tio − a simple serial device I/O tool
tio [<options>] <tty-device|sub-config>
tio is a simple serial device tool which features a straightforward command-line and configuration file interface to easily connect to serial TTY devices for basic I/O operations.
−b, −−baudrate <bps>
Set baud rate [bps] (default: 115200).
−d, −−databits 5|6|7|8
Set data bits (default: 8).
−f, −−flow hard|soft|none
Set flow control (default: none).
−s, −−stopbits 1|2
Set stop bits (default: 1).
−p, −−parity odd|even|none|mark|space
Set parity (default: none).
Note: With mark parity the parity bit is always 0. With space parity the parity bit is always 1. Not all platforms support mark and space parity.
−o, −−output−delay <ms>
Set output delay [ms] inserted between each sent character (default: 0).
−O, −−output−line−delay <ms>
Set output delay [ms] inserted between each sent line (default: 0).
−−line−pulse−duration <duration>
Set the pulse duration [ms] of each serial port line using the following key value pair format in the duration field: <key>=<value>
Each key represents a serial line. The following keys are available:
DTR |
Data Terminal Ready |
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RTS |
Request To Send |
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CTS |
Clear To Send |
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DSR |
Data Set Ready |
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DCD |
Data Carrier Detect |
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RI |
Ring Indicator |
If defining more than one key value pair, the pairs must be comma separated.
The default pulse duration for each line is 100 ms.
−n, −−no−autoconnect
Disable automatic connect.
By default tio automatically connects to the provided device if present. If the device is not present, it will wait for it to appear and then connect. If the connection is lost (eg. device disconnects), it will wait for the device to reappear and then reconnect.
However, if the −−no−autoconnect option is provided, tio will exit if the device is not present or an established connection is lost.
−e, −−local−echo
Enable local echo.
−t, −−timestamp
Enable line timestamp.
−−timestamp-format <format>
Set timestamp format to any of the following timestamp formats:
24hour |
24-hour format ("hh:mm:ss.sss") |
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24hour-start |
24-hour format relative to start time |
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24hour-delta |
24-hour format relative to previous timestamp |
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iso8601 |
ISO8601 format ("YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sss") |
Default format is 24hour
−L, −−list−devices
List available serial devices by ID.
−l, −−log
Enable log to file.
The filename will be automatically generated using the following format tio_DEVICE_YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.log.
The filename can be manually set using the −−log-file option.
−−log-file <filename>
Set log filename.
−−log-append
Append to log file.
−−log-strip
Strip control characters and escape sequences from log.
−m, −−map <flags>
Map (replace, translate) characters on input or output. The following mapping flags are supported:
ICRNL |
Map CR to NL on input (unless IGNCR is set) |
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IGNCR |
Ignore CR on input |
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INLCR |
Map NL to CR on input |
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INLCRNL |
Map NL to CR-NL on input |
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OCRNL |
Map CR to NL on output |
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ODELBS |
Map DEL to BS on output |
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ONLCRNL |
Map NL to CR-NL on output |
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OLTU |
Map lowercase characters to uppercase on output |
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MSB2LSB |
Map MSB bit order to LSB on output |
If defining more than one flag, the flags must be comma separated.
−x, −−hexadecimal
Enable hexadecimal mode.
−c, −−color 0..255|bold|none|list
Colorize tio text using ANSI color code value ranging from 0 to 255 or use "none" for no color or use "bold" to apply bold formatting to existing system color.
Use "list" to print a list of available ANSI color codes.
Default value is "bold".
−S, −−socket <socket>
Redirect I/O to socket.
Any input from clients connected to the socket is sent on the serial port as if entered at the terminal where tio is running (except that ctrl-t sequences are not recognized), and any input from the serial port is multiplexed to the terminal and all connected clients.
Sockets remain open while the serial port is disconnected, and writes will block.
Various socket types are supported using the following prefixes in the socket field:
unix:<filename> |
Unix Domain Socket (file) |
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inet:<port> |
Internet Socket (network) |
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inet6:<port> |
Internet IPv6 Socket (network) |
If port is 0 or no port is provided default port 3333 is used.
At present there is a hardcoded limit of 16 clients connected at one time.
−r, −−response-wait
Wait for line response then quit. A line is considered any string terminated with a NL character. If no line is received tio will quit after response timeout.
Any tio text is automatically muted when piping a string to tio while in response mode to make it easy to parse the response.
−−response−timeout <ms>
Set timeout [ms] of line response (default: 100).
−−rs−485
Enable RS-485 mode.
−−rs−485−config <config>
Set the RS-485 configuration using the following key or key value pair format in the configuration field:
RTS_ON_SEND=value |
Set logical level (0 or 1) for RTS pin when sending | ||
RTS_AFTER_SEND=value |
Set logical level (0 or 1) for RTS pin after sending | ||
RTS_DELAY_BEFORE_SEND=value |
Set RTS delay (ms) before sending | ||
RTS_DELAY_AFTER_SEND=value |
Set RTS delay (ms) after sending | ||
RX_DURING_TX |
Receive data even while sending data |
If defining more than one key or key value pair, they must be comma separated.
−−alert none|bell|blink
Set alert action on connect/disconnect.
It will sound the bell once or blink once on successful connect. Likewise it will sound the bell twice or blink twice on disconnect.
Default value is "none".
−v, −−version
Display program version.
−h, −−help
Display help.
In session, all
key strokes are forwarded to the serial device except
the following key sequence: a prefix key (default: ctrl-t)
followed by
a command key. These sequences are intercepted as tio
commands:
ctrl-t ? |
List available key commands | ||
ctrl-t b |
Send serial break (triggers SysRq on Linux, etc.) | ||
ctrl-t c |
Show configuration (baudrate, databits, etc.) | ||
ctrl-t e |
Toggle local echo mode | ||
ctrl-t f |
Toggle log to file | ||
ctrl-t F |
Flush data I/O buffers (discard data written but not transmitted and data received but not read) | ||
ctrl-t g |
Toggle serial port line | ||
ctrl-t h |
Toggle hexadecimal mode | ||
ctrl-t l |
Clear screen | ||
ctrl-t L |
Show line states (DTR, RTS, CTS, DSR, DCD, RI) | ||
ctrl-t m |
Toggle MSB to LSB bit order | ||
ctrl-t p |
Pulse serial port line | ||
ctrl-t q |
Quit | ||
ctrl-t s |
Show TX/RX statistics | ||
ctrl-t t |
Toggle line timestamp mode | ||
ctrl-t U |
Toggle conversion to uppercase on output | ||
ctrl-t v |
Show version | ||
ctrl-t x |
Send a file using the XMODEM protocol (prompts for file name) | ||
ctrl-t y |
Send a file using the YMODEM protocol (prompts for file name) | ||
ctrl-t ctrl-t |
Send ctrl-t character |
In hexadecimal mode each incoming byte is printed out as a hexadecimal value.
Bytes can be sent in this mode by typing the two-character hexadecimal representation of the value, e.g.: to send 0xA you must type 0a or 0A.
Options can be set via configuration file using the INI format. tio uses the configuration file first found in the following locations in the order listed:
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tio/config
$HOME/.config/tio/config
$HOME/.tioconfig
Labels can be used to group settings into named sub-configurations which can be activated from the command-line when starting tio.
tio will try to match the user input to a sub-configuration by name or by pattern to get the TTY device and other options.
Options without any label change the default options.
Any options set via command-line will override options set in the configuration file.
