X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fterminfo.5.html;h=6c39ed6de8003180ab2ed55a1067f3f90ee99f3a;hb=0485620c03e69b1b58a6b12e5e45c98415fc7575;hp=20c89d92dc5fbabd14b12fff201a4f6725ca8a62;hpb=027ae42953e3186daed8f3882da73de48291b606;p=ncurses.git diff --git a/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html b/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html index 20c89d92..6c39ed6d 100644 --- a/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html +++ b/doc/html/man/terminfo.5.html @@ -1,4 +1,3 @@ - +
-- -TERMINFO(5) File Formats TERMINFO(5) +terminfo(5) File Formats terminfo(5) --
+
terminfo - terminal capability data base --
- /usr/share/terminfo/*/* +
+ /usr/local/ncurses/lib/terminfo/*/* --
- Terminfo is a data base describing terminals, used by - screen-oriented programs such as nvi(1), rogue(1) and - libraries such as curses(3x). Terminfo describes termi- - nals by giving a set of capabilities which they have, by - specifying how to perform screen operations, and by speci- - fying padding requirements and initialization sequences. - This describes ncurses version 5.5 (patch 20061209). - - Entries in terminfo consist of a sequence of `,' separated - fields (embedded commas may be escaped with a backslash or - notated as \054). White space after the `,' separator is - ignored. The first entry for each terminal gives the - names which are known for the terminal, separated by `|' - characters. The first name given is the most common - abbreviation for the terminal, the last name given should - be a long name fully identifying the terminal, and all - others are understood as synonyms for the terminal name. - All names but the last should be in lower case and contain - no blanks; the last name may well contain upper case and - blanks for readability. - - Lines beginning with a `#' in the first column are treated - as comments. While comment lines are legal at any point, - the output of captoinfo and infotocap (aliases for tic) - will move comments so they occur only between entries. - - Newlines and leading tabs may be used for formatting - entries for readability. These are removed from parsed - entries. The infocmp -f option relies on this to format - if-then-else expressions: the result can be read by tic. - - Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should - be chosen using the following conventions. The particular - piece of hardware making up the terminal should have a - root name, thus ``hp2621''. This name should not contain - hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in, or user pref- - erences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a - mode suffix. Thus, a vt100 in 132 column mode would be - vt100-w. The following suffixes should be used where pos- - sible: - - - Suffix Meaning Example - -nn Number of lines on the screen aaa-60 - -np Number of pages of memory c100-4p - -am With automargins (usually the default) vt100-am - -m Mono mode; suppress color ansi-m - -mc Magic cookie; spaces when highlighting wy30-mc - -na No arrow keys (leave them in local) c100-na - -nam Without automatic margins vt100-nam - -nl No status line att4415-nl - -ns No status line hp2626-ns - -rv Reverse video c100-rv - -s Enable status line vt100-s - - -vb Use visible bell instead of beep wy370-vb - -w Wide mode (> 80 columns, usually 132) vt100-w - - For more on terminal naming conventions, see the term(7) - manual page. - - Capabilities - The following is a complete table of the capabilities - included in a terminfo description block and available to - terminfo-using code. In each line of the table, - - The variable is the name by which the programmer (at the - terminfo level) accesses the capability. - - The capname is the short name used in the text of the - database, and is used by a person updating the database. - Whenever possible, capnames are chosen to be the same as - or similar to the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard (now superseded - by ECMA-48, which uses identical or very similar names). - Semantics are also intended to match those of the specifi- - cation. - - The termcap code is the old termcap capability name (some - capabilities are new, and have names which termcap did not - originate). - - Capability names have no hard length limit, but an infor- - mal limit of 5 characters has been adopted to keep them - short and to allow the tabs in the source file Caps to - line up nicely. - - Finally, the description field attempts to convey the - semantics of the capability. You may find some codes in - the description field: +
+ Terminfo is a data base describing terminals, used by screen-oriented + programs such as nvi(1), rogue(1) and libraries such as curses(3x). + Terminfo describes terminals by giving a set of capabilities which they + have, by specifying how to perform screen operations, and by specifying + padding requirements and initialization sequences. This describes + ncurses version 6.0 (patch 20170819). + + +
+ Entries in terminfo consist of a sequence of fields: + + o Each field ends with a comma "," (embedded commas may be escaped + with a backslash or written as "\054"). + + o White space between fields is ignored. + + o The first field in a terminfo entry begins in the first column. + + o Newlines and leading whitespace (spaces or tabs) may be used for + formatting entries for readability. These are removed from parsed + entries. + + The infocmp -f and -W options rely on this to format if-then-else + expressions, or to enforce maximum line-width. The resulting for- + matted terminal description can be read by tic. + + o The first field for each terminal gives the names which are known + for the terminal, separated by "|" characters. + + The first name given is the most common abbreviation for the termi- + nal (its primary name), the last name given should be a long name + fully identifying the terminal (see longname(3x)), and all others + are treated as synonyms (aliases) for the primary terminal name. + + X/Open Curses advises that all names but the last should be in + lower case and contain no blanks; the last name may well contain + upper case and blanks for readability. + + This implementation is not so strict; it allows mixed case in the + primary name and aliases. If the last name has no embedded blanks, + it allows that to be both an alias and a verbose name (but will + warn about this ambiguity). + + o Lines beginning with a "#" in the first column are treated as com- + ments. + + While comment lines are legal at any point, the output of captoinfo + and infotocap (aliases for tic) will move comments so they occur + only between entries. + + Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should be chosen + using the following conventions. The particular piece of hardware mak- + ing up the terminal should have a root name, thus "hp2621". This name + should not contain hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in, or user + preferences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a mode suf- + fix. Thus, a vt100 in 132 column mode would be vt100-w. The following + suffixes should be used where possible: + + Suffix Meaning Example + -nn Number of lines on the screen aaa-60 + -np Number of pages of memory c100-4p + -am With automargins (usually the default) vt100-am + -m Mono mode; suppress color ansi-m + -mc Magic cookie; spaces when highlighting wy30-mc + -na No arrow keys (leave them in local) c100-na + -nam Without automatic margins vt100-nam + -nl No status line att4415-nl + -ns No status line hp2626-ns + -rv Reverse video c100-rv + -s Enable status line vt100-s + -vb Use visible bell instead of beep wy370-vb + -w Wide mode (> 80 columns, usually 132) vt100-w + + For more on terminal naming conventions, see the term(7) manual page. + + +
+ The terminfo entry consists of several capabilities, i.e., features + that the terminal has, or methods for exercising the terminal's fea- + tures. + + After the first field (giving the name(s) of the terminal entry), there + should be one or more capability fields. These are boolean, numeric or + string names with corresponding values: + + o Boolean capabilities are true when present, false when absent. + There is no explicit value for boolean capabilities. + + o Numeric capabilities have a "#" following the name, then an + unsigned decimal integer value. + + o String capabilities have a "=" following the name, then an string + of characters making up the capability value. + + String capabilities can be split into multiple lines, just as the + fields comprising a terminal entry can be split into multiple + lines. While blanks between fields are ignored, blanks embedded + within a string value are retained, except for leading blanks on a + line. + + Any capability can be canceled, i.e., suppressed from the terminal + entry, by following its name with "@" rather than a capability value. + + +
+ If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant) can be + defined as being just like the other (the base) with certain excep- + tions. In the definition of the variant, the string capability use can + be given with the name of the base terminal: + + o The capabilities given before use override those in the base type + named by use. + + o If there are multiple use capabilities, they are merged in reverse + order. That is, the rightmost use reference is processed first, + then the one to its left, and so forth. + + o Capabilities given explicitly in the entry override those brought + in by use references. + + A capability can be canceled by placing xx@ to the left of the use ref- + erence that imports it, where xx is the capability. For example, the + entry + + 2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621, + + defines a 2621-nl that does not have the smkx or rmkx capabilities, and + hence does not turn on the function key labels when in visual mode. + This is useful for different modes for a terminal, or for different + user preferences. + + An entry included via use can contain canceled capabilities, which have + the same effect as if those cancels were inline in the using terminal + entry. + + +
+ The following is a complete table of the capabilities included in a + terminfo description block and available to terminfo-using code. In + each line of the table, + + The variable is the name by which the programmer (at the terminfo + level) accesses the capability. + + The capname is the short name used in the text of the database, and is + used by a person updating the database. Whenever possible, capnames + are chosen to be the same as or similar to the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard + (now superseded by ECMA-48, which uses identical or very similar + names). Semantics are also intended to match those of the specifica- + tion. + + The termcap code is the old termcap capability name (some capabilities + are new, and have names which termcap did not originate). + + Capability names have no hard length limit, but an informal limit of 5 + characters has been adopted to keep them short and to allow the tabs in + the source file Caps to line up nicely. + + Finally, the description field attempts to convey the semantics of the + capability. You may find some codes in the description field: (P) indicates that padding may be specified - #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string - is passed through tparm with parms as given (#i). + #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string is passed + through tparm with parms as given (#i). - (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to - the number of lines affected + (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to the number of + lines affected (#i) indicates the ith parameter. @@ -176,1602 +244,1647 @@ These are the boolean capabilities: - Variable Cap- TCap Description - Booleans name Code - auto_left_margin bw bw cub1 wraps from col- - umn 0 to last column - auto_right_margin am am terminal has auto- - matic margins - back_color_erase bce ut screen erased with - background color - can_change ccc cc terminal can re- - define existing col- - ors - ceol_standout_glitch xhp xs standout not erased - by overwriting (hp) - col_addr_glitch xhpa YA only positive motion - for hpa/mhpa caps - - - cpi_changes_res cpix YF changing character - pitch changes reso- - lution - cr_cancels_micro_mode crxm YB using cr turns off - micro mode - dest_tabs_magic_smso xt xt tabs destructive, - magic so char - (t1061) - eat_newline_glitch xenl xn newline ignored - after 80 cols (con- - cept) - erase_overstrike eo eo can erase over- - strikes with a blank - generic_type gn gn generic line type - hard_copy hc hc hardcopy terminal - hard_cursor chts HC cursor is hard to - see - has_meta_key km km Has a meta key - (i.e., sets 8th-bit) - has_print_wheel daisy YC printer needs opera- - tor to change char- - acter set - has_status_line hs hs has extra status - line - hue_lightness_saturation hls hl terminal uses only - HLS color notation - (Tektronix) - insert_null_glitch in in insert mode distin- - guishes nulls - lpi_changes_res lpix YG changing line pitch - changes resolution - memory_above da da display may be - retained above the - screen - memory_below db db display may be - retained below the - screen - move_insert_mode mir mi safe to move while - in insert mode - move_standout_mode msgr ms safe to move while - in standout mode - needs_xon_xoff nxon nx padding will not - work, xon/xoff - required - no_esc_ctlc xsb xb beehive (f1=escape, - f2=ctrl C) - no_pad_char npc NP pad character does - not exist - non_dest_scroll_region ndscr ND scrolling region is - non-destructive - non_rev_rmcup nrrmc NR smcup does not - reverse rmcup - over_strike os os terminal can over- - strike - prtr_silent mc5i 5i printer will not - echo on screen - row_addr_glitch xvpa YD only positive motion - for vpa/mvpa caps - semi_auto_right_margin sam YE printing in last - column causes cr - status_line_esc_ok eslok es escape can be used - on the status line - tilde_glitch hz hz cannot print ~'s - (hazeltine) - - - transparent_underline ul ul underline character - overstrikes - xon_xoff xon xo terminal uses - xon/xoff handshaking + Variable Cap- TCap Description + Booleans name Code + auto_left_margin bw bw cub1 wraps from col- + umn 0 to last column + auto_right_margin am am terminal has auto- + matic margins + back_color_erase bce ut screen erased with + background color + can_change ccc cc terminal can re- + define existing col- + ors + ceol_standout_glitch xhp xs standout not erased + by overwriting (hp) + col_addr_glitch xhpa YA only positive motion + for hpa/mhpa caps + + cpi_changes_res cpix YF changing character + pitch changes reso- + lution + cr_cancels_micro_mode crxm YB using cr turns off + micro mode + dest_tabs_magic_smso xt xt tabs destructive, + magic so char + (t1061) + eat_newline_glitch xenl xn newline ignored + after 80 cols (con- + cept) + erase_overstrike eo eo can erase over- + strikes with a blank + generic_type gn gn generic line type + hard_copy hc hc hardcopy terminal + hard_cursor chts HC cursor is hard to + see + has_meta_key km km Has a meta key + (i.e., sets 8th-bit) + has_print_wheel daisy YC printer needs opera- + tor to change char- + acter set + has_status_line hs hs has extra status + line + hue_lightness_saturation hls hl terminal uses only + HLS color notation + (Tektronix) + insert_null_glitch in in insert mode distin- + guishes nulls + lpi_changes_res lpix YG changing line pitch + changes resolution + memory_above da da display may be + retained above the + screen + memory_below db db display may be + retained below the + screen + move_insert_mode mir mi safe to move while + in insert mode + move_standout_mode msgr ms safe to move while + in standout mode + needs_xon_xoff nxon nx padding will not + work, xon/xoff + required + no_esc_ctlc xsb xb beehive (f1=escape, + f2=ctrl C) + no_pad_char npc NP pad character does + not exist + non_dest_scroll_region ndscr ND scrolling region is + non-destructive + non_rev_rmcup nrrmc NR smcup does not + reverse rmcup + over_strike os os terminal can over- + strike + prtr_silent mc5i 5i printer will not + echo on screen + row_addr_glitch xvpa YD only positive motion + for vpa/mvpa caps + semi_auto_right_margin sam YE printing in last + column causes cr + status_line_esc_ok eslok es escape can be used + on the status line + tilde_glitch hz hz cannot print ~'s + (Hazeltine) + + + transparent_underline ul ul underline character + overstrikes + xon_xoff xon xo terminal uses + xon/xoff handshaking These are the numeric capabilities: - Variable Cap- TCap Description - Numeric name Code - columns cols co number of columns in - a line - init_tabs it it tabs initially every - # spaces - label_height lh lh rows in each label - label_width lw lw columns in each - label - lines lines li number of lines on - screen or page - lines_of_memory lm lm lines of memory if > - line. 0 means varies - magic_cookie_glitch xmc sg number of blank - characters left by - smso or rmso - max_attributes ma ma maximum combined - attributes terminal - can handle - max_colors colors Co maximum number of - colors on screen - max_pairs pairs pa maximum number of - color-pairs on the - screen - maximum_windows wnum MW maximum number of - defineable windows - no_color_video ncv NC video attributes - that cannot be used - with colors - num_labels nlab Nl number of labels on - screen - padding_baud_rate pb pb lowest baud rate - where padding needed - virtual_terminal vt vt virtual terminal - number (CB/unix) - width_status_line wsl ws number of columns in - status line - - The following numeric capabilities are present in the - SVr4.0 term structure, but are not yet documented in the - man page. They came in with SVr4's printer support. - - - Variable Cap- TCap Description - Numeric name Code - bit_image_entwining bitwin Yo number of passes for - each bit-image row - bit_image_type bitype Yp type of bit-image - device - buffer_capacity bufsz Ya numbers of bytes - buffered before - printing - buttons btns BT number of buttons on - mouse - dot_horz_spacing spinh Yc spacing of dots hor- - izontally in dots - per inch - - dot_vert_spacing spinv Yb spacing of pins ver- - tically in pins per - inch - max_micro_address maddr Yd maximum value in - micro_..._address - max_micro_jump mjump Ye maximum value in - parm_..._micro - micro_col_size mcs Yf character step size - when in micro mode - micro_line_size mls Yg line step size when - in micro mode - number_of_pins npins Yh numbers of pins in - print-head - output_res_char orc Yi horizontal resolu- - tion in units per - line - output_res_horz_inch orhi Yk horizontal resolu- - tion in units per - inch - output_res_line orl Yj vertical resolution - in units per line - output_res_vert_inch orvi Yl vertical resolution - in units per inch - print_rate cps Ym print rate in char- - acters per second - wide_char_size widcs Yn character step size - when in double wide - mode + Variable Cap- TCap Description + Numeric name Code + columns cols co number of columns in + a line + init_tabs it it tabs initially every + # spaces + label_height lh lh rows in each label + label_width lw lw columns in each + label + lines lines li number of lines on + screen or page + lines_of_memory lm lm lines of memory if > + line. 0 means varies + magic_cookie_glitch xmc sg number of blank + characters left by + smso or rmso + max_attributes ma ma maximum combined + attributes terminal + can handle + max_colors colors Co maximum number of + colors on screen + max_pairs pairs pa maximum number of + color-pairs on the + screen + maximum_windows wnum MW maximum number of + definable windows + no_color_video ncv NC video attributes + that cannot be used + with colors + num_labels nlab Nl number of labels on + screen + padding_baud_rate pb pb lowest baud rate + where padding needed + virtual_terminal vt vt virtual terminal + number (CB/unix) + width_status_line wsl ws number of columns in + status line + + The following numeric capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term + structure, but are not yet documented in the man page. They came in + with SVr4's printer support. + + + Variable Cap- TCap Description + Numeric name Code + bit_image_entwining bitwin Yo number of passes for + each bit-image row + bit_image_type bitype Yp type of bit-image + device + buffer_capacity bufsz Ya numbers of bytes + buffered before + printing + buttons btns BT number of buttons on + mouse + dot_horz_spacing spinh Yc spacing of dots hor- + izontally in dots + per inch + + dot_vert_spacing spinv Yb spacing of pins ver- + tically in pins per + inch + max_micro_address maddr Yd maximum value in + micro_..._address + max_micro_jump mjump Ye maximum value in + parm_..._micro + micro_col_size mcs Yf character step size + when in micro mode + micro_line_size mls Yg line step size when + in micro mode + number_of_pins npins Yh numbers of pins in + print-head + output_res_char orc Yi horizontal resolu- + tion in units per + line + output_res_horz_inch orhi Yk horizontal resolu- + tion in units per + inch + output_res_line orl Yj vertical resolution + in units per line + output_res_vert_inch orvi Yl vertical resolution + in units per inch + print_rate cps Ym print rate in char- + acters per second + wide_char_size widcs Yn character step size + when in double wide + mode These are the string capabilities: - Variable Cap- TCap Description - String name Code - acs_chars acsc ac graphics charset - pairs, based on - vt100 - back_tab cbt bt back tab (P) - bell bel bl audible signal - (bell) (P) - carriage_return cr cr carriage return (P*) - (P*) - change_char_pitch cpi ZA Change number of - characters per inch - to #1 - change_line_pitch lpi ZB Change number of - lines per inch to #1 - change_res_horz chr ZC Change horizontal - resolution to #1 - change_res_vert cvr ZD Change vertical res- - olution to #1 - change_scroll_region csr cs change region to - line #1 to line #2 - (P) - char_padding rmp rP like ip but when in - insert mode - clear_all_tabs tbc ct clear all tab stops - (P) - clear_margins mgc MC clear right and left - soft margins - clear_screen clear cl clear screen and - home cursor (P*) - clr_bol el1 cb Clear to beginning - of line - - - clr_eol el ce clear to end of line - (P) - clr_eos ed cd clear to end of - screen (P*) - column_address hpa ch horizontal position - #1, absolute (P) - command_character cmdch CC terminal settable - cmd character in - prototype !? - create_window cwin CW define a window #1 - from #2,#3 to #4,#5 - cursor_address cup cm move to row #1 - columns #2 - cursor_down cud1 do down one line - cursor_home home ho home cursor (if no - cup) - cursor_invisible civis vi make cursor invisi- - ble - cursor_left cub1 le move left one space - cursor_mem_address mrcup CM memory relative cur- - sor addressing, move - to row #1 columns #2 - cursor_normal cnorm ve make cursor appear - normal (undo - civis/cvvis) - cursor_right cuf1 nd non-destructive - space (move right - one space) - cursor_to_ll ll ll last line, first - column (if no cup) - cursor_up cuu1 up up one line - cursor_visible cvvis vs make cursor very - visible - define_char defc ZE Define a character - #1, #2 dots wide, - descender #3 - delete_character dch1 dc delete character - (P*) - delete_line dl1 dl delete line (P*) - dial_phone dial DI dial number #1 - dis_status_line dsl ds disable status line - display_clock dclk DK display clock - down_half_line hd hd half a line down - ena_acs enacs eA enable alternate - char set - enter_alt_charset_mode smacs as start alternate - character set (P) - enter_am_mode smam SA turn on automatic - margins - enter_blink_mode blink mb turn on blinking - enter_bold_mode bold md turn on bold (extra - bright) mode - enter_ca_mode smcup ti string to start pro- - grams using cup - enter_delete_mode smdc dm enter delete mode - enter_dim_mode dim mh turn on half-bright - mode - enter_doublewide_mode swidm ZF Enter double-wide - mode - enter_draft_quality sdrfq ZG Enter draft-quality - mode - enter_insert_mode smir im enter insert mode - enter_italics_mode sitm ZH Enter italic mode - enter_leftward_mode slm ZI Start leftward car- - riage motion - - enter_micro_mode smicm ZJ Start micro-motion - mode - enter_near_letter_quality snlq ZK Enter NLQ mode - enter_normal_quality snrmq ZL Enter normal-quality - mode - enter_protected_mode prot mp turn on protected - mode - enter_reverse_mode rev mr turn on reverse - video mode - enter_secure_mode invis mk turn on blank mode - (characters invisi- - ble) - enter_shadow_mode sshm ZM Enter shadow-print - mode - enter_standout_mode smso so begin standout mode - enter_subscript_mode ssubm ZN Enter subscript mode - enter_superscript_mode ssupm ZO Enter superscript - mode - enter_underline_mode smul us begin underline mode - enter_upward_mode sum ZP Start upward car- - riage motion - enter_xon_mode smxon SX turn on xon/xoff - handshaking - erase_chars ech ec erase #1 characters - (P) - exit_alt_charset_mode rmacs ae end alternate char- - acter set (P) - exit_am_mode rmam RA turn off automatic - margins - exit_attribute_mode sgr0 me turn off all - attributes - exit_ca_mode rmcup te strings to end pro- - grams using cup - exit_delete_mode rmdc ed end delete mode - exit_doublewide_mode rwidm ZQ End double-wide mode - exit_insert_mode rmir ei exit insert mode - exit_italics_mode ritm ZR End italic mode - exit_leftward_mode rlm ZS End left-motion mode - exit_micro_mode rmicm ZT End micro-motion - mode - exit_shadow_mode rshm ZU End shadow-print - mode - exit_standout_mode rmso se exit standout mode - exit_subscript_mode rsubm ZV End subscript mode - exit_superscript_mode rsupm ZW End superscript mode - exit_underline_mode rmul ue exit underline mode - exit_upward_mode rum ZX End reverse charac- - ter motion - exit_xon_mode rmxon RX turn off xon/xoff - handshaking - fixed_pause pause PA pause for 2-3 sec- - onds - flash_hook hook fh flash switch hook - flash_screen flash vb visible bell (may - not move cursor) - form_feed ff ff hardcopy terminal - page eject (P*) - from_status_line fsl fs return from status - line - goto_window wingo WG go to window #1 - hangup hup HU hang-up phone - init_1string is1 i1 initialization - string - init_2string is2 is initialization - string - - init_3string is3 i3 initialization - string - init_file if if name of initializa- - tion file - init_prog iprog iP path name of program - for initialization - initialize_color initc Ic initialize color #1 - to (#2,#3,#4) - initialize_pair initp Ip Initialize color - pair #1 to - fg=(#2,#3,#4), - bg=(#5,#6,#7) - insert_character ich1 ic insert character (P) - insert_line il1 al insert line (P*) - insert_padding ip ip insert padding after - inserted character - key_a1 ka1 K1 upper left of keypad - key_a3 ka3 K3 upper right of key- - pad - key_b2 kb2 K2 center of keypad - key_backspace kbs kb backspace key - key_beg kbeg @1 begin key - key_btab kcbt kB back-tab key - key_c1 kc1 K4 lower left of keypad - key_c3 kc3 K5 lower right of key- - pad - key_cancel kcan @2 cancel key - key_catab ktbc ka clear-all-tabs key - key_clear kclr kC clear-screen or - erase key - key_close kclo @3 close key - key_command kcmd @4 command key - key_copy kcpy @5 copy key - key_create kcrt @6 create key - key_ctab kctab kt clear-tab key - key_dc kdch1 kD delete-character key - key_dl kdl1 kL delete-line key - key_down kcud1 kd down-arrow key - key_eic krmir kM sent by rmir or smir - in insert mode - key_end kend @7 end key - key_enter kent @8 enter/send key - key_eol kel kE clear-to-end-of-line - key - key_eos ked kS clear-to-end-of- - screen key - key_exit kext @9 exit key - key_f0 kf0 k0 F0 function key - key_f1 kf1 k1 F1 function key - key_f10 kf10 k; F10 function key - key_f11 kf11 F1 F11 function key - key_f12 kf12 F2 F12 function key - key_f13 kf13 F3 F13 function key - key_f14 kf14 F4 F14 function key - key_f15 kf15 F5 F15 function key - key_f16 kf16 F6 F16 function key - key_f17 kf17 F7 F17 function key - key_f18 kf18 F8 F18 function key - key_f19 kf19 F9 F19 function key - key_f2 kf2 k2 F2 function key - key_f20 kf20 FA F20 function key - key_f21 kf21 FB F21 function key - key_f22 kf22 FC F22 function key - key_f23 kf23 FD F23 function key - key_f24 kf24 FE F24 function key - - key_f25 kf25 FF F25 function key - key_f26 kf26 FG F26 function key - key_f27 kf27 FH F27 function key - key_f28 kf28 FI F28 function key - key_f29 kf29 FJ F29 function key - key_f3 kf3 k3 F3 function key - key_f30 kf30 FK F30 function key - key_f31 kf31 FL F31 function key - key_f32 kf32 FM F32 function key - key_f33 kf33 FN F33 function key - key_f34 kf34 FO F34 function key - key_f35 kf35 FP F35 function key - key_f36 kf36 FQ F36 function key - key_f37 kf37 FR F37 function key - key_f38 kf38 FS F38 function key - key_f39 kf39 FT F39 function key - key_f4 kf4 k4 F4 function key - key_f40 kf40 FU F40 function key - key_f41 kf41 FV F41 function key - key_f42 kf42 FW F42 function key - key_f43 kf43 FX F43 function key - key_f44 kf44 FY F44 function key - key_f45 kf45 FZ F45 function key - key_f46 kf46 Fa F46 function key - key_f47 kf47 Fb F47 function key - key_f48 kf48 Fc F48 function key - key_f49 kf49 Fd F49 function key - key_f5 kf5 k5 F5 function key - key_f50 kf50 Fe F50 function key - key_f51 kf51 Ff F51 function key - key_f52 kf52 Fg F52 function key - key_f53 kf53 Fh F53 function key - key_f54 kf54 Fi F54 function key - key_f55 kf55 Fj F55 function key - key_f56 kf56 Fk F56 function key - key_f57 kf57 Fl F57 function key - key_f58 kf58 Fm F58 function key - key_f59 kf59 Fn F59 function key - key_f6 kf6 k6 F6 function key - key_f60 kf60 Fo F60 function key - key_f61 kf61 Fp F61 function key - key_f62 kf62 Fq F62 function key - key_f63 kf63 Fr F63 function key - key_f7 kf7 k7 F7 function key - key_f8 kf8 k8 F8 function key - key_f9 kf9 k9 F9 function key - key_find kfnd @0 find key - key_help khlp %1 help key - key_home khome kh home key - key_ic kich1 kI insert-character key - key_il kil1 kA insert-line key - key_left kcub1 kl left-arrow key - key_ll kll kH lower-left key (home - down) - key_mark kmrk %2 mark key - key_message kmsg %3 message key - key_move kmov %4 move key - key_next knxt %5 next key - key_npage knp kN next-page key - key_open kopn %6 open key - key_options kopt %7 options key - key_ppage kpp kP previous-page key - key_previous kprv %8 previous key - key_print kprt %9 print key - key_redo krdo %0 redo key - - key_reference kref &1 reference key - key_refresh krfr &2 refresh key - key_replace krpl &3 replace key - key_restart krst &4 restart key - key_resume kres &5 resume key - key_right kcuf1 kr right-arrow key - key_save ksav &6 save key - key_sbeg kBEG &9 shifted begin key - key_scancel kCAN &0 shifted cancel key - key_scommand kCMD *1 shifted command key - key_scopy kCPY *2 shifted copy key - key_screate kCRT *3 shifted create key - key_sdc kDC *4 shifted delete-char- - acter key - key_sdl kDL *5 shifted delete-line - key - key_select kslt *6 select key - key_send kEND *7 shifted end key - key_seol kEOL *8 shifted clear-to- - end-of-line key - key_sexit kEXT *9 shifted exit key - key_sf kind kF scroll-forward key - key_sfind kFND *0 shifted find key - key_shelp kHLP #1 shifted help key - key_shome kHOM #2 shifted home key - key_sic kIC #3 shifted insert-char- - acter key - key_sleft kLFT #4 shifted left-arrow - key - key_smessage kMSG %a shifted message key - key_smove kMOV %b shifted move key - key_snext kNXT %c shifted next key - key_soptions kOPT %d shifted options key - key_sprevious kPRV %e shifted previous key - key_sprint kPRT %f shifted print key - key_sr kri kR scroll-backward key - key_sredo kRDO %g shifted redo key - key_sreplace kRPL %h shifted replace key - key_sright kRIT %i shifted right-arrow - key - key_srsume kRES %j shifted resume key - key_ssave kSAV !1 shifted save key - key_ssuspend kSPD !2 shifted suspend key - key_stab khts kT set-tab key - key_sundo kUND !3 shifted undo key - key_suspend kspd &7 suspend key - key_undo kund &8 undo key - key_up kcuu1 ku up-arrow key - keypad_local rmkx ke leave 'key- - board_transmit' mode - keypad_xmit smkx ks enter 'key- - board_transmit' mode - lab_f0 lf0 l0 label on function - key f0 if not f0 - lab_f1 lf1 l1 label on function - key f1 if not f1 - lab_f10 lf10 la label on function - key f10 if not f10 - lab_f2 lf2 l2 label on function - key f2 if not f2 - lab_f3 lf3 l3 label on function - key f3 if not f3 - lab_f4 lf4 l4 label on function - key f4 if not