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+ * Copyright 2018-2023,2024 Thomas E. Dickey *
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+ * @Id: term.7,v 1.48 2024/03/16 15:35:01 tom Exp @
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-<H1 class="no-header">term 7</H1>
+<H1 class="no-header">term 7 2024-03-16 ncurses 6.4 Miscellaneous</H1>
<PRE>
-<STRONG><A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A></STRONG>
Miscellaneous Information Manual <STRONG><A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A></STRONG>
+<STRONG><A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A></STRONG>
Miscellaneous <STRONG><A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A></STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
- The environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> should normally contain the type name of
+ The environment variable <EM>TERM</EM> should normally contain the type name of
the terminal, console or display-device type you are using. This
information is critical for all screen-oriented programs, including
your editor and mailer.
- A default <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> value will be set on a per-line basis by either
- <STRONG>/etc/inittab</STRONG> (e.g., System-V-like UNIXes) or <STRONG>/etc/ttys</STRONG> (BSD UNIXes).
- This will nearly always suffice for workstation and microcomputer con-
- soles.
+ A default <EM>TERM</EM> value will be set on a per-line basis by either
+ <STRONG>/etc/inittab</STRONG> (e.g., System-V-like Unices) or <STRONG>/etc/ttys</STRONG> (BSD Unices).
+ This will nearly always suffice for workstation and microcomputer
+ consoles.
If you use a dialup line, the type of device attached to it may vary.
- Older UNIX systems pre-set a very dumb terminal type like "dumb" or
+ Older Unix systems pre-set a very dumb terminal type like "dumb" or
"dialup" on dialup lines. Newer ones may pre-set "vt100", reflecting
the prevalence of DEC VT100-compatible terminals and personal-computer
emulators.
- Modern telnets pass your <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> environment variable from the local side
+ Modern telnets pass your <EM>TERM</EM> environment variable from the local side
to the remote one. There can be problems if the remote terminfo or
- termcap entry for your type is not compatible with yours, but this sit-
- uation is rare and can almost always be avoided by explicitly exporting
- "vt100" (assuming you are in fact using a VT100-superset console, ter-
- minal, or terminal emulator.)
+ termcap entry for your type is not compatible with yours, but this
+ situation is rare and can almost always be avoided by explicitly
+ exporting "vt100" (assuming you are in fact using a VT100-superset
+ console, terminal, or terminal emulator).
- In any case, you are free to override the system <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> setting to your
+ In any case, you are free to override the system <EM>TERM</EM> setting to your
taste in your shell profile. The <STRONG><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></STRONG> utility may be of assistance;
you can give it a set of rules for deducing or requesting a terminal
type based on the tty device and baud rate.
- Setting your own <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> value may also be useful if you have created a
+ Setting your own <EM>TERM</EM> value may also be useful if you have created a
custom entry incorporating options (such as visual bell or reverse-
video) which you wish to override the system default type for your
line.
underneath /usr/share/terminfo. To browse a list of all terminal names
recognized by the system, do
- toe | more
+ toe | more
- from your shell. These capability files are in a binary format opti-
- mized for retrieval speed (unlike the old text-based <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> format
- they replace); to examine an entry, you must use the <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG> com-
- mand. Invoke it as follows:
+ from your shell. These capability files are in a binary format
+ optimized for retrieval speed (unlike the old text-based <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> format
+ they replace); to examine an entry, you must use the <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG>
+ command. Invoke it as follows:
- infocmp <EM>entry</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>name</EM>
+ infocmp <EM>entry</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>name</EM>
where <EM>entry</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>name</EM> is the name of the type you wish to examine (and the
name of its capability file the subdirectory of /usr/share/terminfo
The first line of a <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> description gives the names by which
terminfo knows a terminal, separated by "|" (pipe-bar) characters with
the last name field terminated by a comma. The first name field is the
- type's <EM>primary</EM> <EM>name</EM>, and is the one to use when setting <STRONG>TERM</STRONG>. The last
+ type's <EM>primary</EM> <EM>name</EM>, and is the one to use when setting <EM>TERM</EM>. The last
name field (if distinct from the first) is actually a description of
the terminal type (it may contain blanks; the others must be single
words). Name fields between the first and last (if present) are
- aliases for the terminal, usually historical names retained for compat-
- ibility.
