3 * DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND!
4 * It is generated from terminfo.head, ./../include/Caps ./../include/Caps-ncurses, and terminfo.tail.
5 * Note: this must be run through tbl before nroff.
6 * The magic cookie on the first line triggers this under some man programs.
7 ****************************************************************************
8 * Copyright (c) 1998-2018,2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
10 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
11 * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
12 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
13 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
14 * distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
15 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
16 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
18 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
19 * in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
21 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
22 * OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
23 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
24 * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
25 * DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
26 * OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
27 * THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
29 * Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
30 * holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
31 * sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
33 ****************************************************************************
34 * @Id: terminfo.head,v 1.36 2019/07/13 23:17:33 tom Exp @
35 * Head of terminfo man page ends here
36 ****************************************************************************
37 * Copyright (c) 1998-2018,2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
39 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
40 * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
41 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
42 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
43 * distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
44 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
45 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
47 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
48 * in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
50 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
51 * OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
52 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
53 * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
54 * DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
55 * OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
56 * THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
58 * Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
59 * holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
60 * sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
62 ****************************************************************************
63 * @Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.97 2019/07/20 10:20:57 tom Exp @
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75 <TITLE>terminfo 5 File Formats</TITLE>
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80 <H1 class="no-header">terminfo 5 File Formats</H1>
82 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> File Formats <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
87 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
88 terminfo - terminal capability data base
91 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
92 /usr/share/terminfo/*/*
95 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
96 <EM>Terminfo</EM> is a data base describing terminals, used by screen-oriented
97 programs such as <STRONG>nvi(1)</STRONG>, <STRONG>rogue(1)</STRONG> and libraries such as <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>.
98 <EM>Terminfo</EM> describes terminals by giving a set of capabilities which they
99 have, by specifying how to perform screen operations, and by specifying
100 padding requirements and initialization sequences. This describes
101 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 6.1 (patch 20190720).
104 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminfo-Entry-Syntax">Terminfo Entry Syntax</a></H3><PRE>
105 Entries in <EM>terminfo</EM> consist of a sequence of fields:
107 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Each field ends with a comma "," (embedded commas may be escaped
108 with a backslash or written as "\054").
110 <STRONG>o</STRONG> White space between fields is ignored.
112 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The first field in a <EM>terminfo</EM> entry begins in the first column.
114 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Newlines and leading whitespace (spaces or tabs) may be used for
115 formatting entries for readability. These are removed from parsed
118 The <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> <STRONG>-f</STRONG> and <STRONG>-W</STRONG> options rely on this to format if-then-else
119 expressions, or to enforce maximum line-width. The resulting for-
120 matted terminal description can be read by <STRONG>tic</STRONG>.
122 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The first field for each terminal gives the names which are known
123 for the terminal, separated by "|" characters.
125 The first name given is the most common abbreviation for the termi-
126 nal (its primary name), the last name given should be a long name
127 fully identifying the terminal (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">longname(3x)</A></STRONG>), and all others
128 are treated as synonyms (aliases) for the primary terminal name.
130 X/Open Curses advises that all names but the last should be in
131 lower case and contain no blanks; the last name may well contain
132 upper case and blanks for readability.
134 This implementation is not so strict; it allows mixed case in the
135 primary name and aliases. If the last name has no embedded blanks,
136 it allows that to be both an alias and a verbose name (but will
137 warn about this ambiguity).
139 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Lines beginning with a "#" in the first column are treated as com-
142 While comment lines are legal at any point, the output of <STRONG>captoinfo</STRONG>
143 and <STRONG>infotocap</STRONG> (aliases for <STRONG>tic</STRONG>) will move comments so they occur
144 only between entries.
146 Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should be chosen
147 using the following conventions. The particular piece of hardware mak-
148 ing up the terminal should have a root name, thus "hp2621". This name
149 should not contain hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in, or user
150 preferences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a mode suf-
151 fix. Thus, a vt100 in 132-column mode would be vt100-w. The following
152 suffixes should be used where possible:
154 <STRONG>Suffix</STRONG> <STRONG>Meaning</STRONG> <STRONG>Example</STRONG>
155 -<EM>nn</EM> Number of lines on the screen aaa-60
156 -<EM>n</EM>p Number of pages of memory c100-4p
157 -am With automargins (usually the default) vt100-am
158 -m Mono mode; suppress color ansi-m
159 -mc Magic cookie; spaces when highlighting wy30-mc
160 -na No arrow keys (leave them in local) c100-na
161 -nam Without automatic margins vt100-nam
162 -nl No status line att4415-nl
163 -ns No status line hp2626-ns
164 -rv Reverse video c100-rv
165 -s Enable status line vt100-s
166 -vb Use visible bell instead of beep wy370-vb
167 -w Wide mode (> 80 columns, usually 132) vt100-w
169 For more on terminal naming conventions, see the <STRONG><A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A></STRONG> manual page.
172 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminfo-Capabilities-Syntax">Terminfo Capabilities Syntax</a></H3><PRE>
173 The terminfo entry consists of several <EM>capabilities</EM>, i.e., features
174 that the terminal has, or methods for exercising the terminal's fea-
177 After the first field (giving the name(s) of the terminal entry), there
178 should be one or more <EM>capability</EM> fields. These are boolean, numeric or
179 string names with corresponding values:
181 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Boolean capabilities are true when present, false when absent.
182 There is no explicit value for boolean capabilities.
184 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Numeric capabilities have a "#" following the name, then an
185 unsigned decimal integer value.
187 <STRONG>o</STRONG> String capabilities have a "=" following the name, then an string
188 of characters making up the capability value.
190 String capabilities can be split into multiple lines, just as the
191 fields comprising a terminal entry can be split into multiple
192 lines. While blanks between fields are ignored, blanks embedded
193 within a string value are retained, except for leading blanks on a
196 Any capability can be <EM>canceled</EM>, i.e., suppressed from the terminal
197 entry, by following its name with "@" rather than a capability value.
200 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Similar-Terminals">Similar Terminals</a></H3><PRE>
201 If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant) can be
202 defined as being just like the other (the base) with certain excep-
203 tions. In the definition of the variant, the string capability <STRONG>use</STRONG> can
204 be given with the name of the base terminal:
206 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capabilities given before <STRONG>use</STRONG> override those in the base type
207 named by <STRONG>use</STRONG>.
209 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If there are multiple <STRONG>use</STRONG> capabilities, they are merged in reverse
210 order. That is, the rightmost <STRONG>use</STRONG> reference is processed first,
211 then the one to its left, and so forth.
213 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Capabilities given explicitly in the entry override those brought
214 in by <STRONG>use</STRONG> references.
216 A capability can be canceled by placing <STRONG>xx@</STRONG> to the left of the use ref-
217 erence that imports it, where <EM>xx</EM> is the capability. For example, the
220 2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,
222 defines a 2621-nl that does not have the <STRONG>smkx</STRONG> or <STRONG>rmkx</STRONG> capabilities, and
223 hence does not turn on the function key labels when in visual mode.
224 This is useful for different modes for a terminal, or for different
227 An entry included via <STRONG>use</STRONG> can contain canceled capabilities, which have
228 the same effect as if those cancels were inline in the using terminal
232 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Predefined-Capabilities">Predefined Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
233 The following is a complete table of the capabilities included in a
234 terminfo description block and available to terminfo-using code. In
235 each line of the table,
237 The <STRONG>variable</STRONG> is the name by which the programmer (at the terminfo
238 level) accesses the capability.
240 The <STRONG>capname</STRONG> is the short name used in the text of the database, and is
241 used by a person updating the database. Whenever possible, capnames
242 are chosen to be the same as or similar to the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard
243 (now superseded by ECMA-48, which uses identical or very similar
244 names). Semantics are also intended to match those of the specifica-
247 The termcap code is the old <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> capability name (some capabilities
248 are new, and have names which termcap did not originate).
250 Capability names have no hard length limit, but an informal limit of 5
251 characters has been adopted to keep them short and to allow the tabs in
252 the source file <STRONG>Caps</STRONG> to line up nicely.
254 Finally, the description field attempts to convey the semantics of the
255 capability. You may find some codes in the description field:
257 (P) indicates that padding may be specified
259 #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string is passed
260 through tparm with parms as given (#<EM>i</EM>).
262 (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to the number of
265 (#<EM>i</EM>) indicates the <EM>i</EM>th parameter.
268 These are the boolean capabilities:
271 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
272 <STRONG>Booleans</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
273 auto_left_margin bw bw cub1 wraps from col-
275 auto_right_margin am am terminal has auto-
277 back_color_erase bce ut screen erased with
279 can_change ccc cc terminal can re-
282 ceol_standout_glitch xhp xs standout not erased
284 col_addr_glitch xhpa YA only positive motion
287 cpi_changes_res cpix YF changing character
290 cr_cancels_micro_mode crxm YB using cr turns off
292 dest_tabs_magic_smso xt xt tabs destructive,
295 eat_newline_glitch xenl xn newline ignored
298 erase_overstrike eo eo can erase over-
300 generic_type gn gn generic line type
301 hard_copy hc hc hardcopy terminal
302 hard_cursor chts HC cursor is hard to
304 has_meta_key km km Has a meta key
306 has_print_wheel daisy YC printer needs opera-
309 has_status_line hs hs has extra status
311 hue_lightness_saturation hls hl terminal uses only
314 insert_null_glitch in in insert mode distin-
316 lpi_changes_res lpix YG changing line pitch
318 memory_above da da display may be
321 memory_below db db display may be
324 move_insert_mode mir mi safe to move while
326 move_standout_mode msgr ms safe to move while
328 needs_xon_xoff nxon nx padding will not
331 no_esc_ctlc xsb xb beehive (f1=escape,
333 no_pad_char npc NP pad character does
335 non_dest_scroll_region ndscr ND scrolling region is
337 non_rev_rmcup nrrmc NR smcup does not
339 over_strike os os terminal can over-
341 prtr_silent mc5i 5i printer will not
343 row_addr_glitch xvpa YD only positive motion
345 semi_auto_right_margin sam YE printing in last
347 status_line_esc_ok eslok es escape can be used
349 tilde_glitch hz hz cannot print ~'s
353 transparent_underline ul ul underline character
355 xon_xoff xon xo terminal uses
358 These are the numeric capabilities:
361 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
362 <STRONG>Numeric</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
363 columns cols co number of columns in
365 init_tabs it it tabs initially every
367 label_height lh lh rows in each label
368 label_width lw lw columns in each
370 lines lines li number of lines on
372 lines_of_memory lm lm lines of memory if >
374 magic_cookie_glitch xmc sg number of blank
377 max_attributes ma ma maximum combined
380 max_colors colors Co maximum number of
382 max_pairs pairs pa maximum number of
385 maximum_windows wnum MW maximum number of
387 no_color_video ncv NC video attributes
390 num_labels nlab Nl number of labels on
392 padding_baud_rate pb pb lowest baud rate
394 virtual_terminal vt vt virtual terminal
396 width_status_line wsl ws number of columns in
399 The following numeric capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term
400 structure, but are not yet documented in the man page. They came in
401 with SVr4's printer support.