f4 - - - lab_f5 lf5 l5 label on function - key f5 if not f5 - lab_f6 lf6 l6 label on function - key f6 if not f6 - lab_f7 lf7 l7 label on function - key f7 if not f7 - lab_f8 lf8 l8 label on function - key f8 if not f8 - lab_f9 lf9 l9 label on function - key f9 if not f9 - label_format fln Lf label format - label_off rmln LF turn off soft labels - label_on smln LO turn on soft labels - meta_off rmm mo turn off meta mode - meta_on smm mm turn on meta mode - (8th-bit on) - micro_column_address mhpa ZY Like column_address - in micro mode - micro_down mcud1 ZZ Like cursor_down in - micro mode - micro_left mcub1 Za Like cursor_left in - micro mode - micro_right mcuf1 Zb Like cursor_right in - micro mode - micro_row_address mvpa Zc Like row_address #1 - in micro mode - micro_up mcuu1 Zd Like cursor_up in - micro mode - newline nel nw newline (behave like - cr followed by lf) - order_of_pins porder Ze Match software bits - to print-head pins - orig_colors oc oc Set all color pairs - to the original ones - orig_pair op op Set default pair to - its original value - pad_char pad pc padding char - (instead of null) - parm_dch dch DC delete #1 characters - (P*) - parm_delete_line dl DL delete #1 lines (P*) - parm_down_cursor cud DO down #1 lines (P*) - parm_down_micro mcud Zf Like parm_down_cur- - sor in micro mode - parm_ich ich IC insert #1 characters - (P*) - parm_index indn SF scroll forward #1 - lines (P) - parm_insert_line il AL insert #1 lines (P*) - parm_left_cursor cub LE move #1 characters - to the left (P) - parm_left_micro mcub Zg Like parm_left_cur- - sor in micro mode - parm_right_cursor cuf RI move #1 characters - to the right (P*) - parm_right_micro mcuf Zh Like parm_right_cur- - sor in micro mode - parm_rindex rin SR scroll back #1 lines - (P) - parm_up_cursor cuu UP up #1 lines (P*) - parm_up_micro mcuu Zi Like parm_up_cursor - in micro mode - pkey_key pfkey pk program function key - #1 to type string #2 - - - pkey_local pfloc pl program function key - #1 to execute string - #2 - pkey_xmit pfx px program function key - #1 to transmit - string #2 - plab_norm pln pn program label #1 to - show string #2 - print_screen mc0 ps print contents of - screen - prtr_non mc5p pO turn on printer for - #1 bytes - prtr_off mc4 pf turn off printer - prtr_on mc5 po turn on printer - pulse pulse PU select pulse dialing - quick_dial qdial QD dial number #1 with- - out checking - remove_clock rmclk RC remove clock - repeat_char rep rp repeat char #1 #2 - times (P*) - req_for_input rfi RF send next input char - (for ptys) - reset_1string rs1 r1 reset string - reset_2string rs2 r2 reset string - reset_3string rs3 r3 reset string - reset_file rf rf name of reset file - restore_cursor rc rc restore cursor to - position of last - save_cursor - row_address vpa cv vertical position #1 - absolute (P) - save_cursor sc sc save current cursor - position (P) - scroll_forward ind sf scroll text up (P) - scroll_reverse ri sr scroll text down (P) - select_char_set scs Zj Select character - set, #1 - set_attributes sgr sa define video - attributes #1-#9 - (PG9) - set_background setb Sb Set background color - #1 - set_bottom_margin smgb Zk Set bottom margin at - current line - set_bottom_margin_parm smgbp Zl Set bottom margin at - line #1 or (if smgtp - is not given) #2 - lines from bottom - set_clock sclk SC set clock, #1 hrs #2 - mins #3 secs - set_color_pair scp sp Set current color - pair to #1 - set_foreground setf Sf Set foreground color - #1 - set_left_margin smgl ML set left soft margin - at current column. - See smgl. (ML is not - in BSD termcap). - set_left_margin_parm smglp Zm Set left (right) - margin at column #1 - set_right_margin smgr MR set right soft mar- - gin at current col- - umn - set_right_margin_parm smgrp Zn Set right margin at - column #1 - - set_tab hts st set a tab in every - row, current columns - set_top_margin smgt Zo Set top margin at - current line - set_top_margin_parm smgtp Zp Set top (bottom) - margin at row #1 - set_window wind wi current window is - lines #1-#2 cols - #3-#4 - start_bit_image sbim Zq Start printing bit - image graphics - start_char_set_def scsd Zr Start character set - definition #1, with - #2 characters in the - set - stop_bit_image rbim Zs Stop printing bit - image graphics - stop_char_set_def rcsd Zt End definition of - character set #1 - subscript_characters subcs Zu List of subscript- - able characters - superscript_characters supcs Zv List of superscript- - able characters - tab ht ta tab to next 8-space - hardware tab stop - these_cause_cr docr Zw Printing any of - these characters - causes CR - to_status_line tsl ts move to status line, - column #1 - tone tone TO select touch tone - dialing - underline_char uc uc underline char and - move past it - up_half_line hu hu half a line up - user0 u0 u0 User string #0 - user1 u1 u1 User string #1 - user2 u2 u2 User string #2 - user3 u3 u3 User string #3 - user4 u4 u4 User string #4 - user5 u5 u5 User string #5 - user6 u6 u6 User string #6 - user7 u7 u7 User string #7 - user8 u8 u8 User string #8 - user9 u9 u9 User string #9 - wait_tone wait WA wait for dial-tone - xoff_character xoffc XF XOFF character - xon_character xonc XN XON character - zero_motion zerom Zx No motion for subse- - quent character - - The following string capabilities are present in the - SVr4.0 term structure, but were originally not documented - in the man page. - - - Variable Cap- TCap Description - String name Code - alt_scancode_esc scesa S8 Alternate escape - for scancode emu- - lation - bit_image_carriage_return bicr Yv Move to beginning - of same row - bit_image_newline binel Zz Move to next row - of the bit image - - bit_image_repeat birep Xy Repeat bit image - cell #1 #2 times - char_set_names csnm Zy Produce #1'th item - from list of char- - acter set names - code_set_init csin ci Init sequence for - multiple codesets - color_names colornm Yw Give name for - color #1 - define_bit_image_region defbi Yx Define rectan- - gualar bit image - region - device_type devt dv Indicate lan- - guage/codeset sup- - port - display_pc_char dispc S1 Display PC charac- - ter #1 - end_bit_image_region endbi Yy End a bit-image - region - enter_pc_charset_mode smpch S2 Enter PC character - display mode - enter_scancode_mode smsc S4 Enter PC scancode - mode - exit_pc_charset_mode rmpch S3 Exit PC character - display mode - exit_scancode_mode rmsc S5 Exit PC scancode - mode - get_mouse getm Gm Curses should get - button events, - parameter #1 not - documented. - key_mouse kmous Km Mouse event has - occurred - mouse_info minfo Mi Mouse status - information - pc_term_options pctrm S6 PC terminal - options - pkey_plab pfxl xl Program function - key #1 to type - string #2 and show - string #3 - req_mouse_pos reqmp RQ Request mouse - position - scancode_escape scesc S7 Escape for scan- - code emulation - set0_des_seq s0ds s0 Shift to codeset 0 - (EUC set 0, ASCII) - set1_des_seq s1ds s1 Shift to codeset 1 - set2_des_seq s2ds s2 Shift to codeset 2 - set3_des_seq s3ds s3 Shift to codeset 3 - set_a_background setab AB Set background - color to #1, using - ANSI escape - set_a_foreground setaf AF Set foreground - color to #1, using - ANSI escape - set_color_band setcolor Yz Change to ribbon - color #1 - set_lr_margin smglr ML Set both left and - right margins to - #1, #2. (ML is - not in BSD term- - cap). - set_page_length slines YZ Set page length to - #1 lines - - set_tb_margin smgtb MT Sets both top and - bottom margins to - #1, #2 - - The XSI Curses standard added these. They are some - post-4.1 versions of System V curses, e.g., Solaris 2.5 - and IRIX 6.x. The ncurses termcap names for them are - invented; according to the XSI Curses standard, they have - no termcap names. If your compiled terminfo entries use - these, they may not be binary-compatible with System V - terminfo entries after SVr4.1; beware! - - - Variable Cap- TCap Description - String name Code - enter_horizontal_hl_mode ehhlm Xh Enter horizontal - highlight mode - enter_left_hl_mode elhlm Xl Enter left highlight - mode - enter_low_hl_mode elohlm Xo Enter low highlight - mode - enter_right_hl_mode erhlm Xr Enter right high- - light mode - enter_top_hl_mode ethlm Xt Enter top highlight - mode - enter_vertical_hl_mode evhlm Xv Enter vertical high- - light mode - set_a_attributes sgr1 sA Define second set of - video attributes - #1-#6 - set_pglen_inch slengthsL YI Set page length - to #1 hundredth of - an inch - - A Sample Entry - The following entry, describing an ANSI-standard terminal, - is representative of what a terminfo entry for a modern - terminal typically looks like. - - ansi|ansi/pc-term compatible with color, - mc5i, - colors#8, ncv#3, pairs#64, - cub=\E[%p1%dD, cud=\E[%p1%dB, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, - cuu=\E[%p1%dA, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dl=\E[%p1%dM, - ech=\E[%p1%dX, el1=\E[1K, hpa=\E[%p1%dG, ht=\E[I, - ich=\E[%p1%d@, il=\E[%p1%dL, indn=\E[%p1%dS, .indn=\E[%p1%dT, - kbs=^H, kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\E[D, kcud1=\E[B, - kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A, kf1=\E[M, kf10=\E[V, - kf11=\E[W, kf12=\E[X, kf2=\E[N, kf3=\E[O, kf4=\E[P, - kf5=\E[Q, kf6=\E[R, kf7=\E[S, kf8=\E[T, kf9=\E[U, - kich1=\E[L, mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, nel=\r\E[S, - op=\E[37;40m, rep=%p1%c\E[%p2%{1}%-%db, - rin=\E[%p1%dT, s0ds=\E(B, s1ds=\E)B, s2ds=\E*B, - s3ds=\E+B, setab=\E[4%p1%dm, setaf=\E[3%p1%dm, - setb=\E[4%?%p1%{1}%=%t4%e%p1%{3}%=%t6%e%p1%{4}%=%t1%e%p1%{6}%=%t3%e%p1%d%;m, - setf=\E[3%?%p1%{1}%=%t4%e%p1%{3}%=%t6%e%p1%{4}%=%t1%e%p1%{6}%=%t3%e%p1%d%;m, - sgr=\E[0;10%?%p1%t;7%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p3%t;7%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p7%t;8%;%?%p8%t;11%;%?%p9%t;12%;m, - sgr0=\E[0;10m, tbc=\E[2g, u6=\E[%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n, - u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%p1%dd, - - Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white - space at the beginning of each line except the first. - Comments may be included on lines beginning with ``#''. - Capabilities in terminfo are of three types: Boolean capa- - bilities which indicate that the terminal has some partic- - ular feature, numeric capabilities giving the size of the - terminal or the size of particular delays, and string - capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to - perform particular terminal operations. - - - Types of Capabilities - All capabilities have names. For instance, the fact that - ANSI-standard terminals have automatic margins (i.e., an - automatic return and line-feed when the end of a line is - reached) is indicated by the capability am. Hence the - description of ansi includes am. Numeric capabilities are - followed by the character `#' and then a positive value. - Thus cols, which indicates the number of columns the ter- - minal has, gives the value `80' for ansi. Values for - numeric capabilities may be specified in decimal, octal or - hexadecimal, using the C programming language conventions - (e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF). - - Finally, string valued capabilities, such as el (clear to - end of line sequence) are given by the two-character code, - an `=', and then a string ending at the next following - `,'. - - A number of escape sequences are provided in the string - valued capabilities for easy encoding of characters there. - Both \E and \e map to an ESCAPE character, ^x maps to a - control-x for any appropriate x, and the sequences \n \l - \r \t \b \f \s give a newline, line-feed, return, tab, - backspace, form-feed, and space. Other escapes include \^ - for ^, \\ for \, \, for comma, \: for :, and \0 for null. - (\0 will produce \200, which does not terminate a string - but behaves as a null character on most terminals, provid- - ing CS7 is specified. See stty(1).) Finally, characters - may be given as three octal digits after a \. - - A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string - capability, enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in el=\EK$<5>, - and padding characters are supplied by tputs to provide - this delay. The delay must be a number with at most one - decimal place of precision; it may be followed by suffixes - `*' or '/' or both. A `*' indicates that the padding - required is proportional to the number of lines affected - by the operation, and the amount given is the per- - affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert - character, the factor is still the number of lines - affected.) Normally, padding is advisory if the device - has the xon capability; it is used for cost computation - but does not trigger delays. A `/' suffix indicates that - the padding is mandatory and forces a delay of the given - number of milliseconds even on devices for which xon is - present to indicate flow control. - - Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out. - To do this, put a period before the capability name. For - example, see the second ind in the example above. - - - Fetching Compiled Descriptions - If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is inter- - preted as the pathname of a directory containing the com- - piled description you are working on. Only that directory - is searched. - - If TERMINFO is not set, the ncurses version of the ter- - minfo reader code will instead look in the directory - $HOME/.terminfo for a compiled description. If it fails - to find one there, and the environment variable TER- - MINFO_DIRS is set, it will interpret the contents of that - variable as a list of colon- separated directories to be - searched (an empty entry is interpreted as a command to - search /usr/share/terminfo). If no description is found - in any of the TERMINFO_DIRS directories, the fetch fails. - - If neither TERMINFO nor TERMINFO_DIRS is set, the last - place tried will be the system terminfo directory, - /usr/share/terminfo. - - (Neither the $HOME/.terminfo lookups nor TERMINFO_DIRS - extensions are supported under stock System V ter- - minfo/curses.) - - - Preparing Descriptions - We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals. - The most effective way to prepare a terminal description - is by imitating the description of a similar terminal in - terminfo and to build up a description gradually, using - partial descriptions with vi or some other screen-oriented - program to check that they are correct. Be aware that a - very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the abil- - ity of the terminfo file to describe it or bugs in the - screen-handling code of the test program. - - To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal - manufacturer did not document it) a severe test is to edit - a large file at 9600 baud, delete 16 or so lines from the - middle of the screen, then hit the `u' key several times - quickly. If the terminal messes up, more padding is usu- - ally needed. A similar test can be used for insert char- - acter. - - - Basic Capabilities - The number of columns on each line for the terminal is - given by the cols numeric capability. If the terminal is - a CRT, then the number of lines on the screen is given by - the lines capability. If the terminal wraps around to the - beginning of the next line when it reaches the right mar- - gin, then it should have the am capability. If the termi- - nal can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home - position, then this is given by the clear string capabil- - ity. If the terminal overstrikes (rather than clearing a - position when a character is struck over) then it should - have the os capability. If the terminal is a printing - terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both hc and os. - (os applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX - 4010 series, as well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If - there is a code to move the cursor to the left edge of the - current row, give this as cr. (Normally this will be car- - riage return, control M.) If there is a code to produce - an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as bel. - - If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the - left (such as backspace) that capability should be given - as cub1. Similarly, codes to move to the right, up, and - down should be given as cuf1, cuu1, and cud1. These local - cursor motions should not alter the text they pass over, - for example, you would not normally use `cuf1= ' because - the space would erase the character moved over. - - A very important point here is that the local cursor - motions encoded in terminfo are undefined at the left and - top edges of a CRT terminal. Programs should never - attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless bw is - given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top. In - order to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom - left corner of the screen and send the ind (index) string. - - To scroll text down, a program goes to the top left corner - of the screen and sends the ri (reverse index) string. - The strings ind and ri are undefined when not on their - respective corners of the screen. - - Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are indn - and rin which have the same semantics as ind and ri except - that they take one parameter, and scroll that many lines. - They are also undefined except at the appropriate edge of - the screen. - - The am capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the - right edge of the screen when text is output, but this - does not necessarily apply to a cuf1 from the last column. - The only local motion which is defined from the left edge - is if bw is given, then a cub1 from the left edge will - move to the right edge of the previous row. If bw is not - given, the effect is undefined. This is useful for draw- - ing a box around the edge of the screen, for example. If - the terminal has switch selectable automatic margins, the - terminfo file usually assumes that this is on; i.e., am. - If the terminal has a command which moves to the first - column of the next line, that command can be given as nel - (newline). It does not matter if the command clears the - remainder of the current line, so if the terminal has no - cr and lf it may still be possible to craft a working nel - out of one or both of them. - - These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and - "glass-tty" terminals. Thus the model 33 teletype is - described as + Variable Cap- TCap Description + String name Code + acs_chars acsc ac graphics charset + pairs, based on + vt100 + back_tab cbt bt back tab (P) + bell bel bl audible signal + (bell) (P) + carriage_return cr cr carriage return (P*) + (P*) + change_char_pitch cpi ZA Change number of + characters per inch + to #1 + change_line_pitch lpi ZB Change number of + lines per inch to #1 + change_res_horz chr ZC Change horizontal + resolution to #1 + change_res_vert cvr ZD Change vertical res- + olution to #1 + change_scroll_region csr cs change region to + line #1 to line #2 + (P) + char_padding rmp rP like ip but when in + insert mode + clear_all_tabs tbc ct clear all tab stops + (P) + clear_margins mgc MC clear right and left + soft margins + clear_screen clear cl clear screen and + home cursor (P*) + clr_bol el1 cb Clear to beginning + of line + + + clr_eol el ce clear to end of line + (P) + clr_eos ed cd clear to end of + screen (P*) + column_address hpa ch horizontal position + #1, absolute (P) + command_character cmdch CC terminal settable + cmd character in + prototype !? + create_window cwin CW define a window #1 + from #2,#3 to #4,#5 + cursor_address cup cm move to row #1 col- + umns #2 + cursor_down cud1 do down one line + cursor_home home ho home cursor (if no + cup) + cursor_invisible civis vi make cursor invisi- + ble + cursor_left cub1 le move left one space + cursor_mem_address mrcup CM memory relative cur- + sor addressing, move + to row #1 columns #2 + cursor_normal cnorm ve make cursor appear + normal (undo + civis/cvvis) + cursor_right cuf1 nd non-destructive + space (move right + one space) + cursor_to_ll ll ll last line, first + column (if no cup) + cursor_up cuu1 up up one line + cursor_visible cvvis vs make cursor very + visible + define_char defc ZE Define a character + #1, #2 dots wide, + descender #3 + delete_character dch1 dc delete character + (P*) + delete_line dl1 dl delete line (P*) + dial_phone dial DI dial number #1 + dis_status_line dsl ds disable status line + display_clock dclk DK display clock + down_half_line hd hd half a line down + ena_acs enacs eA enable alternate + char set + enter_alt_charset_mode smacs as start alternate + character set (P) + enter_am_mode smam SA turn on automatic + margins + enter_blink_mode blink mb turn on blinking + enter_bold_mode bold md turn on bold (extra + bright) mode + enter_ca_mode smcup ti string to start pro- + grams using cup + enter_delete_mode smdc dm enter delete mode + enter_dim_mode dim mh turn on half-bright + mode + enter_doublewide_mode swidm ZF Enter double-wide + mode + enter_draft_quality sdrfq ZG Enter draft-quality + mode + enter_insert_mode smir im enter insert mode + enter_italics_mode sitm ZH Enter italic mode + enter_leftward_mode slm ZI Start leftward car- + riage motion + + enter_micro_mode smicm ZJ Start micro-motion + mode + enter_near_letter_quality snlq ZK Enter NLQ mode + enter_normal_quality snrmq ZL Enter normal-quality + mode + enter_protected_mode prot mp turn on protected + mode + enter_reverse_mode rev mr turn on reverse + video mode + enter_secure_mode invis mk turn on blank mode + (characters invisi- + ble) + enter_shadow_mode sshm ZM Enter shadow-print + mode + enter_standout_mode smso so begin standout mode + enter_subscript_mode ssubm ZN Enter subscript mode + enter_superscript_mode ssupm ZO Enter superscript + mode + enter_underline_mode smul us begin underline mode + enter_upward_mode sum ZP Start upward car- + riage motion + enter_xon_mode smxon SX turn on xon/xoff + handshaking + erase_chars ech ec erase #1 characters + (P) + exit_alt_charset_mode rmacs ae end alternate char- + acter set (P) + exit_am_mode rmam RA turn off automatic + margins + exit_attribute_mode sgr0 me turn off all + attributes + exit_ca_mode rmcup te strings to end pro- + grams using cup + exit_delete_mode rmdc ed end delete mode + exit_doublewide_mode rwidm ZQ End double-wide mode + exit_insert_mode rmir ei exit insert mode + exit_italics_mode ritm ZR End italic mode + exit_leftward_mode rlm ZS End left-motion mode + exit_micro_mode rmicm ZT End micro-motion + mode + exit_shadow_mode rshm ZU End shadow-print + mode + exit_standout_mode rmso se exit standout mode + exit_subscript_mode rsubm ZV End subscript mode + exit_superscript_mode rsupm ZW End superscript mode + exit_underline_mode rmul ue exit underline mode + exit_upward_mode rum ZX End reverse charac- + ter motion + exit_xon_mode rmxon RX turn off xon/xoff + handshaking + fixed_pause pause PA pause for 2-3 sec- + onds + flash_hook hook fh flash switch hook + flash_screen flash vb visible bell (may + not move cursor) + form_feed ff ff hardcopy terminal + page eject (P*) + from_status_line fsl fs return from status + line + goto_window wingo WG go to window #1 + hangup hup HU hang-up phone + init_1string is1 i1 initialization + string + init_2string is2 is initialization + string + + init_3string is3 i3 initialization + string + init_file if if name of initializa- + tion file + init_prog iprog iP path name of program + for initialization + initialize_color initc Ic initialize color #1 + to (#2,#3,#4) + initialize_pair initp Ip Initialize color + pair #1 to + fg=(#2,#3,#4), + bg=(#5,#6,#7) + insert_character ich1 ic insert character (P) + insert_line il1 al insert line (P*) + insert_padding ip ip insert padding after + inserted character + key_a1 ka1 K1 upper left of keypad + key_a3 ka3 K3 upper right of key- + pad + key_b2 kb2 K2 center of keypad + key_backspace kbs kb backspace key + key_beg kbeg @1 begin key + key_btab kcbt kB back-tab key + key_c1 kc1 K4 lower left of keypad + key_c3 kc3 K5 lower right of key- + pad + key_cancel kcan @2 cancel key + key_catab ktbc ka clear-all-tabs key + key_clear kclr kC clear-screen or + erase key + key_close kclo @3 close key + key_command kcmd @4 command key + key_copy kcpy @5 copy key + key_create kcrt @6 create key + key_ctab kctab kt clear-tab key + key_dc kdch1 kD delete-character key + key_dl kdl1 kL delete-line key + key_down kcud1 kd down-arrow key + key_eic krmir kM sent by rmir or smir + in insert mode + key_end kend @7 end key + key_enter kent @8 enter/send key + key_eol kel kE clear-to-end-of-line + key + key_eos ked kS clear-to-end-of- + screen key + key_exit kext @9 exit key + key_f0 kf0 k0 F0 function key + key_f1 kf1 k1 F1 function key + key_f10 kf10 k; F10 function key + key_f11 kf11 F1 F11 function key + key_f12 kf12 F2 F12 function key + key_f13 kf13 F3 F13 function key + key_f14 kf14 F4 F14 function key + key_f15 kf15 F5 F15 function key + key_f16 kf16 F6 F16 function key + key_f17 kf17 F7 F17 function key + key_f18 kf18 F8 F18 function key + key_f19 kf19 F9 F19 function key + key_f2 kf2 k2 F2 function key + key_f20 kf20 FA F20 function key + key_f21 kf21 FB F21 function key + key_f22 kf22 FC F22 function key + key_f23 kf23 FD F23 function key + key_f24 kf24 FE F24 function key + + key_f25 kf25 FF F25 function key + key_f26 kf26 FG F26 function key + key_f27 kf27 FH F27 function key + key_f28 kf28 FI F28 function key + key_f29 kf29 FJ F29 function key + key_f3 kf3 k3 F3 function key + key_f30 kf30 FK F30 function key + key_f31 kf31 FL F31 function key + key_f32 kf32 FM F32 function key + key_f33 kf33 FN F33 function key + key_f34 kf34 FO F34 function key + key_f35 kf35 FP F35 function key + key_f36 kf36 FQ F36 function key + key_f37 kf37 FR F37 function key + key_f38 kf38 FS F38 function key + key_f39 kf39 FT F39 function key + key_f4 kf4 k4 F4 function key + key_f40 kf40 FU F40 function key + key_f41 kf41 FV F41 function key + key_f42 kf42 FW F42 function key + key_f43 kf43 FX F43 function key + key_f44 kf44 FY F44 function key + key_f45 kf45 FZ F45 function key + key_f46 kf46 Fa F46 function key + key_f47 kf47 Fb F47 function key + key_f48 kf48 Fc F48 function key + key_f49 kf49 Fd F49 function key + key_f5 kf5 k5 F5 function key + key_f50 kf50 Fe F50 function key + key_f51 kf51 Ff F51 function key + key_f52 kf52 Fg F52 function key + key_f53 kf53 Fh F53 function key + key_f54 kf54 Fi F54 function key + key_f55 kf55 Fj F55 function key + key_f56 kf56 Fk F56 function key + key_f57 kf57 Fl F57 function key + key_f58 kf58 Fm F58 function key + key_f59 kf59 Fn F59 function key + key_f6 kf6 k6 F6 function key + key_f60 kf60 Fo F60 function key + key_f61 kf61 Fp F61 function key + key_f62 kf62 Fq F62 function key + key_f63 kf63 Fr F63 function key + key_f7 kf7 k7 F7 function key + key_f8 kf8 k8 F8 function key + key_f9 kf9 k9 F9 function key + key_find kfnd @0 find key + key_help khlp %1 help key + key_home khome kh home key + key_ic kich1 kI insert-character key + key_il kil1 kA insert-line key + key_left kcub1 kl left-arrow key + key_ll kll kH lower-left key (home + down) + key_mark kmrk %2 mark key + key_message kmsg %3 message key + key_move kmov %4 move key + key_next knxt %5 next key + key_npage knp kN next-page key + key_open kopn %6 open key + key_options kopt %7 options key + key_ppage kpp kP previous-page key + key_previous kprv %8 previous key + key_print kprt %9 print key + key_redo krdo %0 redo key + + key_reference kref &1 reference key + key_refresh krfr &2 refresh key + key_replace krpl &3 replace key + key_restart krst &4 restart key + key_resume kres &5 resume key + key_right kcuf1 kr right-arrow key + key_save ksav &6 save key + key_sbeg kBEG &9 shifted begin key + key_scancel kCAN &0 shifted cancel key + key_scommand kCMD *1 shifted command key + key_scopy kCPY *2 shifted copy key + key_screate kCRT *3 shifted create key + key_sdc kDC *4 shifted delete-char- + acter key + key_sdl kDL *5 shifted delete-line + key + key_select kslt *6 select key + key_send kEND *7 shifted end key + key_seol kEOL *8 shifted clear-to- + end-of-line key + key_sexit kEXT *9 shifted exit key + key_sf kind kF scroll-forward key + key_sfind kFND *0 shifted find key + key_shelp kHLP #1 shifted help key + key_shome kHOM #2 shifted home key + key_sic kIC #3 shifted insert-char- + acter key + key_sleft kLFT #4 shifted left-arrow + key + key_smessage kMSG %a shifted message key + key_smove kMOV %b shifted move key + key_snext kNXT %c shifted next key + key_soptions kOPT %d shifted options key + key_sprevious kPRV %e shifted previous key + key_sprint kPRT %f shifted print key + key_sr kri kR scroll-backward key + key_sredo kRDO %g shifted redo key + key_sreplace kRPL %h shifted replace key + key_sright kRIT %i shifted right-arrow + key + key_srsume kRES %j shifted resume key + key_ssave kSAV !1 shifted save key + key_ssuspend kSPD !2 shifted suspend key + key_stab khts kT set-tab key + key_sundo kUND !3 shifted undo key + key_suspend kspd &7 suspend key + key_undo kund &8 undo key + key_up kcuu1 ku up-arrow key + keypad_local rmkx ke leave 'key- + board_transmit' mode + keypad_xmit smkx ks enter 'key- + board_transmit' mode + lab_f0 lf0 l0 label on function + key f0 if not f0 + lab_f1 lf1 l1 label on function + key f1 if not f1 + lab_f10 lf10 la label on function + key f10 if not f10 + lab_f2 lf2 l2 label on function + key f2 if not f2 + lab_f3 lf3 l3 label on function + key f3 if not f3 + lab_f4 lf4 l4 label on function + key f4 if not f4 + + + lab_f5 lf5 l5 label on function + key f5 if not f5 + lab_f6 lf6 l6 label on function + key f6 if not f6 + lab_f7 lf7 l7 label on function + key f7 if not f7 + lab_f8 lf8 l8 label on function + key f8 if not f8 + lab_f9 lf9 l9 label on function + key f9 if not f9 + label_format fln Lf label format + label_off rmln LF turn off soft labels + label_on smln LO turn on soft labels + meta_off rmm mo turn off meta mode + meta_on smm mm turn on meta mode + (8th-bit on) + micro_column_address mhpa ZY Like column_address + in micro mode + micro_down mcud1 ZZ Like cursor_down in + micro mode + micro_left mcub1 Za Like cursor_left in + micro mode + micro_right mcuf1 Zb Like cursor_right in + micro mode + micro_row_address mvpa Zc Like row_address #1 + in micro mode + micro_up mcuu1 Zd Like cursor_up in + micro mode + newline nel nw newline (behave like + cr followed by lf) + order_of_pins porder Ze Match software bits + to print-head pins + orig_colors oc oc Set all color pairs + to the original ones + orig_pair op op Set default pair to + its original value + pad_char pad pc padding char + (instead of null) + parm_dch dch DC delete #1 characters + (P*) + parm_delete_line dl DL delete #1 lines (P*) + parm_down_cursor cud DO down #1 lines (P*) + parm_down_micro mcud Zf Like parm_down_cur- + sor in micro mode + parm_ich ich IC insert #1 characters + (P*) + parm_index indn SF scroll forward #1 + lines (P) + parm_insert_line il AL insert #1 lines (P*) + parm_left_cursor cub LE move #1 characters + to the left (P) + parm_left_micro mcub Zg Like parm_left_cur- + sor in micro mode + parm_right_cursor cuf RI move #1 characters + to the right (P*) + parm_right_micro mcuf Zh Like parm_right_cur- + sor in micro mode + parm_rindex rin SR scroll back #1 lines + (P) + parm_up_cursor cuu UP up #1 lines (P*) + parm_up_micro mcuu Zi Like parm_up_cursor + in micro mode + pkey_key pfkey pk program function key + #1 to type string #2 + + + pkey_local pfloc pl program function key + #1 to execute string + #2 + pkey_xmit pfx px program function key + #1 to transmit + string #2 + plab_norm pln pn program label #1 to + show string #2 + print_screen mc0 ps print contents of + screen + prtr_non mc5p pO turn on printer for + #1 bytes + prtr_off mc4 pf turn off printer + prtr_on mc5 po turn on printer + pulse pulse PU select pulse dialing + quick_dial qdial QD dial number #1 with- + out checking + remove_clock rmclk RC remove clock + repeat_char rep rp repeat char #1 #2 + times (P*) + req_for_input rfi RF send next input char + (for ptys) + reset_1string rs1 r1 reset string + reset_2string rs2 r2 reset string + reset_3string rs3 r3 reset string + reset_file rf rf name of reset file + restore_cursor rc rc restore cursor to + position of last + save_cursor + row_address vpa cv vertical position #1 + absolute (P) + save_cursor sc sc save current cursor + position (P) + scroll_forward ind sf scroll text up (P) + scroll_reverse ri sr scroll text down (P) + select_char_set scs Zj Select character + set, #1 + set_attributes sgr sa define video + attributes #1-#9 + (PG9) + set_background setb Sb Set background color + #1 + set_bottom_margin smgb Zk Set bottom margin at + current line + set_bottom_margin_parm smgbp Zl Set bottom margin at + line #1 or (if smgtp + is not given) #2 + lines from bottom + set_clock sclk SC set clock, #1 hrs #2 + mins #3 secs + set_color_pair scp sp Set current color + pair to #1 + set_foreground setf Sf Set foreground color + #1 + set_left_margin smgl ML set left soft margin + at current col- + umn. See + smgl. (ML is not in + BSD termcap). + set_left_margin_parm smglp Zm Set left (right) + margin at column #1 + set_right_margin smgr MR set right soft mar- + gin at current col- + umn + + + set_right_margin_parm smgrp Zn Set right margin at + column #1 + set_tab hts st set a tab in every + row, current columns + set_top_margin smgt Zo Set top margin at + current line + set_top_margin_parm smgtp Zp Set top (bottom) + margin at row #1 + set_window wind wi current window is + lines #1-#2 cols + #3-#4 + start_bit_image sbim Zq Start printing bit + image graphics + start_char_set_def scsd Zr Start character set + definition #1, with + #2 characters in the + set + stop_bit_image rbim Zs Stop printing bit + image graphics + stop_char_set_def rcsd Zt End definition of + character set #1 + subscript_characters subcs Zu List of subscript- + able characters + superscript_characters supcs Zv List of superscript- + able characters + tab ht ta tab to next 8-space + hardware tab stop + these_cause_cr docr Zw Printing any of + these characters + causes CR + to_status_line tsl ts move to status line, + column #1 + tone tone TO select touch tone + dialing + underline_char uc uc underline char and + move past it + up_half_line hu hu half a line up + user0 u0 u0 User string #0 + user1 u1 u1 User string #1 + user2 u2 u2 User string #2 + user3 u3 u3 User string #3 + user4 u4 u4 User string #4 + user5 u5 u5 User string #5 + user6 u6 u6 User string #6 + user7 u7 u7 User string #7 + user8 u8 u8 User string #8 + user9 u9 u9 User string #9 + wait_tone wait WA wait for dial-tone + xoff_character xoffc XF XOFF character + xon_character xonc XN XON character + zero_motion zerom Zx No motion for subse- + quent character + + The following string capabilities are present in the SVr4.0 term struc- + ture, but were originally not documented in the man page. + + + Variable Cap- TCap Description + String name Code + alt_scancode_esc scesa S8 Alternate escape + for scancode emu- + lation + bit_image_carriage_return bicr Yv Move to beginning + of same row + + + bit_image_newline binel Zz Move to next row + of the bit image + bit_image_repeat birep Xy Repeat bit image + cell #1 #2 times + char_set_names csnm Zy Produce #1'th item + from list of char- + acter set names + code_set_init csin ci Init sequence for + multiple codesets + color_names colornm Yw Give name for + color #1 + define_bit_image_region defbi Yx Define rectangular + bit image region + device_type devt dv Indicate lan- + guage/codeset sup- + port + display_pc_char dispc S1 Display PC charac- + ter #1 + end_bit_image_region endbi Yy End a bit-image + region + enter_pc_charset_mode smpch S2 Enter PC character + display mode + enter_scancode_mode smsc S4 Enter PC scancode + mode + exit_pc_charset_mode rmpch S3 Exit PC character + display mode + exit_scancode_mode rmsc S5 Exit PC scancode + mode + get_mouse getm Gm Curses should get + button events, + parameter #1 not + documented. + key_mouse kmous Km Mouse event has + occurred + mouse_info minfo Mi Mouse status + information + pc_term_options pctrm S6 PC terminal + options + pkey_plab pfxl xl Program function + key #1 to type + string #2 and show + string #3 + req_mouse_pos reqmp RQ Request mouse + position + scancode_escape scesc S7 Escape for scan- + code emulation + set0_des_seq s0ds s0 Shift to codeset 0 + (EUC set 0, ASCII) + set1_des_seq s1ds s1 Shift to codeset 1 + set2_des_seq s2ds s2 Shift to codeset 2 + set3_des_seq s3ds s3 Shift to codeset 3 + set_a_background setab AB Set background + color to #1, using + ANSI escape + set_a_foreground setaf AF Set foreground + color to #1, using + ANSI escape + set_color_band setcolor Yz Change to ribbon + color #1 + set_lr_margin smglr ML Set both left and + right margins to + #1, #2. (ML is + not in BSD term- + cap). + + + set_page_length slines YZ Set page length to + #1 lines + set_tb_margin smgtb MT Sets both top and + bottom margins to + #1, #2 + + The XSI Curses standard added these hardcopy capabilities. They were + used in some post-4.1 versions of System V curses, e.g., Solaris 2.5 + and IRIX 6.x. Except for YI, the ncurses termcap names for them are + invented. According to the XSI Curses standard, they have no termcap + names. If your compiled terminfo entries use these, they may not be + binary-compatible with System V terminfo entries after SVr4.1; beware! + + + Variable Cap- TCap Description + String name Code + enter_horizontal_hl_mode ehhlm Xh Enter horizontal + highlight mode + enter_left_hl_mode elhlm Xl Enter left highlight + mode + enter_low_hl_mode elohlm Xo Enter low highlight + mode + enter_right_hl_mode erhlm Xr Enter right high- + light mode + enter_top_hl_mode ethlm Xt Enter top highlight + mode + enter_vertical_hl_mode evhlm Xv Enter vertical high- + light mode + set_a_attributes sgr1 sA Define second set of + video attributes + #1-#6 + set_pglen_inch slength YI Set page length to + #1 hundredth of an + inch (some implemen- + tations use sL for + termcap). + + +
+ The preceding section listed the predefined capabilities. They deal + with some special features for terminals no longer (or possibly never) + produced. Occasionally there are special features of newer terminals + which are awkward or impossible to represent by reusing the predefined + capabilities. + + ncurses addresses this limitation by allowing user-defined capabili- + ties. The tic and infocmp programs provide the -x option for this pur- + pose. When -x is set, tic treats unknown capabilities as user-defined. + That is, if tic encounters a capability name which it does not recog- + nize, it infers its type (boolean, number or string) from the syntax + and makes an extended table entry for that capability. The + use_extended_names(3x) function makes this information conditionally + available to applications. The ncurses library provides the data leav- + ing most of the behavior to applications: + + o User-defined capability strings whose name begins with "k" are + treated as function keys. + + o The types (boolean, number, string) determined by tic can be + inferred by successful calls on tigetflag, etc. + + o If the capability name happens to be two characters, the capability + is also available through the termcap interface. + + While termcap is said to be extensible because it does not use a prede- + fined set of capabilities, in practice it has been limited to the capa- + bilities defined by terminfo implementations. As a rule, user-defined + capabilities intended for use by termcap applications should be limited + to booleans and numbers to avoid running past the 1023 byte limit + assumed by termcap implementations and their applications. In particu- + lar, providing extended sets of function keys (past the 60 numbered + keys and the handful of special named keys) is best done using the + longer names available using terminfo. + + +
+ The following entry, describing an ANSI-standard terminal, is represen- + tative of what a terminfo entry for a modern terminal typically looks + like. + + ansi|ansi/pc-term compatible with color, + am, mc5i, mir, msgr, + colors#8, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, ncv#3, pairs#64, + acsc=+\020\,\021-\030.^Y0\333`\004a\261f\370g\361h\260 + j\331k\277l\332m\300n\305o~p\304q\304r\304s_t\303 + u\264v\301w\302x\263y\363z\362{\343|\330}\234~\376, + bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z, clear=\E[H\E[J, + cr=^M, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\E[D, cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=\E[B, + cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C, cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH, + cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, + dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[M, ech=\E[%p1%dX, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K, + el1=\E[1K, home=\E[H, hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ht=\E[I, hts=\EH, + ich=\E[%p1%d@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=^J, + indn=\E[%p1%dS, invis=\E[8m, kbs=^H, kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\E[D, + kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A, khome=\E[H, kich1=\E[L, + mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, nel=\r\E[S, op=\E[39;49m, + rep=%p1%c\E[%p2%{1}%-%db, rev=\E[7m, rin=\E[%p1%dT, + rmacs=\E[10m, rmpch=\E[10m, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m, + s0ds=\E(B, s1ds=\E)B, s2ds=\E*B, s3ds=\E+B, + setab=\E[4%p1%dm, setaf=\E[3%p1%dm, + sgr=\E[0;10%?%p1%t;7%; + %?%p2%t;4%; + %?%p3%t;7%; + %?%p4%t;5%; + %?%p6%t;1%; + %?%p7%t;8%; + %?%p9%t;11%;m, + sgr0=\E[0;10m, smacs=\E[11m, smpch=\E[11m, smso=\E[7m, + smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g, u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n, + u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd, + + Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white space at the + beginning of each line except the first. Comments may be included on + lines beginning with "#". Capabilities in terminfo are of three types: + + o Boolean capabilities which indicate that the terminal has some par- + ticular feature, + + o numeric capabilities giving the size of the terminal or the size of + particular delays, and + + o string capabilities, which give a sequence which can be used to + perform particular terminal operations. + + +
+ All capabilities have names. For instance, the fact that ANSI-standard + terminals have automatic margins (i.e., an automatic return and line- + feed when the end of a line is reached) is indicated by the capability + am. Hence the description of ansi includes am. Numeric capabilities + are followed by the character "#" and then a positive value. Thus + cols, which indicates the number of columns the terminal has, gives the + value "80" for ansi. Values for numeric capabilities may be specified + in decimal, octal or hexadecimal, using the C programming language con- + ventions (e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF). + + Finally, string valued capabilities, such as el (clear to end of line + sequence) are given by the two-character code, an "=", and then a + string ending at the next following ",". + + A number of escape sequences are provided in the string valued capabil- + ities for easy encoding of characters there: + + o Both \E and \e map to an ESCAPE character, + + o ^x maps to a control-x for any appropriate x, and + + o the sequences + + \n, \l, \r, \t, \b, \f, and \s + + produce + + newline, line-feed, return, tab, backspace, form-feed, and space, + + respectively. + + X/Open Curses does not say what "appropriate x" might be. In practice, + that is a printable ASCII graphic character. The special case "^?" is + interpreted as DEL (127). In all other cases, the character value is + AND'd with 0x1f, mapping to ASCII control codes in the range 0 through + 31. + + Other escapes include + + o \^ for ^, + + o \\ for \, + + o \, for comma, + + o \: for :, + + o and \0 for null. + + \0 will produce \200, which does not terminate a string but behaves + as a null character on most terminals, providing CS7 is specified. + See stty(1). + + The reason for this quirk is to maintain binary compatibility of + the compiled terminfo files with other implementations, e.g., the + SVr4 systems, which document this. Compiled terminfo files use + null-terminated strings, with no lengths. Modifying this would + require a new binary format, which would not work with other imple- + mentations. + + Finally, characters may be given as three octal digits after a \. + + A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string capability, + enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in el=\EK$<5>, and padding characters + are supplied by tputs(3x) to provide this delay. + + o The delay must be a number with at most one decimal place of preci- + sion; it may be followed by suffixes "*" or "/" or both. + + o A "*" indicates that the padding required is proportional to the + number of lines affected by the operation, and the amount given is + the per-affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert + character, the factor is still the number of lines affected.) + + Normally, padding is advisory if the device has the xon capability; + it is used for cost computation but does not trigger delays. + + o A "/" suffix indicates that the padding is mandatory and forces a + delay of the given number of milliseconds even on devices for which + xon is present to indicate flow control. + + Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out. To do this, + put a period before the capability name. For example, see the second + ind in the example above. + + +
+ The ncurses library searches for terminal descriptions in several + places. It uses only the first description found. The library has a + compiled-in list of places to search which can be overridden by envi- + ronment variables. Before starting to search, ncurses eliminates + duplicates in its search list. + + o If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is interpreted as + the pathname of a directory containing the compiled description you + are working on. Only that directory is searched. + + o If TERMINFO is not set, ncurses will instead look in the directory + $HOME/.terminfo for a compiled description. + + o Next, if the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS is set, ncurses + will interpret the contents of that variable as a list of colon- + separated directories (or database files) to be searched. + + An empty directory name (i.e., if the variable begins or ends with + a colon, or contains adjacent colons) is interpreted as the system + location /usr/local/ncurses/lib/terminfo. + + o Finally, ncurses searches these compiled-in locations: + + o a list of directories (/usr/local/ncurses/share/ter- + minfo:/usr/share/terminfo), and + + o the system terminfo directory, /usr/local/ncurses/lib/terminfo + (the compiled-in default). + + +
+ We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals. The most + effective way to prepare a terminal description is by imitating the + description of a similar terminal in terminfo and to build up a + description gradually, using partial descriptions with vi or some other + screen-oriented program to check that they are correct. Be aware that + a very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the ability of the + terminfo file to describe it or bugs in the screen-handling code of the + test program. + + To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal manufacturer + did not document it) a severe test is to edit a large file at 9600 + baud, delete 16 or so lines from the middle of the screen, then hit the + "u" key several times quickly. If the terminal messes up, more padding + is usually needed. A similar test can be used for insert character. + + +
