X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fterminfo.5.html;fp=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fterminfo.5.html;h=82381c9d26290808aafc6eff677d0fc3e67d54c6;hb=9b51794524995304d8788e42aacb36feede9364f;hp=16bd0c351437888baa4b854c54ba2117f05f6de4;hpb=493e2f7b3fc309879f561a094fdfc15e5304b3d6;p=ncurses.git
diff --git a/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html b/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html
index 16bd0c35..82381c9d 100644
--- a/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html
+++ b/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
* authorization. *
****************************************************************************
- * @Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.102 2021/08/21 22:55:23 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.106 2021/08/28 19:00:29 tom Exp @
*.in -2
*.in +2
*.in -2
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
have, by specifying how to perform screen operations, and by specifying
padding requirements and initialization sequences.
- This manual describes ncurses version 6.2 (patch 20210821).
+ This manual describes ncurses version 6.2 (patch 20210828).
@@ -1477,24 +1477,29 @@
documented in other implementations. Relying on it will adversely
impact portability to other implementations:
- o SVr4 curses stores the static variables in the TERMINAL
- structure (declared in term.h), and the dynamic variables on
- the stack in the tparm function. The former are zeroed
- automatically when the setupterm function allocates the data.
- The latter are set only by a %P operator. A %g for a given
- variable without first setting it with %P will give
- unpredictable results.
+ o SVr2 curses supported dynamic variables. Those are set only
+ by a %P operator. A %g for a given variable without first
+ setting it with %P will give unpredictable results, because
+ dynamic variables are an uninitialized local array on the
+ stack in the tparm function.
- o Solaris XPG4 curses does not distinguish between dynamic and
- static variables. They are the same. Like SVr4 curses, XPG4
+ o SVr3.2 curses supported static variables. Those are an array
+ in the TERMINAL structure (declared in term.h), and are zeroed
+ automatically when the setupterm function allocates the data.
+
+ o SVr4 curses made no further improvements to the dynamic/static
+ variable feature.
+
+ o Solaris XPG4 curses does not distinguish between dynamic and
+ static variables. They are the same. Like SVr4 curses, XPG4
curses does not initialize these explicitly.
- o Before version 6.3, ncurses stores both dynamic and static
+ o Before version 6.3, ncurses stores both dynamic and static
variables in persistent storage, initialized to zeros.
- o Beginning with version 6.3, ncurses stores static and dynamic
- variables in the same manner as SVr4. Unlike other
- implementations, ncurses zeros dynamic variables before the
+ o Beginning with version 6.3, ncurses stores static and dynamic
+ variables in the same manner as SVr4. Unlike other
+ implementations, ncurses zeros dynamic variables before the
first %g or %P operator.
%'c' char constant c
@@ -1523,8 +1528,8 @@
%? expr %t thenpart %e elsepart %;
This forms an if-then-else. The %e elsepart is optional. Usually
- the %? expr part pushes a value onto the stack, and %t pops it
- from the stack, testing if it is nonzero (true). If it is zero
+ the %? expr part pushes a value onto the stack, and %t pops it
+ from the stack, testing 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:
@@ -1532,248 +1537,248 @@
where ci are conditions, bi are bodies.
- Use the -f option of tic or infocmp to see the structure of if-
+ Use the -f option of tic or infocmp to see the structure of if-
then-else's. Some strings, e.g., sgr can be very complicated when
- written on one line. The -f option splits the string into lines
+ written on one line. The -f 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 "%gx%{5}%-". %P and %g
+ Binary operations are in postfix form with the operands in the usual
+ order. That is, to get x-5 one would use "%gx%{5}%-". %P and %g
variables are persistent across escape-string evaluations.
- Consider the HP2645, which, to get to row 3 and column 12, needs to be
- sent \E&a12c03Y padded for 6 milliseconds. Note that the order of the
- rows and columns is inverted here, and that the row and column are
- printed as two digits. Thus its cup capability is
+ Consider the HP2645, which, to get to row 3 and column 12, needs to be
+ sent \E&a12c03Y padded for 6 milliseconds. Note that the order of the
+ rows and columns is inverted here, and that the row and column are
+ printed as two digits. Thus its cup capability is
"cup=6\E&%p2%2dc%p1%2dY".
- The Microterm ACT-IV needs the current row and column sent preceded by
- a ^T, with the row and column simply encoded in binary,
- "cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c". Terminals which use "%c" need to be able to
- backspace the cursor (cub1), and to move the cursor up one line on the
- screen (cuu1). This is necessary because it is not always safe to
- transmit \n ^D and \r, as the system may change or discard them. (The
- library routines dealing with terminfo set tty modes so that tabs are
- never expanded, so \t is safe to send. This turns out to be essential
+ The Microterm ACT-IV needs the current row and column sent preceded by
+ a ^T, with the row and column simply encoded in binary,
+ "cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c". Terminals which use "%c" need to be able to
+ backspace the cursor (cub1), and to move the cursor up one line on the
+ screen (cuu1). This is necessary because it is not always safe to
+ transmit \n ^D and \r, as the system may change or discard them. (The
+ library routines dealing with terminfo set tty modes so that tabs are
+ never expanded, so \t is safe to send. This turns out to be essential
for the Ann Arbor 4080.)
- A final example is the LSI ADM-3a, which uses row and column offset by
+ A final example is the LSI ADM-3a, which uses row and column offset by
a blank character, thus "cup=\E=%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c". After sending
- "\E=", this pushes the first parameter, pushes the ASCII value for a
+ "\E=", this pushes the first parameter, pushes the ASCII value for a
space (32), adds them (pushing the sum on the stack in place of the two
- previous values) and outputs that value as a character. Then the same
- is done for the second parameter. More complex arithmetic is possible
+ previous values) and outputs that value as a character. Then the same
+ is done for the second parameter. More complex arithmetic is possible
using the stack.
- If the terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to very upper left
- corner of screen) then this can be given as home; similarly a fast way
- of getting to the lower left-hand corner can be given as ll; this may
+ If the terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to very upper left
+ corner of screen) then this can be given as home; similarly a fast way
+ of getting to the lower left-hand corner can be given as ll; this may
involve going up with cuu1 from the home position, but a program should
never do this itself (unless ll does) because it can make no assumption
- about the effect of moving up from the home position. Note that the
- home position is the same as addressing to (0,0): to the top left
- corner of the screen, not of memory. (Thus, the \EH sequence on HP
+ about the effect of moving up from the home position. Note that the
+ home position is the same as addressing to (0,0): to the top left
+ corner of the screen, not of memory. (Thus, the \EH sequence on HP
terminals cannot be used for home.)
If the terminal has row or column absolute cursor addressing, these can
- be given as single parameter capabilities hpa (horizontal position
- absolute) and vpa (vertical position absolute). Sometimes these are
- shorter than the more general two parameter sequence (as with the
- hp2645) and can be used in preference to cup. If there are
- parameterized local motions (e.g., move n spaces to the right) these
- can be given as cud, cub, cuf, and cuu with a single parameter
- indicating how many spaces to move. These are primarily useful if the
+ be given as single parameter capabilities hpa (horizontal position
+ absolute) and vpa (vertical position absolute). Sometimes these are
+ shorter than the more general two parameter sequence (as with the
+ hp2645) and can be used in preference to cup. If there are
+ parameterized local motions (e.g., move n spaces to the right) these
+ can be given as cud, cub, cuf, and cuu with a single parameter
+ indicating how many spaces to move. These are primarily useful if the
terminal does not have cup, such as the TEKTRONIX 4025.
- If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running a program
+ If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running a program
that uses these capabilities, the codes to enter and exit this mode can
- be given as smcup and rmcup. This arises, for example, from terminals
- like the Concept with more than one page of memory. If the terminal
- has only memory relative cursor addressing and not screen relative
- cursor addressing, a one screen-sized window must be fixed into the
+ be given as smcup and rmcup. This arises, for example, from terminals
+ like the Concept with more than one page of memory. If the terminal
+ has only memory relative cursor addressing and not screen relative
+ cursor addressing, a one screen-sized window must be fixed into the
terminal for cursor addressing to work properly. This is also used for
- the TEKTRONIX 4025, where smcup sets the command character to be the
- one used by terminfo. If the smcup sequence will not restore the
- screen after an rmcup sequence is output (to the state prior to
+ the TEKTRONIX 4025, where smcup sets the command character to be the
+ one used by terminfo. If the smcup sequence will not restore the
+ screen after an rmcup sequence is output (to the state prior to
outputting rmcup), specify nrrmc.
- If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end of the
- line, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be given as el. If
- the terminal can clear from the beginning of the line to the current
- position inclusive, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be
- given as el1. If the terminal can clear from the current position to
- the end of the display, then this should be given as ed. Ed is only
+ If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end of the
+ line, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be given as el. If
+ the terminal can clear from the beginning of the line to the current
+ position inclusive, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be
+ given as el1. If the terminal can clear from the current position to
+ the end of the display, then this should be given as ed. Ed is only
defined from the first column of a line. (Thus, it can be simulated by
- a request to delete a large number of lines, if a true ed is not
+ a request to delete a large number of lines, if a true ed is not
available.)
- If the terminal can open a new blank line before the line where the
- cursor is, this should be given as il1; this is done only from the
- first position of a line. The cursor must then appear on the newly
- blank line. If the terminal can delete the line which the cursor is
- on, then this should be given as dl1; this is done only from the first
+ If the terminal can open a new blank line before the line where the
+ cursor is, this should be given as il1; this is done only from the
+ first position of a line. The cursor must then appear on the newly
+ blank line. If the terminal can delete the line which the cursor is
+ on, then this should be given as dl1; this is done only from the first
position on the line to be deleted. Versions of il1 and dl1 which take
a single parameter and insert or delete that many lines can be given as
il and dl.
- If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like the vt100) the
- command to set this can be described with the csr capability, which
+ If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like the vt100) the
+ command to set this can be described with the csr capability, which
takes two parameters: the top and bottom lines of the scrolling region.
The cursor position is, alas, undefined after using this command.
- It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line using csr on
- a properly chosen region; the sc and rc (save and restore cursor)
+ It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line using csr on
+ a properly chosen region; the sc and rc (save and restore cursor)
commands may be useful for ensuring that your synthesized insert/delete
- string does not move the cursor. (Note that the ncurses(3x) library
- does this synthesis automatically, so you need not compose
+ string does not move the cursor. (Note that the ncurses(3x) library
+ does this synthesis automatically, so you need not compose
insert/delete strings for an entry with csr).
- 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 series, which however also has
+ 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 series, which however also has
insert/delete).
- Inserting lines at the top or bottom of the screen can also be done
- using ri or ind on many terminals without a true insert/delete line,
+ Inserting lines at the top or bottom of the screen can also be done
+ using ri or ind on many terminals without a true insert/delete line,
and is often faster even on terminals with those features.
- The boolean non_dest_scroll_region should be set if each scrolling
- window is effectively a view port on a screen-sized canvas. To test
- for this capability, create a scrolling region in the middle of the
- screen, write something to the bottom line, move the cursor to the top
- of the region, and do ri followed by dl1 or ind. If the data scrolled
- off the bottom of the region by the ri re-appears, then scrolling is
- non-destructive. System V and XSI Curses expect that ind, ri, indn,
+ The boolean non_dest_scroll_region should be set if each scrolling
+ window is effectively a view port on a screen-sized canvas. To test
+ for this capability, create a scrolling region in the middle of the
+ screen, write something to the bottom line, move the cursor to the top
+ of the region, and do ri followed by dl1 or ind. If the data scrolled
+ off the bottom of the region by the ri re-appears, then scrolling is
+ non-destructive. System V and XSI Curses expect that ind, ri, indn,
and rin will simulate destructive scrolling; their documentation
- cautions you not to define csr unless this is true. This curses
- implementation is more liberal and will do explicit erases after
+ cautions you not to define csr unless this is true. This curses
+ implementation is more liberal and will do explicit erases after
scrolling if ndsrc is defined.
