tic 1m



tic(1m)                                                         tic(1m)




NAME

       tic - the terminfo entry-description compiler


SYNOPSIS

       tic  [-01CDGIKLNTUVacfgrstx]  [-e names] [-o dir] [-R sub-
       set] [-v[n]] [-w[n]] file


DESCRIPTION

       The tic command translates a  terminfo  file  from  source
       format  into compiled format.  The compiled format is nec-
       essary for use with the library routines in ncurses(3x).

       As described in term(5), the  database  may  be  either  a
       directory  tree  (one file per terminal entry) or a hashed
       database (one record per entry).  The tic  command  writes
       only one type of entry, depending on how it was built:

       o   For  directory  trees,  the top-level directory, e.g.,
           /usr/share/terminfo, specifies  the  location  of  the
           database.

       o   For  hashed  databases,  a filename is needed.  If the
           given file is not found by that name, but can be found
           by adding the suffix ".db", then that is used.

           The  default  name for the hashed database is the same
           as the default directory name  (only  adding  a  ".db"
           suffix).

       In  either  case  (directory or hashed database), tic will
       create the container if it does not exist.  For  a  direc-
       tory,  this  would  be the "terminfo" leaf, versus a "ter-
       minfo.db" file.

       The results are normally placed  in  the  system  terminfo
       database   /usr/share/terminfo.    The  compiled  terminal
       description can be placed in a  different  terminfo  data-
       base.  There are two ways to achieve this:

       o   First,  you  may override the system default either by
           using the -o option, or by setting the  variable  TER-
           MINFO  in  your  shell environment to a valid database
           location.

       o   Secondly, if tic cannot write  in  /usr/share/terminfo
           or  the  location  specified using your TERMINFO vari-
           able, it looks for the directory  $HOME/.terminfo  (or
           hashed  database $HOME/.terminfo.db); if that location
           exists, the entry is placed there.

       Libraries that read terminfo entries are expected to check
       in succession

       o   a  location  specified  with  the TERMINFO environment
           variable,

       o   $HOME/.terminfo,

       o   directories listed in  the  TERMINFO_DIRS  environment
           variable,

       o   a       compiled-in      list      of      directories
           (/usr/local/ncurses/share/terminfo:/usr/share/ter-
           minfo), and

       o   the system terminfo database (/usr/share/terminfo).

   OPTIONS
       -0     restricts the output to a single line

       -1     restricts the output to a single column

       -a     tells  tic  to  retain  commented-out  capabilities
              rather than discarding them.  Capabilities are com-
              mented  by prefixing them with a period.  This sets
              the -x option, because it treats the  commented-out
              entries  as  user-defined  names.  If the source is
              termcap, accept the 2-character names  required  by
              version 6.  Otherwise these are ignored.

       -C     Force  source translation to termcap format.  Note:
              this differs from the -C option of  infocmp(1m)  in
              that it does not merely translate capability names,
              but also translates  terminfo  strings  to  termcap
              format.  Capabilities that are not translatable are
              left in the entry under their  terminfo  names  but
              commented  out with two preceding dots.  The actual
              format  used  incorporates  some  improvements  for
              escaped  characters  from  terminfo  format.  For a
              stricter BSD-compatible  translation,  add  the  -K
              option.

       -c     tells  tic to only check file for errors, including
              syntax problems and bad use links.  If you  specify
              -C (-I) with this option, the code will print warn-
              ings about entries which, after use resolution, are
              more  than  1023 (4096) bytes long.  Due to a fixed
              buffer length in older termcap libraries,  as  well
              as buggy checking for the buffer length (and a doc-
              umented limit in terminfo), these entries may cause
              core dumps with other implementations.

       -D     tells  tic  to print the database locations that it
              knows about, and exit.  The first location shown is
              the  one  to which it would write compiled terminal
              descriptions.   If  tic  is  not  able  to  find  a
              writable  database  location according to the rules
              summarized above, it will print  a  diagnostic  and
              exit  with  an error rather than printing a list of
              database locations.

       -e names
              Limit writes  and  translations  to  the  following
              comma-separated  list of terminals.  If any name or
              alias of a terminal matches one of the names in the
              list,  the  entry  will be written or translated as
              normal.  Otherwise no output will be generated  for
              it.  The option value is interpreted as a file con-
              taining the list if  it  contains  a  '/'.   (Note:
              depending  on how tic was compiled, this option may
              require -I or -C.)

       -f     Display  complex  terminfo  strings  which  contain
              if/then/else/endif  expressions  indented for read-
              ability.

       -G     Display constant literals in  decimal  form  rather
              than their character equivalents.

       -g     Display  constant character literals in quoted form
              rather than their decimal equivalents.

       -I     Force source translation to terminfo format.

       -K     Suppress some longstanding  ncurses  extensions  to
              termcap format, e.g., "\s" for space.

       -L     Force  source  translation to terminfo format using
              the long C variable names listed in <term.h>

       -N     Disable smart defaults.  Normally, when translating
              from termcap to terminfo, the compiler makes a num-
              ber of assumptions about  the  defaults  of  string
              capabilities  reset1_string,  carriage_return, cur-
              sor_left, cursor_down,  scroll_forward,  tab,  new-
              line,  key_backspace,  key_left, and key_down, then
              attempts to use obsolete  termcap  capabilities  to
              deduce correct values.  It also normally suppresses
              output of obsolete termcap capabilities such as bs.
              This  option forces a more literal translation that
              also preserves the obsolete capabilities.

       -odir  Write compiled entries to given database  location.
              Overrides the TERMINFO environment variable.