+ The number of columns on each line for the terminal is given by the + cols numeric capability. If the terminal is a CRT, then the number of + lines on the screen is given by the lines capability. If the terminal + wraps around to the beginning of the next line when it reaches the + right margin, then it should have the am capability. If the terminal + can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home position, then + this is given by the clear string capability. If the terminal over- + strikes (rather than clearing a position when a character is struck + over) then it should have the os capability. If the terminal is a + printing terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both hc and os. (os + applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX 4010 series, as + well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If there is a code to move the + cursor to the left edge of the current row, give this as cr. (Normally + this will be carriage return, control M.) If there is a code to pro- + duce an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as bel. + + If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the left (such as + backspace) that capability should be given as cub1. Similarly, codes + to move to the right, up, and down should be given as cuf1, cuu1, and + cud1. These local cursor motions should not alter the text they pass + over, for example, you would not normally use "cuf1= " because the + space would erase the character moved over. + + A very important point here is that the local cursor motions encoded in + terminfo are undefined at the left and top edges of a CRT terminal. + Programs should never attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless + bw is given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top. In order + to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom left corner of the + screen and send the ind (index) string. + + To scroll text down, a program goes to the top left corner of the + screen and sends the ri (reverse index) string. The strings ind and ri + are undefined when not on their respective corners of the screen. + + Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are indn and rin + which have the same semantics as ind and ri except that they take one + parameter, and scroll that many lines. They are also undefined except + at the appropriate edge of the screen. + + The am capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the right edge of + the screen when text is output, but this does not necessarily apply to + a cuf1 from the last column. The only local motion which is defined + from the left edge is if bw is given, then a cub1 from the left edge + will move to the right edge of the previous row. If bw is not given, + the effect is undefined. This is useful for drawing a box around the + edge of the screen, for example. If the terminal has switch selectable + automatic margins, the terminfo file usually assumes that this is on; + i.e., am. If the terminal has a command which moves to the first col- + umn of the next line, that command can be given as nel (newline). It + does not matter if the command clears the remainder of the current + line, so if the terminal has no cr and lf it may still be possible to + craft a working nel out of one or both of them. + + These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and "glass-tty" termi- + nals. Thus the model 33 teletype is described as 33|tty33|tty|model 33 teletype, - bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os, + bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os, while the Lear Siegler ADM-3 is described as adm3|3|lsi adm3, - am, bel=^G, clear=^Z, cols#80, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J, - ind=^J, lines#24, - - - Parameterized Strings - Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters - in the terminal are described by a parameterized string - capability, with printf(3S) like escapes %x in it. For - example, to address the cursor, the cup capability is - given, using two parameters: the row and column to address - to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and refer to - the physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen - memory.) If the terminal has memory relative cursor - addressing, that can be indicated by mrcup. - - The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special % codes - to manipulate it. Typically a sequence will push one of - the parameters onto the stack and then print it in some - format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a special case. Other - operations, including "%t" pop their operand from the - stack. It is noted that more complex operations are often - necessary, e.g., in the sgr string. + am, bel=^G, clear=^Z, cols#80, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J, + ind=^J, lines#24, + + +
+ Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters in the termi- + nal are described by a parameterized string capability, with printf- + like escapes such as %x in it. For example, to address the cursor, the + cup capability is given, using two parameters: the row and column to + address to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and refer to the + physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen memory.) If the + terminal has memory relative cursor addressing, that can be indicated + by mrcup. + + The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special % codes to manipulate + it. Typically a sequence will push one of the parameters onto the + stack and then print it in some format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a spe- + cial case. Other operations, including "%t" pop their operand from the + stack. It is noted that more complex operations are often necessary, + e.g., in the sgr string. The % encodings have the following meanings: + %% outputs "%" - %% outputs `%' - - %[[:]flags][width[.precision]][doxXs] - as in printf, flags are [-+#] and space + %[[:]flags][width[.precision]][doxXs] + as in printf, flags are [-+#] and space. Use a ":" to allow the + next character to be a "-" flag, avoiding interpreting "%-" as an + operator. - %c print pop() like %c in printf + %c print pop() like %c in printf - %s print pop() like %s in printf + %s print pop() like %s in printf - %p[1-9] + %p[1-9] push i'th parameter - %P[a-z] - set dynamic variable [a-z] to pop() + %P[a-z] + set dynamic variable [a-z] to pop() - %g[a-z] - get dynamic variable [a-z] and push it + %g[a-z]/ + get dynamic variable [a-z] and push it - %P[A-Z] - set static variable [a-z] to pop() + %P[A-Z] + set static variable [a-z] to pop() - %g[A-Z] - get static variable [a-z] and push it + %g[A-Z] + get static variable [a-z] and push it - The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading. - Historically, these are simply two different sets of - variables, whose values are not reset between calls - to tparm. However, that fact is not documented in - other implementations. Relying on it will adversely + The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading. Historically, + these are simply two different sets of variables, whose values are + not reset between calls to tparm(3x). However, that fact is not + documented in other implementations. Relying on it will adversely impact portability to other implementations. - %'c' char constant c + %'c' char constant c - %{nn} + %{nn} integer constant nn - %l push strlen(pop) + %l push strlen(pop) - %+ %- %* %/ %m - arithmetic (%m is mod): push(pop() op pop()) + %+, %-, %*, %/, %m + arithmetic (%m is mod): push(pop() op pop()) - %& %| %^ - bit operations (AND, OR and exclusive-OR): push(pop() - op pop()) + %&, %|, %^ + bit operations (AND, OR and exclusive-OR): push(pop() op pop()) - %= %> %< - logical operations: push(pop() op pop()) + %=, %>, %< + logical operations: push(pop() op pop()) - %A, %O + %A, %O logical AND and OR operations (for conditionals) - %! %~ - unary operations (logical and bit complement): - push(op pop()) + %!, %~ + unary operations (logical and bit complement): push(op pop()) - %i add 1 to first two parameters (for ANSI terminals) + %i add 1 to first two parameters (for ANSI terminals) - %? 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, test- - ing if it is nonzero (true). If it is zero (false), - control passes to the %e (else) part. + %? 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 + (false), control passes to the %e (else) part. It is possible to form else-if's a la Algol 68: - %? c1 %t b1 %e c2 %t b2 %e c3 %t b3 %e c4 %t b4 %e %; + %? c1 %t b1 %e c2 %t b2 %e c3 %t b3 %e c4 %t b4 %e %; where ci are conditions, bi are bodies. - Use the -f option of tic or infocmp to see the struc- - ture of if-the-else's. Some strings, e.g., sgr can - be very complicated when 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 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 dig- - its. 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 for the Ann Arbor 4080.) - - A final example is the LSI ADM-3a, which uses row and col- - umn 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 space (32), - adds them (pushing the sum on the stack in place of the - two previous values) and outputs that value as a charac- - ter. Then the same is done for the second parameter. - More complex arithmetic is possible using the stack. - - - Cursor Motions - 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 terminals - cannot be used for home.) - - If the terminal has row or column absolute cursor address- - ing, these can be given as single parameter capabilities - hpa (horizontal position absolute) and vpa (vertical posi- - tion absolute). Sometimes these are shorter than the more - general two parameter sequence (as with the hp2645) and - can be used in preference to cup. If there are parameter- - ized 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 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 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 outputting + 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 + 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 vari- + ables 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 + "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 + for the Ann Arbor 4080.) + + 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 cor- + ner of the screen, not of memory. (Thus, the \EH sequence on HP termi- + nals 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 parameter- + ized 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 + 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 cur- + sor addressing, a one screen-sized window must be fixed into the termi- + nal 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 outputting rmcup), specify nrrmc. - Area Clears - 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 available.) - - - Insert/delete line and vertical motions - 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 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) 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 +
+ 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 avail- + able.) + + +
+ 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 + 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) com- + mands 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 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 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, and is often faster even on ter- - minals 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 some- - thing 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 simu- - late 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 scrolling if ndstr 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 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 + Yet another way to construct insert and delete might be to use a combi- + nation 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, + and is often faster even on terminals with those features. + + The boolean non_dest_scroll_region should be set if each scrolling win- + dow 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 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 + 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 bring down non-blank lines. - Insert/Delete Character - 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 ter- - minal 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 ter- - minals whose insert mode cannot be described with the sin- - gle 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 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 charac- - ter 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 prefer- - able 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 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 parameter, n, will repeat the effects - of ich1 n times. - - 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 works. - - Finally, you can specify dch1 to delete a single charac- - ter, 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 without moving the cursor) can be given as ech - with one parameter. - - - Highlighting, Underlining, and Visible Bells - If your terminal has one or more kinds of display - attributes, these can be represented in a number of dif- - ferent ways. You should choose one display form as stand- - out 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 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 - 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), tak- - ing 9 parameters. Each parameter is either 0 or nonzero, - as the corresponding attribute is on or off. The 9 param- - eters 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. +
+ 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 charac- + ters 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 sec- + ond 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 + 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 + 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 + 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, + 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 + 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 + parameter, n, will repeat the effects of ich1 n times. + + 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 + 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 + needs to be placed in for dch1 to work). + + 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 sep- + arate attribute commands exist. For example, the DEC vt220 supports most of the modes: + tparm parameter attribute escape sequence + + none none \E[0m + p1 standout \E[0;1;7m + p2 underline \E[0;4m + p3 reverse \E[0;7m + p4 blink \E[0;5m + p5 dim not available + p6 bold \E[0;1m + p7 invis \E[0;8m + 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 termi- + nal 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 out- + put 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 + + sequence when to output terminfo translation + + \E[0 always \E[0 + ;1 if p1 or p6 %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%; + ;4 if p2 %?%p2%|%t;4%; + ;5 if p4 %?%p4%|%t;5%; + ;7 if p1 or p3 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%; + ;8 if p7 %?%p7%|%t;8%; + m always m + ^N or ^O if p9 ^N, else ^O %?%p9%t^N%e^O%; - tparm parameter attribute escape sequence + Putting this all together into the sgr sequence gives: - none none \E[0m - p1 standout \E[0;1;7m - p2 underline \E[0;4m - p3 reverse \E[0;7m - p4 blink \E[0;5m - p5 dim not available - p6 bold \E[0;1m - p7 invis \E[0;8m - p8 protect not used - p9 altcharset ^O (off) ^N (on) + 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 ter- + minfo entries necessarily have an sgr string, however. Many terminfo + entries are derived from termcap entries which have no sgr string. The + only drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also assumes that + sgr0 does not exit alternate character set mode. + + Terminals with the "magic cookie" glitch (xmc) deposit special "cook- + ies" when they receive mode-setting sequences, which affect the display + algorithm rather than having extra bits for each character. Some ter- + minals, 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 + not move the cursor. + + 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 + 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 + 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 + overstrikes are erasable with a blank, then this should be indicated by + giving eo. - 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 era- - sures. 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 exam- - ple, ;7 is output when either p1 or p3 is true, that is, - if either standout or reverse modes are turned on. +
+ 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. Other- + wise the keypad is assumed to always transmit. - Writing out the above sequences, along with their depen- - dencies yields + 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 + given as lf0, lf1, ..., lf10. + The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be given: - sequence when to output terminfo translation + o kll (home down), - \E[0 always \E[0 - ;1 if p1 or p6 %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%; - ;4 if p2 %?%p2%|%t;4%; - ;5 if p4 %?%p4%|%t;5%; - ;7 if p1 or p3 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%; - ;8 if p7 %?%p7%|%t;8%; + o kbs (backspace), - m always m - ^N or ^O if p9 ^N, else ^O %?%p9%t^N%e^O%; + o ktbc (clear all tabs), - Putting this all together into the sgr sequence gives: + o kctab (clear the tab stop in this column), - sgr=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%; - %?%p4%t;5%;%?%p7%t;8%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;, + o kclr (clear screen or erase key), - 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 string. The only - drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also - assumes that sgr0 does not exit alternate character set - mode. + o kdch1 (delete character), - 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 indi- - cate 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 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 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 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 overstrikes are - erasable with a blank, then this should be indicated by - giving eo. + o kdl1 (delete line), + + o krmir (exit insert mode), + + o kel (clear to end of line), + + o ked (clear to end of screen), + + o kich1 (insert character or enter insert mode), + + o kil1 (insert line), + + o knp (next page), + + o kpp (previous page), + o kind (scroll forward/down), - Keypad and Function Keys - 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 key- - pad 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. 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 respectively. If there are func- - tion 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 given as lf0, lf1, ..., lf10. The codes transmit- - ted by certain other special keys can be given: kll (home - down), kbs (backspace), ktbc (clear all tabs), kctab - (clear the tab stop in this column), kclr (clear screen or - erase key), kdch1 (delete character), kdl1 (delete line), - krmir (exit insert mode), kel (clear to end of line), ked - (clear to end of screen), kich1 (insert character or enter - insert mode), kil1 (insert line), knp (next page), kpp - (previous page), kind (scroll forward/down), kri (scroll - backward/up), khts (set a tab stop in this column). In - addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3 array of keys includ- - ing the four arrow keys, the other five keys can be given - as 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 (from 0 to - 10) and the string to program it with. Function key num- - bers out of this range may program undefined keys in a - terminal dependent manner. The difference between the - capabilities is that 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 com- - puter. - - The capabilities nlab, lw and lh define the number of pro- - grammable screen labels and their width and height. If - there are commands to turn the labels on and off, give - them in smln and rmln. smln is normally output after one - or more pln sequences to make sure that the change becomes - visible. - - - Tabs and Initialization - If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance - to the next tab stop can be given as ht (usually control - I). 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 the user may not have the tab stops prop- - erly set. 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. This is normally used by - the tset command to determine whether to set the mode for - hardware tab expansion, and whether to set the tab stops. - If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non- - volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that - they are properly set. - - Other capabilities include is1, is2, and is3, initializa- - tion strings for the terminal, iprog, the path name of a - program to be run to initialize the terminal, 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 user logs in. They - will be printed in the following order: + o kri (scroll backward/up), + + 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 + 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 + (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 + 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 nor- + mally output after one or more pln sequences to make sure that the + change becomes visible. + + +
+ If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the next + tab stop can be given as ht (usually control I). 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 the user may not have + the tab stops properly set. 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. This is normally used by the tset command to determine + whether to set the mode for hardware tab expansion, and whether to set + the tab stops. If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non- + volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that they are + properly set. + + Other capabilities include is1, is2, and is3, initialization strings + for the terminal, iprog, the path name of a program to be run to ini- + tialize the terminal, and if, the name of a file containing long ini- + tialization 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 pro- + gram, each time the user logs in. They will be printed in the follow- + ing order: run the program iprog @@ -1790,583 +1903,574 @@ 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 is2 and special cases in is1 and - is3. - - A set of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally - unknown state can be given as rs1, rs2, rf and rs3, analo- - gous to is1 , is2 , if and is3 respectively. These - strings are output by the reset program, which is used - when the terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are - normally placed in rs1, rs2 rs3 and rf only if they pro- - duce annoying effects on the screen and are not necessary - when logging in. For example, the command to set the - vt100 into 80-column mode would normally be part of 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 capability - string. - - 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 com- - plex sequence is needed to set the tabs than can be - described by this, the sequence can be placed in is2 or - if. - - Delays and 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 cer- - tain cursor motions and screen changes. - - If the terminal uses xon/xoff handshaking for flow control - (that is, it automatically emits ^S back to the host when - its input buffers are close to full), set xon. This capa- - bility suppresses the emission of padding. You can also - set it for memory-mapped console devices effectively that - do not have a speed limit. Padding information should - still be included so that routines can make better deci- - sions about relative costs, but actual pad characters will - not be transmitted. - - If 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 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 string is used. - - - Status Lines - 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 part of the main scrolling region on - the screen; the Heathkit H19 has a status line of this - kind, as would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line scrolling - region set up on initialization. This situation is indi- - cated by the 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 capa- - bility 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 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 numeric capability wsl. - - A command to erase or blank the status line may be speci- - fied as dsl. - - 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. They are documented here in case they ever - become important. - - - Line Graphics - Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for - forms-drawing. Terminfo and curses build in support for - the drawing characters supported by the VT100, with some - characters from the AT&T 4410v1 added. This alternate - character set may be specified by the acsc capability. - - - Glyph ACS Ascii VT100 - Name Name Default Name - UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f } - arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v . - arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < , - arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > + - arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ - - board of squares ACS_BOARD # h - bullet ACS_BULLET o ~ - checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a - degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \ f - diamond ACS_DIAMOND + ` - greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z - greek pi ACS_PI * { - horizontal line ACS_HLINE - q - lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i - large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n - less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y - - lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m - lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j - not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! | - plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g - scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o - scan line 3 ACS_S3 - p - scan line 7 ACS_S7 - r - scan line 9 ACS_S9 _ s - solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0 - tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w - tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u - tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t - tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v - upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l - upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k - vertical line ACS_VLINE | x - - The best way to define a new device's graphics set is to - add a column to a copy of this table for your terminal, - giving the character which (when emitted between - smacs/rmacs switches) will be rendered as the correspond- - ing graphic. Then read off the VT100/your terminal char- - acter pairs right to left in sequence; these become the - ACSC string. - - - Color Handling - Most color terminals are either `Tektronix-like' or `HP- - like'. Tektronix-like terminals have a predefined set of - N colors (where N usually 8), and can set character-cell - foreground and background characters independently, mixing - them into N * N color-pairs. On HP-like terminals, the - use must set each color pair up separately (foreground and - background are not independently settable). Up to M - color-pairs may be set up from 2*M different colors. - 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 (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; these should - have the boolean capability bce. - - 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 fore- - ground, they should be coded as setaf and setab, respec- - tively. If the terminal supports other escape sequences - to set background and foreground, they should be coded as - setf and setb, respectively. The vidputs() function and - the refresh functions use setaf and setab if they are - defined." - - 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 - locations in color space. - - - Color #define Value RGB - black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0 - red COLOR_RED 1 max,0,0 - green COLOR_GREEN 2 0,max,0 - yellow COLOR_YELLOW 3 max,max,0 - blue COLOR_BLUE 4 0,0,max - magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max,0,max - cyan COLOR_CYAN 6 0,max,max - white COLOR_WHITE 7 max,max,max - - The argument values of setf/setb historically correspond - to a different mapping, i.e., - - Color #define Value RGB - black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0 - blue COLOR_BLUE 1 0,0,max - green COLOR_GREEN 2 0,max,0 - cyan COLOR_CYAN 3 0,max,max - red COLOR_RED 4 max,0,0 - magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max,0,max - 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 capa- - bilities; otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the - display. - - On an HP-like terminal, use scp with a color-pair number - parameter to set which color pair is current. - - 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 capability hls - is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness, Satu- - ration) indices. The ranges are terminal-dependent. - - On an HP-like terminal, initp may give a capability for - changing a color-pair value. It will take seven parame- - ters; 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 col- - ors are enabled. The correspondence with the attributes - understood by curses is as follows: - - - Attribute Bit Decimal - A_STANDOUT 0 1 - A_UNDERLINE 1 2 - A_REVERSE 2 4 - A_BLINK 3 8 - A_DIM 4 16 - A_BOLD 5 32 - A_INVIS 6 64 - A_PROTECT 7 128 - - A_ALTCHARSET 8 256 - - For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline - attribute collides with the foreground color blue and is - not available in color mode. These should have an ncv - capability of 2. - - SVr4 curses does nothing with ncv, ncurses recognizes it - and optimizes the output in favor of colors. - - - Miscellaneous - If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) charac- - ter as a pad, then this can be given as pad. Only the - first character of the pad string is used. If the termi- - nal does not have a pad character, specify npc. Note that - ncurses implements the termcap-compatible 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 sub- - scripts on hard-copy terminals. If a hard-copy terminal - can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as ff + 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 + state can be given as rs1, rs2, rf and rs3, analogous to is1 , is2 , if + and is3 respectively. These strings are output by the reset program, + 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 exam- + ple, 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 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 capabil- + ity string. + + 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 + than can be described by this, the sequence can be placed in is2 or if. + + +
+ 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 char- + acters 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 effec- + tively that do not have a speed limit. Padding information should + still be included so that routines can make better decisions about rel- + ative 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 + 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 + string is 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 + part of the main scrolling region on the screen; the Heathkit H19 has a + status line of this kind, as would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line + scrolling region set up on initialization. This situation is 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 posi- + tions 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 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 + 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, + etc., work ordinarily in the status line. + + 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 char- + acters 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 + Name Name Default Char Value + ------------------------------------------------------------------------ + arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > + 0x2b + arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < , 0x2c + arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ - 0x2d + arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v . 0x2e + 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 + + lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i 0x69 + lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j 0x6a + upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k 0x6b + upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l 0x6c + lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m 0x6d + large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n 0x6e + scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o 0x6f + scan line 3 ACS_S3 - p 0x70 + horizontal line ACS_HLINE - q 0x71 + scan line 7 ACS_S7 - r 0x72 + scan line 9 ACS_S9 _ s 0x73 + tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t 0x74 + tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u 0x75 + tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v 0x76 + tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w 0x77 + vertical line ACS_VLINE | x 0x78 + less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y 0x79 + greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z 0x7a + greek pi ACS_PI * { 0x7b + not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! | 0x7c + UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f } 0x7d + bullet ACS_BULLET o ~ 0x7e + + 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" + 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 ta- + ble). + + 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 + the VT100 vertical tab symbol. The other VT100 symbols for control + 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 + 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 + curs_color(3x) for details on these and related functions). + + Most color terminals are either "Tektronix-like" or "HP-like": + + o Tektronix-like terminals have a predefined set of N colors (where N + 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 sepa- + rately (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 + (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 cur- + rent 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 inabil- + ity of some devices to set foreground and background colors indepen- + dently), there are separate capabilities for setting these features: + + o To change the current foreground or background color on a Tek- + tronix-type terminal, use setaf (set ANSI foreground) and setab + (set ANSI background) or setf (set foreground) and setb (set back- + ground). 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, respec- + tively. + + o If the terminal supports other escape sequences to set background + and foreground, they should be coded as setf and setb, respec- + tively. 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 argu- + ment 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 loca- + tions in color space. + + Color #define Value RGB + black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0 + red COLOR_RED 1 max,0,0 + green COLOR_GREEN 2 0,max,0 + yellow COLOR_YELLOW 3 max,max,0 + blue COLOR_BLUE 4 0,0,max + magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max,0,max + cyan COLOR_CYAN 6 0,max,max + white COLOR_WHITE 7 max,max,max + + The argument values of setf/setb historically correspond to a different + mapping, i.e., + + Color #define Value RGB + black COLOR_BLACK 0 0, 0, 0 + blue COLOR_BLUE 1 0,0,max + green COLOR_GREEN 2 0,max,0 + cyan COLOR_CYAN 3 0,max,max + red COLOR_RED 4 max,0,0 + magenta COLOR_MAGENTA 5 max,0,max + 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; oth- + erwise red/blue will be interchanged on the display. + + 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 + 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 capa- + bility 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 num- + ber (0 to max_pairs - 1), and two triples describing first back- + ground 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 reg- + ister 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 + A_STANDOUT 0 1 sgr + A_UNDERLINE 1 2 sgr + A_REVERSE 2 4 sgr + A_BLINK 3 8 sgr + A_DIM 4 16 sgr + A_BOLD 5 32 sgr + A_INVIS 6 64 sgr + A_PROTECT 7 128 sgr + A_ALTCHARSET 8 256 sgr + A_HORIZONTAL 9 512 sgr1 + A_LEFT 10 1024 sgr1 + A_LOW 11 2048 sgr1 + A_RIGHT 12 4096 sgr1 + A_TOP 13 8192 sgr1 + 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. + These should have an ncv capability of 2. + + 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 + 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 + 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 use- + ful 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 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 capa- - bility to identify it. The following convention is sup- - ported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be - searched for a 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 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 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 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 vir- - tual terminal protocol, the terminal number can be given - as vt. - - Media copy strings which control an auxiliary printer con- - nected to the terminal can be given as mc0: print the con- - tents 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 termi- - nal screen when the printer is on. A variation mc5p takes - one parameter, and leaves the printer on for as many char- - acters as the value of the parameter, then turns the - printer off. The parameter should not exceed 255. All - text, including mc4, is transparently passed to the - printer while an mc5p is in effect. - - - Glitches and Braindamage - 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 as the Concept and vt100, should indicate xenl. - - 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 tel- - eray_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 neces- - sary to use delete and insert line. The ncurses implemen- - tation ignores this glitch. - - The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly trans- - mit the escape or control C characters, has xsb, indicat- - ing that the f1 key is used for escape and f2 for control - C. (Only certain Superbees have this problem, depending - on the ROM.) Note that in older terminfo versions, this - capability was called `beehive_glitch'; it is now - `no_esc_ctl_c'. - - Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by - adding more capabilities of the form xx. - - - Similar Terminals - If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant) - can be defined as being just like the other (the base) - with certain exceptions. In the definition of the vari- - ant, the string capability use can be given with the name - of the base terminal. The capabilities given before use - override those in the base type named by use. If there - are multiple use capabilities, they are merged in reverse - order. That is, the rightmost use reference is processed - first, then the one to its left, and so forth. Capabili- - ties given explicitly in the entry override those brought - in by use references. - - A capability can be canceled by placing xx@ to the left of - the use reference that imports it, where xx is the capa- - bility. For example, the entry - - 2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621, - - defines a 2621-nl that does not have the smkx or rmkx - capabilities, and hence does not turn on the function key - labels when in visual mode. This is useful for different - modes for a terminal, or for different user preferences. - - - Pitfalls of Long Entries - Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to - date, no entry has even approached terminfo's 4096-byte - string-table maximum. Unfortunately, the termcap transla- - tions are much more strictly limited (to 1023 bytes), thus - termcap translations of long terminfo entries can cause - problems. - - The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of 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 entry that's longer than 1023 bytes; others - do not; others truncate the entries to 1023 bytes. Some - application programs allocate more than the recommended 1K - for the termcap entry; others do not. - - Each termcap entry has two important sizes associated with - it: before "tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion. "tc" - is the capability that tacks on another termcap entry to - the end of the current one, to add on its capabilities. - If a termcap entry does not use the "tc" capability, then - of course the two lengths are the same. - - The "before tc expansion" length is the most important - one, because it affects more than just users of that par- - ticular terminal. This is the length of the entry as it - 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: - - * a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023 - bytes long, - - * and the application has only allocated a 1k buffer, - - * and the termcap library (like the one in BSD/OS 1.1 - and GNU) reads the whole entry into the buffer, no - matter what its length, to see if it's the entry it - wants, - - * 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 will return incorrect data for - the terminal. - - The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect - to the above, but only for people who actually set TERM to - that terminal type, since tgetent() only does "tc" expan- - sion once it's found the terminal type it was looking for, - not while searching. - - In summary, a termcap entry that is longer than 1023 bytes - can cause, on various combinations of termcap libraries - and applications, a core dump, warnings, or incorrect - operation. If it's too long even before "tc" expansion, - it will have this effect even for users of some other ter- - minal types and users whose TERM variable does not have a - termcap entry. - - When in -C (translate to termcap) mode, the ncurses imple- - mentation of tic(1) 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. - - Binary Compatibility - It is not wise to count on portability of binary terminfo - entries between commercial UNIX versions. The problem is - that there are at least two versions of terminfo (under - HP-UX and AIX) which diverged from System V terminfo after - SVr1, and have added extension capabilities to the string - table that (in the binary format) collide with System V - and XSI Curses extensions. + If there is a command to repeat a given character a given number of + times (to save time transmitting a large number of identical charac- + ters) 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 + supported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be searched for a + 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 param- + eter, then turns the printer off. The parameter should not exceed 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 + should indicate hz. + + 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 + 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 tel- + eray_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 stand- + out 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, + this capability was called "beehive_glitch"; it is now "no_esc_ctl_c". + + Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by adding more capa- + bilities 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. Unfor- + tunately, 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, + several bad things can happen. + + Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if they find an + entry that's longer than 1023 bytes; others do not; others truncate the + entries to 1023 bytes. Some application programs allocate more than + the recommended 1K for the termcap entry; others do not. + + Each termcap entry has two important sizes associated with it: before + "tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion. "tc" is the capability that + tacks on another termcap entry to the end of the current one, to add on + its capabilities. If a termcap entry 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- + newline pairs, which tgetent strips out while reading it. Some termcap + libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap does not). Now + suppose: + + o a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023 bytes long, + + 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 + 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 + the whole termcap file). + + Then tgetent will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack, and probably + core dump the program. Programs like telnet are particularly vulnera- + ble; modern telnets pass along values like the terminal type automati- + cally. The results are almost as undesirable with a termcap library, + like SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages when it + reads an overly long termcap entry. If a termcap library truncates + long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is immune to dying here but will + return incorrect data for the terminal. + + The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect to the + above, but only for people who actually set TERM to that terminal type, + since tgetent only does "tc" 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 + 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 + (after tc expansion) lengths. --
- Some SVr4 curses implementations, and all previous to - SVr4, do not interpret the %A and %O operators in parame- - ter 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 the possi- - bility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite - 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 bet- - ter update efficiency. See the Insert/Delete Character - subsection above. - - The parameter substitutions for set_clock and dis- - play_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 - 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. - - Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support - different subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some - cases) different extension sets. Here is a summary, accu- - rate as of October 1995: - - SVR4, Solaris, ncurses -- These support all SVr4 capabili- - ties. - - SGI -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented - extended string capability (set_pglen). - - SVr1, Ultrix -- These support a restricted subset of ter- - minfo capabilities. The booleans end with xon_xoff; the - numerics with width_status_line; and the strings with - prtr_non. - - HP/UX -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234] - numerics num_labels, label_height, label_width, plus func- - tion keys 11 through 63, plus plab_norm, label_on, and - label_off, plus some incompatible extensions in the string - table. - - AIX -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11 - through 63, plus a number of incompatible string table - extensions. - - OSF -- Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions. +
+ 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 capabili- + ties to the string table that (in the binary format) collide with Sys- + tem V and XSI Curses extensions. + + +
+ Searching for terminal descriptions in $HOME/.terminfo and TER- + MINFO_DIRS is not supported by older implementations. + + 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 + the possibility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite inter- + pretation 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 + 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 documentation for the AT&T 505 terminal. --
- /usr/share/terminfo/?/* files containing terminal - descriptions + 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 + specified, even if it is zero. --
- tic(1m), infocmp(1m), curses(3x), printf(3S), term(5). + Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support different + subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some cases) different exten- + sion sets. Here is a summary, accurate as of October 1995: + o SVR4, Solaris, ncurses -- These support all SVr4 capabilities. --
- Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. - Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis. + o SGI -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented extended string + capability (set_pglen). + + o SVr1, Ultrix -- These support a restricted subset of terminfo capa- + bilities. 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 + incompatible extensions in the string table. + + 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. + + +
+ /usr/local/ncurses/lib/terminfo/?/* + files containing terminal descriptions + + +
+ tic(1m), infocmp(1m), curses(3x), curs_color(3x), printf(3), term(5). + term_variables(3x). user_caps(5). + + +
+ Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. Based on pcurses + by Pavel Curtis. - TERMINFO(5) + terminfo(5)-