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console_ioctl

CONSOLE_IOCTLS(4)          Linux Programmer's Manual         CONSOLE_IOCTLS(4)



NAME
       console ioctl - ioctl's for console terminal and virtual consoles

DESCRIPTION
       WARNING:  If  you  use  the following information you are going to burn
       yourself.

       WARNING: ioctl's are undocumented Linux internals, liable to be changed
       without warning.  Use POSIX functions.

       The  following  Linux-peculiar  ioctl()  requests  are supported.  Each
       requires a third argument, assumed here to be argp.

       KDGETLED
              Get state of LEDs.  argp points to a long int.  The lower  three
              bits of *argp are set to the state of the LEDs, as follows:

                  LED_CAP       0x04   caps lock led
                  LEC_NUM       0x02   num lock led
                  LED_SCR       0x01   scroll lock led


       KDSETLED
              Set the LEDs.  The LEDs are set to correspond to the lower three
              bits of argp.  However, if a higher order bit is set,  the  LEDs
              revert to normal: displaying the state of the keyboard functions
              of caps lock, num lock, and scroll lock.

       Before 1.1.54, the LEDs just reflected the state of  the  corresponding
       keyboard  flags,  and  KDGETLED/KDSETLED would also change the keyboard
       flags. Since 1.1.54 the leds can be made to display arbitrary  informa-
       tion,  but  by  default they display the keyboard flags.  The following
       two ioctl's are used to access the keyboard flags.


       KDGKBLED
              Get keyboard flags CapsLock, NumLock, ScrollLock  (not  lights).
              argp  points  to a char which is set to the flag state.  The low
              order three bits (mask 0x7) get the current flag state, and  the
              low  order  bits  of the next nibble (mask 0x70) get the default
              flag state. (Since 1.1.54.)


       KDSKBLED
              Set keyboard flags CapsLock, NumLock, ScrollLock  (not  lights).
              argp has the desired flag state.  The low order three bits (mask
              0x7) have the flag state, and the low order  bits  of  the  next
              nibble  (mask 0x70) have the default flag state. (Since 1.1.54.)


       KDGKBTYPE
              Get keyboard type. This returns the  value  KB_101,  defined  as
              0x02.


       KDADDIO
              Add I/O port as valid. Equivalent to ioperm(arg,1,1).


       KDDELIO
              Delete I/O port as valid. Equivalent to ioperm(arg,1,0).


       KDENABIO
              Enable   I/O   to   video  board.  Equivalent  to  ioperm(0x3b4,
              0x3df-0x3b4+1, 1).


       KDDISABIO
              Disable  I/O  to  video  board.  Equivalent   to   ioperm(0x3b4,
              0x3df-0x3b4+1, 0).


       KDSETMODE
              Set text/graphics mode.  argp is one of these:

                  KD_TEXT       0x00
                  KD_GRAPHICS   0x01


       KDGETMODE
              Get  text/graphics  mode.  argp points to a long which is set to
              one of the above values.


       KDMKTONE
              Generate tone of specified length.  The lower 16  bits  of  argp
              specify  the  period in clock cycles, and the upper 16 bits give
              the duration in msec.  If the duration is  zero,  the  sound  is
              turned  off.   Control returns immediately.  For example, argp =
              (125<<16) + 0x637 would specify  the  beep  normally  associated
              with a ctrl-G.  (Thus since 0.99pl1; broken in 2.1.49-50.)


       KIOCSOUND
              Start or stop sound generation.  The lower 16 bits of argp spec-
              ify the period in clock cycles (that  is,  argp  =  1193180/fre-
              quency).   argp  =  0  turns sound off.  In either case, control
              returns immediately.


       GIO_CMAP
              Get the current default colour map from kernel.  argp points  to
              a 48-byte array.  (Since 1.3.3.)


       PIO_CMAP
              Change  the  default  text-mode  colour  map.   argp points to a
              48-byte array which contains, in order, the Red, Green, and Blue
              values for the 16 available screen colours: 0 is off, and 255 is
              full intensity.  The default colours are, in order: black,  dark
              red, dark green, brown, dark blue, dark purple, dark cyan, light
              grey, dark grey, bright red, bright green, yellow, bright  blue,
              bright purple, bright cyan and white.  (Since 1.3.3.)


       GIO_FONT
              Gets 256-character screen font in expanded form.  argp points to
              an 8192 byte array.  Fails with error code EINVAL  if  the  cur-
              rently loaded font is a 512-character font, or if the console is
              not in text mode.


