Script command

The script  command makes a copy (type script) of a terminal session. It probably would be better called carboncopy. The most common use of script  is to document terminal session. By running script  you log all the information displayed on your terminal. You can then print the log file or view it with an editor. In a way script is a specialized tee for the shell.

When you run script  a new shell is forked. This new shell makes a complete copy of everything displayed on your terminal. It reads standard input and output for your terminal tty and stores the data in a file. The default filename is typescript.

To exit from a script  session you simply press Ctrl-D  or type exit.

Format of the script command.

script [ -a ] [ typescript_file ]

Options

-a  Append the output of scriptto file. Normally script begins writing to a new file; if the file exists it is overwritten unless you specify the -a option. This is the only option present in all versions of Unix.

Gnu version (Linux) has three additional options

-f

Flush output after each write. This is nice for telecooperation: One person does `mkfifo foo; script -f foo' and another can supervise real-time what is being done using `cat foo'.

-q

Be quiet.

-t

Output timing data to standard error. 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.

typescript file specifies output file. If no output file is specified, the output of scriptis placed in the file named typescript

 If  applications with cursor control were used, control characters will reside in the output file produced by script. Therefore, if you send the file to a printer or terminal, it may not print or display properly. You can use the col command to remove control characters from the typescript file.

NEWS CONTENTS

• 20191023 : How To Record Everything You Do In Terminal - OSTechNix ( Oct 23, 2019 , www.ostechnix.com )
• 20171001 : How to Use Script Command To Record Linux Terminal Session ( Oct 01, 2017 , linoxide.com )
• 20171001 : The Unix script command ( The Unix script command, )

Old News

[Oct 23, 2019] How To Record Everything You Do In Terminal - OSTechNix

/n

Oct 23, 2019 | www.ostechnix.com

/n /n/n

Run the following command to start the Terminal session recording.

/n

/n$ script -a my_terminal_activities/n

/n/n

Where, -a flag is used to append the output to file or to typescript, retaining the prior/n contents. The above command records everything you do in the Terminal and append the output to/n a file called 'my_terminal_activities' and save it in your current working directory.

/n/n

Sample output would be:

/n

/nScript started, file is my_terminal_activities/n

/n/n

Now, run some random Linux commands in your Terminal.

/n

/n$ mkdir ostechnix/n

/n

/n$ cd ostechnix//n

/n

/n$ touch hello_world.txt/n

/n

/n$ cd ../n

/n

/n$ uname -r/n

/n/n

After running all commands, end the 'script' command's session using command:

/n

/n$ exit/n

/n/n

After typing exit, you will the following output.

/n

/nexit/nScript done, file is my_terminal_activities/n

/n/n

/n

/n/n

As you see, the Terminal activities have been stored in a file called/n 'my_terminal_activities' and saves it in the current working directory.

/n/n

You can also save the Terminal activities in a file in different location like below.

/n

/n$ script -a /home/ostechnix/documents/myscripts.txt/n

/n/n

All commands will be stored in /home/ostechnix/documents/myscripts.txt file.

/n/n

To view your Terminal activities, just open this file in any text editor or simply display/n it using the 'cat' command.

/n

/n$ cat my_terminal_activities/n

/n/n

Sample output:

/n

/nScript started on 2019-10-22 12:07:37+0530/nsk@ostechnix:~$ mkdir ostechnix/nsk@ostechnix:~$ cd ostechnix//nsk@ostechnix:~/ostechnix$ touch hello_world.txt/nsk@ostechnix:~/ostechnix$ cd ../nsk@ostechnix:~$ uname -r/n5.0.0-31-generic/nsk@ostechnix:~$ exit/nexit/n/nScript done on 2019-10-22 12:08:10+0530/n

/n/n

/n/n

As you see in the above output, script command has recorded all my Terminal activities,/n including the start and end time of the script command. Awesome, isn't it? The reason to use/n script command is it's not just records the commands, but also the commands' output as well. To/n put this simply, Script command will record everything you do on the Terminal.

Bonus/n tip:/n/n

As one of our reader Mr.Alastair Montgomery mentioned in the comment section, we could setup/n an alias/n with would timestamp the recorded sessions.

/n/n

Create an alias for the script command like below.

/n

/n$ alias rec='script -aq ~/term.log-$(date "+%Y%m%d-%H-%M")'/n

/n/n

Now simply enter the following command start recording the Terminal.

/n

/n$ rec/n

/n/n

Now, all your Terminal activities will be logged in a text file with timestamp, for example/n term.log-20191022-12-16 .

/n/n

/n

/n

---

/n/n

Suggested read:

/n/n

/n
• Asciinema –/n Record Terminal Sessions And Share Them On The Web
/n

/n /n

[Oct 01, 2017] How to Use Script Command To Record Linux Terminal Session

/n

Oct 01, 2017 | linoxide.com

/n /n/n

How to Use "Script" Command To Record Linux Terminal Session May 30, 2014 By/n Pungki Arianto Updated June/n 14, 2017 Facebook/n Google+ /n Twitter /n Pinterest /n LinkedIn /n StumbleUpon /n Reddit /n Email This script command is very helpful for system admin. If any problem occurs to the/n system, it is very difficult to find what command was executed previously. Hence, system admin/n knows the importance of this script command. Sometimes you are on the server and you think to/n yourself that your team or somebody you know is actually missing a documentation on how to do a/n specific configuration. It is possible for you to do the configuration, record all actions of/n your shell session and show the record to the person who will see exactly what you had (the/n same output) on your shell at the moment of the configuration. How does script command work?

/n/n

script command records a shell session for you so that you can look at the output that you/n saw at the time and you can even record with timing so that you can have a real-time playback./n It is really useful and comes in handy in the strangest kind of times and places.

/n/n

The script command keeps action log for various tasks. The script records everything in a/n session such as things you type, things you see. To do this you just type script/n command on the terminal and type exit when finished. Everything between the/n script and the exit command is logged to the file. This includes the/n confirmation messages from script itself.

1. Record your terminal session/n/n

script makes a typescript of everything printed on your terminal. If the argument file is/n given, script saves all dialogue in the indicated file in the current directory. If no file/n name is given, the typescript is saved in default file typescript. To record your shell session/n so what you are doing in the current shell, just use the command below

/n

/n# script shell_record1/nScript started, file is shell_record1/n

/n/n

It indicates that a file shell_record1 is created. Let's check the file

/n

/n# ls -l shell_*/n-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jun 9 17:50 shell_record1/n

/n/n

After completion of your task, you can enter exit or Ctrl-d to close/n down the script session and save the file.

/n

/n# exit/nexit/nScript done, file is shell_record1/n

/n/n

You can see that script indicates the filename.

2. Check the content of a recorded/n terminal session/n/n

When you use script command, it records everything in a session such as things you type so/n all your output. As the output is saved into a file, it is possible after to check its content/n after existing a recorded session. You can simply use a text editor command or a text file/n command viewer.

/n

/n# cat shell_record1 /nScript started on Fri 09 Jun 2017 06:23:41 PM UTC/n[root@centos-01 ~]# date/nFri Jun 9 18:23:46 UTC 2017/n[root@centos-01 ~]# uname -a/nLinux centos-01 3.10.0-514.16.1.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Apr 12 15:04:24 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux/n[root@centos-01 ~]# whoami/nroot/n[root@centos-01 ~]# pwd/n/root/n[root@centos-01 ~]# exit/nexit/n/nScript done on Fri 09 Jun 2017 06:25:11 PM UTC/n

/n/n

While you view the file you realize that the script also stores line feeds and backspaces./n It also indicates the time of the recording to the top and the end of the file.

3. Record/n several terminal session/n/n

You can record several terminal session as you want. When you finish a record, just begin/n another new session record. It can be helpful if you want to record several configurations that/n you are doing to show it to your team or students for example. You just need to name each/n recording file.

/n/n

For example, let us assume that you have to do OpenLDAP/n , DNS/n , Machma/n configurations. You will need to record each configuration. To do this, just create recording/n file corresponding to each configuration when finished.

/n

/n# script openldap_record/n   .............../n    configuration step/n   ............../n# exit/n

/n/n

When you have finished with the first configuration, begin to record the next/n configuration

/n

/n# script machma_record/n    ............/n     configuration steps/n    ............./n# exit/n

/n/n

And so on for the other. Note that if you script command followed by existing filename, the/n file will be replaced. So you will lost everything.

/n/n

Now, let us imagine that you have begun Machma configuration but you have to abort its/n configuration in order to finish DNS configuration because of some emergency case. Now you want/n to continue the machma configuration where you left. It means you want to record the next steps/n into the existing file machma_record without deleting its previous content; to do this/n you will use script -a command to append the new output to the file.

/n/n

This is the content of our recorded file

/n/n

/n/n

Now if we want to continue our recording in this file without deleting the content already/n present, we will do

/n

/n# script -a machma_record/nScript started, file is machma_record/n

/n/n

Now continue the configuration, then exit when finished and let's check the content of the/n recorded file.

/n/n

/n/n

Note the new time of the new record which appears. You can see that the file has the/n previous and actual records.

4. Replay a linux terminal session/n/n

We have seen that it is possible to see the content of the recorded file with commands to/n display a text file content. The script command also gives the possibility to see the recorded/n session as a video. It means that you will review exactly what you have done step by/n step at the moment you were entering the commands as if you were looking a video. So you will/n playback/replay the recorded terminal session.

/n/n

To do it, you have to use --timing option of script command when you will start/n the record.

/n

/n# script --timing=file_time shell_record1/nScript started, file is shell_record1/n

/n/n

See that the file into which to record is shell_record1. When the record is/n finished, exit normally

/n

/n# exit/nexit/nScript done, file is shell_record1/n

/n/n

Let's see check the content of file_time

/n

/n# cat file_time /n0.807440 49/n0.030061 1/n116.131648 1/n0.226914 1/n0.033997 1/n0.116936 1/n0.104201 1/n0.392766 1/n0.301079 1/n0.112105 2/n0.363375 152/n

/n/n

The --timing option outputs timing data to the file indicated. This data/n contains two fields, separated by a space which indicates how much time elapsed since the/n previous output how many characters were output this time. This information can be used to/n replay typescripts with realistic typing and output delays.

/n/n

Now to replay the terminal session, we use scriptreplay command instead of script command/n with the same syntax when recording the session. Look below

/n

/n# scriptreplay --timing=file_time shell_record1/n

/n/n

You will that the recorded session with be played as if you were looking a video which was/n recording all that you were doing. You can just insert the timing file without indicating all/n the --timing=file_time. Look below

/n

/n# scriptreplay file_time shell_record1/n

/n/n

So you understand that the first parameter is the timing file and the second is the recorded/n file.

Conclusion/n/n

The script command can be your to-go tool for documenting your work and showing others what/n you did in a session. It can be used as a way to log what you are doing in a shell session./n When you run script, a new shell is forked. It reads standard input and output for your/n terminal tty and stores the data in a file.

/n /n

The Unix script command

script is a standard Unix command that records a script of your interaction with the Unix system. Once it's started, it works "in the background", meaning that you continue to work normally, but the script session is dumping everything that shows up on your screen (more or less*) into some file. To start a script session, issue the command script to the Unix shell; then continue on working normally as long as you like. If you don't provide a file name to the script command, it places its output in a default file named typescript, but for CS125, I recommend you name your script file hwn.txt, where n is the number of the programming assignment you're doing. Whatever you do, do not use the name of your program's source code file as the filename for the output of the script command. If you type script hello.c, the output from the script command will overwrite and destroy whatever used to be in hello.c

When you decide you don't need to record stuff anymore, exit from the scripting session by issuing the command exit to the Unix shell. Here's a picture and some further discussion:

Recommended Links

Softpanorama Recommended

Top articles

Sites

Internal:

• Unix tee command
• Pipes -- powerful and elegant programming paradigm
• A Slightly Skeptical View on Unix Shells and Open Source Shells Webliography
• Softpanorama Classic Unix Tools Page

External:

• script(1) make typescript of terminal session - Linux man page
• The Unix script command
• Unix script command
• Creating a Script file on a Unix system
• Tee (Unix) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• [IBM AIX] Chapter 4. Input and Output Redirection
• Ad Hoc Data Analysis From The Unix Command Line - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks
• Speaking UNIX, Part 1 Command the power of the command line
• Command Pipelines

Reference

Linux

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

Options:

-a

Append the output to file or typescript retaining the prior contents.

-f

Flush output after each write. This is nice for telecooperation: One person does `mkfifo foo; script -f foo' and another can supervise real-time what is being done using `cat foo'.

-q

Be quiet.

-t

Output timeing data to standard error. 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.

The script ends when the forked shell 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. Script works best with commands that do not manipulate the screen, the results are meant to emulate a hardcopy terminal.

AIX

Makes a typescript of a terminal session.

script [ -a ] [ File ]

-a	Appends the typescript to the specified file or to the typescript file.

The script command makes a typescript of everything displayed on your terminal. The typescript is written to the file specified by the File parameter. The typescript can later be sent to the line printer. If no file name is given, the typescript is saved in the current directory with the file name typescript.

The script ends when the forked shell exits.

This command is useful for producing hardcopy records when hardcopy terminals are in short supply. For example, use the script command when you are working on a CRT display and need a hardcopy record of the dialog.

Since the script command sets the SetUserID mode bit, due to security reasons the value of LIBPATH variable is unset when the command is invoked. However, LIBPATH is automatically reset in the forked shell if it is defined in the environment file. For related information, see the exec subroutine.

Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotes :  Somerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose Bierce :  Bernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOS :  Programming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC development :  Scripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-Month :  How to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D

The statements, views and opinions presented on this web page are those of the author (or referenced source) and are not endorsed by, nor do they necessarily reflect, the opinions of the Softpanorama society. We do not warrant the correctness of the information provided or its fitness for any purpose. The site uses AdSense so you need to be aware of Google privacy policy. You you do not want to be tracked by Google please disable Javascript for this site. This site is perfectly usable without Javascript.

Last modified: February 19, 2020