SCRIPT(1) BSD Reference Manual SCRIPT(1)
NAME
script - make typescript of terminal session
SYNOPSIS
script [-alqsU] [-c cmd] [-L|U replstr] [-n | file]
DESCRIPTION
script opens a pseudo-tty master and starts an interactive shell which is
connected to the slave tty. If the -n option is not given, it makes a
typescript of everything printed on your terminal. It is useful for stu-
dents 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).
It is also useful for people who log in to a MirBSD box with a terminal
that is not UTF-8 capable, or to connect to a non-UTF-8-capable box.
If the argument file is given, script saves all dialogue in file. If no
file name is given, the typescript is saved in the file typescript.
The options are as follows:
-a Append the output to file or typescript, retaining the prior con-
tents.
-c cmd Instead of running ${SHELL:-/bin/sh} -i, execute
${SHELL:-/bin/sh} -c 'cmd'.
-L replstr
Assume the terminal uses ISO-8859-1 ("latin1") encoding, and con-
vert from and to UTF-8 for the pty. Inconvertible characters are
displayed as replstr, one per column.
-l Assume the terminal uses ISO-8859-1 ("latin1") encoding, and con-
vert from and to UTF-8 for the pty. Inconvertible characters are
displayed as one question mark per column.
-n Do not record a typescript.
-q Be quiet.
-s Start a login shell.
-U replstr
Assume the session uses ISO-8859-1 ("latin1") encoding, and con-
vert from and to UTF-8 for the pty. Inconvertible characters are
sent to the inside shell as replstr, one per column.
-u Assume the session uses ISO-8859-1 ("latin1") encoding, and con-
vert from and to UTF-8 for the pty. Inconvertible characters are
sent to the inside shell as one question mark per column.
The script ends when the forked shell exits (a control-D ('^D') to exit
the Bourne shell (sh(1)), and exit, logout, or control-D (if ignoreeof is
not set) for the C-shell, csh(1)). script will exit with the status of 0
unless any of its child processes fail. In which case, script will return
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.
ENVIRONMENT
SHELL Name of the shell to be forked by script. If not set, the Bourne
shell is assumed. (Most shells set this variable automatically.)
EXAMPLES
$ script
Records a typescript of an interactive session.
$ script -ln
Runs a UTF-8 session inside an ISO-8859-1 hardware terminal.
/usr/ports/misc/screen can do even more, but is not part of MirBSD.
$ luit -encoding 'ISO 8859-1' -- ssh remote
Run inside the UTF-8 session, connects to a remote system which uses
ISO-8859-1 encoding and ISO 2022 shift sequences.
$ script -unc ssh remote
This is the same, without luit. ISO-8859-1 for the inside is hard-coded.
SEE ALSO
luit(1), screen(1)
HISTORY
The script command appeared in 3.0BSD. Support for recoding between la-
tin1 and utf-8 appeared in MirBSD #10.
AUTHORS
The recoding, execute shell command code, and codeset support was au-
thored by Thorsten Glaser <tg@mirbsd.de>.
BUGS
script places everything in the log file, including linefeeds and back-
spaces. This is not what the naive user expects.
While double-width characters are presented as two times the replstr,
combining characters are hidden. xterm(1) does some sort of precomposing
and then displays them together as single character, or, as replacement
if it stands - cf. /usr/src/contrib/samples/utf-8 - alone. script just
doesn't display them at all. GNU screen has a different, also slightly
broken, logic and has even worse width behaviour in that file, but re-
places unicode line-drawing characters with their ACS equivalents.
MirBSD #10-current September 6, 2009 1