- Terminfo is a data base describing terminals, used by screen-oriented
- programs such as nvi(1), rogue(1) and libraries such as curses(3x).
+ Terminfo is a database describing terminals, used by screen-oriented
+ programs such as nvi(1), lynx(1), mutt(1), and other curses
+ applications, using high-level calls to libraries such as curses(3x).
+ It is also used via low-level calls by non-curses applications which
+ may be screen-oriented (such as clear(1)) or non-screen (such as
+ tabs(1)).
+
Terminfo describes terminals by giving a set of capabilities which they
have, by specifying how to perform screen operations, and by specifying
- padding requirements and initialization sequences. This describes
- ncurses version 6.1 (patch 20181208).
+ padding requirements and initialization sequences.
+
+ This manual describes ncurses version 6.4 (patch 20231111).
@@ -92,42 +123,44 @@
entries.
The infocmp-f and -W options rely on this to format if-then-else
- expressions, or to enforce maximum line-width. The resulting for-
- matted terminal description can be read by tic.
+ expressions, or to enforce maximum line-width. The resulting
+ formatted terminal description can be read by tic.
o The first field for each terminal gives the names which are known
for the terminal, separated by "|" characters.
- The first name given is the most common abbreviation for the termi-
- nal (its primary name), the last name given should be a long name
- fully identifying the terminal (see longname(3x)), and all others
- are treated as synonyms (aliases) for the primary terminal name.
+ The first name given is the most common abbreviation for the
+ terminal (its primary name), the last name given should be a long
+ name fully identifying the terminal (see longname(3x)), and all
+ others are treated as synonyms (aliases) for the primary terminal
+ name.
- X/Open Curses advises that all names but the last should be in
- lower case and contain no blanks; the last name may well contain
+ X/Open Curses advises that all names but the last should be in
+ lower case and contain no blanks; the last name may well contain
upper case and blanks for readability.
- This implementation is not so strict; it allows mixed case in the
+ This implementation is not so strict; it allows mixed case in the
primary name and aliases. If the last name has no embedded blanks,
- it allows that to be both an alias and a verbose name (but will
+ it allows that to be both an alias and a verbose name (but will
warn about this ambiguity).
- o Lines beginning with a "#" in the first column are treated as com-
- ments.
+ o Lines beginning with a "#" in the first column are treated as
+ comments.
While comment lines are legal at any point, the output of captoinfo
- and infotocap (aliases for tic) will move comments so they occur
+ and infotocap (aliases for tic) will move comments so they occur
only between entries.
- Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should be chosen
- using the following conventions. The particular piece of hardware mak-
- ing up the terminal should have a root name, thus "hp2621". This name
- should not contain hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in, or user
- preferences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a mode suf-
- fix. Thus, a vt100 in 132 column mode would be vt100-w. The following
- suffixes should be used where possible:
+ Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should be chosen
+ using the following conventions. The particular piece of hardware
+ making up the terminal should have a root name, thus "hp2621". This
+ name should not contain hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in, or
+ user preferences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a mode
+ suffix. Thus, a vt100 in 132-column mode would be vt100-w. The
+ following suffixes should be used where possible:
SuffixMeaningExample
+ -------------------------------------------------------------
-nn Number of lines on the screen aaa-60
-np Number of pages of memory c100-4p
-am With automargins (usually the default) vt100-am
@@ -146,96 +179,104 @@
- The terminfo entry consists of several capabilities, i.e., features
- that the terminal has, or methods for exercising the terminal's fea-
- tures.
+ The terminfo entry consists of several capabilities, i.e., features
+ that the terminal has, or methods for exercising the terminal's
+ features.
After the first field (giving the name(s) of the terminal entry), there
should be one or more capability fields. These are boolean, numeric or
string names with corresponding values:
- o Boolean capabilities are true when present, false when absent.
+ o Boolean capabilities are true when present, false when absent.
There is no explicit value for boolean capabilities.
- o Numeric capabilities have a "#" following the name, then an
+ o Numeric capabilities have a "#" following the name, then an
unsigned decimal integer value.
- o String capabilities have a "=" following the name, then an string
+ o String capabilities have a "=" following the name, then an string
of characters making up the capability value.
- String capabilities can be split into multiple lines, just as the
- fields comprising a terminal entry can be split into multiple
- lines. While blanks between fields are ignored, blanks embedded
- within a string value are retained, except for leading blanks on a
+ String capabilities can be split into multiple lines, just as the
+ fields comprising a terminal entry can be split into multiple
+ lines. While blanks between fields are ignored, blanks embedded
+ within a string value are retained, except for leading blanks on a
line.
- Any capability can be canceled, i.e., suppressed from the terminal
+ Any capability can be canceled, i.e., suppressed from the terminal
entry, by following its name with "@" rather than a capability value.
- If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant) can be
- defined as being just like the other (the base) with certain excep-
- tions. In the definition of the variant, the string capability use can
- be given with the name of the base terminal:
+ If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant) can be
+ defined as being just like the other (the base) with certain
+ exceptions. In the definition of the variant, the string capability
+ use can be given with the name of the base terminal:
- o The capabilities given before use override those in the base type
+ o The capabilities given before use override those in the base type
named by use.
- o If there are multiple use capabilities, they are merged in reverse
- order. That is, the rightmost use reference is processed first,
+ o If there are multiple use capabilities, they are merged in reverse
+ order. That is, the rightmost use reference is processed first,
then the one to its left, and so forth.
- o Capabilities given explicitly in the entry override those brought
+ o Capabilities given explicitly in the entry override those brought
in by use references.
- A capability can be canceled by placing xx@ to the left of the use ref-
- erence that imports it, where xx is the capability. For example, the
- entry
+ A capability can be canceled by placing xx@ to the left of the use
+ reference that imports it, where xx is the capability. For example,
+ the entry
2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,
defines a 2621-nl that does not have the smkx or rmkx capabilities, and
- hence does not turn on the function key labels when in visual mode.
- This is useful for different modes for a terminal, or for different
+ hence does not turn on the function key labels when in visual mode.
+ This is useful for different modes for a terminal, or for different
user preferences.
An entry included via use can contain canceled capabilities, which have
- the same effect as if those cancels were inline in the using terminal
+ the same effect as if those cancels were inline in the using terminal
entry.
- The following is a complete table of the capabilities included in a
- terminfo description block and available to terminfo-using code. In
+ The following is a complete table of the capabilities included in a
+ terminfo description block and available to terminfo-using code. In
each line of the table,
- The variable is the name by which the programmer (at the terminfo
- level) accesses the capability.
+ o The variable is the name by which the programmer (at the terminfo
+ level) accesses the capability.
- The capname is the short name used in the text of the database, and is
- used by a person updating the database. Whenever possible, capnames
- are chosen to be the same as or similar to the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard
- (now superseded by ECMA-48, which uses identical or very similar
- names). Semantics are also intended to match those of the specifica-
- tion.
+ o The capname (Cap-name) is the short name used in the text of the
+ database, and is used by a person updating the database.
- The termcap code is the old termcap capability name (some capabilities
- are new, and have names which termcap did not originate).
+ Whenever possible, capnames are chosen to be the same as or similar
+ to the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard (now superseded by ECMA-48, which
+ uses identical or very similar names). Semantics are also intended
+ to match those of the specification.
- Capability names have no hard length limit, but an informal limit of 5
- characters has been adopted to keep them short and to allow the tabs in
- the source file Caps to line up nicely.
+ Capability names have no hard length limit, but an informal limit
+ of 5 characters has been adopted to keep them short and to allow
+ the tabs in the source file Caps to line up nicely.
- Finally, the description field attempts to convey the semantics of the
- capability. You may find some codes in the description field:
+ o The termcap (Tcap) code is the old capability name (some
+ capabilities are new, and have names which termcap did not
+ originate).
+
+ o Finally, the description field attempts to convey the semantics of
+ the capability.
+
+ You may find some codes in the description field:
(P) indicates that padding may be specified
- #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string is passed
- through tparm with parms as given (#i).
+ #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string is passed
+ through tparm(3x) with parameters as given (#i).
- (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to the number of
+ If no parameters are listed in the description, passing the
+ string through tparm(3x) may give unexpected results, e.g., if
+ it contains percent (%%) signs.
+
+ (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to the number of
lines affected
(#i) indicates the ith parameter.
@@ -246,49 +287,50 @@
VariableCap-TCapDescriptionBooleansnameCode
- auto_left_margin bw bw cub1 wraps from col-
- umn 0 to last column
- auto_right_margin am am terminal has auto-
- matic margins
+ auto_left_margin bw bw cub1 wraps from
+ column 0 to last
+ column
+ auto_right_margin am am terminal has
+ automatic margins
back_color_erase bce ut screen erased with
background color
can_change ccc cc terminal can re-
- define existing col-
- ors
+ define existing
+ colors
ceol_standout_glitch xhp xs standout not erased
by overwriting (hp)
col_addr_glitch xhpa YA only positive motion
for hpa/mhpa caps
-
cpi_changes_res cpix YF changing character
- pitch changes reso-
- lution
+ pitch changes
+ resolution
cr_cancels_micro_mode crxm YB using cr turns off
micro mode
dest_tabs_magic_smso xt xt tabs destructive,
magic so char
(t1061)
eat_newline_glitch xenl xn newline ignored
- after 80 cols (con-
- cept)
- erase_overstrike eo eo can erase over-
- strikes with a blank
+ after 80 cols
+ (concept)
+ erase_overstrike eo eo can erase
+ overstrikes with a
+ blank
generic_type gn gn generic line type
hard_copy hc hc hardcopy terminal
hard_cursor chts HC cursor is hard to
see
has_meta_key km km Has a meta key
(i.e., sets 8th-bit)
- has_print_wheel daisy YC printer needs opera-
- tor to change char-
- acter set
+ has_print_wheel daisy YC printer needs
+ operator to change
+ character set
has_status_line hs hs has extra status
line
hue_lightness_saturation hls hl terminal uses only
HLS color notation
(Tektronix)
- insert_null_glitch in in insert mode distin-
- guishes nulls
+ insert_null_glitch in in insert mode
+ distinguishes nulls
lpi_changes_res lpix YG changing line pitch
changes resolution
memory_above da da display may be
@@ -308,12 +350,13 @@
f2=ctrl C)
no_pad_char npc NP pad character does
not exist
+
non_dest_scroll_region ndscr ND scrolling region is
non-destructive
non_rev_rmcup nrrmc NR smcup does not
reverse rmcup
- over_strike os os terminal can over-
- strike
+ over_strike os os terminal can
+ overstrike
prtr_silent mc5i 5i printer will not
echo on screen
row_addr_glitch xvpa YD only positive motion
@@ -324,8 +367,6 @@
on the status line
tilde_glitch hz hz cannot print ~'s
(Hazeltine)
-
-
transparent_underline ul ul underline character
overstrikes
xon_xoff xon xo terminal uses
@@ -372,8 +413,8 @@
width_status_line wsl ws number of columns in
status line
- The following numeric capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term
- structure, but are not yet documented in the man page. They came in
+ The following numeric capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term
+ structure, but are not yet documented in the man page. They came in
with SVr4's printer support.