The following configuration file options are available:
pattern |
Pattern matching user input. This pattern can be an extended regular expression with a single group. | ||
device |
TTY device to open. If it contains a "%s" it is substituted with the first group match. | ||
baudrate |
Set baud rate | ||
databits |
Set data bits | ||
flow |
Set flow control | ||
stopbits |
Set stop bits | ||
parity |
Set parity | ||
output-delay |
Set output character delay | ||
output-line-delay |
Set output line delay | ||
line-pulse-duration |
Set line pulse duration | ||
no-autoconnect |
Disable automatic connect | ||
log |
Enable log to file | ||
log-file |
Set log filename | ||
log-append |
Append to log file | ||
log-strip |
Enable strip of control and escape sequences from log | ||
local-echo |
Enable local echo | ||
timestamp |
Enable line timestamp | ||
timestamp-format |
Set timestamp format | ||
map |
Map characters on input or output | ||
color |
Colorize tio text using ANSI color code ranging from 0 to 255 | ||
hexadecimal |
Enable hexadecimal mode | ||
socket |
Set socket to redirect I/O to | ||
prefix-ctrl-key |
Set prefix ctrl key (a..z, default: t) | ||
response-wait |
Enable wait for line response | ||
response-timeout |
Set line response timeout | ||
rs-485 |
Enable RS-485 mode | ||
rs-485-config |
Set RS-485 configuration | ||
alert |
Set alert action on connect/disconnect |
To change the default configuration simply set options like so:
# Defaults
baudrate = 9600
databits = 8
parity = none
stopbits = 1
color = 10
line-pulse-duration = DTR=200,RTS=400
Named sub-configurations can be added via labels:
[rpi3]
device =
/dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0
baudrate = 115200
color = 11
Activate the sub-configuration by name:
$ tio rpi3
Which is equivalent to:
$ tio -b 115200 -c 11 /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0
A sub-configuration can also be
activated by its pattern which supports
regular expressions:
[usb device]
pattern = usb([0-9]*)
device = /dev/ttyUSB%s
baudrate = 115200
Activate the sub-configuration by pattern match:
$ tio usb12
Which is equivalent to:
$ tio -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB12
It is also possible to combine
use of sub-configuration and
command-line options. For example:
$ tio -l -t usb12
Typical use is without options:
$ tio /dev/ttyUSB0
Which corresponds to the commonly used default options:
$ tio −b 115200 −d 8 −f none −s 1 −p none /dev/ttyUSB0
It is recommended to connect serial TTY devices by ID:
$ tio /dev/serial/by−id/usb−FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL−if00−port0
Using serial
devices by ID ensures that tio automatically reconnects to
the correct serial device if it is disconnected and then
reconnected.
Redirect serial device I/O to Unix file socket for
scripting:
$ tio -S unix:/tmp/tio-socket0 /dev/ttyUSB0
Then, to issue a command via the file socket simply do:
$ echo "ls -la" | nc -UN /tmp/tio-socket0 > /dev/null
Or use the expect command to script an interaction:
#!/usr/bin/expect -f
set timeout -1
log_user 0
spawn nc -UN
/tmp/tio-socket0
set uart $spawn_id
send -i $uart
"date\n"
expect -i $uart "prompt> "
send -i $uart "ls -la\n"
expect -i $uart "prompt> "
Redirect device I/O to network file socket for remote TTY sharing:
$ tio --socket inet:4444 /dev/ttyUSB0
Then, use netcat to connect to
the shared TTY session over network
(assuming tio is hosted on IP 10.0.0.42):
$ nc -N 10.0.0.42 4444
Pipe command to the serial device:
$ echo "ls -la" | tio /dev/serial/by−id/usb−FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL−if00−port0
Pipe command to the serial
device and wait for line response (string
ending with CR or NL):
$ echo "*IDN?" | tio /dev/ttyACM0 --response-wait
In this mode, only the response
will be printed.
Likewise, to pipe data from file to the serial device:
$ cat data.bin | tio /dev/serial/by−id/usb−FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL−if00−port0
Enable RS-485 mode:
$ tio --rs-485 --rs-485-config=RTS_ON_SEND=1,RX_DURING_TX /dev/ttyUSB0
Visit https://tio.github.io
Created by Martin Lund <martin.lund@keep−it−simple.com>.