6.22. screen
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6.22. screen

The <screen> command is used to format text within a document and is great for adding emphasis to show examples of code, computer output, and more. In HTML with the Fedora CSS file, this appears in box with a grey background. To use this command you only need the opening <screen> and closing </screen> tags around the text you are emphasizing.

[Important]Important

When using the <screen> tag, you must set everything within that screen, including the <screen> tags themselves, to flush left. This must be done so that when it is converted to HTML, it will not have extra blank space in front of it inside the gray background.

The <screen> tag set may contain other inline tags, such as <computeroutput>, <userinput>, or <replaceable>. Additional inline tags are not required by definition. The <screen> tags by themselves may provide sufficient context, especially for simple examples or file listings. Consider the context of the example, and use inline tags if they are helpful to the reader.

If you use inline tags, remember that line breaks inside <screen> tags create line breaks in any rendered output. Place any inline tags on the same line as their content. Do not overuse tagging within a <screen> tag set.

An example of <screen> is the following: 

<screen>
This is an example of a screen. You do not need &lt;para&gt; tags
within this command.
</screen>

The output: 

This is an example of a screen.  You do not need <para> tags
within this command.

6.22.1. Using Inline Tags with screen

If you choose to use inline tags inside a <screen> section, follow these guidelines for consistency. If the content in the screen is a listing of a configuration file or the output of a program, use the <computeroutput> tag set around the entire output. If the user should type the example on the command line or in a configuration file, use the <userinput> tag set. Separate input and output with a short sentence of narrative, as below: 

	<para>
	  Type the following command:
	</para>

<screen>
<userinput>command -sw file1</userinput>
</screen>

	<para>
	  You should see the following output:
	</para>

<screen>
<computeroutput>Completed, time = 0.12 sec</computeroutput>
</screen>

The output looks like:

Type the following command: 

command -sw file1

You should see the following output: 

Completed, time = 0.12 sec
[Note]Note

When showing a command or series of commands inside screen tags, do not show the prompt.

If the <screen> shows the reader how to change only part of a line, mark the change with an inline <userinput> tag set. You may use the <userinput> tag set inside a larger area that is already marked inline with <computeroutput>. Do not include any extra lines of context in this case, unless excluding them would confuse the reader. The following example illustrates these guidelines: 

	<para>
	  Edit the <filename>/etc/sysconfig/init</filename> file as follows:
	</para>

<screen>
GRAPHICAL=<userinput>yes</userinput> 
</screen>

The output looks like:

Edit the /etc/sysconfig/init file as follows: 

GRAPHICAL=yes

For an explanation of how to use the replaceable tags within a set of screen tags, refer to Section 6.21, “replaceable”.

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