@@ -388,13 +429,12 @@
printing
buttons btns BT number of buttons on
mouse
- dot_horz_spacing spinh Yc spacing of dots hor-
- izontally in dots
+ dot_horz_spacing spinh Yc spacing of dots
+ horizontally in dots
+ per inch
+ dot_vert_spacing spinv Yb spacing of pins
+ vertically in pins
per inch
-
- dot_vert_spacing spinv Yb spacing of pins ver-
- tically in pins per
- inch
max_micro_address maddr Yd maximum value in
micro_..._address
max_micro_jump mjump Ye maximum value in
@@ -405,18 +445,19 @@
in micro mode
number_of_pins npins Yh numbers of pins in
print-head
- output_res_char orc Yi horizontal resolu-
- tion in units per
- line
- output_res_horz_inch orhi Yk horizontal resolu-
- tion in units per
- inch
+ output_res_char orc Yi horizontal
+ resolution in units
+ per line
+ output_res_horz_inch orhi Yk horizontal
+ resolution in units
+ per inch
output_res_line orl Yj vertical resolution
in units per line
output_res_vert_inch orvi Yl vertical resolution
in units per inch
- print_rate cps Ym print rate in char-
- acters per second
+ print_rate cps Ym print rate in
+ characters per
+ second
wide_char_size widcs Yn character step size
when in double wide
mode
@@ -441,8 +482,9 @@
lines per inch to #1
change_res_horz chr ZC Change horizontal
resolution to #1
- change_res_vert cvr ZD Change vertical res-
- olution to #1
+
+ change_res_vert cvr ZD Change vertical
+ resolution to #1
change_scroll_region csr cs change region to
line #1 to line #2
(P)
@@ -456,8 +498,6 @@
home cursor (P*)
clr_bol el1 cb Clear to beginning
of line
-
-
clr_eol el ce clear to end of line
(P)
clr_eos ed cd clear to end of
@@ -469,17 +509,18 @@
prototype !?
create_window cwin CW define a window #1
from #2,#3 to #4,#5
- cursor_address cup cm move to row #1 col-
- umns #2
+ cursor_address cup cm move to row #1
+ columns #2
cursor_down cud1 do down one line
cursor_home home ho home cursor (if no
cup)
- cursor_invisible civis vi make cursor invisi-
- ble
+ cursor_invisible civis vi make cursor
+ invisible
cursor_left cub1 le move left one space
- cursor_mem_address mrcup CM memory relative cur-
- sor addressing, move
- to row #1 columns #2
+ cursor_mem_address mrcup CM memory relative
+ cursor addressing,
+ move to row #1
+ columns #2
cursor_normal cnorm ve make cursor appear
normal (undo
civis/cvvis)
@@ -507,11 +548,12 @@
character set (P)
enter_am_mode smam SA turn on automatic
margins
+
enter_blink_mode blink mb turn on blinking
enter_bold_mode bold md turn on bold (extra
bright) mode
- enter_ca_mode smcup ti string to start pro-
- grams using cup
+ enter_ca_mode smcup ti string to start
+ programs using cup
enter_delete_mode smdc dm enter delete mode
enter_dim_mode dim mh turn on half-bright
mode
@@ -521,9 +563,8 @@
mode
enter_insert_mode smir im enter insert mode
enter_italics_mode sitm ZH Enter italic mode
- enter_leftward_mode slm ZI Start leftward car-
- riage motion
-
+ enter_leftward_mode slm ZI Start leftward
+ carriage motion
enter_micro_mode smicm ZJ Start micro-motion
mode
enter_near_letter_quality snlq ZK Enter NLQ mode
@@ -534,8 +575,8 @@
enter_reverse_mode rev mr turn on reverse
video mode
enter_secure_mode invis mk turn on blank mode
- (characters invisi-
- ble)
+ (characters
+ invisible)
enter_shadow_mode sshm ZM Enter shadow-print
mode
enter_standout_mode smso so begin standout mode
@@ -543,20 +584,20 @@
enter_superscript_mode ssupm ZO Enter superscript
mode
enter_underline_mode smul us begin underline mode
- enter_upward_mode sum ZP Start upward car-
- riage motion
+ enter_upward_mode sum ZP Start upward
+ carriage motion
enter_xon_mode smxon SX turn on xon/xoff
handshaking
erase_chars ech ec erase #1 characters
(P)
- exit_alt_charset_mode rmacs ae end alternate char-
- acter set (P)
+ exit_alt_charset_mode rmacs ae end alternate
+ character set (P)
exit_am_mode rmam RA turn off automatic
margins
exit_attribute_mode sgr0 me turn off all
attributes
- exit_ca_mode rmcup te strings to end pro-
- grams using cup
+ exit_ca_mode rmcup te strings to end
+ programs using cup
exit_delete_mode rmdc ed end delete mode
exit_doublewide_mode rwidm ZQ End double-wide mode
exit_insert_mode rmir ei exit insert mode
@@ -570,12 +611,14 @@
exit_subscript_mode rsubm ZV End subscript mode
exit_superscript_mode rsupm ZW End superscript mode
exit_underline_mode rmul ue exit underline mode
- exit_upward_mode rum ZX End reverse charac-
- ter motion
+ exit_upward_mode rum ZX End reverse
+ character motion
+
+
exit_xon_mode rmxon RX turn off xon/xoff
handshaking
- fixed_pause pause PA pause for 2-3 sec-
- onds
+ fixed_pause pause PA pause for 2-3
+ seconds
flash_hook hook fh flash switch hook
flash_screen flash vb visible bell (may
not move cursor)
@@ -589,11 +632,10 @@
string
init_2string is2 is initialization
string
-
init_3string is3 i3 initialization
string
- init_file if if name of initializa-
- tion file
+ init_file if if name of
+ initialization file
init_prog iprog iP path name of program
for initialization
initialize_color initc Ic initialize color #1
@@ -607,15 +649,15 @@
insert_padding ip ip insert padding after
inserted character
key_a1 ka1 K1 upper left of keypad
- key_a3 ka3 K3 upper right of key-
- pad
+ key_a3 ka3 K3 upper right of
+ keypad
key_b2 kb2 K2 center of keypad
key_backspace kbs kb backspace key
key_beg kbeg @1 begin key
key_btab kcbt kB back-tab key
key_c1 kc1 K4 lower left of keypad
- key_c3 kc3 K5 lower right of key-
- pad
+ key_c3 kc3 K5 lower right of
+ keypad
key_cancel kcan @2 cancel key
key_catab ktbc ka clear-all-tabs key
key_clear kclr kC clear-screen or
@@ -638,6 +680,7 @@
screen key
key_exit kext @9 exit key
key_f0 kf0 k0 F0 function key
+
key_f1 kf1 k1 F1 function key
key_f10 kf10 k; F10 function key
key_f11 kf11 F1 F11 function key
@@ -655,7 +698,6 @@
key_f22 kf22 FC F22 function key
key_f23 kf23 FD F23 function key
key_f24 kf24 FE F24 function key
-
key_f25 kf25 FF F25 function key
key_f26 kf26 FG F26 function key
key_f27 kf27 FH F27 function key
@@ -704,6 +746,7 @@
key_f9 kf9 k9 F9 function key
key_find kfnd @0 find key
key_help khlp %1 help key
+
key_home khome kh home key
key_ic kich1 kI insert-character key
key_il kil1 kA insert-line key
@@ -721,7 +764,6 @@
key_previous kprv %8 previous key
key_print kprt %9 print key
key_redo krdo %0 redo key
-
key_reference kref &1 reference key
key_refresh krfr &2 refresh key
key_replace krpl &3 replace key
@@ -734,8 +776,8 @@
key_scommand kCMD *1 shifted command key
key_scopy kCPY *2 shifted copy key
key_screate kCRT *3 shifted create key
- key_sdc kDC *4 shifted delete-char-
- acter key
+ key_sdc kDC *4 shifted delete-
+ character key
key_sdl kDL *5 shifted delete-line
key
key_select kslt *6 select key
@@ -747,8 +789,8 @@
key_sfind kFND *0 shifted find key
key_shelp kHLP #1 shifted help key
key_shome kHOM #2 shifted home key
- key_sic kIC #3 shifted insert-char-
- acter key
+ key_sic kIC #3 shifted insert-
+ character key
key_sleft kLFT #4 shifted left-arrow
key
key_smessage kMSG %a shifted message key
@@ -770,10 +812,13 @@
key_suspend kspd &7 suspend key
key_undo kund &8 undo key
key_up kcuu1 ku up-arrow key
- keypad_local rmkx ke leave 'key-
- board_transmit' mode
- keypad_xmit smkx ks enter 'key-
- board_transmit' mode
+
+ keypad_local rmkx ke leave
+ 'keyboard_transmit'
+ mode
+ keypad_xmit smkx ks enter
+ 'keyboard_transmit'
+ mode
lab_f0 lf0 l0 label on function
key f0 if not f0
lab_f1 lf1 l1 label on function
@@ -786,8 +831,6 @@
key f3 if not f3
lab_f4 lf4 l4 label on function
key f4 if not f4
-
-
lab_f5 lf5 l5 label on function
key f5 if not f5
lab_f6 lf6 l6 label on function
@@ -830,21 +873,25 @@
(P*)
parm_delete_line dl DL delete #1 lines (P*)
parm_down_cursor cud DO down #1 lines (P*)
- parm_down_micro mcud Zf Like parm_down_cur-
- sor in micro mode
+ parm_down_micro mcud Zf Like
+ parm_down_cursor in
+ micro mode
parm_ich ich IC insert #1 characters
(P*)
+
parm_index indn SF scroll forward #1
lines (P)
parm_insert_line il AL insert #1 lines (P*)
parm_left_cursor cub LE move #1 characters
to the left (P)
- parm_left_micro mcub Zg Like parm_left_cur-
- sor in micro mode
+ parm_left_micro mcub Zg Like
+ parm_left_cursor in
+ micro mode
parm_right_cursor cuf RI move #1 characters
to the right (P*)
- parm_right_micro mcuf Zh Like parm_right_cur-
- sor in micro mode
+ parm_right_micro mcuf Zh Like
+ parm_right_cursor in
+ micro mode
parm_rindex rin SR scroll back #1 lines
(P)
parm_up_cursor cuu UP up #1 lines (P*)
@@ -852,8 +899,6 @@
in micro mode
pkey_key pfkey pk program function key
#1 to type string #2
-
-
pkey_local pfloc pl program function key
#1 to execute string
#2
@@ -869,8 +914,8 @@
prtr_off mc4 pf turn off printer
prtr_on mc5 po turn on printer
pulse pulse PU select pulse dialing
- quick_dial qdial QD dial number #1 with-
- out checking
+ quick_dial qdial QD dial number #1
+ without checking
remove_clock rmclk RC remove clock
repeat_char rep rp repeat char #1 #2
times (P*)
@@ -898,6 +943,8 @@
#1
set_bottom_margin smgb Zk Set bottom margin at
current line
+
+
set_bottom_margin_parm smgbp Zl Set bottom margin at
line #1 or (if smgtp
is not given) #2
@@ -909,17 +956,14 @@
set_foreground setf Sf Set foreground color
#1
set_left_margin smgl ML set left soft margin
- at current col-
- umn. See smgl.
- (ML is not in BSD
- termcap).
+ at current
+ column. (ML is
+ not in BSD termcap).
set_left_margin_parm smglp Zm Set left (right)
margin at column #1
- set_right_margin smgr MR set right soft mar-
- gin at current col-
- umn
-
-
+ set_right_margin smgr MR set right soft
+ margin at current
+ column
set_right_margin_parm smgrp Zn Set right margin at
column #1
set_tab hts st set a tab in every
@@ -941,10 +985,12 @@
image graphics
stop_char_set_def rcsd Zt End definition of
character set #1
- subscript_characters subcs Zu List of subscript-
- able characters
- superscript_characters supcs Zv List of superscript-
- able characters
+ subscript_characters subcs Zu List of
+ subscriptable
+ characters
+ superscript_characters supcs Zv List of
+ superscriptable
+ characters
tab ht ta tab to next 8-space
hardware tab stop
these_cause_cr docr Zw Printing any of
@@ -964,46 +1010,46 @@
user4 u4 u4 User string #4
user5 u5 u5 User string #5
user6 u6 u6 User string #6
+
user7 u7 u7 User string #7
user8 u8 u8 User string #8
user9 u9 u9 User string #9
wait_tone wait WA wait for dial-tone
xoff_character xoffc XF XOFF character
xon_character xonc XN XON character
- zero_motion zerom Zx No motion for subse-
- quent character
+ zero_motion zerom Zx No motion for
+ subsequent character
- The following string capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term struc-
- ture, but were originally not documented in the man page.
+ The following string capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term
+ structure, but were originally not documented in the man page.
VariableCap-TCapDescriptionStringnameCode
alt_scancode_esc scesa S8 Alternate escape
- for scancode emu-
- lation
+ for scancode
+ emulation
bit_image_carriage_return bicr Yv Move to beginning
of same row
-
-
bit_image_newline binel Zz Move to next row
of the bit image
bit_image_repeat birep Xy Repeat bit image
cell #1 #2 times
char_set_names csnm Zy Produce #1'th item
- from list of char-
- acter set names
+ from list of
+ character set
+ names
code_set_init csin ci Init sequence for
multiple codesets
color_names colornm Yw Give name for
color #1
define_bit_image_region defbi Yx Define rectangular
bit image region
- device_type devt dv Indicate lan-
- guage/codeset sup-
- port
- display_pc_char dispc S1 Display PC charac-
- ter #1
+ device_type devt dv Indicate
+ language/codeset
+ support
+ display_pc_char dispc S1 Display PC
+ character #1
end_bit_image_region endbi Yy End a bit-image
region
enter_pc_charset_mode smpch S2 Enter PC character
@@ -1030,8 +1076,9 @@
string #3
req_mouse_pos reqmp RQ Request mouse
position
- scancode_escape scesc S7 Escape for scan-
- code emulation
+
+ scancode_escape scesc S7 Escape for
+ scancode emulation
set0_des_seq s0ds s0 Shift to codeset 0
(EUC set 0, ASCII)
set1_des_seq s1ds s1 Shift to codeset 1
@@ -1048,10 +1095,8 @@
set_lr_margin smglr ML Set both left and
right margins to
#1, #2. (ML is
- not in BSD term-
- cap).
-
-
+ not in BSD
+ termcap).
set_page_length slines YZ Set page length to
#1 lines
set_tb_margin smgtb MT Sets both top and
@@ -1074,20 +1119,20 @@
mode
enter_low_hl_mode elohlm Xo Enter low highlight
mode
- enter_right_hl_mode erhlm Xr Enter right high-
- light mode
+ enter_right_hl_mode erhlm Xr Enter right
+ highlight mode
enter_top_hl_mode ethlm Xt Enter top highlight
mode
- enter_vertical_hl_mode evhlm Xv Enter vertical high-
- light mode
+ enter_vertical_hl_mode evhlm Xv Enter vertical
+ highlight mode
set_a_attributes sgr1 sA Define second set of
video attributes
#1-#6
set_pglen_inch slength YI Set page length to
#1 hundredth of an
- inch (some implemen-
- tations use sL for
- termcap).
+ inch (some
+ implementations use
+ sL for termcap).
@@ -1097,15 +1142,15 @@
which are awkward or impossible to represent by reusing the predefined
capabilities.
- ncurses addresses this limitation by allowing user-defined capabili-
- ties. The tic and infocmp programs provide the -x option for this pur-
- pose. When -x is set, tic treats unknown capabilities as user-defined.
- That is, if tic encounters a capability name which it does not recog-
- nize, it infers its type (boolean, number or string) from the syntax
- and makes an extended table entry for that capability. The
+ ncurses addresses this limitation by allowing user-defined
+ capabilities. The tic and infocmp programs provide the -x option for
+ this purpose. When -x is set, tic treats unknown capabilities as user-
+ defined. That is, if tic encounters a capability name which it does
+ not recognize, it infers its type (boolean, number or string) from the
+ syntax and makes an extended table entry for that capability. The
use_extended_names(3x) function makes this information conditionally
- available to applications. The ncurses library provides the data leav-
- ing most of the behavior to applications:
+ available to applications. The ncurses library provides the data
+ leaving most of the behavior to applications:
o User-defined capability strings whose name begins with "k" are
treated as function keys.
@@ -1116,21 +1161,26 @@
o If the capability name happens to be two characters, the capability
is also available through the termcap interface.
- While termcap is said to be extensible because it does not use a prede-
- fined set of capabilities, in practice it has been limited to the capa-
- bilities defined by terminfo implementations. As a rule, user-defined
- capabilities intended for use by termcap applications should be limited
- to booleans and numbers to avoid running past the 1023 byte limit
- assumed by termcap implementations and their applications. In particu-
- lar, providing extended sets of function keys (past the 60 numbered
- keys and the handful of special named keys) is best done using the
- longer names available using terminfo.
+ While termcap is said to be extensible because it does not use a
+ predefined set of capabilities, in practice it has been limited to the
+ capabilities defined by terminfo implementations. As a rule, user-
+ defined capabilities intended for use by termcap applications should be
+ limited to booleans and numbers to avoid running past the 1023 byte
+ limit assumed by termcap implementations and their applications. In
+ particular, providing extended sets of function keys (past the 60
+ numbered keys and the handful of special named keys) is best done using
+ the longer names available using terminfo.
+
+ The ncurses library uses a few of these user-defined capabilities, as
+ described in user_caps(5). Other user-defined capabilities (including
+ function keys) are described in the terminal database, in the section
+ on NCURSESUSER-DEFINABLECAPABILITIES
- The following entry, describing an ANSI-standard terminal, is represen-
- tative of what a terminfo entry for a modern terminal typically looks
- like.
+ The following entry, describing an ANSI-standard terminal, is
+ representative of what a terminfo entry for a modern terminal typically
+ looks like.
ansi|ansi/pc-term compatible with color,
am, mc5i, mir, msgr,
@@ -1163,41 +1213,41 @@
smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g, u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n,
u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd,
- Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white space at the
- beginning of each line except the first. Comments may be included on
+ Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white space at the
+ beginning of each line except the first. Comments may be included on
lines beginning with "#". Capabilities in terminfo are of three types:
- o Boolean capabilities which indicate that the terminal has some par-
- ticular feature,
+ o Boolean capabilities which indicate that the terminal has some
+ particular feature,
o numeric capabilities giving the size of the terminal or the size of
particular delays, and
- o string capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to
+ o string capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to
perform particular terminal operations.
All capabilities have names. For instance, the fact that ANSI-standard
- terminals have automaticmargins (i.e., an automatic return and line-
- feed when the end of a line is reached) is indicated by the capability
- am. Hence the description of ansi includes am. Numeric capabilities
- are followed by the character "#" and then a positive value. Thus
+ terminals have automaticmargins (i.e., an automatic return and line-
+ feed when the end of a line is reached) is indicated by the capability
+ am. Hence the description of ansi includes am. Numeric capabilities
+ are followed by the character "#" and then a positive value. Thus
cols, which indicates the number of columns the terminal has, gives the
- value "80" for ansi. Values for numeric capabilities may be specified
- in decimal, octal or hexadecimal, using the C programming language con-
- ventions (e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF).
+ value "80" for ansi. Values for numeric capabilities may be specified
+ in decimal, octal, or hexadecimal, using the C programming language
+ conventions (e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF).
- Finally, string valued capabilities, such as el (clear to end of line
- sequence) are given by the two-character code, an "=", and then a
+ Finally, string valued capabilities, such as el (clear to end of line
+ sequence) are given by the two-character code, an "=", and then a
string ending at the next following ",".
- A number of escape sequences are provided in the string valued capabil-
- ities for easy encoding of characters there:
+ A number of escape sequences are provided in the string valued
+ capabilities for easy encoding of characters there:
o Both \E and \e map to an ESCAPE character,
- o^x maps to a control-x for any appropriate x, and
+ o^xx maps to a control-x for any appropriate x, and
o the sequences
@@ -1210,9 +1260,9 @@
respectively.
X/Open Curses does not say what "appropriate x" might be. In practice,
- that is a printable ASCII graphic character. The special case "^?" is
- interpreted as DEL (127). In all other cases, the character value is
- AND'd with 0x1f, mapping to ASCII control codes in the range 0 through
+ that is a printable ASCII graphic character. The special case "^?" is
+ interpreted as DEL (127). In all other cases, the character value is
+ AND'd with 0x1f, mapping to ASCII control codes in the range 0 through
31.
Other escapes include
@@ -1228,146 +1278,164 @@
o and \0 for null.
\0 will produce \200, which does not terminate a string but behaves
- as a null character on most terminals, providing CS7 is specified.
+ as a null character on most terminals, providing CS7 is specified.
See stty(1).
- The reason for this quirk is to maintain binary compatibility of
- the compiled terminfo files with other implementations, e.g., the
- SVr4 systems, which document this. Compiled terminfo files use
- null-terminated strings, with no lengths. Modifying this would
- require a new binary format, which would not work with other imple-
- mentations.
+ The reason for this quirk is to maintain binary compatibility of
+ the compiled terminfo files with other implementations, e.g., the
+ SVr4 systems, which document this. Compiled terminfo files use
+ null-terminated strings, with no lengths. Modifying this would
+ require a new binary format, which would not work with other
+ implementations.
Finally, characters may be given as three octal digits after a \.
- A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string capability,
- enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in el=\EK$<5>, and padding characters
+ A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string capability,
+ enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in el=\EK$<5>, and padding characters
are supplied by tputs(3x) to provide this delay.
- o The delay must be a number with at most one decimal place of preci-
- sion; it may be followed by suffixes "*" or "/" or both.
+ o The delay must be a number with at most one decimal place of
+ precision; it may be followed by suffixes "*" or "/" or both.
- o A "*" indicates that the padding required is proportional to the
- number of lines affected by the operation, and the amount given is
- the per-affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert
+ o A "*" indicates that the padding required is proportional to the
+ number of lines affected by the operation, and the amount given is
+ the per-affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert
character, the factor is still the number of lines affected.)
Normally, padding is advisory if the device has the xon capability;
it is used for cost computation but does not trigger delays.
- o A "/" suffix indicates that the padding is mandatory and forces a
+ o A "/" suffix indicates that the padding is mandatory and forces a
delay of the given number of milliseconds even on devices for which
xon is present to indicate flow control.
- Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out. To do this,
- put a period before the capability name. For example, see the second
+ Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out. To do this,
+ put a period before the capability name. For example, see the second
ind in the example above.
- The ncurses library searches for terminal descriptions in several
- places. It uses only the first description found. The library has a
- compiled-in list of places to search which can be overridden by envi-
- ronment variables. Before starting to search, ncurses eliminates
- duplicates in its search list.
+ Terminal descriptions in ncurses are stored in terminal databases.
+ These databases, which are found by their pathname, may be configured
+ either as directory trees or hashed databases (see term(5)),
+
+ The library uses a compiled-in list of pathnames, which can be
+ overridden by environment variables. Before starting to search,
+ ncurses checks the search list, eliminating duplicates and pathnames
+ where no terminal database is found. The ncurses library reads the
+ first description which passes its consistency checks.
- o If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is interpreted as
- the pathname of a directory containing the compiled description you
- are working on. Only that directory is searched.
+ o The environment variable TERMINFO is checked first, for a terminal
+ database containing the terminal description.
- o If TERMINFO is not set, ncurses will instead look in the directory
- $HOME/.terminfo for a compiled description.
+ o Next, ncurses looks in $HOME/.terminfo for a compiled description.
- o Next, if the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS is set, ncurses
- will interpret the contents of that variable as a list of colon-
- separated directories (or database files) to be searched.
+ This is an optional feature which may be omitted entirely from the
+ library, or limited to prevent accidental use by privileged
+ applications.
- An empty directory name (i.e., if the variable begins or ends with
- a colon, or contains adjacent colons) is interpreted as the system
+ o Next, if the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS is set, ncurses
+ interprets the contents of that variable as a list of colon-
+ separated pathnames of terminal databases to be searched.
+
+ An empty pathname (i.e., if the variable begins or ends with a
+ colon, or contains adjacent colons) is interpreted as the system
location /usr/share/terminfo.
o Finally, ncurses searches these compiled-in locations:
- o a list of directories (/usr/local/ncurses/share/ter-
- minfo:/usr/share/terminfo), and
+ o a list of directories (/usr/share/terminfo), and
+
+ o the system terminfo directory, /usr/share/terminfo
- o the system terminfo directory, /usr/share/terminfo (the com-
- piled-in default).
+ The TERMINFO variable can contain a terminal description instead of the
+ pathname of a terminal database. If this variable begins with "hex:"
+ or "b64:" then ncurses reads a terminal description from hexadecimal-
+ or base64-encoded data, and if that description matches the name
+ sought, will use that. This encoded data can be set using the "-Q"
+ option of tic or infocmp.
+
+ The preceding addresses the usual configuration of ncurses, which uses
+ terminal descriptions prepared in terminfo format. While termcap is
+ less expressive, ncurses can also be configured to read termcap
+ descriptions. In that configuration, it checks the TERMCAP and
+ TERMPATH variables (for content and search path, respectively) after
+ the system terminal database.
- We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals. The most
- effective way to prepare a terminal description is by imitating the
- description of a similar terminal in terminfo and to build up a
+ We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals. The most
+ effective way to prepare a terminal description is by imitating the
+ description of a similar terminal in terminfo and to build up a
description gradually, using partial descriptions with vi or some other
- screen-oriented program to check that they are correct. Be aware that
- a very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the ability of the
+ screen-oriented program to check that they are correct. Be aware that
+ a very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the ability of the
terminfo file to describe it or bugs in the screen-handling code of the
test program.
- To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal manufacturer
- did not document it) a severe test is to edit a large file at 9600
+ To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal manufacturer
+ did not document it) a severe test is to edit a large file at 9600
baud, delete 16 or so lines from the middle of the screen, then hit the
"u" key several times quickly. If the terminal messes up, more padding
is usually needed. A similar test can be used for insert character.
- The number of columns on each line for the terminal is given by the
- cols numeric capability. If the terminal is a CRT, then the number of
- lines on the screen is given by the lines capability. If the terminal
- wraps around to the beginning of the next line when it reaches the
- right margin, then it should have the am capability. If the terminal
- can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home position, then
- this is given by the clear string capability. If the terminal over-
- strikes (rather than clearing a position when a character is struck
- over) then it should have the os capability. If the terminal is a
+ The number of columns on each line for the terminal is given by the
+ cols numeric capability. If the terminal is a CRT, then the number of
+ lines on the screen is given by the lines capability. If the terminal
+ wraps around to the beginning of the next line when it reaches the
+ right margin, then it should have the am capability. If the terminal
+ can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home position, then
+ this is given by the clear string capability. If the terminal
+ overstrikes (rather than clearing a position when a character is struck
+ over) then it should have the os capability. If the terminal is a
printing terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both hc and os. (os
- applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX 4010 series, as
- well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If there is a code to move the
+ applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX 4010 series, as
+ well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If there is a code to move the
cursor to the left edge of the current row, give this as cr. (Normally
- this will be carriage return, control M.) If there is a code to pro-
- duce an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as bel.
+ this will be carriage return, control/M.) If there is a code to
+ produce an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as bel.
If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the left (such as
- backspace) that capability should be given as cub1. Similarly, codes
- to move to the right, up, and down should be given as cuf1, cuu1, and
- cud1. These local cursor motions should not alter the text they pass
- over, for example, you would not normally use "cuf1= " because the
+ backspace) that capability should be given as cub1. Similarly, codes
+ to move to the right, up, and down should be given as cuf1, cuu1, and
+ cud1. These local cursor motions should not alter the text they pass
+ over, for example, you would not normally use "cuf1= " because the
space would erase the character moved over.
A very important point here is that the local cursor motions encoded in
- terminfo are undefined at the left and top edges of a CRT terminal.
+ terminfo are undefined at the left and top edges of a CRT terminal.
Programs should never attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless
- bw is given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top. In order
- to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom left corner of the
+ bw is given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top. In order
+ to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom left corner of the
screen and send the ind (index) string.
- To scroll text down, a program goes to the top left corner of the
+ To scroll text down, a program goes to the top left corner of the
screen and sends the ri (reverse index) string. The strings ind and ri
are undefined when not on their respective corners of the screen.
- Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are indn and rin
- which have the same semantics as ind and ri except that they take one
- parameter, and scroll that many lines. They are also undefined except
+ Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are indn and rin
+ which have the same semantics as ind and ri except that they take one
+ parameter, and scroll that many lines. They are also undefined except
at the appropriate edge of the screen.
- The am capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the right edge of
- the screen when text is output, but this does not necessarily apply to
- a cuf1 from the last column. The only local motion which is defined
- from the left edge is if bw is given, then a cub1 from the left edge
- will move to the right edge of the previous row. If bw is not given,
- the effect is undefined. This is useful for drawing a box around the
+ The am capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the right edge of
+ the screen when text is output, but this does not necessarily apply to
+ a cuf1 from the last column. The only local motion which is defined
+ from the left edge is if bw is given, then a cub1 from the left edge
+ will move to the right edge of the previous row. If bw is not given,
+ the effect is undefined. This is useful for drawing a box around the
edge of the screen, for example. If the terminal has switch selectable
- automatic margins, the terminfo file usually assumes that this is on;
- i.e., am. If the terminal has a command which moves to the first col-
- umn of the next line, that command can be given as nel (newline). It
- does not matter if the command clears the remainder of the current
- line, so if the terminal has no cr and lf it may still be possible to
+ automatic margins, the terminfo file usually assumes that this is on;
+ i.e., am. If the terminal has a command which moves to the first
+ column of the next line, that command can be given as nel (newline).
+ It does not matter if the command clears the remainder of the current
+ line, so if the terminal has no cr and lf it may still be possible to
craft a working nel out of one or both of them.
- These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and "glass-tty" termi-
- nals. Thus the model 33 teletype is described as
+ These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and "glass-tty"
+ terminals. Thus the model 33 teletype is described as
33|tty33|tty|model 33 teletype,
bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os,
@@ -1380,32 +1448,32 @@
- Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters in the termi-
- nal are described by a parameterized string capability, with printf-
- like escapes such as %x in it. For example, to address the cursor, the
- cup capability is given, using two parameters: the row and column to
- address to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and refer to the
- physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen memory.) If the
- terminal has memory relative cursor addressing, that can be indicated
- by mrcup.
-
- The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special % codes to manipulate
- it. Typically a sequence will push one of the parameters onto the
- stack and then print it in some format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a spe-
- cial case. Other operations, including "%t" pop their operand from the
- stack. It is noted that more complex operations are often necessary,
- e.g., in the sgr string.
+ Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters in the
+ terminal are described by a parameterized string capability, with
+ printf-like escapes such as %x in it. For example, to address the
+ cursor, the cup capability is given, using two parameters: the row and
+ column to address to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and
+ refer to the physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen
+ memory.) If the terminal has memory relative cursor addressing, that
+ can be indicated by mrcup.
+
+ The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special % codes to manipulate
+ it. Typically a sequence will push one of the parameters onto the
+ stack and then print it in some format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a
+ special case. Other operations, including "%t" pop their operand from
+ the stack. It is noted that more complex operations are often
+ necessary, e.g., in the sgr string.
The % encodings have the following meanings:
%% outputs "%"
%[[:]flags][width[.precision]][doxXs]
- as in printf, flags are [-+#] and space. Use a ":" to allow the
- next character to be a "-" flag, avoiding interpreting "%-" as an
- operator.
+ as in printf(3), flags are [-+#] and space. Use a ":" to allow
+ the next character to be a "-" flag, avoiding interpreting "%-" as
+ an operator.
- %c print pop() like %c in printf
+ %c print pop() like %c in printf%s print pop() like %s in printf
@@ -1415,7 +1483,7 @@
%P[a-z]
set dynamic variable [a-z] to pop()
- %g[a-z]/
+ %g[a-z]
get dynamic variable [a-z] and push it
%P[A-Z]
@@ -1424,11 +1492,41 @@
%g[A-Z]
get static variable [a-z] and push it
- The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading. Historically,
+ The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading. Historically,
these are simply two different sets of variables, whose values are
- not reset between calls to tparm(3x). However, that fact is not
+ not reset between calls to tparm(3x). However, that fact is not
documented in other implementations. Relying on it will adversely
- impact portability to other implementations.
+ impact portability to other implementations:
+
+ o SVr2 curses supported dynamic variables. Those are set only
+ by a %P operator. A %g for a given variable without first
+ setting it with %P will give unpredictable results, because
+ dynamic variables are an uninitialized local array on the
+ stack in the tparm function.
+
+ o SVr3.2 curses supported static variables. Those are an array
+ in the TERMINAL structure (declared in term.h), and are zeroed
+ automatically when the setupterm function allocates the data.
+
+ o SVr4 curses made no further improvements to the dynamic/static
+ variable feature.
+
+ o Solaris XPG4 curses does not distinguish between dynamic and
+ static variables. They are the same. Like SVr4 curses, XPG4
+ curses does not initialize these explicitly.
+
+ o Before version 6.3, ncurses stores both dynamic and static
+ variables in persistent storage, initialized to zeros.
+
+ o Beginning with version 6.3, ncurses stores static and dynamic
+ variables in the same manner as SVr4.
+
+ o Unlike other implementations, ncurses zeros dynamic
+ variables before the first %g or %P operator.
+
+ o Like SVr2, the scope of dynamic variables in ncurses is
+ within the current call to tparm. Use static variables if
+ persistent storage is needed.
%'c' char constant c
@@ -1456,8 +1554,8 @@
%?expr%tthenpart%eelsepart%;
This forms an if-then-else. The %eelsepart is optional. Usually
- the %?expr part pushes a value onto the stack, and %t pops it
- from the stack, testing if it is nonzero (true). If it is zero
+ the %?expr part pushes a value onto the stack, and %t pops it
+ from the stack, testing if it is nonzero (true). If it is zero
(false), control passes to the %e (else) part.
It is possible to form else-if's a la Algol 68:
@@ -1465,127 +1563,240 @@
where ci are conditions, bi are bodies.
- Use the -f option of tic or infocmp to see the structure of if-
+ Use the -f option of tic or infocmp to see the structure of if-
then-else's. Some strings, e.g., sgr can be very complicated when
- written on one line. The -f option splits the string into lines
+ written on one line. The -f option splits the string into lines
with the parts indented.
- Binary operations are in postfix form with the operands in the usual
- order. That is, to get x-5 one would use "%gx%{5}%-". %P and %g vari-
- ables are persistent across escape-string evaluations.
+ Binary operations are in postfix form with the operands in the usual
+ order. That is, to get x-5 one would use "%gx%{5}%-". %P and %g
+ variables are persistent across escape-string evaluations.
- Consider the HP2645, which, to get to row 3 and column 12, needs to be
- sent \E&a12c03Y padded for 6 milliseconds. Note that the order of the
- rows and columns is inverted here, and that the row and column are
- printed as two digits. Thus its cup capability is
- "cup=6\E&%p2%2dc%p1%2dY".
+ Consider the HP2645, which, to get to row 3 and column 12, needs to be
+ sent \E&a12c03Y padded for 6 milliseconds. The order of the rows and
+ columns is inverted here, and the row and column are printed as two
+ digits. The corresponding terminal description is expressed thus:
+ cup=\E&a%p2%dc%p1%dY$<6>,
The Microterm ACT-IV needs the current row and column sent preceded by
- a ^T, with the row and column simply encoded in binary,
- "cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c". Terminals which use "%c" need to be able to
- backspace the cursor (cub1), and to move the cursor up one line on the
- screen (cuu1). This is necessary because it is not always safe to
- transmit \n^D and \r, as the system may change or discard them. (The
- library routines dealing with terminfo set tty modes so that tabs are
- never expanded, so \t is safe to send. This turns out to be essential
- for the Ann Arbor 4080.)
+ a ^T, with the row and column simply encoded in binary,
+ cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c
+
+ Terminals which use "%c" need to be able to backspace the cursor
+ (cub1), and to move the cursor up one line on the screen (cuu1). This
+ is necessary because it is not always safe to transmit \n^D and \r, as
+ the system may change or discard them. (The library routines dealing
+ with terminfo set tty modes so that tabs are never expanded, so \t is
+ safe to send. This turns out to be essential for the Ann Arbor 4080.)
A final example is the LSI ADM-3a, which uses row and column offset by
- a blank character, thus "cup=\E=%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c". After sending
- "\E=", this pushes the first parameter, pushes the ASCII value for a
- space (32), adds them (pushing the sum on the stack in place of the two
- previous values) and outputs that value as a character. Then the same
- is done for the second parameter. More complex arithmetic is possible
- using the stack.
+ a blank character, thus
+ cup=\E=%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c
+
+ After sending "\E=", this pushes the first parameter, pushes the ASCII
+ value for a space (32), adds them (pushing the sum on the stack in
+ place of the two previous values) and outputs that value as a
+ character. Then the same is done for the second parameter. More
+ complex arithmetic is possible using the stack.
- If the terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to very upper left
- corner of screen) then this can be given as home; similarly a fast way
- of getting to the lower left-hand corner can be given as ll; this may
+ If the terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to very upper left
+ corner of screen) then this can be given as home; similarly a fast way
+ of getting to the lower left-hand corner can be given as ll; this may
involve going up with cuu1 from the home position, but a program should
never do this itself (unless ll does) because it can make no assumption
- about the effect of moving up from the home position. Note that the
- home position is the same as addressing to (0,0): to the top left cor-
- ner of the screen, not of memory. (Thus, the \EH sequence on HP termi-
- nals cannot be used for home.)
+ about the effect of moving up from the home position. Note that the
+ home position is the same as addressing to (0,0): to the top left
+ corner of the screen, not of memory. (Thus, the \EH sequence on HP
+ terminals cannot be used for home.)
If the terminal has row or column absolute cursor addressing, these can
- be given as single parameter capabilities hpa (horizontal position
- absolute) and vpa (vertical position absolute). Sometimes these are
- shorter than the more general two parameter sequence (as with the
- hp2645) and can be used in preference to cup. If there are parameter-
- ized local motions (e.g., move n spaces to the right) these can be
- given as cud, cub, cuf, and cuu with a single parameter indicating how
- many spaces to move. These are primarily useful if the terminal does
- not have cup, such as the TEKTRONIX 4025.
-
- If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running a program
+ be given as single parameter capabilities hpa (horizontal position
+ absolute) and vpa (vertical position absolute). Sometimes these are
+ shorter than the more general two parameter sequence (as with the
+ hp2645) and can be used in preference to cup. If there are
+ parameterized local motions (e.g., move n spaces to the right) these
+ can be given as cud, cub, cuf, and cuu with a single parameter
+ indicating how many spaces to move. These are primarily useful if the
+ terminal does not have cup, such as the TEKTRONIX 4025.
+
+ If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running a program
that uses these capabilities, the codes to enter and exit this mode can
- be given as smcup and rmcup. This arises, for example, from terminals
- like the Concept with more than one page of memory. If the terminal
- has only memory relative cursor addressing and not screen relative cur-
- sor addressing, a one screen-sized window must be fixed into the termi-
- nal for cursor addressing to work properly. This is also used for the
- TEKTRONIX 4025, where smcup sets the command character to be the one
- used by terminfo. If the smcup sequence will not restore the screen
- after an rmcup sequence is output (to the state prior to outputting
- rmcup), specify nrrmc.