       GIO_FONTX
              Gets screen font and associated information.  argp points  to  a
              struct  consolefontdesc (see PIO_FONTX).  On call, the charcount
              field should be set to the maximum  number  of  characters  that
              would  fit in the buffer pointed to by chardata.  On return, the
              charcount and charheight are filled with the respective data for
              the  currently  loaded font, and the chardata array contains the
              font data if the initial value  of  charcount  indicated  enough
              space was available; otherwise the buffer is untouched and errno
              is set to ENOMEM.  (Since 1.3.1.)


       PIO_FONT
              Sets 256-character screen font.   Load  font  into  the  EGA/VGA
              character  generator.   argp  points to a 8192 byte map, with 32
              bytes per character.  Only first N of them are used for  an  8xN
              font (0 < N <= 32).  This call also invalidates the Unicode map-
              ping.


       PIO_FONTX
              Sets screen font and  associated  rendering  information.   argp
              points to a

              struct consolefontdesc {
                      u_short charcount;      /* characters in font (256 or 512) */
                      u_short charheight;     /* scan lines per character (1-32) */
                      char *chardata;         /* font data in expanded form */
              };

              If necessary, the screen will be appropriately resized, and SIG-
              WINCH sent to the appropriate processes.  This call also invali-
              dates the Unicode mapping.  (Since 1.3.1.)


       PIO_FONTRESET
              Resets  the  screen font, size and Unicode mapping to the bootup
              defaults.  argp is unused, but should be set to NULL  to  ensure
              compatibility with future versions of Linux.  (Since 1.3.28.)


       GIO_SCRNMAP
              Get  screen mapping from kernel.  argp points to an area of size
              E_TABSZ, which is loaded with the font positions used to display
              each  character.  This call is likely to return useless informa-
              tion if the currently loaded font is more than 256 characters.


       GIO_UNISCRNMAP
              Get full Unicode screen mapping from kernel.  argp points to  an
              area  of  size  E_TABSZ*sizeof(unsigned  short), which is loaded
              with the Unicodes each character represent.  A  special  set  of
              Unicodes,  starting at U+F000, are used to represent ``direct to
              font'' mappings.  (Since 1.3.1.)


       PIO_SCRNMAP
              Loads the ``user definable'' (fourth) table in the kernel  which
              maps  bytes into console screen symbols.  argp points to an area
              of size E_TABSZ.


       PIO_UNISCRNMAP
              Loads the ``user definable'' (fourth) table in the kernel  which
              maps  bytes into Unicodes, which are then translated into screen
              symbols according to the currently loaded  Unicode-to-font  map.
              Special  Unicodes starting at U+F000 can be used to map directly
              to the font symbols.  (Since 1.3.1.)


       GIO_UNIMAP
              Get Unicode-to-font mapping from kernel.  argp points to a

              struct unimapdesc {
                      u_short entry_ct;
                      struct unipair *entries;
              };

              where entries points to an array of

              struct unipair {
                      u_short unicode;
                      u_short fontpos;
              };

              (Since 1.1.92.)


       PIO_UNIMAP
              Put unicode-to-font mapping in kernel.  argp points to a  struct
              unimapdesc.  (Since 1.1.92)


       PIO_UNIMAPCLR
              Clear table, possibly advise hash algorithm.  argp points to a

              struct unimapinit {
                      u_short advised_hashsize;  /* 0 if no opinion */
                      u_short advised_hashstep;  /* 0 if no opinion */
                      u_short advised_hashlevel; /* 0 if no opinion */
              };

              (Since 1.1.92.)


       KDGKBMODE
              Gets  current keyboard mode.  argp points to a long which is set
              to one of these:

                  K_RAW         0x00
                  K_XLATE       0x01
                  K_MEDIUMRAW   0x02
                  K_UNICODE     0x03


       KDSKBMODE
              Sets current keyboard mode.  argp is a long equal to one of  the
              above values.


       KDGKBMETA
              Gets meta key handling mode.  argp points to a long which is set
              to one of these:

                  K_METABIT     0x03   set high order bit
                  K_ESCPREFIX   0x04   escape prefix


       KDSKBMETA
              Sets meta key handling mode.  argp is a long equal to one of the
              above values.


       KDGKBENT
              Gets  one  entry  in  key  translation  table (keycode to action
              code).  argp points to a

              struct kbentry {
                  u_char kb_table;
                  u_char kb_index;
                  u_short kb_value;
              };

              with the first two members filled in: kb_table selects  the  key
              table (0 <= kb_table < MAX_NR_KEYMAPS), and kb_index is the key-
              code (0 <= kb_index < NR_KEYS).  kb_value is set to  the  corre-
              sponding  action  code,  or  K_HOLE  if there is no such key, or
              K_NOSUCHMAP if kb_table is invalid.


       KDSKBENT
              Sets one entry in translation table.  argp points  to  a  struct
              kbentry.


       KDGKBSENT
              Gets one function key string.  argp points to a

              struct kbsentry {
                  u_char kb_func;
                  u_char kb_string[512];
              };

              kb_string  is  set to the (NULL terminated) string corresponding
              to the kb_functh function key action code.


       KDSKBSENT
              Sets one function key string entry.  argp  points  to  a  struct
              kbsentry.


       KDGKBDIACR
              Read kernel accent table.  argp points to a

              struct kbdiacrs {
                  unsigned int kb_cnt;
                  struct kbdiacr kbdiacr[256];
              };

              where  kb_cnt  is  the  number  of entries in the array, each of
              which is a

              struct kbdiacr { u_char diacr, base, result; };


       KDGETKEYCODE
              Read kernel keycode table entry (scan code  to  keycode).   argp
              points to a

              struct kbkeycode { unsigned int scancode, keycode; };

              keycode  is  set  to  correspond  to the given scancode.  (89 <=
              scancode <= 255 only.  For 1 <= scancode <=  88,  keycode==scan-
              code.)  (Since 1.1.63.)


       KDSETKEYCODE
              Write  kernel keycode table entry.  argp points to struct kbkey-
              code.  (Since 1.1.63.)


       KDSIGACCEPT
              The calling process indicates its willingness to accept the sig-
              nal  argp  when  it  is generated by pressing an appropriate key
              combination.  (1 <= argp  <=  NSIG).   (See  spawn_console()  in
              linux/drivers/char/keyboard.c.)


       VT_OPENQRY
              Returns  the  first available (non-opened) console.  argp points
              to an int which is set to the number of the vt (1  <=  *argp  <=
              MAX_NR_CONSOLES).


       VT_GETMODE
              Get mode of active vt.  argp points to a

              struct vt_mode {
                  char mode;     /* vt mode */
                  char waitv;    /* if set, hang on writes if not active */
                  short relsig;  /* signal to raise on release req */
                  short acqsig;  /* signal to raise on acquisition */
                  short frsig;   /* unused (set to 0) */
              };

              mode is set to one of these values:

                  VT_AUTO       auto vt switching
                  VT_PROCESS    process controls switching
                  VT_ACKACQ     acknowledge switch


       VT_SETMODE
              Set mode of active vt.  argp points to a struct vt_mode.


       VT_GETSTATE
              Get global vt state info.  argp points to a

              struct vt_stat {
                  ushort v_active;  /* active vt */
                  ushort v_signal;  /* signal to send */
                  ushort v_state;   /* vt bitmask */
              };

              For  each vt in use, the corresponding bit in the v_state member
              is set.  (Kernels 1.0 through 1.1.92.)


       VT_RELDISP
              Release a display.


       VT_ACTIVATE
              Switch to vt argp (1 <= argp <= MAX_NR_CONSOLES).


       VT_WAITACTIVE
              Wait until vt argp has been activated.


       VT_DISALLOCATE
              Deallocate the memory associated with vt argp.  (Since  1.1.54.)


       VT_RESIZE
              Set the kernel's idea of screensize.  argp points to a

              struct vt_sizes {
                  ushort v_rows;       /* # rows */
                  ushort v_cols;       /* # columns */
                  ushort v_scrollsize; /* no longer used */
              };

              Note  that  this  does  not  change  the videomode.  See resize-
              cons(8).  (Since 1.1.54.)


       VT_RESIZEX
              Set the kernel's idea of various screen parameters.  argp points
              to a

              struct vt_consize {
                      ushort v_rows;          /* number of rows */
                      ushort v_cols;          /* number of columns */
                      ushort v_vlin;          /* number of pixel rows on screen */
                      ushort v_clin;          /* number of pixel rows per character */
                      ushort v_vcol;          /* number of pixel columns on screen */
                      ushort v_ccol;          /* number of pixel columns per character */
              };

              Any  parameter may be set to zero, indicating ``no change'', but
              if multiple parameters are set, they  must  be  self-consistent.
              Note  that  this  does  not  change  the videomode.  See resize-
              cons(8).  (Since 1.3.3.)


