TTY_IOCTL (4) | Special files and drivers | Unix Manual Pages

SYNOPSIS

"#include <termios.h>"

"int ioctl(int "fd", int "cmd", ...);"

DESCRIPTION

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.

"Get and Set Terminal Attributes"

*"TCGETS struct termios "**
	Equivalent to "tcgetattr(fd, argp)". Get the current serial port settings.
*"TCSETS const struct termios "**
	Equivalent to "tcsetattr(fd, TCSANOW, argp)". Set the current serial port settings.
*"TCSETSW const struct termios "**
	Equivalent to "tcsetattr(fd, TCSADRAIN, argp)". Allow the output buffer to drain, and set the current serial port settings.
*"TCSETSF const struct termios "**
	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 " "TCSETA const struct termio "* *"TCSETAW const struct termio " "TCSETAF const struct termio "*

"Locking the termios structure"

The termios structure of a tty can be locked. The lock is itself a termios structure, with nonzero bits or fields indicating a locked value. -->

*"TIOCGLCKTRMIOS struct termios "**
	Gets the locking status of the termios structure of the terminal.
*"TIOCSLCKTRMIOS const struct termios "**
	Sets the locking status of the termios structure of the terminal. Only root can do this.

"Get and Set Window Size"

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, e.g. by loading a new font). -->

*"TIOCGWINSZstruct winsize "**
	Get window size.
*"TIOCSWINSZconst struct winsize "**
	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.

"Sending a Break"

"TCSBRK int "
	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 nonzero, nobody knows what will happen. (SVR4, UnixWare, Solaris, Linux treat "tcsendbreak(fd,arg)" with nonzero 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 nonzero) as a timeinterval measured in milliseconds. HP-UX ignores arg.)
"TCSBRKP int "
	So-called "POSIX version" of TCSBRK. It treats nonzero 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.

"Software flow control"

"TCXONC int "
	Equivalent to "tcflow(fd, arg)". See tcflow(3) for the argument values TCOOFF, TCOON, TCIOFF, TCION.

"Buffer count and flushing"

*"FIONREAD int "**
	Get the number of bytes in the input buffer.
*"TIOCINQ int "**
	Same as FIONREAD.
*"TIOCOUTQ int "**
	Get the number of bytes in the output buffer.
"TCFLSH int "
	Equivalent to "tcflush(fd, arg)". See tcflush(3) for the argument values TCIFLUSH, TCOFLUSH, TCIOFLUSH.

"Faking input"

*"TIOCSTI const char "**
	Insert the given byte in the input queue.

"Redirecting console output"

"TIOCCONS void"
	Redirect output that would have gone to /dev/console or /dev/tty0 to the given tty. If that was a pty master, send it to the slave. Anybody can do this as long as the output was not redirected yet. If it was redirected already EBUSY is returned, but root may stop redirection by using this ioctl with fd pointing at /dev/console or /dev/tty0.

"Controlling tty"

"TIOCSCTTY int "
	Make the given tty the controlling tty of the current process. The current process must be a session leader and not have a controlling tty already. If this tty is already the controlling tty of a different session group then the ioctl fails with EPERM, unless the caller is root and arg equals 1, in which case the tty is stolen, and all processes that had it as controlling tty lose it.
TIOCNOTTYvoid
	If the given tty was the controlling tty of the current process, give up this controlling tty. 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 tty.

"Process group and session ID"

*"TIOCGPGRP pid_t "**
	When successful, equivalent to "argp = tcgetpgrp(fd)"*. Get the process group ID of the foreground proces group on this tty.
*"TIOCSPGRP const pid_t "**
	Equivalent to "tcsetpgrp(fd, argp)"*. Set the foreground process group id of this tty.
*"TIOCGSID pid_t "**
	Get the session ID of the given tty. This will fail with ENOTTY in case the tty is not a master pty and not our controlling tty. Strange.

"Exclusive mode"

"TIOCEXCL void"
	Put the tty into exclusive mode. No further open(2) operations on the terminal are permitted. (They will fail with EBUSY, except for root.)
"TIOCNXCL void"
	Disable exclusive mode.

"Line discipline"

*"TIOCGETD int "**
	Get the line discipline of the tty.
*"TIOCSETD const int "**
	Set the line discipline of the tty.

"Pseudo-tty ioctls"

"TIOCPKT const int *"

Enable (when *argp is nonzero) or disable packet mode. Can be applied to the master side of a pseudotty only (and will return ENOTTY otherwise). In packet mode, each subsequent read(2) will return a packet that either contains a single nonzero control byte, or has a single zero byte followed by data written on the slave side of the pty. 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 t_stopc is ‘^S’ and t_startc is ‘^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.

"Modem control"

*"TIOCMGET int "**
	get the status of modem bits.
*"TIOCMSET const int "**
	set the status of modem bits.
*"TIOCMBIC const int "**
	clear the indicated modem bits.
*"TIOCMBIS const int "**
	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)

"Marking a line as local"

*"TIOCGSOFTCAR int "**
	("Get software carrier flag") Get the status of the CLOCAL flag in the c_cflag field of the termios structure.
*"TIOCSSOFTCAR const int "**
	("Set software carrier flag") Set the CLOCAL flag in the termios structure when *argp is nonzero, 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 tty 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.

"Linux specific"

For the TIOCLINUX ioctl, see console_ioctl(4).

"Kernel debugging"

"#include <linux/tty.h>"

*"TIOCTTYGSTRUCT struct tty_struct "**
	Get the tty_struct corresponding to fd.

"RETURN VALUE"

The ioctl() system call returns 0 on success. On error it returns -1 and sets errno appropriately.

ERRORS

ENOIOCTLCMD
	Unknown command.
EINVAL	Invalid command parameter.
EPERM	Insufficient permission.
ENOTTY	Inappropriate fd.

EXAMPLE

Check the condition of DTR on the serial port.

#include <termios.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>

main() {
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);
}

"SEE ALSO"

ioctl(2), termios(3), console_ioctl(4)

Created by Blin Media, 2008-2013

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