fgconsole(1)

print the number of the active VT.

NAME

fgconsole - print the number of the active VT.

SYNOPSIS

fgconsole [options]

DESCRIPTION

If the active Virtual Terminal is /dev/ttyN, then prints N on standard output.

If the console is a serial console, then "serial" is printed instead.

OPTIONS

-n, --next-available: Will show the next unallocated virtual terminal. Normally 6 virtual terminals are allocated, with number 7 used for X; this will return "8" in this case.

-C, --console=DEV: the console device to be used.

-V, --version: print version number.

-h, --help: print this usage message.

NOTES

Under devfs, the consoles are in /dev/vc/N. devfsd may maintain symlinks for compatibility.

AUTHORS

Andries Brouwer <[email protected]>
Manpage by Alastair McKinstry <[email protected]>

SEE ALSO

chvt(1), deallocvt(1), openvt(1)

History

Arch Linux 2026-11-01 to Debian 13 (Trixie): the text shown here
Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Debian 11 (Bullseye)
Debian 10 (Buster)
Debian 9 (Stretch) to Debian 8 (Jessie)
Debian 7 (Wheezy) to Debian 4.0 (Etch)
Debian 3.1 (Sarge)
Debian 3.0 (Woody) to Debian 2.2 (Potato)
Debian 2.1 (Slink) to Debian 2.0 (Hamm)

--console since Debian 13 (Trixie); --help since Debian 10 (Buster); --next-available since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --version since Debian 10 (Buster); -C since Debian 13 (Trixie); -V since Debian 10 (Buster); -h since Debian 10 (Buster); -n since Debian 13 (Trixie).