fish-shell/doc_src/cmds/isatty.rst
David Adam 3a23fdf359 docs: omnibus cleanup
Includes harmonizing the display of options and arguments, standardising
terminology, using the envvar directive more broadly, adding help options to all
commands that support them, simplifying some language, and tidying up multiple
formatting issues.

string documentation is not changed.
2022-03-12 00:21:13 +08:00

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.. _cmd-isatty:
isatty - test if a file descriptor is a terminal
================================================
Synopsis
--------
.. synopsis::
isatty [FILE DESCRIPTOR]
Description
-----------
``isatty`` tests if a file descriptor is a terminal (as opposed to a file). The name is derived from the system call of the same name, which for historical reasons refers to a teletypewriter (TTY).
``FILE DESCRIPTOR`` may be either the number of a file descriptor, or one of the strings ``stdin``, ``stdout``, or ``stderr``. If not specified, zero is assumed.
If the specified file descriptor is a terminal device, the exit status of the command is zero. Otherwise, the exit status is non-zero. No messages are printed to standard error.
The **-h** or **--help** option displays help about using this command.
Examples
--------
From an interactive shell, the commands below exit with a return value of zero::
isatty
isatty stdout
isatty 2
echo | isatty 1
And these will exit non-zero::
echo | isatty
isatty 9
isatty stdout > file
isatty 2 2> file