3 * DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND!
4 * It is generated from terminfo.head, Caps, and terminfo.tail.
5 * Note: this must be run through tbl before nroff.
6 * The magic cookie on the first line triggers this under some man programs.
7 ****************************************************************************
8 * Copyright (c) 1998-2012,2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
10 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
11 * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
12 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
13 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
14 * distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
15 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
16 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
18 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
19 * in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
21 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
22 * OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
23 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
24 * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
25 * DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
26 * OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
27 * THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
29 * Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
30 * holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
31 * sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
33 ****************************************************************************
34 * @Id: terminfo.head,v 1.21 2013/03/09 22:11:36 tom Exp @
35 * Head of terminfo man page ends here
36 * @Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.69 2015/04/26 14:47:23 tom Exp @
37 * Beginning of terminfo.tail file
38 * This file is part of ncurses.
39 * See "terminfo.head" for copyright.
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51 <TITLE>terminfo 5 File Formats</TITLE>
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56 <H1 class="no-header">terminfo 5 File Formats</H1>
58 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> File Formats <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
64 <H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
65 terminfo - terminal capability data base
69 <H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
70 /usr/share/terminfo/*/*
74 <H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
75 <EM>Terminfo</EM> is a data base describing terminals, used by
76 screen-oriented programs such as <STRONG>nvi(1)</STRONG>, <STRONG>rogue(1)</STRONG> and
77 libraries such as <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. <EM>Terminfo</EM> describes termi-
78 nals by giving a set of capabilities which they have, by
79 specifying how to perform screen operations, and by speci-
80 fying padding requirements and initialization sequences.
81 This describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 6.0 (patch 20150718).
83 Entries in <EM>terminfo</EM> consist of a sequence of `,' separated
84 fields (embedded commas may be escaped with a backslash or
85 notated as \054). White space after the `,' separator is
86 ignored. The first entry for each terminal gives the
87 names which are known for the terminal, separated by `|'
88 characters. The first name given is the most common
89 abbreviation for the terminal, the last name given should
90 be a long name fully identifying the terminal, and all
91 others are understood as synonyms for the terminal name.
92 All names but the last should be in lower case and contain
93 no blanks; the last name may well contain upper case and
94 blanks for readability.
96 Lines beginning with a `#' in the first column are treated
97 as comments. While comment lines are legal at any point,
98 the output of <STRONG>captoinfo</STRONG> and <STRONG>infotocap</STRONG> (aliases for <STRONG>tic</STRONG>)
99 will move comments so they occur only between entries.
101 Newlines and leading tabs may be used for formatting
102 entries for readability. These are removed from parsed
103 entries. The <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> <STRONG>-f</STRONG> option relies on this to format
104 if-then-else expressions: the result can be read by <STRONG>tic</STRONG>.
106 Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should
107 be chosen using the following conventions. The particular
108 piece of hardware making up the terminal should have a
109 root name, thus "hp2621". This name should not contain
110 hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in, or user pref-
111 erences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a
112 mode suffix. Thus, a vt100 in 132 column mode would be
113 vt100-w. The following suffixes should be used where pos-
116 <STRONG>Suffix</STRONG> <STRONG>Meaning</STRONG> <STRONG>Example</STRONG>
117 -<EM>nn</EM> Number of lines on the screen aaa-60
118 -<EM>n</EM>p Number of pages of memory c100-4p
119 -am With automargins (usually the default) vt100-am
120 -m Mono mode; suppress color ansi-m
121 -mc Magic cookie; spaces when highlighting wy30-mc
122 -na No arrow keys (leave them in local) c100-na
123 -nam Without automatic margins vt100-nam
124 -nl No status line att4415-nl
125 -ns No status line hp2626-ns
126 -rv Reverse video c100-rv
127 -s Enable status line vt100-s
128 -vb Use visible bell instead of beep wy370-vb
130 -w Wide mode (> 80 columns, usually 132) vt100-w
132 For more on terminal naming conventions, see the <STRONG>term(7)</STRONG>
137 <H3><a name="h3-Predefined-Capabilities">Predefined Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
138 The following is a complete table of the capabilities
139 included in a terminfo description block and available to
140 terminfo-using code. In each line of the table,
142 The <STRONG>variable</STRONG> is the name by which the programmer (at the
143 terminfo level) accesses the capability.
145 The <STRONG>capname</STRONG> is the short name used in the text of the
146 database, and is used by a person updating the database.
147 Whenever possible, capnames are chosen to be the same as
148 or similar to the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard (now superseded
149 by ECMA-48, which uses identical or very similar names).
150 Semantics are also intended to match those of the specifi-
153 The termcap code is the old <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> capability name (some
154 capabilities are new, and have names which termcap did not
157 Capability names have no hard length limit, but an infor-
158 mal limit of 5 characters has been adopted to keep them
159 short and to allow the tabs in the source file <STRONG>Caps</STRONG> to
162 Finally, the description field attempts to convey the
163 semantics of the capability. You may find some codes in
164 the description field:
166 (P) indicates that padding may be specified
168 #[1-9] in the description field indicates that the string
169 is passed through tparm with parms as given (#<EM>i</EM>).
171 (P*) indicates that padding may vary in proportion to
172 the number of lines affected
174 (#<EM>i</EM>) indicates the <EM>i</EM>th parameter.
177 These are the boolean capabilities:
180 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
181 <STRONG>Booleans</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
182 auto_left_margin bw bw cub1 wraps from col-
184 auto_right_margin am am terminal has auto-
186 back_color_erase bce ut screen erased with
188 can_change ccc cc terminal can re-
191 ceol_standout_glitch xhp xs standout not erased
193 col_addr_glitch xhpa YA only positive motion
198 cpi_changes_res cpix YF changing character
201 cr_cancels_micro_mode crxm YB using cr turns off
203 dest_tabs_magic_smso xt xt tabs destructive,
206 eat_newline_glitch xenl xn newline ignored
209 erase_overstrike eo eo can erase over-
211 generic_type gn gn generic line type
212 hard_copy hc hc hardcopy terminal
213 hard_cursor chts HC cursor is hard to
215 has_meta_key km km Has a meta key
217 has_print_wheel daisy YC printer needs opera-
220 has_status_line hs hs has extra status
222 hue_lightness_saturation hls hl terminal uses only
225 insert_null_glitch in in insert mode distin-
227 lpi_changes_res lpix YG changing line pitch
229 memory_above da da display may be
232 memory_below db db display may be
235 move_insert_mode mir mi safe to move while
237 move_standout_mode msgr ms safe to move while
239 needs_xon_xoff nxon nx padding will not
242 no_esc_ctlc xsb xb beehive (f1=escape,
244 no_pad_char npc NP pad character does
246 non_dest_scroll_region ndscr ND scrolling region is
248 non_rev_rmcup nrrmc NR smcup does not
250 over_strike os os terminal can over-
252 prtr_silent mc5i 5i printer will not
254 row_addr_glitch xvpa YD only positive motion
256 semi_auto_right_margin sam YE printing in last
258 status_line_esc_ok eslok es escape can be used
260 tilde_glitch hz hz cannot print ~'s
264 transparent_underline ul ul underline character
266 xon_xoff xon xo terminal uses
269 These are the numeric capabilities:
272 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
273 <STRONG>Numeric</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
274 columns cols co number of columns in
276 init_tabs it it tabs initially every
278 label_height lh lh rows in each label
279 label_width lw lw columns in each
281 lines lines li number of lines on
283 lines_of_memory lm lm lines of memory if >
285 magic_cookie_glitch xmc sg number of blank
288 max_attributes ma ma maximum combined
291 max_colors colors Co maximum number of
293 max_pairs pairs pa maximum number of
296 maximum_windows wnum MW maximum number of
298 no_color_video ncv NC video attributes
301 num_labels nlab Nl number of labels on
303 padding_baud_rate pb pb lowest baud rate
305 virtual_terminal vt vt virtual terminal
307 width_status_line wsl ws number of columns in
310 The following numeric capabilities are present in the
311 SVr4.0 term structure, but are not yet documented in the
312 man page. They came in with SVr4's printer support.
315 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
316 <STRONG>Numeric</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
317 bit_image_entwining bitwin Yo number of passes for
319 bit_image_type bitype Yp type of bit-image
321 buffer_capacity bufsz Ya numbers of bytes
324 buttons btns BT number of buttons on
326 dot_horz_spacing spinh Yc spacing of dots hor-
330 dot_vert_spacing spinv Yb spacing of pins ver-
333 max_micro_address maddr Yd maximum value in
335 max_micro_jump mjump Ye maximum value in
337 micro_col_size mcs Yf character step size
339 micro_line_size mls Yg line step size when
341 number_of_pins npins Yh numbers of pins in
343 output_res_char orc Yi horizontal resolu-
346 output_res_horz_inch orhi Yk horizontal resolu-
349 output_res_line orl Yj vertical resolution
351 output_res_vert_inch orvi Yl vertical resolution
353 print_rate cps Ym print rate in char-
355 wide_char_size widcs Yn character step size
359 These are the string capabilities:
362 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
363 <STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
364 acs_chars acsc ac graphics charset
367 back_tab cbt bt back tab (P)
368 bell bel bl audible signal
370 carriage_return cr cr carriage return (P*)
372 change_char_pitch cpi ZA Change number of
375 change_line_pitch lpi ZB Change number of
377 change_res_horz chr ZC Change horizontal
379 change_res_vert cvr ZD Change vertical res-
381 change_scroll_region csr cs change region to
384 char_padding rmp rP like ip but when in
386 clear_all_tabs tbc ct clear all tab stops
388 clear_margins mgc MC clear right and left
390 clear_screen clear cl clear screen and
392 clr_bol el1 cb Clear to beginning
396 clr_eol el ce clear to end of line
398 clr_eos ed cd clear to end of
400 column_address hpa ch horizontal position
402 command_character cmdch CC terminal settable
405 create_window cwin CW define a window #1
407 cursor_address cup cm move to row #1 col-
409 cursor_down cud1 do down one line
410 cursor_home home ho home cursor (if no
412 cursor_invisible civis vi make cursor invisi-
414 cursor_left cub1 le move left one space
415 cursor_mem_address mrcup CM memory relative cur-
418 cursor_normal cnorm ve make cursor appear
421 cursor_right cuf1 nd non-destructive
424 cursor_to_ll ll ll last line, first
426 cursor_up cuu1 up up one line
427 cursor_visible cvvis vs make cursor very
429 define_char defc ZE Define a character
432 delete_character dch1 dc delete character
434 delete_line dl1 dl delete line (P*)
435 dial_phone dial DI dial number #1
436 dis_status_line dsl ds disable status line
437 display_clock dclk DK display clock
438 down_half_line hd hd half a line down
439 ena_acs enacs eA enable alternate
441 enter_alt_charset_mode smacs as start alternate
443 enter_am_mode smam SA turn on automatic
445 enter_blink_mode blink mb turn on blinking
446 enter_bold_mode bold md turn on bold (extra
448 enter_ca_mode smcup ti string to start pro-
450 enter_delete_mode smdc dm enter delete mode
451 enter_dim_mode dim mh turn on half-bright
453 enter_doublewide_mode swidm ZF Enter double-wide
455 enter_draft_quality sdrfq ZG Enter draft-quality
457 enter_insert_mode smir im enter insert mode
458 enter_italics_mode sitm ZH Enter italic mode
459 enter_leftward_mode slm ZI Start leftward car-
462 enter_micro_mode smicm ZJ Start micro-motion
464 enter_near_letter_quality snlq ZK Enter NLQ mode
465 enter_normal_quality snrmq ZL Enter normal-quality
467 enter_protected_mode prot mp turn on protected
469 enter_reverse_mode rev mr turn on reverse
471 enter_secure_mode invis mk turn on blank mode
474 enter_shadow_mode sshm ZM Enter shadow-print
476 enter_standout_mode smso so begin standout mode
477 enter_subscript_mode ssubm ZN Enter subscript mode
478 enter_superscript_mode ssupm ZO Enter superscript
480 enter_underline_mode smul us begin underline mode
481 enter_upward_mode sum ZP Start upward car-
483 enter_xon_mode smxon SX turn on xon/xoff
485 erase_chars ech ec erase #1 characters
487 exit_alt_charset_mode rmacs ae end alternate char-
489 exit_am_mode rmam RA turn off automatic
491 exit_attribute_mode sgr0 me turn off all
493 exit_ca_mode rmcup te strings to end pro-
495 exit_delete_mode rmdc ed end delete mode
496 exit_doublewide_mode rwidm ZQ End double-wide mode
497 exit_insert_mode rmir ei exit insert mode
498 exit_italics_mode ritm ZR End italic mode
499 exit_leftward_mode rlm ZS End left-motion mode
500 exit_micro_mode rmicm ZT End micro-motion
502 exit_shadow_mode rshm ZU End shadow-print
504 exit_standout_mode rmso se exit standout mode
505 exit_subscript_mode rsubm ZV End subscript mode
506 exit_superscript_mode rsupm ZW End superscript mode
507 exit_underline_mode rmul ue exit underline mode
508 exit_upward_mode rum ZX End reverse charac-
510 exit_xon_mode rmxon RX turn off xon/xoff
512 fixed_pause pause PA pause for 2-3 sec-
514 flash_hook hook fh flash switch hook
515 flash_screen flash vb visible bell (may
517 form_feed ff ff hardcopy terminal
519 from_status_line fsl fs return from status
521 goto_window wingo WG go to window #1
522 hangup hup HU hang-up phone
523 init_1string is1 i1 initialization
525 init_2string is2 is initialization
528 init_3string is3 i3 initialization
530 init_file if if name of initializa-
532 init_prog iprog iP path name of program
534 initialize_color initc Ic initialize color #1
536 initialize_pair initp Ip Initialize color
540 insert_character ich1 ic insert character (P)
541 insert_line il1 al insert line (P*)
542 insert_padding ip ip insert padding after
544 key_a1 ka1 K1 upper left of keypad
545 key_a3 ka3 K3 upper right of key-
547 key_b2 kb2 K2 center of keypad
548 key_backspace kbs kb backspace key
549 key_beg kbeg @1 begin key
550 key_btab kcbt kB back-tab key
551 key_c1 kc1 K4 lower left of keypad
552 key_c3 kc3 K5 lower right of key-
554 key_cancel kcan @2 cancel key
555 key_catab ktbc ka clear-all-tabs key
556 key_clear kclr kC clear-screen or
558 key_close kclo @3 close key
559 key_command kcmd @4 command key
560 key_copy kcpy @5 copy key
561 key_create kcrt @6 create key
562 key_ctab kctab kt clear-tab key
563 key_dc kdch1 kD delete-character key
564 key_dl kdl1 kL delete-line key
565 key_down kcud1 kd down-arrow key
566 key_eic krmir kM sent by rmir or smir
568 key_end kend @7 end key
569 key_enter kent @8 enter/send key
570 key_eol kel kE clear-to-end-of-line
572 key_eos ked kS clear-to-end-of-
574 key_exit kext @9 exit key
575 key_f0 kf0 k0 F0 function key
576 key_f1 kf1 k1 F1 function key
577 key_f10 kf10 k; F10 function key
578 key_f11 kf11 F1 F11 function key
579 key_f12 kf12 F2 F12 function key
580 key_f13 kf13 F3 F13 function key
581 key_f14 kf14 F4 F14 function key
582 key_f15 kf15 F5 F15 function key
583 key_f16 kf16 F6 F16 function key
584 key_f17 kf17 F7 F17 function key
585 key_f18 kf18 F8 F18 function key
586 key_f19 kf19 F9 F19 function key
587 key_f2 kf2 k2 F2 function key
588 key_f20 kf20 FA F20 function key
589 key_f21 kf21 FB F21 function key
590 key_f22 kf22 FC F22 function key
591 key_f23 kf23 FD F23 function key
592 key_f24 kf24 FE F24 function key
594 key_f25 kf25 FF F25 function key
595 key_f26 kf26 FG F26 function key
596 key_f27 kf27 FH F27 function key
597 key_f28 kf28 FI F28 function key
598 key_f29 kf29 FJ F29 function key
599 key_f3 kf3 k3 F3 function key
600 key_f30 kf30 FK F30 function key
601 key_f31 kf31 FL F31 function key
602 key_f32 kf32 FM F32 function key
603 key_f33 kf33 FN F33 function key
604 key_f34 kf34 FO F34 function key
605 key_f35 kf35 FP F35 function key
606 key_f36 kf36 FQ F36 function key
607 key_f37 kf37 FR F37 function key
608 key_f38 kf38 FS F38 function key
609 key_f39 kf39 FT F39 function key
610 key_f4 kf4 k4 F4 function key
611 key_f40 kf40 FU F40 function key
612 key_f41 kf41 FV F41 function key
613 key_f42 kf42 FW F42 function key
614 key_f43 kf43 FX F43 function key
615 key_f44 kf44 FY F44 function key
616 key_f45 kf45 FZ F45 function key
617 key_f46 kf46 Fa F46 function key
618 key_f47 kf47 Fb F47 function key
619 key_f48 kf48 Fc F48 function key
620 key_f49 kf49 Fd F49 function key
621 key_f5 kf5 k5 F5 function key
622 key_f50 kf50 Fe F50 function key
623 key_f51 kf51 Ff F51 function key
624 key_f52 kf52 Fg F52 function key
625 key_f53 kf53 Fh F53 function key
626 key_f54 kf54 Fi F54 function key
627 key_f55 kf55 Fj F55 function key
628 key_f56 kf56 Fk F56 function key
629 key_f57 kf57 Fl F57 function key
630 key_f58 kf58 Fm F58 function key
631 key_f59 kf59 Fn F59 function key
632 key_f6 kf6 k6 F6 function key
633 key_f60 kf60 Fo F60 function key
634 key_f61 kf61 Fp F61 function key
635 key_f62 kf62 Fq F62 function key
636 key_f63 kf63 Fr F63 function key
637 key_f7 kf7 k7 F7 function key
638 key_f8 kf8 k8 F8 function key
639 key_f9 kf9 k9 F9 function key
640 key_find kfnd @0 find key
641 key_help khlp %1 help key
642 key_home khome kh home key
643 key_ic kich1 kI insert-character key
644 key_il kil1 kA insert-line key
645 key_left kcub1 kl left-arrow key
646 key_ll kll kH lower-left key (home
648 key_mark kmrk %2 mark key
649 key_message kmsg %3 message key
650 key_move kmov %4 move key
651 key_next knxt %5 next key
652 key_npage knp kN next-page key
653 key_open kopn %6 open key
654 key_options kopt %7 options key
655 key_ppage kpp kP previous-page key
656 key_previous kprv %8 previous key
657 key_print kprt %9 print key
658 key_redo krdo %0 redo key
660 key_reference kref &1 reference key
661 key_refresh krfr &2 refresh key
662 key_replace krpl &3 replace key
663 key_restart krst &4 restart key
664 key_resume kres &5 resume key
665 key_right kcuf1 kr right-arrow key
666 key_save ksav &6 save key
667 key_sbeg kBEG &9 shifted begin key
668 key_scancel kCAN &0 shifted cancel key
669 key_scommand kCMD *1 shifted command key
670 key_scopy kCPY *2 shifted copy key
671 key_screate kCRT *3 shifted create key
672 key_sdc kDC *4 shifted delete-char-
674 key_sdl kDL *5 shifted delete-line
676 key_select kslt *6 select key
677 key_send kEND *7 shifted end key
678 key_seol kEOL *8 shifted clear-to-
680 key_sexit kEXT *9 shifted exit key
681 key_sf kind kF scroll-forward key
682 key_sfind kFND *0 shifted find key
683 key_shelp kHLP #1 shifted help key
684 key_shome kHOM #2 shifted home key
685 key_sic kIC #3 shifted insert-char-
687 key_sleft kLFT #4 shifted left-arrow
689 key_smessage kMSG %a shifted message key
690 key_smove kMOV %b shifted move key
691 key_snext kNXT %c shifted next key
692 key_soptions kOPT %d shifted options key
693 key_sprevious kPRV %e shifted previous key
694 key_sprint kPRT %f shifted print key
695 key_sr kri kR scroll-backward key
696 key_sredo kRDO %g shifted redo key
697 key_sreplace kRPL %h shifted replace key
698 key_sright kRIT %i shifted right-arrow
700 key_srsume kRES %j shifted resume key
701 key_ssave kSAV !1 shifted save key
702 key_ssuspend kSPD !2 shifted suspend key
703 key_stab khts kT set-tab key
704 key_sundo kUND !3 shifted undo key
705 key_suspend kspd &7 suspend key
706 key_undo kund &8 undo key
707 key_up kcuu1 ku up-arrow key
708 keypad_local rmkx ke leave 'key-
710 keypad_xmit smkx ks enter 'key-
712 lab_f0 lf0 l0 label on function
714 lab_f1 lf1 l1 label on function
716 lab_f10 lf10 la label on function
718 lab_f2 lf2 l2 label on function
720 lab_f3 lf3 l3 label on function
722 lab_f4 lf4 l4 label on function
726 lab_f5 lf5 l5 label on function
728 lab_f6 lf6 l6 label on function
730 lab_f7 lf7 l7 label on function
732 lab_f8 lf8 l8 label on function
734 lab_f9 lf9 l9 label on function
736 label_format fln Lf label format
737 label_off rmln LF turn off soft labels
738 label_on smln LO turn on soft labels
739 meta_off rmm mo turn off meta mode
740 meta_on smm mm turn on meta mode
742 micro_column_address mhpa ZY Like column_address
744 micro_down mcud1 ZZ Like cursor_down in
746 micro_left mcub1 Za Like cursor_left in
748 micro_right mcuf1 Zb Like cursor_right in
750 micro_row_address mvpa Zc Like row_address #1
752 micro_up mcuu1 Zd Like cursor_up in
754 newline nel nw newline (behave like
756 order_of_pins porder Ze Match software bits
758 orig_colors oc oc Set all color pairs
760 orig_pair op op Set default pair to
762 pad_char pad pc padding char
764 parm_dch dch DC delete #1 characters
766 parm_delete_line dl DL delete #1 lines (P*)
767 parm_down_cursor cud DO down #1 lines (P*)
768 parm_down_micro mcud Zf Like parm_down_cur-
770 parm_ich ich IC insert #1 characters
772 parm_index indn SF scroll forward #1
774 parm_insert_line il AL insert #1 lines (P*)
775 parm_left_cursor cub LE move #1 characters
777 parm_left_micro mcub Zg Like parm_left_cur-
779 parm_right_cursor cuf RI move #1 characters
781 parm_right_micro mcuf Zh Like parm_right_cur-
783 parm_rindex rin SR scroll back #1 lines
785 parm_up_cursor cuu UP up #1 lines (P*)
786 parm_up_micro mcuu Zi Like parm_up_cursor
788 pkey_key pfkey pk program function key
792 pkey_local pfloc pl program function key
795 pkey_xmit pfx px program function key
798 plab_norm pln pn program label #1 to
800 print_screen mc0 ps print contents of
802 prtr_non mc5p pO turn on printer for
804 prtr_off mc4 pf turn off printer
805 prtr_on mc5 po turn on printer
806 pulse pulse PU select pulse dialing
807 quick_dial qdial QD dial number #1 with-
809 remove_clock rmclk RC remove clock
810 repeat_char rep rp repeat char #1 #2
812 req_for_input rfi RF send next input char
814 reset_1string rs1 r1 reset string
815 reset_2string rs2 r2 reset string
816 reset_3string rs3 r3 reset string
817 reset_file rf rf name of reset file
818 restore_cursor rc rc restore cursor to
821 row_address vpa cv vertical position #1
823 save_cursor sc sc save current cursor
825 scroll_forward ind sf scroll text up (P)
826 scroll_reverse ri sr scroll text down (P)
827 select_char_set scs Zj Select character
829 set_attributes sgr sa define video
832 set_background setb Sb Set background color
834 set_bottom_margin smgb Zk Set bottom margin at
836 set_bottom_margin_parm smgbp Zl Set bottom margin at
840 set_clock sclk SC set clock, #1 hrs #2
842 set_color_pair scp sp Set current color
844 set_foreground setf Sf Set foreground color
846 set_left_margin smgl ML set left soft margin
850 set_left_margin_parm smglp Zm Set left (right)
852 set_right_margin smgr MR set right soft mar-
855 set_right_margin_parm smgrp Zn Set right margin at
858 set_tab hts st set a tab in every
860 set_top_margin smgt Zo Set top margin at
862 set_top_margin_parm smgtp Zp Set top (bottom)
864 set_window wind wi current window is
867 start_bit_image sbim Zq Start printing bit
869 start_char_set_def scsd Zr Start character set
873 stop_bit_image rbim Zs Stop printing bit
875 stop_char_set_def rcsd Zt End definition of
877 subscript_characters subcs Zu List of subscript-
879 superscript_characters supcs Zv List of superscript-
881 tab ht ta tab to next 8-space
883 these_cause_cr docr Zw Printing any of
886 to_status_line tsl ts move to status line,
888 tone tone TO select touch tone
890 underline_char uc uc underline char and
892 up_half_line hu hu half a line up
893 user0 u0 u0 User string #0
894 user1 u1 u1 User string #1
895 user2 u2 u2 User string #2
896 user3 u3 u3 User string #3
897 user4 u4 u4 User string #4
898 user5 u5 u5 User string #5
899 user6 u6 u6 User string #6
900 user7 u7 u7 User string #7
901 user8 u8 u8 User string #8
902 user9 u9 u9 User string #9
903 wait_tone wait WA wait for dial-tone
904 xoff_character xoffc XF XOFF character
905 xon_character xonc XN XON character
906 zero_motion zerom Zx No motion for subse-
909 The following string capabilities are present in the
910 SVr4.0 term structure, but were originally not documented
914 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
915 <STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
916 alt_scancode_esc scesa S8 Alternate escape
919 bit_image_carriage_return bicr Yv Move to beginning
921 bit_image_newline binel Zz Move to next row
924 bit_image_repeat birep Xy Repeat bit image
926 char_set_names csnm Zy Produce #1'th item
929 code_set_init csin ci Init sequence for
931 color_names colornm Yw Give name for
933 define_bit_image_region defbi Yx Define rectangular
935 device_type devt dv Indicate lan-
938 display_pc_char dispc S1 Display PC charac-
940 end_bit_image_region endbi Yy End a bit-image
942 enter_pc_charset_mode smpch S2 Enter PC character
944 enter_scancode_mode smsc S4 Enter PC scancode
946 exit_pc_charset_mode rmpch S3 Exit PC character
948 exit_scancode_mode rmsc S5 Exit PC scancode
950 get_mouse getm Gm Curses should get
954 key_mouse kmous Km Mouse event has
956 mouse_info minfo Mi Mouse status
958 pc_term_options pctrm S6 PC terminal
960 pkey_plab pfxl xl Program function
964 req_mouse_pos reqmp RQ Request mouse
966 scancode_escape scesc S7 Escape for scan-
968 set0_des_seq s0ds s0 Shift to codeset 0
970 set1_des_seq s1ds s1 Shift to codeset 1
971 set2_des_seq s2ds s2 Shift to codeset 2
972 set3_des_seq s3ds s3 Shift to codeset 3
973 set_a_background setab AB Set background
976 set_a_foreground setaf AF Set foreground
979 set_color_band setcolor Yz Change to ribbon
981 set_lr_margin smglr ML Set both left and
986 set_page_length slines YZ Set page length to
990 set_tb_margin smgtb MT Sets both top and
994 The XSI Curses standard added these hardcopy capabili-
995 ties. They were used in some post-4.1 versions of System
996 V curses, e.g., Solaris 2.5 and IRIX 6.x. Except for <STRONG>YI</STRONG>,
997 the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> termcap names for them are invented. Accord-
998 ing to the XSI Curses standard, they have no termcap
999 names. If your compiled terminfo entries use these, they
1000 may not be binary-compatible with System V terminfo
1001 entries after SVr4.1; beware!
1004 <STRONG>Variable</STRONG> <STRONG>Cap-</STRONG> <STRONG>TCap</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
1005 <STRONG>String</STRONG> <STRONG>name</STRONG> <STRONG>Code</STRONG>
1006 enter_horizontal_hl_mode ehhlm Xh Enter horizontal
1008 enter_left_hl_mode elhlm Xl Enter left highlight
1010 enter_low_hl_mode elohlm Xo Enter low highlight
1012 enter_right_hl_mode erhlm Xr Enter right high-
1014 enter_top_hl_mode ethlm Xt Enter top highlight
1016 enter_vertical_hl_mode evhlm Xv Enter vertical high-
1018 set_a_attributes sgr1 sA Define second set of
1021 set_pglen_inch slengthYI Set page length to
1023 inch (some implemen-
1029 <H3><a name="h3-User-Defined-Capabilities">User-Defined Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
1030 The preceding section listed the <EM>predefined</EM> capabilities.
1031 They deal with some special features for terminals no
1032 longer (or possibly never) produced. Occasionally there
1033 are special features of newer terminals which are awkward
1034 or impossible to represent by reusing the predefined capa-
1037 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> addresses this limitation by allowing user-defined
1038 capabilities. The <STRONG>tic</STRONG> and <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> programs provide the <STRONG>-x</STRONG>
1039 option for this purpose. When <STRONG>-x</STRONG> is set, <STRONG>tic</STRONG> treats
1040 unknown capabilities as user-defined. That is, if <STRONG>tic</STRONG>
1041 encounters a capability name which it does not recognize,
1042 it infers its type (boolean, number or string) from the
1043 syntax and makes an extended table entry for that capabil-
1044 ity. The <STRONG>use_extended_names</STRONG> function makes this informa-
1045 tion conditionally available to applications. The ncurses
1046 library provides the data leaving most of the behavior to
1049 <STRONG>o</STRONG> User-defined capability strings whose name begins with
1050 "k" are treated as function keys.
1052 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The types (boolean, number, string) determined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG>
1053 can be inferred by successful calls on <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, etc.
1055 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the capability name happens to be two characters,
1056 the capability is also available through the termcap
1059 While termcap is said to be extensible because it does not
1060 use a predefined set of capabilities, in practice it has
1061 been limited to the capabilities defined by terminfo
1062 implementations. As a rule, user-defined capabilities
1063 intended for use by termcap applications should be limited
1064 to booleans and numbers to avoid running past the 1023
1065 byte limit assumed by termcap implementations and their
1066 applications. In particular, providing extended sets of
1067 function keys (past the 60 numbered keys and the handful
1068 of special named keys) is best done using the longer names
1069 available using terminfo.
1073 <H3><a name="h3-A-Sample-Entry">A Sample Entry</a></H3><PRE>
1074 The following entry, describing an ANSI-standard terminal,
1075 is representative of what a <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> entry for a modern
1076 terminal typically looks like.
1078 ansi|ansi/pc-term compatible with color,
1079 am, mc5i, mir, msgr,
1080 colors#8, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, ncv#3, pairs#64,
1081 acsc=+\020\,\021-\030.^Y0\333`\004a\261f\370g\361h\260
1082 j\331k\277l\332m\300n\305o~p\304q\304r\304s_t\303
1083 u\264v\301w\302x\263y\363z\362{\343|\330}\234~\376,
1084 bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z, clear=\E[H\E[J,
1085 cr=^M, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\E[D, cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=\E[B,
1086 cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C, cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH,
1087 cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P,
1088 dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[M, ech=\E[%p1%dX, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K,
1089 el1=\E[1K, home=\E[H, hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ht=\E[I, hts=\EH,
1090 ich=\E[%p1%d@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=^J,
1091 indn=\E[%p1%dS, invis=\E[8m, kbs=^H, kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\E[D,
1092 kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A, khome=\E[H, kich1=\E[L,
1093 mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, nel=\r\E[S, op=\E[39;49m,
1094 rep=%p1%c\E[%p2%{1}%-%db, rev=\E[7m, rin=\E[%p1%dT,
1095 rmacs=\E[10m, rmpch=\E[10m, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m,
1096 s0ds=\E(B, s1ds=\E)B, s2ds=\E*B, s3ds=\E+B,
1097 setab=\E[4%p1%dm, setaf=\E[3%p1%dm,
1098 sgr=\E[0;10%?%p1%t;7%;
1105 sgr0=\E[0;10m, smacs=\E[11m, smpch=\E[11m, smso=\E[7m,
1106 smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g, u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n,
1107 u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd,
1109 Entries may continue onto multiple lines by placing white
1110 space at the beginning of each line except the first.
1111 Comments may be included on lines beginning with "#".
1112 Capabilities in <EM>terminfo</EM> are of three types:
1114 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Boolean capabilities which indicate that the terminal
1115 has some particular feature,
1117 <STRONG>o</STRONG> numeric capabilities giving the size of the terminal
1118 or the size of particular delays, and
1120 <STRONG>o</STRONG> string capabilities, which give a sequence which can
1121 be used to perform particular terminal operations.
1125 <H3><a name="h3-Types-of-Capabilities">Types of Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
1126 All capabilities have names. For instance, the fact that
1127 ANSI-standard terminals have <EM>automatic</EM> <EM>margins</EM> (i.e., an
1128 automatic return and line-feed when the end of a line is
1129 reached) is indicated by the capability <STRONG>am</STRONG>. Hence the
1130 description of ansi includes <STRONG>am</STRONG>. Numeric capabilities are
1131 followed by the character "#" and then a positive value.
1132 Thus <STRONG>cols</STRONG>, which indicates the number of columns the ter-
1133 minal has, gives the value "80" for ansi. Values for
1134 numeric capabilities may be specified in decimal, octal or
1135 hexadecimal, using the C programming language conventions
1136 (e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF).
1138 Finally, string valued capabilities, such as <STRONG>el</STRONG> (clear to
1139 end of line sequence) are given by the two-character code,
1140 an "=", and then a string ending at the next following
1143 A number of escape sequences are provided in the string
1144 valued capabilities for easy encoding of characters there.
1145 Both <STRONG>\E</STRONG> and <STRONG>\e</STRONG> map to an ESCAPE character, <STRONG>^x</STRONG> maps to a
1146 control-x for any appropriate x, and the sequences <STRONG>\n</STRONG> <STRONG>\l</STRONG>
1147 <STRONG>\r</STRONG> <STRONG>\t</STRONG> <STRONG>\b</STRONG> <STRONG>\f</STRONG> <STRONG>\s</STRONG> give a newline, line-feed, return, tab,
1148 backspace, form-feed, and space. Other escapes include
1150 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\^</STRONG> for <STRONG>^</STRONG>,
1152 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\\</STRONG> for <STRONG>\</STRONG>,
1154 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\</STRONG>, for comma,
1156 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>\:</STRONG> for <STRONG>:</STRONG>,
1158 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and <STRONG>\0</STRONG> for null.
1160 <STRONG>\0</STRONG> will produce \200, which does not terminate a
1161 string but behaves as a null character on most termi-
1162 nals, providing CS7 is specified. See <STRONG>stty(1)</STRONG>.
1164 The reason for this quirk is to maintain binary com-
1165 patibility of the compiled terminfo files with other
1166 implementations, e.g., the SVr4 systems, which docu-
1167 ment this. Compiled terminfo files use null-termi-
1168 nated strings, with no lengths. Modifying this would
1169 require a new binary format, which would not work with
1170 other implementations.
1172 Finally, characters may be given as three octal digits
1173 after a <STRONG>\</STRONG>.
1175 A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string
1176 capability, enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in <STRONG>el</STRONG>=\EK$<5>,
1177 and padding characters are supplied by <EM>tputs</EM> to provide
1178 this delay. The delay must be a number with at most one
1179 decimal place of precision; it may be followed by suffixes
1180 "*" or "/" or both. A "*" indicates that the padding
1181 required is proportional to the number of lines affected
1182 by the operation, and the amount given is the per-
1183 affected-unit padding required. (In the case of insert
1184 character, the factor is still the number of <EM>lines</EM>
1185 affected.) Normally, padding is advisory if the device
1186 has the <STRONG>xon</STRONG> capability; it is used for cost computation
1187 but does not trigger delays. A "/" suffix indicates that
1188 the padding is mandatory and forces a delay of the given
1189 number of milliseconds even on devices for which <STRONG>xon</STRONG> is
1190 present to indicate flow control.
1192 Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out.
1193 To do this, put a period before the capability name. For
1194 example, see the second <STRONG>ind</STRONG> in the example above.
1198 <H3><a name="h3-Fetching-Compiled-Descriptions">Fetching Compiled Descriptions</a></H3><PRE>
1199 The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library searches for terminal descriptions in
1200 several places. It uses only the first description found.
1201 The library has a compiled-in list of places to search
1202 which can be overridden by environment variables. Before
1203 starting to search, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> eliminates duplicates in its
1206 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is
1207 interpreted as the pathname of a directory containing
1208 the compiled description you are working on. Only
1209 that directory is searched.
1211 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If TERMINFO is not set, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> will instead look in
1212 the directory <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> for a compiled descrip-
1215 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Next, if the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS is
1216 set, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> will interpret the contents of that vari-
1217 able as a list of colon-separated directories (or
1218 database files) to be searched.
1220 An empty directory name (i.e., if the variable begins
1221 or ends with a colon, or contains adjacent colons) is
1222 interpreted as the system location <EM>/usr/share/ter-</EM>
1225 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Finally, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> searches these compiled-in locations:
1227 <STRONG>o</STRONG> a list of directories
1228 (/usr/local/ncurses/share/terminfo:/usr/share/ter-
1231 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the system terminfo directory, <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>
1232 (the compiled-in default).
