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TCGETS - get and set terminal attributes

NAME  LIBRARY  SYNOPSIS  DESCRIPTION  RETURN VALUE  ERRORS  HISTORY  CAVEATS  EXAMPLES  SEE ALSO 

NAME

TCGETS, TCSETS, TCSETSW, TCSETSF, TCGETS2, TCSETS2, TCSETSW2, TCSETSF2, TCGETA, TCSETA, TCSETAW, TCSETAF − get and set terminal attributes

LIBRARY

Standard C library (libc−lc)

SYNOPSIS

#include <asm/termbits.h> /* Definition of TC* constants */
#include <sys/ioctl.h>

int ioctl(int fd, TCGETS, struct termios *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETS, const struct termios *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETSW, const struct termios *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETSF, const struct termios *argp);

int ioctl(int fd, TCGETS2, struct termios2 *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETS2, const struct termios2 *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETSW2, const struct termios2 *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETSF2, const struct termios2 *argp);

int ioctl(int fd, TCGETA, struct termio *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETA, const struct termio *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETAW, const struct termio *argp);
int ioctl(int
fd, TCSETAF, const struct termio *argp);

#include <asm/termbits.h>

struct termios;
struct termios2;
struct termio;

DESCRIPTION

TCGETS

Equivalent to tcgetattr(fd, argp).

Get the current serial port settings.

TCSETS

Equivalent to tcsetattr(fd, TCSANOW, argp).

Set the current serial port settings.

TCSETSW

Equivalent to tcsetattr(fd, TCSADRAIN, argp).

Allow the output buffer to drain, and set the current serial port settings.

TCSETSF

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 termios2 * instead of a struct termios *. If the structure member c_cflag contains the flag BOTHER, then the baud rate is stored in the structure members c_ispeed and c_ospeed as integer values. These ioctls are not supported on all architectures.

TCGETS2
TCSETS2
TCSETSW2
TCSETSF2

The following four ioctls are just like TCGETS, TCSETS, TCSETSW, TCSETSF, except that they take a struct termio * instead of a struct termios *.

TCGETA

TCSETA

TCSETAW
TCSETAF

RETURN VALUE

On success, 0 is returned. On error, −1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

EPERM

Insufficient permission.

HISTORY

TCGETS2
TCSETS2
TCSETSW2
TCSETSF2

Linux 2.6.20.

CAVEATS

struct termios from <asm/termbits.h> is different and incompatible with struct termios from <termios.h>. These ioctl calls require struct termios from <asm/termbits.h>.

EXAMPLES

Get or set arbitrary baudrate on the serial port.

/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later */
#include <asm/termbits.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
#if !defined BOTHER
fprintf(stderr, "BOTHER is unsupported\n");
/* Program may fallback to TCGETS/TCSETS with Bnnn constants */
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
#else
/* Declare tio structure, its type depends on supported ioctl */
# if defined TCGETS2
struct termios2 tio;
# else
struct termios tio;
# endif
int fd, rc;
if (argc != 2 && argc != 3 && argc != 4) {
fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s device [output [input] ]\n", argv[0]);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fd = open(argv[1], O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK | O_NOCTTY);
if (fd < 0) {
perror("open");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* Get the current serial port settings via supported ioctl */
# if defined TCGETS2
rc = ioctl(fd, TCGETS2, &tio);
# else
rc = ioctl(fd, TCGETS, &tio);
# endif
if (rc) {
perror("TCGETS");
close(fd);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* Change baud rate when more arguments were provided */
if (argc == 3 || argc == 4) {
/* Clear the current output baud rate and fill a new value */
tio.c_cflag &= ~CBAUD;
tio.c_cflag |= BOTHER;
tio.c_ospeed = atoi(argv[2]);
/* Clear the current input baud rate and fill a new value */
tio.c_cflag &= ~(CBAUD << IBSHIFT);
tio.c_cflag |= BOTHER << IBSHIFT;
/* When 4th argument is not provided reuse output baud rate */
tio.c_ispeed = (argc == 4) ? atoi(argv[3]) : atoi(argv[2]);
/* Set new serial port settings via supported ioctl */
# if defined TCSETS2
rc = ioctl(fd, TCSETS2, &tio);
# else
rc = ioctl(fd, TCSETS, &tio);
# endif
if (rc) {
perror("TCSETS");
close(fd);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* And get new values which were really configured */
# if defined TCGETS2
rc = ioctl(fd, TCGETS2, &tio);
# else
rc = ioctl(fd, TCGETS, &tio);
# endif
if (rc) {
perror("TCGETS");
close(fd);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
close(fd);
printf("output baud rate: %u\n", tio.c_ospeed);
printf("input baud rate: %u\n", tio.c_ispeed);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
#endif
}

SEE ALSO

ioctl(2), ioctl_tty(2), termios(3)


Updated 2026-06-01 - jenkler.se | uex.se