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+ * @Id: term.7,v 1.13 2002/04/20 16:50:47 tom Exp @
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<HTML>
+<HEAD>
+<TITLE>TERM 7</TITLE>
+<link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+</HEAD>
<BODY>
+<H1>TERM 7</H1>
+<HR>
<PRE>
<!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
</PRE>
<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2><PRE>
- The environment variable <B>TERM</B> should normally contain the
+ The environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> should normally contain the
type name of the terminal, console or display-device type
you are using. This information is critical for all
screen-oriented programs, including your editor and
mailer.
- A default <B>TERM</B> value will be set on a per-line basis by
- either <B>/etc/inittab</B> (Linux and System-V-like UNIXes) or
- <B>/etc/ttys</B> (BSD UNIXes). This will nearly always suffice
+ A default <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> value will be set on a per-line basis by
+ either <STRONG>/etc/inittab</STRONG> (Linux and System-V-like UNIXes) or
+ <STRONG>/etc/ttys</STRONG> (BSD UNIXes). This will nearly always suffice
for workstation and microcomputer consoles.
If you use a dialup line, the type of device attached to
VT100-compatible terminals and personal-computer emula-
tors.
- Modern telnets pass your <B>TERM</B> environment variable from
+ Modern telnets pass your <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> environment variable from
the local side to the remote one. There can be problems
if the remote terminfo or termcap entry for your type is
not compatible with yours, but this situation is rare and
`vt100' (assuming you are in fact using a VT100-superset
console, terminal, or terminal emulator.)
- In any case, you are free to override the system <B>TERM</B> set-
- ting to your taste in your shell profile. The <B><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></B>
+ In any case, you are free to override the system <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> set-
+ ting to your taste in your shell profile. The <STRONG><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></STRONG>
utility may be of assistance; you can give it a set of
rules for deducing or requesting a terminal type based on
the tty device and baud rate.
- Setting your own <B>TERM</B> value may also be useful if you have
+ Setting your own <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> value may also be useful if you have
created a custom entry incorporating options (such as
visual bell or reverse-video) which you wish to override
the system default type for your line.
from your shell. These capability files are in a binary
format optimized for retrieval speed (unlike the old text-
- based <B>termcap</B> format they replace); to examine an entry,
- you must use the <B><A HREF="infocmp.1.html">infocmp(1)</A></B> command. Invoke it as fol-
+ based <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> format they replace); to examine an entry,
+ you must use the <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1.html">infocmp(1)</A></STRONG> command. Invoke it as fol-
lows:
- infocmp <I>entry-name</I>
+ infocmp <EM>entry-name</EM>
- where <I>entry-name</I> is the name of the type you wish to exam-
+ where <EM>entry-name</EM> is the name of the type you wish to exam-
ine (and the name of its capability file the subdirectory
of /usr/share/terminfo named for its first letter). This
command dumps a capability file in the text format
- described by <B><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></B>.
+ described by <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
- The first line of a <B><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></B> description gives the
+ The first line of a <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> description gives the
names by which terminfo knows a terminal, separated by `|'
(pipe-bar) characters with the last name field terminated
- by a comma. The first name field is the type's <I>primary</I>
- <I>name</I>, and is the one to use when setting <B>TERM</B>. The last
+ by a comma. The first name field is the type's <EM>primary</EM>
+ <EM>name</EM>, and is the one to use when setting <STRONG>TERM</STRONG>. The last
name field (if distinct from the first) is actually a
description of the terminal type (it may contain blanks;
the others must be single words). Name fields between the
The root name for a terminal or workstation console type
should almost always begin with a vendor prefix (such as
- <B>hp</B> for Hewlett-Packard, <B>wy</B> for Wyse, or <B>att</B> for AT&T ter-
- minals), or a common name of the terminal line (<B>vt</B> for the
- VT series of terminals from DEC, or <B>sun</B> for Sun Microsys-
- tems workstation consoles, or <B>regent</B> for the ADDS Regent
+ <STRONG>hp</STRONG> for Hewlett-Packard, <STRONG>wy</STRONG> for Wyse, or <STRONG>att</STRONG> for AT&T ter-
+ minals), or a common name of the terminal line (<STRONG>vt</STRONG> for the
+ VT series of terminals from DEC, or <STRONG>sun</STRONG> for Sun Microsys-
+ tems workstation consoles, or <STRONG>regent</STRONG> for the ADDS Regent
series. You can list the terminfo tree to see what pre-
fixes are already in common use. The root name prefix
should be followed when appropriate by a model number;
- thus <B>vt100</B>, <B>hp2621</B>, <B>wy50</B>.
+ thus <STRONG>vt100</STRONG>, <STRONG>hp2621</STRONG>, <STRONG>wy50</STRONG>.
The root name for a PC-Unix console type should be the OS
- name, i.e. <B>linux</B>, <B>bsdos</B>, <B>freebsd</B>, <B>netbsd</B>. It should <I>not</I>
- be <B>console</B> or any other generic that might cause confusion
+ name, i.e. <STRONG>linux</STRONG>, <STRONG>bsdos</STRONG>, <STRONG>freebsd</STRONG>, <STRONG>netbsd</STRONG>. It should <EM>not</EM>
+ be <STRONG>console</STRONG> or any other generic that might cause confusion
in a multi-platform environment! If a model number fol-
lows, it should indicate either the OS release level or
the console driver release level.
The root name for a terminal emulator (assuming it doesn't
fit one of the standard ANSI or vt100 types) should be the
program name or a readily recognizable abbreviation of it
- (i.e. <B>versaterm</B>, <B>ctrm</B>).
+ (i.e. <STRONG>versaterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>ctrm</STRONG>).
Following the root name, you may add any reasonable number
of hyphen-separated feature suffixes.
intended to specify a line height, that suffix should go
first. So, for a hypothetical FuBarCo model 2317 terminal
in 30-line mode with reverse video, best form would be
- <B>fubar-30-rv</B> (rather than, say, `fubar-rv-30').
+ <STRONG>fubar-30-rv</STRONG> (rather than, say, `fubar-rv-30').
Terminal types that are written not as standalone entries,
but rather as components to be plugged into other entries
- via <B>use</B> capabilities, are distinguished by using embedded
+ via <STRONG>use</STRONG> capabilities, are distinguished by using embedded
plus signs rather than dashes.
Commands which use a terminal type to control display
often accept a -T option that accepts a terminal name
- argument. Such programs should fall back on the <B>TERM</B>
+ argument. Such programs should fall back on the <STRONG>TERM</STRONG>
environment variable when no -T option is specified.
</PRE>
<H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
- <B><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></B>, <B><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></B>, <B><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></B>.
+ <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>.
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff