Dumping terminal contents to a file
Hi Debian users, I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes. Most of the time when I need to do that, I either use X (or PuTTY, when on Windows) facilities, but often it's not possible, or it may become awkward (due to need to switch between mouse and keyboard). I know there are things like 'screen', but I'm looking for the most universal solution that would work on every system. For example, on SUSE, I can: cat /dev/vcs example.txt (...though it's catted as a single line with *all* spaces up to $COLS (meaning, e.g. that each--even empty--line would appear as $COLS 0x020-spaces), so it needs some post-processing.) ...but that didn't work on Debian/Lenny for me. Any suggestions? (Extra bonus points for linux-osx-freebsd-unicode-compatible version. :-D) Thanks a lot, Al. -- Alois Mahdal ta zxcvb tod cz ...using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/op.vip3s3lf53t...@aloism.cz.avg.com
Re: Dumping terminal contents to a file
2010/9/8 Alois Mahdal alois.mah...@zxcvb.cz: I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes. You might be interested in script, it's part of the bsdutils package which is probably already installed on your system. DESCRIPTION Script makes a typescript of everything printed 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). -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/aanlkti=ha2ohxpn8zer2dfhifmmqmgpgawcztvb5s...@mail.gmail.com
Re: Dumping terminal contents to a file
On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:52:05 -0400 (EDT), Alois Mahdal wrote: I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes. Most of the time when I need to do that, I either use X (or PuTTY, when on Windows) facilities, but often it's not possible, or it may become awkward (due to need to switch between mouse and keyboard). I know there are things like 'screen', but I'm looking for the most universal solution that would work on every system. For example, on SUSE, I can: cat /dev/vcs example.txt (...though it's catted as a single line with *all* spaces up to $COLS (meaning, e.g. that each--even empty--line would appear as $COLS 0x020-spaces), so it needs some post-processing.) ...but that didn't work on Debian/Lenny for me. Any suggestions? (Extra bonus points for linux-osx-freebsd-unicode-compatible version. :-D) Well, for recording a shell session, there is script. And to play it back later, there is scriptreplay. Both tools are from package bsdutils, which is a required package and is marked essential in Debian. I don't know if that's what you want, though. script puts *everything* in the capture file, including linefeeds, backspaces, ANSI escape sequences, etc. For example, colorized output from ls results in ANSI escape sequences. Commands which produce full-screen output, such as ncurses-based applications, vi, etc. result in lots of garbage output. It works best when running commands which produce pure line-mode output. -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1733371526.691349.1283967330309.javamail.r...@md01.wow.synacor.com
Re: Dumping terminal contents to a file
On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:35:30 -0400 (EDT), Stephen Powell wrote: On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:52:05 -0400 (EDT), Alois Mahdal wrote: I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes. Well, for recording a shell session, there is script. And to play it back later, there is scriptreplay. Something I didn't think about earlier is copy and paste with gpm. This works without X. -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1274963982.691539.1283967728311.javamail.r...@md01.wow.synacor.com
Re: Dumping terminal contents to a file
On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:18:23 +0200, Frederik Kriewitz frede...@kriewitz.eu wrote: 2010/9/8 Alois Mahdal alois.mah...@zxcvb.cz: I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes. You might be interested in script, it's part of the bsdutils package which is probably already installed on your system. Thanks, that will be very useful--especially for posts to lists like this one .-D, but still: * it saves some way more than I need (all bash's Tab completion suggestions, even bells, i haven't checked with colored outputs), usually I need just the final plain text * what if I did not know that I wanted to dump the output and I can't reproduce it again? I'd appreciate possibility to do a screenshot, rather Thanks anyway, you already helped me a lot :D Al. -- Alois Mahdal using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/op.vip6u4kx53t...@aloism.cz.avg.com
Re: Dumping terminal contents to a file
Le Mer 8 septembre 2010 18:52, Alois Mahdal a écrit : Hi Debian users, I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes. not sure if this would do: screendump manu http://manurevah.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/cc5e766cf765a01d19d8d956ca51bb69.squir...@mail.manurevah.com
Re: Dumping terminal contents to a file
On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:28:18 +0200, manu revah m...@manurevah.com wrote: Le Mer 8 septembre 2010 18:52, Alois Mahdal a écrit : Hi Debian users, I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes. not sure if this would do: screendump Yes, Manu! That's exactly what I was looking for! It seems to be kinda smarter alternative to copying /dev/vcs?, which: * ignores garbage characters * ignores spaces at the end of line The fact is that to make it work, you must grant user read rights for /dev/vcs? and /dev/vcsa?, which potentially might be a security issue (as user's process might have access to other tty contents), but for my purpose (testing on VMWares / asking at mailing lists ;D), it's not really a disadvantage. Thanks a lot, guys, now I have a nice new set of toys to play with :-D Al. -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/op.viqh58cl53t...@hugo.lennycz-depot
Re: Dumping terminal contents to a file
On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:52:05 -0400 (EDT), Alois Mahdal wrote:
A I wonder if there's a simple and universal way to dump output of
A terminal to a file, particularly for demonstration purposes.
On Wed, 8 Sep 2010 13:35:30 -0400 (EDT), Stephen Powell
zlinux...@wowway.com said:
S Well, for recording a shell session, there is script. And to play it
S back later, there is scriptreplay. [...] I don't know if that's what
S you want, though. script puts *everything* in the capture file,
S including linefeeds, backspaces, ANSI escape sequences, etc. For
S example, colorized output from ls results in ANSI escape sequences.
I use a wrapper called saveon which tries to correct the worst results
from script putting everything in the capture file:
#!/bin/sh
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
SAVEON=1
export PATH SAVEON
case `whoami` in
root) prompt='root#' ;;
*)prompt='me%' ;;
esac
export PS1=
$prompt
tmp=`mktemp /tmp/$tag.XX` || {
echo $tag: mktemp failed 2; exit 1
}
trap rm -f $tmp; exit 0 0 1 2 3 15
sedscr='
s/^.*script-is-done://
s/^.*script-started-on://
/Script started on /d
/^me% *$/d
/^me% exit$/d
/^root# *$/d
'
echo script-started-on:`date '+%a %b %d %T %Y'` $tmp
script -c /bin/sh -a -q $tmp
echo script-is-done:`date '+%a %b %d %T %Y'` $tmp
col -b $tmp | sed -e $sedscr typescript
exit 0
* The date commands give me a consistently-formatted start and finish
time at the top and bottom of typescript.
* The newline in the prompt cleanly separates commands from output.
* col -b gets rid of at least some special characters.
* The SAVEON environment variable lets me set programs to show colors or
mess with terminal settings only when it makes sense to do so. For
example, my dir script looks like this:
#!/bin/sh
case $SAVEON in
) opt='--color=auto' ;;
*) opt='' ;;
esac
unset BLOCK_SIZE # throws off the results.
exec ls -lF $opt ${1+$@}
--
Karl Vogel I don't speak for the USAF or my company
You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to
skydive twice.
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