Compiled terminfo descriptions are placed under the directory
- /usr/share/terminfo. Two configurations are supported (when building
- the ncurses libraries):
+ /usr/share/terminfo. Two configurations are supported (when building
+ the ncurses libraries):
- directorytree
+ directorytree
A two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search of a huge UNIX
- system directory: /usr/share/terminfo/c/name where name is the
- name of the terminal, and c is the first character of name. Thus,
- act4 can be found in the file /usr/share/terminfo/a/act4.
+ system directory: /usr/share/terminfo/c/name where name is the
+ name of the terminal, and c is the first character of name. Thus,
+ act4 can be found in the file /usr/share/terminfo/a/act4.
Synonyms for the same terminal are implemented by multiple links
to the same compiled file.
- hasheddatabase
+ hasheddatabase
Using Berkeley database, two types of records are stored: the
terminfo data in the same format as stored in a directory tree
with the terminfo's primary name as a key, and records containing
only aliases pointing to the primary name.
- If built to write hashed databases, ncurses can still read
+ If built to write hashed databases, ncurses can still read
terminfo databases organized as a directory tree, but cannot write
entries into the directory tree. It can write (or rewrite)
entries in the hashed database.
- ncurses distinguishes the two cases in the TERMINFO and
+ ncurses distinguishes the two cases in the TERMINFO and
TERMINFO_DIRS environment variable by assuming a directory tree
for entries that correspond to an existing directory, and hashed
database otherwise.
@@ -91,37 +91,37 @@
An 8 or more bit byte is assumed, but no assumptions about byte
ordering or sign extension are made.
- The compiled file is created with the tic program, and read by the
- routine setupterm(3X). The file is divided into six parts:
+ The compiled file is created with the tic program, and read by the
+ routine setupterm(3x). The file is divided into six parts:
- a) header,
+ a) header,
- b) terminalnames,
+ b) terminalnames,
- c) booleanflags,
+ c) booleanflags,
- d) numbers,
+ d) numbers,
- e) strings, and
+ e) strings, and
- f) stringtable.
+ f) stringtable.
- The header section begins the file. This section contains six short
+ The header section begins the file. This section contains six short
integers in the format described below. These integers are
- (1) the magicnumber (octal 0432);
+ (1) the magicnumber (octal 0432);
- (2) the size, in bytes, of the terminalnames section;
+ (2) the size, in bytes, of the terminalnames section;
- (3) the number of bytes in the booleanflags section;
+ (3) the number of bytes in the booleanflags section;
- (4) the number of short integers in the numbers section;
+ (4) the number of short integers in the numbers section;
- (5) the number of offsets (short integers) in the strings section;
+ (5) the number of offsets (short integers) in the strings section;
- (6) the size, in bytes, of the stringtable.
+ (6) the size, in bytes, of the stringtable.
- The capabilities in the booleanflags, numbers, and strings sections
+ The capabilities in the booleanflags, numbers, and strings sections
are in the same order as the file <term.h>.
Short integers are signed, in the range -32768 to 32767. They are
@@ -134,51 +134,51 @@
little-endian value.
Numbers in a terminal description, whether they are entries in the
- numbers or strings table, are positive integers. Boolean flags are
+ numbers or strings table, are positive integers. Boolean flags are
treated as positive one-byte integers. In each case, those positive
integers represent a terminal capability. The terminal compiler tic
uses negative integers to handle the cases where a capability is not
available:
- o If a capability is absent from this terminal, tic stores a -1 in
+ o If a capability is absent from this terminal, tic stores a -1 in
the corresponding table.
The integer value -1 is represented by two bytes 0377, 0377.
Absent boolean values are represented by the byte 0 (false).
- o If a capability has been canceled from this terminal, tic stores a
+ o If a capability has been canceled from this terminal, tic stores a
-2 in the corresponding table.
The integer value -2 is represented by two bytes 0377, 0376.
The boolean value -2 is represented by the byte 0376.
- o Other negative values are illegal.
+ o Other negative values are illegal.
- The terminalnames section comes after the header. It contains the
+ The terminalnames section comes after the header. It contains the
first line of the terminfo description, listing the various names for
- the terminal, separated by the "|" character. The terminalnames
+ the terminal, separated by the "|" character. The terminalnames
section is terminated with an ASCII NUL character.
- The booleanflags section has one byte for each flag. Boolean
+ The booleanflags section has one byte for each flag. Boolean
capabilities are either 1 or 0 (true or false) according to whether the
terminal supports the given capability or not.
- Between the booleanflags section and the number section, a null byte
- will be inserted, if necessary, to ensure that the number section
+ Between the booleanflags section and the number section, a null byte
+ will be inserted, if necessary, to ensure that the number section
begins on an even byte This is a relic of the PDP-11's word-addressed
architecture, originally designed to avoid traps induced by addressing
a word on an odd byte boundary. All short integers are aligned on a
short word boundary.
- The numbers section is similar to the booleanflags section. Each
+ The numbers section is similar to the booleanflags section. Each
capability takes up two bytes, and is stored as a little-endian short
integer.
- The strings section is also similar. Each capability is stored as a
- short integer. The capability value is an index into the stringtable.
+ The strings section is also similar. Each capability is stored as a
+ short integer. The capability value is an index into the stringtable.
- The stringtable is the last section. It contains all of the values of
- string capabilities referenced in the strings section. Each string is
+ The stringtable is the last section. It contains all of the values of
+ string capabilities referenced in the strings section. Each string is
null-terminated. Special characters in ^X or \c notation are stored in
their interpreted form, not the printing representation. Padding
information $<nn> and parameter information %x are stored intact in
@@ -191,11 +191,11 @@
binary format is used in all modern UNIX systems. Each system uses a
predefined set of boolean, number or string capabilities.
- The ncurses libraries and applications support extended terminfo binary
+ The ncurses libraries and applications support extended terminfo binary
format, allowing users to define capabilities which are loaded at
runtime. This extension is made possible by using the fact that the
other implementations stop reading the terminfo data when they have
- reached the end of the size given in the header. ncurses checks the
+ reached the end of the size given in the header. ncurses checks the
size, and if it exceeds that due to the predefined data, continues to
parse according to its own scheme.
@@ -212,9 +212,9 @@
(5) size of the extended string table in bytes
The count- and size-values for the extended string table include the
- extended capability names as well as extended capability values.
+ extended capability names as well as extended capability values.
- Using the counts and sizes, ncurses allocates arrays and reads data for
+ Using the counts and sizes, ncurses allocates arrays and reads data for
the extended capabilities in the same order as the header information.
The extended string table contains values for string capabilities.
@@ -223,36 +223,36 @@
finally strings.
Applications which manipulate terminal data can use the definitions
- described in term_variables(3X) which associate the long capability
- names with members of a TERMTYPE structure.
+ described in term_variables(3x) which associate the long capability
+ names with members of a TERMTYPE structure.
- On occasion, 16-bit signed integers are not large enough. With ncurses
+ On occasion, 16-bit signed integers are not large enough. With ncurses
6.1, a new format was introduced by making a few changes to the legacy
format:
- o a different magic number (octal 01036)
+ o a different magic number (octal 01036)
- o changing the type for the number array from signed 16-bit integers
+ o changing the type for the number array from signed 16-bit integers
to signed 32-bit integers.
To maintain compatibility, the library presents the same data
- structures to direct users of the TERMTYPE structure as in previous
+ structures to direct users of the TERMTYPE structure as in previous
formats. However, that cannot provide callers with the extended
numbers. The library uses a similar but hidden data structure
- TERMTYPE2 to provide data for the terminfo functions.
+ TERMTYPE2 to provide data for the terminfo functions.
- Note that it is possible for setupterm to expect a different set of
+ Note that it is possible for setupterm to expect a different set of
capabilities than are actually present in the file. Either the
- database may have been updated since setupterm has been recompiled
+ database may have been updated since setupterm was recompiled
(resulting in extra unrecognized entries in the file) or the program
may have been recompiled more recently than the database was updated
- (resulting in missing entries). The routine setupterm must be prepared
+ (resulting in missing entries). The routine setupterm must be prepared
for both possibilities - this is why the numbers and sizes are
included. Also, new capabilities must always be added at the end of
the lists of boolean, number, and string capabilities.
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@
terminfo (under HP-UX, AIX, and OSF/1) which diverged from System V
terminfo after SVr1, and have added extension capabilities to the
string table that (in the binary format) collide with System V and XSI
- Curses extensions. See terminfo(5) for detailed discussion of terminfo
+ Curses extensions. See terminfo(5) for detailed discussion of terminfo
source compatibility issues.
This implementation is by default compatible with the binary terminfo
@@ -283,24 +283,24 @@
The magic number in a binary terminfo file is the first 16-bits (two
bytes). Besides making it more reliable for the library to check that
- a file is terminfo, utilities such as file also use that to tell what
- the file-format is. System V defined more than one magic number, with
- 0433, 0435 as screen-dumps (see scr_dump(5)). This implementation uses
- 01036 as a continuation of that sequence, but with a different high-
- order byte to avoid confusion.
+ a file is terminfo, utilities such as file(1) also use that to tell
+ what the file-format is. System V defined more than one magic number,
+ with 0433, 0435 as screen-dumps (see scr_dump(5)). This implementation
+ uses 01036 as a continuation of that sequence, but with a different
+ high-order byte to avoid confusion.
- Direct access to the TERMTYPE structure is provided for legacy
- applications. Portable applications should use the tigetflag and
- related functions described in curs_terminfo(3X) for reading terminal
+ Direct access to the TERMTYPE structure is provided for legacy
+ applications. Portable applications should use the tigetflag and
+ related functions described in curs_terminfo(3x) for reading terminal
capabilities.
A small number of terminal descriptions use uppercase characters in
their names. If the underlying filesystem ignores the difference
- between uppercase and lowercase, ncurses represents the "first
+ between uppercase and lowercase, ncurses represents the "first
character" of the terminal name used as the intermediate level of a
directory tree in (two-character) hexadecimal form.
@@ -347,26 +347,26 @@
Some limitations:
- o total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy
+ o total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy
format.
- o total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended
+ o total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended
format.
- o the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.
+ o the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.
Compiled entries are limited to 32768 bytes because offsets into the
- stringstable use two-byte integers. The legacy format could have
+ stringstable use two-byte integers. The legacy format could have
supported 32768-byte entries, but was limited a virtual memory page's
4096 bytes.
@@ -376,11 +376,11 @@
extended number support for ncurses 6.1
Eric S. Raymond
- documented legacy terminfo format, e.g., from pcurses.
+ documented legacy terminfo format, e.g., from pcurses.
- term(5)
+ term(5)