+ be given as smcup and rmcup. This arises, for example, from terminals
+ like the Concept with more than one page of memory. If the terminal
+ has only memory relative cursor addressing and not screen relative
+ cursor addressing, a one screen-sized window must be fixed into the
+ terminal for cursor addressing to work properly. This is also used for
+ the TEKTRONIX 4025, where smcup sets the command character to be the
+ one used by terminfo. If the smcup sequence will not restore the
+ screen after an rmcup sequence is output (to the state prior to
+ outputting rmcup), specify nrrmc.
+
+
+
+ SVr4 (and X/Open Curses) list several string capabilities for setting
+ margins. Two were intended for use with terminals, and another six
+ were intended for use with printers.
+
+ o The two terminal capabilities assume that the terminal may have the
+ capability of setting the left and/or right margin at the current
+ cursor column position.
+
+ o The printer capabilities assume that the printer may have two types
+ of capability:
+
+ o the ability to set a top and/or bottom margin using the current
+ line position, and
+
+ o parameterized capabilities for setting the top, bottom, left,
+ right margins given the number of rows or columns.
+
+ In practice, the categorization into "terminal" and "printer" is not
+ suitable:
+
+ o The AT&T SVr4 terminal database uses smgl four times, for AT&T
+ hardware.
+
+ Three of the four are printers. They lack the ability to set
+ left/right margins by specifying the column.
+
+ o Other (non-AT&T) terminals may support margins but using different
+ assumptions from AT&T.
+
+ For instance, the DEC VT420 supports left/right margins, but only
+ using a column parameter. As an added complication, the VT420 uses
+ two settings to fully enable left/right margins (left/right margin
+ mode, and origin mode). The former enables the margins, which
+ causes printed text to wrap within margins, but the latter is
+ needed to prevent cursor-addressing outside those margins.
+
+ o Both DEC VT420 left/right margins are set with a single control
+ sequence. If either is omitted, the corresponding margin is set to
+ the left or right edge of the display (rather than leaving the
+ margin unmodified).
+
+ These are the margin-related capabilities:
+
+ NameDescription
+ ---------------------------------------------------
+ smgl Set left margin at current column
+ smgr Set right margin at current column
+ smgb Set bottom margin at current line
+ smgt Set top margin at current line
+ smgbp Set bottom margin at line N
+ smglp Set left margin at column N
+ smgrp Set right margin at column N
+ smgtp Set top margin at line N
+ smglr Set both left and right margins to L and R
+ smgtb Set both top and bottom margins to T and B
+
+ When writing an application that uses these string capabilities, the
+ pairs should be first checked to see if each capability in the pair is
+ set or only one is set:
+
+ o If both smglp and smgrp are set, each is used with a single
+ argument, N, that gives the column number of the left and right
+ margin, respectively.
+
+ o If both smgtp and smgbp are set, each is used to set the top and
+ bottom margin, respectively:
+
+ osmgtp is used with a single argument, N, the line number of the
+ top margin.
+
+ osmgbp is used with two arguments, N and M, that give the line
+ number of the bottom margin, the first counting from the top of
+ the page and the second counting from the bottom. This
+ accommodates the two styles of specifying the bottom margin in
+ different manufacturers' printers.
+
+ When designing a terminfo entry for a printer that has a settable
+ bottom margin, only the first or second argument should be used,
+ depending on the printer. When developing an application that uses
+ smgbp to set the bottom margin, both arguments must be given.
+
+ Conversely, when only one capability in the pair is set:
+
+ o If only one of smglp and smgrp is set, then it is used with two
+ arguments, the column number of the left and right margins, in that
+ order.
+
+ o Likewise, if only one of smgtp and smgbp is set, then it is used
+ with two arguments that give the top and bottom margins, in that
+ order, counting from the top of the page.
+
+ When designing a terminfo entry for a printer that requires setting
+ both left and right or top and bottom margins simultaneously, only
+ one capability in the pairs smglp and smgrp or smgtp and smgbp
+ should be defined, leaving the other unset.
+
+ Except for very old terminal descriptions, e.g., those developed for
+ SVr4, the scheme just described should be considered obsolete. An
+ improved set of capabilities was added late in the SVr4 releases (smglr
+ and smgtb), which explicitly use two parameters for setting the
+ left/right or top/bottom margins.
+
+ When setting margins, the line- and column-values are zero-based.
+
+ The mgc string capability should be defined. Applications such as
+ tabs(1) rely upon this to reset all margins.
- If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end of the
- line, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be given as el. If
- the terminal can clear from the beginning of the line to the current
- position inclusive, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be
- given as el1. If the terminal can clear from the current position to
- the end of the display, then this should be given as ed. Ed is only
+ If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end of the
+ line, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be given as el. If
+ the terminal can clear from the beginning of the line to the current
+ position inclusive, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be
+ given as el1. If the terminal can clear from the current position to
+ the end of the display, then this should be given as ed. Ed is only
defined from the first column of a line. (Thus, it can be simulated by
- a request to delete a large number of lines, if a true ed is not avail-
- able.)
+ a request to delete a large number of lines, if a true ed is not
+ available.)
- If the terminal can open a new blank line before the line where the
- cursor is, this should be given as il1; this is done only from the
- first position of a line. The cursor must then appear on the newly
- blank line. If the terminal can delete the line which the cursor is
- on, then this should be given as dl1; this is done only from the first
+ If the terminal can open a new blank line before the line where the
+ cursor is, this should be given as il1; this is done only from the
+ first position of a line. The cursor must then appear on the newly
+ blank line. If the terminal can delete the line which the cursor is
+ on, then this should be given as dl1; this is done only from the first
position on the line to be deleted. Versions of il1 and dl1 which take
a single parameter and insert or delete that many lines can be given as
il and dl.
- If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like the vt100) the
- command to set this can be described with the csr capability, which
+ If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like the vt100) the
+ command to set this can be described with the csr capability, which
takes two parameters: the top and bottom lines of the scrolling region.
The cursor position is, alas, undefined after using this command.
- It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line using csr on
- a properly chosen region; the sc and rc (save and restore cursor) com-
- mands may be useful for ensuring that your synthesized insert/delete
- string does not move the cursor. (Note that the ncurses(3x) library
- does this synthesis automatically, so you need not compose
+ It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line using csr on
+ a properly chosen region; the sc and rc (save and restore cursor)
+ commands may be useful for ensuring that your synthesized insert/delete
+ string does not move the cursor. (Note that the ncurses(3x) library
+ does this synthesis automatically, so you need not compose
insert/delete strings for an entry with csr).
- Yet another way to construct insert and delete might be to use a combi-
- nation of index with the memory-lock feature found on some terminals
- (like the HP-700/90 series, which however also has insert/delete).
+ Yet another way to construct insert and delete might be to use a
+ combination of index with the memory-lock feature found on some
+ terminals (like the HP-700/90 series, which however also has
+ insert/delete).
Inserting lines at the top or bottom of the screen can also be done
using ri or ind on many terminals without a true insert/delete line,
and is often faster even on terminals with those features.
- The boolean non_dest_scroll_region should be set if each scrolling win-
- dow is effectively a view port on a screen-sized canvas. To test for
- this capability, create a scrolling region in the middle of the screen,
- write something to the bottom line, move the cursor to the top of the
- region, and do ri followed by dl1 or ind. If the data scrolled off the
- bottom of the region by the ri re-appears, then scrolling is non-
- destructive. System V and XSI Curses expect that ind, ri, indn, and
- rin will simulate destructive scrolling; their documentation cautions
- you not to define csr unless this is true. This curses implementation
- is more liberal and will do explicit erases after scrolling if ndsrc is
- defined.
+ The boolean non_dest_scroll_region should be set if each scrolling
+ window is effectively a view port on a screen-sized canvas. To test
+ for this capability, create a scrolling region in the middle of the
+ screen, write something to the bottom line, move the cursor to the top
+ of the region, and do ri followed by dl1 or ind. If the data scrolled
+ off the bottom of the region by the ri re-appears, then scrolling is
+ non-destructive. System V and XSI Curses expect that ind, ri, indn,
+ and rin will simulate destructive scrolling; their documentation
+ cautions you not to define csr unless this is true. This curses
+ implementation is more liberal and will do explicit erases after
+ scrolling if ndsrc is defined.
If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part of memory,
which all commands affect, it should be given as the parameterized
@@ -1602,205 +1813,206 @@
There are two basic kinds of intelligent terminals with respect to
insert/delete character which can be described using terminfo. The
- most common insert/delete character operations affect only the charac-
- ters on the current line and shift characters off the end of the line
- rigidly. Other terminals, such as the Concept 100 and the Perkin Elmer
- Owl, make a distinction between typed and untyped blanks on the screen,
- shifting upon an insert or delete only to an untyped blank on the
- screen which is either eliminated, or expanded to two untyped blanks.
-
- You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen
- and then typing text separated by cursor motions. Type "abc def"
- using local cursor motions (not spaces) between the "abc" and the
- "def". Then position the cursor before the "abc" and put the terminal
- in insert mode. If typing characters causes the rest of the line to
- shift rigidly and characters to fall off the end, then your terminal
- does not distinguish between blanks and untyped positions. If the
- "abc" shifts over to the "def" which then move together around the end
- of the current line and onto the next as you insert, you have the sec-
- ond type of terminal, and should give the capability in, which stands
- for "insert null".
-
- While these are two logically separate attributes (one line versus
- multi-line insert mode, and special treatment of untyped spaces) we
- have seen no terminals whose insert mode cannot be described with the
+ most common insert/delete character operations affect only the
+ characters on the current line and shift characters off the end of the
+ line rigidly. Other terminals, such as the Concept 100 and the Perkin
+ Elmer Owl, make a distinction between typed and untyped blanks on the
+ screen, shifting upon an insert or delete only to an untyped blank on
+ the screen which is either eliminated, or expanded to two untyped
+ blanks.
+
+ You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen
+ and then typing text separated by cursor motions. Type "abc def"
+ using local cursor motions (not spaces) between the "abc" and the
+ "def". Then position the cursor before the "abc" and put the terminal
+ in insert mode. If typing characters causes the rest of the line to
+ shift rigidly and characters to fall off the end, then your terminal
+ does not distinguish between blanks and untyped positions. If the
+ "abc" shifts over to the "def" which then move together around the end
+ of the current line and onto the next as you insert, you have the
+ second type of terminal, and should give the capability in, which
+ stands for "insert null".
+
+ While these are two logically separate attributes (one line versus
+ multi-line insert mode, and special treatment of untyped spaces) we
+ have seen no terminals whose insert mode cannot be described with the
single attribute.
- Terminfo can describe both terminals which have an insert mode, and
- terminals which send a simple sequence to open a blank position on the
+ Terminfo can describe both terminals which have an insert mode, and
+ terminals which send a simple sequence to open a blank position on the
current line. Give as smir the sequence to get into insert mode. Give
- as rmir the sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as ich1 any
- sequence needed to be sent just before sending the character to be
- inserted. Most terminals with a true insert mode will not give ich1;
- terminals which send a sequence to open a screen position should give
+ as rmir the sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as ich1 any
+ sequence needed to be sent just before sending the character to be
+ inserted. Most terminals with a true insert mode will not give ich1;
+ terminals which send a sequence to open a screen position should give
it here.
- If your terminal has both, insert mode is usually preferable to ich1.
- Technically, you should not give both unless the terminal actually
- requires both to be used in combination. Accordingly, some non-curses
- applications get confused if both are present; the symptom is doubled
- characters in an update using insert. This requirement is now rare;
- most ich sequences do not require previous smir, and most smir insert
- modes do not require ich1 before each character. Therefore, the new
- curses actually assumes this is the case and uses either rmir/smir or
- ich/ich1 as appropriate (but not both). If you have to write an entry
- to be used under new curses for a terminal old enough to need both,
+ If your terminal has both, insert mode is usually preferable to ich1.
+ Technically, you should not give both unless the terminal actually
+ requires both to be used in combination. Accordingly, some non-curses
+ applications get confused if both are present; the symptom is doubled
+ characters in an update using insert. This requirement is now rare;
+ most ich sequences do not require previous smir, and most smir insert
+ modes do not require ich1 before each character. Therefore, the new
+ curses actually assumes this is the case and uses either rmir/smir or
+ ich/ich1 as appropriate (but not both). If you have to write an entry
+ to be used under new curses for a terminal old enough to need both,
include the rmir/smir sequences in ich1.
If post insert padding is needed, give this as a number of milliseconds
- in ip (a string option). Any other sequence which may need to be sent
+ in ip (a string option). Any other sequence which may need to be sent
after an insert of a single character may also be given in ip. If your
- terminal needs both to be placed into an "insert mode" and a special
- code to precede each inserted character, then both smir/rmir and ich1
- can be given, and both will be used. The ich capability, with one
+ terminal needs both to be placed into an "insert mode" and a special
+ code to precede each inserted character, then both smir/rmir and ich1
+ can be given, and both will be used. The ich capability, with one
parameter, n, will repeat the effects of ich1n times.