       -Rsubset
              Restrict  output to a given subset.  This option is
              for use with  archaic  versions  of  terminfo  like
              those on SVr1, Ultrix, or HP/UX that do not support
              the full set of SVR4/XSI Curses terminfo; and  out-
              right broken ports like AIX 3.x that have their own
              extensions incompatible with  SVr4/XSI.   Available
              subsets  are  "SVr1",  "Ultrix",  "HP",  "BSD"  and
              "AIX"; see terminfo(5) for details.

       -r     Force entry resolution (so there are  no  remaining
              tc  capabilities)  even  when  doing translation to
              termcap format.  This may be needed if you are pre-
              paring  a  termcap file for a termcap library (such
              as GNU termcap through version 1.3 or  BSD  termcap
              through  4.3BSD)  that  does not handle multiple tc
              capabilities per entry.

       -s     Summarize the compile by showing the database loca-
              tion into which entries are written, and the number
              of entries which are compiled.

       -T     eliminates size-restrictions on the generated text.
              This  is  mainly  useful  for testing and analysis,
              since the compiled descriptions are limited  (e.g.,
              1023 for termcap, 4096 for terminfo).

       -t     tells  tic  to  discard commented-out capabilities.
              Normally when translating from terminfo to termcap,
              untranslatable capabilities are commented-out.

       -U   tells  tic to not post-process the data after parsing
            the source file.  Normally, it infers data  which  is
            commonly  missing in older terminfo data, or in term-
            caps.

       -V   reports the version of ncurses which was used in this
            program, and exits.

       -vn  specifies  that  (verbose) output be written to stan-
            dard error trace information showing tic's  progress.
            The  optional  parameter  n is a number from 1 to 10,
            inclusive, indicating the desired level of detail  of
            information.   If  n is omitted, the default level is
            1.  If n is specified and greater than 1,  the  level
            of detail is increased.

            The debug flag levels are as follows:

            1      Names of files created and linked

            2      Information related to the "use" facility

            3      Statistics from the hashing algorithm

            5      String-table memory allocations

            7      Entries into the string-table

            8      List of tokens encountered by scanner

            9      All  values  computed  in  construction of the
                   hash table

            If the debug level n is not given, it is taken to  be
            one.

       -wn  specifies  the width of the output.  The parameter is
            optional.  If it is omitted, it defaults to 60.

       -x   Treat unknown capabilities as user-defined.  That is,
            if  you  supply  a capability name which tic does not
            recognize, it will infer its type (boolean, number or
            string)  from  the  syntax and make an extended table
            entry  for  that.   User-defined  capability  strings
            whose  name  begins  with "k" are treated as function
            keys.

   PARAMETERS
       file   contains one or more terminfo terminal descriptions
              in  source format [see terminfo(5)].  Each descrip-
              tion in the file describes the  capabilities  of  a
              particular terminal.

              If  file  is  "-",  then  the data is read from the
              standard input.  The file parameter may also be the
              path of a character-device.

   PROCESSING
       All but one of the capabilities recognized by tic are doc-
       umented in terminfo(5).  The exception is the use capabil-
       ity.

       When  a  use=entry-name  field is discovered in a terminal
       entry currently being compiled, tic reads  in  the  binary
       from  /usr/share/terminfo to complete the entry.  (Entries
       created from file will be used first.  tic duplicates  the
       capabilities in entry-name for the current entry, with the
       exception  of  those  capabilities  that  explicitly   are
       defined in the current entry.

       When    an   entry,   e.g.,   entry_name_1,   contains   a
       use=entry_name_2  field,  any  canceled  capabilities   in
       entry_name_2  must also appear in entry_name_1 before use=
       for these capabilities to be canceled in entry_name_1.

       Total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes.  The name
       field  cannot  exceed 512 bytes.  Terminal names exceeding
       the maximum alias length (32 characters  on  systems  with
       long filenames, 14 characters otherwise) will be truncated
       to the maximum alias length and a warning message will  be
       printed.


COMPATIBILITY

       There  is  some evidence that historic tic implementations
       treated description fields with no whitespace in  them  as
       additional  aliases  or short names.  This tic does not do
       that, but it does warn  when  description  fields  may  be
       treated that way and check them for dangerous characters.


EXTENSIONS

       Unlike the SVr4 tic command, this implementation can actu-
       ally compile termcap sources.  In fact,  entries  in  ter-
       minfo  and  termcap syntax can be mixed in a single source
       file.  See terminfo(5) for the list of termcap names taken
       to be equivalent to terminfo names.

       The  SVr4  manual  pages  are  not clear on the resolution
       rules for use capabilities.  This  implementation  of  tic
       will find use targets anywhere in the source file, or any-
       where in the file tree rooted at TERMINFO (if TERMINFO  is
       defined), or in the user's $HOME/.terminfo database (if it
       exists), or (finally) anywhere in the system's  file  tree
       of compiled entries.

       The  error  messages from this tic have the same format as
       GNU C error messages, and can be  parsed  by  GNU  Emacs's
       compile facility.

       The  -0,  -1,  -C, -G, -I, -N, -R, -T, -V, -a, -e, -f, -g,
       -o, -r, -s, -t and -x  options  are  not  supported  under
       SVr4.  The SVr4 -c mode does not report bad use links.

       System  V does not compile entries to or read entries from
       your $HOME/.terminfo database unless TERMINFO  is  explic-
       itly set to it.


FILES

       /usr/share/terminfo/?/*
            Compiled terminal description database.


SEE ALSO

       infocmp(1m),    captoinfo(1m),   infotocap(1m),   toe(1m),
       curses(3x), term(5).  terminfo(5).

       This describes ncurses version 5.9 (patch 20131221).


AUTHOR

       Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> and
       Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net>



                                                                tic(1m)

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