       The action of the following ioctls depends on the  first  byte  in  the
       struct  pointed to by argp, referred to here as the subcode.  These are
       legal only for the superuser or the owner of the current tty.

       TIOCLINUX, subcode=0
              Dump the screen.  Disappeared in 1.1.92.  (With kernel 1.1.92 or
              later, read from /dev/vcsN or /dev/vcsaN instead.)


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=1
              Get task information. Disappeared in 1.1.92.


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=2
              Set selection.  argp points to a

                 struct {char subcode;
                     short xs, ys, xe, ye;
                     short sel_mode;
                 }

              xs  and  ys  are the starting column and row.  xe and ye are the
              ending column and row.  (Upper  left  corner  is  row=column=1.)
              sel_mode  is 0 for character-by-character selection, 1 for word-
              by-word selection, or 2 for line-by-line selection.   The  indi-
              cated  screen characters are highlighted and saved in the static
              array sel_buffer in devices/char/console.c.


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=3
              Paste selection.  The characters in  the  selection  buffer  are
              written to fd.


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=4
              Unblank the screen.


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=5
              Sets  contents of a 256-bit look up table defining characters in
              a "word", for word-by-word selection.  (Since 1.1.32.)


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=6
              argp points to a char which is set to the value  of  the  kernel
              variable shift_state.  (Since 1.1.32.)


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=7
              argp  points  to  a char which is set to the value of the kernel
              variable report_mouse.  (Since 1.1.33.)


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=8
              Dump screen width and height, cursor position, and all the char-
              acter-attribute  pairs.   (Kernels  1.1.67  through 1.1.91 only.
              With kernel 1.1.92 or later, read from /dev/vcsa* instead.)


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=9
              Restore screen width and height, cursor position,  and  all  the
              character-attribute pairs.  (Kernels 1.1.67 through 1.1.91 only.
              With kernel 1.1.92 or later, write to /dev/vcsa* instead.)


       TIOCLINUX, subcode=10
              Handles the Power Saving feature of the new generation of  moni-
              tors.   VESA  screen blanking mode is set to argp[1], which gov-
              erns what screen blanking does:

                  0: Screen blanking is disabled.

                  1: The current video adapter register  settings  are  saved,
              then  the controller is programmed to turn off the vertical syn-
              chronization pulses.  This puts the monitor into "standby" mode.
              If  your  monitor has an Off_Mode timer, then it will eventually
              power down by itself.

                  2: The current settings are saved, then  both  the  vertical
              and horizontal synchronization pulses are turned off.  This puts
              the monitor into "off" mode.  If your monitor  has  no  Off_Mode
              timer,  or  if  you  want your monitor to power down immediately
              when the blank_timer times out, then  you  choose  this  option.
              (Caution: Powering down frequently will damage the monitor.)

              (Since 1.1.76.)


RETURN VALUE
       -1 for error, and errno is set.

ERRORS
       errno may take on these values:


       EBADF  file descriptor is invalid.

       ENOTTY file  descriptor  is  not  associated  with  a character special
              device, or the specified request does not apply to it.

       EINVAL file descriptor or argp is invalid.

       EPERM  permission violation.

WARNING
       Do not regard this man page  as  documentation  of  the  Linux  console
       ioctl's.   This  is provided for the curious only, as an alternative to
       reading the source. Ioctl's are undocumented Linux internals, liable to
       be  changed  without  warning.  (And  indeed,  this  page  more or less
       describes the situation as of kernel version  1.1.94;  there  are  many
       minor and not-so-minor differences with earlier versions.)

       Very often, ioctl's are introduced for communication between the kernel
       and  one  particular  well-known  program  (fdisk,  hdparm,  setserial,
       tunelp, loadkeys, selection, setfont, etc.), and their behavior will be
       changed when required by this particular program.

       Programs using these ioctl's will not be portable to other versions  of
       Unix,  will  not  work on older versions of Linux, and will not work on
       future versions of Linux.

       Use POSIX functions.


SEE ALSO
       kbd_mode(1), loadkeys(1), dumpkeys(1), mknod(1),  setleds(1),  setmeta-
       mode(1),  ioperm(2),  execve(2), fcntl(2), termios(3), console(4), con-
       sole_codes(4),  mt(4),  sd(4),  tty(4),   ttys(4),   vcs(4),   vcsa(4),
       charsets(7),        mapscrn(8),        setfont(8),       resizecons(8),
       /usr/include/linux/kd.h, /usr/include/linux/vt.h



Linux                             1995-09-18                 CONSOLE_IOCTLS(4)