- If padding is necessary between characters typed while not in insert
+ If padding is necessary between characters typed while not in insert
mode, give this as a number of milliseconds padding in rmp.
- It is occasionally necessary to move around while in insert mode to
- delete characters on the same line (e.g., if there is a tab after the
- insertion position). If your terminal allows motion while in insert
- mode you can give the capability mir to speed up inserting in this
- case. Omitting mir will affect only speed. Some terminals (notably
- Datamedia's) must not have mir because of the way their insert mode
+ It is occasionally necessary to move around while in insert mode to
+ delete characters on the same line (e.g., if there is a tab after the
+ insertion position). If your terminal allows motion while in insert
+ mode you can give the capability mir to speed up inserting in this
+ case. Omitting mir will affect only speed. Some terminals (notably
+ Datamedia's) must not have mir because of the way their insert mode
works.
- Finally, you can specify dch1 to delete a single character, dch with
- one parameter, n, to delete ncharacters, and delete mode by giving
- smdc and rmdc to enter and exit delete mode (any mode the terminal
+ Finally, you can specify dch1 to delete a single character, dch with
+ one parameter, n, to delete ncharacters, and delete mode by giving
+ smdc and rmdc to enter and exit delete mode (any mode the terminal
needs to be placed in for dch1 to work).
- A command to erase n characters (equivalent to outputting n blanks
+ A command to erase n characters (equivalent to outputting n blanks
without moving the cursor) can be given as ech with one parameter.
If your terminal has one or more kinds of display attributes, these can
- be represented in a number of different ways. You should choose one
- display form as standoutmode, representing a good, high contrast,
- easy-on-the-eyes, format for highlighting error messages and other
- attention getters. (If you have a choice, reverse video plus half-
- bright is good, or reverse video alone.) The sequences to enter and
- exit standout mode are given as smso and rmso, respectively. If the
- code to change into or out of standout mode leaves one or even two
- blank spaces on the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do, then
+ be represented in a number of different ways. You should choose one
+ display form as standoutmode, representing a good, high contrast,
+ easy-on-the-eyes, format for highlighting error messages and other
+ attention getters. (If you have a choice, reverse video plus half-
+ bright is good, or reverse video alone.) The sequences to enter and
+ exit standout mode are given as smso and rmso, respectively. If the
+ code to change into or out of standout mode leaves one or even two
+ blank spaces on the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do, then
xmc should be given to tell how many spaces are left.
Codes to begin underlining and end underlining can be given as smul and
rmul respectively. If the terminal has a code to underline the current
- character and move the cursor one space to the right, such as the
+ character and move the cursor one space to the right, such as the
Microterm Mime, this can be given as uc.
- Other capabilities to enter various highlighting modes include blink
- (blinking) bold (bold or extra bright) dim (dim or half-bright) invis
- (blanking or invisible text) prot (protected) rev (reverse video) sgr0
- (turn off all attribute modes) smacs (enter alternate character set
+ Other capabilities to enter various highlighting modes include blink
+ (blinking) bold (bold or extra bright) dim (dim or half-bright) invis
+ (blanking or invisible text) prot (protected) rev (reverse video) sgr0
+ (turn off all attribute modes) smacs (enter alternate character set
mode) and rmacs (exit alternate character set mode). Turning on any of
these modes singly may or may not turn off other modes.
- If there is a sequence to set arbitrary combinations of modes, this
- should be given as sgr (set attributes), taking 9 parameters. Each
- parameter is either 0 or nonzero, as the corresponding attribute is on
- or off. The 9 parameters are, in order: standout, underline, reverse,
- blink, dim, bold, blank, protect, alternate character set. Not all
- modes need be supported by sgr, only those for which corresponding sep-
- arate attribute commands exist.
+ If there is a sequence to set arbitrary combinations of modes, this
+ should be given as sgr (set attributes), taking 9 parameters. Each
+ parameter is either zero (0) or nonzero, as the corresponding attribute
+ is on or off. The 9 parameters are, in order: standout, underline,
+ reverse, blink, dim, bold, blank, protect, alternate character set.
+ Not all modes need be supported by sgr, only those for which
+ corresponding separate attribute commands exist.
For example, the DEC vt220 supports most of the modes:
- tparmparameterattributeescapesequence
-
- none none \E[0m
- p1 standout \E[0;1;7m
- p2 underline \E[0;4m
- p3 reverse \E[0;7m
- p4 blink \E[0;5m
- p5 dim not available
- p6 bold \E[0;1m
- p7 invis \E[0;8m
- p8 protect not used
- p9 altcharset ^O (off) ^N (on)
-
- We begin each escape sequence by turning off any existing modes, since
- there is no quick way to determine whether they are active. Standout
- is set up to be the combination of reverse and bold. The vt220 termi-
- nal has a protect mode, though it is not commonly used in sgr because
- it protects characters on the screen from the host's erasures. The
- altcharset mode also is different in that it is either ^O or ^N,
- depending on whether it is off or on. If all modes are turned on, the
+ tparmParameterAttributeEscapeSequence
+ ------------------------------------------------
+ none none \E[0m
+ p1 standout \E[0;1;7m
+ p2 underline \E[0;4m
+ p3 reverse \E[0;7m
+ p4 blink \E[0;5m
+ p5 dim not available
+ p6 bold \E[0;1m
+ p7 invis \E[0;8m
+ p8 protect not used
+ p9 altcharset ^O (off) ^N (on)
+
+ We begin each escape sequence by turning off any existing modes, since
+ there is no quick way to determine whether they are active. Standout
+ is set up to be the combination of reverse and bold. The vt220
+ terminal has a protect mode, though it is not commonly used in sgr
+ because it protects characters on the screen from the host's erasures.
+ The altcharset mode also is different in that it is either ^O or ^N,
+ depending on whether it is off or on. If all modes are turned on, the
resulting sequence is \E[0;1;4;5;7;8m^N.
- Some sequences are common to different modes. For example, ;7 is out-
- put when either p1 or p3 is true, that is, if either standout or
+ Some sequences are common to different modes. For example, ;7 is
+ output when either p1 or p3 is true, that is, if either standout or
reverse modes are turned on.
Writing out the above sequences, along with their dependencies yields
- sequencewhentooutputterminfotranslation
-
- \E[0 always \E[0
- ;1 if p1 or p6 %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;
- ;4 if p2 %?%p2%|%t;4%;
- ;5 if p4 %?%p4%|%t;5%;
- ;7 if p1 or p3 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;
- ;8 if p7 %?%p7%|%t;8%;
- m always m
- ^N or ^O if p9 ^N, else ^O %?%p9%t^N%e^O%;
+ SequenceWhentoOutputterminfoTranslation
+ ----------------------------------------------------
+ \E[0 always \E[0
+ ;1 if p1 or p6 %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;
+ ;4 if p2 %?%p2%|%t;4%;
+ ;5 if p4 %?%p4%|%t;5%;
+ ;7 if p1 or p3 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;
+ ;8 if p7 %?%p7%|%t;8%;
+ m always m
+ ^N or ^O if p9 ^N, else ^O %?%p9%t^N%e^O%;
Putting this all together into the sgr sequence gives:
sgr=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;
%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p7%t;8%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;,
- Remember that if you specify sgr, you must also specify sgr0. Also,
- some implementations rely on sgr being given if sgr0 is, Not all ter-
- minfo entries necessarily have an sgr string, however. Many terminfo
- entries are derived from termcap entries which have no sgr string. The
- only drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also assumes that
- sgr0 does not exit alternate character set mode.
-
- Terminals with the "magic cookie" glitch (xmc) deposit special "cook-
- ies" when they receive mode-setting sequences, which affect the display
- algorithm rather than having extra bits for each character. Some ter-
- minals, such as the HP 2621, automatically leave standout mode when
- they move to a new line or the cursor is addressed. Programs using
- standout mode should exit standout mode before moving the cursor or
- sending a newline, unless the msgr capability, asserting that it is
+ Remember that if you specify sgr, you must also specify sgr0. Also,
+ some implementations rely on sgr being given if sgr0 is, Not all
+ terminfo entries necessarily have an sgr string, however. Many
+ terminfo entries are derived from termcap entries which have no sgr
+ string. The only drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also
+ assumes that sgr0 does not exit alternate character set mode.
+
+ Terminals with the "magic cookie" glitch (xmc) deposit special
+ "cookies" when they receive mode-setting sequences, which affect the
+ display algorithm rather than having extra bits for each character.
+ Some terminals, such as the HP 2621, automatically leave standout mode
+ when they move to a new line or the cursor is addressed. Programs
+ using standout mode should exit standout mode before moving the cursor
+ or sending a newline, unless the msgr capability, asserting that it is
safe to move in standout mode, is present.
- If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indicate an error
- quietly (a bell replacement) then this can be given as flash; it must
+ If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indicate an error
+ quietly (a bell replacement) then this can be given as flash; it must
not move the cursor.
- If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal when it is not
+ If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal when it is not
on the bottom line (to make, for example, a non-blinking underline into
- an easier to find block or blinking underline) give this sequence as
+ an easier to find block or blinking underline) give this sequence as
cvvis. If there is a way to make the cursor completely invisible, give
- that as civis. The capability cnorm should be given which undoes the
+ that as civis. The capability cnorm should be given which undoes the
effects of both of these modes.
- If your terminal correctly generates underlined characters (with no
- special codes needed) even though it does not overstrike, then you
- should give the capability ul. If a character overstriking another
- leaves both characters on the screen, specify the capability os. If
+ If your terminal correctly generates underlined characters (with no
+ special codes needed) even though it does not overstrike, then you
+ should give the capability ul. If a character overstriking another
+ leaves both characters on the screen, specify the capability os. If
overstrikes are erasable with a blank, then this should be indicated by
giving eo.
- If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys are
- pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not possible
+ If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys are
+ pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not possible
to handle terminals where the keypad only works in local (this applies,
- for example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys). If the keypad can be set
- to transmit or not transmit, give these codes as smkx and rmkx. Other-
- wise the keypad is assumed to always transmit.
+ for example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys). If the keypad can be set
+ to transmit or not transmit, give these codes as smkx and rmkx.
+ Otherwise the keypad is assumed to always transmit.
- The codes sent by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
- and home keys can be given as kcub1,kcuf1,kcuu1,kcud1, and khome
+ The codes sent by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
+ and home keys can be given as kcub1,kcuf1,kcuu1,kcud1, and khome
respectively. If there are function keys such as f0, f1, ..., f10, the
- codes they send can be given as kf0,kf1,...,kf10. If these keys
- have labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels can be
+ codes they send can be given as kf0,kf1,...,kf10. If these keys
+ have labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels can be
given as lf0,lf1,...,lf10.
The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be given:
@@ -1839,60 +2051,77 @@
okhts (set a tab stop in this column).
- In addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3 array of keys including the
- four arrow keys, the other five keys can be given as ka1, ka3, kb2,
- kc1, and kc3. These keys are useful when the effects of a 3 by 3
+ In addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3 array of keys including the
+ four arrow keys, the other five keys can be given as ka1, ka3, kb2,
+ kc1, and kc3. These keys are useful when the effects of a 3 by 3
directional pad are needed.
Strings to program function keys can be given as pfkey, pfloc, and pfx.
- A string to program screen labels should be specified as pln. Each of
- these strings takes two parameters: the function key number to program
+ A string to program screen labels should be specified as pln. Each of
+ these strings takes two parameters: the function key number to program
(from 0 to 10) and the string to program it with. Function key numbers
- out of this range may program undefined keys in a terminal dependent
- manner. The difference between the capabilities is that pfkey causes
- pressing the given key to be the same as the user typing the given
- string; pfloc causes the string to be executed by the terminal in
+ out of this range may program undefined keys in a terminal dependent
+ manner. The difference between the capabilities is that pfkey causes
+ pressing the given key to be the same as the user typing the given
+ string; pfloc causes the string to be executed by the terminal in
local; and pfx causes the string to be transmitted to the computer.
- The capabilities nlab, lw and lh define the number of programmable
- screen labels and their width and height. If there are commands to
- turn the labels on and off, give them in smln and rmln. smln is nor-
- mally output after one or more pln sequences to make sure that the
+ The capabilities nlab, lw and lh define the number of programmable
+ screen labels and their width and height. If there are commands to
+ turn the labels on and off, give them in smln and rmln. smln is
+ normally output after one or more pln sequences to make sure that the
change becomes visible.