- If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part of memory,
- which all commands affect, it should be given as the parameterized
- string wind. The four parameters are the starting and ending lines in
+ If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part of memory,
+ which all commands affect, it should be given as the parameterized
+ string wind. The four parameters are the starting and ending lines in
memory and the starting and ending columns in memory, in that order.
If the terminal can retain display memory above, then the da capability
- should be given; if display memory can be retained below, then db
- should be given. These indicate that deleting a line or scrolling may
- bring non-blank lines up from below or that scrolling back with ri may
+ should be given; if display memory can be retained below, then db
+ should be given. These indicate that deleting a line or scrolling may
+ bring non-blank lines up from below or that scrolling back with ri may
bring down non-blank lines.
- There are two basic kinds of intelligent terminals with respect to
- insert/delete character which can be described using terminfo. The
- most common insert/delete character operations affect only the
- characters on the current line and shift characters off the end of the
- line rigidly. Other terminals, such as the Concept 100 and the Perkin
- Elmer Owl, make 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
+ There are two basic kinds of intelligent terminals with respect to
+ insert/delete character which can be described using terminfo. The
+ most common insert/delete character operations affect only the
+ characters on the current line and shift characters off the end of the
+ line rigidly. Other terminals, such as the Concept 100 and the Perkin
+ Elmer Owl, make 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.
- You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen
- and then typing text separated by cursor motions. Type "abc def"
- using local cursor motions (not spaces) between the "abc" and the
- "def". Then position the cursor before the "abc" and put the terminal
- in insert mode. If typing characters causes the rest of the line to
- shift rigidly and characters to fall off the end, then your terminal
- does not distinguish between blanks and untyped positions. If the
- "abc" shifts over to the "def" which then move together around the end
- of the current line and onto the next as you insert, you have the
- second type of terminal, and should give the capability in, which
+ You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen
+ and then typing text separated by cursor motions. Type "abc def"
+ using local cursor motions (not spaces) between the "abc" and the
+ "def". Then position the cursor before the "abc" and put the terminal
+ in insert mode. If typing characters causes the rest of the line to
+ shift rigidly and characters to fall off the end, then your terminal
+ does not distinguish between blanks and untyped positions. If the
+ "abc" shifts over to the "def" which then move together around the end
+ of the current line and onto the next as you insert, you have the
+ second type of terminal, and should give the capability in, which
stands for "insert null".
- 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
+ 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.
- Terminfo can describe both terminals which have an insert mode, and
- terminals which send a simple sequence to open a blank position on the
+ Terminfo can describe both terminals which have an insert mode, and
+ terminals which send a simple sequence to open a blank position on the
current line. Give as smir the sequence to get into insert mode. Give
- as rmir the sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as ich1 any
- sequence needed to be sent just before sending the character to be
- inserted. Most terminals with a true insert mode will not give ich1;
- terminals which send a sequence to open a screen position should give
+ as rmir the sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as ich1 any
+ sequence needed to be sent just before sending the character to be
+ inserted. Most terminals with a true insert mode will not give ich1;
+ terminals which send a sequence to open a screen position should give
it here.
- If your terminal has both, insert mode is usually preferable to ich1.
- Technically, you should not give both unless the terminal actually
- requires both to be used in combination. Accordingly, some non-curses
- applications get confused if both are present; the symptom is doubled
- characters in an update using insert. This requirement is now rare;
- most ich sequences do not require previous smir, and most smir insert
- modes do not require ich1 before each character. Therefore, the new
- curses actually assumes this is the case and uses either rmir/smir or
- ich/ich1 as appropriate (but not both). If you have to write an entry
- to be used under new curses for a terminal old enough to need both,
+ If your terminal has both, insert mode is usually preferable to ich1.
+ Technically, you should not give both unless the terminal actually
+ requires both to be used in combination. Accordingly, some non-curses
+ applications get confused if both are present; the symptom is doubled
+ characters in an update using insert. This requirement is now rare;
+ most ich sequences do not require previous smir, and most smir insert
+ modes do not require ich1 before each character. Therefore, the new
+ curses actually assumes this is the case and uses either rmir/smir or
+ ich/ich1 as appropriate (but not both). If you have to write an entry
+ to be used under new curses for a terminal old enough to need both,
include the rmir/smir sequences in ich1.
If post insert padding is needed, give this as a number of milliseconds
- in ip (a string option). Any other sequence which may need to be sent
+ in ip (a string option). Any other sequence which may need to be sent
after an insert of a single character may also be given in ip. If your
- terminal needs both to be placed into an "insert mode" and a special
- code to precede each inserted character, then both smir/rmir and ich1
- can be given, and both will be used. The ich capability, with one
+ terminal needs both to be placed into an "insert mode" and a special
+ code to precede each inserted character, then both smir/rmir and ich1
+ can be given, and both will be used. The ich capability, with one
parameter, n, will repeat the effects of ich1 n times.
- If padding is necessary between characters typed while not in insert
+ If padding is necessary between characters typed while not in insert
mode, give this as a number of milliseconds padding in rmp.
- It is occasionally necessary to move around while in insert mode to
- delete characters on the same line (e.g., if there is a tab after the
- insertion position). If your terminal allows motion while in insert
- mode you can give the capability mir to speed up inserting in this
- case. Omitting mir will affect only speed. Some terminals (notably
- Datamedia's) must not have mir because of the way their insert mode
+ It is occasionally necessary to move around while in insert mode to
+ delete characters on the same line (e.g., if there is a tab after the
+ insertion position). If your terminal allows motion while in insert
+ mode you can give the capability mir to speed up inserting in this
+ case. Omitting mir will affect only speed. Some terminals (notably
+ Datamedia's) must not have mir because of the way their insert mode
works.
- Finally, you can specify dch1 to delete a single character, dch with
- one parameter, n, to delete n characters, and delete mode by giving
- smdc and rmdc to enter and exit delete mode (any mode the terminal
+ Finally, you can specify dch1 to delete a single character, dch with
+ one parameter, n, to delete n characters, and delete mode by giving
+ smdc and rmdc to enter and exit delete mode (any mode the terminal
needs to be placed in for dch1 to work).
- A command to erase n characters (equivalent to outputting n blanks
+ A command to erase n characters (equivalent to outputting n blanks
without moving the cursor) can be given as ech with one parameter.
If your terminal has one or more kinds of display attributes, these can
- be represented in a number of different ways. You should choose one
- display form as standout mode, representing a good, high contrast,
- easy-on-the-eyes, format for highlighting error messages and other
- attention getters. (If you have a choice, reverse video plus half-
- bright is good, or reverse video alone.) The sequences to enter and
- exit standout mode are given as smso and rmso, respectively. If the
- code to change into or out of standout mode leaves one or even two
- blank spaces on the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do, then
+ be represented in a number of different ways. You should choose one
+ display form as standout mode, representing a good, high contrast,
+ easy-on-the-eyes, format for highlighting error messages and other
+ attention getters. (If you have a choice, reverse video plus half-
+ bright is good, or reverse video alone.) The sequences to enter and
+ exit standout mode are given as smso and rmso, respectively. If the
+ code to change into or out of standout mode leaves one or even two
+ blank spaces on the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do, then
xmc should be given to tell how many spaces are left.
Codes to begin underlining and end underlining can be given as smul and
rmul respectively. If the terminal has a code to underline the current
- character and move the cursor one space to the right, such as the
+ character and move the cursor one space to the right, such as the
Microterm Mime, this can be given as uc.
- Other capabilities to enter various highlighting modes include blink
- (blinking) bold (bold or extra bright) dim (dim or half-bright) invis
- (blanking or invisible text) prot (protected) rev (reverse video) sgr0
- (turn off all attribute modes) smacs (enter alternate character set
+ Other capabilities to enter various highlighting modes include blink
+ (blinking) bold (bold or extra bright) dim (dim or half-bright) invis
+ (blanking or invisible text) prot (protected) rev (reverse video) sgr0
+ (turn off all attribute modes) smacs (enter alternate character set
mode) and rmacs (exit alternate character set mode). Turning on any of
these modes singly may or may not turn off other modes.
- If there is a sequence to set arbitrary combinations of modes, this
- should be given as sgr (set attributes), taking 9 parameters. Each
- parameter is either 0 or nonzero, as the corresponding attribute is on
- or off. The 9 parameters are, in order: standout, underline, reverse,
- blink, dim, bold, blank, protect, alternate character set. Not all
- modes need be supported by sgr, only those for which corresponding
+ If there is a sequence to set arbitrary combinations of modes, this
+ should be given as sgr (set attributes), taking 9 parameters. Each
+ parameter is either 0 or nonzero, as the corresponding attribute is on
+ or off. The 9 parameters are, in order: standout, underline, reverse,
+ blink, dim, bold, blank, protect, alternate character set. Not all
+ modes need be supported by sgr, only those for which corresponding
separate attribute commands exist.
For example, the DEC vt220 supports most of the modes:
@@ -1791,17 +1796,17 @@
p8 protect not used
p9 altcharset ^O (off) ^N (on)
- We begin each escape sequence by turning off any existing modes, since
- there is no quick way to determine whether they are active. Standout
- is set up to be the combination of reverse and bold. The vt220
- terminal has a protect mode, though it is not commonly used in sgr
- because it protects characters on the screen from the host's erasures.
- The altcharset mode also is different in that it is either ^O or ^N,
- depending on whether it is off or on. If all modes are turned on, the
+ We begin each escape sequence by turning off any existing modes, since
+ there is no quick way to determine whether they are active. Standout
+ is set up to be the combination of reverse and bold. The vt220
+ terminal has a protect mode, though it is not commonly used in sgr
+ because it protects characters on the screen from the host's erasures.
+ The altcharset mode also is different in that it is either ^O or ^N,
+ depending on whether it is off or on. If all modes are turned on, the
resulting sequence is \E[0;1;4;5;7;8m^N.
- Some sequences are common to different modes. For example, ;7 is
- output when either p1 or p3 is true, that is, if either standout or
+ Some sequences are common to different modes. For example, ;7 is
+ output when either p1 or p3 is true, that is, if either standout or
reverse modes are turned on.
Writing out the above sequences, along with their dependencies yields
@@ -1822,54 +1827,54 @@
sgr=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;
%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p7%t;8%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;,
- Remember that if you specify sgr, you must also specify sgr0. Also,
- some implementations rely on sgr being given if sgr0 is, Not all
+ Remember that if you specify sgr, you must also specify 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
+ 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 (xmc) 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 mode
- when they move to a new line or the cursor is addressed. Programs
- using standout mode should exit standout mode before moving the cursor
- or sending a newline, unless the msgr capability, asserting that it is
+ Terminals with the "magic cookie" glitch (xmc) 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 mode
+ when they move to a new line or the cursor is addressed. Programs
+ using standout mode should exit standout mode before moving the cursor
+ or sending a newline, unless the msgr capability, asserting that it is
safe to move in standout mode, is present.
- If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indicate an error
- quietly (a bell replacement) then this can be given as flash; it must
+ If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indicate an error
+ quietly (a bell replacement) then this can be given as flash; it must
not move the cursor.
- If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal when it is not
+ If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal when it is not
on the bottom line (to make, for example, a non-blinking underline into
- an easier to find block or blinking underline) give this sequence as
+ an easier to find block or blinking underline) give this sequence as
cvvis. If there is a way to make the cursor completely invisible, give
- that as civis. The capability cnorm should be given which undoes the
+ that as civis. The capability cnorm should be given which undoes the
effects of both of these modes.
- If your terminal correctly generates underlined characters (with no
- special codes needed) even though it does not overstrike, then you
- should give the capability ul. If a character overstriking another
- leaves both characters on the screen, specify the capability os. If
+ If your terminal correctly generates underlined characters (with no
+ special codes needed) even though it does not overstrike, then you
+ should give the capability ul. If a character overstriking another
+ leaves both characters on the screen, specify the capability os. If
overstrikes are erasable with a blank, then this should be indicated by
giving eo.
- If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys are
- pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not possible
+ If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys are
+ pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not possible
to handle terminals where the keypad only works in local (this applies,
- for example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys). If the keypad can be set
- to transmit or not transmit, give these codes as smkx and rmkx.
+ for example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys). If the keypad can be set
+ to transmit or not transmit, give these codes as smkx and rmkx.
Otherwise the keypad is assumed to always transmit.
- The codes sent by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
- and home keys can be given as kcub1, kcuf1, kcuu1, kcud1, and khome
+ The codes sent by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
+ and home keys can be given as kcub1, kcuf1, kcuu1, kcud1, and khome
respectively. If there are function keys such as f0, f1, ..., f10, the
- codes they send can be given as kf0, kf1, ..., kf10. If these keys
- have labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels can be
+ codes they send can be given as kf0, kf1, ..., kf10. If these keys
+ have labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels can be
given as lf0, lf1, ..., lf10.
The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be given:
@@ -1908,64 +1913,64 @@
o khts (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 ka1, ka3, kb2,
- kc1, and kc3. These keys are useful when the effects of a 3 by 3
+ 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 ka1, ka3, kb2,
+ kc1, and kc3. 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 pfkey, pfloc, and pfx.
- A string to program screen labels should be specified as pln. Each of
- these strings takes two parameters: the function key number to program
+ A string to program screen labels should be specified as pln. 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 numbers
- out of this range may program undefined keys in a terminal dependent
- manner. The difference between the capabilities is that pfkey causes
- pressing the given key to be the same as the user typing the given
- string; pfloc causes the string to be executed by the terminal in
+ out of this range may program undefined keys in a terminal dependent
+ manner. The difference between the capabilities is that pfkey causes
+ pressing the given key to be the same as the user typing the given
+ string; pfloc causes the string to be executed by the terminal in
local; and pfx causes the string to be transmitted to the computer.
- The capabilities nlab, lw and lh define the number of programmable
- screen labels and their width and height. If there are commands to
- turn the labels on and off, give them in smln and rmln. smln is
- normally output after one or more pln sequences to make sure that the
+ The capabilities nlab, lw and lh define the number of programmable
+ screen labels and their width and height. If there are commands to
+ turn the labels on and off, give them in smln and rmln. smln is
+ normally output after one or more pln sequences to make sure that the
change becomes visible.
A few capabilities are used only for tabs:
- o If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the
+ o If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the
next tab stop can be given as ht (usually control/I).
o A "back-tab" command which moves leftward to the preceding tab stop
can be given as cbt.
- 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 ht or cbt even if they are present, since
+ 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 ht or cbt even if they are present, since
the user may not have the tab stops properly set.
- o If the terminal has hardware tabs which are initially set every n
+ o If the terminal has hardware tabs which are initially set every n
spaces when the terminal is powered up, the numeric parameter it is
given, showing the number of spaces the tabs are set to.
The it capability is normally used by the tset command to determine
- whether to set the mode for hardware tab expansion, and whether to
+ 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
+ in non-volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that
they are properly set.
Other capabilities include
o is1, is2, and is3, initialization strings for the terminal,
- o iprog, the path name of a program to be run to initialize the
+ o iprog, the path name of a program to be run to initialize the
terminal,
o and if, 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 init option of the tput program, each time the
+ 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 init option of the tput program, each time the
user logs in. They will be printed in the following order:
run the program
@@ -1989,34 +1994,34 @@
and finally output
is3.
- Most initialization is done with is2. Special terminal modes can be
- set up without duplicating strings by putting the common sequences in
+ Most initialization is done with is2. Special terminal modes can be
+ set up without duplicating strings by putting the common sequences in
is2 and special cases in is1 and is3.
- A set of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally unknown
+ A set of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally unknown
state can be given as rs1, rs2, rf and rs3, analogous to is1 , is2 , if
- and is3 respectively. These strings are output by reset option of
- tput, or by the reset program (an alias of tset), which is used when
+ and is3 respectively. These strings are output by reset option of
+ tput, or by the reset program (an alias of tset), which is used when
the terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are normally placed in
rs1, rs2 rs3 and rf only if they produce 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 is2, but it
- causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not normally needed
+ the vt100 into 80-column mode would normally be part of is2, 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 reset program writes strings including iprog, etc., in the same
- order as the init program, using rs1, etc., instead of is1, etc. If
- any of rs1, rs2, rs3, or rf reset capability strings are missing, the
- reset program falls back upon the corresponding initialization
+ The reset program writes strings including iprog, etc., in the same
+ order as the init program, using rs1, etc., instead of is1, etc. If
+ any of rs1, rs2, rs3, or rf reset capability strings are missing, the
+ reset program falls back upon the corresponding initialization
capability string.
- If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can be given as
+ If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can be given as
tbc (clear all tab stops) and hts (set a tab stop in the current column
- of every row). If a more complex sequence is needed to set the tabs
+ of every row). If a more complex sequence is needed to set the tabs
than can be described by this, the sequence can be placed in is2 or if.
- The tput reset command uses the same capability strings as the reset
- command, although the two programs (tput and reset) provide different
+ The tput reset command uses the same capability strings as the reset
+ command, although the two programs (tput and reset) provide different
command-line options.
In practice, these terminfo capabilities are not often used in
@@ -2025,78 +2030,78 @@
o Almost all hardware terminals (at least those which supported tabs)
initialized those to every eight columns:
- The only exception was the AT&T 2300 series, which set tabs to
+ The only exception was the AT&T 2300 series, which set tabs to
every five columns.
- o In particular, developers of the hardware terminals which are
- commonly used as models for modern terminal emulators provided
+ o In particular, developers of the hardware terminals which are
+ commonly used as models for modern terminal emulators provided
documentation demonstrating that eight columns were the standard.
o Because of this, the terminal initialization programs tput and tset
- use the tbc (clear_all_tabs) and hts (set_tab) capabilities
- directly only when the it (init_tabs) capability is set to a value
+ use the tbc (clear_all_tabs) and hts (set_tab) capabilities
+ directly only when the it (init_tabs) capability is set to a value
other than eight.
