* Note: this must be run through tbl before nroff.
* The magic cookie on the first line triggers this under some man programs.
****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 1998-2000,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+ * Copyright (c) 1998-2004,2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
* *
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
* copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
* authorization. *
****************************************************************************
- * @Id: terminfo.head,v 1.10 2002/08/17 23:37:10 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: terminfo.head,v 1.16 2007/03/04 00:09:46 tom Exp @
* Head of terminfo man page ends here
- * @Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.38 2003/01/05 22:47:05 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.49 2008/02/16 20:57:43 tom Exp @
* Beginning of terminfo.tail file
+ * This file is part of ncurses.
+ * See "terminfo.head" for copyright.
+ *.in -2
+ *.in +2
+ *.in -2
+ *.in +2
*.TH
-->
<HTML>
<HEAD>
-<TITLE>TERMINFO 5 File Formats</TITLE>
+<TITLE>terminfo 5 File Formats</TITLE>
<link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
-<H1>TERMINFO 5 File Formats</H1>
+<H1>terminfo 5 File Formats</H1>
<HR>
<PRE>
<!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
-<STRONG><A HREF="TERMINFO.5.html">TERMINFO(5)</A></STRONG> File Formats <STRONG><A HREF="TERMINFO.5.html">TERMINFO(5)</A></STRONG>
+<STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> File Formats <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
libraries such as <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. <EM>Terminfo</EM> describes termi-
nals by giving a set of capabilities which they have, by
specifying how to perform screen operations, and by speci-
- fying padding requirements and initialization sequences.
+ fying padding requirements and initialization sequences.
+ This describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 5.6 (patch 20080621).
Entries in <EM>terminfo</EM> consist of a sequence of `,' separated
fields (embedded commas may be escaped with a backslash or
- notated as \054). White space after the `,' separator is
- ignored. The first entry for each terminal gives the
- names which are known for the terminal, separated by `|'
- characters. The first name given is the most common
- abbreviation for the terminal, the last name given should
- be a long name fully identifying the terminal, and all
- others are understood as synonyms for the terminal name.
+ notated as \054). White space after the `,' separator is
+ ignored. The first entry for each terminal gives the
+ names which are known for the terminal, separated by `|'
+ characters. The first name given is the most common
+ abbreviation for the terminal, the last name given should
+ be a long name fully identifying the terminal, and all
+ others are understood as synonyms for the terminal name.
All names but the last should be in lower case and contain
- no blanks; the last name may well contain upper case and
+ no blanks; the last name may well contain upper case and
blanks for readability.
+ Lines beginning with a `#' in the first column are treated
+ as comments. While comment lines are legal at any point,
+ the output of <STRONG>captoinfo</STRONG> and <STRONG>infotocap</STRONG> (aliases for <STRONG>tic</STRONG>)
+ will move comments so they occur only between entries.
+
+ Newlines and leading tabs may be used for formatting
+ entries for readability. These are removed from parsed
+ entries. The <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> <STRONG>-f</STRONG> option relies on this to format
+ if-then-else expressions: the result can be read by <STRONG>tic</STRONG>.
+
Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should
be chosen using the following conventions. The particular
- piece of hardware making up the terminal should have a
- root name, thus ``hp2621''. This name should not contain
+ piece of hardware making up the terminal should have a
+ root name, thus ``hp2621''. This name should not contain
hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in, or user pref-
- erences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a
- mode suffix. Thus, a vt100 in 132 column mode would be
+ erences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a
+ mode suffix. Thus, a vt100 in 132 column mode would be
vt100-w. The following suffixes should be used where pos-
sible:
+
<STRONG>Suffix</STRONG> <STRONG>Meaning</STRONG> <STRONG>Example</STRONG>
-<EM>nn</EM> Number of lines on the screen aaa-60
-<EM>n</EM>p Number of pages of memory c100-4p
-ns No status line hp2626-ns
-rv Reverse video c100-rv
-s Enable status line vt100-s
+
-vb Use visible bell instead of beep wy370-vb
-w Wide mode (> 80 columns, usually 132) vt100-w
- For more on terminal naming conventions, see the <STRONG>term(7)</STRONG>
+ For more on terminal naming conventions, see the <STRONG>term(7)</STRONG>
manual page.
<STRONG>Capabilities</STRONG>
- The following is a complete table of the capabilities
- included in a terminfo description block and available to
+ The following is a complete table of the capabilities
+ included in a terminfo description block and available to
terminfo-using code. In each line of the table,
- The <STRONG>variable</STRONG> is the name by which the programmer (at the
+ The <STRONG>variable</STRONG> is the name by which the programmer (at the
terminfo level) accesses the capability.
- The <STRONG>capname</STRONG> is the short name used in the text of the
- database, and is used by a person updating the database.
- Whenever possible, capnames are chosen to be the same as
+ The <STRONG>capname</STRONG> is the short name used in the text of the
+ database, and is used by a person updating the database.
+ Whenever possible, capnames are chosen to be the same as
or similar to the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard (now superseded
- by ECMA-48, which uses identical or very similar names).
+ by ECMA-48, which uses identical or very similar names).
Semantics are also intended to match those of the specifi-
cation.
- The termcap code is the old <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> capability name (some
+ The termcap code is the old <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> capability name (some
capabilities are new, and have names which termcap did not
originate).
- Capability names have no hard length limit, but an infor-
- mal limit of 5 characters has been adopted to keep them
- short and to allow the tabs in the source file <STRONG>Caps</STRONG> to
+ Capability names have no hard length limit, but an infor-
+ mal limit of 5 characters has been adopted to keep them
+ short and to allow the tabs in the source file <STRONG>Caps</STRONG> to
line up nicely.
- Finally, the description field attempts to convey the
- semantics of the capability. You may find some codes in
+ Finally, the description field attempts to convey the
+ semantics of the capability. You may find some codes in
the description field:
(P) indicates that padding may be specified
- #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string
+ #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string
is passed through tparm with parms as given (#<EM>i</EM>).
- (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to
+ (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to
the number of lines affected
(#<EM>i</EM>) indicates the <EM>i</EM>th parameter.
These are the boolean capabilities:
+
<STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
<STRONG>Booleans</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
auto_left_margin bw bw cub1 wraps from col-
by overwriting (hp)
col_addr_glitch xhpa YA only positive motion
for hpa/mhpa caps
+
+
cpi_changes_res cpix YF changing character
pitch changes reso-
lution
strikes with a blank
generic_type gn gn generic line type
hard_copy hc hc hardcopy terminal
-
hard_cursor chts HC cursor is hard to
see
has_meta_key km km Has a meta key
on the status line
tilde_glitch hz hz cannot print ~'s
(hazeltine)
+
+
transparent_underline ul ul underline character
overstrikes
xon_xoff xon xo terminal uses
These are the numeric capabilities:
+
<STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
<STRONG>Numeric</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
columns cols co number of columns in
label_height lh lh rows in each label
label_width lw lw columns in each
label
-
lines lines li number of lines on
screen or page
lines_of_memory lm lm lines of memory if >
width_status_line wsl ws number of columns in
status line
- The following numeric capabilities are present in the
- SVr4.0 term structure, but are not yet documented in the
+ The following numeric capabilities are present in the
+ SVr4.0 term structure, but are not yet documented in the
man page. They came in with SVr4's printer support.
+
<STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
<STRONG>Numeric</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
bit_image_entwining bitwin Yo number of passes for
dot_horz_spacing spinh Yc spacing of dots hor-
izontally in dots
per inch
+
dot_vert_spacing spinv Yb spacing of pins ver-
tically in pins per
inch
output_res_char orc Yi horizontal resolu-
tion in units per
line
-
-
-
output_res_horz_inch orhi Yk horizontal resolu-
tion in units per
inch
These are the string capabilities:
+
<STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
<STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
acs_chars acsc ac graphics charset
home cursor (P*)
clr_bol el1 cb Clear to beginning
of line
+
+
clr_eol el ce clear to end of line
(P)
clr_eos ed cd clear to end of
cup)
cursor_invisible civis vi make cursor invisi-
ble
-
cursor_left cub1 le move left one space
cursor_mem_address mrcup CM memory relative cur-
sor addressing, move
enter_italics_mode sitm ZH Enter italic mode
enter_leftward_mode slm ZI Start leftward car-
riage motion
+
enter_micro_mode smicm ZJ Start micro-motion
mode
enter_near_letter_quality snlq ZK Enter NLQ mode
enter_subscript_mode ssubm ZN Enter subscript mode
enter_superscript_mode ssupm ZO Enter superscript
mode
-
enter_underline_mode smul us begin underline mode
enter_upward_mode sum ZP Start upward car-
riage motion
string
init_2string is2 is initialization
string
+
init_3string is3 i3 initialization
string
init_file if if name of initializa-
insert_padding ip ip insert padding after
inserted character
key_a1 ka1 K1 upper left of keypad
-
-
key_a3 ka3 K3 upper right of key-
pad
key_b2 kb2 K2 center of keypad
key_f22 kf22 FC F22 function key
key_f23 kf23 FD F23 function key
key_f24 kf24 FE F24 function key
+
key_f25 kf25 FF F25 function key
key_f26 kf26 FG F26 function key
key_f27 kf27 FH F27 function key
key_f38 kf38 FS F38 function key
key_f39 kf39 FT F39 function key
key_f4 kf4 k4 F4 function key
-
key_f40 kf40 FU F40 function key
key_f41 kf41 FV F41 function key
key_f42 kf42 FW F42 function key
key_previous kprv %8 previous key
key_print kprt %9 print key
key_redo krdo %0 redo key
+
key_reference kref &1 reference key
key_refresh krfr &2 refresh key
key_replace krpl &3 replace key
key_sdl kDL *5 shifted delete-line
key
key_select kslt *6 select key
-
key_send kEND *7 shifted end key
key_seol kEOL *8 shifted clear-to-
end-of-line key
key f3 if not f3
lab_f4 lf4 l4 label on function
key f4 if not f4
+
+
lab_f5 lf5 l5 label on function
key f5 if not f5
lab_f6 lf6 l6 label on function
(8th-bit on)
micro_column_address mhpa ZY Like column_address
in micro mode
-
micro_down mcud1 ZZ Like cursor_down in
micro mode
micro_left mcub1 Za Like cursor_left in
in micro mode
pkey_key pfkey pk program function key
#1 to type string #2
+
+
pkey_local pfloc pl program function key
#1 to execute string
#2
quick_dial qdial QD dial number #1 with-
out checking
remove_clock rmclk RC remove clock
-
-
repeat_char rep rp repeat char #1 #2
times (P*)
req_for_input rfi RF send next input char
umn
set_right_margin_parm smgrp Zn Set right margin at
column #1
+
set_tab hts st set a tab in every
row, current columns
set_top_margin smgt Zo Set top margin at
set
stop_bit_image rbim Zs Stop printing bit
image graphics
-
-
stop_char_set_def rcsd Zt End definition of
character set #1
subscript_characters subcs Zu List of subscript-
zero_motion zerom Zx No motion for subse-
quent character
- The following string capabilities are present in the
- SVr4.0 term structure, but were originally not documented
+ The following string capabilities are present in the
+ SVr4.0 term structure, but were originally not documented
in the man page.
+
<STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
<STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
alt_scancode_esc scesa S8 Alternate escape
of same row
bit_image_newline binel Zz Move to next row
of the bit image
+
bit_image_repeat birep Xy Repeat bit image
cell #1 #2 times
char_set_names csnm Zy Produce #1'th item
port
display_pc_char dispc S1 Display PC charac-
ter #1
-
-
end_bit_image_region endbi Yy End a bit-image
region
enter_pc_charset_mode smpch S2 Enter PC character
cap).
set_page_length slines YZ Set page length to
#1 lines
+
set_tb_margin smgtb MT Sets both top and
bottom margins to
#1, #2
- The XSI Curses standard added these. They are some
- post-4.1 versions of System V curses, e.g., Solaris 2.5
- and IRIX 6.x. The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> termcap names for them are
+ The XSI Curses standard added these. They are some
+ post-4.1 versions of System V curses, e.g., Solaris 2.5
+ and IRIX 6.x. The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> termcap names for them are
invented; according to the XSI Curses standard, they have
- no termcap names. If your compiled terminfo entries use
- these, they may not be binary-compatible with System V
+ no termcap names. If your compiled terminfo entries use
+ these, they may not be binary-compatible with System V
terminfo entries after SVr4.1; beware!
+
<STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
<STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
enter_horizontal_hl_mode ehhlm Xh Enter horizontal
highlight mode
-
-
enter_left_hl_mode elhlm Xl Enter left highlight
mode
enter_low_hl_mode elohlm Xo Enter low highlight
to #1 hundredth of
an inch
-
<STRONG>A</STRONG> <STRONG>Sample</STRONG> <STRONG>Entry</STRONG>
The following entry, describing an ANSI-standard terminal,
- is representative of what a <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> entry for a modern
+ is representative of what a <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> entry for a modern
terminal typically looks like.
ansi|ansi/pc-term compatible with color,
sgr0=\E[0;10m, tbc=\E[2g, u6=\E[%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n,
u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%p1%dd,
- Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white
- space at the beginning of each line except the first.
- Comments may be included on lines beginning with ``#''.
+ Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white
+ space at the beginning of each line except the first.
+ Comments may be included on lines beginning with ``#''.
Capabilities in <EM>terminfo</EM> are of three types: Boolean capa-
bilities which indicate that the terminal has some partic-
- ular feature, numeric capabilities giving the size of the
- terminal or the size of particular delays, and string
- capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to
+ ular feature, numeric capabilities giving the size of the
+ terminal or the size of particular delays, and string
+ capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to
perform particular terminal operations.
<STRONG>Types</STRONG> <STRONG>of</STRONG> <STRONG>Capabilities</STRONG>
- All capabilities have names. For instance, the fact that
- ANSI-standard terminals have <EM>automatic</EM> <EM>margins</EM> (i.e., an
- automatic return and line-feed when the end of a line is
- reached) is indicated by the capability <STRONG>am</STRONG>. Hence the
+ All capabilities have names. For instance, the fact that
+ ANSI-standard terminals have <EM>automatic</EM> <EM>margins</EM> (i.e., an
+ automatic return and line-feed when the end of a line is
+ reached) is indicated by the capability <STRONG>am</STRONG>. Hence the
description of ansi includes <STRONG>am</STRONG>. Numeric capabilities are
- followed by the character `#' and then a positive value.
- Thus <STRONG>cols</STRONG>, which indicates the number of columns the ter-
- minal has, gives the value `80' for ansi. Values for
+ followed by the character `#' and then a positive value.
+ Thus <STRONG>cols</STRONG>, which indicates the number of columns the ter-
+ minal has, gives the value `80' for ansi. Values for
numeric capabilities may be specified in decimal, octal or
- hexadecimal, using the C programming language conventions
+ hexadecimal, using the C programming language conventions
(e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF).
- Finally, string valued capabilities, such as <STRONG>el</STRONG> (clear to
+ Finally, string valued capabilities, such as <STRONG>el</STRONG> (clear to
end of line sequence) are given by the two-character code,
- an `=', and then a string ending at the next following
+ an `=', and then a string ending at the next following
`,'.
- A number of escape sequences are provided in the string
+ A number of escape sequences are provided in the string
valued capabilities for easy encoding of characters there.
- Both <STRONG>\E</STRONG> and <STRONG>\e</STRONG> map to an ESCAPE character, <STRONG>^x</STRONG> maps to a
- control-x for any appropriate x, and the sequences <STRONG>\n</STRONG> <STRONG>\l</STRONG>
- <STRONG>\r</STRONG> <STRONG>\t</STRONG> <STRONG>\b</STRONG> <STRONG>\f</STRONG> <STRONG>\s</STRONG> give a newline, line-feed, return, tab,
+ Both <STRONG>\E</STRONG> and <STRONG>\e</STRONG> map to an ESCAPE character, <STRONG>^x</STRONG> maps to a
+ control-x for any appropriate x, and the sequences <STRONG>\n</STRONG> <STRONG>\l</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>\r</STRONG> <STRONG>\t</STRONG> <STRONG>\b</STRONG> <STRONG>\f</STRONG> <STRONG>\s</STRONG> give a newline, line-feed, return, tab,
backspace, form-feed, and space. Other escapes include <STRONG>\^</STRONG>
- for <STRONG>^</STRONG>, <STRONG>\\</STRONG> for <STRONG>\</STRONG>, <STRONG>\</STRONG>, for comma, <STRONG>\:</STRONG> for <STRONG>:</STRONG>, and <STRONG>\0</STRONG> for null.
- (<STRONG>\0</STRONG> will produce \200, which does not terminate a string
+ for <STRONG>^</STRONG>, <STRONG>\\</STRONG> for <STRONG>\</STRONG>, <STRONG>\</STRONG>, for comma, <STRONG>\:</STRONG> for <STRONG>:</STRONG>, and <STRONG>\0</STRONG> for null.
+ (<STRONG>\0</STRONG> will produce \200, which does not terminate a string
but behaves as a null character on most terminals, provid-
- ing CS7 is specified. See <STRONG><A HREF="stty.1.html">stty(1)</A></STRONG>.) Finally, characters
+ ing CS7 is specified. See <STRONG><A HREF="stty.1.html">stty(1)</A></STRONG>.) Finally, characters
may be given as three octal digits after a <STRONG>\</STRONG>.
- A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string
- capability, enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in <STRONG>el</STRONG>=\EK$<5>,
- and padding characters are supplied by <EM>tputs</EM> to provide
- this delay. The delay must be a number with at most one
+ A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string
+ capability, enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in <STRONG>el</STRONG>=\EK$<5>,
+ and padding characters are supplied by <EM>tputs</EM> to provide
+ this delay. The delay must be a number with at most one
decimal place of precision; it may be followed by suffixes
- `*' or '/' or both. A `*' indicates that the padding
- required is proportional to the number of lines affected
- by the operation, and the amount given is the per-
- affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert
+ `*' or '/' or both. A `*' indicates that the padding
+ required is proportional to the number of lines affected
+ by the operation, and the amount given is the per-
+ affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert
character, the factor is still the number of <EM>lines</EM>
- affected.) Normally, padding is advisory if the device
- has the <STRONG>xon</STRONG> capability; it is used for cost computation
- but does not trigger delays. A `/' suffix indicates that
- the padding is mandatory and forces a delay of the given
- number of milliseconds even on devices for which <STRONG>xon</STRONG> is
+ affected.) Normally, padding is advisory if the device
+ has the <STRONG>xon</STRONG> capability; it is used for cost computation
+ but does not trigger delays. A `/' suffix indicates that
+ the padding is mandatory and forces a delay of the given
+ number of milliseconds even on devices for which <STRONG>xon</STRONG> is
present to indicate flow control.
- Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out.
- To do this, put a period before the capability name. For
+ Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out.
+ To do this, put a period before the capability name. For
example, see the second <STRONG>ind</STRONG> in the example above.
<STRONG>Fetching</STRONG> <STRONG>Compiled</STRONG> <STRONG>Descriptions</STRONG>
- If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is inter-
- preted as the pathname of a directory containing the com-
+ If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is inter-
+ preted as the pathname of a directory containing the com-
piled description you are working on. Only that directory
is searched.
- If TERMINFO is not set, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version of the ter-
- minfo reader code will instead look in the directory
- <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> for a compiled description. If it fails
- to find one there, and the environment variable TER-
- MINFO_DIRS is set, it will interpret the contents of that
- variable as a list of colon- separated directories to be
- searched (an empty entry is interpreted as a command to
- search <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>). If no description is found
- in any of the TERMINFO_DIRS directories, the fetch fails.
