1. Commands: 	tty	display the name of your terminal
		stty	set up the keyboard mappings for your terminal

2. Terminal characteristics drawn from terminal database called /etc/termcap 
(terminal capabilities) or /etc/terminfo

3. Unix knows what terminal you are using because each terminal is connected 
to a port on the Host computer.  Data moves in and out of the computer through 
the port.  The type of terminal is determined when the terminal is attached to 
the port.

4. By specifying the TERM environmental variable, insures that Unix knows 
exactly the terminal that you are using.  The value of TERM is the type of 
terminal that you are using.  It is set in the login initialization file or 
you may type it yourself while logging in.  To find out its value, type:
	$ echo $TERM

5. To get a list of all the keyboard mappings and settings, use:
(Note: ^ followed by a Letter means press the control key and that Letter)

	$ stty -a
	speed 9600 baud; rows 24; columns 80; line = 0;
	intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^?; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol = ;
	eol2 = ; start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R; werase = ^W;
	lnext = ^V; flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0;
	...There's more...
    <undef> means undefined; werase (word erase)=^W, rprnt (reprint)=^R, 
    flush=^O, lnext (literal next)=^V, susp (suspend)=^Z

6. Keys to use while typing:
	erase	^H or Backspace		erase the last character typed
	werase	^W 			erase the last word typed
	kill	^U (or ^X) 		erase the entire line so far

7. Stopping or Pausing a running program: 
	intr		^C or Break	signal a running program to stop
	quit		^| (or ^\) 	stop a program and save a core file
 	stop		^S		pause a running program's display 
	start		^Q		resume a paused program's display

8. Signalling the End of Data to a program:
	eof		^D		Indicate there is no more data
	newline		^J		Create a newline
	return 		^M 		Create a Carriage Return

9. Discuss how you can type the unix command ls /usr/bin and suspend its output 
to the screen. How can you restore the output stream to the screen?

Questions? Robert Katz: rkatz@net.highline.edu
Last Update June 17, 2003