SCRIPT(1) General Commands Manual SCRIPT(1)

script — make typescript of terminal session

script [-a] [-c command] [file]

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).

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

The options are as follows:

Append the output to file or typescript, retaining the prior contents.
command
Run sh -c command, instead of an interactive shell. To run a command with arguments, enclose both in quotes.

The script ends when the forked program exits (an exit, logout, or control-D (‘^D’) will exit most interactive shells). script will exit with the status of 0 unless any of its child processes fail, in which case, script will return 1.

Certain interactive commands, such as vi(1), create garbage in the typescript file. script works best with commands that do not manipulate the screen; the results are meant to emulate a hardcopy terminal.

Name of the shell to be forked by script. If not set, the Bourne shell is assumed. (Most shells set this variable automatically.)

Start a virtual machine and log all console output to a file:

$ script -c "vmctl start -c myvm" myvm.typescript

A predecessor called dribble appeared in 2BSD. The script command first appeared in 3BSD.

Mary Ann Horton.

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

January 3, 2022 Debian