404 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
405 <STRONG>Numeric</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
406 bit_image_entwining bitwin Yo number of passes for
408 bit_image_type bitype Yp type of bit-image
410 buffer_capacity bufsz Ya numbers of bytes
413 buttons btns BT number of buttons on
415 dot_horz_spacing spinh Yc spacing of dots hor-
419 dot_vert_spacing spinv Yb spacing of pins ver-
422 max_micro_address maddr Yd maximum value in
424 max_micro_jump mjump Ye maximum value in
426 micro_col_size mcs Yf character step size
428 micro_line_size mls Yg line step size when
430 number_of_pins npins Yh numbers of pins in
432 output_res_char orc Yi horizontal resolu-
435 output_res_horz_inch orhi Yk horizontal resolu-
438 output_res_line orl Yj vertical resolution
440 output_res_vert_inch orvi Yl vertical resolution
442 print_rate cps Ym print rate in char-
444 wide_char_size widcs Yn character step size
448 These are the string capabilities:
451 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
452 <STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
453 acs_chars acsc ac graphics charset
456 back_tab cbt bt back tab (P)
457 bell bel bl audible signal
459 carriage_return cr cr carriage return (P*)
461 change_char_pitch cpi ZA Change number of
464 change_line_pitch lpi ZB Change number of
466 change_res_horz chr ZC Change horizontal
468 change_res_vert cvr ZD Change vertical res-
470 change_scroll_region csr cs change region to
473 char_padding rmp rP like ip but when in
475 clear_all_tabs tbc ct clear all tab stops
477 clear_margins mgc MC clear right and left
479 clear_screen clear cl clear screen and
481 clr_bol el1 cb Clear to beginning
485 clr_eol el ce clear to end of line
487 clr_eos ed cd clear to end of
489 column_address hpa ch horizontal position
491 command_character cmdch CC terminal settable
494 create_window cwin CW define a window #1
496 cursor_address cup cm move to row #1 col-
498 cursor_down cud1 do down one line
499 cursor_home home ho home cursor (if no
501 cursor_invisible civis vi make cursor invisi-
503 cursor_left cub1 le move left one space
504 cursor_mem_address mrcup CM memory relative cur-
507 cursor_normal cnorm ve make cursor appear
510 cursor_right cuf1 nd non-destructive
513 cursor_to_ll ll ll last line, first
515 cursor_up cuu1 up up one line
516 cursor_visible cvvis vs make cursor very
518 define_char defc ZE Define a character
521 delete_character dch1 dc delete character
523 delete_line dl1 dl delete line (P*)
524 dial_phone dial DI dial number #1
525 dis_status_line dsl ds disable status line
526 display_clock dclk DK display clock
527 down_half_line hd hd half a line down
528 ena_acs enacs eA enable alternate
530 enter_alt_charset_mode smacs as start alternate
532 enter_am_mode smam SA turn on automatic
534 enter_blink_mode blink mb turn on blinking
535 enter_bold_mode bold md turn on bold (extra
537 enter_ca_mode smcup ti string to start pro-
539 enter_delete_mode smdc dm enter delete mode
540 enter_dim_mode dim mh turn on half-bright
542 enter_doublewide_mode swidm ZF Enter double-wide
544 enter_draft_quality sdrfq ZG Enter draft-quality
546 enter_insert_mode smir im enter insert mode
547 enter_italics_mode sitm ZH Enter italic mode
548 enter_leftward_mode slm ZI Start leftward car-
551 enter_micro_mode smicm ZJ Start micro-motion
553 enter_near_letter_quality snlq ZK Enter NLQ mode
554 enter_normal_quality snrmq ZL Enter normal-quality
556 enter_protected_mode prot mp turn on protected
558 enter_reverse_mode rev mr turn on reverse
560 enter_secure_mode invis mk turn on blank mode
563 enter_shadow_mode sshm ZM Enter shadow-print
565 enter_standout_mode smso so begin standout mode
566 enter_subscript_mode ssubm ZN Enter subscript mode
567 enter_superscript_mode ssupm ZO Enter superscript
569 enter_underline_mode smul us begin underline mode
570 enter_upward_mode sum ZP Start upward car-
572 enter_xon_mode smxon SX turn on xon/xoff
574 erase_chars ech ec erase #1 characters
576 exit_alt_charset_mode rmacs ae end alternate char-
578 exit_am_mode rmam RA turn off automatic
580 exit_attribute_mode sgr0 me turn off all
582 exit_ca_mode rmcup te strings to end pro-
584 exit_delete_mode rmdc ed end delete mode
585 exit_doublewide_mode rwidm ZQ End double-wide mode
586 exit_insert_mode rmir ei exit insert mode
587 exit_italics_mode ritm ZR End italic mode
588 exit_leftward_mode rlm ZS End left-motion mode
589 exit_micro_mode rmicm ZT End micro-motion
591 exit_shadow_mode rshm ZU End shadow-print
593 exit_standout_mode rmso se exit standout mode
594 exit_subscript_mode rsubm ZV End subscript mode
595 exit_superscript_mode rsupm ZW End superscript mode
596 exit_underline_mode rmul ue exit underline mode
597 exit_upward_mode rum ZX End reverse charac-
599 exit_xon_mode rmxon RX turn off xon/xoff
601 fixed_pause pause PA pause for 2-3 sec-
603 flash_hook hook fh flash switch hook
604 flash_screen flash vb visible bell (may
606 form_feed ff ff hardcopy terminal
608 from_status_line fsl fs return from status
610 goto_window wingo WG go to window #1
611 hangup hup HU hang-up phone
612 init_1string is1 i1 initialization
614 init_2string is2 is initialization
617 init_3string is3 i3 initialization
619 init_file if if name of initializa-
621 init_prog iprog iP path name of program
623 initialize_color initc Ic initialize color #1
625 initialize_pair initp Ip Initialize color
629 insert_character ich1 ic insert character (P)
630 insert_line il1 al insert line (P*)
631 insert_padding ip ip insert padding after
633 key_a1 ka1 K1 upper left of keypad
634 key_a3 ka3 K3 upper right of key-
636 key_b2 kb2 K2 center of keypad
637 key_backspace kbs kb backspace key
638 key_beg kbeg @1 begin key
639 key_btab kcbt kB back-tab key
640 key_c1 kc1 K4 lower left of keypad
641 key_c3 kc3 K5 lower right of key-
643 key_cancel kcan @2 cancel key
644 key_catab ktbc ka clear-all-tabs key
645 key_clear kclr kC clear-screen or
647 key_close kclo @3 close key
648 key_command kcmd @4 command key
649 key_copy kcpy @5 copy key
650 key_create kcrt @6 create key
651 key_ctab kctab kt clear-tab key
652 key_dc kdch1 kD delete-character key
653 key_dl kdl1 kL delete-line key
654 key_down kcud1 kd down-arrow key
655 key_eic krmir kM sent by rmir or smir
657 key_end kend @7 end key
658 key_enter kent @8 enter/send key
659 key_eol kel kE clear-to-end-of-line
661 key_eos ked kS clear-to-end-of-
663 key_exit kext @9 exit key
664 key_f0 kf0 k0 F0 function key
665 key_f1 kf1 k1 F1 function key
666 key_f10 kf10 k; F10 function key
667 key_f11 kf11 F1 F11 function key
668 key_f12 kf12 F2 F12 function key
669 key_f13 kf13 F3 F13 function key
670 key_f14 kf14 F4 F14 function key
671 key_f15 kf15 F5 F15 function key
672 key_f16 kf16 F6 F16 function key
673 key_f17 kf17 F7 F17 function key
674 key_f18 kf18 F8 F18 function key
675 key_f19 kf19 F9 F19 function key
676 key_f2 kf2 k2 F2 function key
677 key_f20 kf20 FA F20 function key
678 key_f21 kf21 FB F21 function key
679 key_f22 kf22 FC F22 function key
680 key_f23 kf23 FD F23 function key
681 key_f24 kf24 FE F24 function key
683 key_f25 kf25 FF F25 function key
684 key_f26 kf26 FG F26 function key
685 key_f27 kf27 FH F27 function key
686 key_f28 kf28 FI F28 function key
687 key_f29 kf29 FJ F29 function key
688 key_f3 kf3 k3 F3 function key
689 key_f30 kf30 FK F30 function key
690 key_f31 kf31 FL F31 function key
691 key_f32 kf32 FM F32 function key
692 key_f33 kf33 FN F33 function key
693 key_f34 kf34 FO F34 function key
694 key_f35 kf35 FP F35 function key
695 key_f36 kf36 FQ F36 function key
696 key_f37 kf37 FR F37 function key
697 key_f38 kf38 FS F38 function key
698 key_f39 kf39 FT F39 function key
699 key_f4 kf4 k4 F4 function key
700 key_f40 kf40 FU F40 function key
701 key_f41 kf41 FV F41 function key
702 key_f42 kf42 FW F42 function key
703 key_f43 kf43 FX F43 function key
704 key_f44 kf44 FY F44 function key
705 key_f45 kf45 FZ F45 function key
706 key_f46 kf46 Fa F46 function key
707 key_f47 kf47 Fb F47 function key
708 key_f48 kf48 Fc F48 function key
709 key_f49 kf49 Fd F49 function key
710 key_f5 kf5 k5 F5 function key
711 key_f50 kf50 Fe F50 function key
712 key_f51 kf51 Ff F51 function key
713 key_f52 kf52 Fg F52 function key
714 key_f53 kf53 Fh F53 function key
715 key_f54 kf54 Fi F54 function key
716 key_f55 kf55 Fj F55 function key
717 key_f56 kf56 Fk F56 function key
718 key_f57 kf57 Fl F57 function key
719 key_f58 kf58 Fm F58 function key
720 key_f59 kf59 Fn F59 function key
721 key_f6 kf6 k6 F6 function key
722 key_f60 kf60 Fo F60 function key
723 key_f61 kf61 Fp F61 function key
724 key_f62 kf62 Fq F62 function key
725 key_f63 kf63 Fr F63 function key
726 key_f7 kf7 k7 F7 function key
727 key_f8 kf8 k8 F8 function key
728 key_f9 kf9 k9 F9 function key
729 key_find kfnd @0 find key
730 key_help khlp %1 help key
731 key_home khome kh home key
732 key_ic kich1 kI insert-character key
733 key_il kil1 kA insert-line key
734 key_left kcub1 kl left-arrow key
735 key_ll kll kH lower-left key (home
737 key_mark kmrk %2 mark key
738 key_message kmsg %3 message key
739 key_move kmov %4 move key
740 key_next knxt %5 next key
741 key_npage knp kN next-page key
742 key_open kopn %6 open key
743 key_options kopt %7 options key
744 key_ppage kpp kP previous-page key
745 key_previous kprv %8 previous key
746 key_print kprt %9 print key
747 key_redo krdo %0 redo key
749 key_reference kref &1 reference key
750 key_refresh krfr &2 refresh key
751 key_replace krpl &3 replace key
752 key_restart krst &4 restart key
753 key_resume kres &5 resume key
754 key_right kcuf1 kr right-arrow key
755 key_save ksav &6 save key
756 key_sbeg kBEG &9 shifted begin key
757 key_scancel kCAN &0 shifted cancel key
758 key_scommand kCMD *1 shifted command key
759 key_scopy kCPY *2 shifted copy key
760 key_screate kCRT *3 shifted create key
761 key_sdc kDC *4 shifted delete-char-
763 key_sdl kDL *5 shifted delete-line
765 key_select kslt *6 select key
766 key_send kEND *7 shifted end key
767 key_seol kEOL *8 shifted clear-to-
769 key_sexit kEXT *9 shifted exit key
770 key_sf kind kF scroll-forward key
771 key_sfind kFND *0 shifted find key
772 key_shelp kHLP #1 shifted help key
773 key_shome kHOM #2 shifted home key
774 key_sic kIC #3 shifted insert-char-
776 key_sleft kLFT #4 shifted left-arrow
778 key_smessage kMSG %a shifted message key
779 key_smove kMOV %b shifted move key
780 key_snext kNXT %c shifted next key
781 key_soptions kOPT %d shifted options key
782 key_sprevious kPRV %e shifted previous key
783 key_sprint kPRT %f shifted print key
784 key_sr kri kR scroll-backward key
785 key_sredo kRDO %g shifted redo key
786 key_sreplace kRPL %h shifted replace key
787 key_sright kRIT %i shifted right-arrow
789 key_srsume kRES %j shifted resume key
790 key_ssave kSAV !1 shifted save key
791 key_ssuspend kSPD !2 shifted suspend key
792 key_stab khts kT set-tab key
793 key_sundo kUND !3 shifted undo key
794 key_suspend kspd &7 suspend key
795 key_undo kund &8 undo key
796 key_up kcuu1 ku up-arrow key
797 keypad_local rmkx ke leave 'key-
799 keypad_xmit smkx ks enter 'key-
801 lab_f0 lf0 l0 label on function
803 lab_f1 lf1 l1 label on function
805 lab_f10 lf10 la label on function
807 lab_f2 lf2 l2 label on function
809 lab_f3 lf3 l3 label on function
811 lab_f4 lf4 l4 label on function
815 lab_f5 lf5 l5 label on function
817 lab_f6 lf6 l6 label on function
819 lab_f7 lf7 l7 label on function
821 lab_f8 lf8 l8 label on function
823 lab_f9 lf9 l9 label on function
825 label_format fln Lf label format
826 label_off rmln LF turn off soft labels
827 label_on smln LO turn on soft labels
828 meta_off rmm mo turn off meta mode
829 meta_on smm mm turn on meta mode
831 micro_column_address mhpa ZY Like column_address
833 micro_down mcud1 ZZ Like cursor_down in
835 micro_left mcub1 Za Like cursor_left in
837 micro_right mcuf1 Zb Like cursor_right in
839 micro_row_address mvpa Zc Like row_address #1
841 micro_up mcuu1 Zd Like cursor_up in
843 newline nel nw newline (behave like
845 order_of_pins porder Ze Match software bits
847 orig_colors oc oc Set all color pairs
849 orig_pair op op Set default pair to
851 pad_char pad pc padding char
853 parm_dch dch DC delete #1 characters
855 parm_delete_line dl DL delete #1 lines (P*)
856 parm_down_cursor cud DO down #1 lines (P*)
857 parm_down_micro mcud Zf Like parm_down_cur-
859 parm_ich ich IC insert #1 characters
861 parm_index indn SF scroll forward #1
863 parm_insert_line il AL insert #1 lines (P*)
864 parm_left_cursor cub LE move #1 characters
866 parm_left_micro mcub Zg Like parm_left_cur-
868 parm_right_cursor cuf RI move #1 characters
870 parm_right_micro mcuf Zh Like parm_right_cur-
872 parm_rindex rin SR scroll back #1 lines
874 parm_up_cursor cuu UP up #1 lines (P*)
875 parm_up_micro mcuu Zi Like parm_up_cursor
877 pkey_key pfkey pk program function key
881 pkey_local pfloc pl program function key
884 pkey_xmit pfx px program function key
887 plab_norm pln pn program label #1 to
889 print_screen mc0 ps print contents of
891 prtr_non mc5p pO turn on printer for
893 prtr_off mc4 pf turn off printer
894 prtr_on mc5 po turn on printer
895 pulse pulse PU select pulse dialing
896 quick_dial qdial QD dial number #1 with-
898 remove_clock rmclk RC remove clock
899 repeat_char rep rp repeat char #1 #2
901 req_for_input rfi RF send next input char
903 reset_1string rs1 r1 reset string
904 reset_2string rs2 r2 reset string
905 reset_3string rs3 r3 reset string
906 reset_file rf rf name of reset file
907 restore_cursor rc rc restore cursor to
910 row_address vpa cv vertical position #1
912 save_cursor sc sc save current cursor
914 scroll_forward ind sf scroll text up (P)
915 scroll_reverse ri sr scroll text down (P)
916 select_char_set scs Zj Select character
918 set_attributes sgr sa define video
921 set_background setb Sb Set background color
923 set_bottom_margin smgb Zk Set bottom margin at
925 set_bottom_margin_parm smgbp Zl Set bottom margin at
929 set_clock sclk SC set clock, #1 hrs #2
931 set_color_pair scp sp Set current color
933 set_foreground setf Sf Set foreground color
935 set_left_margin smgl ML set left soft margin
940 set_left_margin_parm smglp Zm Set left (right)
942 set_right_margin smgr MR set right soft mar-
947 set_right_margin_parm smgrp Zn Set right margin at
949 set_tab hts st set a tab in every
951 set_top_margin smgt Zo Set top margin at
953 set_top_margin_parm smgtp Zp Set top (bottom)
955 set_window wind wi current window is
958 start_bit_image sbim Zq Start printing bit
960 start_char_set_def scsd Zr Start character set
964 stop_bit_image rbim Zs Stop printing bit
966 stop_char_set_def rcsd Zt End definition of
968 subscript_characters subcs Zu List of subscript-
970 superscript_characters supcs Zv List of superscript-
972 tab ht ta tab to next 8-space
974 these_cause_cr docr Zw Printing any of
977 to_status_line tsl ts move to status line,
979 tone tone TO select touch tone
981 underline_char uc uc underline char and
983 up_half_line hu hu half a line up
984 user0 u0 u0 User string #0
985 user1 u1 u1 User string #1
986 user2 u2 u2 User string #2
987 user3 u3 u3 User string #3
988 user4 u4 u4 User string #4
989 user5 u5 u5 User string #5
990 user6 u6 u6 User string #6
991 user7 u7 u7 User string #7
992 user8 u8 u8 User string #8
993 user9 u9 u9 User string #9
994 wait_tone wait WA wait for dial-tone
995 xoff_character xoffc XF XOFF character
996 xon_character xonc XN XON character
997 zero_motion zerom Zx No motion for subse-
1000 The following string capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term struc-
1001 ture, but were originally not documented in the man page.
1004 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
1005 <STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
1006 alt_scancode_esc scesa S8 Alternate escape
1009 bit_image_carriage_return bicr Yv Move to beginning
1013 bit_image_newline binel Zz Move to next row
1015 bit_image_repeat birep Xy Repeat bit image
1017 char_set_names csnm Zy Produce #1'th item
1020 code_set_init csin ci Init sequence for
1022 color_names colornm Yw Give name for
1024 define_bit_image_region defbi Yx Define rectangular
1026 device_type devt dv Indicate lan-
1029 display_pc_char dispc S1 Display PC charac-
1031 end_bit_image_region endbi Yy End a bit-image
1033 enter_pc_charset_mode smpch S2 Enter PC character
1035 enter_scancode_mode smsc S4 Enter PC scancode
1037 exit_pc_charset_mode rmpch S3 Exit PC character
1039 exit_scancode_mode rmsc S5 Exit PC scancode
1041 get_mouse getm Gm Curses should get
1045 key_mouse kmous Km Mouse event has
1047 mouse_info minfo Mi Mouse status
1049 pc_term_options pctrm S6 PC terminal
1051 pkey_plab pfxl xl Program function
1055 req_mouse_pos reqmp RQ Request mouse
1057 scancode_escape scesc S7 Escape for scan-
1059 set0_des_seq s0ds s0 Shift to codeset 0
1061 set1_des_seq s1ds s1 Shift to codeset 1
1062 set2_des_seq s2ds s2 Shift to codeset 2
1063 set3_des_seq s3ds s3 Shift to codeset 3
1064 set_a_background setab AB Set background
1067 set_a_foreground setaf AF Set foreground
1070 set_color_band setcolor Yz Change to ribbon
1072 set_lr_margin smglr ML Set both left and
1079 set_page_length slines YZ Set page length to
1081 set_tb_margin smgtb MT Sets both top and
1085 The XSI Curses standard added these hardcopy capabilities. They were
1086 used in some post-4.1 versions of System V curses, e.g., Solaris 2.5
1087 and IRIX 6.x. Except for <STRONG>YI</STRONG>, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> termcap names for them are
1088 invented. According to the XSI Curses standard, they have no termcap
1089 names. If your compiled terminfo entries use these, they may not be
1090 binary-compatible with System V terminfo entries after SVr4.1; beware!
1093 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
1094 <STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
1095 enter_horizontal_hl_mode ehhlm Xh Enter horizontal
1097 enter_left_hl_mode elhlm Xl Enter left highlight
1099 enter_low_hl_mode elohlm Xo Enter low highlight
1101 enter_right_hl_mode erhlm Xr Enter right high-
1103 enter_top_hl_mode ethlm Xt Enter top highlight
1105 enter_vertical_hl_mode evhlm Xv Enter vertical high-
1107 set_a_attributes sgr1 sA Define second set of
1110 set_pglen_inch slength YI Set page length to
1112 inch (some implemen-
1117 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-User-Defined-Capabilities">User-Defined Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
1118 The preceding section listed the <EM>predefined</EM> capabilities. They deal
1119 with some special features for terminals no longer (or possibly never)
1120 produced. Occasionally there are special features of newer terminals
1121 which are awkward or impossible to represent by reusing the predefined
1124 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> addresses this limitation by allowing user-defined capabili-
1125 ties. The <STRONG>tic</STRONG> and <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> programs provide the <STRONG>-x</STRONG> option for this pur-
1126 pose. When <STRONG>-x</STRONG> is set, <STRONG>tic</STRONG> treats unknown capabilities as user-defined.
1127 That is, if <STRONG>tic</STRONG> encounters a capability name which it does not recog-
1128 nize, it infers its type (boolean, number or string) from the syntax
1129 and makes an extended table entry for that capability. The
1130 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_extend.3x.html">use_extended_names(3x)</A></STRONG> function makes this information conditionally
1131 available to applications. The ncurses library provides the data leav-
1132 ing most of the behavior to applications:
1134 <STRONG>o</STRONG> User-defined capability strings whose name begins with "k" are
1135 treated as function keys.
1137 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The types (boolean, number, string) determined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> can be
1138 inferred by successful calls on <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, etc.
1140 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the capability name happens to be two characters, the capability
1141 is also available through the termcap interface.
1143 While termcap is said to be extensible because it does not use a prede-
1144 fined set of capabilities, in practice it has been limited to the capa-
1145 bilities defined by terminfo implementations. As a rule, user-defined
1146 capabilities intended for use by termcap applications should be limited
1147 to booleans and numbers to avoid running past the 1023 byte limit
1148 assumed by termcap implementations and their applications. In particu-
1149 lar, providing extended sets of function keys (past the 60 numbered
1150 keys and the handful of special named keys) is best done using the
1151 longer names available using terminfo.
1154 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-A-Sample-Entry">A Sample Entry</a></H3><PRE>
1155 The following entry, describing an ANSI-standard terminal, is represen-
1156 tative of what a <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> entry for a modern terminal typically looks
1159 ansi|ansi/pc-term compatible with color,
1160 am, mc5i, mir, msgr,
1161 colors#8, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, ncv#3, pairs#64,
1162 acsc=+\020\,\021-\030.^Y0\333`\004a\261f\370g\361h\260
1163 j\331k\277l\332m\300n\305o~p\304q\304r\304s_t\303
1164 u\264v\301w\302x\263y\363z\362{\343|\330}\234~\376,
1165 bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z, clear=\E[H\E[J,
1166 cr=^M, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\E[D, cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=\E[B,
1167 cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C, cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH,
1168 cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P,
1169 dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[M, ech=\E[%p1%dX, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K,
1170 el1=\E[1K, home=\E[H, hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ht=\E[I, hts=\EH,
1171 ich=\E[%p1%d@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=^J,
1172 indn=\E[%p1%dS, invis=\E[8m, kbs=^H, kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\E[D,
1173 kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A, khome=\E[H, kich1=\E[L,
1174 mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, nel=\r\E[S, op=\E[39;49m,
1175 rep=%p1%c\E[%p2%{1}%-%db, rev=\E[7m, rin=\E[%p1%dT,
1176 rmacs=\E[10m, rmpch=\E[10m, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m,
1177 s0ds=\E(B, s1ds=\E)B, s2ds=\E*B, s3ds=\E+B,
1178 setab=\E[4%p1%dm, setaf=\E[3%p1%dm,
1179 sgr=\E[0;10%?%p1%t;7%;
1186 sgr0=\E[0;10m, smacs=\E[11m, smpch=\E[11m, smso=\E[7m,
1187 smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g, u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n,
1188 u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd,
1190 Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white space at the
1191 beginning of each line except the first. Comments may be included on
1192 lines beginning with "#". Capabilities in <EM>terminfo</EM> are of three types:
1194 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Boolean capabilities which indicate that the terminal has some par-
1197 <STRONG>o</STRONG> numeric capabilities giving the size of the terminal or the size of
1198 particular delays, and
1200 <STRONG>o</STRONG> string capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to
1201 perform particular terminal operations.
1204 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Types-of-Capabilities">Types of Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
1205 All capabilities have names. For instance, the fact that ANSI-standard
1206 terminals have <EM>automatic</EM> <EM>margins</EM> (i.e., an automatic return and line-
1207 feed when the end of a line is reached) is indicated by the capability
1208 <STRONG>am</STRONG>. Hence the description of ansi includes <STRONG>am</STRONG>. Numeric capabilities
1209 are followed by the character "#" and then a positive value. Thus
1210 <STRONG>cols</STRONG>, which indicates the number of columns the terminal has, gives the
1211 value "80" for ansi. Values for numeric capabilities may be specified
1212 in decimal, octal or hexadecimal, using the C programming language con-
1213 ventions (e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF).
1215 Finally, string valued capabilities, such as <STRONG>el</STRONG> (clear to end of line
1216 sequence) are given by the two-character code, an "=", and then a
1217 string ending at the next following ",".
1219 A number of escape sequences are provided in the string valued capabil-
1220 ities for easy encoding of characters there:
1222 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Both <STRONG>\E</STRONG> and <STRONG>\e</STRONG> map to an ESCAPE character,
1224 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>^x</STRONG> maps to a control-x for any appropriate <EM>x</EM>, and
1226 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the sequences
1228 <STRONG>\n</STRONG>, <STRONG>\l</STRONG>, <STRONG>\r</STRONG>, <STRONG>\t</STRONG>, <STRONG>\b</STRONG>, <STRONG>\f</STRONG>, and <STRONG>\s</STRONG>
1232 <EM>newline</EM>, <EM>line-feed</EM>, <EM>return</EM>, <EM>tab</EM>, <EM>backspace</EM>, <EM>form-feed</EM>, and <EM>space</EM>,
1236 X/Open Curses does not say what "appropriate <EM>x</EM>" might be. In practice,
1237 that is a printable ASCII graphic character. The special case "^?" is
1238 interpreted as DEL (127). In all other cases, the character value is
1239 AND'd with 0x1f, mapping to ASCII control codes in the range 0 through
1242 Other escapes include
1244 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\^</STRONG> for <STRONG>^</STRONG>,
1246 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\\</STRONG> for <STRONG>\</STRONG>,
1248 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\</STRONG>, for comma,
1250 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\:</STRONG> for <STRONG>:</STRONG>,
1252 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and <STRONG>\0</STRONG> for null.
1254 <STRONG>\0</STRONG> will produce \200, which does not terminate a string but behaves
1255 as a null character on most terminals, providing CS7 is specified.
1256 See <STRONG>stty(1)</STRONG>.
1258 The reason for this quirk is to maintain binary compatibility of
1259 the compiled terminfo files with other implementations, e.g., the
1260 SVr4 systems, which document this. Compiled terminfo files use
1261 null-terminated strings, with no lengths. Modifying this would
1262 require a new binary format, which would not work with other imple-
1265 Finally, characters may be given as three octal digits after a <STRONG>\</STRONG>.
1267 A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string capability,
1268 enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in <STRONG>el</STRONG>=\EK$<5>, and padding characters
1269 are supplied by <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">tputs(3x)</A></STRONG> to provide this delay.
1271 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The delay must be a number with at most one decimal place of preci-
1272 sion; it may be followed by suffixes "*" or "/" or both.
1274 <STRONG>o</STRONG> A "*" indicates that the padding required is proportional to the
1275 number of lines affected by the operation, and the amount given is
1276 the per-affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert
1277 character, the factor is still the number of <EM>lines</EM> affected.)
1279 Normally, padding is advisory if the device has the <STRONG>xon</STRONG> capability;
1280 it is used for cost computation but does not trigger delays.
1282 <STRONG>o</STRONG> A "/" suffix indicates that the padding is mandatory and forces a
1283 delay of the given number of milliseconds even on devices for which
1284 <STRONG>xon</STRONG> is present to indicate flow control.
1286 Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out. To do this,
1287 put a period before the capability name. For example, see the second
1288 <STRONG>ind</STRONG> in the example above.
1291 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Fetching-Compiled-Descriptions">Fetching Compiled Descriptions</a></H3><PRE>
1292 The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library searches for terminal descriptions in several
1293 places. It uses only the first description found. The library has a
1294 compiled-in list of places to search which can be overridden by envi-
1295 ronment variables. Before starting to search, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> eliminates
1296 duplicates in its search list.
1298 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is interpreted as
1299 the pathname of a directory containing the compiled description you
1300 are working on. Only that directory is searched.
1302 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If TERMINFO is not set, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> will instead look in the directory
1303 <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> for a compiled description.
1305 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Next, if the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS is set, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
1306 will interpret the contents of that variable as a list of colon-
1307 separated directories (or database files) to be searched.
1309 An empty directory name (i.e., if the variable begins or ends with
1310 a colon, or contains adjacent colons) is interpreted as the system
1311 location <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>.
1313 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Finally, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> searches these compiled-in locations:
1315 <STRONG>o</STRONG> a list of directories (/usr/local/ncurses/share/ter-
1316 minfo:/usr/share/terminfo), and
1318 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the system terminfo directory, <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM> (the com-
1322 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Preparing-Descriptions">Preparing Descriptions</a></H3><PRE>
1323 We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals. The most
1324 effective way to prepare a terminal description is by imitating the
1325 description of a similar terminal in <EM>terminfo</EM> and to build up a
1326 description gradually, using partial descriptions with <EM>vi</EM> or some other
1327 screen-oriented program to check that they are correct. Be aware that
1328 a very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the ability of the
1329 <EM>terminfo</EM> file to describe it or bugs in the screen-handling code of the
1332 To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal manufacturer
1333 did not document it) a severe test is to edit a large file at 9600
1334 baud, delete 16 or so lines from the middle of the screen, then hit the
1335 "u" key several times quickly. If the terminal messes up, more padding
1336 is usually needed. A similar test can be used for insert character.
1339 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Basic-Capabilities">Basic Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
1340 The number of columns on each line for the terminal is given by the
1341 <STRONG>cols</STRONG> numeric capability. If the terminal is a CRT, then the number of
1342 lines on the screen is given by the <STRONG>lines</STRONG> capability. If the terminal
1343 wraps around to the beginning of the next line when it reaches the
1344 right margin, then it should have the <STRONG>am</STRONG> capability. If the terminal
1345 can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home position, then
1346 this is given by the <STRONG>clear</STRONG> string capability. If the terminal over-
1347 strikes (rather than clearing a position when a character is struck
1348 over) then it should have the <STRONG>os</STRONG> capability. If the terminal is a
1349 printing terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both <STRONG>hc</STRONG> and <STRONG>os</STRONG>. (<STRONG>os</STRONG>
1350 applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX 4010 series, as
1351 well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If there is a code to move the
1352 cursor to the left edge of the current row, give this as <STRONG>cr</STRONG>. (Normally
1353 this will be carriage return, control/M.) If there is a code to pro-
1354 duce an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as <STRONG>bel</STRONG>.
1356 If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the left (such as
1357 backspace) that capability should be given as <STRONG>cub1</STRONG>. Similarly, codes
1358 to move to the right, up, and down should be given as <STRONG>cuf1</STRONG>, <STRONG>cuu1</STRONG>, and
1359 <STRONG>cud1</STRONG>. These local cursor motions should not alter the text they pass
1360 over, for example, you would not normally use "<STRONG>cuf1</STRONG>= " because the
1361 space would erase the character moved over.
1363 A very important point here is that the local cursor motions encoded in
1364 <EM>terminfo</EM> are undefined at the left and top edges of a CRT terminal.
1365 Programs should never attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless
1366 <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top. In order
1367 to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom left corner of the
1368 screen and send the <STRONG>ind</STRONG> (index) string.
1370 To scroll text down, a program goes to the top left corner of the
1371 screen and sends the <STRONG>ri</STRONG> (reverse index) string. The strings <STRONG>ind</STRONG> and <STRONG>ri</STRONG>
1372 are undefined when not on their respective corners of the screen.
1374 Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are <STRONG>indn</STRONG> and <STRONG>rin</STRONG>
1375 which have the same semantics as <STRONG>ind</STRONG> and <STRONG>ri</STRONG> except that they take one
1376 parameter, and scroll that many lines. They are also undefined except
1377 at the appropriate edge of the screen.
1379 The <STRONG>am</STRONG> capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the right edge of
1380 the screen when text is output, but this does not necessarily apply to
1381 a <STRONG>cuf1</STRONG> from the last column. The only local motion which is defined
1382 from the left edge is if <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is given, then a <STRONG>cub1</STRONG> from the left edge
1383 will move to the right edge of the previous row. If <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is not given,
1384 the effect is undefined. This is useful for drawing a box around the
1385 edge of the screen, for example. If the terminal has switch selectable
1386 automatic margins, the <EM>terminfo</EM> file usually assumes that this is on;
1387 i.e., <STRONG>am</STRONG>. If the terminal has a command which moves to the first col-
1388 umn of the next line, that command can be given as <STRONG>nel</STRONG> (newline). It
1389 does not matter if the command clears the remainder of the current
1390 line, so if the terminal has no <STRONG>cr</STRONG> and <STRONG>lf</STRONG> it may still be possible to
1391 craft a working <STRONG>nel</STRONG> out of one or both of them.
1393 These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and "glass-tty" termi-
1394 nals. Thus the model 33 teletype is described as
1396 33|tty33|tty|model 33 teletype,
1397 bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os,
1399 while the Lear Siegler ADM-3 is described as
1402 am, bel=^G, clear=^Z, cols#80, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,
1406 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Parameterized-Strings">Parameterized Strings</a></H3><PRE>
1407 Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters in the termi-
1408 nal are described by a parameterized string capability, with <EM>printf</EM>-
1409 like escapes such as <EM>%x</EM> in it. For example, to address the cursor, the
1410 <STRONG>cup</STRONG> capability is given, using two parameters: the row and column to
1411 address to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and refer to the
1412 physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen memory.) If the
1413 terminal has memory relative cursor addressing, that can be indicated
1414 by <STRONG>mrcup</STRONG>.
1416 The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special <STRONG>%</STRONG> codes to manipulate
1417 it. Typically a sequence will push one of the parameters onto the
1418 stack and then print it in some format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a spe-
1419 cial case. Other operations, including "%t" pop their operand from the
1420 stack. It is noted that more complex operations are often necessary,
1421 e.g., in the <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> string.
1423 The <STRONG>%</STRONG> encodings have the following meanings:
1425 <STRONG>%%</STRONG> outputs "%"
1427 <STRONG>%</STRONG><EM>[[</EM>:<EM>]flags][width[.precision]][</EM><STRONG>doxXs</STRONG><EM>]</EM>
1428 as in <STRONG>printf(3)</STRONG>, flags are <EM>[-+#]</EM> and <EM>space</EM>. Use a ":" to allow
1429 the next character to be a "-" flag, avoiding interpreting "%-" as
1432 %c print <EM>pop()</EM> like %c in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>
1434 <STRONG>%s</STRONG> print <EM>pop()</EM> like %s in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>
1436 <STRONG>%p</STRONG><EM>[1-9]</EM>
1437 push <EM>i</EM>'th parameter
1439 <STRONG>%P</STRONG><EM>[a-z]</EM>
1440 set dynamic variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> to <EM>pop()</EM>
1442 <STRONG>%g</STRONG><EM>[a-z]/</EM>
1443 get dynamic variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> and push it
1445 <STRONG>%P</STRONG><EM>[A-Z]</EM>
1446 set static variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> to <EM>pop()</EM>
1448 <STRONG>%g</STRONG><EM>[A-Z]</EM>
1449 get static variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> and push it
1451 The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading. Historically,
1452 these are simply two different sets of variables, whose values are
1453 not reset between calls to <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">tparm(3x)</A></STRONG>. However, that fact is not
1454 documented in other implementations. Relying on it will adversely
1455 impact portability to other implementations.
1457 <STRONG>%'</STRONG><EM>c</EM><STRONG>'</STRONG> char constant <EM>c</EM>
1459 <STRONG>%{</STRONG><EM>nn</EM><STRONG>}</STRONG>
1460 integer constant <EM>nn</EM>
1462 <STRONG>%l</STRONG> push strlen(pop)
1464 <STRONG>%+</STRONG>, <STRONG>%-</STRONG>, <STRONG>%*</STRONG>, <STRONG>%/</STRONG>, <STRONG>%m</STRONG>
1465 arithmetic (%m is <EM>mod</EM>): <EM>push(pop()</EM> <EM>op</EM> <EM>pop())</EM>
1467 <STRONG>%&</STRONG>, <STRONG>%|</STRONG>, <STRONG>%^</STRONG>
1468 bit operations (AND, OR and exclusive-OR): <EM>push(pop()</EM> <EM>op</EM> <EM>pop())</EM>
1470 <STRONG>%=</STRONG>, <STRONG>%></STRONG>, <STRONG>%<</STRONG>
1471 logical operations: <EM>push(pop()</EM> <EM>op</EM> <EM>pop())</EM>
1473 <STRONG>%A</STRONG>, <STRONG>%O</STRONG>
1474 logical AND and OR operations (for conditionals)
1476 <STRONG>%!</STRONG>, <STRONG>%~</STRONG>
1477 unary operations (logical and bit complement): <EM>push(op</EM> <EM>pop())</EM>
1479 <STRONG>%i</STRONG> add 1 to first two parameters (for ANSI terminals)
1481 <STRONG>%?</STRONG> <EM>expr</EM> <STRONG>%t</STRONG> <EM>thenpart</EM> <STRONG>%e</STRONG> <EM>elsepart</EM> <STRONG>%;</STRONG>
1482 This forms an if-then-else. The <STRONG>%e</STRONG> <EM>elsepart</EM> is optional. Usually
1483 the <STRONG>%?</STRONG> <EM>expr</EM> part pushes a value onto the stack, and <STRONG>%t</STRONG> pops it
1484 from the stack, testing if it is nonzero (true). If it is zero
1485 (false), control passes to the <STRONG>%e</STRONG> (else) part.
1487 It is possible to form else-if's a la Algol 68:
1488 <STRONG>%?</STRONG> c1 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b1 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> c2 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b2 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> c3 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b3 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> c4 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b4 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> <STRONG>%;</STRONG>
1490 where ci are conditions, bi are bodies.
1492 Use the <STRONG>-f</STRONG> option of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> or <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> to see the structure of if-
1493 then-else's. Some strings, e.g., <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> can be very complicated when
1494 written on one line. The <STRONG>-f</STRONG> option splits the string into lines
1495 with the parts indented.
1497 Binary operations are in postfix form with the operands in the usual
1498 order. That is, to get x-5 one would use "%gx%{5}%-". <STRONG>%P</STRONG> and <STRONG>%g</STRONG> vari-
1499 ables are persistent across escape-string evaluations.
1501 Consider the HP2645, which, to get to row 3 and column 12, needs to be
1502 sent \E&a12c03Y padded for 6 milliseconds. Note that the order of the
1503 rows and columns is inverted here, and that the row and column are
1504 printed as two digits. Thus its <STRONG>cup</STRONG> capability is
1505 "cup=6\E&%p2%2dc%p1%2dY".
1507 The Microterm ACT-IV needs the current row and column sent preceded by
1508 a <STRONG>^T</STRONG>, with the row and column simply encoded in binary,
1509 "cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c". Terminals which use "%c" need to be able to
1510 backspace the cursor (<STRONG>cub1</STRONG>), and to move the cursor up one line on the
1511 screen (<STRONG>cuu1</STRONG>). This is necessary because it is not always safe to
1512 transmit <STRONG>\n</STRONG> <STRONG>^D</STRONG> and <STRONG>\r</STRONG>, as the system may change or discard them. (The
1513 library routines dealing with terminfo set tty modes so that tabs are
1514 never expanded, so \t is safe to send. This turns out to be essential
1515 for the Ann Arbor 4080.)
1517 A final example is the LSI ADM-3a, which uses row and column offset by
1518 a blank character, thus "cup=\E=%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c". After sending
1519 "\E=", this pushes the first parameter, pushes the ASCII value for a
1520 space (32), adds them (pushing the sum on the stack in place of the two
1521 previous values) and outputs that value as a character. Then the same
1522 is done for the second parameter. More complex arithmetic is possible
1526 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Cursor-Motions">Cursor Motions</a></H3><PRE>
1527 If the terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to very upper left
1528 corner of screen) then this can be given as <STRONG>home</STRONG>; similarly a fast way
1529 of getting to the lower left-hand corner can be given as <STRONG>ll</STRONG>; this may
1530 involve going up with <STRONG>cuu1</STRONG> from the home position, but a program should
1531 never do this itself (unless <STRONG>ll</STRONG> does) because it can make no assumption
1532 about the effect of moving up from the home position. Note that the
1533 home position is the same as addressing to (0,0): to the top left cor-
1534 ner of the screen, not of memory. (Thus, the \EH sequence on HP termi-
1535 nals cannot be used for <STRONG>home</STRONG>.)
1537 If the terminal has row or column absolute cursor addressing, these can
1538 be given as single parameter capabilities <STRONG>hpa</STRONG> (horizontal position
1539 absolute) and <STRONG>vpa</STRONG> (vertical position absolute). Sometimes these are
1540 shorter than the more general two parameter sequence (as with the
1541 hp2645) and can be used in preference to <STRONG>cup</STRONG>. If there are parameter-
1542 ized local motions (e.g., move <EM>n</EM> spaces to the right) these can be
1543 given as <STRONG>cud</STRONG>, <STRONG>cub</STRONG>, <STRONG>cuf</STRONG>, and <STRONG>cuu</STRONG> with a single parameter indicating how
1544 many spaces to move. These are primarily useful if the terminal does
1545 not have <STRONG>cup</STRONG>, such as the TEKTRONIX 4025.
1547 If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running a program
1548 that uses these capabilities, the codes to enter and exit this mode can
1549 be given as <STRONG>smcup</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmcup</STRONG>. This arises, for example, from terminals
1550 like the Concept with more than one page of memory. If the terminal
1551 has only memory relative cursor addressing and not screen relative cur-
1552 sor addressing, a one screen-sized window must be fixed into the termi-
1553 nal for cursor addressing to work properly. This is also used for the
1554 TEKTRONIX 4025, where <STRONG>smcup</STRONG> sets the command character to be the one
1555 used by terminfo. If the <STRONG>smcup</STRONG> sequence will not restore the screen
1556 after an <STRONG>rmcup</STRONG> sequence is output (to the state prior to outputting
1557 <STRONG>rmcup</STRONG>), specify <STRONG>nrrmc</STRONG>.
1560 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Area-Clears">Area Clears</a></H3><PRE>
1561 If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end of the
1562 line, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be given as <STRONG>el</STRONG>. If
1563 the terminal can clear from the beginning of the line to the current
1564 position inclusive, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be
1565 given as <STRONG>el1</STRONG>. If the terminal can clear from the current position to
1566 the end of the display, then this should be given as <STRONG>ed</STRONG>. <STRONG>Ed</STRONG> is only
1567 defined from the first column of a line. (Thus, it can be simulated by
1568 a request to delete a large number of lines, if a true <STRONG>ed</STRONG> is not avail-
1572 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Insert_delete-line-and-vertical-motions">Insert/delete line and vertical motions</a></H3><PRE>
1573 If the terminal can open a new blank line before the line where the
1574 cursor is, this should be given as <STRONG>il1</STRONG>; this is done only from the
1575 first position of a line. The cursor must then appear on the newly
1576 blank line. If the terminal can delete the line which the cursor is
1577 on, then this should be given as <STRONG>dl1</STRONG>; this is done only from the first
1578 position on the line to be deleted. Versions of <STRONG>il1</STRONG> and <STRONG>dl1</STRONG> which take
1579 a single parameter and insert or delete that many lines can be given as
1580 <STRONG>il</STRONG> and <STRONG>dl</STRONG>.
1582 If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like the vt100) the
1583 command to set this can be described with the <STRONG>csr</STRONG> capability, which
1584 takes two parameters: the top and bottom lines of the scrolling region.
1585 The cursor position is, alas, undefined after using this command.
1587 It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line using <STRONG>csr</STRONG> on
1588 a properly chosen region; the <STRONG>sc</STRONG> and <STRONG>rc</STRONG> (save and restore cursor) com-
1589 mands may be useful for ensuring that your synthesized insert/delete
1590 string does not move the cursor. (Note that the <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG> library
1591 does this synthesis automatically, so you need not compose
1592 insert/delete strings for an entry with <STRONG>csr</STRONG>).
1594 Yet another way to construct insert and delete might be to use a combi-
1595 nation of index with the memory-lock feature found on some terminals
1596 (like the HP-700/90 series, which however also has insert/delete).
1598 Inserting lines at the top or bottom of the screen can also be done
1599 using <STRONG>ri</STRONG> or <STRONG>ind</STRONG> on many terminals without a true insert/delete line,
1600 and is often faster even on terminals with those features.
1602 The boolean <STRONG>non_dest_scroll_region</STRONG> should be set if each scrolling win-
1603 dow is effectively a view port on a screen-sized canvas. To test for
1604 this capability, create a scrolling region in the middle of the screen,
1605 write something to the bottom line, move the cursor to the top of the
1606 region, and do <STRONG>ri</STRONG> followed by <STRONG>dl1</STRONG> or <STRONG>ind</STRONG>. If the data scrolled off the
1607 bottom of the region by the <STRONG>ri</STRONG> re-appears, then scrolling is non-
1608 destructive. System V and XSI Curses expect that <STRONG>ind</STRONG>, <STRONG>ri</STRONG>, <STRONG>indn</STRONG>, and
1609 <STRONG>rin</STRONG> will simulate destructive scrolling; their documentation cautions
1610 you not to define <STRONG>csr</STRONG> unless this is true. This <STRONG>curses</STRONG> implementation
1611 is more liberal and will do explicit erases after scrolling if <STRONG>ndsrc</STRONG> is
1614 If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part of memory,
1615 which all commands affect, it should be given as the parameterized
1616 string <STRONG>wind</STRONG>. The four parameters are the starting and ending lines in
1617 memory and the starting and ending columns in memory, in that order.
1619 If the terminal can retain display memory above, then the <STRONG>da</STRONG> capability
1620 should be given; if display memory can be retained below, then <STRONG>db</STRONG>
1621 should be given. These indicate that deleting a line or scrolling may
1622 bring non-blank lines up from below or that scrolling back with <STRONG>ri</STRONG> may
1623 bring down non-blank lines.
1626 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Insert_Delete-Character">Insert/Delete Character</a></H3><PRE>
1627 There are two basic kinds of intelligent terminals with respect to
1628 insert/delete character which can be described using <EM>terminfo.</EM> The
1629 most common insert/delete character operations affect only the charac-
1630 ters on the current line and shift characters off the end of the line
1631 rigidly. Other terminals, such as the Concept 100 and the Perkin Elmer
1632 Owl, make a distinction between typed and untyped blanks on the screen,
1633 shifting upon an insert or delete only to an untyped blank on the
1634 screen which is either eliminated, or expanded to two untyped blanks.
1636 You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen
1637 and then typing text separated by cursor motions. Type "abc def"
1638 using local cursor motions (not spaces) between the "abc" and the
1639 "def". Then position the cursor before the "abc" and put the terminal
1640 in insert mode. If typing characters causes the rest of the line to
1641 shift rigidly and characters to fall off the end, then your terminal
1642 does not distinguish between blanks and untyped positions. If the
1643 "abc" shifts over to the "def" which then move together around the end
1644 of the current line and onto the next as you insert, you have the sec-
1645 ond type of terminal, and should give the capability <STRONG>in</STRONG>, which stands
1648 While these are two logically separate attributes (one line versus
1649 multi-line insert mode, and special treatment of untyped spaces) we
1650 have seen no terminals whose insert mode cannot be described with the
1653 Terminfo can describe both terminals which have an insert mode, and
1654 terminals which send a simple sequence to open a blank position on the
1655 current line. Give as <STRONG>smir</STRONG> the sequence to get into insert mode. Give
1656 as <STRONG>rmir</STRONG> the sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> any
1657 sequence needed to be sent just before sending the character to be
1658 inserted. Most terminals with a true insert mode will not give <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>;
1659 terminals which send a sequence to open a screen position should give
1662 If your terminal has both, insert mode is usually preferable to <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>.
1663 Technically, you should not give both unless the terminal actually
1664 requires both to be used in combination. Accordingly, some non-curses
1665 applications get confused if both are present; the symptom is doubled
1666 characters in an update using insert. This requirement is now rare;
1667 most <STRONG>ich</STRONG> sequences do not require previous smir, and most smir insert
1668 modes do not require <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> before each character. Therefore, the new
1669 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> actually assumes this is the case and uses either <STRONG>rmir</STRONG>/<STRONG>smir</STRONG> or
1670 <STRONG>ich</STRONG>/<STRONG>ich1</STRONG> as appropriate (but not both). If you have to write an entry
1671 to be used under new curses for a terminal old enough to need both,
1672 include the <STRONG>rmir</STRONG>/<STRONG>smir</STRONG> sequences in <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>.
1674 If post insert padding is needed, give this as a number of milliseconds
1675 in <STRONG>ip</STRONG> (a string option). Any other sequence which may need to be sent
1676 after an insert of a single character may also be given in <STRONG>ip</STRONG>. If your
1677 terminal needs both to be placed into an "insert mode" and a special
1678 code to precede each inserted character, then both <STRONG>smir</STRONG>/<STRONG>rmir</STRONG> and <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>
1679 can be given, and both will be used. The <STRONG>ich</STRONG> capability, with one
1680 parameter, <EM>n</EM>, will repeat the effects of <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> <EM>n</EM> times.
1682 If padding is necessary between characters typed while not in insert
1683 mode, give this as a number of milliseconds padding in <STRONG>rmp</STRONG>.
1685 It is occasionally necessary to move around while in insert mode to
1686 delete characters on the same line (e.g., if there is a tab after the
1687 insertion position). If your terminal allows motion while in insert
1688 mode you can give the capability <STRONG>mir</STRONG> to speed up inserting in this
1689 case. Omitting <STRONG>mir</STRONG> will affect only speed. Some terminals (notably
1690 Datamedia's) must not have <STRONG>mir</STRONG> because of the way their insert mode
1693 Finally, you can specify <STRONG>dch1</STRONG> to delete a single character, <STRONG>dch</STRONG> with
1694 one parameter, <EM>n</EM>, to delete <EM>n</EM> <EM>characters,</EM> and delete mode by giving
1695 <STRONG>smdc</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmdc</STRONG> to enter and exit delete mode (any mode the terminal
1696 needs to be placed in for <STRONG>dch1</STRONG> to work).
1698 A command to erase <EM>n</EM> characters (equivalent to outputting <EM>n</EM> blanks
1699 without moving the cursor) can be given as <STRONG>ech</STRONG> with one parameter.
1702 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Highlighting_-Underlining_-and-Visible-Bells">Highlighting, Underlining, and Visible Bells</a></H3><PRE>
1703 If your terminal has one or more kinds of display attributes, these can
1704 be represented in a number of different ways. You should choose one
1705 display form as <EM>standout</EM> <EM>mode</EM>, representing a good, high contrast,
1706 easy-on-the-eyes, format for highlighting error messages and other
1707 attention getters. (If you have a choice, reverse video plus half-
1708 bright is good, or reverse video alone.) The sequences to enter and
1709 exit standout mode are given as <STRONG>smso</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmso</STRONG>, respectively. If the
1710 code to change into or out of standout mode leaves one or even two
1711 blank spaces on the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do, then
1712 <STRONG>xmc</STRONG> should be given to tell how many spaces are left.
1714 Codes to begin underlining and end underlining can be given as <STRONG>smul</STRONG> and
1715 <STRONG>rmul</STRONG> respectively. If the terminal has a code to underline the current
1716 character and move the cursor one space to the right, such as the
1717 Microterm Mime, this can be given as <STRONG>uc</STRONG>.
1719 Other capabilities to enter various highlighting modes include <STRONG>blink</STRONG>
1720 (blinking) <STRONG>bold</STRONG> (bold or extra bright) <STRONG>dim</STRONG> (dim or half-bright) <STRONG>invis</STRONG>
1721 (blanking or invisible text) <STRONG>prot</STRONG> (protected) <STRONG>rev</STRONG> (reverse video) <STRONG>sgr0</STRONG>
1722 (turn off <EM>all</EM> attribute modes) <STRONG>smacs</STRONG> (enter alternate character set
1723 mode) and <STRONG>rmacs</STRONG> (exit alternate character set mode). Turning on any of
1724 these modes singly may or may not turn off other modes.
1726 If there is a sequence to set arbitrary combinations of modes, this
1727 should be given as <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> (set attributes), taking 9 parameters. Each
1728 parameter is either 0 or nonzero, as the corresponding attribute is on
1729 or off. The 9 parameters are, in order: standout, underline, reverse,
1730 blink, dim, bold, blank, protect, alternate character set. Not all
1731 modes need be supported by <STRONG>sgr</STRONG>, only those for which corresponding sep-
1732 arate attribute commands exist.
1734 For example, the DEC vt220 supports most of the modes:
1736 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> <STRONG>parameter</STRONG> <STRONG>attribute</STRONG> <STRONG>escape</STRONG> <STRONG>sequence</STRONG>
1739 p1 standout \E[0;1;7m
1740 p2 underline \E[0;4m
1743 p5 dim not available
1747 p9 altcharset ^O (off) ^N (on)
1749 We begin each escape sequence by turning off any existing modes, since
1750 there is no quick way to determine whether they are active. Standout
1751 is set up to be the combination of reverse and bold. The vt220 termi-
1752 nal has a protect mode, though it is not commonly used in sgr because
1753 it protects characters on the screen from the host's erasures. The
1754 altcharset mode also is different in that it is either ^O or ^N,
1755 depending on whether it is off or on. If all modes are turned on, the
1756 resulting sequence is \E[0;1;4;5;7;8m^N.
1758 Some sequences are common to different modes. For example, ;7 is out-
1759 put when either p1 or p3 is true, that is, if either standout or
1760 reverse modes are turned on.
1762 Writing out the above sequences, along with their dependencies yields
1764 <STRONG>sequence</STRONG> <STRONG>when</STRONG> <STRONG>to</STRONG> <STRONG>output</STRONG> <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <STRONG>translation</STRONG>
1767 ;1 if p1 or p6 %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;
1768 ;4 if p2 %?%p2%|%t;4%;
1769 ;5 if p4 %?%p4%|%t;5%;
1770 ;7 if p1 or p3 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;
1771 ;8 if p7 %?%p7%|%t;8%;
1773 ^N or ^O if p9 ^N, else ^O %?%p9%t^N%e^O%;
1775 Putting this all together into the sgr sequence gives:
1777 sgr=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;
1778 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p7%t;8%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;,
1780 Remember that if you specify sgr, you must also specify sgr0. Also,
1781 some implementations rely on sgr being given if sgr0 is, Not all ter-
1782 minfo entries necessarily have an sgr string, however. Many terminfo
1783 entries are derived from termcap entries which have no sgr string. The
1784 only drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also assumes that
1785 sgr0 does not exit alternate character set mode.
1787 Terminals with the "magic cookie" glitch (<STRONG>xmc</STRONG>) deposit special "cook-
1788 ies" when they receive mode-setting sequences, which affect the display
1789 algorithm rather than having extra bits for each character. Some ter-
1790 minals, such as the HP 2621, automatically leave standout mode when
1791 they move to a new line or the cursor is addressed. Programs using
1792 standout mode should exit standout mode before moving the cursor or
1793 sending a newline, unless the <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> capability, asserting that it is
1794 safe to move in standout mode, is present.
1796 If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indicate an error
1797 quietly (a bell replacement) then this can be given as <STRONG>flash</STRONG>; it must
1798 not move the cursor.
1800 If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal when it is not
1801 on the bottom line (to make, for example, a non-blinking underline into
1802 an easier to find block or blinking underline) give this sequence as
1803 <STRONG>cvvis</STRONG>. If there is a way to make the cursor completely invisible, give
1804 that as <STRONG>civis</STRONG>. The capability <STRONG>cnorm</STRONG> should be given which undoes the
1805 effects of both of these modes.
1807 If your terminal correctly generates underlined characters (with no
1808 special codes needed) even though it does not overstrike, then you
1809 should give the capability <STRONG>ul</STRONG>. If a character overstriking another
1810 leaves both characters on the screen, specify the capability <STRONG>os</STRONG>. If
1811 overstrikes are erasable with a blank, then this should be indicated by
1812 giving <STRONG>eo</STRONG>.
1815 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Keypad-and-Function-Keys">Keypad and Function Keys</a></H3><PRE>
1816 If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys are
1817 pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not possible
1818 to handle terminals where the keypad only works in local (this applies,
1819 for example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys). If the keypad can be set
1820 to transmit or not transmit, give these codes as <STRONG>smkx</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmkx</STRONG>. Other-
1821 wise the keypad is assumed to always transmit.
1823 The codes sent by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
1824 and home keys can be given as <STRONG>kcub1,</STRONG> <STRONG>kcuf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>kcuu1,</STRONG> <STRONG>kcud1,</STRONG> and <STRONG>khome</STRONG>
1825 respectively. If there are function keys such as f0, f1, ..., f10, the
1826 codes they send can be given as <STRONG>kf0,</STRONG> <STRONG>kf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>...,</STRONG> <STRONG>kf10</STRONG>. If these keys
1827 have labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels can be
1828 given as <STRONG>lf0,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>...,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf10</STRONG>.
1830 The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be given:
1832 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kll</STRONG> (home down),
1834 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kbs</STRONG> (backspace),
1836 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>ktbc</STRONG> (clear all tabs),
1838 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kctab</STRONG> (clear the tab stop in this column),
1840 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kclr</STRONG> (clear screen or erase key),
1842 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kdch1</STRONG> (delete character),
1844 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kdl1</STRONG> (delete line),
1846 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>krmir</STRONG> (exit insert mode),
1848 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kel</STRONG> (clear to end of line),
1850 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>ked</STRONG> (clear to end of screen),
1852 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kich1</STRONG> (insert character or enter insert mode),
1854 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kil1</STRONG> (insert line),
1856 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>knp</STRONG> (next page),
1858 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kpp</STRONG> (previous page),
1860 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kind</STRONG> (scroll forward/down),
1862 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kri</STRONG> (scroll backward/up),
1864 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>khts</STRONG> (set a tab stop in this column).
1866 In addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3 array of keys including the
1867 four arrow keys, the other five keys can be given as <STRONG>ka1</STRONG>, <STRONG>ka3</STRONG>, <STRONG>kb2</STRONG>,
1868 <STRONG>kc1</STRONG>, and <STRONG>kc3</STRONG>. These keys are useful when the effects of a 3 by 3
1869 directional pad are needed.
1871 Strings to program function keys can be given as <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG>, <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG>, and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG>.
1872 A string to program screen labels should be specified as <STRONG>pln</STRONG>. Each of
1873 these strings takes two parameters: the function key number to program
1874 (from 0 to 10) and the string to program it with. Function key numbers
1875 out of this range may program undefined keys in a terminal dependent
1876 manner. The difference between the capabilities is that <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG> causes
1877 pressing the given key to be the same as the user typing the given
1878 string; <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG> causes the string to be executed by the terminal in
1879 local; and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG> causes the string to be transmitted to the computer.
1881 The capabilities <STRONG>nlab</STRONG>, <STRONG>lw</STRONG> and <STRONG>lh</STRONG> define the number of programmable
1882 screen labels and their width and height. If there are commands to
1883 turn the labels on and off, give them in <STRONG>smln</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmln</STRONG>. <STRONG>smln</STRONG> is nor-
1884 mally output after one or more pln sequences to make sure that the
1885 change becomes visible.
1888 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Tabs-and-Initialization">Tabs and Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
1889 A few capabilities are used only for tabs:
1891 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the
1892 next tab stop can be given as <STRONG>ht</STRONG> (usually control/I).
1894 <STRONG>o</STRONG> A "back-tab" command which moves leftward to the preceding tab stop
1895 can be given as <STRONG>cbt</STRONG>.
1897 By convention, if the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being
1898 expanded by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal,
1899 programs should not use <STRONG>ht</STRONG> or <STRONG>cbt</STRONG> even if they are present, since
1900 the user may not have the tab stops properly set.
1902 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the terminal has hardware tabs which are initially set every <EM>n</EM>
1903 spaces when the terminal is powered up, the numeric parameter <STRONG>it</STRONG> is
1904 given, showing the number of spaces the tabs are set to.
1906 The <STRONG>it</STRONG> capability is normally used by the <STRONG>tset</STRONG> command to determine
1907 whether to set the mode for hardware tab expansion, and whether to
1908 set the tab stops. If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved
1909 in non-volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that
1910 they are properly set.
1912 Other capabilities include
1914 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>is1</STRONG>, <STRONG>is2</STRONG>, and <STRONG>is3</STRONG>, initialization strings for the terminal,
1916 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>, the path name of a program to be run to initialize the ter-
1919 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and <STRONG>if</STRONG>, the name of a file containing long initialization strings.
1921 These strings are expected to set the terminal into modes consistent
1922 with the rest of the terminfo description. They are normally sent to
1923 the terminal, by the <EM>init</EM> option of the <STRONG>tput</STRONG> program, each time the
1924 user logs in. They will be printed in the following order:
1927 <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>
1930 <STRONG>is1</STRONG> and
1931 <STRONG>is2</STRONG>
1933 set the margins using
1934 <STRONG>mgc</STRONG> or
1935 <STRONG>smglp</STRONG> and <STRONG>smgrp</STRONG> or
1936 <STRONG>smgl</STRONG> and <STRONG>smgr</STRONG>
1939 <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> and <STRONG>hts</STRONG>
1945 <STRONG>is3</STRONG>.
1947 Most initialization is done with <STRONG>is2</STRONG>. Special terminal modes can be
1948 set up without duplicating strings by putting the common sequences in
1949 <STRONG>is2</STRONG> and special cases in <STRONG>is1</STRONG> and <STRONG>is3</STRONG>.
1951 A set of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally unknown
1952 state can be given as <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG>, <STRONG>rf</STRONG> and <STRONG>rs3</STRONG>, analogous to <STRONG>is1</STRONG> <STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>is2</STRONG> <STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>if</STRONG>
1953 and <STRONG>is3</STRONG> respectively. These strings are output by <EM>reset</EM> option of
1954 <STRONG>tput</STRONG>, or by the <STRONG>reset</STRONG> program (an alias of <STRONG>tset</STRONG>), which is used when
1955 the terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are normally placed in
1956 <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG> <STRONG>rs3</STRONG> and <STRONG>rf</STRONG> only if they produce annoying effects on the screen
1957 and are not necessary when logging in. For example, the command to set
1958 the vt100 into 80-column mode would normally be part of <STRONG>is2</STRONG>, but it
1959 causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not normally needed
1960 since the terminal is usually already in 80-column mode.
1962 The <STRONG>reset</STRONG> program writes strings including <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>, etc., in the same
1963 order as the <EM>init</EM> program, using <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, etc., instead of <STRONG>is1</STRONG>, etc. If
1964 any of <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs3</STRONG>, or <STRONG>rf</STRONG> reset capability strings are missing, the
1965 <STRONG>reset</STRONG> program falls back upon the corresponding initialization capabil-
1968 If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can be given as
1969 <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> (clear all tab stops) and <STRONG>hts</STRONG> (set a tab stop in the current column
1970 of every row). If a more complex sequence is needed to set the tabs
1971 than can be described by this, the sequence can be placed in <STRONG>is2</STRONG> or <STRONG>if</STRONG>.
1973 The <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>reset</STRONG> command uses the same capability strings as the <STRONG>reset</STRONG>
1974 command, although the two programs (<STRONG>tput</STRONG> and <STRONG>reset</STRONG>) provide different
1975 command-line options.
1977 In practice, these terminfo capabilities are not often used in initial-
1978 ization of tabs (though they are required for the <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> program):
1980 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Almost all hardware terminals (at least those which supported tabs)
1981 initialized those to every <EM>eight</EM> columns:
1983 The only exception was the AT&T 2300 series, which set tabs to
1984 every <EM>five</EM> columns.
1986 <STRONG>o</STRONG> In particular, developers of the hardware terminals which are com-
1987 monly used as models for modern terminal emulators provided docu-
1988 mentation demonstrating that <EM>eight</EM> columns were the standard.
1990 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Because of this, the terminal initialization programs <STRONG>tput</STRONG> and <STRONG>tset</STRONG>
1991 use the <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> (<STRONG>clear_all_tabs</STRONG>) and <STRONG>hts</STRONG> (<STRONG>set_tab</STRONG>) capabilities
1992 directly only when the <STRONG>it</STRONG> (<STRONG>init_tabs</STRONG>) capability is set to a value
1993 other than <EM>eight</EM>.
1996 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Delays-and-Padding">Delays and Padding</a></H3><PRE>
1997 Many older and slower terminals do not support either XON/XOFF or DTR
1998 handshaking, including hard copy terminals and some very archaic CRTs
1999 (including, for example, DEC VT100s). These may require padding char-
2000 acters after certain cursor motions and screen changes.
2002 If the terminal uses xon/xoff handshaking for flow control (that is, it
2003 automatically emits ^S back to the host when its input buffers are
2004 close to full), set <STRONG>xon</STRONG>. This capability suppresses the emission of
2005 padding. You can also set it for memory-mapped console devices effec-
2006 tively that do not have a speed limit. Padding information should
2007 still be included so that routines can make better decisions about rel-
2008 ative costs, but actual pad characters will not be transmitted.
2010 If <STRONG>pb</STRONG> (padding baud rate) is given, padding is suppressed at baud rates
2011 below the value of <STRONG>pb</STRONG>. If the entry has no padding baud rate, then
2012 whether padding is emitted or not is completely controlled by <STRONG>xon</STRONG>.
2014 If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
2015 then this can be given as <STRONG>pad</STRONG>. Only the first character of the <STRONG>pad</STRONG>
2019 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Status-Lines">Status Lines</a></H3><PRE>
2020 Some terminals have an extra "status line" which is not normally used
2021 by software (and thus not counted in the terminal's <STRONG>lines</STRONG> capability).
2023 The simplest case is a status line which is cursor-addressable but not
2024 part of the main scrolling region on the screen; the Heathkit H19 has a
2025 status line of this kind, as would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line
2026 scrolling region set up on initialization. This situation is indicated
2027 by the <STRONG>hs</STRONG> capability.
2029 Some terminals with status lines need special sequences to access the
2030 status line. These may be expressed as a string with single parameter
2031 <STRONG>tsl</STRONG> which takes the cursor to a given zero-origin column on the status
2032 line. The capability <STRONG>fsl</STRONG> must return to the main-screen cursor posi-
2033 tions before the last <STRONG>tsl</STRONG>. You may need to embed the string values of
2034 <STRONG>sc</STRONG> (save cursor) and <STRONG>rc</STRONG> (restore cursor) in <STRONG>tsl</STRONG> and <STRONG>fsl</STRONG> to accomplish
2037 The status line is normally assumed to be the same width as the width
2038 of the terminal. If this is untrue, you can specify it with the
2039 numeric capability <STRONG>wsl</STRONG>.
2041 A command to erase or blank the status line may be specified as <STRONG>dsl</STRONG>.
2043 The boolean capability <STRONG>eslok</STRONG> specifies that escape sequences, tabs,
2044 etc., work ordinarily in the status line.
2046 The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation does not yet use any of these capabilities.
2047 They are documented here in case they ever become important.
2050 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Line-Graphics">Line Graphics</a></H3><PRE>
2051 Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for forms-drawing.
2052 Terminfo and <STRONG>curses</STRONG> have built-in support for most of the drawing char-
2053 acters supported by the VT100, with some characters from the AT&T
2054 4410v1 added. This alternate character set may be specified by the
2055 <STRONG>acsc</STRONG> capability.
2057 <STRONG>Glyph</STRONG> <STRONG>ACS</STRONG> <STRONG>Ascii</STRONG> <STRONG>acsc</STRONG> <STRONG>acsc</STRONG>
2058 <STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Default</STRONG> <STRONG>Char</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG>
2059 --------------------------------------------------------------------
2060 arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > + 0x2b
2061 arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < , 0x2c
2062 arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ - 0x2d
2063 arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v . 0x2e
2064 solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0 0x30
2065 diamond ACS_DIAMOND + ` 0x60
2066 checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a 0x61
2067 degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \ f 0x66
2068 plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g 0x67
2069 board of squares ACS_BOARD # h 0x68
2070 lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i 0x69
2071 lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j 0x6a
2072 upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k 0x6b
2073 upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l 0x6c
2074 lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m 0x6d
2075 large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n 0x6e
2076 scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o 0x6f
2077 scan line 3 ACS_S3 - p 0x70
2078 horizontal line ACS_HLINE - q 0x71
2079 scan line 7 ACS_S7 - r 0x72
2080 scan line 9 ACS_S9 _ s 0x73
2081 tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t 0x74
2082 tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u 0x75
2083 tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v 0x76
2084 tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w 0x77
2085 vertical line ACS_VLINE | x 0x78
2086 less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y 0x79
2087 greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z 0x7a
2088 greek pi ACS_PI * { 0x7b
2089 not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! | 0x7c
2090 UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f } 0x7d
2091 bullet ACS_BULLET o ~ 0x7e
2093 A few notes apply to the table itself:
2095 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses incorrectly states that the mapping for <EM>lantern</EM> is
2096 uppercase "I" although Unix implementations use the lowercase "i"
2099 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The DEC VT100 implemented graphics using the alternate character
2100 set feature, temporarily switching <EM>modes</EM> and sending characters in
2101 the range 0x60 (96) to 0x7e (126) (the <STRONG>acsc</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG> column in the ta-
2104 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The AT&T terminal added graphics characters outside that range.
2106 Some of the characters within the range do not match the VT100;
2107 presumably they were used in the AT&T terminal: <EM>board</EM> <EM>of</EM> <EM>squares</EM>
2108 replaces the VT100 <EM>newline</EM> symbol, while <EM>lantern</EM> <EM>symbol</EM> replaces
2109 the VT100 <EM>vertical</EM> <EM>tab</EM> symbol. The other VT100 symbols for control
2110 characters (<EM>horizontal</EM> <EM>tab</EM>, <EM>carriage</EM> <EM>return</EM> and <EM>line-feed</EM>) are not
2113 The best way to define a new device's graphics set is to add a column
2114 to a copy of this table for your terminal, giving the character which
2115 (when emitted between <STRONG>smacs</STRONG>/<STRONG>rmacs</STRONG> switches) will be rendered as the
2116 corresponding graphic. Then read off the VT100/your terminal character
2117 pairs right to left in sequence; these become the ACSC string.
2120 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Color-Handling">Color Handling</a></H3><PRE>
2121 The curses library functions <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG> and <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> manipulate the
2122 <EM>color</EM> <EM>pairs</EM> and <EM>color</EM> <EM>values</EM> discussed in this section (see
2123 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG> for details on these and related functions).
2125 Most color terminals are either "Tektronix-like" or "HP-like":
2127 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Tektronix-like terminals have a predefined set of <EM>N</EM> colors (where <EM>N</EM>
2128 is usually 8), and can set character-cell foreground and background
2129 characters independently, mixing them into <EM>N</EM> * <EM>N</EM> color-pairs.
2131 <STRONG>o</STRONG> On HP-like terminals, the user must set each color pair up sepa-
2132 rately (foreground and background are not independently settable).
2133 Up to <EM>M</EM> color-pairs may be set up from 2*<EM>M</EM> different colors. ANSI-
2134 compatible terminals are Tektronix-like.
2136 Some basic color capabilities are independent of the color method. The
2137 numeric capabilities <STRONG>colors</STRONG> and <STRONG>pairs</STRONG> specify the maximum numbers of
2138 colors and color-pairs that can be displayed simultaneously. The <STRONG>op</STRONG>
2139 (original pair) string resets foreground and background colors to their
2140 default values for the terminal. The <STRONG>oc</STRONG> string resets all colors or
2141 color-pairs to their default values for the terminal. Some terminals
2142 (including many PC terminal emulators) erase screen areas with the cur-
2143 rent background color rather than the power-up default background;
2144 these should have the boolean capability <STRONG>bce</STRONG>.
2146 While the curses library works with <EM>color</EM> <EM>pairs</EM> (reflecting the inabil-
2147 ity of some devices to set foreground and background colors indepen-
2148 dently), there are separate capabilities for setting these features:
2150 <STRONG>o</STRONG> To change the current foreground or background color on a Tek-
2151 tronix-type terminal, use <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> (set ANSI foreground) and <STRONG>setab</STRONG>
2152 (set ANSI background) or <STRONG>setf</STRONG> (set foreground) and <STRONG>setb</STRONG> (set back-
2153 ground). These take one parameter, the color number. The SVr4
2154 documentation describes only <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG>; the XPG4 draft says that
2155 "If the terminal supports ANSI escape sequences to set background
2156 and foreground, they should be coded as <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setab</STRONG>, respec-
2159 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the terminal supports other escape sequences to set background
2160 and foreground, they should be coded as <STRONG>setf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setb</STRONG>, respec-
2161 tively. The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> and the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">refresh(3x)</A></STRONG> functions use the <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>
2162 and <STRONG>setab</STRONG> capabilities if they are defined.
2164 The <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG> and <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> capabilities take a single numeric argu-
2165 ment each. Argument values 0-7 of <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG> are portably defined as
2166 follows (the middle column is the symbolic #define available in the
2167 header for the <STRONG>curses</STRONG> or <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> libraries). The terminal hardware is
2168 free to map these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal loca-
2169 tions in color space.
2171 <STRONG>Color</STRONG> <STRONG>#define</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG> <STRONG>RGB</STRONG>
2172 black <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> 0 0, 0, 0
2173 red <STRONG>COLOR_RED</STRONG> 1 max,0,0
2174 green <STRONG>COLOR_GREEN</STRONG> 2 0,max,0
2175 yellow <STRONG>COLOR_YELLOW</STRONG> 3 max,max,0
2176 blue <STRONG>COLOR_BLUE</STRONG> 4 0,0,max
2177 magenta <STRONG>COLOR_MAGENTA</STRONG> 5 max,0,max
2178 cyan <STRONG>COLOR_CYAN</STRONG> 6 0,max,max
2179 white <STRONG>COLOR_WHITE</STRONG> 7 max,max,max
2181 The argument values of <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> historically correspond to a different
2184 <STRONG>Color</STRONG> <STRONG>#define</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG> <STRONG>RGB</STRONG>
2185 black <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> 0 0, 0, 0
2186 blue <STRONG>COLOR_BLUE</STRONG> 1 0,0,max
2187 green <STRONG>COLOR_GREEN</STRONG> 2 0,max,0
2188 cyan <STRONG>COLOR_CYAN</STRONG> 3 0,max,max
2189 red <STRONG>COLOR_RED</STRONG> 4 max,0,0
2190 magenta <STRONG>COLOR_MAGENTA</STRONG> 5 max,0,max
2191 yellow <STRONG>COLOR_YELLOW</STRONG> 6 max,max,0
2192 white <STRONG>COLOR_WHITE</STRONG> 7 max,max,max
2194 It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capabilities; oth-
2195 erwise red/blue will be interchanged on the display.
2197 On an HP-like terminal, use <STRONG>scp</STRONG> with a color-pair number parameter to
2198 set which color pair is current.
2200 Some terminals allow the <EM>color</EM> <EM>values</EM> to be modified:
2202 <STRONG>o</STRONG> On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability <STRONG>ccc</STRONG> may be present to
2203 indicate that colors can be modified. If so, the <STRONG>initc</STRONG> capability
2204 will take a color number (0 to <STRONG>colors</STRONG> - 1)and three more parameters
2205 which describe the color. These three parameters default to being
2206 interpreted as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values. If the boolean capa-
2207 bility <STRONG>hls</STRONG> is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness,
2208 Saturation) indices. The ranges are terminal-dependent.
2210 <STRONG>o</STRONG> On an HP-like terminal, <STRONG>initp</STRONG> may give a capability for changing a
2211 color-pair value. It will take seven parameters; a color-pair num-
2212 ber (0 to <STRONG>max_pairs</STRONG> - 1), and two triples describing first back-
2213 ground and then foreground colors. These parameters must be (Red,
2214 Green, Blue) or (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on <STRONG>hls</STRONG>.
2216 On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights. You can reg-
2217 ister these collisions with the <STRONG>ncv</STRONG> capability. This is a bit-mask of
2218 attributes not to be used when colors are enabled. The correspondence
2219 with the attributes understood by <STRONG>curses</STRONG> is as follows:
2221 <STRONG>Attribute</STRONG> <STRONG>Bit</STRONG> <STRONG>Decimal</STRONG> <STRONG>Set</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
2230 A_ALTCHARSET 8 256 sgr
2231 A_HORIZONTAL 9 512 sgr1
2234 A_RIGHT 12 4096 sgr1
2236 A_VERTICAL 14 16384 sgr1
2237 A_ITALIC 15 32768 sitm
2239 For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline attribute collides
2240 with the foreground color blue and is not available in color mode.
2241 These should have an <STRONG>ncv</STRONG> capability of 2.
2243 SVr4 curses does nothing with <STRONG>ncv</STRONG>, ncurses recognizes it and optimizes
2244 the output in favor of colors.
2247 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Miscellaneous">Miscellaneous</a></H3><PRE>
2248 If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
2249 then this can be given as pad. Only the first character of the pad
2250 string is used. If the terminal does not have a pad character, specify
2251 npc. Note that ncurses implements the termcap-compatible <STRONG>PC</STRONG> variable;
2252 though the application may set this value to something other than a
2253 null, ncurses will test <STRONG>npc</STRONG> first and use napms if the terminal has no
2256 If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can be indicated
2257 with <STRONG>hu</STRONG> (half-line up) and <STRONG>hd</STRONG> (half-line down). This is primarily use-
2258 ful for superscripts and subscripts on hard-copy terminals. If a hard-
2259 copy terminal can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as <STRONG>ff</STRONG>
2260 (usually control/L).
2262 If there is a command to repeat a given character a given number of
2263 times (to save time transmitting a large number of identical charac-
2264 ters) this can be indicated with the parameterized string <STRONG>rep</STRONG>. The
2265 first parameter is the character to be repeated and the second is the
2266 number of times to repeat it. Thus, tparm(repeat_char, 'x', 10) is the
2267 same as "xxxxxxxxxx".
2269 If the terminal has a settable command character, such as the TEKTRONIX
2270 4025, this can be indicated with <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG>. A prototype command character
2271 is chosen which is used in all capabilities. This character is given
2272 in the <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG> capability to identify it. The following convention is
2273 supported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be searched for a
2274 <STRONG>CC</STRONG> variable, and if found, all occurrences of the prototype character
2275 are replaced with the character in the environment variable.
2277 Terminal descriptions that do not represent a specific kind of known
2278 terminal, such as <EM>switch</EM>, <EM>dialup</EM>, <EM>patch</EM>, and <EM>network</EM>, should include
2279 the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (generic) capability so that programs can complain that they do
2280 not know how to talk to the terminal. (This capability does not apply
2281 to <EM>virtual</EM> terminal descriptions for which the escape sequences are
2284 If the terminal has a "meta key" which acts as a shift key, setting the
2285 8th bit of any character transmitted, this fact can be indicated with
2286 <STRONG>km</STRONG>. Otherwise, software will assume that the 8th bit is parity and it
2287 will usually be cleared. If strings exist to turn this "meta mode" on
2288 and off, they can be given as <STRONG>smm</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmm</STRONG>.
2290 If the terminal has more lines of memory than will fit on the screen at
2291 once, the number of lines of memory can be indicated with <STRONG>lm</STRONG>. A value
2292 of <STRONG>lm</STRONG>#0 indicates that the number of lines is not fixed, but that there
2293 is still more memory than fits on the screen.
2295 If the terminal is one of those supported by the UNIX virtual terminal
2296 protocol, the terminal number can be given as <STRONG>vt</STRONG>.
2298 Media copy strings which control an auxiliary printer connected to the
2299 terminal can be given as <STRONG>mc0</STRONG>: print the contents of the screen, <STRONG>mc4</STRONG>:
2300 turn off the printer, and <STRONG>mc5</STRONG>: turn on the printer. When the printer
2301 is on, all text sent to the terminal will be sent to the printer. It
2302 is undefined whether the text is also displayed on the terminal screen
2303 when the printer is on. A variation <STRONG>mc5p</STRONG> takes one parameter, and
2304 leaves the printer on for as many characters as the value of the param-
2305 eter, then turns the printer off. The parameter should not exceed 255.
2306 All text, including <STRONG>mc4</STRONG>, is transparently passed to the printer while
2307 an <STRONG>mc5p</STRONG> is in effect.
2310 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Glitches-and-Braindamage">Glitches and Braindamage</a></H3><PRE>
2311 Hazeltine terminals, which do not allow "~" characters to be displayed
2312 should indicate <STRONG>hz</STRONG>.
2314 Terminals which ignore a line-feed immediately after an <STRONG>am</STRONG> wrap, such
2315 as the Concept and vt100, should indicate <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>.
2317 If <STRONG>el</STRONG> is required to get rid of standout (instead of merely writing
2318 normal text on top of it), <STRONG>xhp</STRONG> should be given.
2320 Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved over to blanks,
2321 should indicate <STRONG>xt</STRONG> (destructive tabs). Note: the variable indicating
2322 this is now "dest_tabs_magic_smso"; in older versions, it was tel-
2323 eray_glitch. This glitch is also taken to mean that it is not possible
2324 to position the cursor on top of a "magic cookie", that to erase stand-
2325 out mode it is instead necessary to use delete and insert line. The
2326 ncurses implementation ignores this glitch.
2328 The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly transmit the escape
2329 or control/C characters, has <STRONG>xsb</STRONG>, indicating that the f1 key is used
2330 for escape and f2 for control/C. (Only certain Superbees have this
2331 problem, depending on the ROM.) Note that in older terminfo versions,
2332 this capability was called "beehive_glitch"; it is now "no_esc_ctl_c".
2334 Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by adding more capa-
2335 bilities of the form <STRONG>x</STRONG><EM>x</EM>.
2338 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Pitfalls-of-Long-Entries">Pitfalls of Long Entries</a></H3><PRE>
2339 Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to date, no entry
2340 has even approached terminfo's 4096-byte string-table maximum. Unfor-
2341 tunately, the termcap translations are much more strictly limited (to
2342 1023 bytes), thus termcap translations of long terminfo entries can
2345 The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> instruct the
2346 user to allocate a 1024-byte buffer for the termcap entry. The entry
2347 gets null-terminated by the termcap library, so that makes the maximum
2348 safe length for a termcap entry 1k-1 (1023) bytes. Depending on what
2349 the application and the termcap library being used does, and where in
2350 the termcap file the terminal type that <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> is searching for is,
2351 several bad things can happen.
2353 Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if they find an
2354 entry that's longer than 1023 bytes; others do not; others truncate the
2355 entries to 1023 bytes. Some application programs allocate more than
2356 the recommended 1K for the termcap entry; others do not.
2358 Each termcap entry has two important sizes associated with it: before
2359 "tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion. "tc" is the capability that
2360 tacks on another termcap entry to the end of the current one, to add on
2361 its capabilities. If a termcap entry does not use the "tc" capability,
2362 then of course the two lengths are the same.
2364 The "before tc expansion" length is the most important one, because it
2365 affects more than just users of that particular terminal. This is the
2366 length of the entry as it exists in /etc/termcap, minus the backslash-
2367 newline pairs, which <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> strips out while reading it. Some termcap
2368 libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap does not). Now
2371 <STRONG>o</STRONG> a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023 bytes long,
2373 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and the application has only allocated a 1k buffer,
2375 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and the termcap library (like the one in BSD/OS 1.1 and GNU) reads
2376 the whole entry into the buffer, no matter what its length, to see
2377 if it is the entry it wants,
2379 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> is searching for a terminal type that either is the
2380 long entry, appears in the termcap file after the long entry, or
2381 does not appear in the file at all (so that <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> has to search
2382 the whole termcap file).
2384 Then <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack, and probably
2385 core dump the program. Programs like telnet are particularly vulnera-
2386 ble; modern telnets pass along values like the terminal type automati-
2387 cally. The results are almost as undesirable with a termcap library,
2388 like SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages when it
2389 reads an overly long termcap entry. If a termcap library truncates
2390 long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is immune to dying here but will
2391 return incorrect data for the terminal.
2393 The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect to the
2394 above, but only for people who actually set TERM to that terminal type,
2395 since <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> only does "tc" expansion once it is found the terminal
2396 type it was looking for, not while searching.
2398 In summary, a termcap entry that is longer than 1023 bytes can cause,
2399 on various combinations of termcap libraries and applications, a core
2400 dump, warnings, or incorrect operation. If it is too long even before
2401 "tc" expansion, it will have this effect even for users of some other
2402 terminal types and users whose TERM variable does not have a termcap
2405 When in -C (translate to termcap) mode, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation of
2406 <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG> issues warning messages when the pre-tc length of a termcap
2407 translation is too long. The -c (check) option also checks resolved
2408 (after tc expansion) lengths.
2411 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Binary-Compatibility">Binary Compatibility</a></H3><PRE>
2412 It is not wise to count on portability of binary terminfo entries
2413 between commercial UNIX versions. The problem is that there are at
2414 least two versions of terminfo (under HP-UX and AIX) which diverged
2415 from System V terminfo after SVr1, and have added extension capabili-
2416 ties to the string table that (in the binary format) collide with Sys-
2417 tem V and XSI Curses extensions.
2420 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
2421 Searching for terminal descriptions in <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> and TER-
2422 MINFO_DIRS is not supported by older implementations.
2424 Some SVr4 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> implementations, and all previous to SVr4, do not
2425 interpret the %A and %O operators in parameter strings.
2427 SVr4/XPG4 do not specify whether <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> licenses movement while in an
2428 alternate-character-set mode (such modes may, among other things, map
2429 CR and NL to characters that do not trigger local motions). The
2430 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation ignores <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> in <STRONG>ALTCHARSET</STRONG> mode. This raises
2431 the possibility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite inter-
2432 pretation may need terminfo entries made for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> to have <STRONG>msgr</STRONG>
2435 The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library handles insert-character and insert-character modes
2436 in a slightly non-standard way to get better update efficiency. See
2437 the <STRONG>Insert/Delete</STRONG> <STRONG>Character</STRONG> subsection above.
2439 The parameter substitutions for <STRONG>set_clock</STRONG> and <STRONG>display_clock</STRONG> are not
2440 documented in SVr4 or the XSI Curses standard. They are deduced from
2441 the documentation for the AT&T 505 terminal.
2443 Be careful assigning the <STRONG>kmous</STRONG> capability. The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library wants
2444 to interpret it as <STRONG>KEY_MOUSE</STRONG>, for use by terminals and emulators like
2445 xterm that can return mouse-tracking information in the keyboard-input
2448 X/Open Curses does not mention italics. Portable applications must
2449 assume that numeric capabilities are signed 16-bit values. This
2450 includes the <EM>no</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>color</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>video</EM> (ncv) capability. The 32768 mask value
2451 used for italics with ncv can be confused with an absent or cancelled
2452 ncv. If italics should work with colors, then the ncv value must be
2453 specified, even if it is zero.
2455 Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support different
2456 subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some cases) different exten-
2457 sion sets. Here is a summary, accurate as of October 1995:
2459 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>SVR4,</STRONG> <STRONG>Solaris,</STRONG> <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> -- These support all SVr4 capabilities.
2461 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>SGI</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented extended string
2462 capability (<STRONG>set_pglen</STRONG>).
2464 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>SVr1,</STRONG> <STRONG>Ultrix</STRONG> -- These support a restricted subset of terminfo capa-
2465 bilities. The booleans end with <STRONG>xon_xoff</STRONG>; the numerics with
2466 <STRONG>width_status_line</STRONG>; and the strings with <STRONG>prtr_non</STRONG>.
2468 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>HP/UX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234] numerics
2469 <STRONG>num_labels</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_height</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_width</STRONG>, plus function keys 11
2470 through 63, plus <STRONG>plab_norm</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_on</STRONG>, and <STRONG>label_off</STRONG>, plus some
2471 incompatible extensions in the string table.
2473 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>AIX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11 through 63,
2474 plus a number of incompatible string table extensions.
2476 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>OSF</STRONG> -- Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.
2479 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
2480 /usr/share/terminfo/?/* files containing terminal descriptions
2483 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
2484 <STRONG><A HREF="tabs.1.html">tabs(1)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>curs_vari-</STRONG>
2485 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">ables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>printf(3)</STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>. <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>. <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG>.
2488 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></H2><PRE>
2489 Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. Based on pcurses
2494 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
2498 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
2499 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
2500 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
2502 <li><a href="#h3-Terminfo-Entry-Syntax">Terminfo Entry Syntax</a></li>
2503 <li><a href="#h3-Terminfo-Capabilities-Syntax">Terminfo Capabilities Syntax</a></li>
2504 <li><a href="#h3-Similar-Terminals">Similar Terminals</a></li>
2505 <li><a href="#h3-Predefined-Capabilities">Predefined Capabilities</a></li>
2506 <li><a href="#h3-User-Defined-Capabilities">User-Defined Capabilities</a></li>
2507 <li><a href="#h3-A-Sample-Entry">A Sample Entry</a></li>
2508 <li><a href="#h3-Types-of-Capabilities">Types of Capabilities</a></li>
2509 <li><a href="#h3-Fetching-Compiled-Descriptions">Fetching Compiled Descriptions</a></li>
2510 <li><a href="#h3-Preparing-Descriptions">Preparing Descriptions</a></li>
2511 <li><a href="#h3-Basic-Capabilities">Basic Capabilities</a></li>
2512 <li><a href="#h3-Parameterized-Strings">Parameterized Strings</a></li>
2513 <li><a href="#h3-Cursor-Motions">Cursor Motions</a></li>
2514 <li><a href="#h3-Area-Clears">Area Clears</a></li>
2515 <li><a href="#h3-Insert_delete-line-and-vertical-motions">Insert/delete line and vertical motions</a></li>
2516 <li><a href="#h3-Insert_Delete-Character">Insert/Delete Character</a></li>
2517 <li><a href="#h3-Highlighting_-Underlining_-and-Visible-Bells">Highlighting, Underlining, and Visible Bells</a></li>
2518 <li><a href="#h3-Keypad-and-Function-Keys">Keypad and Function Keys</a></li>
2519 <li><a href="#h3-Tabs-and-Initialization">Tabs and Initialization</a></li>
2520 <li><a href="#h3-Delays-and-Padding">Delays and Padding</a></li>
2521 <li><a href="#h3-Status-Lines">Status Lines</a></li>
2522 <li><a href="#h3-Line-Graphics">Line Graphics</a></li>
2523 <li><a href="#h3-Color-Handling">Color Handling</a></li>
2524 <li><a href="#h3-Miscellaneous">Miscellaneous</a></li>
2525 <li><a href="#h3-Glitches-and-Braindamage">Glitches and Braindamage</a></li>
2526 <li><a href="#h3-Pitfalls-of-Long-Entries">Pitfalls of Long Entries</a></li>
2527 <li><a href="#h3-Binary-Compatibility">Binary Compatibility</a></li>
2530 <li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
2531 <li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
2532 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
2533 <li><a href="#h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></li>
projects / ncurses.git / blob