-.\" $Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.47 2006/12/24 18:14:22 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.61 2013/03/03 00:06:39 tom Exp $
.\" Beginning of terminfo.tail file
.\" This file is part of ncurses.
.\" See "terminfo.head" for copyright.
.ps +1
+.SS User-Defined Capabilities
+.
+The preceding section listed the \fIpredefined\fP capabilities.
+They deal with some special features for terminals no longer
+(or possibly never) produced.
+Occasionally there are special features of newer terminals which
+are awkward or impossible to represent by reusing the predefined
+capabilities.
+.PP
+\fBncurses\fP addresses this limitation by allowing user-defined capabilities.
+The \fB@TIC@\fP and \fB@INFOCMP@\fP programs provide
+the \fB\-x\fP option for this purpose.
+When \fB\-x\fP is set,
+\fB@TIC@\fP treats unknown capabilities as user-defined.
+That is, if \fB@TIC@\fP encounters a capability name
+which it does not recognize,
+it infers its type (boolean, number or string) from the syntax
+and makes an extended table entry for that capability.
+The \fBuse_extended_names\fP function makes this information
+conditionally available to applications.
+The ncurses library provides the data leaving most of the behavior
+to applications:
+.bP
+User-defined capability strings whose name begins
+with \*(``k\*('' are treated as function keys.
+.bP
+The types (boolean, number, string) determined by \fB@TIC@\fP
+can be inferred by successful calls on \fBtigetflag\fP, etc.
+.bP
+If the capability name happens to be two characters,
+the capability is also available through the termcap interface.
+.PP
+While termcap is said to be extensible because it does not use a predefined set
+of capabilities,
+in practice it has been limited to the capabilities defined by
+terminfo implementations.
+As a rule,
+user-defined capabilities intended for use by termcap applications should
+be limited to booleans and numbers to avoid running past the 1023 byte
+limit assumed by termcap implementations and their applications.
+In particular, providing extended sets of function keys (past the 60
+numbered keys and the handful of special named keys) is best done using
+the longer names available using terminfo.
.
.SS A Sample Entry
.
kf11=\\E[W, kf12=\\E[X, kf2=\\E[N, kf3=\\E[O, kf4=\\E[P,
kf5=\\E[Q, kf6=\\E[R, kf7=\\E[S, kf8=\\E[T, kf9=\\E[U,
kich1=\\E[L, mc4=\\E[4i, mc5=\\E[5i, nel=\\r\\E[S,
- op=\\E[37;40m, rep=%p1%c\\E[%p2%{1}%-%db,
+ op=\\E[37;40m, rep=%p1%c\\E[%p2%{1}%\-%db,
rin=\\E[%p1%dT, s0ds=\\E(B, s1ds=\\E)B, s2ds=\\E*B,
s3ds=\\E+B, setab=\\E[4%p1%dm, setaf=\\E[3%p1%dm,
setb=\\E[4%?%p1%{1}%=%t4%e%p1%{3}%=%t6%e%p1%{4}%=%t1%e%p1%{6}%=%t3%e%p1%d%;m,
.PP
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 ``#''.
+Comments may be included on lines beginning with \*(``#\*(''.
Capabilities in
.I terminfo
are of three types:
+.bP
Boolean capabilities which indicate that the terminal has
-some particular feature, numeric capabilities giving the size of the terminal
-or the size of particular delays, and string
+some particular feature,
+.bP
+numeric capabilities giving the size of the terminal
+or the size of particular delays, and
+.bP
+string
capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to perform particular
terminal operations.
.PP
\fB^x\fR maps to a control-x for any appropriate x, and the sequences
\fB\en \el \er \et \eb \ef \es\fR give
a newline, line-feed, return, tab, backspace, form-feed, and space.
-Other escapes include \fB\e^\fR for \fB^\fR,
+Other escapes include
+.bP
+\fB\e^\fR for \fB^\fR,
+.bP
\fB\e\e\fR for \fB\e\fR,
+.bP
\fB\e\fR, for comma,
+.bP
\fB\e:\fR for \fB:\fR,
+.bP
and \fB\e0\fR for null.
-(\fB\e0\fR will produce \e200, which does not terminate a string but behaves
+.IP
+\fB\e0\fR will produce \e200, which does not terminate a string but behaves
as a null character on most terminals, providing CS7 is specified.
-See stty(1).)
+See stty(1).
+.IP
+The reason for this quirk is to maintain binary compatibility of the
+compiled terminfo files with other implementations,
+e.g., the SVr4 systems, which document this.
+Compiled terminfo files use null-terminated strings, with no lengths.
+Modifying this would require a new binary format,
+which would not work with other implementations.
+.PP
Finally, characters may be given as three octal digits after a \fB\e\fR.
.PP
A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string capability, enclosed in
.PP
.SS Fetching Compiled Descriptions
.PP
+The \fBncurses\fP library searches for terminal descriptions in several places.
+It uses only the first description found.
+The library has a compiled-in list of places to search
+which can be overridden by environment variables.
+Before starting to search,
+\fBncurses\fP eliminates duplicates in its search list.
+.bP
If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is interpreted as the pathname
of a directory containing the compiled description you are working on.
-Only
-that directory is searched.
-.PP
-If TERMINFO is not set, the \fBncurses\fR version of the terminfo reader code
-will instead look in the directory \fB$HOME/.terminfo\fR
+Only that directory is searched.
+.bP
+If TERMINFO is not set,
+\fBncurses\fR will instead look in the directory \fB$HOME/.terminfo\fR
for a compiled description.
-If it fails to find one there, and the environment variable TERMINFO_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 \fI\*d\fR).
-If no description is found in any of the
-TERMINFO_DIRS directories, the fetch fails.
-.PP
-If neither TERMINFO nor TERMINFO_DIRS is set, the last place tried will be the
-system terminfo directory, \fI\*d\fR.
-.PP
-(Neither the \fB$HOME/.terminfo\fR lookups nor TERMINFO_DIRS extensions are
-supported under stock System V terminfo/curses.)
-.PP
+.bP
+Next, if the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS is set,
+\fBncurses\fR will interpret the contents of that variable
+as a list of colon-separated directories (or database files) to be searched.
+.IP
+An empty directory name (i.e., if the variable begins or ends
+with a colon, or contains adacent colons)
+is interpreted as the system location \fI\*d\fR.
+.bP
+Finally, \fBncurses\fP searches these compiled-in locations:
+.RS
+.bP
+a list of directories (@TERMINFO_DIRS@), and
+.bP
+the system terminfo directory, \fI\*d\fR (the compiled-in default).
+.RE
.SS Preparing Descriptions
.PP
We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals.
outputs `%'
.TP
%\fI[[\fP:\fI]flags][width[.precision]][\fPdoxXs\fI]\fP
-as in \fBprintf\fP, flags are [-+#] and space
+as in \fBprintf\fP, flags are [\-+#] and space.
+Use a `:' to allow the next character to be a `\-' flag,
+avoiding interpreting "%\-" as an operator.
.TP
%c
print pop() like %c in \fBprintf\fP
%s
print pop() like %s in \fBprintf\fP
.TP
-%p[1-9]
+%p[1\-9]
push \fIi\fP'th parameter
.TP
-%P[a-z]
-set dynamic variable [a-z] to pop()
+%P[a\-z]
+set dynamic variable [a\-z] to pop()
.TP
-%g[a-z]
-get dynamic variable [a-z] and push it
+%g[a\-z]
+get dynamic variable [a\-z] and push it
.TP
-%P[A-Z]
-set static variable [a-z] to pop()
+%P[A\-Z]
+set static variable [a\-z] to pop()
.TP
-%g[A-Z]
-get static variable [a-z] and push it
+%g[A\-Z]
+get static variable [a\-z] and push it
.IP
The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading.
Historically, these are simply two different sets of variables,
%l
push strlen(pop)
.TP
-%+ %- %* %/ %m
+%+ %\- %* %/ %m
arithmetic (%m is mod): push(pop() op pop())
.TP
%& %| %^
.IP
where c\di\u are conditions, b\di\u are bodies.
.IP
-Use the \fB-f\fP option of \fBtic\fP or \fB@INFOCMP@\fP to see
-the structure of if-the-else's.
+Use the \fB\-f\fP option of \fB@TIC@\fP or \fB@INFOCMP@\fP to see
+the structure of if-then-else's.
Some strings, e.g., \fBsgr\fP can be very complicated when written
on one line.
-The \fB-f\fP option splits the string into lines with the parts indented.
+The \fB\-f\fP option splits the string into lines with the parts indented.
.PP
Binary operations are in postfix form with the operands in the usual order.
-That is, to get x-5 one would use "%gx%{5}%-".
+That is, to get x\-5 one would use "%gx%{5}%-".
%P and %g variables are
persistent across escape-string evaluations.
.PP
an entry with \fBcsr\fR).
.PP
Yet another way to construct insert and delete might be to use a combination of
-index with the memory-lock feature found on some terminals (like the HP-700/90
+index with the memory-lock feature found on some terminals (like the HP\-700/90
series, which however also has insert/delete).
.PP
Inserting lines at the top or bottom of the screen can also be
a distinction between typed and untyped blanks on the screen, shifting
upon an insert or delete only to an untyped blank on the screen which is
either eliminated, or expanded to two untyped blanks.
+.PP
You can determine the
kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen and then typing
text separated by cursor motions.
current line and onto the next as you insert, you have the second type of
terminal, and should give the capability \fBin\fR, which stands for
\*(lqinsert null\*(rq.
+.PP
While these are two logically separate attributes (one line versus multi-line
insert mode, and special treatment of untyped spaces) we have seen no
terminals whose insert mode cannot be described with the single attribute.
.PP
.TS
center;
-l c c
-l c c
-lw28 lw6 lw2 lw20.
+l l l
+l l l
+lw18 lw14 lw18.
\fBtparm parameter attribute escape sequence\fP
none none \\E[0m
.PP
.TS
center;
-l c c
-l c c
-lw28 lw6 lw2 lw20.
+l l l
+l l l
+lw18 lw14 lw18.
\fBsequence when to output terminfo translation\fP
\\E[0 always \\E[0
The only drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also
assumes that sgr0 does not exit alternate character set mode.
.PP
-Terminals with the ``magic cookie'' glitch
+Terminals with the \*(``magic cookie\*('' glitch
.RB ( xmc )
-deposit special ``cookies'' when they receive mode-setting sequences,
+deposit special \*(``cookies\*('' when they receive mode-setting sequences,
which affect the display algorithm rather than having extra bits for
each character.
Some terminals, such as the HP 2621, automatically leave standout
If the keypad can be set to transmit or not transmit,
give these codes as \fBsmkx\fR and \fBrmkx\fR.
Otherwise the keypad is assumed to always transmit.
+.PP
The codes sent by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
and home keys can be given as
\fBkcub1, kcuf1, kcuu1, kcud1, \fRand\fB khome\fR respectively.
can be given as \fBkf0, kf1, ..., kf10\fR.
If these keys have labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels
can be given as \fBlf0, lf1, ..., lf10\fR.
+.PP
The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be given:
+.bP
.B kll
(home down),
+.bP
.B kbs
(backspace),
+.bP
.B ktbc
(clear all tabs),
+.bP
.B kctab
(clear the tab stop in this column),
+.bP
.B kclr
(clear screen or erase key),
+.bP
.B kdch1
(delete character),
+.bP
.B kdl1
(delete line),
+.bP
.B krmir
(exit insert mode),
+.bP
.B kel
(clear to end of line),
+.bP
.B ked
(clear to end of screen),
+.bP
.B kich1
(insert character or enter insert mode),
+.bP
.B kil1
(insert line),
+.bP
.B knp
(next page),
+.bP
.B kpp
(previous page),
+.bP
.B kind
(scroll forward/down),
+.bP
.B kri
(scroll backward/up),
+.bP
.B khts
(set a tab stop in this column).
+.PP
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
.BR ka1 ,
tab stop can be given as
.B ht
(usually control I).
-A ``back-tab'' command which moves leftward to the preceding tab stop can
+A \*(``back-tab\*('' command which moves leftward to the preceding tab stop can
be given as
.BR cbt .
By convention, if the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being
.B it
is given, showing the number of spaces the tabs are set to.
This is normally used by the
-.IR tset
+.IR @TSET@
command to determine whether to set the mode for hardware tab expansion,
and whether to set the tab stops.
If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non-volatile memory,
.PP
.TS H
center expand;
-c l l c
-c l l c
-lw28 lw6 lw2 lw20.
+l l l l
+l l l l
+lw25 lw10 lw6 lw6.
.\".TH
\fBGlyph ACS Ascii VT100\fR
\fBName Name Default Name\fR
arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v .
arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < ,
arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > +
-arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ -
+arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ \-
board of squares ACS_BOARD # h
bullet ACS_BULLET o ~
checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a
diamond ACS_DIAMOND + `
greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z
greek pi ACS_PI * {
-horizontal line ACS_HLINE - q
+horizontal line ACS_HLINE \- q
lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i
large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n
less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y
not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! |
plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g
scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o
-scan line 3 ACS_S3 - p
-scan line 7 ACS_S7 - r
+scan line 3 ACS_S3 \- p
+scan line 7 ACS_S7 \- r
scan line 9 ACS_S9 \&_ s
solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0
tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w
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.
+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.
yellow \fBCOLOR_YELLOW\fR 6 max,max,0
white \fBCOLOR_WHITE\fR 7 max,max,max
.TE
+.PP
It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capabilities;
otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the display.
.PP
On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability \fBccc\fR may be present to
indicate that colors can be modified.
If so, the \fBinitc\fR capability will
-take a color number (0 to \fBcolors\fR - 1)and three more parameters which
+take a color number (0 to \fBcolors\fR \- 1)and three more parameters which
describe the color.
These three parameters default to being interpreted as RGB
(Red, Green, Blue) values.
On an HP-like terminal, \fBinitp\fR may give a capability for changing a
color-pair value.
It will take seven parameters; a color-pair number (0 to
-\fBmax_pairs\fR - 1), and two triples describing first background and then
+\fBmax_pairs\fR \- 1), and two triples describing first background and then
foreground colors.
These parameters must be (Red, Green, Blue) or
(Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on \fBhls\fR.
.I virtual
terminal descriptions for which the escape sequences are known.)
.PP
-If the terminal has a ``meta key'' which acts as a shift key,
+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
.BR km .
Otherwise, software will assume that the 8th bit is parity and it
will usually be cleared.
-If strings exist to turn this ``meta mode'' on and off, they
+If strings exist to turn this \*(``meta mode\*('' on and off, they
can be given as
.B smm
and
Note: the variable indicating this is now `dest_tabs_magic_smso'; in
older versions, it was teleray_glitch.
This glitch is also taken to mean that it is not possible to position
-the cursor on top of a ``magic cookie'',
+the cursor on top of a \*(``magic cookie\*('',
that to erase standout mode it is instead necessary to use
delete and insert line.
The ncurses implementation ignores this glitch.
A capability can be canceled by placing \fBxx@\fR to the left of the
use reference that imports it, where \fIxx\fP is the capability.
For example, the entry
+.RS
.PP
- 2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,
+2621\-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,
+.RE
.PP
-defines a 2621-nl that does not have the \fBsmkx\fR or \fBrmkx\fR capabilities,
+defines a 2621\-nl that does not have the \fBsmkx\fR or \fBrmkx\fR 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.
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.
+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 \fBtgetent()\fP
is searching for is, several bad things can happen.
backslash-newline pairs, which \fBtgetent()\fP strips out while reading it.
Some termcap libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap does not).
Now suppose:
-.TP 5
-*
+.bP
a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023 bytes long,
-.TP 5
-*
+.bP
and the application has only allocated a 1k buffer,
-.TP 5
-*
+.bP
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 wants,
-.TP 5
-*
+if it is the entry it wants,
+.bP
and \fBtgetent()\fP is searching for a terminal type that either is the
long entry, appears in the termcap file after the long entry, or
does not appear in the file at all (so that \fBtgetent()\fP has to search
.PP
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 \fBtgetent()\fP only does "tc" expansion once it's found the
+type, since \fBtgetent()\fP only does "tc" expansion once it is found the
terminal type it was looking for, not while searching.
.PP
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
+If it is too long even before
"tc" expansion, it will have this effect even for users of some other
terminal types and users whose TERM variable does not have a termcap
entry.
.PP
-When in -C (translate to termcap) mode, the \fBncurses\fR implementation of
+When in \-C (translate to termcap) mode, the \fBncurses\fR implementation of
\fB@TIC@\fR(1M) issues warning messages when the pre-tc length of a termcap
translation is too long.
-The -c (check) option also checks resolved (after tc
+The \-c (check) option also checks resolved (after tc
expansion) lengths.
.SS Binary Compatibility
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
+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 and XSI Curses extensions.
.SH EXTENSIONS
+.PP
+Searching for terminal descriptions in
+\fB$HOME/.terminfo\fR and TERMINFO_DIRS
+is not supported by older implementations.
+.PP
Some SVr4 \fBcurses\fR implementations, and all previous to SVr4, do not
interpret the %A and %O operators in parameter strings.
.PP
Here
is a summary, accurate as of October 1995:
.PP
-\fBSVR4, Solaris, ncurses\fR --
+\fBSVR4, Solaris, ncurses\fR \-\-
These support all SVr4 capabilities.
.PP
-\fBSGI\fR --
+\fBSGI\fR \-\-
Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented extended string
capability (\fBset_pglen\fR).
.PP
-\fBSVr1, Ultrix\fR --
+\fBSVr1, Ultrix\fR \-\-
These support a restricted subset of terminfo capabilities.
-The booleans
-end with \fBxon_xoff\fR; the numerics with \fBwidth_status_line\fR; and the
-strings with \fBprtr_non\fR.
+The booleans end with \fBxon_xoff\fR;
+the numerics with \fBwidth_status_line\fR;
+and the strings with \fBprtr_non\fR.
.PP
-\fBHP/UX\fR --
+\fBHP/UX\fR \-\-
Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234] numerics \fBnum_labels\fR,
\fBlabel_height\fR, \fBlabel_width\fR, plus function keys 11 through 63, plus
\fBplab_norm\fR, \fBlabel_on\fR, and \fBlabel_off\fR, plus some incompatible
extensions in the string table.
.PP
-\fBAIX\fR --
+\fBAIX\fR \-\-
Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11 through 63, plus a number
of incompatible string table extensions.
.PP
-\fBOSF\fR --
+\fBOSF\fR \-\-
Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.
.SH FILES
.TP 25
\fBcurses\fR(3X),
\fBprintf\fR(3),
\fBterm\fR(\*n).
+\fBterm_variables\fR(3X).
.SH AUTHORS
Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
-.\"#
-.\"# The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
-.\"# Local Variables:
-.\"# mode:nroff
-.\"# fill-column:79
-.\"# End:
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