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CONSOLE_IOCTL(4)	   Linux Programmer's Manual	      CONSOLE_IOCTL(4)

NAME
       console_ioctl - ioctls for console terminal and virtual consoles

DESCRIPTION
       The  following  Linux-specific  ioctl(2)	 requests are supported.  Each
       requires a third argument, assumed here to be argp.

       KDGETLED
	      Get state of LEDs.  argp points to a char.  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 informa‐
       tion,  but  by  default they display the keyboard flags.	 The following
       two ioctls 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 spec‐
	      ify  the	period	in  clock cycles (that is, argp = 1193180/fre‐
	      quency).	argp = 0 turns sound off.   In	either	case,  control
	      returns immediately.

       GIO_CMAP
	      Get the current default color map from kernel.  argp points to a
	      48-byte array.  (Since 1.3.3.)

       PIO_CMAP
	      Change the default  text-mode  color  map.   argp	 points	 to  a
	      48-byte array which contains, in order, the Red, Green, and Blue
	      values for the 16 available screen colors: 0 is off, and 255  is
	      full  intensity.	 The default colors 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 cur‐
	      rently loaded font is a 512-character font, or if the console is
	      not in text mode.

       GIO_FONTX
	      Gets  screen  font and associated information.  argp points to a
	      struct consolefontdesc (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 the 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 {
		      unsigned short charcount;	 /* characters in font
						    (256 or 512) */
		      unsigned short charheight; /* scan lines per
						    character (1-32) */
		      char	    *chardata;	 /* font data in
						    expanded form */
		  };

	      If necessary, the screen will be appropriately resized, and SIG‐
	      WINCH sent to the appropriate processes.	This call also invali‐
	      dates 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 informa‐
	      tion if the currently loaded font is more than 256 characters.

       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 {
		      unsigned short  entry_ct;
		      struct unipair *entries;
		  };

	      where entries points to an array of

		  struct unipair {
		      unsigned short unicode;
		      unsigned 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 {
		      unsigned short advised_hashsize;	/* 0 if no opinion */
		      unsigned short advised_hashstep;	/* 0 if no opinion */
		      unsigned 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 {
		      unsigned char  kb_table;
		      unsigned char  kb_index;
		      unsigned 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 key‐
	      code (0 <= kb_index < NR_KEYS).  kb_value is set to  the	corre‐
	      sponding	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 {
		      unsigned char kb_func;
		      unsigned 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 {
		      unsigned char diacr;
		      unsigned char base;
		      unsigned char result;
		  };

       KDGETKEYCODE
	      Read kernel keycode table entry (scan code  to  keycode).	  argp
	      points to a

		  struct kbkeycode {
		      unsigned int scancode;
		      unsigned int keycode;
		  };

	      keycode  is  set	to  correspond	to the given scancode.	(89 <=
	      scancode <= 255 only.  For 1 <= scancode <=  88,	keycode==scan‐
	      code.)  (Since 1.1.63.)

       KDSETKEYCODE
	      Write  kernel keycode table entry.  argp points to a struct kbk‐
	      eycode.  (Since 1.1.63.)

       KDSIGACCEPT
	      The calling process indicates its willingness to accept the sig‐
	      nal  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) */
		  };

	      which  is	 set to the mode of the active vt.  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 {
		      unsigned short v_active;	/* active vt */
		      unsigned short v_signal;	/* signal to send */
		      unsigned short v_state;	/* vt bit mask */
		  };

	      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 {
		      unsigned short v_rows;	   /* # rows */
		      unsigned short v_cols;	   /* # columns */
		      unsigned short v_scrollsize; /* no longer used */
		  };

	      Note  that  this	does  not  change  the videomode.  See resize‐
	      cons(8).	(Since 1.1.54.)

       VT_RESIZEX
	      Set the kernel's idea of various screen parameters.  argp points
	      to a

		  struct vt_consize {
		      unsigned short v_rows;  /* number of rows */
		      unsigned short v_cols;  /* number of columns */
		      unsigned short v_vlin;  /* number of pixel rows
						 on screen */
		      unsigned short v_clin;  /* number of pixel rows
						 per character */
		      unsigned short v_vcol;  /* number of pixel columns
						 on screen */
		      unsigned short v_ccol;  /* number of pixel columns
						 per character */
		  };

	      Any parameter may be set to zero, indicating "no change", but if
	      multiple parameters 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 terminal.

       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-character selection, 1 for word-
	      by-word selection, or 2 for line-by-line selection.   The	 indi‐
	      cated  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 char‐
	      acter-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	 moni‐
	      tors.   VESA  screen blanking mode is set to argp[1], which gov‐
	      erns 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 syn‐
		 chronization pulses.  This puts the  monitor  into  "standby"
		 mode.	 If  your  monitor has an Off_Mode timer, then it will
		 eventually power down by itself.

	      2: The current settings are saved, then both  the	 vertical  and
		 horizontal  synchronization 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 immediately
		 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  The file descriptor is invalid.

       ENOTTY The file descriptor is not associated with a  character  special
	      device, or the specified request does not apply to it.

       EINVAL The file descriptor or argp is invalid.

       EPERM  Insufficient permission.

NOTES
       Warning: Do not regard this man page as documentation of the Linux con‐
       sole ioctls.  This is provided for the curious only, as an  alternative
       to  reading  the	 source.   Ioctl's  are	 undocumented 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, ioctls 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 ioctls 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
       dumpkeys(1),  kbd_mode(1),  loadkeys(1), mknod(1), setleds(1), setmeta‐
       mode(1), execve(2), fcntl(2), ioperm(2), termios(3),  console(4),  con‐
       sole_codes(4),  mt(4),  sd(4),  tty(4),	tty_ioctl(4), ttyS(4), vcs(4),
       vcsa(4), charsets(7), mapscrn(8), resizecons(8), setfont(8)

       /usr/include/linux/kd.h, /usr/include/linux/vt.h

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 3.53 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of	the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux				  2009-02-28		      CONSOLE_IOCTL(4)
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