X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fterm.5.html;h=ebeee22a8bc3e536bfd813f2afa25c1228706b0c;hp=7edfa1dc89d8585fae70bb216b702c38e5003db9;hb=HEAD;hpb=74137fec04e130a88ef25618cf730af988a4f51a diff --git a/doc/html/man/term.5.html b/doc/html/man/term.5.html index 7edfa1dc..bf87ffa5 100644 --- a/doc/html/man/term.5.html +++ b/doc/html/man/term.5.html @@ -1,6 +1,8 @@ -
--term(5) File Formats Manual term(5) +term(5) File formats term(5)
- term - format of compiled term file. - - -
- term + term - compiled terminfo terminal description
+ tic(1) compiles a terminfo terminal type description, and setupterm(3x) + reads it. A compiled description may be stored in a file or in a + database of, potentially, many such descriptions. Further, a compiled + description may be in one of two formats: one similar to that used by + System V, and a newer, extensible format employed exclusively by + ncurses. + -
- Compiled terminfo descriptions are placed under the directory - /usr/share/terminfo. Two configurations are supported (when building - the ncurses libraries): +
+ Compiled terminfo descriptions are placed under the directory + /usr/share/terminfo. One of two configurations is selected when + building the ncurses libraries. directory tree - A two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search of a huge UNIX - system directory: /usr/share/terminfo/c/name where name is the + A two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search of a huge Unix + system directory: /usr/share/terminfo/c/name where name is the name of the terminal, and c is the first character of name. Thus, - act4 can be found in the file /usr/share/terminfo/a/act4. Syn- - onyms for the same terminal are implemented by multiple links to - the same compiled file. + the compiled description of terminal type "act4" is found in the + file /usr/share/terminfo/a/act4. Synonyms for the same terminal + are implemented by multiple links to the same compiled file. hashed database - Using Berkeley database, two types of records are stored: the ter- - minfo data in the same format as stored in a directory tree with - the terminfo's primary name as a key, and records containing only - aliases pointing to the primary name. - - If built to write hashed databases, ncurses can still read ter- - minfo databases organized as a directory tree, but cannot write - entries into the directory tree. It can write (or rewrite) + Using the Berkeley database API, two types of records are stored: + the terminfo data in the same format as that stored in a directory + tree with the terminal's primary type name as a key, and records + containing only aliases pointing to the primary name. + + If built to write hashed databases, ncurses can still read term- + info databases organized as a directory tree, but cannot write + entries into the directory tree. It can write (or rewrite) entries in the hashed database. - ncurses distinguishes the two cases in the TERMINFO and TER- - MINFO_DIRS environment variable by assuming a directory tree for - entries that correspond to an existing directory, and hashed data- - base otherwise. + ncurses distinguishes the two cases in the TERMINFO and + TERMINFO_DIRS environment variable by assuming a directory tree + for entries that correspond to an existing directory, and a hashed + database otherwise. -
+
The format has been chosen so that it will be the same on all hardware. - An 8 or more bit byte is assumed, but no assumptions about byte order- - ing or sign extension are made. + A byte of at least eight bits' width is assumed, but no assumptions + about bit ordering or sign extension are made. + + The file is divided into six parts: + + (a) header, + + (b) terminal names, + + (c) Boolean flags, - The compiled file is created with the tic program, and read by the rou- - tine setupterm(3x). The file is divided into six parts: the header, - terminal names, boolean flags, numbers, strings, and string table. + (d) numbers, - The header section begins the file. This section contains six short + (e) strings, and + + (f) a string table. + + The header section begins the file. This section contains six short integers in the format described below. These integers are - (1) the magic number (octal 0432); - - (2) the size, in bytes, of the names section; - - (3) the number of bytes in the boolean section; - - (4) the number of short integers in the numbers section; - - (5) the number of offsets (short integers) in the strings section; - - (6) the size, in bytes, of the string table. - - Short integers are stored in two 8-bit bytes. The first byte contains - the least significant 8 bits of the value, and the second byte contains - the most significant 8 bits. (Thus, the value represented is 256*sec- - ond+first.) The value -1 is represented by the two bytes 0377, 0377; - other negative values are illegal. This value generally means that the - corresponding capability is missing from this terminal. Note that this - format corresponds to the hardware of the VAX and PDP-11 (that is, lit- - tle-endian machines). Machines where this does not correspond to the - hardware must read the integers as two bytes and compute the little- - endian value. - - The terminal names section comes next. It contains the first line of - the terminfo description, listing the various names for the terminal, - separated by the "|" character. The section is terminated with an - ASCII NUL character. - - The boolean flags have one byte for each flag. This byte is either 0 - or 1 as the flag is present or absent. The capabilities are in the - same order as the file <term.h>. - - Between the boolean section and the number section, a null byte will be - inserted, if necessary, to ensure that the number section begins on an - even byte (this is a relic of the PDP-11's word-addressed architecture, - originally designed in to avoid IOT traps induced by addressing a word - on an odd byte boundary). All short integers are aligned on a short - word boundary. - - The numbers section is similar to the flags section. Each capability - takes up two bytes, and is stored as a little-endian short integer. If - the value represented is -1, the capability is taken to be missing. - - The strings section is also similar. Each capability is stored as a - short integer, in the format above. A value of -1 means the capability - is missing. Otherwise, the value is taken as an offset from the begin- - ning of the string table. Special characters in ^X or \c notation are - stored in their interpreted form, not the printing representation. - Padding information $<nn> and parameter information %x are stored - intact in uninterpreted form. - - The final section is the string table. It contains all the values of - string capabilities referenced in the string section. Each string is - null terminated. - - -
- The previous section describes the conventional terminfo binary format. - With some minor variations of the offsets (see PORTABILITY), the same - binary format is used in all modern UNIX systems. Each system uses a - predefined set of boolean, number or string capabilities. - - The ncurses libraries and applications support extended terminfo binary - format, allowing users to define capabilities which are loaded at run- - time. This extension is made possible by using the fact that the other - implementations stop reading the terminfo data when they have reached - the end of the size given in the header. ncurses checks the size, and - if it exceeds that due to the predefined data, continues to parse + (1) the magic number + (octal 0432); + + (2) the size, + in bytes, of the terminal names section; + + (3) the number of bytes in the Boolean flags section; + + (4) the number of short integers in the numbers section; + + (5) the number of offsets + (short integers) in the strings section; + + (6) the size, + in bytes, of the string table. + + The capabilities in the Boolean flags, numbers, and strings sections + are in the same order as in the header file term.h. + + Short integers are signed, in the range -32768 to 32767, and stored in + little-endian format. + + Numbers in a terminal description, whether they are entries in the + numbers or strings table, are positive integers. Boolean flags are + treated as positive one-byte integers. In each case, those positive + integers represent a terminal capability. The terminal compiler tic + uses negative integers to handle the cases where a capability is not + available: + + o If a capability is absent from this terminal, tic stores a -1 in + the corresponding table. + + The integer value -1 is represented by two bytes 0377, 0377. + Absent Boolean values are represented by the byte 0 (false). + + o If a capability has been canceled from this terminal, tic stores a + -2 in the corresponding table. + + The integer value -2 is represented by two bytes 0377, 0376. + The Boolean value -2 is represented by the byte 0376. + + o Other negative values are illegal. + + The terminal names section comes after the header. It contains the + first line of the terminfo description, listing the various names for + the terminal, separated by the "|" character. The terminal names + section is terminated with an ASCII NUL character. + + The Boolean flags section has one byte for each flag. Boolean + capabilities are either 1 or 0 (true or false) according to whether the + terminal supports the given capability or not. + + Between the Boolean flags section and the number section, a null byte + will be inserted, if necessary, to ensure that the number section + begins on an even byte This is a relic of the PDP-11's word-addressed + architecture, originally designed to avoid traps induced by addressing + a word on an odd byte boundary. All short integers are aligned on a + short word boundary. + + The numbers section is similar to the Boolean flags section. Each + capability takes up two bytes, and is stored as a little-endian short + integer. + + The strings section is also similar. Each capability is stored as a + short integer. The capability value is an index into the string table. + + The string table is the last section. It contains all of the values of + string capabilities referenced in the strings section. Each string is + null-terminated. Special characters in ^X or \c notation are stored in + their interpreted form, not the printing representation. Padding + information $<nn> and parameter information %x are stored intact in + uninterpreted form. + + +
+ The previous section describes the conventional terminfo binary format. + With some minor variations of the offsets (see PORTABILITY), the same + binary format is used in all modern Unix systems. Each system uses a + predefined set of Boolean, number or string capabilities. + + The ncurses libraries and applications support extended terminfo binary + format, allowing users to define capabilities that are loaded at + runtime. This extension is made possible by using the fact that the + other implementations stop reading the terminfo data when they reach + the end of the size given in the header. ncurses checks the size, and + if it exceeds that due to the predefined data, continues to parse according to its own scheme. First, it reads the extended header (5 short integers): - (1) count of extended boolean capabilities + (1) count of extended Boolean capabilities (2) count of extended numeric capabilities @@ -179,162 +212,217 @@ (5) size of the extended string table in bytes - The count- and size-values for the extended string table include the + The count- and size-values for the extended string table include the extended capability names as well as extended capability values. - Using the counts and sizes, ncurses allocates arrays and reads data for + Using the counts and sizes, ncurses allocates arrays and reads data for the extended capabilities in the same order as the header information. - The extended string table contains values for string capabilities. - After the end of these values, it contains the names for each of the - extended capabilities in order, e.g., booleans, then numbers and - finally strings. + The extended string table contains values for string capabilities. + After the end of these values, it contains the names for each of the + extended capabilities in order: Boolean, numeric, and string. + + By storing terminal descriptions in this way, ncurses is able to + provide a database useful with legacy applications, as well as + providing data for applications that require more information about a + terminal type than was anticipated by X/Open Curses. See user_caps(5) + for an overview of the way ncurses uses this extended information. - Applications which manipulate terminal data can use the definitions - described in term_variables(3x) which associate the long capability - names with members of a TERMTYPE structure. + Applications that manipulate terminal data can use the definitions + described in term_variables(3x) associating the long capability names + with members of a TERMTYPE structure. -
- On occasion, 16-bit signed integers are not large enough. With ncurses - 6.1, a new format was introduced by making a few changes to the legacy - format: +
+ On occasion, 16-bit signed integers are not large enough. ncurses 6.1 + introduced a new format by making a few changes to the legacy format: - o a different magic number (0542) + o a different magic number (octal 01036) - o changing the type for the number array from signed 16-bit integers + o changing the type for the number array from signed 16-bit integers to signed 32-bit integers. - To maintain compatibility, the library presents the same data struc- - tures to direct users of the TERMTYPE structure as in previous formats. - However, that cannot provide callers with the extended numbers. The - library uses a similar but hidden data structure TERMTYPE2 to provide - data for the terminfo functions. + To maintain compatibility, the library presents the same data + structures to direct users of the TERMTYPE structure as in previous + formats. However, that cannot provide callers with the extended + numbers. The library uses a similar but hidden data structure + TERMTYPE2 to provide data for the terminfo functions. + + +
+ /usr/share/terminfo + compiled terminal description database
- Note that it is possible for setupterm to expect a different set of - capabilities than are actually present in the file. Either the data- - base may have been updated since setupterm has been recompiled (result- - ing in extra unrecognized entries in the file) or the program may have - been recompiled more recently than the database was updated (resulting - in missing entries). The routine setupterm must be prepared for both - possibilities - this is why the numbers and sizes are included. Also, - new capabilities must always be added at the end of the lists of bool- - ean, number, and string capabilities. - - Despite the consistent use of little-endian for numbers and the other- - wise self-describing format, it is not wise to count on portability of - binary terminfo entries between commercial UNIX versions. The problem - is that there are at least three versions of terminfo (under HP-UX, - AIX, and OSF/1) which diverged from System V terminfo after SVr1, and - have added extension capabilities to the string table that (in the - binary format) collide with System V and XSI Curses extensions. See - terminfo(5) for detailed discussion of terminfo source compatibility + +
+ Note that it is possible for setupterm to expect a different set of + capabilities than are actually present in the file. Either the + database may have been updated since setupterm was recompiled + (resulting in extra unrecognized entries in the file) or the program + may have been recompiled more recently than the database was updated + (resulting in missing entries). The routine setupterm must be prepared + for both possibilities - this is why the numbers and sizes are + included. Also, new capabilities must always be added at the end of + the lists of Boolean, number, and string capabilities. + + +
+ X/Open Curses does not specify a format for the terminfo database. + System V curses used a directory-tree of binary files, one per terminal + description. + + Despite the consistent use of little-endian numbers and the otherwise + self-describing format, it is not wise to count on portability of + binary terminfo entries between commercial Unix versions. The problem + is that there are at least three versions of terminfo (under HP-UX, + AIX, and OSF/1) each of which diverged from System V terminfo after + SVr1, and added extension capabilities to the string table that (in the + binary format) collide with System V and X/Open Curses extensions. See + terminfo(5) for detailed discussion of terminfo source compatibility issues. - Direct access to the TERMTYPE structure is provided for legacy applica- - tions. Portable applications should use the tigetflag and related - functions described in curs_terminfo(3x) for reading terminal capabili- - ties. + This implementation is by default compatible with the binary terminfo + format used by Solaris curses, except in a few less-used details where + it was found that the latter did not match X/Open Curses. The format + used by the other Unix versions can be matched by building ncurses with + different configuration options. + + +
+ The magic number in a binary terminfo file is the first 16 bits (two + bytes). Besides making it more reliable for the library to check that + a file is terminfo, utilities such as file(1) also use that to tell + what the file-format is. System V defined more than one magic number, + with 0433, 0435 as screen-dumps (see scr_dump(5)). This implementation + uses 01036 as a continuation of that sequence, but with a different + high-order byte to avoid confusion. + The TERMTYPE Structure + Direct access to the TERMTYPE structure is provided for legacy + applications. Portable applications should use tigetflag(3x) and + related functions to read terminal capabilities. + + +
A small number of terminal descriptions use uppercase characters in - their names. If the underlying filesystem ignores the difference - between uppercase and lowercase, ncurses represents the "first charac- - ter" of the terminal name used as the intermediate level of a directory - tree in (two-character) hexadecimal form. - - -
- As an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler ADM-3, a pop- - ular though rather stupid early terminal: - - adm3a|lsi adm3a, - am, - cols#80, lines#24, - bel=^G, clear= 32$<1>, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J, - cuf1=^L, cup=\E=%p1%{32}%+%c%p2%{32}%+%c, cuu1=^K, - home=^^, ind=^J, - - - and a hexadecimal dump of the compiled terminal description: - - 0000 1a 01 10 00 02 00 03 00 82 00 31 00 61 64 6d 33 ........ ..1.adm3 - 0010 61 7c 6c 73 69 20 61 64 6d 33 61 00 00 01 50 00 a|lsi ad m3a...P. - 0020 ff ff 18 00 ff ff 00 00 02 00 ff ff ff ff 04 00 ........ ........ - 0030 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 0a 00 25 00 27 00 ff ff ........ ..%.'... - 0040 29 00 ff ff ff ff 2b 00 ff ff 2d 00 ff ff ff ff ).....+. ..-..... - 0050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 0060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 0070 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 0080 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 0090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 00a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 00b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 00c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 00d0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 00e0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 00f0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 0100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 0110 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ - 0120 ff ff ff ff ff ff 2f 00 07 00 0d 00 1a 24 3c 31 ....../. .....$<1 - 0130 3e 00 1b 3d 25 70 31 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 >..=%p1% {32}%+%c - 0140 25 70 32 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 00 0a 00 1e %p2%{32} %+%c.... - 0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ . - - - -
- Some limitations: - - o total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy for- - mat. - - o total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended - format. + their names. If the underlying file system ignores the difference + between uppercase and lowercase, ncurses represents the "first + character" of the terminal name used as the intermediate level of a + directory tree in (two-character) hexadecimal form. - o the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes. +
+ ncurses stores compiled terminal descriptions in three related formats, + described in the subsections -
- /usr/share/terminfo/*/* compiled terminal capability data base + o Legacy Storage Format, and + o Extended Storage Format, and -
- curses(3x), terminfo(5). + o Extended Number Format. + + The legacy storage format and the extended number format differ by the + types of numeric capability that they can store (for example, 16- + versus 32-bit integers). The extended storage format introduced by + ncurses 5.0 adds data to either of these formats. + + Some limitations apply: + + o total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy + format. + + o total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended + format. + + o the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes. + + Compiled entries are limited to 32768 bytes because offsets into the + strings table use two-byte integers. The legacy format could have + supported 32768-byte entries, but was limited to a virtual memory + page's 4096 bytes. + + +
+ Here is a terminfo description of the Lear-Siegler ADM-3, a popular + though rather stupid early terminal. + + adm3a|lsi adm3a, + am, + cols#80, lines#24, + bel=^G, clear=\032$<1>, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J, + cuf1=^L, cup=\E=%p1%{32}%+%c%p2%{32}%+%c, cuu1=^K, + home=^^, ind=^J, + + A hexadecimal dump of its compiled terminal description (in legacy + format) follows. + + 0000 1a 01 10 00 02 00 03 00 82 00 31 00 61 64 6d 33 ........ ..1.adm3 + 0010 61 7c 6c 73 69 20 61 64 6d 33 61 00 00 01 50 00 a|lsi ad m3a...P. + 0020 ff ff 18 00 ff ff 00 00 02 00 ff ff ff ff 04 00 ........ ........ + 0030 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 0a 00 25 00 27 00 ff ff ........ ..%.'... + 0040 29 00 ff ff ff ff 2b 00 ff ff 2d 00 ff ff ff ff ).....+. ..-..... + 0050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 0060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 0070 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 0080 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 0090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 00a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 00b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 00c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 00d0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 00e0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 00f0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 0100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 0110 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........ + 0120 ff ff ff ff ff ff 2f 00 07 00 0d 00 1a 24 3c 31 ....../. .....$<1 + 0130 3e 00 1b 3d 25 70 31 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 >..=%p1% {32}%+%c + 0140 25 70 32 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 00 0a 00 1e %p2%{32} %+%c.... + 0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ .
Thomas E. Dickey - extended terminfo format for ncurses 5.0 - hashed database support for ncurses 5.6 - extended number support for ncurses 6.1 + extended terminfo format for ncurses 5.0 + hashed database support for ncurses 5.6 + extended number support for ncurses 6.1 Eric S. Raymond - documented legacy terminfo format, e.g., from pcurses. + documented legacy terminfo format (that used by pcurses). +
+ curses(3x), curs_terminfo(3x), terminfo(5), user_caps(5) - term(5) + + +ncurses 6.5 2024-05-11 term(5)