Provided by: tio_2.7-1_amd64 
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.
The filename will be automatically generated using the following format tio_DEVICE_YYYY-MM-
DDTHH:MM:SS.log.
The filename can be manually set using the --log-file option.
--log-file <filename>
Set log filename.
--log-append
Append to log file.
--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 terminated with a 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, all key strokes are forwarded to the serial device except the following key sequence: a
prefix key (default: ctrl-t) followed by a command key. These sequences 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 f Toggle log to file
ctrl-t F Flush data I/O buffers (discard data written but not transmitted and data received but
not read)
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 m Toggle MSB to LSB bit order
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 x Send a file using the XMODEM protocol (prompts for file name)
ctrl-t y Send a file using the YMODEM protocol (prompts for file name)
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/config
$HOME/.config/tio/config
$HOME/.tioconfig
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 device
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.
device 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-append Append to log file
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]
device = /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]*)
device = /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/tio-socket0 /dev/ttyUSB0
Then, to issue a command via the file socket simply do:
$ echo "ls -la" | nc -UN /tmp/tio-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 2.7 2023-09-19 tio(1)