1236 <H3><a name="h3-Preparing-Descriptions">Preparing Descriptions</a></H3><PRE>
1237 We now outline how to prepare descriptions of terminals.
1238 The most effective way to prepare a terminal description
1239 is by imitating the description of a similar terminal in
1240 <EM>terminfo</EM> and to build up a description gradually, using
1241 partial descriptions with <EM>vi</EM> or some other screen-oriented
1242 program to check that they are correct. Be aware that a
1243 very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the abil-
1244 ity of the <EM>terminfo</EM> file to describe it or bugs in the
1245 screen-handling code of the test program.
1247 To get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal
1248 manufacturer did not document it) a severe test is to edit
1249 a large file at 9600 baud, delete 16 or so lines from the
1250 middle of the screen, then hit the "u" key several times
1251 quickly. If the terminal messes up, more padding is usu-
1252 ally needed. A similar test can be used for insert char-
1257 <H3><a name="h3-Basic-Capabilities">Basic Capabilities</a></H3><PRE>
1258 The number of columns on each line for the terminal is
1259 given by the <STRONG>cols</STRONG> numeric capability. If the terminal is
1260 a CRT, then the number of lines on the screen is given by
1261 the <STRONG>lines</STRONG> capability. If the terminal wraps around to the
1262 beginning of the next line when it reaches the right mar-
1263 gin, then it should have the <STRONG>am</STRONG> capability. If the termi-
1264 nal can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in the home
1265 position, then this is given by the <STRONG>clear</STRONG> string capabil-
1266 ity. If the terminal overstrikes (rather than clearing a
1267 position when a character is struck over) then it should
1268 have the <STRONG>os</STRONG> capability. If the terminal is a printing
1269 terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both <STRONG>hc</STRONG> and <STRONG>os</STRONG>.
1270 (<STRONG>os</STRONG> applies to storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX
1271 4010 series, as well as hard copy and APL terminals.) If
1272 there is a code to move the cursor to the left edge of the
1273 current row, give this as <STRONG>cr</STRONG>. (Normally this will be car-
1274 riage return, control M.) If there is a code to produce
1275 an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as <STRONG>bel</STRONG>.
1277 If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the
1278 left (such as backspace) that capability should be given
1279 as <STRONG>cub1</STRONG>. Similarly, codes to move to the right, up, and
1280 down should be given as <STRONG>cuf1</STRONG>, <STRONG>cuu1</STRONG>, and <STRONG>cud1</STRONG>. These local
1281 cursor motions should not alter the text they pass over,
1282 for example, you would not normally use "<STRONG>cuf1</STRONG>= " because
1283 the space would erase the character moved over.
1285 A very important point here is that the local cursor
1286 motions encoded in <EM>terminfo</EM> are undefined at the left and
1287 top edges of a CRT terminal. Programs should never
1288 attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is
1289 given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top. In
1290 order to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom
1291 left corner of the screen and send the <STRONG>ind</STRONG> (index) string.
1293 To scroll text down, a program goes to the top left corner
1294 of the screen and sends the <STRONG>ri</STRONG> (reverse index) string.
1295 The strings <STRONG>ind</STRONG> and <STRONG>ri</STRONG> are undefined when not on their
1296 respective corners of the screen.
1298 Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are <STRONG>indn</STRONG>
1299 and <STRONG>rin</STRONG> which have the same semantics as <STRONG>ind</STRONG> and <STRONG>ri</STRONG> except
1300 that they take one parameter, and scroll that many lines.
1301 They are also undefined except at the appropriate edge of
1304 The <STRONG>am</STRONG> capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the
1305 right edge of the screen when text is output, but this
1306 does not necessarily apply to a <STRONG>cuf1</STRONG> from the last column.
1307 The only local motion which is defined from the left edge
1308 is if <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is given, then a <STRONG>cub1</STRONG> from the left edge will
1309 move to the right edge of the previous row. If <STRONG>bw</STRONG> is not
1310 given, the effect is undefined. This is useful for draw-
1311 ing a box around the edge of the screen, for example. If
1312 the terminal has switch selectable automatic margins, the
1313 <EM>terminfo</EM> file usually assumes that this is on; i.e., <STRONG>am</STRONG>.
1314 If the terminal has a command which moves to the first
1315 column of the next line, that command can be given as <STRONG>nel</STRONG>
1316 (newline). It does not matter if the command clears the
1317 remainder of the current line, so if the terminal has no
1318 <STRONG>cr</STRONG> and <STRONG>lf</STRONG> it may still be possible to craft a working <STRONG>nel</STRONG>
1319 out of one or both of them.
1321 These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and
1322 "glass-tty" terminals. Thus the model 33 teletype is
1325 33|tty33|tty|model 33 teletype,
1326 bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os,
1328 while the Lear Siegler ADM-3 is described as
1331 am, bel=^G, clear=^Z, cols#80, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,
1336 <H3><a name="h3-Parameterized-Strings">Parameterized Strings</a></H3><PRE>
1337 Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters
1338 in the terminal are described by a parameterized string
1339 capability, with <EM>printf</EM>-like escapes such as <EM>%x</EM> in it.
1340 For example, to address the cursor, the <STRONG>cup</STRONG> capability is
1341 given, using two parameters: the row and column to address
1342 to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and refer to
1343 the physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen
1344 memory.) If the terminal has memory relative cursor
1345 addressing, that can be indicated by <STRONG>mrcup</STRONG>.
1347 The parameter mechanism uses a stack and special <STRONG>%</STRONG> codes
1348 to manipulate it. Typically a sequence will push one of
1349 the parameters onto the stack and then print it in some
1350 format. Print (e.g., "%d") is a special case. Other
1351 operations, including "%t" pop their operand from the
1352 stack. It is noted that more complex operations are often
1353 necessary, e.g., in the <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> string.
1355 The <STRONG>%</STRONG> encodings have the following meanings:
1357 <STRONG>%%</STRONG> outputs "%"
1359 <STRONG>%</STRONG><EM>[[</EM>:<EM>]flags][width[.precision]][</EM><STRONG>doxXs</STRONG><EM>]</EM>
1360 as in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>, flags are <EM>[-+#]</EM> and <EM>space</EM>. Use a ":"
1361 to allow the next character to be a "-" flag, avoid-
1362 ing interpreting "%-" as an operator.
1364 %c print pop() like %c in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>
1366 <STRONG>%s</STRONG> print pop() like %s in <STRONG>printf</STRONG>
1368 <STRONG>%p</STRONG><EM>[1-9]</EM>
1369 push <EM>i</EM>'th parameter
1371 <STRONG>%P</STRONG><EM>[a-z]</EM>
1372 set dynamic variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> to pop()
1374 <STRONG>%g</STRONG><EM>[a-z]/</EM>
1375 get dynamic variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> and push it
1377 <STRONG>%P</STRONG><EM>[A-Z]</EM>
1378 set static variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> to <EM>pop()</EM>
1380 <STRONG>%g</STRONG><EM>[A-Z]</EM>
1381 get static variable <EM>[a-z]</EM> and push it
1383 The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading.
1384 Historically, these are simply two different sets of
1385 variables, whose values are not reset between calls
1386 to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>. However, that fact is not documented in
1387 other implementations. Relying on it will adversely
1388 impact portability to other implementations.
1390 <STRONG>%'</STRONG><EM>c</EM><STRONG>'</STRONG> char constant <EM>c</EM>
1392 <STRONG>%{</STRONG><EM>nn</EM><STRONG>}</STRONG>
1393 integer constant <EM>nn</EM>
1395 <STRONG>%l</STRONG> push strlen(pop)
1397 <STRONG>%+</STRONG>, <STRONG>%-</STRONG>, <STRONG>%*</STRONG>, <STRONG>%/</STRONG>, <STRONG>%m</STRONG>
1398 arithmetic (%m is mod): <EM>push(pop()</EM> <EM>op</EM> <EM>pop())</EM>
1400 <STRONG>%&</STRONG>, <STRONG>%|</STRONG>, <STRONG>%^</STRONG>
1401 bit operations (AND, OR and exclusive-OR): <EM>push(pop()</EM>
1402 <EM>op</EM> <EM>pop())</EM>
1404 <STRONG>%=</STRONG>, <STRONG>%></STRONG>, <STRONG>%<</STRONG>
1405 logical operations: <EM>push(pop()</EM> <EM>op</EM> <EM>pop())</EM>
1407 <STRONG>%A</STRONG>, <STRONG>%O</STRONG>
1408 logical AND and OR operations (for conditionals)
1410 <STRONG>%!</STRONG>, <STRONG>%~</STRONG>
1411 unary operations (logical and bit complement):
1414 <STRONG>%i</STRONG> add 1 to first two parameters (for ANSI terminals)
1416 <STRONG>%?</STRONG> <EM>expr</EM> <STRONG>%t</STRONG> <EM>thenpart</EM> <STRONG>%e</STRONG> <EM>elsepart</EM> <STRONG>%;</STRONG>
1417 This forms an if-then-else. The <STRONG>%e</STRONG> <EM>elsepart</EM> is
1418 optional. Usually the <STRONG>%?</STRONG> <EM>expr</EM> part pushes a value
1419 onto the stack, and <STRONG>%t</STRONG> pops it from the stack, test-
1420 ing if it is nonzero (true). If it is zero (false),
1421 control passes to the <STRONG>%e</STRONG> (else) part.
1423 It is possible to form else-if's a la Algol 68:
1424 <STRONG>%?</STRONG> c1 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b1 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> c2 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b2 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> c3 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b3 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> c4 <STRONG>%t</STRONG> b4 <STRONG>%e</STRONG> <STRONG>%;</STRONG>
1426 where ci are conditions, bi are bodies.
1428 Use the <STRONG>-f</STRONG> option of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> or <STRONG>infocmp</STRONG> to see the struc-
1429 ture of if-then-else's. Some strings, e.g., <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> can
1430 be very complicated when written on one line. The <STRONG>-f</STRONG>
1431 option splits the string into lines with the parts
1434 Binary operations are in postfix form with the operands in
1435 the usual order. That is, to get x-5 one would use
1436 "%gx%{5}%-". <STRONG>%P</STRONG> and <STRONG>%g</STRONG> variables are persistent across
1437 escape-string evaluations.
1439 Consider the HP2645, which, to get to row 3 and column 12,
1440 needs to be sent \E&a12c03Y padded for 6 milliseconds.
1441 Note that the order of the rows and columns is inverted
1442 here, and that the row and column are printed as two dig-
1443 its. Thus its <STRONG>cup</STRONG> capability is "cup=6\E&%p2%2dc%p1%2dY".
1445 The Microterm ACT-IV needs the current row and column sent
1446 preceded by a <STRONG>^T</STRONG>, with the row and column simply encoded
1447 in binary, "cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c". Terminals which use "%c"
1448 need to be able to backspace the cursor (<STRONG>cub1</STRONG>), and to
1449 move the cursor up one line on the screen (<STRONG>cuu1</STRONG>). This is
1450 necessary because it is not always safe to transmit <STRONG>\n</STRONG> <STRONG>^D</STRONG>
1451 and <STRONG>\r</STRONG>, as the system may change or discard them. (The
1452 library routines dealing with terminfo set tty modes so
1453 that tabs are never expanded, so \t is safe to send. This
1454 turns out to be essential for the Ann Arbor 4080.)
1456 A final example is the LSI ADM-3a, which uses row and col-
1457 umn offset by a blank character, thus "cup=\E=%p1%'
1458 '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c". After sending "\E=", this pushes the
1459 first parameter, pushes the ASCII value for a space (32),
1460 adds them (pushing the sum on the stack in place of the
1461 two previous values) and outputs that value as a charac-
1462 ter. Then the same is done for the second parameter.
1463 More complex arithmetic is possible using the stack.
1467 <H3><a name="h3-Cursor-Motions">Cursor Motions</a></H3><PRE>
1468 If the terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to very
1469 upper left corner of screen) then this can be given as
1470 <STRONG>home</STRONG>; similarly a fast way of getting to the lower left-
1471 hand corner can be given as <STRONG>ll</STRONG>; this may involve going up
1472 with <STRONG>cuu1</STRONG> from the home position, but a program should
1473 never do this itself (unless <STRONG>ll</STRONG> does) because it can make
1474 no assumption about the effect of moving up from the home
1475 position. Note that the home position is the same as
1476 addressing to (0,0): to the top left corner of the screen,
1477 not of memory. (Thus, the \EH sequence on HP terminals
1478 cannot be used for <STRONG>home</STRONG>.)
1480 If the terminal has row or column absolute cursor address-
1481 ing, these can be given as single parameter capabilities
1482 <STRONG>hpa</STRONG> (horizontal position absolute) and <STRONG>vpa</STRONG> (vertical posi-
1483 tion absolute). Sometimes these are shorter than the more
1484 general two parameter sequence (as with the hp2645) and
1485 can be used in preference to <STRONG>cup</STRONG>. If there are parameter-
1486 ized local motions (e.g., move <EM>n</EM> spaces to the right)
1487 these can be given as <STRONG>cud</STRONG>, <STRONG>cub</STRONG>, <STRONG>cuf</STRONG>, and <STRONG>cuu</STRONG> with a single
1488 parameter indicating how many spaces to move. These are
1489 primarily useful if the terminal does not have <STRONG>cup</STRONG>, such
1490 as the TEKTRONIX 4025.
1492 If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running
1493 a program that uses these capabilities, the codes to enter
1494 and exit this mode can be given as <STRONG>smcup</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmcup</STRONG>. This
1495 arises, for example, from terminals like the Concept with
1496 more than one page of memory. If the terminal has only
1497 memory relative cursor addressing and not screen relative
1498 cursor addressing, a one screen-sized window must be fixed
1499 into the terminal for cursor addressing to work properly.
1500 This is also used for the TEKTRONIX 4025, where <STRONG>smcup</STRONG> sets
1501 the command character to be the one used by terminfo. If
1502 the <STRONG>smcup</STRONG> sequence will not restore the screen after an
1503 <STRONG>rmcup</STRONG> sequence is output (to the state prior to outputting
1504 <STRONG>rmcup</STRONG>), specify <STRONG>nrrmc</STRONG>.
1508 <H3><a name="h3-Area-Clears">Area Clears</a></H3><PRE>
1509 If the terminal can clear from the current position to the
1510 end of the line, leaving the cursor where it is, this
1511 should be given as <STRONG>el</STRONG>. If the terminal can clear from the
1512 beginning of the line to the current position inclusive,
1513 leaving the cursor where it is, this should be given as
1514 <STRONG>el1</STRONG>. If the terminal can clear from the current position
1515 to the end of the display, then this should be given as
1516 <STRONG>ed</STRONG>. <STRONG>Ed</STRONG> is only defined from the first column of a line.
1517 (Thus, it can be simulated by a request to delete a large
1518 number of lines, if a true <STRONG>ed</STRONG> is not available.)
1522 <H3><a name="h3-Insert_delete-line-and-vertical-motions">Insert/delete line and vertical motions</a></H3><PRE>
1523 If the terminal can open a new blank line before the line
1524 where the cursor is, this should be given as <STRONG>il1</STRONG>; this is
1525 done only from the first position of a line. The cursor
1526 must then appear on the newly blank line. If the terminal
1527 can delete the line which the cursor is on, then this
1528 should be given as <STRONG>dl1</STRONG>; this is done only from the first
1529 position on the line to be deleted. Versions of <STRONG>il1</STRONG> and
1530 <STRONG>dl1</STRONG> which take a single parameter and insert or delete
1531 that many lines can be given as <STRONG>il</STRONG> and <STRONG>dl</STRONG>.
1533 If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like the
1534 vt100) the command to set this can be described with the
1535 <STRONG>csr</STRONG> capability, which takes two parameters: the top and
1536 bottom lines of the scrolling region. The cursor position
1537 is, alas, undefined after using this command.
1539 It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line
1540 using <STRONG>csr</STRONG> on a properly chosen region; the <STRONG>sc</STRONG> and <STRONG>rc</STRONG> (save
1541 and restore cursor) commands may be useful for ensuring
1542 that your synthesized insert/delete string does not move
1543 the cursor. (Note that the <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG> library does this
1544 synthesis automatically, so you need not compose
1545 insert/delete strings for an entry with <STRONG>csr</STRONG>).
1547 Yet another way to construct insert and delete might be to
1548 use a combination of index with the memory-lock feature
1549 found on some terminals (like the HP-700/90 series, which
1550 however also has insert/delete).
1552 Inserting lines at the top or bottom of the screen can
1553 also be done using <STRONG>ri</STRONG> or <STRONG>ind</STRONG> on many terminals without a
1554 true insert/delete line, and is often faster even on ter-
1555 minals with those features.
1557 The boolean <STRONG>non_dest_scroll_region</STRONG> should be set if each
1558 scrolling window is effectively a view port on a screen-
1559 sized canvas. To test for this capability, create a
1560 scrolling region in the middle of the screen, write some-
1561 thing to the bottom line, move the cursor to the top of
1562 the region, and do <STRONG>ri</STRONG> followed by <STRONG>dl1</STRONG> or <STRONG>ind</STRONG>. If the data
1563 scrolled off the bottom of the region by the <STRONG>ri</STRONG> re-
1564 appears, then scrolling is non-destructive. System V and
1565 XSI Curses expect that <STRONG>ind</STRONG>, <STRONG>ri</STRONG>, <STRONG>indn</STRONG>, and <STRONG>rin</STRONG> will simu-
1566 late destructive scrolling; their documentation cautions
1567 you not to define <STRONG>csr</STRONG> unless this is true. This <STRONG>curses</STRONG>
1568 implementation is more liberal and will do explicit erases
1569 after scrolling if <STRONG>ndstr</STRONG> is defined.
1571 If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part
1572 of memory, which all commands affect, it should be given
1573 as the parameterized string <STRONG>wind</STRONG>. The four parameters are
1574 the starting and ending lines in memory and the starting
1575 and ending columns in memory, in that order.
1577 If the terminal can retain display memory above, then the
1578 <STRONG>da</STRONG> capability should be given; if display memory can be
1579 retained below, then <STRONG>db</STRONG> should be given. These indicate
1580 that deleting a line or scrolling may bring non-blank
1581 lines up from below or that scrolling back with <STRONG>ri</STRONG> may
1582 bring down non-blank lines.
1586 <H3><a name="h3-Insert_Delete-Character">Insert/Delete Character</a></H3><PRE>
1587 There are two basic kinds of intelligent terminals with
1588 respect to insert/delete character which can be described
1589 using <EM>terminfo.</EM> The most common insert/delete character
1590 operations affect only the characters on the current line
1591 and shift characters off the end of the line rigidly.
1592 Other terminals, such as the Concept 100 and the Perkin
1593 Elmer Owl, make a distinction between typed and untyped
1594 blanks on the screen, shifting upon an insert or delete
1595 only to an untyped blank on the screen which is either
1596 eliminated, or expanded to two untyped blanks.
1598 You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clear-
1599 ing the screen and then typing text separated by cursor
1600 motions. Type "abc def" using local cursor motions
1601 (not spaces) between the "abc" and the "def". Then posi-
1602 tion the cursor before the "abc" and put the terminal in
1603 insert mode. If typing characters causes the rest of the
1604 line to shift rigidly and characters to fall off the end,
1605 then your terminal does not distinguish between blanks and
1606 untyped positions. If the "abc" shifts over to the "def"
1607 which then move together around the end of the current
1608 line and onto the next as you insert, you have the second
1609 type of terminal, and should give the capability <STRONG>in</STRONG>, which
1610 stands for "insert null".
1612 While these are two logically separate attributes (one
1613 line versus multi-line insert mode, and special treatment
1614 of untyped spaces) we have seen no terminals whose insert
1615 mode cannot be described with the single attribute.
1617 Terminfo can describe both terminals which have an insert
1618 mode, and terminals which send a simple sequence to open a
1619 blank position on the current line. Give as <STRONG>smir</STRONG> the
1620 sequence to get into insert mode. Give as <STRONG>rmir</STRONG> the
1621 sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> any
1622 sequence needed to be sent just before sending the charac-
1623 ter to be inserted. Most terminals with a true insert
1624 mode will not give <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>; terminals which send a sequence
1625 to open a screen position should give it here.
1627 If your terminal has both, insert mode is usually prefer-
1628 able to <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>. Technically, you should not give both
1629 unless the terminal actually requires both to be used in
1630 combination. Accordingly, some non-curses applications
1631 get confused if both are present; the symptom is doubled
1632 characters in an update using insert. This requirement is
1633 now rare; most <STRONG>ich</STRONG> sequences do not require previous smir,
1634 and most smir insert modes do not require <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> before each
1635 character. Therefore, the new <STRONG>curses</STRONG> actually assumes
1636 this is the case and uses either <STRONG>rmir</STRONG>/<STRONG>smir</STRONG> or <STRONG>ich</STRONG>/<STRONG>ich1</STRONG> as
1637 appropriate (but not both). If you have to write an entry
1638 to be used under new curses for a terminal old enough to
1639 need both, include the <STRONG>rmir</STRONG>/<STRONG>smir</STRONG> sequences in <STRONG>ich1</STRONG>.
1641 If post insert padding is needed, give this as a number of
1642 milliseconds in <STRONG>ip</STRONG> (a string option). Any other sequence
1643 which may need to be sent after an insert of a single
1644 character may also be given in <STRONG>ip</STRONG>. If your terminal needs
1645 both to be placed into an "insert mode" and a special code
1646 to precede each inserted character, then both <STRONG>smir</STRONG>/<STRONG>rmir</STRONG>
1647 and <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> can be given, and both will be used. The <STRONG>ich</STRONG>
1648 capability, with one parameter, <EM>n</EM>, will repeat the effects
1649 of <STRONG>ich1</STRONG> <EM>n</EM> times.
1651 If padding is necessary between characters typed while not
1652 in insert mode, give this as a number of milliseconds pad-
1653 ding in <STRONG>rmp</STRONG>.
1655 It is occasionally necessary to move around while in
1656 insert mode to delete characters on the same line (e.g.,
1657 if there is a tab after the insertion position). If your
1658 terminal allows motion while in insert mode you can give
1659 the capability <STRONG>mir</STRONG> to speed up inserting in this case.
1660 Omitting <STRONG>mir</STRONG> will affect only speed. Some terminals
1661 (notably Datamedia's) must not have <STRONG>mir</STRONG> because of the way
1662 their insert mode works.
1664 Finally, you can specify <STRONG>dch1</STRONG> to delete a single charac-
1665 ter, <STRONG>dch</STRONG> with one parameter, <EM>n</EM>, to delete <EM>n</EM> <EM>characters,</EM>
1666 and delete mode by giving <STRONG>smdc</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmdc</STRONG> to enter and exit
1667 delete mode (any mode the terminal needs to be placed in
1668 for <STRONG>dch1</STRONG> to work).
1670 A command to erase <EM>n</EM> characters (equivalent to outputting
1671 <EM>n</EM> blanks without moving the cursor) can be given as <STRONG>ech</STRONG>
1676 <H3><a name="h3-Highlighting_-Underlining_-and-Visible-Bells">Highlighting, Underlining, and Visible Bells</a></H3><PRE>
1677 If your terminal has one or more kinds of display
1678 attributes, these can be represented in a number of dif-
1679 ferent ways. You should choose one display form as <EM>stand-</EM>
1680 <EM>out</EM> <EM>mode</EM>, representing a good, high contrast, easy-on-the-
1681 eyes, format for highlighting error messages and other
1682 attention getters. (If you have a choice, reverse video
1683 plus half-bright is good, or reverse video alone.) The
1684 sequences to enter and exit standout mode are given as
1685 <STRONG>smso</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmso</STRONG>, respectively. If the code to change into
1686 or out of standout mode leaves one or even two blank spa-
1687 ces on the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do,
1688 then <STRONG>xmc</STRONG> should be given to tell how many spaces are left.
1690 Codes to begin underlining and end underlining can be
1691 given as <STRONG>smul</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmul</STRONG> respectively. If the terminal has
1692 a code to underline the current character and move the
1693 cursor one space to the right, such as the Microterm Mime,
1694 this can be given as <STRONG>uc</STRONG>.
1696 Other capabilities to enter various highlighting modes
1697 include <STRONG>blink</STRONG> (blinking) <STRONG>bold</STRONG> (bold or extra bright) <STRONG>dim</STRONG>
1698 (dim or half-bright) <STRONG>invis</STRONG> (blanking or invisible text)
1699 <STRONG>prot</STRONG> (protected) <STRONG>rev</STRONG> (reverse video) <STRONG>sgr0</STRONG> (turn off <EM>all</EM>
1700 attribute modes) <STRONG>smacs</STRONG> (enter alternate character set
1701 mode) and <STRONG>rmacs</STRONG> (exit alternate character set mode).
1702 Turning on any of these modes singly may or may not turn
1705 If there is a sequence to set arbitrary combinations of
1706 modes, this should be given as <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> (set attributes), tak-
1707 ing 9 parameters. Each parameter is either 0 or nonzero,
1708 as the corresponding attribute is on or off. The 9 param-
1709 eters are, in order: standout, underline, reverse, blink,
1710 dim, bold, blank, protect, alternate character set. Not
1711 all modes need be supported by <STRONG>sgr</STRONG>, only those for which
1712 corresponding separate attribute commands exist.
1714 For example, the DEC vt220 supports most of the modes:
1716 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> <STRONG>parameter</STRONG> <STRONG>attribute</STRONG> <STRONG>escape</STRONG> <STRONG>sequence</STRONG>
1719 p1 standout \E[0;1;7m
1720 p2 underline \E[0;4m
1723 p5 dim not available
1727 p9 altcharset ^O (off) ^N (on)
1729 We begin each escape sequence by turning off any existing
1730 modes, since there is no quick way to determine whether
1731 they are active. Standout is set up to be the combination
1732 of reverse and bold. The vt220 terminal has a protect
1733 mode, though it is not commonly used in sgr because it
1734 protects characters on the screen from the host's era-
1735 sures. The altcharset mode also is different in that it
1736 is either ^O or ^N, depending on whether it is off or on.
1737 If all modes are turned on, the resulting sequence is
1740 Some sequences are common to different modes. For exam-
1741 ple, ;7 is output when either p1 or p3 is true, that is,
1742 if either standout or reverse modes are turned on.
1744 Writing out the above sequences, along with their depen-
1747 <STRONG>sequence</STRONG> <STRONG>when</STRONG> <STRONG>to</STRONG> <STRONG>output</STRONG> <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <STRONG>translation</STRONG>
1750 ;1 if p1 or p6 %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;
1751 ;4 if p2 %?%p2%|%t;4%;
1752 ;5 if p4 %?%p4%|%t;5%;
1753 ;7 if p1 or p3 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;
1754 ;8 if p7 %?%p7%|%t;8%;
1756 ^N or ^O if p9 ^N, else ^O %?%p9%t^N%e^O%;
1758 Putting this all together into the sgr sequence gives:
1760 sgr=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;
1761 %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p7%t;8%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;,
1763 Remember that if you specify sgr, you must also specify
1764 sgr0. Also, some implementations rely on sgr being given
1765 if sgr0 is, Not all terminfo entries necessarily have an
1766 sgr string, however. Many terminfo entries are derived
1767 from termcap entries which have no sgr string. The only
1768 drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also
1769 assumes that sgr0 does not exit alternate character set
1772 Terminals with the "magic cookie" glitch (<STRONG>xmc</STRONG>) deposit
1773 special "cookies" when they receive mode-setting
1774 sequences, which affect the display algorithm rather than
1775 having extra bits for each character. Some terminals,
1776 such as the HP 2621, automatically leave standout mode
1777 when they move to a new line or the cursor is addressed.
1778 Programs using standout mode should exit standout mode
1779 before moving the cursor or sending a newline, unless the
1780 <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> capability, asserting that it is safe to move in
1781 standout mode, is present.
1783 If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indi-
1784 cate an error quietly (a bell replacement) then this can
1785 be given as <STRONG>flash</STRONG>; it must not move the cursor.
1787 If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal
1788 when it is not on the bottom line (to make, for example, a
1789 non-blinking underline into an easier to find block or
1790 blinking underline) give this sequence as <STRONG>cvvis</STRONG>. If there
1791 is a way to make the cursor completely invisible, give
1792 that as <STRONG>civis</STRONG>. The capability <STRONG>cnorm</STRONG> should be given which
1793 undoes the effects of both of these modes.
1795 If your terminal correctly generates underlined characters
1796 (with no special codes needed) even though it does not
1797 overstrike, then you should give the capability <STRONG>ul</STRONG>. If a
1798 character overstriking another leaves both characters on
1799 the screen, specify the capability <STRONG>os</STRONG>. If overstrikes are
1800 erasable with a blank, then this should be indicated by
1801 giving <STRONG>eo</STRONG>.
1805 <H3><a name="h3-Keypad-and-Function-Keys">Keypad and Function Keys</a></H3><PRE>
1806 If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the
1807 keys are pressed, this information can be given. Note
1808 that it is not possible to handle terminals where the key-
1809 pad only works in local (this applies, for example, to the
1810 unshifted HP 2621 keys). If the keypad can be set to
1811 transmit or not transmit, give these codes as <STRONG>smkx</STRONG> and
1812 <STRONG>rmkx</STRONG>. Otherwise the keypad is assumed to always transmit.
1814 The codes sent by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow,
1815 down arrow, and home keys can be given as <STRONG>kcub1,</STRONG> <STRONG>kcuf1,</STRONG>
1816 <STRONG>kcuu1,</STRONG> <STRONG>kcud1,</STRONG> and <STRONG>khome</STRONG> respectively. If there are func-
1817 tion keys such as f0, f1, ..., f10, the codes they send
1818 can be given as <STRONG>kf0,</STRONG> <STRONG>kf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>...,</STRONG> <STRONG>kf10</STRONG>. If these keys have
1819 labels other than the default f0 through f10, the labels
1820 can be given as <STRONG>lf0,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf1,</STRONG> <STRONG>...,</STRONG> <STRONG>lf10</STRONG>.
1822 The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be
1825 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kll</STRONG> (home down),
1827 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kbs</STRONG> (backspace),
1829 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>ktbc</STRONG> (clear all tabs),
1831 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kctab</STRONG> (clear the tab stop in this column),
1833 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kclr</STRONG> (clear screen or erase key),
1835 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kdch1</STRONG> (delete character),
1837 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kdl1</STRONG> (delete line),
1839 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>krmir</STRONG> (exit insert mode),
1841 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kel</STRONG> (clear to end of line),
1843 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>ked</STRONG> (clear to end of screen),
1845 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kich1</STRONG> (insert character or enter insert mode),
1847 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kil1</STRONG> (insert line),
1849 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>knp</STRONG> (next page),
1851 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kpp</STRONG> (previous page),
1853 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kind</STRONG> (scroll forward/down),
1855 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>kri</STRONG> (scroll backward/up),
1857 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>khts</STRONG> (set a tab stop in this column).
1859 In addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3 array of keys
1860 including the four arrow keys, the other five keys can be
1861 given as <STRONG>ka1</STRONG>, <STRONG>ka3</STRONG>, <STRONG>kb2</STRONG>, <STRONG>kc1</STRONG>, and <STRONG>kc3</STRONG>. These keys are use-
1862 ful when the effects of a 3 by 3 directional pad are
1865 Strings to program function keys can be given as <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG>,
1866 <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG>, and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG>. A string to program screen labels should
1867 be specified as <STRONG>pln</STRONG>. Each of these strings takes two
1868 parameters: the function key number to program (from 0 to
1869 10) and the string to program it with. Function key num-
1870 bers out of this range may program undefined keys in a
1871 terminal dependent manner. The difference between the
1872 capabilities is that <STRONG>pfkey</STRONG> causes pressing the given key
1873 to be the same as the user typing the given string; <STRONG>pfloc</STRONG>
1874 causes the string to be executed by the terminal in local;
1875 and <STRONG>pfx</STRONG> causes the string to be transmitted to the com-
1878 The capabilities <STRONG>nlab</STRONG>, <STRONG>lw</STRONG> and <STRONG>lh</STRONG> define the number of pro-
1879 grammable screen labels and their width and height. If
1880 there are commands to turn the labels on and off, give
1881 them in <STRONG>smln</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmln</STRONG>. <STRONG>smln</STRONG> is normally output after one
1882 or more pln sequences to make sure that the change becomes
1887 <H3><a name="h3-Tabs-and-Initialization">Tabs and Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
1888 If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance
1889 to the next tab stop can be given as <STRONG>ht</STRONG> (usually control
1890 I). A "back-tab" command which moves leftward to the pre-
1891 ceding tab stop can be given as <STRONG>cbt</STRONG>. By convention, if
1892 the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being expanded
1893 by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal,
1894 programs should not use <STRONG>ht</STRONG> or <STRONG>cbt</STRONG> even if they are
1895 present, since the user may not have the tab stops prop-
1896 erly set. If the terminal has hardware tabs which are
1897 initially set every <EM>n</EM> spaces when the terminal is powered
1898 up, the numeric parameter <STRONG>it</STRONG> is given, showing the number
1899 of spaces the tabs are set to. This is normally used by
1900 the <EM>tset</EM> command to determine whether to set the mode for
1901 hardware tab expansion, and whether to set the tab stops.
1902 If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non-
1903 volatile memory, the terminfo description can assume that
1904 they are properly set.
1906 Other capabilities include <STRONG>is1</STRONG>, <STRONG>is2</STRONG>, and <STRONG>is3</STRONG>, initializa-
1907 tion strings for the terminal, <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>, the path name of a
1908 program to be run to initialize the terminal, and <STRONG>if</STRONG>, the
1909 name of a file containing long initialization strings.
1910 These strings are expected to set the terminal into modes
1911 consistent with the rest of the terminfo description.
1912 They are normally sent to the terminal, by the <EM>init</EM> option
1913 of the <EM>tput</EM> program, each time the user logs in. They
1914 will be printed in the following order:
1917 <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>
1919 output <STRONG>is1</STRONG> <STRONG>is2</STRONG>
1921 set the margins using
1922 <STRONG>mgc</STRONG>, <STRONG>smgl</STRONG> and <STRONG>smgr</STRONG>
1925 <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> and <STRONG>hts</STRONG>
1931 output <STRONG>is3</STRONG>.
1933 Most initialization is done with <STRONG>is2</STRONG>. Special terminal
1934 modes can be set up without duplicating strings by putting
1935 the common sequences in <STRONG>is2</STRONG> and special cases in <STRONG>is1</STRONG> and
1936 <STRONG>is3</STRONG>.
1938 A set of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally
1939 unknown state can be given as <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG>, <STRONG>rf</STRONG> and <STRONG>rs3</STRONG>, analo-
1940 gous to <STRONG>is1</STRONG> <STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>is2</STRONG> <STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>if</STRONG> and <STRONG>is3</STRONG> respectively. These
1941 strings are output by the <EM>reset</EM> program, which is used
1942 when the terminal gets into a wedged state. Commands are
1943 normally placed in <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG> <STRONG>rs3</STRONG> and <STRONG>rf</STRONG> only if they pro-
1944 duce annoying effects on the screen and are not necessary
1945 when logging in. For example, the command to set the
1946 vt100 into 80-column mode would normally be part of <STRONG>is2</STRONG>,
1947 but it causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not
1948 normally needed since the terminal is usually already in
1951 The <EM>reset</EM> program writes strings including <STRONG>iprog</STRONG>, etc., in
1952 the same order as the <EM>init</EM> program, using <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, etc.,
1953 instead of <STRONG>is1</STRONG>, etc. If any of <STRONG>rs1</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs2</STRONG>, <STRONG>rs3</STRONG>, or <STRONG>rf</STRONG> reset
1954 capability strings are missing, the <EM>reset</EM> program falls
1955 back upon the corresponding initialization capability
1958 If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can
1959 be given as <STRONG>tbc</STRONG> (clear all tab stops) and <STRONG>hts</STRONG> (set a tab
1960 stop in the current column of every row). If a more com-
1961 plex sequence is needed to set the tabs than can be
1962 described by this, the sequence can be placed in <STRONG>is2</STRONG> or
1963 <STRONG>if</STRONG>.
1967 <H3><a name="h3-Delays-and-Padding">Delays and Padding</a></H3><PRE>
1968 Many older and slower terminals do not support either
1969 XON/XOFF or DTR handshaking, including hard copy terminals
1970 and some very archaic CRTs (including, for example, DEC
1971 VT100s). These may require padding characters after cer-
1972 tain cursor motions and screen changes.
1974 If the terminal uses xon/xoff handshaking for flow control
1975 (that is, it automatically emits ^S back to the host when
1976 its input buffers are close to full), set <STRONG>xon</STRONG>. This capa-
1977 bility suppresses the emission of padding. You can also
1978 set it for memory-mapped console devices effectively that
1979 do not have a speed limit. Padding information should
1980 still be included so that routines can make better deci-
1981 sions about relative costs, but actual pad characters will
1984 If <STRONG>pb</STRONG> (padding baud rate) is given, padding is suppressed
1985 at baud rates below the value of <STRONG>pb</STRONG>. If the entry has no
1986 padding baud rate, then whether padding is emitted or not
1987 is completely controlled by <STRONG>xon</STRONG>.
1989 If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) charac-
1990 ter as a pad, then this can be given as <STRONG>pad</STRONG>. Only the
1991 first character of the <STRONG>pad</STRONG> string is used.
1995 <H3><a name="h3-Status-Lines">Status Lines</a></H3><PRE>
1996 Some terminals have an extra "status line" which is not
1997 normally used by software (and thus not counted in the
1998 terminal's <STRONG>lines</STRONG> capability).
2000 The simplest case is a status line which is cursor-
2001 addressable but not part of the main scrolling region on
2002 the screen; the Heathkit H19 has a status line of this
2003 kind, as would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line scrolling
2004 region set up on initialization. This situation is indi-
2005 cated by the <STRONG>hs</STRONG> capability.
2007 Some terminals with status lines need special sequences to
2008 access the status line. These may be expressed as a
2009 string with single parameter <STRONG>tsl</STRONG> which takes the cursor to
2010 a given zero-origin column on the status line. The capa-
2011 bility <STRONG>fsl</STRONG> must return to the main-screen cursor positions
2012 before the last <STRONG>tsl</STRONG>. You may need to embed the string
2013 values of <STRONG>sc</STRONG> (save cursor) and <STRONG>rc</STRONG> (restore cursor) in <STRONG>tsl</STRONG>
2014 and <STRONG>fsl</STRONG> to accomplish this.
2016 The status line is normally assumed to be the same width
2017 as the width of the terminal. If this is untrue, you can
2018 specify it with the numeric capability <STRONG>wsl</STRONG>.
2020 A command to erase or blank the status line may be speci-
2021 fied as <STRONG>dsl</STRONG>.
2023 The boolean capability <STRONG>eslok</STRONG> specifies that escape
2024 sequences, tabs, etc., work ordinarily in the status line.
2026 The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation does not yet use any of these
2027 capabilities. They are documented here in case they ever
2032 <H3><a name="h3-Line-Graphics">Line Graphics</a></H3><PRE>
2033 Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for
2034 forms-drawing. Terminfo and <STRONG>curses</STRONG> build in support for
2035 the drawing characters supported by the VT100, with some
2036 characters from the AT&T 4410v1 added. This alternate
2037 character set may be specified by the <STRONG>acsc</STRONG> capability.
2039 <STRONG>Glyph</STRONG> <STRONG>ACS</STRONG> <STRONG>Ascii</STRONG> <STRONG>VT100</STRONG>
2040 <STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Default</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG>
2041 UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f }
2042 arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v .
2043 arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < ,
2044 arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > +
2045 arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ -
2046 board of squares ACS_BOARD # h
2047 bullet ACS_BULLET o ~
2048 checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a
2049 degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \ f
2050 diamond ACS_DIAMOND + `
2051 greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z
2053 horizontal line ACS_HLINE - q
2054 lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i
2055 large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n
2056 less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y
2057 lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m
2058 lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j
2059 not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! |
2060 plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g
2061 scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o
2062 scan line 3 ACS_S3 - p
2063 scan line 7 ACS_S7 - r
2064 scan line 9 ACS_S9 _ s
2065 solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0
2066 tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w
2067 tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u
2068 tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t
2069 tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v
2070 upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l
2071 upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k
2072 vertical line ACS_VLINE | x
2074 The best way to define a new device's graphics set is to
2075 add a column to a copy of this table for your terminal,
2076 giving the character which (when emitted between
2077 <STRONG>smacs</STRONG>/<STRONG>rmacs</STRONG> switches) will be rendered as the correspond-
2078 ing graphic. Then read off the VT100/your terminal char-
2079 acter pairs right to left in sequence; these become the
2084 <H3><a name="h3-Color-Handling">Color Handling</a></H3><PRE>
2085 Most color terminals are either "Tektronix-like" or "HP-
2086 like". Tektronix-like terminals have a predefined set of
2087 N colors (where N usually 8), and can set character-cell
2088 foreground and background characters independently, mixing
2089 them into N * N color-pairs. On HP-like terminals, the
2090 use must set each color pair up separately (foreground and
2091 background are not independently settable). Up to M
2092 color-pairs may be set up from 2*M different colors.
2093 ANSI-compatible terminals are Tektronix-like.
2095 Some basic color capabilities are independent of the color
2096 method. The numeric capabilities <STRONG>colors</STRONG> and <STRONG>pairs</STRONG> specify
2097 the maximum numbers of colors and color-pairs that can be
2098 displayed simultaneously. The <STRONG>op</STRONG> (original pair) string
2099 resets foreground and background colors to their default
2100 values for the terminal. The <STRONG>oc</STRONG> string resets all colors
2101 or color-pairs to their default values for the terminal.
2102 Some terminals (including many PC terminal emulators)
2103 erase screen areas with the current background color
2104 rather than the power-up default background; these should
2105 have the boolean capability <STRONG>bce</STRONG>.
2107 To change the current foreground or background color on a
2108 Tektronix-type terminal, use <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> (set ANSI foreground)
2109 and <STRONG>setab</STRONG> (set ANSI background) or <STRONG>setf</STRONG> (set foreground)
2110 and <STRONG>setb</STRONG> (set background). These take one parameter, the
2111 color number. The SVr4 documentation describes only
2112 <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG>; the XPG4 draft says that "If the terminal
2113 supports ANSI escape sequences to set background and fore-
2114 ground, they should be coded as <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setab</STRONG>, respec-
2115 tively. If the terminal supports other escape sequences
2116 to set background and foreground, they should be coded as
2117 <STRONG>setf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setb</STRONG>, respectively. The <EM>vidputs()</EM> function and
2118 the refresh functions use <STRONG>setaf</STRONG> and <STRONG>setab</STRONG> if they are
2121 The <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG> and <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> capabilities take a single
2122 numeric argument each. Argument values 0-7 of <STRONG>setaf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setab</STRONG>
2123 are portably defined as follows (the middle column is the
2124 symbolic #define available in the header for the <STRONG>curses</STRONG> or
2125 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> libraries). The terminal hardware is free to map
2126 these as it likes, but the RGB values indicate normal
2127 locations in color space.
2129 <STRONG>Color</STRONG> <STRONG>#define</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG> <STRONG>RGB</STRONG>
2130 black <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> 0 0, 0, 0
2131 red <STRONG>COLOR_RED</STRONG> 1 max,0,0
2132 green <STRONG>COLOR_GREEN</STRONG> 2 0,max,0
2133 yellow <STRONG>COLOR_YELLOW</STRONG> 3 max,max,0
2134 blue <STRONG>COLOR_BLUE</STRONG> 4 0,0,max
2135 magenta <STRONG>COLOR_MAGENTA</STRONG> 5 max,0,max
2136 cyan <STRONG>COLOR_CYAN</STRONG> 6 0,max,max
2137 white <STRONG>COLOR_WHITE</STRONG> 7 max,max,max
2139 The argument values of <STRONG>setf</STRONG>/<STRONG>setb</STRONG> historically correspond
2140 to a different mapping, i.e.,
2142 <STRONG>Color</STRONG> <STRONG>#define</STRONG> <STRONG>Value</STRONG> <STRONG>RGB</STRONG>
2143 black <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> 0 0, 0, 0
2144 blue <STRONG>COLOR_BLUE</STRONG> 1 0,0,max
2145 green <STRONG>COLOR_GREEN</STRONG> 2 0,max,0
2146 cyan <STRONG>COLOR_CYAN</STRONG> 3 0,max,max
2147 red <STRONG>COLOR_RED</STRONG> 4 max,0,0
2148 magenta <STRONG>COLOR_MAGENTA</STRONG> 5 max,0,max
2149 yellow <STRONG>COLOR_YELLOW</STRONG> 6 max,max,0
2150 white <STRONG>COLOR_WHITE</STRONG> 7 max,max,max
2152 It is important to not confuse the two sets of color capa-
2153 bilities; otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the
2156 On an HP-like terminal, use <STRONG>scp</STRONG> with a color-pair number
2157 parameter to set which color pair is current.
2159 On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability <STRONG>ccc</STRONG> may be
2160 present to indicate that colors can be modified. If so,
2161 the <STRONG>initc</STRONG> capability will take a color number (0 to <STRONG>colors</STRONG>
2162 - 1)and three more parameters which describe the color.
2163 These three parameters default to being interpreted as RGB
2164 (Red, Green, Blue) values. If the boolean capability <STRONG>hls</STRONG>
2165 is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness, Satu-
2166 ration) indices. The ranges are terminal-dependent.
2168 On an HP-like terminal, <STRONG>initp</STRONG> may give a capability for
2169 changing a color-pair value. It will take seven parame-
2170 ters; a color-pair number (0 to <STRONG>max_pairs</STRONG> - 1), and two
2171 triples describing first background and then foreground
2172 colors. These parameters must be (Red, Green, Blue) or
2173 (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) depending on <STRONG>hls</STRONG>.
2175 On some color terminals, colors collide with highlights.
2176 You can register these collisions with the <STRONG>ncv</STRONG> capability.
2177 This is a bit-mask of attributes not to be used when col-
2178 ors are enabled. The correspondence with the attributes
2179 understood by <STRONG>curses</STRONG> is as follows:
2181 <STRONG>Attribute</STRONG> <STRONG>Bit</STRONG> <STRONG>Decimal</STRONG> <STRONG>Set</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
2190 A_ALTCHARSET 8 256 sgr
2191 A_HORIZONTAL 9 512 sgr1
2194 A_RIGHT 12 4096 sgr1
2196 A_VERTICAL 14 16384 sgr1
2197 A_ITALIC 15 32768 sitm
2199 For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline
2200 attribute collides with the foreground color blue and is
2201 not available in color mode. These should have an <STRONG>ncv</STRONG>
2204 SVr4 curses does nothing with <STRONG>ncv</STRONG>, ncurses recognizes it
2205 and optimizes the output in favor of colors.
2209 <H3><a name="h3-Miscellaneous">Miscellaneous</a></H3><PRE>
2210 If the terminal requires other than a null (zero) charac-
2211 ter as a pad, then this can be given as pad. Only the
2212 first character of the pad string is used. If the termi-
2213 nal does not have a pad character, specify npc. Note that
2214 ncurses implements the termcap-compatible <STRONG>PC</STRONG> variable;
2215 though the application may set this value to something
2216 other than a null, ncurses will test <STRONG>npc</STRONG> first and use
2217 napms if the terminal has no pad character.
2219 If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can
2220 be indicated with <STRONG>hu</STRONG> (half-line up) and <STRONG>hd</STRONG> (half-line
2221 down). This is primarily useful for superscripts and sub-
2222 scripts on hard-copy terminals. If a hard-copy terminal
2223 can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as <STRONG>ff</STRONG>
2224 (usually control L).
2226 If there is a command to repeat a given character a given
2227 number of times (to save time transmitting a large number
2228 of identical characters) this can be indicated with the
2229 parameterized string <STRONG>rep</STRONG>. The first parameter is the
2230 character to be repeated and the second is the number of
2231 times to repeat it. Thus, tparm(repeat_char, 'x', 10) is
2232 the same as "xxxxxxxxxx".
2234 If the terminal has a settable command character, such as
2235 the TEKTRONIX 4025, this can be indicated with <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG>. A
2236 prototype command character is chosen which is used in all
2237 capabilities. This character is given in the <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG> capa-
2238 bility to identify it. The following convention is sup-
2239 ported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be
2240 searched for a <STRONG>CC</STRONG> variable, and if found, all occurrences
2241 of the prototype character are replaced with the character
2242 in the environment variable.
2244 Terminal descriptions that do not represent a specific
2245 kind of known terminal, such as <EM>switch</EM>, <EM>dialup</EM>, <EM>patch</EM>, and
2246 <EM>network</EM>, should include the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (generic) capability so
2247 that programs can complain that they do not know how to
2248 talk to the terminal. (This capability does not apply to
2249 <EM>virtual</EM> terminal descriptions for which the escape
2250 sequences are known.)
2252 If the terminal has a "meta key" which acts as a shift
2253 key, setting the 8th bit of any character transmitted,
2254 this fact can be indicated with <STRONG>km</STRONG>. Otherwise, software
2255 will assume that the 8th bit is parity and it will usually
2256 be cleared. If strings exist to turn this "meta mode" on
2257 and off, they can be given as <STRONG>smm</STRONG> and <STRONG>rmm</STRONG>.
2259 If the terminal has more lines of memory than will fit on
2260 the screen at once, the number of lines of memory can be
2261 indicated with <STRONG>lm</STRONG>. A value of <STRONG>lm</STRONG>#0 indicates that the
2262 number of lines is not fixed, but that there is still more
2263 memory than fits on the screen.
2265 If the terminal is one of those supported by the UNIX vir-
2266 tual terminal protocol, the terminal number can be given
2267 as <STRONG>vt</STRONG>.
2269 Media copy strings which control an auxiliary printer con-
2270 nected to the terminal can be given as <STRONG>mc0</STRONG>: print the con-
2271 tents of the screen, <STRONG>mc4</STRONG>: turn off the printer, and <STRONG>mc5</STRONG>:
2272 turn on the printer. When the printer is on, all text
2273 sent to the terminal will be sent to the printer. It is
2274 undefined whether the text is also displayed on the termi-
2275 nal screen when the printer is on. A variation <STRONG>mc5p</STRONG> takes
2276 one parameter, and leaves the printer on for as many char-
2277 acters as the value of the parameter, then turns the
2278 printer off. The parameter should not exceed 255. All
2279 text, including <STRONG>mc4</STRONG>, is transparently passed to the
2280 printer while an <STRONG>mc5p</STRONG> is in effect.
2284 <H3><a name="h3-Glitches-and-Braindamage">Glitches and Braindamage</a></H3><PRE>
2285 Hazeltine terminals, which do not allow "~" characters to
2286 be displayed should indicate <STRONG>hz</STRONG>.
2288 Terminals which ignore a line-feed immediately after an <STRONG>am</STRONG>
2289 wrap, such as the Concept and vt100, should indicate <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>.
2291 If <STRONG>el</STRONG> is required to get rid of standout (instead of
2292 merely writing normal text on top of it), <STRONG>xhp</STRONG> should be
2295 Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved
2296 over to blanks, should indicate <STRONG>xt</STRONG> (destructive tabs).
2297 Note: the variable indicating this is now
2298 "dest_tabs_magic_smso"; in older versions, it was tel-
2299 eray_glitch. This glitch is also taken to mean that it is
2300 not possible to position the cursor on top of a "magic
2301 cookie", that to erase standout mode it is instead neces-
2302 sary to use delete and insert line. The ncurses implemen-
2303 tation ignores this glitch.
2305 The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly trans-
2306 mit the escape or control C characters, has <STRONG>xsb</STRONG>, indicat-
2307 ing that the f1 key is used for escape and f2 for control
2308 C. (Only certain Superbees have this problem, depending
2309 on the ROM.) Note that in older terminfo versions, this
2310 capability was called "beehive_glitch"; it is now
2313 Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by
2314 adding more capabilities of the form <STRONG>x</STRONG><EM>x</EM>.
2318 <H3><a name="h3-Similar-Terminals">Similar Terminals</a></H3><PRE>
2319 If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant)
2320 can be defined as being just like the other (the base)
2321 with certain exceptions. In the definition of the vari-
2322 ant, the string capability <STRONG>use</STRONG> can be given with the name
2323 of the base terminal. The capabilities given before <STRONG>use</STRONG>
2324 override those in the base type named by <STRONG>use</STRONG>. If there
2325 are multiple <STRONG>use</STRONG> capabilities, they are merged in reverse
2326 order. That is, the rightmost <STRONG>use</STRONG> reference is processed
2327 first, then the one to its left, and so forth. Capabili-
2328 ties given explicitly in the entry override those brought
2329 in by <STRONG>use</STRONG> references.
2331 A capability can be canceled by placing <STRONG>xx@</STRONG> to the left of
2332 the use reference that imports it, where <EM>xx</EM> is the capa-
2333 bility. For example, the entry
2335 2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,
2337 defines a 2621-nl that does not have the <STRONG>smkx</STRONG> or <STRONG>rmkx</STRONG>
2338 capabilities, and hence does not turn on the function key
2339 labels when in visual mode. This is useful for different
2340 modes for a terminal, or for different user preferences.
2344 <H3><a name="h3-Pitfalls-of-Long-Entries">Pitfalls of Long Entries</a></H3><PRE>
2345 Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to
2346 date, no entry has even approached terminfo's 4096-byte
2347 string-table maximum. Unfortunately, the termcap transla-
2348 tions are much more strictly limited (to 1023 bytes), thus
2349 termcap translations of long terminfo entries can cause
2352 The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG>
2353 instruct the user to allocate a 1024-byte buffer for the
2354 termcap entry. The entry gets null-terminated by the
2355 termcap library, so that makes the maximum safe length for
2356 a termcap entry 1k-1 (1023) bytes. Depending on what the
2357 application and the termcap library being used does, and
2358 where in the termcap file the terminal type that <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG>
2359 is searching for is, several bad things can happen.
2361 Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if
2362 they find an entry that's longer than 1023 bytes; others
2363 do not; others truncate the entries to 1023 bytes. Some
2364 application programs allocate more than the recommended 1K
2365 for the termcap entry; others do not.
2367 Each termcap entry has two important sizes associated with
2368 it: before "tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion. "tc"
2369 is the capability that tacks on another termcap entry to
2370 the end of the current one, to add on its capabilities.
2371 If a termcap entry does not use the "tc" capability, then
2372 of course the two lengths are the same.
2374 The "before tc expansion" length is the most important
2375 one, because it affects more than just users of that par-
2376 ticular terminal. This is the length of the entry as it
2377 exists in /etc/termcap, minus the backslash-newline pairs,
2378 which <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> strips out while reading it. Some termcap
2379 libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap
2380 does not). Now suppose:
2382 <STRONG>o</STRONG> a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023
2385 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and the application has only allocated a 1k buffer,
2387 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and the termcap library (like the one in BSD/OS 1.1
2388 and GNU) reads the whole entry into the buffer, no
2389 matter what its length, to see if it is the entry it
2392 <STRONG>o</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> is searching for a terminal type that
2393 either is the long entry, appears in the termcap file
2394 after the long entry, or does not appear in the file
2395 at all (so that <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> has to search the whole
2398 Then <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack,
2399 and probably core dump the program. Programs like telnet
2400 are particularly vulnerable; modern telnets pass along
2401 values like the terminal type automatically. The results
2402 are almost as undesirable with a termcap library, like
2403 SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages
2404 when it reads an overly long termcap entry. If a termcap
2405 library truncates long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is
2406 immune to dying here but will return incorrect data for
2409 The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect
2410 to the above, but only for people who actually set TERM to
2411 that terminal type, since <STRONG>tgetent()</STRONG> only does "tc" expan-
2412 sion once it is found the terminal type it was looking
2413 for, not while searching.
2415 In summary, a termcap entry that is longer than 1023 bytes
2416 can cause, on various combinations of termcap libraries
2417 and applications, a core dump, warnings, or incorrect
2418 operation. If it is too long even before "tc" expansion,
2419 it will have this effect even for users of some other ter-
2420 minal types and users whose TERM variable does not have a
2423 When in -C (translate to termcap) mode, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> imple-
2424 mentation of <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG> issues warning messages when the pre-
2425 tc length of a termcap translation is too long. The -c
2426 (check) option also checks resolved (after tc expansion)
2431 <H3><a name="h3-Binary-Compatibility">Binary Compatibility</a></H3><PRE>
2432 It is not wise to count on portability of binary terminfo
2433 entries between commercial UNIX versions. The problem is
2434 that there are at least two versions of terminfo (under
2435 HP-UX and AIX) which diverged from System V terminfo after
2436 SVr1, and have added extension capabilities to the string
2437 table that (in the binary format) collide with System V
2438 and XSI Curses extensions.
2442 <H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
2443 Searching for terminal descriptions in <STRONG>$HOME/.terminfo</STRONG> and
2444 TERMINFO_DIRS is not supported by older implementations.
2446 Some SVr4 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> implementations, and all previous to
2447 SVr4, do not interpret the %A and %O operators in parame-
2450 SVr4/XPG4 do not specify whether <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> licenses movement
2451 while in an alternate-character-set mode (such modes may,
2452 among other things, map CR and NL to characters that do
2453 not trigger local motions). The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> implementation
2454 ignores <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> in <STRONG>ALTCHARSET</STRONG> mode. This raises the possi-
2455 bility that an XPG4 implementation making the opposite
2456 interpretation may need terminfo entries made for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
2457 to have <STRONG>msgr</STRONG> turned off.
2459 The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library handles insert-character and insert-
2460 character modes in a slightly non-standard way to get bet-
2461 ter update efficiency. See the <STRONG>Insert/Delete</STRONG> <STRONG>Character</STRONG>
2464 The parameter substitutions for <STRONG>set_clock</STRONG> and <STRONG>dis-</STRONG>
2465 <STRONG>play_clock</STRONG> are not documented in SVr4 or the XSI Curses
2466 standard. They are deduced from the documentation for the
2467 AT&T 505 terminal.
2469 Be careful assigning the <STRONG>kmous</STRONG> capability. The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
2470 wants to interpret it as <STRONG>KEY_MOUSE</STRONG>, for use by terminals
2471 and emulators like xterm that can return mouse-tracking
2472 information in the keyboard-input stream.
2474 X/Open Curses does not mention italics. Portable applica-
2475 tions must assume that numeric capabilities are signed
2476 16-bit values. This includes the <EM>no</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>color</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>video</EM> (ncv)
2477 capability. The 32768 mask value used for italics with
2478 ncv can be confused with an absent or cancelled ncv. If
2479 italics should work with colors, then the ncv value must
2480 be specified, even if it is zero.
2482 Different commercial ports of terminfo and curses support
2483 different subsets of the XSI Curses standard and (in some
2484 cases) different extension sets. Here is a summary, accu-
2485 rate as of October 1995:
2487 <STRONG>SVR4,</STRONG> <STRONG>Solaris,</STRONG> <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> -- These support all SVr4 capabili-
2490 <STRONG>SGI</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented
2491 extended string capability (<STRONG>set_pglen</STRONG>).
2493 <STRONG>SVr1,</STRONG> <STRONG>Ultrix</STRONG> -- These support a restricted subset of ter-
2494 minfo capabilities. The booleans end with <STRONG>xon_xoff</STRONG>; the
2495 numerics with <STRONG>width_status_line</STRONG>; and the strings with
2496 <STRONG>prtr_non</STRONG>.
2498 <STRONG>HP/UX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234]
2499 numerics <STRONG>num_labels</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_height</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_width</STRONG>, plus func-
2500 tion keys 11 through 63, plus <STRONG>plab_norm</STRONG>, <STRONG>label_on</STRONG>, and
2501 <STRONG>label_off</STRONG>, plus some incompatible extensions in the string
2504 <STRONG>AIX</STRONG> -- Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11
2505 through 63, plus a number of incompatible string table
2508 <STRONG>OSF</STRONG> -- Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.
2512 <H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
2513 /usr/share/terminfo/?/* files containing terminal
2518 <H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
2519 <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>printf(3)</STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>.
2520 <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>.
2524 <H2><a name="h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></H2><PRE>
2525 Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
2526 Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
2530 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
2534 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
2535 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
2536 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
2538 <li><a href="#h3-Predefined-Capabilities">Predefined Capabilities</a></li>
2539 <li><a href="#h3-User-Defined-Capabilities">User-Defined Capabilities</a></li>
2540 <li><a href="#h3-A-Sample-Entry">A Sample Entry</a></li>
2541 <li><a href="#h3-Types-of-Capabilities">Types of Capabilities</a></li>
2542 <li><a href="#h3-Fetching-Compiled-Descriptions">Fetching Compiled Descriptions</a></li>
2543 <li><a href="#h3-Preparing-Descriptions">Preparing Descriptions</a></li>
2544 <li><a href="#h3-Basic-Capabilities">Basic Capabilities</a></li>
2545 <li><a href="#h3-Parameterized-Strings">Parameterized Strings</a></li>
2546 <li><a href="#h3-Cursor-Motions">Cursor Motions</a></li>
2547 <li><a href="#h3-Area-Clears">Area Clears</a></li>
2548 <li><a href="#h3-Insert_delete-line-and-vertical-motions">Insert/delete line and vertical motions</a></li>
2549 <li><a href="#h3-Insert_Delete-Character">Insert/Delete Character</a></li>
2550 <li><a href="#h3-Highlighting_-Underlining_-and-Visible-Bells">Highlighting, Underlining, and Visible Bells</a></li>
2551 <li><a href="#h3-Keypad-and-Function-Keys">Keypad and Function Keys</a></li>
2552 <li><a href="#h3-Tabs-and-Initialization">Tabs and Initialization</a></li>
2553 <li><a href="#h3-Delays-and-Padding">Delays and Padding</a></li>
2554 <li><a href="#h3-Status-Lines">Status Lines</a></li>
2555 <li><a href="#h3-Line-Graphics">Line Graphics</a></li>
2556 <li><a href="#h3-Color-Handling">Color Handling</a></li>
2557 <li><a href="#h3-Miscellaneous">Miscellaneous</a></li>
2558 <li><a href="#h3-Glitches-and-Braindamage">Glitches and Braindamage</a></li>
2559 <li><a href="#h3-Similar-Terminals">Similar Terminals</a></li>
2560 <li><a href="#h3-Pitfalls-of-Long-Entries">Pitfalls of Long Entries</a></li>
2561 <li><a href="#h3-Binary-Compatibility">Binary Compatibility</a></li>
2564 <li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
2565 <li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
2566 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
2567 <li><a href="#h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></li>
projects / ncurses.git / blob