-.\" $Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.68 2013/11/09 15:20:48 tom Exp $
-.\" Beginning of terminfo.tail file
-.\" This file is part of ncurses.
-.\" See "terminfo.head" for copyright.
+.\"***************************************************************************
+.\" Copyright 2018-2019,2020 Thomas E. Dickey *
+.\" Copyright 1998-2016,2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+.\" *
+.\" Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
+.\" copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
+.\" "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
+.\" without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
+.\" distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
+.\" copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
+.\" furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
+.\" *
+.\" The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
+.\" in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
+.\" *
+.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
+.\" OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
+.\" MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
+.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
+.\" DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
+.\" OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
+.\" THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
+.\" *
+.\" Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
+.\" holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
+.\" sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
+.\" authorization. *
+.\"***************************************************************************
+.\"
+.\" $Id: terminfo.tail,v 1.100 2020/12/19 21:51:22 tom Exp $
.ps +1
.SS User-Defined Capabilities
.
which it does not recognize,
it infers its type (boolean, number or string) from the syntax
and makes an extended table entry for that capability.
-The \fBuse_extended_names\fP function makes this information
+The \fBuse_extended_names\fP(3X) function makes this information
conditionally available to applications.
The ncurses library provides the data leaving most of the behavior
to applications:
ending at the next following \*(``,\*(''.
.PP
A number of escape sequences are provided in the string valued capabilities
-for easy encoding of characters there.
+for easy encoding of characters there:
+.bP
Both \fB\eE\fR and \fB\ee\fR
map to an \s-1ESCAPE\s0 character,
-\fB^x\fR maps to a control-x for any appropriate x, and the sequences
-\fB\en \el \er \et \eb \ef \es\fR give
-a newline, line-feed, return, tab, backspace, form-feed, and space.
+.bP
+\fB^x\fR maps to a control-x for any appropriate \fIx\fP, and
+.bP
+the sequences
+.RS 6
+.PP
+\fB\en\fP, \fB\el\fP, \fB\er\fP, \fB\et\fP, \fB\eb\fP, \fB\ef\fP, and \fB\es\fR
+.RE
+.IP
+produce
+.RS 6
+.PP
+\fInewline\fP, \fIline-feed\fP, \fIreturn\fP, \fItab\fP, \fIbackspace\fP, \fIform-feed\fP, and \fIspace\fP,
+.RE
+.IP
+respectively.
+.PP
+X/Open Curses does not say what \*(``appropriate \fIx\fP\*('' might be.
+In practice, that is a printable ASCII graphic character.
+The special case \*(``^?\*('' is interpreted as DEL (127).
+In all other cases, the character value is AND'd with 0x1f,
+mapping to ASCII control codes in the range 0 through 31.
+.PP
Other escapes include
.bP
\fB\e^\fR for \fB^\fR,
.IP
\fB\e0\fR will produce \e200, which does not terminate a string but behaves
as a null character on most terminals, providing CS7 is specified.
-See stty(1).
+See \fBstty\fP(1).
.IP
The reason for this quirk is to maintain binary compatibility of the
compiled terminfo files with other implementations,
Finally, characters may be given as three octal digits after a \fB\e\fR.
.PP
A delay in milliseconds may appear anywhere in a string capability, enclosed in
-$<..> brackets, as in \fBel\fP=\eEK$<5>, and padding characters are supplied by
-.I tputs
+$<..> brackets, as in \fBel\fP=\eEK$<5>,
+and padding characters are supplied by \fBtputs\fP(3X)
to provide this delay.
+.bP
The delay must be a number with at most one decimal
place of precision; it may be followed by suffixes \*(``*\*('' or \*(``/\*('' or both.
+.bP
A \*(``*\*(''
indicates that the padding required is proportional to the number of lines
affected by the operation, and the amount given is the per-affected-unit
padding required.
(In the case of insert character, the factor is still the
-number of
-.IR lines
-affected.) Normally, padding is advisory if the device has the \fBxon\fR
+number of \fIlines\fP affected.)
+.IP
+Normally, padding is advisory if the device has the \fBxon\fR
capability; it is used for cost computation but does not trigger delays.
+.bP
A \*(``/\*(''
suffix indicates that the padding is mandatory and forces a delay of the given
number of milliseconds even on devices for which \fBxon\fR is present to
as a list of colon-separated directories (or database files) to be searched.
.IP
An empty directory name (i.e., if the variable begins or ends
-with a colon, or contains adacent colons)
+with a colon, or contains adjacent colons)
is interpreted as the system location \fI\*d\fR.
.bP
Finally, \fBncurses\fP searches these compiled-in locations:
If there is a code to move the cursor to the left edge of the current
row, give this as
.BR cr .
-(Normally this will be carriage return, control M.)
+(Normally this will be carriage return, control/M.)
If there is a code to produce an audible signal (bell, beep, etc)
give this as
.BR bel .
.B nel
out of one or both of them.
.PP
-These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and \*(lqglass-tty\*(rq terminals.
+These capabilities suffice to describe hard-copy and \*(``glass-tty\*('' terminals.
Thus the model 33 teletype is described as
.PP
.DT
outputs \*(``%\*(''
.TP
\fB%\fP\fI[[\fP:\fI]flags][width[.precision]][\fP\fBdoxXs\fP\fI]\fP
-as in \fBprintf\fP, flags are \fI[\-+#]\fP and \fIspace\fP.
+as in \fBprintf\fP(3), flags are \fI[\-+#]\fP and \fIspace\fP.
Use a \*(``:\*('' to allow the next character to be a \*(``\-\*('' flag,
-avoiding interpreting "%\-" as an operator.
+avoiding interpreting \*(``%\-\*('' as an operator.
.TP
\f(CW%c\fP
-print pop() like %c in \fBprintf\fP
+print \fIpop()\fP like %c in \fBprintf\fP
.TP
\fB%s\fP
-print pop() like %s in \fBprintf\fP
+print \fIpop()\fP like %s in \fBprintf\fP
.TP
\fB%p\fP\fI[1\-9]\fP
push \fIi\fP'th parameter
.TP
\fB%P\fP\fI[a\-z]\fP
-set dynamic variable \fI[a\-z]\fP to pop()
+set dynamic variable \fI[a\-z]\fP to \fIpop()\fP
.TP
\fB%g\fP\fI[a\-z]/\fP
get dynamic variable \fI[a\-z]\fP and push it
\fB%g\fP\fI[A\-Z]\fP
get static variable \fI[a\-z]\fP and push it
.IP
-The terms "static" and "dynamic" are misleading.
+The terms \*(``static\*('' and \*(``dynamic\*('' are misleading.
Historically, these are simply two different sets of variables,
-whose values are not reset between calls to \fBtparm\fP.
+whose values are not reset between calls to \fBtparm\fP(3X).
However, that fact is not documented in other implementations.
Relying on it will adversely impact portability to other implementations.
.TP
push strlen(pop)
.TP
\fB%+\fP, \fB%\-\fP, \fB%*\fP, \fB%/\fP, \fB%m\fP
-arithmetic (%m is mod): \fIpush(pop() op pop())\fP
+arithmetic (%m is \fImod\fP): \fIpush(pop() op pop())\fP
.TP
\fB%&\fP, \fB%|\fP, \fB%^\fP
bit operations (AND, OR and exclusive-OR): \fIpush(pop() op pop())\fP
logical AND and OR operations (for conditionals)
.TP
\fB%!\fP, \fB%~\fP
-unary operations (logical and bit complement): push(op pop())
+unary operations (logical and bit complement): \fIpush(op pop())\fP
.TP
\fB%i\fP
add 1 to first two parameters (for ANSI terminals)
Note that the order
of the rows and columns is inverted here, and that the row and column
are printed as two digits.
-Thus its \fBcup\fR capability is \*(lqcup=6\eE&%p2%2dc%p1%2dY\*(rq.
+Thus its \fBcup\fR capability is \*(``cup=6\eE&%p2%2dc%p1%2dY\*(''.
.PP
The Microterm \s-1ACT-IV\s0 needs the current row and column sent
preceded by a \fB^T\fR, with the row and column simply encoded in binary,
-\*(lqcup=^T%p1%c%p2%c\*(rq.
-Terminals which use \*(lq%c\*(rq need to be able to
+\*(``cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c\*(''.
+Terminals which use \*(``%c\*('' need to be able to
backspace the cursor (\fBcub1\fR),
and to move the cursor up one line on the screen (\fBcuu1\fR).
This is necessary because it is not always safe to transmit \fB\en\fR
This turns out to be essential for the Ann Arbor 4080.)
.PP
A final example is the \s-1LSI ADM\s0-3a, which uses row and column
-offset by a blank character, thus \*(lqcup=\eE=%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c\*(rq.
+offset by a blank character, thus \*(``cup=\eE=%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c\*(''.
After sending \*(``\eE=\*('', this pushes the first parameter, pushes the
ASCII value for a space (32), adds them (pushing the sum on the stack
in place of the two previous values) and outputs that value as a character.
.BR cub ,
.BR cuf ,
and
-.BR cuu
+.B cuu
with a single parameter indicating how many spaces to move.
These are primarily useful if the terminal does not have
.BR cup ,
\fBindn\fR, and \fBrin\fR will simulate destructive scrolling; their
documentation cautions you not to define \fBcsr\fR unless this is true.
This \fBcurses\fR implementation is more liberal and will do explicit erases
-after scrolling if \fBndstr\fR is defined.
+after scrolling if \fBndsrc\fR is defined.
.PP
If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part of
memory, which all commands affect,
You can determine the
kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen and then typing
text separated by cursor motions.
-Type \*(lqabc\ \ \ \ def\*(rq using local
-cursor motions (not spaces) between the \*(lqabc\*(rq and the \*(lqdef\*(rq.
-Then position the cursor before the \*(lqabc\*(rq and put the terminal in insert
+Type \*(``abc\ \ \ \ def\*('' using local
+cursor motions (not spaces) between the \*(``abc\*('' and the \*(``def\*(''.
+Then position the cursor before the \*(``abc\*('' and put the terminal in insert
mode.
If typing characters causes the rest of the line to shift
rigidly and characters to fall off the end, then your terminal does
not distinguish between blanks and untyped positions.
-If the \*(lqabc\*(rq
-shifts over to the \*(lqdef\*(rq which then move together around the end of the
+If the \*(``abc\*(''
+shifts over to the \*(``def\*('' which then move together around the end of the
current line and onto the next as you insert, you have the second type of
terminal, and should give the capability \fBin\fR, which stands for
-\*(lqinsert null\*(rq.
+\*(``insert null\*(''.
.PP
While these are two logically separate attributes (one line versus multi-line
insert mode, and special treatment of untyped spaces) we have seen no
If there is a way to make the cursor completely invisible, give that as
.BR civis .
The capability
-.BR cnorm
+.B cnorm
should be given which undoes the effects of both of these modes.
.PP
If your terminal correctly generates underlined characters
.PP
.SS Tabs and Initialization
.PP
+A few capabilities are used only for tabs:
+.bP
If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the next
tab stop can be given as
.B ht
-(usually control I).
+(usually control/I).
+.bP
A \*(``back-tab\*('' command which moves leftward to the preceding tab stop can
be given as
.BR cbt .
+.IP
By convention, if the teletype modes indicate that tabs are being
expanded by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal,
programs should not use
.B cbt
even if they are present, since the user may not have the tab stops
properly set.
+.bP
If the terminal has hardware tabs which are initially set every
.I n
spaces when the terminal is powered up,
the numeric parameter
.B it
is given, showing the number of spaces the tabs are set to.
-This is normally used by the
-.IR @TSET@
+.IP
+The \fBit\fP capability is normally used by the \fB@TSET@\fP
command to determine whether to set the mode for hardware tab expansion,
and whether to set the tab stops.
If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in non-volatile memory,
.PP
Other capabilities
include
+.bP
.BR is1 ,
.BR is2 ,
and
.BR is3 ,
initialization strings for the terminal,
+.bP
.BR iprog ,
the path name of a program to be run to initialize the terminal,
+.bP
and \fBif\fR, the name of a file containing long initialization strings.
+.PP
These strings are expected to set the terminal into modes consistent
with the rest of the terminfo description.
They are normally sent to the terminal, by the
.I init
-option of the
-.IR @TPUT@
-program, each time the user logs in.
+option of the \fB@TPUT@\fP program, each time the user logs in.
They will be printed in the following order:
.RS
.TP
run the program
-.BR iprog
+.B iprog
.TP
output
-.BR is1
-.BR is2
+.br
+\fBis1\fP and
+.br
+\fBis2\fP
.TP
set the margins using
-.BR mgc ,
-.BR smgl
-and
-.BR smgr
+\fBmgc\fP or
+.br
+\fBsmglp\fP and \fBsmgrp\fP or
+.br
+\fBsmgl\fP and \fBsmgr\fP
.TP
set tabs using
.B tbc
and
-.BR hts
+.B hts
.TP
print the file
-.BR if
+\fBif\fP
.TP
-and finally
-output
-.BR is3 .
+and finally output
+\fBis3\fP.
.RE
.PP
Most initialization is done with
can be given as
.BR rs1 ,
.BR rs2 ,
-.BR rf
+.B rf
and
.BR rs3 ,
analogous to
.B is2 ,
.B if
and
-.BR is3
+.B is3
respectively.
-These strings are output by the
-.IR reset
-program, which is used when the terminal gets into a wedged state.
+These strings are output
+by \fIreset\fP option of \fB@TPUT@\fP,
+or by the \fB@RESET@\fP program
+(an alias of \fB@TSET@\fP),
+which is used when the terminal gets into a wedged state.
Commands are normally placed in
.BR rs1 ,
-.BR rs2
+.B rs2
.B rs3
and
.B rf
normally be part of
.BR is2 ,
but it causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not normally
-needed since the terminal is usually already in 80 column mode.
+needed since the terminal is usually already in 80-column mode.
.PP
-The
-.IR reset
-program writes strings
-including
+The \fB@RESET@\fP program writes strings including
.BR iprog ,
etc., in the same order as the
-.IR init
+.I init
program, using
.BR rs1 ,
etc., instead of
.BR rs2 ,
.BR rs3 ,
or
-.BR rf
-reset capability strings are missing, the
-.IR reset
-program falls back upon the corresponding initialization capability string.
+.B rf
+reset capability strings are missing,
+the \fB@RESET@\fP program
+falls back upon the corresponding initialization capability string.
.PP
If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can be given as
.B tbc
.B is2
or
.BR if .
+.PP
+The \fB@TPUT@ reset\fP command uses the same capability strings
+as the \fB@RESET@\fP command,
+although the two programs (\fB@TPUT@\fP and \fB@RESET@\fP)
+provide different command-line options.
+.PP
+In practice, these terminfo capabilities are not often used in
+initialization of tabs
+(though they are required for the \fB@TABS@\fP program):
+.bP
+Almost all hardware terminals (at least those which supported tabs)
+initialized those to every \fIeight\fP columns:
+.IP
+The only exception was the AT&T 2300 series,
+which set tabs to every \fIfive\fP columns.
+.bP
+In particular, developers of the hardware terminals which are commonly used
+as models for modern terminal emulators provided documentation demonstrating
+that \fIeight\fP columns were the standard.
+.bP
+Because of this, the terminal initialization programs
+\fB@TPUT@\fP and \fB@TSET@\fP
+use the
+\fBtbc\fP (\fBclear_all_tabs\fP) and
+\fBhts\fP (\fBset_tab\fP) capabilities directly
+only when the \fBit\fP (\fBinit_tabs\fP) capability
+is set to a value other than \fIeight\fP.
.SS Delays and Padding
.PP
Many older and slower terminals do not support either XON/XOFF or DTR
.SS Line Graphics
.PP
Many terminals have alternate character sets useful for forms-drawing.
-Terminfo and \fBcurses\fR build in support for the drawing characters
+Terminfo and \fBcurses\fR have built-in support
+for most of the drawing characters
supported by the VT100, with some characters from the AT&T 4410v1 added.
This alternate character set may be specified by the \fBacsc\fR capability.
.PP
.TS H
center expand;
-l l l l
-l l l l
-lw25 lw10 lw6 lw6.
+l l l l l
+l l l l l
+_ _ _ _ _
+lw25 lw10 lw6 lw6 lw6.
.\".TH
-\fBGlyph ACS Ascii VT100\fR
-\fBName Name Default Name\fR
-UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f }
-arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v .
-arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < ,
-arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > +
-arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ \-
-board of squares ACS_BOARD # h
-bullet ACS_BULLET o ~
-checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a
-degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \e f
-diamond ACS_DIAMOND + `
-greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z
-greek pi ACS_PI * {
-horizontal line ACS_HLINE \- q
-lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i
-large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n
-less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y
-lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m
-lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j
-not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! |
-plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g
-scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o
-scan line 3 ACS_S3 \- p
-scan line 7 ACS_S7 \- r
-scan line 9 ACS_S9 \&_ s
-solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0
-tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w
-tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u
-tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t
-tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v
-upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l
-upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k
-vertical line ACS_VLINE | x
+\fBGlyph ACS Ascii acsc acsc\fR
+\fBName Name Default Char Value\fR
+arrow pointing right ACS_RARROW > + 0x2b
+arrow pointing left ACS_LARROW < , 0x2c
+arrow pointing up ACS_UARROW ^ \- 0x2d
+arrow pointing down ACS_DARROW v . 0x2e
+solid square block ACS_BLOCK # 0 0x30
+diamond ACS_DIAMOND + ` 0x60
+checker board (stipple) ACS_CKBOARD : a 0x61
+degree symbol ACS_DEGREE \e f 0x66
+plus/minus ACS_PLMINUS # g 0x67
+board of squares ACS_BOARD # h 0x68
+lantern symbol ACS_LANTERN # i 0x69
+lower right corner ACS_LRCORNER + j 0x6a
+upper right corner ACS_URCORNER + k 0x6b
+upper left corner ACS_ULCORNER + l 0x6c
+lower left corner ACS_LLCORNER + m 0x6d
+large plus or crossover ACS_PLUS + n 0x6e
+scan line 1 ACS_S1 ~ o 0x6f
+scan line 3 ACS_S3 \- p 0x70
+horizontal line ACS_HLINE \- q 0x71
+scan line 7 ACS_S7 \- r 0x72
+scan line 9 ACS_S9 \&_ s 0x73
+tee pointing right ACS_LTEE + t 0x74
+tee pointing left ACS_RTEE + u 0x75
+tee pointing up ACS_BTEE + v 0x76
+tee pointing down ACS_TTEE + w 0x77
+vertical line ACS_VLINE | x 0x78
+less-than-or-equal-to ACS_LEQUAL < y 0x79
+greater-than-or-equal-to ACS_GEQUAL > z 0x7a
+greek pi ACS_PI * { 0x7b
+not-equal ACS_NEQUAL ! | 0x7c
+UK pound sign ACS_STERLING f } 0x7d
+bullet ACS_BULLET o ~ 0x7e
.TE
.PP
+A few notes apply to the table itself:
+.bP
+X/Open Curses incorrectly states that the mapping for \fIlantern\fP is
+uppercase \*(``I\*('' although Unix implementations use the
+lowercase \*(``i\*('' mapping.
+.bP
+The DEC VT100 implemented graphics using the alternate character set
+feature, temporarily switching \fImodes\fP and sending characters
+in the range 0x60 (96) to 0x7e (126)
+(the \fBacsc Value\fP column in the table).
+.bP
+The AT&T terminal added graphics characters outside that range.
+.IP
+Some of the characters within the range do not match the VT100;
+presumably they were used in the AT&T terminal:
+\fIboard of squares\fP replaces the VT100 \fInewline\fP symbol, while
+\fIlantern symbol\fP replaces the VT100 \fIvertical tab\fP symbol.
+The other VT100 symbols for control characters (\fIhorizontal tab\fP,
+\fIcarriage return\fP and \fIline-feed\fP) are not (re)used in curses.
+.PP
The best way to define a new device's graphics set is to add a column
to a copy of this table for your terminal, giving the character which
(when emitted between \fBsmacs\fR/\fBrmacs\fR switches) will be rendered
.PP
.SS Color Handling
.PP
-Most color terminals are either \*(``Tektronix-like\*('' or \*(``HP-like\*(''.
+The curses library functions \fBinit_pair\fP and \fBinit_color\fP
+manipulate the \fIcolor pairs\fP and \fIcolor values\fP discussed in this
+section
+(see \fBcurs_color\fP(3X) for details on these and related functions).
+.PP
+Most color terminals are either \*(``Tektronix-like\*('' or \*(``HP-like\*('':
+.bP
Tektronix-like
-terminals have a predefined set of N colors (where N usually 8), and can set
+terminals have a predefined set of \fIN\fP colors
+(where \fIN\fP is usually 8),
+and can set
character-cell foreground and background characters independently, mixing them
-into N\ *\ N color-pairs.
-On HP-like terminals, the use must set each color
+into \fIN\fP\ *\ \fIN\fP color-pairs.
+.bP
+On HP-like terminals, the user must set each color
pair up separately (foreground and background are not independently settable).
-Up to M color-pairs may be set up from 2*M different colors.
-ANSI-compatible
-terminals are Tektronix-like.
+Up to \fIM\fP color-pairs may be set up from 2*\fIM\fP different colors.
+ANSI-compatible terminals are Tektronix-like.
.PP
Some basic color capabilities are independent of the color method.
The numeric
than the power-up default background; these should have the boolean capability
\fBbce\fR.
.PP
+While the curses library works with \fIcolor pairs\fP
+(reflecting the inability of some devices to set foreground
+and background colors independently),
+there are separate capabilities for setting these features:
+.bP
To change the current foreground or background color on a Tektronix-type
terminal, use \fBsetaf\fR (set ANSI foreground) and \fBsetab\fR (set ANSI
background) or \fBsetf\fR (set foreground) and \fBsetb\fR (set background).
only \fBsetaf\fR/\fBsetab\fR; the XPG4 draft says that "If the terminal
supports ANSI escape sequences to set background and foreground, they should
be coded as \fBsetaf\fR and \fBsetab\fR, respectively.
+.bP
If the terminal
supports other escape sequences to set background and foreground, they should
be coded as \fBsetf\fR and \fBsetb\fR, respectively.
-The \fIvidputs()\fR
-function and the refresh functions use \fBsetaf\fR and \fBsetab\fR if they are
-defined."
+The \fBvidputs\fR and the \fBrefresh\fP(3X) functions
+use the \fBsetaf\fR and \fBsetab\fR capabilities if they are defined.
.PP
The \fBsetaf\fR/\fBsetab\fR and \fBsetf\fR/\fBsetb\fR capabilities take a
single numeric argument each.
On an HP-like terminal, use \fBscp\fR with a color-pair number parameter to set
which color pair is current.
.PP
+Some terminals allow the \fIcolor values\fP to be modified:
+.bP
On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability \fBccc\fR may be present to
indicate that colors can be modified.
If so, the \fBinitc\fR capability will
they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) indices.
The ranges are
terminal-dependent.
-.PP
+.bP
On an HP-like terminal, \fBinitp\fR may give a capability for changing a
color-pair value.
It will take seven parameters; a color-pair number (0 to
This is primarily useful for superscripts and subscripts on hard-copy terminals.
If a hard-copy terminal can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as
.B ff
-(usually control L).
+(usually control/L).
.PP
If there is a command to repeat a given character a given number of
times (to save time transmitting a large number of identical characters)
The ncurses implementation ignores this glitch.
.PP
The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly transmit the escape
-or control C characters, has
+or control/C characters, has
.BR xsb ,
-indicating that the f1 key is used for escape and f2 for control C.
+indicating that the f1 key is used for escape and f2 for control/C.
(Only certain Superbees have this problem, depending on the ROM.)
Note that in older terminfo versions, this capability was called
\*(``beehive_glitch\*(''; it is now \*(``no_esc_ctl_c\*(''.
Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by adding more
capabilities of the form \fBx\fR\fIx\fR.
.PP
-.SS Similar Terminals
-.PP
-If there are two very similar terminals, one (the variant) can be defined as
-being just like the other (the base) with certain exceptions.
-In the
-definition of the variant, the string capability \fBuse\fR can be given with
-the name of the base terminal.
-The capabilities given before
-.B use
-override those in the base type named by
-.BR use .
-If there are multiple \fBuse\fR capabilities, they are merged in reverse order.
-That is, the rightmost \fBuse\fR reference is processed first, then the one to
-its left, and so forth.
-Capabilities given explicitly in the entry override
-those brought in by \fBuse\fR references.
-.PP
-A capability can be canceled by placing \fBxx@\fR to the left of the
-use reference that imports it, where \fIxx\fP is the capability.
-For example, the entry
-.RS
-.PP
-2621\-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,
-.RE
-.PP
-defines a 2621\-nl that does not have the \fBsmkx\fR or \fBrmkx\fR capabilities,
-and hence does not turn on the function key labels when in visual mode.
-This is useful for different modes for a terminal, or for different
-user preferences.
-.PP
.SS Pitfalls of Long Entries
.PP
Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to date, no entry has even
translations are much more strictly limited (to 1023 bytes), thus termcap translations
of long terminfo entries can cause problems.
.PP
-The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of \fBtgetent()\fP instruct the user to
+The man pages for 4.3BSD and older versions of \fBtgetent\fP instruct the user to
allocate a 1024-byte buffer for the termcap entry.
The entry gets null-terminated by
the termcap library, so that makes the maximum safe length for a termcap entry
1k\-1 (1023) bytes.
Depending on what the application and the termcap library
-being used does, and where in the termcap file the terminal type that \fBtgetent()\fP
+being used does, and where in the termcap file the terminal type that \fBtgetent\fP
is searching for is, several bad things can happen.
.PP
Some termcap libraries print a warning message or exit if they find an
the recommended 1K for the termcap entry; others do not.
.PP
Each termcap entry has two important sizes associated with it: before
-"tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion.
-"tc" is the capability that
+\*(``tc\*('' expansion, and after \*(``tc\*('' expansion.
+\*(``tc\*('' is the capability that
tacks on another termcap entry to the end of the current one, to add
on its capabilities.
-If a termcap entry does not use the "tc"
+If a termcap entry does not use the \*(``tc\*(''
capability, then of course the two lengths are the same.
.PP
-The "before tc expansion" length is the most important one, because it
+The \*(``before tc expansion\*('' length is the most important one, because it
affects more than just users of that particular terminal.
This is the
length of the entry as it exists in /etc/termcap, minus the
-backslash-newline pairs, which \fBtgetent()\fP strips out while reading it.
+backslash-newline pairs, which \fBtgetent\fP strips out while reading it.
Some termcap libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap does not).
Now suppose:
.bP
the whole entry into the buffer, no matter what its length, to see
if it is the entry it wants,
.bP
-and \fBtgetent()\fP is searching for a terminal type that either is the
+and \fBtgetent\fP is searching for a terminal type that either is the
long entry, appears in the termcap file after the long entry, or
-does not appear in the file at all (so that \fBtgetent()\fP has to search
+does not appear in the file at all (so that \fBtgetent\fP has to search
the whole termcap file).
.PP
-Then \fBtgetent()\fP will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack, and probably core dump
+Then \fBtgetent\fP will overwrite memory, perhaps its stack, and probably core dump
the program.
Programs like telnet are particularly vulnerable; modern telnets
pass along values like the terminal type automatically.
termcap library truncates long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is immune to dying
here but will return incorrect data for the terminal.
.PP
-The "after tc expansion" length will have a similar effect to the
+The \*(``after tc expansion\*('' length will have a similar effect to the
above, but only for people who actually set TERM to that terminal
-type, since \fBtgetent()\fP only does "tc" expansion once it is found the
+type, since \fBtgetent\fP only does \*(``tc\*('' expansion once it is found the
terminal type it was looking for, not while searching.
.PP
In summary, a termcap entry that is longer than 1023 bytes can cause,
on various combinations of termcap libraries and applications, a core
dump, warnings, or incorrect operation.
If it is too long even before
-"tc" expansion, it will have this effect even for users of some other
+\*(``tc\*('' expansion, it will have this effect even for users of some other
terminal types and users whose TERM variable does not have a termcap
entry.
.PP
documentation for the AT&T 505 terminal.
.PP
Be careful assigning the \fBkmous\fR capability.
-The \fBncurses\fR wants to
-interpret it as \fBKEY_MOUSE\fR, for use by terminals and emulators like xterm
+The \fBncurses\fR library wants to interpret it as \fBKEY_MOUSE\fR,
+for use by terminals and emulators like xterm
that can return mouse-tracking information in the keyboard-input stream.
.PP
X/Open Curses does not mention italics.
the XSI Curses standard and (in some cases) different extension sets.
Here
is a summary, accurate as of October 1995:
-.PP
+.bP
\fBSVR4, Solaris, ncurses\fR \-\-
These support all SVr4 capabilities.
-.PP
+.bP
\fBSGI\fR \-\-
Supports the SVr4 set, adds one undocumented extended string
capability (\fBset_pglen\fR).
-.PP
+.bP
\fBSVr1, Ultrix\fR \-\-
These support a restricted subset of terminfo capabilities.
The booleans end with \fBxon_xoff\fR;
the numerics with \fBwidth_status_line\fR;
and the strings with \fBprtr_non\fR.
-.PP
+.bP
\fBHP/UX\fR \-\-
Supports the SVr1 subset, plus the SVr[234] numerics \fBnum_labels\fR,
\fBlabel_height\fR, \fBlabel_width\fR, plus function keys 11 through 63, plus
\fBplab_norm\fR, \fBlabel_on\fR, and \fBlabel_off\fR, plus some incompatible
extensions in the string table.
-.PP
+.bP
\fBAIX\fR \-\-
Supports the SVr1 subset, plus function keys 11 through 63, plus a number
of incompatible string table extensions.
-.PP
+.bP
\fBOSF\fR \-\-
Supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.
.SH FILES
\*d/?/*
files containing terminal descriptions
.SH SEE ALSO
-\fB@TIC@\fR(1M),
\fB@INFOCMP@\fR(1M),
+\fB@TABS@\fR(1),
+\fB@TIC@\fR(1M),
\fBcurses\fR(3X),
+\fBcurs_color\fR(3X),
+\fBcurs_variables\fR(3X),
\fBprintf\fR(3),
-\fBterm\fR(\*n).
\fBterm_variables\fR(3X).
+\fBterm\fR(\*n).
+\fBuser_caps\fR(5).
.SH AUTHORS
Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff