script

SCRIPT(1)                        User Commands                       SCRIPT(1)

NAME
       script - make typescript of terminal session

SYNOPSIS
       script [options] [file]

DESCRIPTION
       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.

OPTIONS
       Below, the size argument may be followed by the multiplicative suffixes
       KiB (=1024), MiB (=1024*1024), and so on for GiB, TiB,  PiB,  EiB,  ZiB
       and YiB (the "iB" is optional, e.g. "K" has the same meaning as "KiB"),
       or the suffixes KB (=1000), MB (=1000*1000), and so on for GB, TB,  PB,
       EB, ZB and YB.

       -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 be-
              haves 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.
              The exit code of the child process  is  always  stored  in  type
              script file too.

       -f, --flush
              Flush  output  after  each write.  This is nice for telecoopera-
              tion: 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  sym-
              bolic link.

       -o, --output-limit size
              Limit  the  size  of the typescript and timing files to size and
              stop the child process after this size is exceeded.  The  calcu-
              lated  file  size  does  not include the start and done messages
              that the script  command  prepends  and  appends  to  the  child
              process  output.   Due  to  buffering, the resulting output file
              might be larger than the specified value.

       -q, --quiet
              Be quiet (do not write start and done messages to standard  out-
              put).

       -t[file], --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.

NOTES
       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 manipu-
       late the screen, the results are meant to emulate a hardcopy terminal.

       It is not recommended to run script in non-interactive shells.  The in-
       ner shell of script is always interactive, and this could lead to unex-
       pected results.  If you use script in the  shell  initialization  file,
       you  have  to avoid entering an infinite loop.  You can use for example
       the .profile file, which is read by login shells only:

              if test -t 0 ; then
                  script
                  exit
              fi

       You should also avoid use of script in command  pipes,  as  script  can
       read more input than you would expect.

ENVIRONMENT
       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).

SEE ALSO
       csh(1) (for the history mechanism), scriptreplay(1)

HISTORY
       The script command appeared in 3.0BSD.

BUGS
       script  places  everything  in  the  log  file, including linefeeds and
       backspaces.  This is not what the naive user expects.

       script is primarily designed for interactive terminal  sessions.   When
       stdin is not a terminal (for example: echo foo | script), then the ses-
       sion can hang, because the interactive shell within the script  session
       misses  EOF  and script has no clue when to close the session.  See the
       NOTES section for more information.

AVAILABILITY
       The script command is part of the util-linux package and  is  available
       from Linux Kernel Archive <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
       linux/>.

util-linux                         June 2014                         SCRIPT(1)