-
- If neither TERMINFO nor TERMINFO_DIRS is set, the last
- place tried will be the system terminfo directory,
+ If TERMINFO is not set, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version of the ter-
+ minfo reader code will instead look in the directory
+ <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> for a compiled description. If it fails
+ to find one there, and the environment variable TER-
+ MINFO_DIRS is set, it will interpret the contents of that
+ variable as a list of colon- separated directories to be
+ searched (an empty entry is interpreted as a command to
+ search <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>). If no description is found
+ in any of the TERMINFO_DIRS directories, the fetch fails.
+
+ If neither TERMINFO nor TERMINFO_DIRS is set, the last
+ place tried will be the system terminfo directory,
<EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>.
- (Neither the <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> lookups nor TERMINFO_DIRS
- extensions are supported under stock System V ter-
+ (Neither the <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> lookups nor TERMINFO_DIRS
+ extensions are supported under stock System V ter-
minfo/curses.)
<STRONG>Preparing</STRONG> <STRONG>Descriptions</STRONG>
- We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals.
- The most effective way to prepare a terminal description
- is by imitating the description of a similar terminal in
- <EM>terminfo</EM> and to build up a description gradually, using
+ We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals.
+ The most effective way to prepare a terminal description
+ is by imitating the description of a similar terminal in
+ <EM>terminfo</EM> and to build up a description gradually, using
partial descriptions with <EM>vi</EM> or some other screen-oriented
- program to check that they are correct. Be aware that a
+ program to check that they are correct. Be aware that a
very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the abil-
- ity of the <EM>terminfo</EM> file to describe it or bugs in the
+ ity of the <EM>terminfo</EM> file to describe it or bugs in the
screen-handling code of the test program.
- To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal
+ To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal
manufacturer did not document it) a severe test is to edit
- a large file at 9600 baud, delete 16 or so lines from the
- middle of the screen, then hit the `u' key several times
- quickly. If the terminal messes up, more padding is usu-
- ally needed. A similar test can be used for insert char-
+ a large file at 9600 baud, delete 16 or so lines from the
+ middle of the screen, then hit the `u' key several times
+ quickly. If the terminal messes up, more padding is usu-
+ ally needed. A similar test can be used for insert char-
acter.
<STRONG>Basic</STRONG> <STRONG>Capabilities</STRONG>
- The number of columns on each line for the terminal is
- given by the <STRONG>cols</STRONG> numeric capability. If the terminal is
- a CRT, then the number of lines on the screen is given by
+ The number of columns on each line for the terminal is
+ given by the <STRONG>cols</STRONG> numeric capability. If the terminal is
+ a CRT, then the number of lines on the screen is given by
the <STRONG>lines</STRONG> capability. If the terminal wraps around to the
- beginning of the next line when it reaches the right mar-
+ beginning of the next line when it reaches the right mar-
gin, then it should have the <STRONG>am</STRONG> capability. If the termi-
- nal can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home
- position, then this is given by the <STRONG>clear</STRONG> string capabil-
- ity. If the terminal overstrikes (rather than clearing a
- position when a character is struck over) then it should
- have the <STRONG>os</STRONG> capability. If the terminal is a printing
- terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both <STRONG>hc</STRONG> and <STRONG>os</STRONG>.
- (<STRONG>os</STRONG> applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX
- 4010 series, as well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If
+ nal can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home
+ position, then this is given by the <STRONG>clear</STRONG> string capabil-
+ ity. If the terminal overstrikes (rather than clearing a
+ position when a character is struck over) then it should
+ have the <STRONG>os</STRONG> capability. If the terminal is a printing
+ terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both <STRONG>hc</STRONG> and <STRONG>os</STRONG>.
+ (<STRONG>os</STRONG> applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX
+ 4010 series, as well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If
there is a code to move the cursor to the left edge of the
current row, give this as <STRONG>cr</STRONG>. (Normally this will be car-
- riage return, control M.) If there is a code to produce
+ riage return, control M.) If there is a code to produce
an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as <STRONG>bel</STRONG>.
- If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the
- left (such as backspace) that capability should be given
- as <STRONG>cub1</STRONG>. Similarly, codes to move to the right, up, and
+ If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the
+ left (such as backspace) that capability should be given
+ as <STRONG>cub1</STRONG>. Similarly, codes to move to the right, up, and
down should be given as <STRONG>cuf1</STRONG>, <STRONG>cuu1</STRONG>, and <STRONG>cud1</STRONG>. These local
- cursor motions should not alter the text they pass over,
- for example, you would not normally use `<STRONG>cuf1</STRONG>= ' because
+ cursor motions should not alter the text they pass over,
+ for example, you would not normally use `<STRONG>cuf1</STRONG>= ' because
the space would erase the character moved over.
- A very important point here is that the local cursor
- motions encoded in <EM>terminfo</EM> are undefined at the left and
- top edges of a CRT terminal. Programs should never
- attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is
+ A very important point here is that the local cursor
+ motions encoded in <EM>terminfo</EM> are undefined at the left and
+ top edges of a CRT terminal. Programs should never
+ attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is
given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top. In
- order to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom
+ order to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom
left corner of the screen and send the <STRONG>ind</STRONG> (index) string.
To scroll text down, a program goes to the top left corner
- of the screen and sends the <STRONG>ri</STRONG> (reverse index) string.
- The strings <STRONG>ind</STRONG> and <STRONG>ri</STRONG> are undefined when not on their
+ of the screen and sends the <STRONG>ri</STRONG> (reverse index) string.
+ The strings <STRONG>ind</STRONG> and <STRONG>ri</STRONG> are undefined when not on their
respective corners of the screen.
Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are <STRONG>indn</STRONG>
and <STRONG>rin</STRONG> which have the same semantics as <STRONG>ind</STRONG> and <STRONG>ri</STRONG> except
- that they take one parameter, and scroll that many lines.
- They are also undefined except at the appropriate edge of
+ that they take one parameter, and scroll that many lines.
+ They are also undefined except at the appropriate edge of
the screen.
- The <STRONG>am</STRONG> capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the
- right edge of the screen when text is output, but this
+ The <STRONG>am</STRONG> capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the
+ right edge of the screen when text is output, but this
does not necessarily apply to a <STRONG>cuf1</STRONG> from the last column.
- The only local motion which is defined from the left edge
- is if <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is given, then a <STRONG>cub1</STRONG> from the left edge will
- move to the right edge of the previous row. If <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is not
- given, the effect is undefined. This is useful for draw-
- ing a box around the edge of the screen, for example. If
- the terminal has switch selectable automatic margins, the
- <EM>terminfo</EM> file usually assumes that this is on; i.e., <STRONG>am</STRONG>.
- If the terminal has a command which moves to the first
- column of the next line, that command can be given as <STRONG>nel</STRONG>
- (newline). It does not matter if the command clears the
- remainder of the current line, so if the terminal has no
- <STRONG>cr</STRONG> and <STRONG>lf</STRONG> it may still be possible to craft a working <STRONG>nel</STRONG>
+ The only local motion which is defined from the left edge
+ is if <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is given, then a <STRONG>cub1</STRONG> from the left edge will
+ move to the right edge of the previous row. If <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is not
+ given, the effect is undefined. This is useful for draw-
+ ing a box around the edge of the screen, for example. If
+ the terminal has switch selectable automatic margins, the
+ <EM>terminfo</EM> file usually assumes that this is on; i.e., <STRONG>am</STRONG>.
+ If the terminal has a command which moves to the first
+ column of the next line, that command can be given as <STRONG>nel</STRONG>
+ (newline). It does not matter if the command clears the
+ remainder of the current line, so if the terminal has no
+ <STRONG>cr</STRONG> and <STRONG>lf</STRONG> it may still be possible to craft a working <STRONG>nel</STRONG>
out of one or both of them.
These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and
- "glass-tty" terminals. Thus the model 33 teletype is
+ "glass-tty" terminals. Thus the model 33 teletype is
described as
- 33|tty33|tty|model 33 teletype,
- bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os,
+ 33|tty33|tty|model 33 teletype,
+ bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os,
while the Lear Siegler ADM-3 is described as
- adm3|3|lsi adm3,
- am, bel=^G, clear=^Z, cols#80, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,
- ind=^J, lines#24,
+ adm3|3|lsi adm3,
+ am, bel=^G, clear=^Z, cols#80, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,
+ ind=^J, lines#24,
<STRONG>Parameterized</STRONG> <STRONG>Strings</STRONG>
- Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters
- in the terminal are described by a parameterized string
- capability, with <STRONG><A HREF="printf.3S.html">printf(3S)</A></STRONG> like escapes <STRONG>%x</STRONG> in it. For
- example, to address the cursor, the <STRONG>cup</STRONG> capability is
+ Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters
+ in the terminal are described by a parameterized string
+ capability, with <STRONG><A HREF="printf.3.html">printf(3)</A></STRONG> like escapes <STRONG>%x</STRONG> in it. For
+ example, to address the cursor, the <STRONG>cup</STRONG> capability is
given, using two parameters: the row and column to address
to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and refer to
the physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen
- memory.) If the terminal has memory relative cursor
+ memory.) If the terminal has memory relative cursor
addressing, that can be indicated by <STRONG>mrcup</STRONG>.
- The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special <STRONG>%</STRONG> codes
- to manipulate it. Typically a sequence will push one of
- the parameters onto the stack and then print it in some
- format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a special case. Other
- operations, including "%t" pop their operand from the
+ The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special <STRONG>%</STRONG> codes
+ to manipulate it. Typically a sequence will push one of
+ the parameters onto the stack and then print it in some
+ format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a special case. Other
+ operations, including "%t" pop their operand from the
stack. It is noted that more complex operations are often
necessary, e.g., in the <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> string.
%% outputs `%'
%<EM>[[</EM>:<EM>]flags][width[.precision]][</EM>doxXs<EM>]</EM>
- as in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>, flags are [-+#] and space
+ as in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>, flags are [-+#] and space. Use a `:'
+ to allow the next character to be a `-' flag, avoid-
+ ing interpreting "%-" as an operator.
%c print pop() like %c in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>
%g[A-Z]
get static variable [a-z] and push it
- The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading.
- Historically, these are simply two different sets of
- variables, whose values are not reset between calls
- to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>. However, that fact is not documented in
- other implementations. Relying on it will adversely
+ The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading.
+ Historically, these are simply two different sets of
+ variables, whose values are not reset between calls
+ to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>. However, that fact is not documented in
+ other implementations. Relying on it will adversely
impact portability to other implementations.
%'<EM>c</EM>' char constant <EM>c</EM>
arithmetic (%m is mod): push(pop() op pop())
%& %| %^
- bit operations: push(pop() op pop())
+ bit operations (AND, OR and exclusive-OR): push(pop()
+ op pop())
%= %> %<
logical operations: push(pop() op pop())
%A, %O
- logical and & or operations (for conditionals)
+ logical AND and OR operations (for conditionals)
%! %~
- unary operations push(op pop())
+ unary operations (logical and bit complement):
+ push(op pop())
%i add 1 to first two parameters (for ANSI terminals)
%? <EM>expr</EM> %t <EM>thenpart</EM> %e <EM>elsepart</EM> %;
- if-then-else, %e <EM>elsepart</EM> is optional. else-if's are
- possible a la Algol 68:
+ This forms an if-then-else. The %e <EM>elsepart</EM> is
+ optional. Usually the %? <EM>expr</EM> part pushes a value
+ onto the stack, and %t pops it from the stack, test-
+ ing if it is nonzero (true). If it is zero (false),
+ control passes to the %e (else) part.
+
+ It is possible to form else-if's a la Algol 68:
%? c1 %t b1 %e c2 %t b2 %e c3 %t b3 %e c4 %t b4 %e %;
- ci are conditions, bi are bodies.
+
+ where ci are conditions, bi are bodies.
+
+ Use the <STRONG>-f</STRONG> option of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> or <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> to see the struc-
+ ture of if-the-else's. Some strings, e.g., <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> can
+ be very complicated when written on one line. The <STRONG>-f</STRONG>
+ option splits the string into lines with the parts
+ indented.
Binary operations are in postfix form with the operands in
the usual order. That is, to get x-5 one would use
<STRONG>hpa</STRONG> (horizontal position absolute) and <STRONG>vpa</STRONG> (vertical posi-
tion absolute). Sometimes these are shorter than the more
general two parameter sequence (as with the hp2645) and
- can be used in preference to <STRONG>cup</STRONG>. If there are parameter-
- ized local motions (e.g., move <EM>n</EM> spaces to the right)
- these can be given as <STRONG>cud</STRONG>, <STRONG>cub</STRONG>, <STRONG>cuf</STRONG>, and <STRONG>cuu</STRONG> with a single
- parameter indicating how many spaces to move. These are
- primarily useful if the terminal does not have <STRONG>cup</STRONG>, such
- as the TEKTRONIX 4025.
+ can be used in preference to <STRONG>cup</STRONG>. If there are
+ parameterized local motions (e.g., move <EM>n</EM> spaces to the
+ right) these can be given as <STRONG>cud</STRONG>, <STRONG>cub</STRONG>, <STRONG>cuf</STRONG>, and <STRONG>cuu</STRONG> with a
+ single parameter indicating how many spaces to move.
+ These are primarily useful if the terminal does not have
+ <STRONG>cup</STRONG>, such as the TEKTRONIX 4025.
If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running
a program that uses these capabilities, the codes to enter
blank position on the current line. Give as <STRONG>smir</STRONG> the
sequence to get into insert mode. Give as <STRONG>rmir</STRONG> the
sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> any
- sequence needed to be sent just before sending the charac-
- ter to be inserted. Most terminals with a true insert
- mode will not give <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>; terminals which send a sequence
- to open a screen position should give it here.
+ sequence needed to be sent just before sending the
+ character to be inserted. Most terminals with a true
+ insert mode will not give <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>; terminals which send a
+ sequence to open a screen position should give it here.
If your terminal has both, insert mode is usually prefer-
able to <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>. Technically, you should not give both
For example, the DEC vt220 supports most of the modes:
+
<STRONG>tparm</STRONG> <STRONG>parameter</STRONG> <STRONG>attribute</STRONG> <STRONG>escape</STRONG> <STRONG>sequence</STRONG>
none none \E[0m
p1 standout \E[0;1;7m
p2 underline \E[0;4m
-
p3 reverse \E[0;7m
p4 blink \E[0;5m
p5 dim not available
Writing out the above sequences, along with their depen-
dencies yields
+
<STRONG>sequence</STRONG> <STRONG>when</STRONG> <STRONG>to</STRONG> <STRONG>output</STRONG> <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <STRONG>translation</STRONG>
\E[0 always \E[0
;1 if p1 or p6 %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;
;4 if p2 %?%p2%|%t;4%;
;5 if p4 %?%p4%|%t;5%;
+
;7 if p1 or p3 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;
;8 if p7 %?%p7%|%t;8%;
m always m
%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p7%t;8%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;,
Remember that if you specify sgr, you must also specify
- sgr0.
+ sgr0. Also, some implementations rely on sgr being given
+ if sgr0 is, Not all terminfo entries necessarily have an
+ sgr string, however. Many terminfo entries are derived
+ from termcap entries which have no sgr string. The only
+ drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also
+ assumes that sgr0 does not exit alternate character set
+ mode.
Terminals with the ``magic cookie'' glitch (<STRONG>xmc</STRONG>) deposit
special ``cookies'' when they receive mode-setting
tion keys such as f0, f1, ..., f10, the codes they send
can be given as <STRONG>kf0,</STRONG> <STRONG>kf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>...,</STRONG> <STRONG>kf10</STRONG>. If these keys have
labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels
- can be given as <STRONG>lf0,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>...,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf10</STRONG>. The codes transmit-
- ted by certain other special keys can be given: <STRONG>kll</STRONG> (home
- down), <STRONG>kbs</STRONG> (backspace), <STRONG>ktbc</STRONG> (clear all tabs), <STRONG>kctab</STRONG>
- (clear the tab stop in this column), <STRONG>kclr</STRONG> (clear screen or
- erase key), <STRONG>kdch1</STRONG> (delete character), <STRONG>kdl1</STRONG> (delete line),
- <STRONG>krmir</STRONG> (exit insert mode), <STRONG>kel</STRONG> (clear to end of line), <STRONG>ked</STRONG>
- (clear to end of screen), <STRONG>kich1</STRONG> (insert character or enter
- insert mode), <STRONG>kil1</STRONG> (insert line), <STRONG>knp</STRONG> (next page), <STRONG>kpp</STRONG>
- (previous page), <STRONG>kind</STRONG> (scroll forward/down), <STRONG>kri</STRONG> (scroll
- backward/up), <STRONG>khts</STRONG> (set a tab stop in this column). In
- addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3 array of keys includ-
- ing the four arrow keys, the other five keys can be given
- as <STRONG>ka1</STRONG>, <STRONG>ka3</STRONG>, <STRONG>kb2</STRONG>, <STRONG>kc1</STRONG>, and <STRONG>kc3</STRONG>. These keys are useful
- when the effects of a 3 by 3 directional pad are needed.
-
- Strings to program function keys can be given as <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG>,
- <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG>, and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG>. A string to program screen labels should
- be specified as <STRONG>pln</STRONG>. Each of these strings takes two
- parameters: the function key number to program (from 0 to
- 10) and the string to program it with. Function key num-
- bers out of this range may program undefined keys in a
- terminal dependent manner. The difference between the
- capabilities is that <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG> causes pressing the given key
- to be the same as the user typing the given string; <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG>
+ can be given as <STRONG>lf0,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>...,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf10</STRONG>. The codes
+ transmitted by certain other special keys can be given:
+ <STRONG>kll</STRONG> (home down), <STRONG>kbs</STRONG> (backspace), <STRONG>ktbc</STRONG> (clear all tabs),
+ <STRONG>kctab</STRONG> (clear the tab stop in this column), <STRONG>kclr</STRONG> (clear
+ screen or erase key), <STRONG>kdch1</STRONG> (delete character), <STRONG>kdl1</STRONG>
+ (delete line), <STRONG>krmir</STRONG> (exit insert mode), <STRONG>kel</STRONG> (clear to end
+ of line), <STRONG>ked</STRONG> (clear to end of screen), <STRONG>kich1</STRONG> (insert
+ character or enter insert mode), <STRONG>kil1</STRONG> (insert line), <STRONG>knp</STRONG>
+ (next page), <STRONG>kpp</STRONG> (previous page), <STRONG>kind</STRONG> (scroll for-
+ ward/down), <STRONG>kri</STRONG> (scroll backward/up), <STRONG>khts</STRONG> (set a tab stop
+ in this column). In addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3
+ array of keys including the four arrow keys, the other
+ five keys can be given as <STRONG>ka1</STRONG>, <STRONG>ka3</STRONG>, <STRONG>kb2</STRONG>, <STRONG>kc1</STRONG>, and <STRONG>kc3</STRONG>.
+ These keys are useful when the effects of a 3 by 3 direc-
+ tional pad are needed.
+
+ Strings to program function keys can be given as <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG>,
+ <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG>, and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG>. A string to program screen labels should
+ be specified as <STRONG>pln</STRONG>. Each of these strings takes two
+ parameters: the function key number to program (from 0 to
+ 10) and the string to program it with. Function key num-
+ bers out of this range may program undefined keys in a
+ terminal dependent manner. The difference between the
+ capabilities is that <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG> causes pressing the given key
+ to be the same as the user typing the given string; <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG>
causes the string to be executed by the terminal in local;
- and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG> causes the string to be transmitted to the com-
+ and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG> causes the string to be transmitted to the com-
puter.
The capabilities <STRONG>nlab</STRONG>, <STRONG>lw</STRONG> and <STRONG>lh</STRONG> define the number of pro-
- grammable screen labels and their width and height. If
- there are commands to turn the labels on and off, give
- them in <STRONG>smln</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmln</STRONG>. <STRONG>smln</STRONG> is normally output after one
+ grammable screen labels and their width and height. If
+ there are commands to turn the labels on and off, give
+ them in <STRONG>smln</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmln</STRONG>. <STRONG>smln</STRONG> is normally output after one
or more pln sequences to make sure that the change becomes
visible.
<STRONG>Tabs</STRONG> <STRONG>and</STRONG> <STRONG>Initialization</STRONG>
- If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance
- to the next tab stop can be given as <STRONG>ht</STRONG> (usually control
- I). A ``back-tab'' command which moves leftward to the
+ If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance
+ to the next tab stop can be given as <STRONG>ht</STRONG> (usually control
+ I). A ``back-tab'' command which moves leftward to the
preceding tab stop can be given as <STRONG>cbt</STRONG>. By convention, if
- the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being expanded
- by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal,
- programs should not use <STRONG>ht</STRONG> or <STRONG>cbt</STRONG> even if they are pre-
- sent, since the user may not have the tab stops properly
- set. If the terminal has hardware tabs which are ini-
- tially set every <EM>n</EM> spaces when the terminal is powered up,
- the numeric parameter <STRONG>it</STRONG> is given, showing the number of
- spaces the tabs are set to. This is normally used by the
- <EM>tset</EM> command to determine whether to set the mode for
- hardware tab expansion, and whether to set the tab stops.
- If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non-
- volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that
+ the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being expanded
+ by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal,
+ programs should not use <STRONG>ht</STRONG> or <STRONG>cbt</STRONG> even if they are
+ present, since the user may not have the tab stops prop-
+ erly set. If the terminal has hardware tabs which are
+ initially set every <EM>n</EM> spaces when the terminal is powered
+ up, the numeric parameter <STRONG>it</STRONG> is given, showing the number
+ of spaces the tabs are set to. This is normally used by
+ the <EM>tset</EM> command to determine whether to set the mode for
+ hardware tab expansion, and whether to set the tab stops.
+ If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non-
+ volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that
they are properly set.
- Other capabilities include <STRONG>is1</STRONG>, <STRONG>is2</STRONG>, and <STRONG>is3</STRONG>, initializa-
- tion strings for the terminal, <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>, the path name of a
- program to be run to initialize the terminal, and <STRONG>if</STRONG>, the
- name of a file containing long initialization strings.
- These strings are expected to set the terminal into modes
- consistent with the rest of the terminfo description.
+ Other capabilities include <STRONG>is1</STRONG>, <STRONG>is2</STRONG>, and <STRONG>is3</STRONG>, initializa-
+ tion strings for the terminal, <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>, the path name of a
+ program to be run to initialize the terminal, and <STRONG>if</STRONG>, the
+ name of a file containing long initialization strings.
+ These strings are expected to set the terminal into modes
+ consistent with the rest of the terminfo description.
They are normally sent to the terminal, by the <EM>init</EM> option
- of the <EM>tput</EM> program, each time the user logs in. They
- will be printed in the following order: run the program
- <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>; output <STRONG>is1</STRONG>; <STRONG>is2</STRONG>; set the margins using <STRONG>mgc</STRONG>, <STRONG>smgl</STRONG>
- and <STRONG>smgr</STRONG>; set tabs using <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> and <STRONG>hts</STRONG>; print the file <STRONG>if</STRONG>;
- and finally output <STRONG>is3</STRONG>.
+ of the <EM>tput</EM> program, each time the user logs in. They
+ will be printed in the following order:
+
+ run the program
+ <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>
+
+ output <STRONG>is1</STRONG> <STRONG>is2</STRONG>
+
+ set the margins using
+ <STRONG>mgc</STRONG>, <STRONG>smgl</STRONG> and <STRONG>smgr</STRONG>
+
+ set tabs using
+ <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> and <STRONG>hts</STRONG>
+
+ print the file
+ <STRONG>if</STRONG>
+
+ and finally
+ output <STRONG>is3</STRONG>.
Most initialization is done with <STRONG>is2</STRONG>. Special terminal
modes can be set up without duplicating strings by putting
the common sequences in <STRONG>is2</STRONG> and special cases in <STRONG>is1</STRONG> and
- <STRONG>is3</STRONG>. A pair of sequences that does a harder reset from a
- totally unknown state can be analogously given as <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>,
- <STRONG>rs2</STRONG>, <STRONG>rf</STRONG>, and <STRONG>rs3</STRONG>, analogous to <STRONG>is2</STRONG> and <STRONG>if</STRONG>. These strings
- are output by the <EM>reset</EM> program, which is used when the
- terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are normally
- placed in <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG> <STRONG>rs3</STRONG> and <STRONG>rf</STRONG> only if they produce annoy-
- ing effects on the screen and are not necessary when log-
- ging in. For example, the command to set the vt100 into
- 80-column mode would normally be part of <STRONG>is2</STRONG>, but it
- causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not nor-
- mally needed since the terminal is usually already in 80
- column mode.
+ <STRONG>is3</STRONG>.
+
+ A set of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally
+ unknown state can be given as <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG>, <STRONG>rf</STRONG> and <STRONG>rs3</STRONG>, analo-
+ gous to <STRONG>is1</STRONG> <STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>is2</STRONG> <STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>if</STRONG> and <STRONG>is3</STRONG> respectively. These
+ strings are output by the <EM>reset</EM> program, which is used
+ when the terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are
+ normally placed in <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG> <STRONG>rs3</STRONG> and <STRONG>rf</STRONG> only if they pro-
+ duce annoying effects on the screen and are not necessary
+ when logging in. For example, the command to set the
+ vt100 into 80-column mode would normally be part of <STRONG>is2</STRONG>,
+ but it causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not
+ normally needed since the terminal is usually already in
+ 80 column mode.
+
+ The <EM>reset</EM> program writes strings including <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>, etc., in
+ the same order as the <EM>init</EM> program, using <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, etc.,
+ instead of <STRONG>is1</STRONG>, etc. If any of <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs3</STRONG>, or <STRONG>rf</STRONG> reset
+ capability strings are missing, the <EM>reset</EM> program falls
+ back upon the corresponding initialization capability
+ string.
If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can
- be given as <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> (clear all tab stops) and <STRONG>hts</STRONG> (set a tab
- stop in the current column of every row). If a more com-
- plex sequence is needed to set the tabs than can be
- described by this, the sequence can be placed in <STRONG>is2</STRONG> or
+ be given as <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> (clear all tab stops) and <STRONG>hts</STRONG> (set a tab
+ stop in the current column of every row). If a more com-
+ plex sequence is needed to set the tabs than can be
+ described by this, the sequence can be placed in <STRONG>is2</STRONG> or
<STRONG>if</STRONG>.
<STRONG>Delays</STRONG> <STRONG>and</STRONG> <STRONG>Padding</STRONG>
- Many older and slower terminals don't support either
+ Many older and slower terminals do not support either
XON/XOFF or DTR handshaking, including hard copy terminals
- and some very archaic CRTs (including, for example, DEC
- VT100s). These may require padding characters after cer-
+ and some very archaic CRTs (including, for example, DEC
+ VT100s). These may require padding characters after cer-
tain cursor motions and screen changes.
If the terminal uses xon/xoff handshaking for flow control
- (that is, it automatically emits ^S back to the host when
+ (that is, it automatically emits ^S back to the host when
its input buffers are close to full), set <STRONG>xon</STRONG>. This capa-
- bility suppresses the emission of padding. You can also
- set it for memory-mapped console devices effectively that
- don't have a speed limit. Padding information should
- still be included so that routines can make better deci-
+ bility suppresses the emission of padding. You can also
+ set it for memory-mapped console devices effectively that
+ do not have a speed limit. Padding information should
+ still be included so that routines can make better deci-
sions about relative costs, but actual pad characters will
not be transmitted.
- If <STRONG>pb</STRONG> (padding baud rate) is given, padding is suppressed
- at baud rates below the value of <STRONG>pb</STRONG>. If the entry has no
- padding baud rate, then whether padding is emitted or not
+ If <STRONG>pb</STRONG> (padding baud rate) is given, padding is suppressed
+ at baud rates below the value of <STRONG>pb</STRONG>. If the entry has no
+ padding baud rate, then whether padding is emitted or not
is completely controlled by <STRONG>xon</STRONG>.
- If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) charac-
- ter as a pad, then this can be given as <STRONG>pad</STRONG>. Only the
+ If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) charac-
+ ter as a pad, then this can be given as <STRONG>pad</STRONG>. Only the
first character of the <STRONG>pad</STRONG> string is used.
<STRONG>Status</STRONG> <STRONG>Lines</STRONG>
- Some terminals have an extra `status line' which is not
- normally used by software (and thus not counted in the
+ Some terminals have an extra `status line' which is not
+ normally used by software (and thus not counted in the
terminal's <STRONG>lines</STRONG> capability).
- The simplest case is a status line which is cursor-
- addressable but not part of the main scrolling region on
- the screen; the Heathkit H19 has a status line of this
- kind, as would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line scrolling
- region set up on initialization. This situation is indi-
+ The simplest case is a status line which is cursor-
+ addressable but not part of the main scrolling region on
+ the screen; the Heathkit H19 has a status line of this
+ kind, as would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line scrolling
+ region set up on initialization. This situation is indi-
cated by the <STRONG>hs</STRONG> capability.
Some terminals with status lines need special sequences to
- access the status line. These may be expressed as a
+ access the status line. These may be expressed as a
string with single parameter <STRONG>tsl</STRONG> which takes the cursor to
- a given zero-origin column on the status line. The capa-
+ a given zero-origin column on the status line. The capa-
bility <STRONG>fsl</STRONG> must return to the main-screen cursor positions
- before the last <STRONG>tsl</STRONG>. You may need to embed the string
- values of <STRONG>sc</STRONG> (save cursor) and <STRONG>rc</STRONG> (restore cursor) in <STRONG>tsl</STRONG>
+ before the last <STRONG>tsl</STRONG>. You may need to embed the string
+ values of <STRONG>sc</STRONG> (save cursor) and <STRONG>rc</STRONG> (restore cursor) in <STRONG>tsl</STRONG>
and <STRONG>fsl</STRONG> to accomplish this.
