CONSOLE_IOCTLS(4) Linux Programmer's Manual CONSOLE_IOCTLS(4)
NAME
console ioctl - ioctl's for console terminal and virtual consoles
DESCRIPTION
The following Linux-peculiar ioctl() requests are supported. Each requires a third argu-
ment, 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 information, 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 specify the period in
clock cycles (that is, argp = 1193180/frequency). 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 con-
tains, 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 currently loaded font is a 512-charac-
ter font, or if the console is not in text mode.
GIO_FONTX
Gets screen font and associated information. argp points to a struct consolefont-
desc (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
mapping.
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 SIGWINCH sent to the
appropriate processes. This call also invalidates 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 information if the currently loaded font is more than 256 charac-
ters.
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 keycode (0 <= kb_index < NR_KEYS). kb_value
is set to the corresponding 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==scancode.) (Since 1.1.63.)
KDSETKEYCODE
Write kernel keycode table entry. argp points to struct kbkeycode. (Since
1.1.63.)
KDSIGACCEPT
The calling process indicates its willingness to accept the signal 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 resizecons(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 parame-
ters are set, they must be self-consistent. Note that this does not change the
videomode. See resizecons(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-charac-
ter selection, 1 for word-by-word selection, or 2 for line-by-line selection. The
indicated 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 character-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 monitors. VESA screen
blanking mode is set to argp[1], which governs 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 synchronization pulses. This puts the moni-
tor into "standby" mode. If your monitor has an Off_Mode timer, then it will even-
tually power down by itself.
2: The current settings are saved, then both the vertical and horizontal syn-
chronization 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 imme-
diately 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
On success, 0 is returned. On error -1 is returned, 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 pro-
vided for the curious only, as an alternative to reading the source. Ioctl's are undocu-
mented 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), setmetamode(1), ioperm(2),
execve(2), fcntl(2), termios(3), console(4), console_codes(4), mt(4), sd(4), tty(4),
ttys(4), tty_ioctl(4), vcs(4), vcsa(4), charsets(7), mapscrn(8), setfont(8), resize-
cons(8), /usr/include/linux/kd.h, /usr/include/linux/vt.h
Linux 1995-09-18 CONSOLE_IOCTLS(4)
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