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tput rmam turns off line wrapping on the terminal.app

I always forget this command, because I never figured out what rmam stands for. Anybody knows?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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From section 5 of the terminfo manual page (terminfo(5)):

rmam    turn of automatic margins

You could think of it as: ReMove Automatic Margins.

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  • smam stands for?
    – american-ninja-warrior
    Jul 26, 2017 at 14:07
  • @joshsverns man 5 terminfo> Enter /(search) and smam (so /smam) which will reveal: enter_am_mode smam SA turn on automatic margins
    – klanomath
    Jul 26, 2017 at 15:24
  • still dunno what the S is for in smam
    – american-ninja-warrior
    Jul 26, 2017 at 15:50
  • @joshverns: It might not stand for anything, but just be the next letter after r.
    – Thor
    Jul 27, 2017 at 9:46
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Looking at the terminfo standard, most capabilities starting with sm.. are documented as either "Start Mode ..." or "Enter Mode ..." or "Set ..." so smam means either Start Mode Automatic Margins or Set Mode Automatic Margins

rm.. is indeed a bit more mysterious. In the same place most capabilities starting with rm.. are documented as "Exit Mode ..." so maybe rm... stands for Reset Mode ... or Return from Mode ...?

Also interesting:

tput smam | od -t a
0000000  esc   [   ?   7   h   
tput rmam | od -t a
0000000  esc   [   ?   7   l
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  • 1
    the name rm might come from the rm command that removed files
    – american-ninja-warrior
    Feb 6, 2019 at 1:48
  • 1
    I doubt it because it wouldn't match sm. The answer might be in some old terminfo source code.
    – MarcH
    Feb 6, 2019 at 14:59

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