- The status line is normally assumed to be the same width
- as the width of the terminal. If this is untrue, you can
+ The status line is normally assumed to be the same width
+ as the width of the terminal. If this is untrue, you can
specify it with the numeric capability <STRONG>wsl</STRONG>.
- A command to erase or blank the status line may be speci-
+ A command to erase or blank the status line may be speci-
fied as <STRONG>dsl</STRONG>.
- The boolean capability <STRONG>eslok</STRONG> specifies that escape
+ The boolean capability <STRONG>eslok</STRONG> specifies that escape
sequences, tabs, etc., work ordinarily in the status line.
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation does not yet use any of these
- capabilities. They are documented here in case they ever
+ The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation does not yet use any of these
+ capabilities. They are documented here in case they ever
become important.
<STRONG>Line</STRONG> <STRONG>Graphics</STRONG>
- Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for
- forms-drawing. Terminfo and <STRONG>curses</STRONG> build in support for
- the drawing characters supported by the VT100, with some
- characters from the AT&T 4410v1 added. This alternate
+ Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for
+ forms-drawing. Terminfo and <STRONG>curses</STRONG> build in support for
+ the drawing characters supported by the VT100, with some
+ characters from the AT&T 4410v1 added. This alternate
character set may be specified by the <STRONG>acsc</STRONG> capability.
+
<STRONG>Glyph</STRONG> <STRONG>ACS</STRONG> <STRONG>Ascii</STRONG> <STRONG>VT100</STRONG>
<STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Default</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG>
UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f }
bullet ACS_BULLET o ~
checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a
degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \ f
-
diamond ACS_DIAMOND + `
greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z
greek pi ACS_PI * {
lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i
large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n
less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y
+
lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m
lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j
not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! |
upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k
vertical line ACS_VLINE | x
- The best way to define a new device's graphics set is to
- add a column to a copy of this table for your terminal,
- giving the character which (when emitted between
- <STRONG>smacs</STRONG>/<STRONG>rmacs</STRONG> switches) will be rendered as the correspond-
- ing graphic. Then read off the VT100/your terminal char-
- acter pairs right to left in sequence; these become the
+ The best way to define a new device's graphics set is to
+ add a column to a copy of this table for your terminal,
+ giving the character which (when emitted between
+ <STRONG>smacs</STRONG>/<STRONG>rmacs</STRONG> switches) will be rendered as the correspond-
+ ing graphic. Then read off the VT100/your terminal char-
+ acter pairs right to left in sequence; these become the
ACSC string.
<STRONG>Color</STRONG> <STRONG>Handling</STRONG>
- Most color terminals are either `Tektronix-like' or `HP-
- like'. Tektronix-like terminals have a predefined set of
- N colors (where N usually 8), and can set character-cell
+ Most color terminals are either `Tektronix-like' or `HP-
+ like'. Tektronix-like terminals have a predefined set of
+ N colors (where N usually 8), and can set character-cell
foreground and background characters independently, mixing
- them into N * N color-pairs. On HP-like terminals, the
+ them into N * N color-pairs. On HP-like terminals, the
use must set each color pair up separately (foreground and
- background are not independently settable). Up to M
- color-pairs may be set up from 2*M different colors.
+ background are not independently settable). Up to M
+ color-pairs may be set up from 2*M different colors.
ANSI-compatible terminals are Tektronix-like.
Some basic color capabilities are independent of the color
method. The numeric capabilities <STRONG>colors</STRONG> and <STRONG>pairs</STRONG> specify
- the maximum numbers of colors and color-pairs that can be
- displayed simultaneously. The <STRONG>op</STRONG> (original pair) string
- resets foreground and background colors to their default
- values for the terminal. The <STRONG>oc</STRONG> string resets all colors
- or color-pairs to their default values for the terminal.
- Some terminals (including many PC terminal emulators)
- erase screen areas with the current background color
- rather than the power-up default background; these should
+ the maximum numbers of colors and color-pairs that can be
+ displayed simultaneously. The <STRONG>op</STRONG> (original pair) string
+ resets foreground and background colors to their default
+ values for the terminal. The <STRONG>oc</STRONG> string resets all colors
+ or color-pairs to their default values for the terminal.
+ Some terminals (including many PC terminal emulators)
+ erase screen areas with the current background color
+ rather than the power-up default background; these should
have the boolean capability <STRONG>bce</STRONG>.
- To change the current foreground or background color on a
- Tektronix-type terminal, use <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> (set ANSI foreground)
- and <STRONG>setab</STRONG> (set ANSI background) or <STRONG>setf</STRONG> (set foreground)
- and <STRONG>setb</STRONG> (set background). These take one parameter, the
+ To change the current foreground or background color on a
+ Tektronix-type terminal, use <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> (set ANSI foreground)
+ and <STRONG>setab</STRONG> (set ANSI background) or <STRONG>setf</STRONG> (set foreground)
+ and <STRONG>setb</STRONG> (set background). These take one parameter, the
color number. The SVr4 documentation describes only
- <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG>; the XPG4 draft says that "If the terminal
+ <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG>; the XPG4 draft says that "If the terminal
supports ANSI escape sequences to set background and fore-
- ground, they should be coded as <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setab</STRONG>, respec-
- tively. If the terminal supports other escape sequences
- to set background and foreground, they should be coded as
- <STRONG>setf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setb</STRONG>, respectively. The <EM>vidputs()</EM> function and
- the refresh functions use <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setab</STRONG> if they are
+ ground, they should be coded as <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setab</STRONG>, respec-
+ tively. If the terminal supports other escape sequences
+ to set background and foreground, they should be coded as
+ <STRONG>setf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setb</STRONG>, respectively. The <EM>vidputs()</EM> function and
+ the refresh functions use <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setab</STRONG> if they are
defined."
- The <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG> and <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> capabilities take a single
+ The <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG> and <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> capabilities take a single
numeric argument each. Argument values 0-7 of <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG>
- are portably defined as follows (the middle column is the
+ are portably defined as follows (the middle column is the
symbolic #define available in the header for the <STRONG>curses</STRONG> or
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> libraries). The terminal hardware is free to map
- these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal
+ <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> libraries). The terminal hardware is free to map
+ these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal
locations in color space.
+
<STRONG>Color</STRONG> <STRONG>#define</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG> <STRONG>RGB</STRONG>
black <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> 0 0, 0, 0
red <STRONG>COLOR_RED</STRONG> 1 max,0,0
cyan <STRONG>COLOR_CYAN</STRONG> 6 0,max,max
white <STRONG>COLOR_WHITE</STRONG> 7 max,max,max
- The argument values of <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> historically correspond
+ The argument values of <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> historically correspond
to a different mapping, i.e.,
+
<STRONG>Color</STRONG> <STRONG>#define</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG> <STRONG>RGB</STRONG>
black <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> 0 0, 0, 0
blue <STRONG>COLOR_BLUE</STRONG> 1 0,0,max
yellow <STRONG>COLOR_YELLOW</STRONG> 6 max,max,0
white <STRONG>COLOR_WHITE</STRONG> 7 max,max,max
It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capa-
- bilities; otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the
+ bilities; otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the
display.
- On an HP-like terminal, use <STRONG>scp</STRONG> with a color-pair number
+ On an HP-like terminal, use <STRONG>scp</STRONG> with a color-pair number
parameter to set which color pair is current.
- On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability <STRONG>ccc</STRONG> may be
- present to indicate that colors can be modified. If so,
+ On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability <STRONG>ccc</STRONG> may be
+ present to indicate that colors can be modified. If so,
the <STRONG>initc</STRONG> capability will take a color number (0 to <STRONG>colors</STRONG>
- - 1)and three more parameters which describe the color.
+ - 1)and three more parameters which describe the color.
These three parameters default to being interpreted as RGB
- (Red, Green, Blue) values. If the boolean capability <STRONG>hls</STRONG>
+ (Red, Green, Blue) values. If the boolean capability <STRONG>hls</STRONG>
is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness, Satu-
ration) indices. The ranges are terminal-dependent.
- On an HP-like terminal, <STRONG>initp</STRONG> may give a capability for
- changing a color-pair value. It will take seven parame-
- ters; a color-pair number (0 to <STRONG>max_pairs</STRONG> - 1), and two
- triples describing first background and then foreground
- colors. These parameters must be (Red, Green, Blue) or
+ On an HP-like terminal, <STRONG>initp</STRONG> may give a capability for
+ changing a color-pair value. It will take seven parame-
+ ters; a color-pair number (0 to <STRONG>max_pairs</STRONG> - 1), and two
+ triples describing first background and then foreground
+ colors. These parameters must be (Red, Green, Blue) or
(Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on <STRONG>hls</STRONG>.
- On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights.
+ On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights.
You can register these collisions with the <STRONG>ncv</STRONG> capability.
- This is a bit-mask of attributes not to be used when col-
- ors are enabled. The correspondence with the attributes
+ This is a bit-mask of attributes not to be used when col-
+ ors are enabled. The correspondence with the attributes
understood by <STRONG>curses</STRONG> is as follows:
+
<STRONG>Attribute</STRONG> <STRONG>Bit</STRONG> <STRONG>Decimal</STRONG>
A_STANDOUT 0 1
A_UNDERLINE 1 2
-
A_REVERSE 2 4
A_BLINK 3 8
A_DIM 4 16
A_PROTECT 7 128
A_ALTCHARSET 8 256
- For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline
- attribute collides with the foreground color blue and is
- not available in color mode. These should have an <STRONG>ncv</STRONG>
+ For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline
+ attribute collides with the foreground color blue and is
+ not available in color mode. These should have an <STRONG>ncv</STRONG>
capability of 2.
- SVr4 curses does nothing with <STRONG>ncv</STRONG>, ncurses recognizes it
+ SVr4 curses does nothing with <STRONG>ncv</STRONG>, ncurses recognizes it
and optimizes the output in favor of colors.
