17.4 Terminal Modes

This section describes the various terminal attributes that control how input and output are done. The functions, data structures, and symbolic constants are all declared in the header file termios.h.

Don't confuse terminal attributes with file attributes. A device special file which is associated with a terminal has file attributes as described in File Attributes. These are unrelated to the attributes of the terminal device itself, which are discussed in this section.

• Mode Data Types: The data type struct termios and related types.
• Mode Functions: Functions to read and set the terminal attributes.
• Setting Modes: The right way to set terminal attributes reliably.
• Input Modes: Flags controlling low-level input handling.
• Output Modes: Flags controlling low-level output handling.
• Control Modes: Flags controlling serial port behavior.
• Local Modes: Flags controlling high-level input handling.
• Line Speed: How to read and set the terminal line speed.
• Special Characters: Characters that have special effects, and how to change them.
• Noncanonical Input: Controlling how long to wait for input.