+ aliases for the terminal, usually historical names retained for
+ compatibility.
There are some conventions for how to choose terminal primary names
that help keep them informative and unique. Here is a step-by-step
guide to naming terminals that also explains how to parse them:
- First, choose a root name. The root will consist of a lower-case let-
- ter followed by up to seven lower-case letters or digits. You need to
- avoid using punctuation characters in root names, because they are used
- and interpreted as filenames and shell meta-characters (such as !, $,
- *, ?, etc.) embedded in them may cause odd and unhelpful behavior. The
- slash (/), or any other character that may be interpreted by anyone's
- file system (\, $, [, ]), is especially dangerous (terminfo is plat-
- form-independent, and choosing names with special characters could
+ First, choose a root name. The root will consist of a lower-case
+ letter followed by up to seven lower-case letters or digits. You need
+ to avoid using punctuation characters in root names, because they are
+ used and interpreted as filenames and shell meta-characters (such as !,
+ $, *, ?, etc.) embedded in them may cause odd and unhelpful behavior.
+ The slash (/), or any other character that may be interpreted by
+ anyone's file system (\, $, [, ]), is especially dangerous (terminfo is
+ platform-independent, and choosing names with special characters could
someday make life difficult for users of a future port). The dot (.)
character is relatively safe as long as there is at most one per root
name; some historical terminfo names use it.
or the console driver release level.
The root name for a terminal emulator (assuming it does not fit one of
- the standard ANSI or vt100 types) should be the program name or a read-
- ily recognizable abbreviation of it (i.e., <STRONG>versaterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>ctrm</STRONG>).
+ the standard ANSI or vt100 types) should be the program name or a
+ readily recognizable abbreviation of it (i.e., <STRONG>versaterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>ctrm</STRONG>).
Following the root name, you may add any reasonable number of hyphen-
separated feature suffixes.
2p Has two pages of memory. Likewise 4p, 8p, etc.
- mc Magic-cookie. Some terminals (notably older Wyses) can only sup-
- port one attribute without magic-cookie lossage. Their base entry
- is usually paired with another that has this suffix and uses magic
- cookies to support multiple attributes.
+ mc Magic-cookie. Some terminals (notably older Wyses) can only
+ support one attribute without magic-cookie lossage. Their base
+ entry is usually paired with another that has this suffix and uses
+ magic cookies to support multiple attributes.
-am Enable auto-margin (right-margin wraparound).
Commands which use a terminal type to control display often accept a -T
option that accepts a terminal name argument. Such programs should
- fall back on the <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> environment variable when no -T option is speci-
- fied.
+ fall back on the <EM>TERM</EM> environment variable when no -T option is
+ specified.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-
PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
- For maximum compatibility with older System V UNIXes, names and aliases
- should be unique within the first 14 characters.
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-
FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
+ <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>
+ compiled terminal description database
+ <EM>/etc/inittab</EM>
+ tty line initialization (AT&T-like Unices)
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
- /usr/share/terminfo/?/*
- compiled terminal capability data base
+ <EM>/etc/ttys</EM>
+ tty line initialization (BSD-like Unices)
- /etc/inittab
- tty line initialization (AT&T-like UNIXes)
- /etc/ttys
- tty line initialization (BSD-like UNIXes)
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
+ For maximum compatibility with older System V Unices, names and aliases
+ should be unique within the first 14 characters.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
- <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>.
+ <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
-
<STRONG><A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A></STRONG>
+
ncurses 6.4 2024-03-16 <STRONG><A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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