fish-shell/sphinx_doc_src/cmds/isatty.rst
David Adam 563bdf3cc7 docs: update isatty documentation to refer to terminals
Use language that is more accurate, similar to what glibc uses.

Closes #6355.
2019-11-26 18:18:16 +08:00

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ReStructuredText

.. _cmd-isatty:
isatty - test if a file descriptor is a terminal
================================================
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 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.
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