tio(1)                                                                                                                              User Commands                                                                                                                             tio(1)

NAME
       tio - a simple serial device I/O tool

SYNOPSIS
       tio [<options>] <tty-device|sub-config>

DESCRIPTION
       tio is a simple serial device tool which features a straightforward command-line and configuration file interface to easily connect to serial TTY devices for basic I/O operations.

OPTIONS
       -b, --baudrate <bps>

              Set baud rate [bps] (default: 115200).

       -d, --databits 5|6|7|8

              Set data bits (default: 8).

       -f, --flow hard|soft|none

              Set flow control (default: none).

       -s, --stopbits 1|2

              Set stop bits (default: 1).

       -p, --parity odd|even|none|mark|space

              Set parity (default: none).

              Note: With mark parity the parity bit is always 0. With space parity the parity bit is always 1. Not all platforms support mark and space parity.

       -o, --output-delay <ms>

              Set output delay [ms] inserted between each sent character (default: 0).

       -O, --output-line-delay <ms>

              Set output delay [ms] inserted between each sent line (default: 0).

           --line-pulse-duration <duration>

              Set the pulse duration [ms] of each serial port line using the following key value pair format in the duration field: <key>=<value>

              Each key represents a serial line. The following keys are available:

              DTR     Data Terminal Ready

              RTS     Request To Send

              CTS     Clear To Send

              DSR     Data Set Ready

              DCD     Data Carrier Detect

              RI      Ring Indicator

              If defining more than one key value pair, the pairs must be comma separated.

              The default pulse duration for each line is 100 ms.

       -n, --no-autoconnect

              Disable automatic connect.

              By default tio automatically connects to the provided device if present. If the device is not present, it will wait for it to appear and then connect. If the connection is lost (eg. device disconnects), it will wait for the device to reappear and then reconnect.

              However, if the --no-autoconnect option is provided, tio will exit if the device is not present or an established connection is lost.

       -e, --local-echo

              Enable local echo.

       -t, --timestamp

              Enable line timestamp.

           --timestamp-format <format>

              Set timestamp format to any of the following timestamp formats:

              24hour          24-hour format ("hh:mm:ss.sss")

              24hour-start    24-hour format relative to start time

              24hour-delta    24-hour format relative to previous timestamp

              iso8601         ISO8601 format ("YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sss")

              Default format is 24hour

       -L, --list-devices

              List available serial devices by ID.

       -l, --log

              Enable log to file.

              If no filename is provided the filename will be automatically generated.

           --log-file <filename>

              Set log filename.

           --log-strip

              Strip control characters and escape sequences from log.

       -m, --map <flags>

              Map (replace, translate) characters on input or output. The following mapping flags are supported:

              ICRNL       Map CR to NL on input (unless IGNCR is set)

              IGNCR       Ignore CR on input

              INLCR       Map NL to CR on input

              INLCRNL     Map NL to CR-NL on input

              OCRNL       Map CR to NL on output

              ODELBS      Map DEL to BS on output

              ONLCRNL     Map NL to CR-NL on output

              OLTU        Map lowercase characters to uppercase on output

              MSB2LSB     Map MSB bit order to LSB on output

              If defining more than one flag, the flags must be comma separated.

       -x, --hexadecimal

              Enable hexadecimal mode.

       -c, --color 0..255|bold|none|list

              Colorize tio text using ANSI color code value ranging from 0 to 255 or use "none" for no color or use "bold" to apply bold formatting to existing system color.

              Use "list" to print a list of available ANSI color codes.

              Default value is "bold".

       -S, --socket <socket>

              Redirect I/O to socket.

              Any  input  from  clients connected to the socket is sent on the serial port as if entered at the terminal where tio is running (except that ctrl-t sequences are not recognized), and any input from the serial port is multiplexed to the terminal and all connected
              clients.

              Sockets remain open while the serial port is disconnected, and writes will block.

              Various socket types are supported using the following prefixes in the socket field:

              unix:<filename>     Unix Domain Socket (file)

              inet:<port>         Internet Socket (network)

              inet6:<port>        Internet IPv6 Socket (network)

              If port is 0 or no port is provided default port 3333 is used.

              At present there is a hardcoded limit of 16 clients connected at one time.

       -r, --response-wait

              Wait for line response then quit. A line is considered any string ending with either CR or NL character. If no line is received tio will quit after response timeout.

              Any tio text is automatically muted when piping a string to tio while in response mode to make it easy to parse the response.

           --response-timeout <ms>

              Set timeout [ms] of line response (default: 100).

           --rs-485

              Enable RS-485 mode.

           --rs-485-config <config>

              Set the RS-485 configuration using the following key or key value pair format in the configuration field:

              RTS_ON_SEND=value             Set logical level (0 or 1) for RTS pin when sending

              RTS_AFTER_SEND=value          Set logical level (0 or 1) for RTS pin after sending

              RTS_DELAY_BEFORE_SEND=value   Set RTS delay (ms) before sending

              RTS_DELAY_AFTER_SEND=value    Set RTS delay (ms) after sending

              RX_DURING_TX                  Receive data even while sending data

              If defining more than one key or key value pair, they must be comma separated.

       --alert none|bell|blink

              Set alert action on connect/disconnect.

              It will sound the bell once or blink once on successful connect. Likewise it will sound the bell twice or blink twice on disconnect.

              Default value is "none".

       -v, --version

              Display program version.

       -h, --help

              Display help.

KEYS
       In session, the following key sequences, a prefix key (default: ctrl-t) followed by a command key, are intercepted as tio commands:

       ctrl-t ?        List available key commands

       ctrl-t b        Send serial break (triggers SysRq on Linux, etc.)

       ctrl-t c        Show configuration (baudrate, databits, etc.)

       ctrl-t e        Toggle local echo mode

       ctrl-t g        Toggle serial port line

       ctrl-t h        Toggle hexadecimal mode

       ctrl-t l        Clear screen

       ctrl-t L        Show line states (DTR, RTS, CTS, DSR, DCD, RI)

       ctrl-t p        Pulse serial port line

       ctrl-t q        Quit

       ctrl-t s        Show TX/RX statistics

       ctrl-t t        Toggle line timestamp mode

       ctrl-t U        Toggle conversion to uppercase on output

       ctrl-t v        Show version

       ctrl-t ctrl-t   Send ctrl-t character

HEXADECIMAL MODE
       In hexadecimal mode each incoming byte is printed out as a hexadecimal value.

       Bytes can be sent in this mode by typing the two-character hexadecimal representation of the value, e.g.: to send 0xA you must type 0a or 0A.

CONFIGURATION FILE
       Options can be set via configuration file using the INI format. tio uses the configuration file first found in the following locations in the order listed:

       $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tio/tiorc

       $HOME/.config/tio/tiorc

       $HOME/.tiorc

       Labels can be used to group settings into named sub-configurations which can be activated from the command-line when starting tio.

       tio will try to match the user input to a sub-configuration by name or by pattern to get the tty and other options.

       Options without any label change the default options.

       Any options set via command-line will override options set in the configuration file.

       The following configuration file options are available:

       pattern                  Pattern matching user input. This pattern can be an extended regular expression with a single group.

       tty                      tty device to open. If it contains a "%s" it is substituted with the first group match.

       baudrate                 Set baud rate

       databits                 Set data bits

       flow                     Set flow control

       stopbits                 Set stop bits

       parity                   Set parity

       output-delay             Set output character delay

       output-line-delay        Set output line delay

       line-pulse-duration      Set line pulse duration

       no-autoconnect           Disable automatic connect

       log                      Enable log to file

       log-file                 Set log filename

       log-strip                Enable strip of control and escape sequences from log

       local-echo               Enable local echo

       timestamp                Enable line timestamp

       timestamp-format         Set timestamp format

       map                      Map characters on input or output

       color                    Colorize tio text using ANSI color code ranging from 0 to 255

       hexadecimal              Enable hexadecimal mode

       socket                   Set socket to redirect I/O to

       prefix-ctrl-key          Set prefix ctrl key (a..z, default: t)

       response-wait            Enable wait for line response

       response-timeout         Set line response timeout

       rs-485                   Enable RS-485 mode

       rs-485-config            Set RS-485 configuration

       alert                    Set alert action on connect/disconnect

CONFIGURATION FILE EXAMPLES
       To change the default configuration simply set options like so:

              # Defaults
              baudrate = 9600
              databits = 8
              parity = none
              stopbits = 1
              color = 10
              line-pulse-duration = DTR=200,RTS=400

       Named sub-configurations can be added via labels:

              [rpi3]
              tty = /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0
              baudrate = 115200
              color = 11

       Activate the sub-configuration by name:

              $ tio rpi3

       Which is equivalent to:

              $ tio -b 115200 -c 11 /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0

       A sub-configuration can also be activated by its pattern which supports regular expressions:

              [usb device]
              pattern = usb([0-9]*)
              tty = /dev/ttyUSB%s
              baudrate = 115200

       Activate the sub-configuration by pattern match:

              $ tio usb12

       Which is equivalent to:

              $ tio -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB12

       It is also possible to combine use of sub-configuration and command-line options. For example:

              $ tio -l -t usb12

EXAMPLES
       Typical use is without options:

              $ tio /dev/ttyUSB0

       Which corresponds to the commonly used default options:

              $ tio -b 115200 -d 8 -f none -s 1 -p none /dev/ttyUSB0

       It is recommended to connect serial tty devices by ID:

              $ tio /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0

       Using serial devices by ID ensures that tio automatically reconnects to the correct serial device if it is disconnected and then reconnected.

       Redirect serial device I/O to Unix file socket for scripting:

              $ tio -S unix:/tmp/tmux-socket0 /dev/ttyUSB0

       Then, to issue a command via the file socket simply do:

              $ echo "ls -la" | nc -UN /tmp/tmux-socket0 > /dev/null

       Or use the expect command to script an interaction:

              #!/usr/bin/expect -f

              set timeout -1
              log_user 0

              spawn nc -UN /tmp/tio-socket0
              set uart $spawn_id

              send -i $uart "date\n"
              expect -i $uart "prompt> "
              send -i $uart "ls -la\n"
              expect -i $uart "prompt> "

       Redirect device I/O to network file socket for remote tty sharing:

              $ tio --socket inet:4444 /dev/ttyUSB0

       Then, use netcat to connect to the shared tty session over network (assuming tio is hosted on IP 10.0.0.42):

              $ nc -N 10.0.0.42 4444

       Pipe command to the serial device:

              $ echo "ls -la" | tio /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0

       Pipe command to the serial device and wait for line response (string ending with CR or NL):

              $ echo "*IDN?" | tio /dev/ttyACM0 --response-wait

       In this mode, only the response will be printed.

       Likewise, to pipe data from file to the serial device:

              $ cat data.bin | tio /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0

       Enable RS-485 mode:

              $ tio --rs-485 --rs-485-config=RTS_ON_SEND=1,RX_DURING_TX /dev/ttyUSB0

WEBSITE
       Visit https://tio.github.io

AUTHOR
       Created by Martin Lund <martin.lund@keep-it-simple.com>.

tio 2.2                                                                                                                              2022-10-18                                                                                                                               tio(1)
