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SCRIPT(1)                                BSD General Commands Manual                               SCRIPT(1)

NAME
     script -- make typescript of terminal session

SYNOPSIS
     script [-akq] [-t time] [file [command ...]]

DESCRIPTION
     The script utility makes a typescript of everything printed on your terminal.  It is useful for stu-dents students
     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).

     If the argument file is given, script saves all dialogue in file.  If no file name is given, the type-script typescript
     script is saved in the file typescript.

     If the argument command is given, script will run the specified command with an optional argument vec-tor vector
     tor instead of an interactive shell.

     The following options are available:

     -a      Append the output to file or typescript, retaining the prior contents.

     -k      Log keys sent to program as well as output.

     -q      Run in quiet mode, omit the start and stop status messages.

     -t time
             Specify time interval between flushing script output file.  A value of 0 causes script to flush
             for every character I/O event.  The default interval is 30 seconds.

     The script ends when the forked shell (or command) exits (a control-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)).

     Certain interactive commands, such as vi(1), create garbage in the typescript file.  The script utility
     works best with commands that do not manipulate the screen.  The results are meant to emulate a hard-copy hardcopy
     copy terminal, not an addressable one.

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).

HISTORY
     The script command appeared in 3.0BSD.

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

     It is not possible to specify a command without also naming the script file because of argument parsing
     compatibility issues.

     When running in -k mode, echo cancelling is far from ideal.  The slave terminal mode is checked for
     ECHO mode to check when to avoid manual echo logging.  This does not work when in a raw mode where the
     program being run is doing manual echo.

BSD                                           January 22, 2004                                           BSD