1
2:mod:`pty` --- Pseudo-terminal utilities
3========================================
4
5.. module:: pty
6   :platform: Linux
7   :synopsis: Pseudo-Terminal Handling for Linux.
8.. moduleauthor:: Steen Lumholt
9.. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka <moshez@zadka.site.co.il>
10
11
12The :mod:`pty` module defines operations for handling the pseudo-terminal
13concept: starting another process and being able to write to and read from its
14controlling terminal programmatically.
15
16Because pseudo-terminal handling is highly platform dependent, there is code to
17do it only for Linux. (The Linux code is supposed to work on other platforms,
18but hasn't been tested yet.)
19
20The :mod:`pty` module defines the following functions:
21
22
23.. function:: fork()
24
25   Fork. Connect the child's controlling terminal to a pseudo-terminal. Return
26   value is ``(pid, fd)``. Note that the child  gets *pid* 0, and the *fd* is
27   *invalid*. The parent's return value is the *pid* of the child, and *fd* is a
28   file descriptor connected to the child's controlling terminal (and also to the
29   child's standard input and output).
30
31
32.. function:: openpty()
33
34   Open a new pseudo-terminal pair, using :func:`os.openpty` if possible, or
35   emulation code for generic Unix systems. Return a pair of file descriptors
36   ``(master, slave)``, for the master and the slave end, respectively.
37
38
39.. function:: spawn(argv[, master_read[, stdin_read]])
40
41   Spawn a process, and connect its controlling terminal with the current
42   process's standard io. This is often used to baffle programs which insist on
43   reading from the controlling terminal.
44
45   The functions *master_read* and *stdin_read* should be functions which read from
46   a file descriptor. The defaults try to read 1024 bytes each time they are
47   called.
48
49