- If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the next
- tab stop can be given as ht (usually control I). A "back-tab" command
- which moves leftward to the preceding tab stop can be given as cbt. By
- convention, if the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being expanded
- by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal, programs should
- not use ht or cbt even if they are present, since the user may not have
- the tab stops properly set. If the terminal has hardware tabs which
- are initially set every n spaces when the terminal is powered up, the
- numeric parameter it is given, showing the number of spaces the tabs
- are set to. This is normally used by the tset command to determine
- whether to set the mode for hardware tab expansion, and whether to set
- the tab stops. If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non-
- volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that they are
- properly set.
-
- Other capabilities include is1, is2, and is3, initialization strings
- for the terminal, iprog, the path name of a program to be run to ini-
- tialize the terminal, and if, the name of a file containing long ini-
- tialization strings. These strings are expected to set the terminal
- into modes consistent with the rest of the terminfo description. They
- are normally sent to the terminal, by the init option of the tput pro-
- gram, each time the user logs in. They will be printed in the follow-
- ing order:
+ A few capabilities are used only for tabs:
+
+ o If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the
+ next tab stop can be given as ht (usually control/I).
+
+ o A "back-tab" command which moves leftward to the preceding tab stop
+ can be given as cbt.
+
+ By convention, if the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being
+ expanded by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal,
+ programs should not use ht or cbt even if they are present, since
+ the user may not have the tab stops properly set.
+
+ o If the terminal has hardware tabs which are initially set every n
+ spaces when the terminal is powered up, the numeric parameter it is
+ given, showing the number of spaces the tabs are set to.
+
+ The it capability is normally used by the tset command to determine
+ whether to set the mode for hardware tab expansion, and whether to
+ set the tab stops. If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved
+ in non-volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that
+ they are properly set.
+
+ Other capabilities include
+
+ ois1, is2, and is3, initialization strings for the terminal,
+
+ oiprog, the path name of a program to be run to initialize the
+ terminal,
+
+ o and if, the name of a file containing long initialization strings.
+
+ These strings are expected to set the terminal into modes consistent
+ with the rest of the terminfo description. They are normally sent to
+ the terminal, by the init option of the tput program, each time the
+ user logs in. They will be printed in the following order:
run the program
iprog
- output is1is2
+ output
+ is1 and
+ is2
set the margins using
- mgc, smgl and smgr
+ mgc or
+ smglp and smgrp or
+ smgl and smgr
set tabs using
tbc and hts
@@ -1900,8 +2129,8 @@
print the file
if
- and finally
- output is3.
+ and finally output
+ is3.
Most initialization is done with is2. Special terminal modes can be
set up without duplicating strings by putting the common sequences in
@@ -1909,40 +2138,62 @@
A set of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally unknown
state can be given as rs1, rs2, rf and rs3, analogous to is1,is2,if
- and is3 respectively. These strings are output by the reset program,
- which is used when the terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are
- normally placed in rs1, rs2rs3 and rf only if they produce annoying
- effects on the screen and are not necessary when logging in. For exam-
- ple, the command to set the vt100 into 80-column mode would normally be
- part of is2, but it causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not
- normally needed since the terminal is usually already in 80 column
- mode.
+ and is3 respectively. These strings are output by reset option of
+ tput, or by the reset program (an alias of tset), which is used when
+ the terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are normally placed in
+ rs1, rs2rs3 and rf only if they produce annoying effects on the screen
+ and are not necessary when logging in. For example, the command to set
+ the vt100 into 80-column mode would normally be part of is2, but it
+ causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not normally needed
+ since the terminal is usually already in 80-column mode.
The reset program writes strings including iprog, etc., in the same
order as the init program, using rs1, etc., instead of is1, etc. If
any of rs1, rs2, rs3, or rf reset capability strings are missing, the
- reset program falls back upon the corresponding initialization capabil-
- ity string.
+ reset program falls back upon the corresponding initialization
+ capability string.
If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can be given as
tbc (clear all tab stops) and hts (set a tab stop in the current column
of every row). If a more complex sequence is needed to set the tabs
than can be described by this, the sequence can be placed in is2 or if.
+ The tputreset command uses the same capability strings as the reset
+ command, although the two programs (tput and reset) provide different
+ command-line options.
+
+ In practice, these terminfo capabilities are not often used in
+ initialization of tabs (though they are required for the tabs program):
+
+ o Almost all hardware terminals (at least those which supported tabs)
+ initialized those to every eight columns:
+
+ The only exception was the AT&T 2300 series, which set tabs to
+ every five columns.
+
+ o In particular, developers of the hardware terminals which are
+ commonly used as models for modern terminal emulators provided
+ documentation demonstrating that eight columns were the standard.
+
+ o Because of this, the terminal initialization programs tput and tset
+ use the tbc (clear_all_tabs) and hts (set_tab) capabilities
+ directly only when the it (init_tabs) capability is set to a value
+ other than eight.
+
Many older and slower terminals do not support either XON/XOFF or DTR
handshaking, including hard copy terminals and some very archaic CRTs
- (including, for example, DEC VT100s). These may require padding char-
- acters after certain cursor motions and screen changes.
+ (including, for example, DEC VT100s). These may require padding
+ characters after certain cursor motions and screen changes.
If the terminal uses xon/xoff handshaking for flow control (that is, it
automatically emits ^S back to the host when its input buffers are
close to full), set xon. This capability suppresses the emission of
- padding. You can also set it for memory-mapped console devices effec-
- tively that do not have a speed limit. Padding information should
- still be included so that routines can make better decisions about rel-
- ative costs, but actual pad characters will not be transmitted.
+ padding. You can also set it for memory-mapped console devices
+ effectively that do not have a speed limit. Padding information should
+ still be included so that routines can make better decisions about
+ relative costs, but actual pad characters will not be transmitted.
If pb (padding baud rate) is given, padding is suppressed at baud rates
below the value of pb. If the entry has no padding baud rate, then
@@ -1966,10 +2217,10 @@
Some terminals with status lines need special sequences to access the
status line. These may be expressed as a string with single parameter
tsl which takes the cursor to a given zero-origin column on the status
- line. The capability fsl must return to the main-screen cursor posi-
- tions before the last tsl. You may need to embed the string values of
- sc (save cursor) and rc (restore cursor) in tsl and fsl to accomplish
- this.
+ line. The capability fsl must return to the main-screen cursor
+ positions before the last tsl. You may need to embed the string values
+ of sc (save cursor) and rc (restore cursor) in tsl and fsl to
+ accomplish this.
The status line is normally assumed to be the same width as the width
of the terminal. If this is untrue, you can specify it with the
@@ -1986,47 +2237,46 @@
Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for forms-drawing.
- Terminfo and curses have built-in support for most of the drawing char-
- acters supported by the VT100, with some characters from the AT&T
+ Terminfo and curses have built-in support for most of the drawing
+ characters supported by the VT100, with some characters from the AT&T
4410v1 added. This alternate character set may be specified by the
acsc capability.
- GlyphACSAsciiacscacsc
- NameNameDefaultCharValue
+ ASCIIacscacsc
+ GlyphNameACSNameFallbackSymbolValue
--------------------------------------------------------------------
- arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > + 0x2b
- arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < , 0x2c
- arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ - 0x2d
- arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v . 0x2e
- solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0 0x30
- diamond ACS_DIAMOND + ` 0x60
- checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a 0x61
- degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \ f 0x66
- plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g 0x67
- board of squares ACS_BOARD # h 0x68
-
- lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i 0x69
- lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j 0x6a
- upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k 0x6b
- upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l 0x6c
- lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m 0x6d
- large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n 0x6e
- scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o 0x6f
- scan line 3 ACS_S3 - p 0x70
- horizontal line ACS_HLINE - q 0x71
- scan line 7 ACS_S7 - r 0x72
- scan line 9 ACS_S9 _ s 0x73
- tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t 0x74
- tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u 0x75
- tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v 0x76
- tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w 0x77
- vertical line ACS_VLINE | x 0x78
- less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y 0x79
- greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z 0x7a
- greek pi ACS_PI * { 0x7b
- not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! | 0x7c
- UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f } 0x7d
- bullet ACS_BULLET o ~ 0x7e
+ arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > + 0x2b
+ arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < , 0x2c
+ arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ - 0x2d
+ arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v . 0x2e
+ solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0 0x30
+ diamond ACS_DIAMOND + ` 0x60
+ checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a 0x61
+ degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \ f 0x66
+ plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g 0x67
+ board of squares ACS_BOARD # h 0x68
+ lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i 0x69
+ lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j 0x6a
+ upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k 0x6b
+ upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l 0x6c
+ lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m 0x6d
+ large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n 0x6e
+ scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o 0x6f
+ scan line 3 ACS_S3 - p 0x70
+ horizontal line ACS_HLINE - q 0x71
+ scan line 7 ACS_S7 - r 0x72
+ scan line 9 ACS_S9 _ s 0x73
+ tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t 0x74
+ tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u 0x75
+ tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v 0x76
+ tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w 0x77
+ vertical line ACS_VLINE | x 0x78
+ less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y 0x79
+ greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z 0x7a
+ greek pi ACS_PI * { 0x7b
+ not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! | 0x7c
+ UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f } 0x7d
+ bullet ACS_BULLET o ~ 0x7e
A few notes apply to the table itself:
@@ -2036,8 +2286,8 @@
o The DEC VT100 implemented graphics using the alternate character
set feature, temporarily switching modes and sending characters in
- the range 0x60 (96) to 0x7e (126) (the acscValue column in the ta-
- ble).
+ the range 0x60 (96) to 0x7e (126) (the acscValue column in the
+ table).
o The AT&T terminal added graphics characters outside that range.
@@ -2066,10 +2316,10 @@
is usually 8), and can set character-cell foreground and background
characters independently, mixing them into N * N color-pairs.
- o On HP-like terminals, the user must set each color pair up sepa-
- rately (foreground and background are not independently settable).
- Up to M color-pairs may be set up from 2*M different colors. ANSI-
- compatible terminals are Tektronix-like.
+ o On HP-like terminals, the user must set each color pair up
+ separately (foreground and background are not independently
+ settable). Up to M color-pairs may be set up from 2*M different
+ colors. ANSI-compatible terminals are Tektronix-like.
Some basic color capabilities are independent of the color method. The
numeric capabilities colors and pairs specify the maximum numbers of
@@ -2077,102 +2327,108 @@
(original pair) string resets foreground and background colors to their
default values for the terminal. The oc string resets all colors or
color-pairs to their default values for the terminal. Some terminals
- (including many PC terminal emulators) erase screen areas with the cur-
- rent background color rather than the power-up default background;
+ (including many PC terminal emulators) erase screen areas with the
+ current background color rather than the power-up default background;
these should have the boolean capability bce.
- While the curses library works with colorpairs (reflecting the inabil-
- ity of some devices to set foreground and background colors indepen-
- dently), there are separate capabilities for setting these features:
-
- o To change the current foreground or background color on a Tek-
- tronix-type terminal, use setaf (set ANSI foreground) and setab
- (set ANSI background) or setf (set foreground) and setb (set back-
- ground). These take one parameter, the color number. The SVr4
- documentation describes only setaf/setab; the XPG4 draft says that
- "If the terminal supports ANSI escape sequences to set background
- and foreground, they should be coded as setaf and setab, respec-
- tively.
-
- o If the terminal supports other escape sequences to set background
- and foreground, they should be coded as setf and setb, respec-
- tively. The vidputs and the refresh(3x) functions use the setaf
- and setab capabilities if they are defined.
-
- The setaf/setab and setf/setb capabilities take a single numeric argu-
- ment each. Argument values 0-7 of setaf/setab are portably defined as
- follows (the middle column is the symbolic #define available in the
- header for the curses or ncurses libraries). The terminal hardware is
- free to map these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal loca-
- tions in color space.
-
- Color#defineValueRGB
- black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0
- red COLOR_RED 1 max,0,0
- green COLOR_GREEN 2 0,max,0
- yellow COLOR_YELLOW 3 max,max,0
- blue COLOR_BLUE 4 0,0,max
- magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max,0,max
- cyan COLOR_CYAN 6 0,max,max
- white COLOR_WHITE 7 max,max,max
+ While the curses library works with colorpairs (reflecting the
+ inability of some devices to set foreground and background colors
+ independently), there are separate capabilities for setting these
+ features:
+
+ o To change the current foreground or background color on a
+ Tektronix-type terminal, use setaf (set ANSI foreground) and setab
+ (set ANSI background) or setf (set foreground) and setb (set
+ background). These take one parameter, the color number. The SVr4
+ documentation describes only setaf/setab; the XPG4 draft says that
+ "If the terminal supports ANSI escape sequences to set background
+ and foreground, they should be coded as setaf and setab,
+ respectively.
+
+ o If the terminal supports other escape sequences to set background
+ and foreground, they should be coded as setf and setb,
+ respectively. The vidputs and the refresh(3x) functions use the
+ setaf and setab capabilities if they are defined.
