-term(7)term(7)
+term(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual term(7)
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@
line.
Terminal type descriptions are stored as files of capability data
- underneath /usr/local/ncurses/lib/terminfo. To browse a list of all
- terminal names recognized by the system, do
+ underneath /usr/share/terminfo. To browse a list of all terminal names
+ recognized by the system, do
toe | more
@@ -97,62 +97,61 @@
infocmp entry_name
where entry_name is the name of the type you wish to examine (and the
- name of its capability file the subdirectory of
- /usr/local/ncurses/lib/terminfo named for its first letter). This com-
- mand dumps a capability file in the text format described by ter-
- minfo(5).
+ 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 terminfo(5).
- The first line of a terminfo(5) description gives the names by which
- terminfo knows a terminal, separated by "|" (pipe-bar) characters with
+ The first line of a terminfo(5) 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 primaryname, and is the one to use when setting TERM. 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 first and last (if present) are
+ 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 first and last (if present) are
aliases for the terminal, usually historical names retained for compat-
ibility.
- There are some conventions for how to choose terminal primary names
- that help keep them informative and unique. Here is a step-by-step
+ There are some conventions for how to choose terminal primary names
+ that help keep them informative and unique. Here is a step-by-step
guide to naming terminals that also explains how to parse them:
- First, choose a root name. The root will consist of a lower-case let-
- ter followed by up to seven lower-case letters or digits. You need to
+ First, choose a root name. The root will consist of a lower-case let-
+ ter followed by up to seven lower-case letters or digits. You need to
avoid using punctuation characters in root names, because they are used
- and interpreted as filenames and shell meta-characters (such as !, $,
+ and interpreted as filenames and shell meta-characters (such as !, $,
*, ?, etc.) embedded in them may cause odd and unhelpful behavior. The
- slash (/), or any other character that may be interpreted by anyone's
- file system (\, $, [, ]), is especially dangerous (terminfo is plat-
- form-independent, and choosing names with special characters could
- someday make life difficult for users of a future port). The dot (.)
- character is relatively safe as long as there is at most one per root
+ slash (/), or any other character that may be interpreted by anyone's
+ file system (\, $, [, ]), is especially dangerous (terminfo is plat-
+ form-independent, and choosing names with special characters could
+ someday make life difficult for users of a future port). The dot (.)
+ character is relatively safe as long as there is at most one per root
name; some historical terminfo names use it.
- The root name for a terminal or workstation console type should almost
- always begin with a vendor prefix (such as hp for Hewlett-Packard, wy
- for Wyse, or att for AT&T terminals), or a common name of the terminal
- line (vt for the VT series of terminals from DEC, or sun for Sun
- Microsystems workstation consoles, or regent for the ADDS Regent
- series. You can list the terminfo tree to see what prefixes are
- already in common use. The root name prefix should be followed when
+ The root name for a terminal or workstation console type should almost
+ always begin with a vendor prefix (such as hp for Hewlett-Packard, wy
+ for Wyse, or att for AT&T terminals), or a common name of the terminal
+ line (vt for the VT series of terminals from DEC, or sun for Sun
+ Microsystems workstation consoles, or regent for the ADDS Regent
+ series. You can list the terminfo tree to see what prefixes are
+ already in common use. The root name prefix should be followed when
appropriate by a model number; thus vt100, hp2621, wy50.
- The root name for a PC-Unix console type should be the OS name, i.e.,
- linux, bsdos, freebsd, netbsd. It should not be console or any other
+ The root name for a PC-Unix console type should be the OS name, i.e.,
+ linux, bsdos, freebsd, netbsd. It should not be console or any other
generic that might cause confusion in a multi-platform environment! If
- a model number follows, it should indicate either the OS release level
+ a model number follows, it should indicate either the OS release level
or the console driver release level.
- The root name for a terminal emulator (assuming it does not fit one of
+ The root name for a terminal emulator (assuming it does not fit one of
the standard ANSI or vt100 types) should be the program name or a read-
ily recognizable abbreviation of it (i.e., versaterm, ctrm).
- Following the root name, you may add any reasonable number of hyphen-
+ Following the root name, you may add any reasonable number of hyphen-
separated feature suffixes.
2p Has two pages of memory. Likewise 4p, 8p, etc.
- mc Magic-cookie. Some terminals (notably older Wyses) can only sup-
+ mc Magic-cookie. Some terminals (notably older Wyses) can only sup-
port one attribute without magic-cookie lossage. Their base entry
is usually paired with another that has this suffix and uses magic
cookies to support multiple attributes.
@@ -161,7 +160,7 @@
-m Mono mode - suppress color support.
- -na No arrow keys - termcap ignores arrow keys which are actually
+ -na No arrow keys - termcap ignores arrow keys which are actually
there on the terminal, so the user can use the arrow keys locally.
-nam No auto-margin - suppress am capability.
@@ -180,18 +179,18 @@
-w Wide; terminal is in 132 column mode.
- Conventionally, if your terminal type is a variant 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
+ Conventionally, if your terminal type is a variant 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 fubar-30-rv (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 use capabilities,
+ Terminal types that are written not as standalone entries, but rather
+ as components to be plugged into other entries via use 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 TERM environment variable when no -T option is speci-
+ option that accepts a terminal name argument. Such programs should
+ fall back on the TERM environment variable when no -T option is speci-
fied.
@@ -201,7 +200,7 @@