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29 .\" $Id: term.5,v 1.28 2018/03/31 22:41:29 tom Exp $
55 term \- format of compiled term file.
60 Compiled terminfo descriptions are placed under the directory \fB\*d\fP.
61 Two configurations are supported (when building the \fBncurses\fP libraries):
64 A two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search
65 of a huge \s-1UNIX\s+1 system directory: \fB\*d/c/name\fP where
67 is the name of the terminal, and
69 is the first character of
73 can be found in the file \fB\*d/a/act4\fP.
74 Synonyms for the same terminal are implemented by multiple
75 links to the same compiled file.
78 Using Berkeley database, two types of records are stored:
79 the terminfo data in the same format as stored in a directory tree with
80 the terminfo's primary name as a key,
81 and records containing only aliases pointing to the primary name.
83 If built to write hashed databases,
84 \fBncurses\fP can still read terminfo databases organized as a directory tree,
85 but cannot write entries into the directory tree.
86 It can write (or rewrite) entries in the hashed database.
88 \fBncurses\fP distinguishes the two cases in the TERMINFO and TERMINFO_DIRS
89 environment variable by assuming a directory tree for entries that
90 correspond to an existing directory,
91 and hashed database otherwise.
92 .SS LEGACY STORAGE FORMAT
93 The format has been chosen so that it will be the same on all hardware.
94 An 8 or more bit byte is assumed, but no assumptions about byte ordering
95 or sign extension are made.
97 The compiled file is created with the \fB@TIC@\fP program,
98 and read by the routine \fBsetupterm\fP(3X).
99 The file is divided into six parts:
108 The header section begins the file.
109 This section contains six short integers in the format
114 (1) the magic number (octal 0432);
116 (2) the size, in bytes, of the names section;
118 (3) the number of bytes in the boolean section;
120 (4) the number of short integers in the numbers section;
122 (5) the number of offsets (short integers) in the strings section;
124 (6) the size, in bytes, of the string table.
127 Short integers are stored in two 8-bit bytes.
128 The first byte contains the least significant 8 bits of the value,
129 and the second byte contains the most significant 8 bits.
130 (Thus, the value represented is 256*second+first.)
131 The value \-1 is represented by the two bytes 0377, 0377; other negative
134 means that the corresponding capability is missing from this terminal.
135 Note that this format corresponds to the hardware of the \s-1VAX\s+1
136 and \s-1PDP\s+1-11 (that is, little-endian machines).
137 Machines where this does not correspond to the hardware must read the
138 integers as two bytes and compute the little-endian value.
140 The terminal names section comes next.
141 It contains the first line of the terminfo description,
142 listing the various names for the terminal,
143 separated by the \*(``|\*('' character.
144 The section is terminated with an \s-1ASCII NUL\s+1 character.
146 The boolean flags have one byte for each flag.
147 This byte is either 0 or 1 as the flag is present or absent.
148 The capabilities are in the same order as the file <term.h>.
150 Between the boolean section and the number section,
151 a null byte will be inserted, if necessary,
152 to ensure that the number section begins on an even byte (this is a
153 relic of the PDP\-11's word-addressed architecture, originally
154 designed in to avoid IOT traps induced by addressing a word on an
156 All short integers are aligned on a short word boundary.
158 The numbers section is similar to the flags section.
159 Each capability takes up two bytes,
160 and is stored as a little-endian short integer.
161 If the value represented is \-1, the capability is taken to be missing.
163 The strings section is also similar.
164 Each capability is stored as a short integer, in the format above.
165 A value of \-1 means the capability is missing.
166 Otherwise, the value is taken as an offset from the beginning
168 Special characters in ^X or \ec notation are stored in their
169 interpreted form, not the printing representation.
170 Padding information $<nn> and parameter information %x are
171 stored intact in uninterpreted form.
173 The final section is the string table.
174 It contains all the values of string capabilities referenced in
176 Each string is null terminated.
177 .SS EXTENDED STORAGE FORMAT
178 The previous section describes the conventional terminfo binary format.
179 With some minor variations of the offsets (see PORTABILITY),
180 the same binary format is used in all modern UNIX systems.
181 Each system uses a predefined set of boolean, number or string capabilities.
183 The \fBncurses\fP libraries and applications support extended terminfo binary format,
184 allowing users to define capabilities which are loaded at runtime.
186 extension is made possible by using the fact that the other implementations
187 stop reading the terminfo data when they have reached the end of the size given
189 \fBncurses\fP checks the size,
190 and if it exceeds that due to the predefined data,
191 continues to parse according to its own scheme.
193 First, it reads the extended header (5 short integers):
197 count of extended boolean capabilities
200 count of extended numeric capabilities
203 count of extended string capabilities
206 count of the items in extended string table
209 size of the extended string table in bytes
212 The count- and size-values for the extended string table
213 include the extended capability \fInames\fP as well as
214 extended capability \fIvalues\fP.
216 Using the counts and sizes, \fBncurses\fP allocates arrays and reads data
217 for the extended capabilities in the same order as the header information.
219 The extended string table contains values for string capabilities.
220 After the end of these values, it contains the names for each of
221 the extended capabilities in order, e.g., booleans, then numbers and
224 Applications which manipulate terminal data can use the definitions
225 described in \fBterm_variables\fP(3X) which associate the long capability
226 names with members of a \fBTERMTYPE\fP structure.
228 .SS EXTENDED NUMBER FORMAT
230 On occasion, 16-bit signed integers are not large enough.
231 With \fBncurses\fP 6.1, a new format was introduced by making a few changes
232 to the legacy format:
234 a different magic number (0542)
236 changing the type for the \fInumber\fP array from signed 16-bit integers
237 to signed 32-bit integers.
239 To maintain compatibility, the library presents the same data structures
240 to direct users of the \fBTERMTYPE\fP structure as in previous formats.
241 However, that cannot provide callers with the extended numbers.
242 The library uses a similar but hidden data structure \fBTERMTYPE2\fP
243 to provide data for the terminfo functions.
245 Note that it is possible for
247 to expect a different set of capabilities
248 than are actually present in the file.
249 Either the database may have been updated since
252 (resulting in extra unrecognized entries in the file)
253 or the program may have been recompiled more recently
254 than the database was updated
255 (resulting in missing entries).
258 must be prepared for both possibilities \-
259 this is why the numbers and sizes are included.
260 Also, new capabilities must always be added at the end of the lists
261 of boolean, number, and string capabilities.
263 Despite the consistent use of little-endian for numbers and the otherwise
264 self-describing format, it is not wise to count on portability of binary
265 terminfo entries between commercial UNIX versions.
266 The problem is that there
267 are at least three versions of terminfo (under HP\-UX, AIX, and OSF/1) which
268 diverged from System V terminfo after SVr1, and have added extension
269 capabilities to the string table that (in the binary format) collide with
270 System V and XSI Curses extensions.
271 See \fBterminfo\fR(\*n) for detailed
272 discussion of terminfo source compatibility issues.
274 Direct access to the \fBTERMTYPE\fP structure is provided for legacy
276 Portable applications should use the \fBtigetflag\fP and related functions
277 described in \fBcurs_terminfo\fP(3X) for reading terminal capabilities.
279 A small number of terminal descriptions use uppercase characters in
281 If the underlying filesystem ignores the difference between
282 uppercase and lowercase,
283 \fBncurses\fP represents the \*(``first character\*('' of the terminal name used as
284 the intermediate level of a directory tree in (two-character) hexadecimal form.
286 As an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler
287 ADM\-3, a popular though rather stupid early terminal:
292 bel=^G, clear=\032$<1>, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,
293 cuf1=^L, cup=\\E=%p1%{32}%+%c%p2%{32}%+%c, cuu1=^K,
297 and a hexadecimal dump of the compiled terminal description:
300 \s-20000 1a 01 10 00 02 00 03 00 82 00 31 00 61 64 6d 33 ........ ..1.adm3
301 0010 61 7c 6c 73 69 20 61 64 6d 33 61 00 00 01 50 00 a|lsi ad m3a...P.
302 0020 ff ff 18 00 ff ff 00 00 02 00 ff ff ff ff 04 00 ........ ........
303 0030 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 0a 00 25 00 27 00 ff ff ........ ..%.'...
304 0040 29 00 ff ff ff ff 2b 00 ff ff 2d 00 ff ff ff ff ).....+. ..-.....
305 0050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
306 0060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
307 0070 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
308 0080 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
309 0090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
310 00a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
311 00b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
312 00c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
313 00d0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
314 00e0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
315 00f0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
316 0100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
317 0110 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
318 0120 ff ff ff ff ff ff 2f 00 07 00 0d 00 1a 24 3c 31 ....../. .....$<1
319 0130 3e 00 1b 3d 25 70 31 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 >..=%p1% {32}%+%c
320 0140 25 70 32 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 00 0a 00 1e %p2%{32} %+%c....
321 0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ .\s+2
328 total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy format.
330 total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended format.
332 the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.
334 \*d/*/* compiled terminal capability data base
336 \fBcurses\fR(3X), \fBterminfo\fR(\*n).
340 extended terminfo format for ncurses 5.0
342 hashed database support for ncurses 5.6
344 extended number support for ncurses 6.1
348 documented legacy terminfo format, e.g., from pcurses.