one returned by
102   :func:`tcgetwinsize`. Requires at least one of the pairs
103   (:const:`termios.TIOCGWINSZ`, :const:`termios.TIOCSWINSZ`);
104   (:const:`termios.TIOCGSIZE`, :const:`termios.TIOCSSIZE`) to be defined.
105
106   .. versionadded:: 3.11
107
108
109.. seealso::
110
111   Module :mod:`tty`
112      Convenience functions for common terminal control operations.
113
114
115.. _termios-example:
116
117Example
118-------
119
120Here's a function that prompts for a password with echoing turned off.  Note the
121technique using a separate :func:`tcgetattr` call and a :keyword:`try` ...
122:keyword:`finally` statement to ensure that the old tty attributes are restored
123exactly no matter what happens::
124
125   def getpass(prompt="Password: "):
126       import termios, sys
127       fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
128       old = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
129       new = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
130       new[3] = new[3] & ~termios.ECHO          # lflags
131       try:
132           termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, new)
133           passwd = input(prompt)
134       finally:
135           termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old)
136       return passwd
137
138