<STRONG>Miscellaneous</STRONG>
- If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) charac-
- ter as a pad, then this can be given as pad. Only the
- first character of the pad string is used. If the termi-
+ If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) charac-
+ ter as a pad, then this can be given as pad. Only the
+ first character of the pad string is used. If the termi-
nal does not have a pad character, specify npc. Note that
- ncurses implements the termcap-compatible <STRONG>PC</STRONG> variable;
- though the application may set this value to something
- other than a null, ncurses will test <STRONG>npc</STRONG> first and use
+ ncurses implements the termcap-compatible <STRONG>PC</STRONG> variable;
+ though the application may set this value to something
+ other than a null, ncurses will test <STRONG>npc</STRONG> first and use
napms if the terminal has no pad character.
- If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can
- be indicated with <STRONG>hu</STRONG> (half-line up) and <STRONG>hd</STRONG> (half-line
+ If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can
+ be indicated with <STRONG>hu</STRONG> (half-line up) and <STRONG>hd</STRONG> (half-line
down). This is primarily useful for superscripts and sub-
- scripts on hard-copy terminals. If a hard-copy terminal
- can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as <STRONG>ff</STRONG>
+ scripts on hard-copy terminals. If a hard-copy terminal
+ can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as <STRONG>ff</STRONG>
(usually control L).
- If there is a command to repeat a given character a given
- number of times (to save time transmitting a large number
- of identical characters) this can be indicated with the
- parameterized string <STRONG>rep</STRONG>. The first parameter is the
- character to be repeated and the second is the number of
- times to repeat it. Thus, tparm(repeat_char, 'x', 10) is
+ If there is a command to repeat a given character a given
+ number of times (to save time transmitting a large number
+ of identical characters) this can be indicated with the
+ parameterized string <STRONG>rep</STRONG>. The first parameter is the
+ character to be repeated and the second is the number of
+ times to repeat it. Thus, tparm(repeat_char, 'x', 10) is
the same as `xxxxxxxxxx'.
- If the terminal has a settable command character, such as
- the TEKTRONIX 4025, this can be indicated with <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG>. A
+ If the terminal has a settable command character, such as
+ the TEKTRONIX 4025, this can be indicated with <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG>. A
prototype command character is chosen which is used in all
- capabilities. This character is given in the <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG> capa-
- bility to identify it. The following convention is sup-
- ported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be
- searched for a <STRONG>CC</STRONG> variable, and if found, all occurrences
+ capabilities. This character is given in the <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG> capa-
+ bility to identify it. The following convention is sup-
+ ported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be
+ searched for a <STRONG>CC</STRONG> variable, and if found, all occurrences
of the prototype character are replaced with the character
in the environment variable.
- Terminal descriptions that do not represent a specific
+ Terminal descriptions that do not represent a specific
kind of known terminal, such as <EM>switch</EM>, <EM>dialup</EM>, <EM>patch</EM>, and
- <EM>network</EM>, should include the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (generic) capability so
- that programs can complain that they do not know how to
- talk to the terminal. (This capability does not apply to
- <EM>virtual</EM> terminal descriptions for which the escape
+ <EM>network</EM>, should include the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (generic) capability so
+ that programs can complain that they do not know how to
+ talk to the terminal. (This capability does not apply to
+ <EM>virtual</EM> terminal descriptions for which the escape
sequences are known.)
- If the terminal has a ``meta key'' which acts as a shift
- key, setting the 8th bit of any character transmitted,
- this fact can be indicated with <STRONG>km</STRONG>. Otherwise, software
+ If the terminal has a ``meta key'' which acts as a shift
+ key, setting the 8th bit of any character transmitted,
+ this fact can be indicated with <STRONG>km</STRONG>. Otherwise, software
will assume that the 8th bit is parity and it will usually
- be cleared. If strings exist to turn this ``meta mode''
+ be cleared. If strings exist to turn this ``meta mode''
on and off, they can be given as <STRONG>smm</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmm</STRONG>.
- If the terminal has more lines of memory than will fit on
- the screen at once, the number of lines of memory can be
- indicated with <STRONG>lm</STRONG>. A value of <STRONG>lm</STRONG>#0 indicates that the
+ If the terminal has more lines of memory than will fit on
+ the screen at once, the number of lines of memory can be
+ indicated with <STRONG>lm</STRONG>. A value of <STRONG>lm</STRONG>#0 indicates that the
number of lines is not fixed, but that there is still more
memory than fits on the screen.
If the terminal is one of those supported by the UNIX vir-
- tual terminal protocol, the terminal number can be given
+ tual terminal protocol, the terminal number can be given
as <STRONG>vt</STRONG>.
Media copy strings which control an auxiliary printer con-
nected to the terminal can be given as <STRONG>mc0</STRONG>: print the con-
- tents of the screen, <STRONG>mc4</STRONG>: turn off the printer, and <STRONG>mc5</STRONG>:
- turn on the printer. When the printer is on, all text
- sent to the terminal will be sent to the printer. It is
+ tents of the screen, <STRONG>mc4</STRONG>: turn off the printer, and <STRONG>mc5</STRONG>:
+ turn on the printer. When the printer is on, all text
+ sent to the terminal will be sent to the printer. It is
undefined whether the text is also displayed on the termi-
nal screen when the printer is on. A variation <STRONG>mc5p</STRONG> takes
one parameter, and leaves the printer on for as many char-
- acters as the value of the parameter, then turns the
- printer off. The parameter should not exceed 255. All
+ acters as the value of the parameter, then turns the
+ printer off. The parameter should not exceed 255. All
text, including <STRONG>mc4</STRONG>, is transparently passed to the
printer while an <STRONG>mc5p</STRONG> is in effect.
<STRONG>Glitches</STRONG> <STRONG>and</STRONG> <STRONG>Braindamage</STRONG>
- Hazeltine terminals, which do not allow `~' characters to
+ Hazeltine terminals, which do not allow `~' characters to
be displayed should indicate <STRONG>hz</STRONG>.
Terminals which ignore a line-feed immediately after an <STRONG>am</STRONG>
wrap, such as the Concept and vt100, should indicate <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>.
- If <STRONG>el</STRONG> is required to get rid of standout (instead of
- merely writing normal text on top of it), <STRONG>xhp</STRONG> should be
+ If <STRONG>el</STRONG> is required to get rid of standout (instead of
+ merely writing normal text on top of it), <STRONG>xhp</STRONG> should be
given.
- Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved
- over to blanks, should indicate <STRONG>xt</STRONG> (destructive tabs).
- Note: the variable indicating this is now
- `dest_tabs_magic_smso'; in older versions, it was tel-
+ Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved
+ over to blanks, should indicate <STRONG>xt</STRONG> (destructive tabs).
+ Note: the variable indicating this is now
+ `dest_tabs_magic_smso'; in older versions, it was tel-
eray_glitch. This glitch is also taken to mean that it is
- not possible to position the cursor on top of a ``magic
+ not possible to position the cursor on top of a ``magic
cookie'', that to erase standout mode it is instead neces-
sary to use delete and insert line. The ncurses implemen-
tation ignores this glitch.
- The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly trans-
- mit the escape or control C characters, has <STRONG>xsb</STRONG>, indicat-
- ing that the f1 key is used for escape and f2 for control
- C. (Only certain Superbees have this problem, depending
- on the ROM.) Note that in older terminfo versions, this
- capability was called `beehive_glitch'; it is now
+ The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly trans-
+ mit the escape or control C characters, has <STRONG>xsb</STRONG>, indicat-
+ ing that the f1 key is used for escape and f2 for control
+ C. (Only certain Superbees have this problem, depending
+ on the ROM.) Note that in older terminfo versions, this
+ capability was called `beehive_glitch'; it is now
`no_esc_ctl_c'.
- Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by
+ Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by
adding more capabilities of the form <STRONG>x</STRONG><EM>x</EM>.
<STRONG>Similar</STRONG> <STRONG>Terminals</STRONG>
If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant)
- can be defined as being just like the other (the base)
- with certain exceptions. In the definition of the vari-
- ant, the string capability <STRONG>use</STRONG> can be given with the name
- of the base terminal. The capabilities given before <STRONG>use</STRONG>
- override those in the base type named by <STRONG>use</STRONG>. If there
- are multiple <STRONG>use</STRONG> capabilities, they are merged in reverse
- order. That is, the rightmost <STRONG>use</STRONG> reference is processed
- first, then the one to its left, and so forth. Capabili-
- ties given explicitly in the entry override those brought
+ can be defined as being just like the other (the base)
+ with certain exceptions. In the definition of the vari-
+ ant, the string capability <STRONG>use</STRONG> can be given with the name
+ of the base terminal. The capabilities given before <STRONG>use</STRONG>
+ override those in the base type named by <STRONG>use</STRONG>. If there
+ are multiple <STRONG>use</STRONG> capabilities, they are merged in reverse
+ order. That is, the rightmost <STRONG>use</STRONG> reference is processed
+ first, then the one to its left, and so forth. Capabili-
+ ties given explicitly in the entry override those brought
in by <STRONG>use</STRONG> references.
A capability can be canceled by placing <STRONG>xx@</STRONG> to the left of
- the use reference that imports it, where <EM>xx</EM> is the capa-
+ the use reference that imports it, where <EM>xx</EM> is the capa-
bility. For example, the entry
2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,
- defines a 2621-nl that does not have the <STRONG>smkx</STRONG> or <STRONG>rmkx</STRONG>
- capabilities, and hence does not turn on the function key
- labels when in visual mode. This is useful for different
+ defines a 2621-nl that does not have the <STRONG>smkx</STRONG> or <STRONG>rmkx</STRONG>
+ capabilities, and hence does not turn on the function key
+ labels when in visual mode. This is useful for different
modes for a terminal, or for different user preferences.
<STRONG>Pitfalls</STRONG> <STRONG>of</STRONG> <STRONG>Long</STRONG> <STRONG>Entries</STRONG>
- Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to
- date, no entry has even approached terminfo's 4K string-
- table maximum. Unfortunately, the termcap translations
- are much more strictly limited (to 1K), thus termcap
- translations of long terminfo entries can cause problems.
-
- The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of tgetent()
- instruct the user to allocate a 1K buffer for the termcap
- entry. The entry gets null-terminated by the termcap
- library, so that makes the maximum safe length for a term-
- cap entry 1k-1 (1023) bytes. Depending on what the appli-
- cation and the termcap library being used does, and where
- in the termcap file the terminal type that tgetent() is
- searching for is, several bad things can happen.
-
- Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if
- they find an entry that's longer than 1023 bytes; others
- don't; others truncate the entries to 1023 bytes. Some
+ Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to
+ date, no entry has even approached terminfo's 4096-byte
+ string-table maximum. Unfortunately, the termcap transla-
+ tions are much more strictly limited (to 1023 bytes), thus
+ termcap translations of long terminfo entries can cause
+ problems.
+
+ The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG>
+ instruct the user to allocate a 1024-byte buffer for the
+ termcap entry. The entry gets null-terminated by the
+ termcap library, so that makes the maximum safe length for
+ a termcap entry 1k-1 (1023) bytes. Depending on what the
+ application and the termcap library being used does, and
+ where in the termcap file the terminal type that <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG>
+ is searching for is, several bad things can happen.
+
+ Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if
+ they find an entry that's longer than 1023 bytes; others
+ do not; others truncate the entries to 1023 bytes. Some
application programs allocate more than the recommended 1K
- for the termcap entry; others don't.
+ for the termcap entry; others do not.
Each termcap entry has two important sizes associated with
it: before "tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion. "tc"
- is the capability that tacks on another termcap entry to
- the end of the current one, to add on its capabilities.
- If a termcap entry doesn't use the "tc" capability, then
+ is the capability that tacks on another termcap entry to
+ the end of the current one, to add on its capabilities.
+ If a termcap entry does not use the "tc" capability, then
of course the two lengths are the same.
- The "before tc expansion" length is the most important
- one, because it affects more than just users of that par-
- ticular terminal. This is the length of the entry as it
+ The "before tc expansion" length is the most important
+ one, because it affects more than just users of that par-
+ ticular terminal. This is the length of the entry as it
exists in /etc/termcap, minus the backslash-newline pairs,
- which tgetent() strips out while reading it. Some termcap
- libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap
+ which <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> strips out while reading it. Some termcap
+ libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap
does not). Now suppose:
- * a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023
+ * a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023
bytes long,
* and the application has only allocated a 1k buffer,
- * and the termcap library (like the one in BSD/OS 1.1
- and GNU) reads the whole entry into the buffer, no
- matter what its length, to see if it's the entry it
+ * and the termcap library (like the one in BSD/OS 1.1
+ and GNU) reads the whole entry into the buffer, no
+ matter what its length, to see if it is the entry it
wants,
- * and tgetent() is searching for a terminal type that
+ * and <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> is searching for a terminal type that
either is the long entry, appears in the termcap file
- after the long entry, or doesn't appear in the file
- at all (so that tgetent() has to search the whole
+ after the long entry, or does not appear in the file
+ at all (so that <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> has to search the whole
termcap file).
- Then tgetent() will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack,
- and probably core dump the program. Programs like telnet
- are particularly vulnerable; modern telnets pass along
- values like the terminal type automatically. The results
- are almost as undesirable with a termcap library, like
- SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages
- when it reads an overly long termcap entry. If a termcap
- library truncates long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is
- immune to dying here but will return incorrect data for
+ Then <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack,
+ and probably core dump the program. Programs like telnet
+ are particularly vulnerable; modern telnets pass along
+ values like the terminal type automatically. The results
+ are almost as undesirable with a termcap library, like
+ SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages
+ when it reads an overly long termcap entry. If a termcap
+ library truncates long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is
+ immune to dying here but will return incorrect data for
the terminal.
The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect
to the above, but only for people who actually set TERM to
- that terminal type, since tgetent() only does "tc" expan-
- sion once it's found the terminal type it was looking for,
- not while searching.
+ that terminal type, since <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> only does "tc" expan-
+ sion once it is found the terminal type it was looking
+ for, not while searching.
In summary, a termcap entry that is longer than 1023 bytes
- can cause, on various combinations of termcap libraries
- and applications, a core dump, warnings, or incorrect
- operation. If it's too long even before "tc" expansion,
+ can cause, on various combinations of termcap libraries
+ and applications, a core dump, warnings, or incorrect
+ operation. If it is too long even before "tc" expansion,
it will have this effect even for users of some other ter-
- minal types and users whose TERM variable does not have a
+ minal types and users whose TERM variable does not have a
termcap entry.
When in -C (translate to termcap) mode, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> imple-
- mentation of <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1.html">tic(1)</A></STRONG> issues warning messages when the pre-
- tc length of a termcap translation is too long. The -c
- (check) option also checks resolved (after tc expansion)
+ mentation of <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG> issues warning messages when the pre-
+ tc length of a termcap translation is too long. The -c
+ (check) option also checks resolved (after tc expansion)
lengths.
<STRONG>Binary</STRONG> <STRONG>Compatibility</STRONG>
- It is not wise to count on portability of binary terminfo
- entries between commercial UNIX versions. The problem is
- that there are at least two versions of terminfo (under
+ It is not wise to count on portability of binary terminfo
+ entries between commercial UNIX versions. The problem is
+ that there are at least two versions of terminfo (under
HP-UX and AIX) which diverged from System V terminfo after
- SVr1, and have added extension capabilities to the string
- table that (in the binary format) collide with System V
+ SVr1, and have added extension capabilities to the string
+ table that (in the binary format) collide with System V
and XSI Curses extensions.
</PRE>
<H2>EXTENSIONS</H2><PRE>
- Some SVr4 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> implementations, and all previous to
- SVr4, don't interpret the %A and %O operators in parameter
- strings.
-
- SVr4/XPG4 do not specify whether <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> licenses movement
- while in an alternate-character-set mode (such modes may,
- among other things, map CR and NL to characters that don't
- trigger local motions). The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation
- ignores <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> in <STRONG>ALTCHARSET</STRONG> mode. This raises the possi-
- bility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite
- interpretation may need terminfo entries made for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
+ Some SVr4 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> implementations, and all previous to
+ SVr4, do not interpret the %A and %O operators in parame-
+ ter strings.
+
+ SVr4/XPG4 do not specify whether <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> licenses movement
+ while in an alternate-character-set mode (such modes may,
+ among other things, map CR and NL to characters that do
+ not trigger local motions). The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation
+ ignores <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> in <STRONG>ALTCHARSET</STRONG> mode. This raises the possi-
+ bility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite
+ interpretation may need terminfo entries made for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
to have <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> turned off.
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library handles insert-character and insert-
+ The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library handles insert-character and insert-
character modes in a slightly non-standard way to get bet-
- ter update efficiency. See the <STRONG>Insert/Delete</STRONG> <STRONG>Character</STRONG>
+ ter update efficiency. See the <STRONG>Insert/Delete</STRONG> <STRONG>Character</STRONG>
subsection above.
- The parameter substitutions for <STRONG>set_clock</STRONG> and <STRONG>dis-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>play_clock</STRONG> are not documented in SVr4 or the XSI Curses
+ The parameter substitutions for <STRONG>set_clock</STRONG> and <STRONG>dis-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>play_clock</STRONG> are not documented in SVr4 or the XSI Curses
standard. They are deduced from the documentation for the
AT&T 505 terminal.
- Be careful assigning the <STRONG>kmous</STRONG> capability. The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
- wants to interpret it as <STRONG>KEY_MOUSE</STRONG>, for use by terminals
- and emulators like xterm that can return mouse-tracking
+ Be careful assigning the <STRONG>kmous</STRONG> capability. The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
+ wants to interpret it as <STRONG>KEY_MOUSE</STRONG>, for use by terminals
+ and emulators like xterm that can return mouse-tracking
information in the keyboard-input stream.
- Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support
- different subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some
+ Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support
+ different subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some
cases) different extension sets. Here is a summary, accu-
rate as of October 1995:
<STRONG>SVR4,</STRONG> <STRONG>Solaris,</STRONG> <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> -- These support all SVr4 capabili-
ties.
- <STRONG>SGI</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented
+ <STRONG>SGI</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented
extended string capability (<STRONG>set_pglen</STRONG>).
- <STRONG>SVr1,</STRONG> <STRONG>Ultrix</STRONG> -- These support a restricted subset of ter-
- minfo capabilities. The booleans end with <STRONG>xon_xoff</STRONG>; the
- numerics with <STRONG>width_status_line</STRONG>; and the strings with
+ <STRONG>SVr1,</STRONG> <STRONG>Ultrix</STRONG> -- These support a restricted subset of ter-
+ minfo capabilities. The booleans end with <STRONG>xon_xoff</STRONG>; the
+ numerics with <STRONG>width_status_line</STRONG>; and the strings with
<STRONG>prtr_non</STRONG>.
- <STRONG>HP/UX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234]
+ <STRONG>HP/UX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234]
numerics <STRONG>num_labels</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_height</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_width</STRONG>, plus func-
- tion keys 11 through 63, plus <STRONG>plab_norm</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_on</STRONG>, and
+ tion keys 11 through 63, plus <STRONG>plab_norm</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_on</STRONG>, and
<STRONG>label_off</STRONG>, plus some incompatible extensions in the string
table.
- <STRONG>AIX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11
- through 63, plus a number of incompatible string table
+ <STRONG>AIX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11
+ through 63, plus a number of incompatible string table
extensions.
- <STRONG>OSF</STRONG> -- Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.
+ <STRONG>OSF</STRONG> -- Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.
</PRE>
</PRE>
<H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
- <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="
ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="printf.3S.html">printf(3S)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</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="printf.3.html">printf(3)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>.
</PRE>
<H2>AUTHORS</H2><PRE>
- Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
+ Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
- <STRONG><A HREF="TERMINFO.5.html">TERMINFO(5)</A></STRONG>
+ <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<HR>
<ADDRESS>
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff