- The tic command translates a terminfo file from source
- format into compiled format. The compiled format is nec-
- essary for use with the library routines in ncurses(3x).
-
- As described in term(5), the database may be either a
- directory tree (one file per terminal entry) or a hashed
- database (one record per entry). The tic command writes
- only one type of entry, depending on how it was built:
-
- o For directory trees, the top-level directory, e.g.,
- /usr/share/terminfo, specifies the location of the
- database.
-
- o For hashed databases, a filename is needed. If the
- given file is not found by that name, but can be found
- by adding the suffix ".db", then that is used.
-
- The default name for the hashed database is the same
- as the default directory name (only adding a ".db"
- suffix).
-
- In either case (directory or hashed database), tic will
- create the container if it does not exist. For a direc-
- tory, this would be the "terminfo" leaf, versus a "ter-
- minfo.db" file.
-
- The results are normally placed in the system terminfo
- database /usr/share/terminfo. The compiled terminal
- description can be placed in a different terminfo data-
- base. There are two ways to achieve this:
-
- o First, you may override the system default either by
- using the -o option, or by setting the variable TER-
- MINFO in your shell environment to a valid database
- location.
-
- o Secondly, if tic cannot write in /usr/share/terminfo
- or the location specified using your TERMINFO vari-
- able, it looks for the directory $HOME/.terminfo (or
- hashed database $HOME/.terminfo.db); if that location
- exists, the entry is placed there.
-
- Libraries that read terminfo entries are expected to check
- in succession
-
- o a location specified with the TERMINFO environment
- variable,
+ The tic command translates a terminfo file from source format into com-
+ piled format. The compiled format is necessary for use with the
+ library routines in ncurses(3x).
+
+ As described in term(5), the database may be either a directory tree
+ (one file per terminal entry) or a hashed database (one record per
+ entry). The tic command writes only one type of entry, depending on
+ how it was built:
+
+ o For directory trees, the top-level directory, e.g., /usr/share/ter-
+ minfo, specifies the location of the database.
+
+ o For hashed databases, a filename is needed. If the given file is
+ not found by that name, but can be found by adding the suffix
+ ".db", then that is used.
+
+ The default name for the hashed database is the same as the default
+ directory name (only adding a ".db" suffix).
+
+ In either case (directory or hashed database), tic will create the con-
+ tainer if it does not exist. For a directory, this would be the "ter-
+ minfo" leaf, versus a "terminfo.db" file.
+
+ The results are normally placed in the system terminfo database
+ /usr/share/terminfo. The compiled terminal description can be placed
+ in a different terminfo database. There are two ways to achieve this:
+
+ o First, you may override the system default either by using the -o
+ option, or by setting the variable TERMINFO in your shell environ-
+ ment to a valid database location.
+
+ o Secondly, if tic cannot write in /usr/share/terminfo or the loca-
+ tion specified using your TERMINFO variable, it looks for the
+ directory $HOME/.terminfo (or hashed database $HOME/.terminfo.db);
+ if that location exists, the entry is placed there.
+
+ Libraries that read terminfo entries are expected to check in succes-
+ sion
+
+ o a location specified with the TERMINFO environment variable,
o$HOME/.terminfo,
- o directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment
- variable,
+ o directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment variable,
- o a compiled-in list of directories
- (/usr/local/ncurses/share/terminfo:/usr/share/ter-
- minfo), and
+ o a compiled-in list of directories (/usr/local/ncurses/share/ter-
+ minfo:/usr/share/terminfo), and
o the system terminfo database (/usr/share/terminfo).
+
+ This is the same program as infotocap and captoinfo; usually those are
+ linked to, or copied from this program:
+
+ o When invoked as infotocap, tic sets the -I option.
+
+ o When invoked as captoinfo, tic sets the -C option.
+
+
-0 restricts the output to a single line
-1 restricts the output to a single column
- -a tells tic to retain commented-out capabilities
- rather than discarding them. Capabilities are com-
- mented by prefixing them with a period. This sets
- the -x option, because it treats the commented-out
- entries as user-defined names. If the source is
- termcap, accept the 2-character names required by
- version 6. Otherwise these are ignored.
-
- -C Force source translation to termcap format. Note:
- this differs from the -C option of infocmp(1m) in
- that it does not merely translate capability names,
- but also translates terminfo strings to termcap
- format. Capabilities that are not translatable are
- left in the entry under their terminfo names but
- commented out with two preceding dots. The actual
- format used incorporates some improvements for
- escaped characters from terminfo format. For a
- stricter BSD-compatible translation, add the -K
- option.
-
- If this is combined with -c, tic makes additional
- checks to report cases where the terminfo values do
- not have an exact equivalent in termcap form. For
- example:
-
- osgr usually will not convert, because termcap
- lacks the ability to work with more than two
- parameters, and because termcap lacks many of
- the arithmetic/logical operators used in ter-
- minfo.
-
- o capabilities with more than one delay or with
- delays before the end of the string will not
- convert completely.
-
- -c tells tic to only check file for errors, including
- syntax problems and bad use links. If you specify
- -C (-I) with this option, the code will print warn-
- ings about entries which, after use resolution, are
- more than 1023 (4096) bytes long. Due to a fixed
- buffer length in older termcap libraries, as well
- as buggy checking for the buffer length (and a doc-
- umented limit in terminfo), these entries may cause
- core dumps with other implementations.
-
- tic checks string capabilities to ensure that those
- with parameters will be valid expressions. It does
- this check only for the predefined string capabili-
- ties; those which are defined with the -x option
- are ignored.
-
- -D tells tic to print the database locations that it
- knows about, and exit. The first location shown is
- the one to which it would write compiled terminal
- descriptions. If tic is not able to find a
- writable database location according to the rules
- summarized above, it will print a diagnostic and
- exit with an error rather than printing a list of
- database locations.
+ -a tells tic to retain commented-out capabilities rather than dis-
+ carding them. Capabilities are commented by prefixing them with
+ a period. This sets the -x option, because it treats the com-
+ mented-out entries as user-defined names. If the source is
+ termcap, accept the 2-character names required by version 6.
+ Otherwise these are ignored.
+
+ -C Force source translation to termcap format. Note: this differs
+ from the -C option of infocmp(1m) in that it does not merely
+ translate capability names, but also translates terminfo strings
+ to termcap format. Capabilities that are not translatable are
+ left in the entry under their terminfo names but commented out
+ with two preceding dots. The actual format used incorporates
+ some improvements for escaped characters from terminfo format.
+ For a stricter BSD-compatible translation, add the -K option.
+
+ If this is combined with -c, tic makes additional checks to
+ report cases where the terminfo values do not have an exact
+ equivalent in termcap form. For example:
+
+ osgr usually will not convert, because termcap lacks the
+ ability to work with more than two parameters, and because
+ termcap lacks many of the arithmetic/logical operators used
+ in terminfo.
+
+ o capabilities with more than one delay or with delays before
+ the end of the string will not convert completely.
+
+ -c tells tic to only check file for errors, including syntax prob-
+ lems and bad use-links. If you specify -C (-I) with this
+ option, the code will print warnings about entries which, after
+ use resolution, are more than 1023 (4096) bytes long. Due to a
+ fixed buffer length in older termcap libraries, as well as buggy
+ checking for the buffer length (and a documented limit in ter-
+ minfo), these entries may cause core dumps with other implemen-
+ tations.
+
+ tic checks string capabilities to ensure that those with parame-
+ ters will be valid expressions. It does this check only for the
+ predefined string capabilities; those which are defined with the
+ -x option are ignored.
+
+ -D tells tic to print the database locations that it knows about,
+ and exit. The first location shown is the one to which it would
+ write compiled terminal descriptions. If tic is not able to
+ find a writable database location according to the rules summa-
+ rized above, it will print a diagnostic and exit with an error
+ rather than printing a list of database locations.
-enames
- Limit writes and translations to the following
- comma-separated list of terminals. If any name or
- alias of a terminal matches one of the names in the
- list, the entry will be written or translated as
- normal. Otherwise no output will be generated for
- it. The option value is interpreted as a file con-
- taining the list if it contains a '/'. (Note:
- depending on how tic was compiled, this option may
- require -I or -C.)
-
- -f Display complex terminfo strings which contain
- if/then/else/endif expressions indented for read-
- ability.
-
- -G Display constant literals in decimal form rather
- than their character equivalents.
-
- -g Display constant character literals in quoted form
- rather than their decimal equivalents.
+ Limit writes and translations to the following comma-separated
+ list of terminals. If any name or alias of a terminal matches
+ one of the names in the list, the entry will be written or
+ translated as normal. Otherwise no output will be generated for
+ it. The option value is interpreted as a file containing the
+ list if it contains a '/'. (Note: depending on how tic was com-
+ piled, this option may require -I or -C.)
+
+ -f Display complex terminfo strings which contain
+ if/then/else/endif expressions indented for readability.
+
+ -G Display constant literals in decimal form rather than their
+ character equivalents.
+
+ -g Display constant character literals in quoted form rather than
+ their decimal equivalents.
-I Force source translation to terminfo format.
- -K Suppress some longstanding ncurses extensions to
- termcap format, e.g., "\s" for space.
-
- -L Force source translation to terminfo format using
- the long C variable names listed in <term.h>
-
- -N Disable smart defaults. Normally, when translating
- from termcap to terminfo, the compiler makes a num-
- ber of assumptions about the defaults of string
- capabilities reset1_string, carriage_return, cur-
- sor_left, cursor_down, scroll_forward, tab, new-
- line, key_backspace, key_left, and key_down, then
- attempts to use obsolete termcap capabilities to
- deduce correct values. It also normally suppresses
- output of obsolete termcap capabilities such as bs.
- This option forces a more literal translation that
+ -K Suppress some longstanding ncurses extensions to termcap format,
+ e.g., "\s" for space.
+
+ -L Force source translation to terminfo format using the long C
+ variable names listed in <term.h>
+
+ -N Disable smart defaults. Normally, when translating from termcap
+ to terminfo, the compiler makes a number of assumptions about
+ the defaults of string capabilities reset1_string, car-
+ riage_return, cursor_left, cursor_down, scroll_forward, tab,
+ newline, key_backspace, key_left, and key_down, then attempts to
+ use obsolete termcap capabilities to deduce correct values. It
+ also normally suppresses output of obsolete termcap capabilities
+ such as bs. This option forces a more literal translation that
also preserves the obsolete capabilities.
- -odir Write compiled entries to given database location.
- Overrides the TERMINFO environment variable.
+ -odir Write compiled entries to given database location. Overrides
+ the TERMINFO environment variable.
- -Qn Rather than show source in terminfo (text) format,
- print the compiled (binary) format in hexadecimal
- or base64 form, depending on the option's value:
+ -Qn Rather than show source in terminfo (text) format, print the
+ compiled (binary) format in hexadecimal or base64 form, depend-
+ ing on the option's value:
1 hexadecimal
@@ -234,55 +219,53 @@
3 hexadecimal and base64
- -q Suppress comments and blank lines when showing
- translated source.
+ -q Suppress comments and blank lines when showing translated
+ source.
-Rsubset
- Restrict output to a given subset. This option is
- for use with archaic versions of terminfo like
- those on SVr1, Ultrix, or HP/UX that do not support
- the full set of SVR4/XSI Curses terminfo; and out-
- right broken ports like AIX 3.x that have their own
- extensions incompatible with SVr4/XSI. Available
- subsets are "SVr1", "Ultrix", "HP", "BSD" and
- "AIX"; see terminfo(5) for details.
-
- -r Force entry resolution (so there are no remaining
- tc capabilities) even when doing translation to
- termcap format. This may be needed if you are pre-
- paring a termcap file for a termcap library (such
- as GNU termcap through version 1.3 or BSD termcap
- through 4.3BSD) that does not handle multiple tc
- capabilities per entry.
-
- -s Summarize the compile by showing the database loca-
- tion into which entries are written, and the number
- of entries which are compiled.
-
- -T eliminates size-restrictions on the generated text.
- This is mainly useful for testing and analysis,
- since the compiled descriptions are limited (e.g.,
- 1023 for termcap, 4096 for terminfo).
-
- -t tells tic to discard commented-out capabilities.
- Normally when translating from terminfo to termcap,
- untranslatable capabilities are commented-out.
-
- -U tells tic to not post-process the data after parsing
- the source file. Normally, it infers data which is
- commonly missing in older terminfo data, or in term-
- caps.
-
- -V reports the version of ncurses which was used in this
- program, and exits.
-
- -vn specifies that (verbose) output be written to stan-
- dard error trace information showing tic's progress.
- The optional parameter n is a number from 1 to 10,
- inclusive, indicating the desired level of detail of
- information. If n is omitted, the default level is
- 1. If n is specified and greater than 1, the level
- of detail is increased.
+ Restrict output to a given subset. This option is for use with
+ archaic versions of terminfo like those on SVr1, Ultrix, or
+ HP/UX that do not support the full set of SVR4/XSI Curses ter-
+ minfo; and outright broken ports like AIX 3.x that have their
+ own extensions incompatible with SVr4/XSI. Available subsets
+ are "SVr1", "Ultrix", "HP", "BSD" and "AIX"; see terminfo(5) for
+ details.
+
+ -r Force entry resolution (so there are no remaining tc capabili-
+ ties) even when doing translation to termcap format. This may
+ be needed if you are preparing a termcap file for a termcap
+ library (such as GNU termcap through version 1.3 or BSD termcap
+ through 4.3BSD) that does not handle multiple tc capabilities
+ per entry.
+
+ -s Summarize the compile by showing the database location into
+ which entries are written, and the number of entries which are
+ compiled.
+
+ -T eliminates size-restrictions on the generated text. This is
+ mainly useful for testing and analysis, since the compiled
+ descriptions are limited (e.g., 1023 for termcap, 4096 for ter-
+ minfo).
+
+ -t tells tic to discard commented-out capabilities. Normally when
+ translating from terminfo to termcap, untranslatable capabili-
+ ties are commented-out.
+
+ -U tells tic to not post-process the data after parsing the source
+ file. Normally, it infers data which is commonly missing in older
+ terminfo data, or in termcaps.
+
+ -V reports the version of ncurses which was used in this program, and
+ exits.
+
+ -vn specifies that (verbose) output be written to standard error trace
+ information showing tic's progress.
+
+ The optional parameter n is a number from 1 to 10, inclusive,
+ indicating the desired level of detail of information. If ncurses
+ is built without tracing support, the optional parameter is
+ ignored. If n is omitted, the default level is 1. If n is speci-
+ fied and greater than 1, the level of detail is increased.
The debug flag levels are as follows:
@@ -298,98 +281,175 @@
8 List of tokens encountered by scanner
- 9 All values computed in construction of the
- hash table
+ 9 All values computed in construction of the hash table
+
+ If the debug level n is not given, it is taken to be one.
- If the debug level n is not given, it is taken to be
- one.
+ -W By itself, the -w option will not force long strings to be
+ wrapped. Use the -W option to do this.
- -W By itself, the -w option will not force long strings
- to be wrapped. Use the -W option to do this.
+ If you specify both -f and -W options, the latter is ignored when
+ -f has already split the line.
- -wn specifies the width of the output. The parameter is
- optional. If it is omitted, it defaults to 60.
+ -wn specifies the width of the output. The parameter is optional. If
+ it is omitted, it defaults to 60.
- -x Treat unknown capabilities as user-defined. That is,
- if you supply a capability name which tic does not
- recognize, it will infer its type (boolean, number or
- string) from the syntax and make an extended table
- entry for that. User-defined capability strings
- whose name begins with "k" are treated as function
- keys.
+ -x Treat unknown capabilities as user-defined (see user_caps(5)).
+ That is, if you supply a capability name which tic does not recog-
+ nize, it will infer its type (boolean, number or string) from the
+ syntax and make an extended table entry for that. User-defined
+ capability strings whose name begins with "k" are treated as func-
+ tion keys.
- file contains one or more terminfo terminal descriptions
- in source format [see terminfo(5)]. Each descrip-
- tion in the file describes the capabilities of a
- particular terminal.
+ file contains one or more terminfo terminal descriptions in source
+ format [see terminfo(5)]. Each description in the file
+ describes the capabilities of a particular terminal.
- If file is "-", then the data is read from the
- standard input. The file parameter may also be the
- path of a character-device.
+ If file is "-", then the data is read from the standard input.
+ The file parameter may also be the path of a character-device.
- All but one of the capabilities recognized by tic are doc-
- umented in terminfo(5). The exception is the use capabil-
- ity.
-
- When a use=entry-name field is discovered in a terminal
- entry currently being compiled, tic reads in the binary
- from /usr/share/terminfo to complete the entry. (Entries
- created from file will be used first. tic duplicates the
- capabilities in entry-name for the current entry, with the
- exception of those capabilities that explicitly are
- defined in the current entry.
-
- When an entry, e.g., entry_name_1, contains a
- use=entry_name_2 field, any canceled capabilities in
- entry_name_2 must also appear in entry_name_1 before use=
- for these capabilities to be canceled in entry_name_1.
-
- Total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes. The name
- field cannot exceed 512 bytes. Terminal names exceeding
- the maximum alias length (32 characters on systems with
- long filenames, 14 characters otherwise) will be truncated
- to the maximum alias length and a warning message will be
- printed.
-
-
-
- There is some evidence that historic tic implementations
- treated description fields with no whitespace in them as
- additional aliases or short names. This tic does not do
- that, but it does warn when description fields may be
- treated that way and check them for dangerous characters.
-
-
-
- Unlike the SVr4 tic command, this implementation can actu-
- ally compile termcap sources. In fact, entries in ter-
- minfo and termcap syntax can be mixed in a single source
- file. See terminfo(5) for the list of termcap names taken
- to be equivalent to terminfo names.
-
- The SVr4 manual pages are not clear on the resolution
- rules for use capabilities. This implementation of tic
- will find use targets anywhere in the source file, or any-
- where in the file tree rooted at TERMINFO (if TERMINFO is
- defined), or in the user's $HOME/.terminfo database (if it
- exists), or (finally) anywhere in the system's file tree
- of compiled entries.
-
- The error messages from this tic have the same format as
- GNU C error messages, and can be parsed by GNU Emacs's
- compile facility.
-
- The -0, -1, -C, -G, -I, -N, -R, -T, -V, -a, -e, -f, -g,
- -o, -r, -s, -t and -x options are not supported under
- SVr4. The SVr4 -c mode does not report bad use links.
-
- System V does not compile entries to or read entries from
- your $HOME/.terminfo database unless TERMINFO is explic-
- itly set to it.
+ All but one of the capabilities recognized by tic are documented in
+ terminfo(5). The exception is the use capability.
+
+ When a use=entry-name field is discovered in a terminal entry currently
+ being compiled, tic reads in the binary from /usr/share/terminfo to
+ complete the entry. (Entries created from file will be used first.
+ tic duplicates the capabilities in entry-name for the current entry,
+ with the exception of those capabilities that explicitly are defined in
+ the current entry.
+
+ When an entry, e.g., entry_name_1, contains a use=entry_name_2 field,
+ any canceled capabilities in entry_name_2 must also appear in
+ entry_name_1 before use= for these capabilities to be canceled in
+ entry_name_1.
+
+ Total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes. The name field cannot
+ exceed 512 bytes. Terminal names exceeding the maximum alias length
+ (32 characters on systems with long filenames, 14 characters otherwise)
+ will be truncated to the maximum alias length and a warning message
+ will be printed.
+
+
+
+ System V Release 2 provided a tic utility. It accepted a single
+ option: -v (optionally followed by a number). According to Ross
+ Ridge's comment in mytinfo, this version of tic was unable to represent
+ cancelled capabilities.
+
+ System V Release 3 provided a different tic utility, written by Pavel
+ Curtis, (originally named "compile" in pcurses). This added an option
+ -c to check the file for errors, with the caveat that errors in "use="
+ links would not be reported. System V Release 3 documented a few warn-
+ ing messages which did not appear in pcurses. While the program itself
+ was changed little as development continued with System V Release 4,
+ the table of capabilities grew from 180 (pcurses) to 464 (Solaris).
+
+ In early development of ncurses (1993), Zeyd Ben-Halim used the table
+ from mytinfo to extend the pcurses table to 469 capabilities (456
+ matched SVr4, 8 were only in SVr4, 13 were not in SVr4). Of those 13,
+ 11 were ultimately discarded (perhaps to match the draft of X/Open
+ Curses). The exceptions were memory_lock_above and memory_unlock (see
+ user_caps(5)).
+
+ Eric Raymond incorporated parts of mytinfo into ncurses to implement
+ the termcap-to-terminfo source conversion, and extended that to begin
+ development of the corresponding terminfo-to-termcap source conversion,
+ Thomas Dickey completed that development over the course of several
+ years.
+
+ In 1999, Thomas Dickey added the -x option to support user-defined
+ capabilities.
+
+ In 2010, Roy Marples provided a tic program and terminfo library for
+ NetBSD. That implementation adapts several features from ncurses,
+ including tic's -x option.
+
+ The -c option tells tic to check for problems in the terminfo source
+ file. Continued development provides additional checks:
+
+ opcurses had 8 warnings
+
+ o ncurses in 1996 had 16 warnings
+
+ o Solaris (SVr4) curses has 28 warnings
+
+ o NetBSD tic in 2019 has 19 warnings.
+
+ o ncurses in 2019 has 96 warnings
+
+ The checking done in ncurses' tic helps with the conversion to termcap,
+ as well as pointing out errors and inconsistencies. It is also used to
+ ensure consistency with the user-defined capabilities. There are 527
+ distinct capabilities in ncurses' terminal database; 128 of those are
+ user-defined.
+
+
+
+ X/Open Curses, Issue 7 (2009) provides a brief description of tic. It
+ lists one option: -c. The omission of -v is unexpected. The change
+ history states that the description is derived from True64 UNIX.
+ According to its manual pages, that system also supported the -v
+ option.
+
+ Shortly after Issue 7 was released, Tru64 was discontinued. As of
+ 2019, the surviving implementations of tic are SVr4 (AIX, HP-UX and
+ Solaris), ncurses and NetBSD curses. The SVr4 tic programs all support
+ the -v option. The NetBSD tic program follows X/Open's documentation,
+ omitting the -v option.
+
+ The X/Open rationale states that some implementations of tic read ter-
+ minal descriptions from the standard input if the file parameter is
+ omitted. None of these implementations do that. Further, it comments
+ that some may choose to read from "./terminfo.src" but that is obsoles-
+ cent behavior from SVr2, and is not (for example) a documented feature
+ of SVr3.
+
+
+
+ There is some evidence that historic tic implementations treated
+ description fields with no whitespace in them as additional aliases or
+ short names. This tic does not do that, but it does warn when descrip-
+ tion fields may be treated that way and check them for dangerous char-
+ acters.
+
+
+
+ Unlike the SVr4 tic command, this implementation can actually compile
+ termcap sources. In fact, entries in terminfo and termcap syntax can
+ be mixed in a single source file. See terminfo(5) for the list of
+ termcap names taken to be equivalent to terminfo names.
+
+ The SVr4 manual pages are not clear on the resolution rules for use
+ capabilities. This implementation of tic will find use targets any-
+ where in the source file, or anywhere in the file tree rooted at TER-
+ MINFO (if TERMINFO is defined), or in the user's $HOME/.terminfo data-
+ base (if it exists), or (finally) anywhere in the system's file tree of
+ compiled entries.
+
+ The error messages from this tic have the same format as GNU C error
+ messages, and can be parsed by GNU Emacs's compile facility.
+
+ Aside from -c and -v, options are not portable:
+
+ o Most of tic's options are not supported by SVr4 tic:
+
+ -0-1-C-G-I-N-R-T-V-a-e-f-g-o-r-s-t-x
+
+ o The NetBSD tic supports a few of the ncurses options
+
+ -a-o-x
+
+ and adds -S (a feature which does the same thing as infocmp's -e
+ and -E options).
+
+ The SVr4 -c mode does not report bad "use=" links.
+
+ System V does not compile entries to or read entries from your
+ $HOME/.terminfo database unless TERMINFO is explicitly set to it.