+
+ The setaf/setab and setf/setb capabilities take a single numeric
+ argument each. Argument values 0-7 of setaf/setab are portably defined
+ as follows (the middle column is the symbolic #define available in the
+ header for the curses or ncurses libraries). The terminal hardware is
+ free to map these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal
+ locations in color space.
+
+ Color#defineValueRGB
+ ------------------------------------------------
+ black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0
+ red COLOR_RED 1 max, 0, 0
+ green COLOR_GREEN 2 0, max, 0
+ yellow COLOR_YELLOW 3 max, max, 0
+ blue COLOR_BLUE 4 0, 0, max
+ magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max, 0, max
+ cyan COLOR_CYAN 6 0, max, max
+ white COLOR_WHITE 7 max, max, max
The argument values of setf/setb historically correspond to a different
mapping, i.e.,
- Color#defineValueRGB
- black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0
- blue COLOR_BLUE 1 0,0,max
- green COLOR_GREEN 2 0,max,0
- cyan COLOR_CYAN 3 0,max,max
- red COLOR_RED 4 max,0,0
- magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max,0,max
- yellow COLOR_YELLOW 6 max,max,0
- white COLOR_WHITE 7 max,max,max
-
- It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capabilities; oth-
- erwise red/blue will be interchanged on the display.
-
- On an HP-like terminal, use scp with a color-pair number parameter to
+ Color#defineValueRGB
+ ------------------------------------------------
+ black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0
+ blue COLOR_BLUE 1 0, 0, max
+ green COLOR_GREEN 2 0, max, 0
+ cyan COLOR_CYAN 3 0, max, max
+ red COLOR_RED 4 max, 0, 0
+ magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max, 0, max
+ yellow COLOR_YELLOW 6 max, max, 0
+ white COLOR_WHITE 7 max, max, max
+
+ It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capabilities;
+ otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the display.
+
+ On an HP-like terminal, use scp with a color-pair number parameter to
set which color pair is current.
Some terminals allow the colorvalues to be modified:
- o On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability ccc may be present to
- indicate that colors can be modified. If so, the initc capability
+ o On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability ccc may be present to
+ indicate that colors can be modified. If so, the initc capability
will take a color number (0 to colors - 1)and three more parameters
- which describe the color. These three parameters default to being
- interpreted as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values. If the boolean capa-
- bility hls is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness,
+ which describe the color. These three parameters default to being
+ interpreted as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values. If the boolean
+ capability hls is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness,
Saturation) indices. The ranges are terminal-dependent.
- o On an HP-like terminal, initp may give a capability for changing a
- color-pair value. It will take seven parameters; a color-pair num-
- ber (0 to max_pairs - 1), and two triples describing first back-
- ground and then foreground colors. These parameters must be (Red,
- Green, Blue) or (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on hls.
-
- On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights. You can reg-
- ister these collisions with the ncv capability. This is a bit-mask of
- attributes not to be used when colors are enabled. The correspondence
- with the attributes understood by curses is as follows:
-
- AttributeBitDecimalSetby
- A_STANDOUT 0 1 sgr
- A_UNDERLINE 1 2 sgr
- A_REVERSE 2 4 sgr
- A_BLINK 3 8 sgr
- A_DIM 4 16 sgr
- A_BOLD 5 32 sgr
- A_INVIS 6 64 sgr
- A_PROTECT 7 128 sgr
- A_ALTCHARSET 8 256 sgr
- A_HORIZONTAL 9 512 sgr1
- A_LEFT 10 1024 sgr1
- A_LOW 11 2048 sgr1
- A_RIGHT 12 4096 sgr1
- A_TOP 13 8192 sgr1
- A_VERTICAL 14 16384 sgr1
- A_ITALIC 15 32768 sitm
+ o On an HP-like terminal, initp may give a capability for changing a
+ color-pair value. It will take seven parameters; a color-pair
+ number (0 to max_pairs - 1), and two triples describing first
+ background and then foreground colors. These parameters must be
+ (Red, Green, Blue) or (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on
+ hls.
+
+ On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights. You can
+ register these collisions with the ncv capability. This is a bit-mask
+ of attributes not to be used when colors are enabled. The
+ correspondence with the attributes understood by curses is as follows:
+
+ AttributeBitDecimalSetby
+ --------------------------------------
+ A_STANDOUT 0 1 sgr
+ A_UNDERLINE 1 2 sgr
+ A_REVERSE 2 4 sgr
+ A_BLINK 3 8 sgr
+ A_DIM 4 16 sgr
+ A_BOLD 5 32 sgr
+ A_INVIS 6 64 sgr
+ A_PROTECT 7 128 sgr
+ A_ALTCHARSET 8 256 sgr
+ A_HORIZONTAL 9 512 sgr1
+ A_LEFT 10 1024 sgr1
+ A_LOW 11 2048 sgr1
+ A_RIGHT 12 4096 sgr1
+ A_TOP 13 8192 sgr1
+
+ A_VERTICAL 14 16384 sgr1
+ A_ITALIC 15 32768 sitm
For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline attribute collides
with the foreground color blue and is not available in color mode.
@@ -2192,17 +2448,17 @@
pad character.
If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can be indicated
- with hu (half-line up) and hd (half-line down). This is primarily use-
- ful for superscripts and subscripts on hard-copy terminals. If a hard-
- copy terminal can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as ff
- (usually control L).
+ with hu (half-line up) and hd (half-line down). This is primarily
+ useful for superscripts and subscripts on hard-copy terminals. If a
+ hard-copy terminal can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as
+ ff (usually control/L).
If there is a command to repeat a given character a given number of
- times (to save time transmitting a large number of identical charac-
- ters) this can be indicated with the parameterized string rep. The
- first parameter is the character to be repeated and the second is the
- number of times to repeat it. Thus, tparm(repeat_char, 'x', 10) is the
- same as "xxxxxxxxxx".
+ times (to save time transmitting a large number of identical
+ characters) this can be indicated with the parameterized string rep.
+ The first parameter is the character to be repeated and the second is
+ the number of times to repeat it. Thus, tparm(repeat_char, 'x', 10) is
+ the same as "xxxxxxxxxx".
If the terminal has a settable command character, such as the TEKTRONIX
4025, this can be indicated with cmdch. A prototype command character
@@ -2239,10 +2495,10 @@
is on, all text sent to the terminal will be sent to the printer. It
is undefined whether the text is also displayed on the terminal screen
when the printer is on. A variation mc5p takes one parameter, and
- leaves the printer on for as many characters as the value of the param-
- eter, then turns the printer off. The parameter should not exceed 255.
- All text, including mc4, is transparently passed to the printer while
- an mc5p is in effect.
+ leaves the printer on for as many characters as the value of the
+ parameter, then turns the printer off. The parameter should not exceed
+ 255. All text, including mc4, is transparently passed to the printer
+ while an mc5p is in effect.
@@ -2257,27 +2513,27 @@
Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved over to blanks,
should indicate xt (destructive tabs). Note: the variable indicating
- this is now "dest_tabs_magic_smso"; in older versions, it was tel-
- eray_glitch. This glitch is also taken to mean that it is not possible
- to position the cursor on top of a "magic cookie", that to erase stand-
- out mode it is instead necessary to use delete and insert line. The
- ncurses implementation ignores this glitch.
+ this is now "dest_tabs_magic_smso"; in older versions, it was
+ teleray_glitch. This glitch is also taken to mean that it is not
+ possible to position the cursor on top of a "magic cookie", that to
+ erase standout mode it is instead necessary to use delete and insert
+ line. The ncurses implementation ignores this glitch.
The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly transmit the escape
- or control C characters, has xsb, indicating that the f1 key is used
- for escape and f2 for control C. (Only certain Superbees have this
+ or control/C characters, has xsb, indicating that the f1 key is used
+ for escape and f2 for control/C. (Only certain Superbees have this
problem, depending on the ROM.) Note that in older terminfo versions,
this capability was called "beehive_glitch"; it is now "no_esc_ctl_c".
- Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by adding more capa-
- bilities of the form xx.
+ Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by adding more
+ capabilities of the form xx.
Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to date, no entry
- has even approached terminfo's 4096-byte string-table maximum. Unfor-
- tunately, the termcap translations are much more strictly limited (to
- 1023 bytes), thus termcap translations of long terminfo entries can
+ has even approached terminfo's 4096-byte string-table maximum.
+ Unfortunately, the termcap translations are much more strictly limited
+ (to 1023 bytes), thus termcap translations of long terminfo entries can
cause problems.
The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of tgetent instruct the
@@ -2286,12 +2542,18 @@
safe length for a termcap entry 1k-1 (1023) bytes. Depending on what
the application and the termcap library being used does, and where in
the termcap file the terminal type that tgetent is searching for is,
- several bad things can happen.
+ several bad things can happen:
+
+ o some termcap libraries print a warning message,
+
+ o some exit if they find an entry that's longer than 1023 bytes,
+
+ o some neither exit nor warn, doing nothing useful, and
+
+ o some simply truncate the entries to 1023 bytes.
- Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if they find an
- entry that's longer than 1023 bytes; others do not; others truncate the
- entries to 1023 bytes. Some application programs allocate more than
- the recommended 1K for the termcap entry; others do not.
+ Some application programs allocate more than the recommended 1K for the
+ termcap entry; others do not.
Each termcap entry has two important sizes associated with it: before
"tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion. "tc" is the capability that
@@ -2320,13 +2582,13 @@
the whole termcap file).
Then tgetent will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack, and probably
- core dump the program. Programs like telnet are particularly vulnera-
- ble; modern telnets pass along values like the terminal type automati-
- cally. The results are almost as undesirable with a termcap library,
- like SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages when it
- reads an overly long termcap entry. If a termcap library truncates
- long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is immune to dying here but will
- return incorrect data for the terminal.
+ core dump the program. Programs like telnet are particularly
+ vulnerable; modern telnets pass along values like the terminal type
+ automatically. The results are almost as undesirable with a termcap
+ library, like SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages
+ when it reads an overly long termcap entry. If a termcap library
+ truncates long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is immune to dying here but
+ will return incorrect data for the terminal.
The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect to the
above, but only for people who actually set TERM to that terminal type,
@@ -2350,14 +2612,14 @@
It is not wise to count on portability of binary terminfo entries
between commercial UNIX versions. The problem is that there are at
least two versions of terminfo (under HP-UX and AIX) which diverged
- from System V terminfo after SVr1, and have added extension capabili-
- ties to the string table that (in the binary format) collide with Sys-
- tem V and XSI Curses extensions.
+ 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.
- Searching for terminal descriptions in $HOME/.terminfo and TER-
- MINFO_DIRS is not supported by older implementations.
+ Searching for terminal descriptions in $HOME/.terminfo and
+ TERMINFO_DIRS is not supported by older implementations.
Some SVr4 curses implementations, and all previous to SVr4, do not
interpret the %A and %O operators in parameter strings.
@@ -2366,8 +2628,8 @@
alternate-character-set mode (such modes may, among other things, map
CR and NL to characters that do not trigger local motions). The
ncurses implementation ignores msgr in ALTCHARSET mode. This raises
- the possibility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite inter-
- pretation may need terminfo entries made for ncurses to have msgr
+ the possibility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite
+ interpretation may need terminfo entries made for ncurses to have msgr
turned off.
The ncurses library handles insert-character and insert-character modes
@@ -2385,22 +2647,22 @@
X/Open Curses does not mention italics. Portable applications must
assume that numeric capabilities are signed 16-bit values. This
- includes the no_color_video (ncv) capability. The 32768 mask value
- used for italics with ncv can be confused with an absent or cancelled
- ncv. If italics should work with colors, then the ncv value must be
+ includes the no_color_video (ncv) capability. The 32768 mask value
+ used for italics with ncv can be confused with an absent or cancelled
+ ncv. If italics should work with colors, then the ncv value must be
specified, even if it is zero.
Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support different
- subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some cases) different exten-
- sion sets. Here is a summary, accurate as of October 1995:
+ subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some cases) different
+ extension sets. Here is a summary, accurate as of October 1995:
oSVR4,Solaris,ncurses -- These support all SVr4 capabilities.
oSGI -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented extended string
capability (set_pglen).
- oSVr1,Ultrix -- These support a restricted subset of terminfo capa-
- bilities. The booleans end with xon_xoff; the numerics with
+ oSVr1,Ultrix -- These support a restricted subset of terminfo
+ capabilities. The booleans end with xon_xoff; the numerics with
width_status_line; and the strings with prtr_non.
oHP/UX -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234] numerics
@@ -2415,21 +2677,23 @@
- Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. Based on pcurses
+ Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. Based on pcurses
by Pavel Curtis.
+