- 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
+ 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 certain 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 its input buffers are
- close to full), set xon. This capability suppresses the emission of
- padding. You can also set it for memory-mapped console devices
+ automatically emits ^S back to the host when its input buffers are
+ close to full), set xon. This capability 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 decisions about
+ still be included so that routines can make better decisions about
relative costs, but actual pad characters will not be transmitted.
If pb (padding baud rate) is given, padding is suppressed at baud rates
- below the value of pb. If the entry has no padding baud rate, then
+ below the value of pb. If the entry has no padding baud rate, then
whether padding is emitted or not is completely controlled by xon.
- If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
- then this can be given as pad. Only the first character of the pad
+ If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
+ then this can be given as pad. Only the first character of the pad
string is used.
- Some terminals have an extra "status line" which is not normally used
+ Some terminals have an extra "status line" which is not normally used
by software (and thus not counted in the terminal's lines capability).
- The simplest case is a status line which is cursor-addressable but not
+ 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
+ status line of this kind, as would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line
scrolling region set up on initialization. This situation is indicated
by the hs capability.
- Some terminals with status lines need special sequences to access the
- status line. These may be expressed as a string with single parameter
- tsl which takes the cursor to a given zero-origin column on the status
- line. The capability fsl must return to the main-screen cursor
+ Some terminals with status lines need special sequences to access the
+ status line. These may be expressed as a string with single parameter
+ tsl which takes the cursor to a given zero-origin column on the status
+ line. The capability fsl must return to the main-screen cursor
positions before the last tsl. You may need to embed the string values
- of sc (save cursor) and rc (restore cursor) in tsl and fsl to
+ of sc (save cursor) and rc (restore cursor) in tsl and fsl 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 specify it with the
+ 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 wsl.
A command to erase or blank the status line may be specified as dsl.
- The boolean capability eslok specifies that escape sequences, tabs,
+ The boolean capability eslok specifies that escape sequences, tabs,
etc., work ordinarily in the status line.
- The ncurses implementation does not yet use any of these capabilities.
+ The ncurses implementation does not yet use any of these capabilities.
They are documented here in case they ever become important.
- Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for forms-drawing.
- Terminfo and curses have built-in support for most of 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
+ Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for forms-drawing.
+ Terminfo and curses have built-in support for most of 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
acsc capability.
Glyph ACS Ascii acsc acsc
@@ -2109,6 +2114,7 @@
solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0 0x30
diamond ACS_DIAMOND + ` 0x60
checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a 0x61
+
degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \ f 0x66
plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g 0x67
board of squares ACS_BOARD # h 0x68
@@ -2137,34 +2143,34 @@
A few notes apply to the table itself:
- o X/Open Curses incorrectly states that the mapping for lantern is
- uppercase "I" although Unix implementations use the lowercase "i"
+ o X/Open Curses incorrectly states that the mapping for lantern is
+ uppercase "I" although Unix implementations use the lowercase "i"
mapping.
- o The DEC VT100 implemented graphics using the alternate character
- set feature, temporarily switching modes and sending characters in
- the range 0x60 (96) to 0x7e (126) (the acsc Value column in the
+ o The DEC VT100 implemented graphics using the alternate character
+ set feature, temporarily switching modes and sending characters in
+ the range 0x60 (96) to 0x7e (126) (the acsc Value column in the
table).
o The AT&T terminal added graphics characters outside that range.
- Some of the characters within the range do not match the VT100;
- presumably they were used in the AT&T terminal: board of squares
- replaces the VT100 newline symbol, while lantern symbol replaces
+ Some of the characters within the range do not match the VT100;
+ presumably they were used in the AT&T terminal: board of squares
+ replaces the VT100 newline symbol, while lantern symbol replaces
the VT100 vertical tab symbol. The other VT100 symbols for control
- characters (horizontal tab, carriage return and line-feed) are not
+ characters (horizontal tab, carriage return and line-feed) are not
(re)used in curses.
- 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 smacs/rmacs switches) will be rendered as 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 smacs/rmacs switches) will be rendered as the
corresponding graphic. Then read off the VT100/your terminal character
pairs right to left in sequence; these become the ACSC string.
- The curses library functions init_pair and init_color manipulate the
- color pairs and color values discussed in this section (see
+ The curses library functions init_pair and init_color manipulate the
+ color pairs and color values discussed in this section (see
curs_color(3x) for details on these and related functions).
Most color terminals are either "Tektronix-like" or "HP-like":
@@ -2173,45 +2179,45 @@
is usually 8), and can set character-cell foreground and background
characters independently, mixing them into N * N color-pairs.
- o On HP-like terminals, the user 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
+ o On HP-like terminals, the user 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. ANSI-compatible terminals are Tektronix-like.
Some basic color capabilities are independent of the color method. The
- numeric capabilities colors and pairs specify the maximum numbers of
- colors and color-pairs that can be displayed simultaneously. The op
+ numeric capabilities colors and pairs specify the maximum numbers of
+ colors and color-pairs that can be displayed simultaneously. The op
(original pair) string resets foreground and background colors to their
- default values for the terminal. The oc 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;
+ default values for the terminal. The oc 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 bce.
- While the curses library works with color pairs (reflecting the
- inability of some devices to set foreground and background colors
- independently), there are separate capabilities for setting these
+ While the curses library works with color pairs (reflecting the
+ inability of some devices to set foreground and background colors
+ independently), there are separate capabilities for setting these
features:
- o To change the current foreground or background color on a
- Tektronix-type terminal, use setaf (set ANSI foreground) and setab
- (set ANSI background) or setf (set foreground) and setb (set
+ o To change the current foreground or background color on a
+ Tektronix-type terminal, use setaf (set ANSI foreground) and setab
+ (set ANSI background) or setf (set foreground) and setb (set
background). These take one parameter, the color number. The SVr4
- documentation describes only setaf/setab; the XPG4 draft says that
- "If the terminal supports ANSI escape sequences to set background
- and foreground, they should be coded as setaf and setab,
+ documentation describes only setaf/setab; the XPG4 draft says that
+ "If the terminal supports ANSI escape sequences to set background
+ and foreground, they should be coded as setaf and setab,
respectively.
- o If the terminal supports other escape sequences to set background
- and foreground, they should be coded as setf and setb,
- respectively. The vidputs and the refresh(3x) functions use the
+ o If the terminal supports other escape sequences to set background
+ and foreground, they should be coded as setf and setb,
+ respectively. The vidputs and the refresh(3x) functions use the
setaf and setab capabilities if they are defined.
- The setaf/setab and setf/setb capabilities take a single numeric
+ The setaf/setab and setf/setb capabilities take a single numeric
argument each. Argument values 0-7 of setaf/setab are portably defined
- as follows (the middle column is the symbolic #define available in the
- header for the curses or ncurses libraries). The terminal hardware is
- free to map these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal
+ as follows (the middle column is the symbolic #define available in the
+ header for the curses or ncurses libraries). The terminal hardware is
+ free to map these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal
locations in color space.
Color #define Value RGB
@@ -2237,32 +2243,32 @@
yellow COLOR_YELLOW 6 max,max,0
white COLOR_WHITE 7 max,max,max
- It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capabilities;
+ It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capabilities;
otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the display.
- On an HP-like terminal, use scp with a color-pair number parameter to
+ On an HP-like terminal, use scp with a color-pair number parameter to
set which color pair is current.
Some terminals allow the color values to be modified:
- o On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability ccc may be present to
- indicate that colors can be modified. If so, the initc capability
+ o On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability ccc may be present to
+ indicate that colors can be modified. If so, the initc capability
will take a color number (0 to colors - 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
+ which describe the color. These three parameters default to being
+ interpreted as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values. If the boolean
capability hls is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness,
Saturation) indices. The ranges are terminal-dependent.
- o On an HP-like terminal, initp may give a capability for changing a
- color-pair value. It will take seven parameters; a color-pair
- number (0 to max_pairs - 1), and two triples describing first
- background and then foreground colors. These parameters must be
- (Red, Green, Blue) or (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on
+ o On an HP-like terminal, initp may give a capability for changing a
+ color-pair value. It will take seven parameters; a color-pair
+ number (0 to max_pairs - 1), and two triples describing first
+ background and then foreground colors. These parameters must be
+ (Red, Green, Blue) or (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on
hls.
- On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights. You can
- register these collisions with the ncv capability. This is a bit-mask
- of attributes not to be used when colors are enabled. The
+ On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights. You can
+ register these collisions with the ncv capability. This is a bit-mask
+ of attributes not to be used when colors are enabled. The
correspondence with the attributes understood by curses is as follows:
Attribute Bit Decimal Set by
@@ -2283,134 +2289,134 @@
A_VERTICAL 14 16384 sgr1
A_ITALIC 15 32768 sitm
- For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline attribute collides
- with the foreground color blue and is not available in color mode.
+ 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 ncv capability of 2.
- SVr4 curses does nothing with ncv, ncurses recognizes it and optimizes
+ SVr4 curses does nothing with ncv, ncurses recognizes it and optimizes
the output in favor of colors.
- If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
- then this can be given as pad. Only the first character of the pad
+ If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
+ then this can be given as pad. Only the first character of the pad
string is used. If the terminal does not have a pad character, specify
- npc. Note that ncurses implements the termcap-compatible PC variable;
- though the application may set this value to something other than a
- null, ncurses will test npc first and use napms if the terminal has no
+ npc. Note that ncurses implements the termcap-compatible PC variable;
+ though the application may set this value to something other than a
+ null, ncurses will test npc 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 hu (half-line up) and hd (half-line down). This is primarily
- useful for superscripts and subscripts on hard-copy terminals. If a
+ If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can be indicated
+ with hu (half-line up) and hd (half-line down). This is primarily
+ useful for superscripts and subscripts on hard-copy terminals. If a
hard-copy terminal can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as
ff (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 rep.
- The first parameter is the character to be repeated and the second 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 rep.
+ 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 cmdch. A prototype command character
- is chosen which is used in all capabilities. This character is given
- in the cmdch capability to identify it. The following convention is
+ 4025, this can be indicated with cmdch. A prototype command character
+ is chosen which is used in all capabilities. This character is given
+ in the cmdch capability to identify it. The following convention is
supported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be searched for a
- CC variable, and if found, all occurrences of the prototype character
+ CC 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 kind of known
- terminal, such as switch, dialup, patch, and network, should include
- the gn (generic) capability so that programs can complain that they do
- not know how to talk to the terminal. (This capability does not apply
- to virtual terminal descriptions for which the escape sequences are
+ Terminal descriptions that do not represent a specific kind of known
+ terminal, such as switch, dialup, patch, and network, should include
+ the gn (generic) capability so that programs can complain that they do
+ not know how to talk to the terminal. (This capability does not apply
+ to virtual 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
- 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
+ 8th bit of any character transmitted, this fact can be indicated with
+ 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 can be given as smm and rmm.
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 lm. A value
+ once, the number of lines of memory can be indicated with lm. A value
of lm#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 virtual terminal
+ If the terminal is one of those supported by the UNIX virtual terminal
protocol, the terminal number can be given as vt.
- Media copy strings which control an auxiliary printer connected to the
- terminal can be given as mc0: print the contents of the screen, mc4:
- turn off the printer, and mc5: 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 terminal screen
- when the printer is on. A variation mc5p takes one parameter, and
- leaves the printer on for as many characters as the value of the
+ Media copy strings which control an auxiliary printer connected to the
+ terminal can be given as mc0: print the contents of the screen, mc4:
+ turn off the printer, and mc5: 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 terminal screen
+ when the printer is on. A variation mc5p takes one parameter, and
+ leaves the printer on for as many characters as the value of the
parameter, then turns the printer off. The parameter should not exceed
- 255. All text, including mc4, is transparently passed to the printer
+ 255. All text, including mc4, is transparently passed to the printer
while an mc5p is in effect.
