SCRIPT("1") manual page
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script - make typescript of terminal
session
script [options] [file]
script makes a typescript
of everything displayed on your terminal. It is useful for students who
need a hardcopy record of an interactive session as proof of an assignment,
as the typescript file can be printed out later with lpr(1)
.
If the argument
file is given, script saves the dialogue in this file. If no filename is
given, the dialogue is saved in the file typescript.
- -a, --append
- Append
the output to file or to typescript, retaining the prior contents.
- -c, --command
command
- Run the command rather than an interactive shell. This makes it
easy for a script to capture the output of a program that behaves differently
when its stdout is not a tty.
- -e, --return
- Return the exit code of the child
process. Uses the same format as bash termination on signal termination
exit code is 128+n.
- -f, --flush
- Flush output after each write. This is nice
for telecooperation: one person does ‘mkfifo foo; script -f foo’, and another
can supervise real-time what is being done using ‘cat foo’.
- --force
- Allow the
default output destination, i.e. the typescript file, to be a hard or symbolic
link. The command will follow a symbolic link.
- -q, --quiet
- Be quiet (do not
write start and done messages to either standard output or the typescript
file).
- -t, --timing[=file]
- Output timing data to standard error, or to file
when given. This data contains two fields, separated by a space. The first
field indicates how much time elapsed since the previous output. The second
field indicates how many characters were output this time. This information
can be used to replay typescripts with realistic typing and output delays.
- -V, --version
- Display version information and exit.
- -h, --help
- Display help text
and exit.
The script ends when the forked shell exits (a control-D for
the Bourne shell (sh(1)
), and exit, logout or control-d (if ignoreeof is
not set) for the C-shell, csh(1)
).
Certain interactive commands, such as
vi(1)
, create garbage in the typescript file. script works best with commands
that do not manipulate the screen, the results are meant to emulate a hardcopy
terminal.
The following environment variable is utilized by script:
- SHELL
- If the variable SHELL exists, the shell forked by script will be
that shell. If SHELL is not set, the Bourne shell is assumed. (Most shells
set this variable automatically).
csh(1)
(for the history mechanism),
scriptreplay(1)
.
The script command appeared in 3.0BSD.
script
places everything in the log file, including linefeeds and backspaces.
This is not what the naive user expects.
The script command
is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive
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