- Hazeltine terminals, which do not allow "~" characters to be displayed
+ Hazeltine terminals, which do not allow "~" characters to be displayed
should indicate hz.
- Terminals which ignore a line-feed immediately after an am wrap, such
+ Terminals which ignore a line-feed immediately after an am wrap, such
as the Concept and vt100, should indicate xenl.
- If el is required to get rid of standout (instead of merely writing
+ If el is required to get rid of standout (instead of merely writing
normal text on top of it), xhp should be given.
Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved over to blanks,
- should indicate xt (destructive tabs). 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", that to
- erase standout mode it is instead necessary to use delete and insert
+ should indicate xt (destructive tabs). 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", that to
+ erase standout mode it is instead necessary to use delete and insert
line. The ncurses implementation ignores this glitch.
- The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly transmit the escape
- or control/C characters, has xsb, indicating 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,
+ The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly transmit the escape
+ or control/C characters, has xsb, indicating 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 adding more
+ Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by adding more
capabilities of the form xx.
- 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 translations are much more strictly limited
+ 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 translations 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 tgetent 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 tgetent is searching for is,
+ The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of tgetent 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 tgetent is searching for is,
several bad things can happen.
- Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if they find an
+ 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
+ entries to 1023 bytes. Some application programs allocate more than
the recommended 1K 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
+ 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 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 particular terminal. This is the
- length of the entry as it exists in /etc/termcap, minus the backslash-
+ The "before tc expansion" length is the most important one, because it
+ affects more than just users of that particular 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 does not). Now
suppose:
@@ -2419,88 +2425,88 @@
o and the application has only allocated a 1k buffer,
- o 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
+ o 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,
- o and tgetent 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 tgetent has to search
+ o and tgetent 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 tgetent 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
+ 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 the terminal.
- The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect to the
+ 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" expansion once it is found the terminal
+ since tgetent only does "tc" expansion 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 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
+ 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 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.
- When in -C (translate to termcap) mode, the ncurses implementation of
- tic(1m) issues warning messages when the pre-tc length of a termcap
- translation is too long. The -c (check) option also checks resolved
+ When in -C (translate to termcap) mode, the ncurses implementation of
+ tic(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 expansion) lengths.
- 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
+ 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 and XSI Curses extensions.
- Searching for terminal descriptions in $HOME/.terminfo and
+ Searching for terminal descriptions in $HOME/.terminfo and
TERMINFO_DIRS is not supported by older implementations.
- Some SVr4 curses implementations, and all previous to SVr4, do not
+ Some SVr4 curses implementations, and all previous to SVr4, do not
interpret the %A and %O operators in parameter strings.
- SVr4/XPG4 do not specify whether msgr 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
- ncurses implementation ignores msgr in ALTCHARSET mode. This raises
+ SVr4/XPG4 do not specify whether msgr 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
+ ncurses implementation ignores msgr in ALTCHARSET mode. This raises
the possibility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite
- interpretation may need terminfo entries made for ncurses to have msgr
+ interpretation may need terminfo entries made for ncurses to have msgr
turned off.
The ncurses library handles insert-character and insert-character modes
- in a slightly non-standard way to get better update efficiency. See
+ in a slightly non-standard way to get better update efficiency. See
the Insert/Delete Character subsection above.
- The parameter substitutions for set_clock and display_clock are not
- documented in SVr4 or the XSI Curses standard. They are deduced from
+ The parameter substitutions for set_clock and display_clock 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 kmous capability. The ncurses library wants
- to interpret it as KEY_MOUSE, for use by terminals and emulators like
- xterm that can return mouse-tracking information in the keyboard-input
+ Be careful assigning the kmous capability. The ncurses library wants
+ to interpret it as KEY_MOUSE, for use by terminals and emulators like
+ xterm that can return mouse-tracking information in the keyboard-input
stream.
- X/Open Curses does not mention italics. Portable applications must
- assume that numeric capabilities are signed 16-bit values. This
- includes the no_color_video (ncv) capability. The 32768 mask value
- used for italics with ncv can be confused with an absent or cancelled
- ncv. If italics should work with colors, then the ncv value must be
+ X/Open Curses does not mention italics. Portable applications must
+ assume that numeric capabilities are signed 16-bit values. This
+ includes the no_color_video (ncv) capability. The 32768 mask value
+ used for italics with ncv can be confused with an absent or cancelled
+ ncv. If italics should work with colors, then the ncv value must be
specified, even if it is zero.
- Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support different
- subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some cases) different
+ 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, accurate as of October 1995:
o SVR4, Solaris, ncurses -- These support all SVr4 capabilities.
@@ -2508,16 +2514,16 @@
o SGI -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented extended string
capability (set_pglen).
- o SVr1, Ultrix -- These support a restricted subset of terminfo
- capabilities. The booleans end with xon_xoff; the numerics with
+ o SVr1, Ultrix -- These support a restricted subset of terminfo
+ capabilities. The booleans end with xon_xoff; the numerics with
width_status_line; and the strings with prtr_non.
- o HP/UX -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234] numerics
- num_labels, label_height, label_width, plus function keys 11
- through 63, plus plab_norm, label_on, and label_off, plus some
+ o HP/UX -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234] numerics
+ num_labels, label_height, label_width, plus function keys 11
+ through 63, plus plab_norm, label_on, and label_off, plus some
incompatible extensions in the string table.
- o AIX -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11 through 63,
+ o AIX -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11 through 63,
plus a number of incompatible string table extensions.
o OSF -- Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.
@@ -2528,8 +2534,8 @@
- infocmp(1m), tabs(1), tic(1m), curses(3x), curs_color(3x),
- curs_variables(3x), printf(3), term_variables(3x). term(5).
+ infocmp(1m), tabs(1), tic(1m), curses(3x), curs_color(3x),
+ curs_variables(3x), printf(3), term_variables(3x). term(5).
user_caps(5).