The environment variable TERM should normally contain the
type name of the terminal, console or display-device type
you are using. This information is critical for all
@@ -55,14 +57,14 @@
mailer.
A default TERM value will be set on a per-line basis by
- either /etc/inittab (Linux and System-V-like UNIXes) or
+ either /etc/inittab (e.g., System-V-like UNIXes) or
/etc/ttys (BSD UNIXes). This will nearly always suffice
for workstation and microcomputer consoles.
If you use a dialup line, the type of device attached to
it may vary. Older UNIX systems pre-set a very dumb ter-
- minal type like `dumb' or `dialup' on dialup lines. Newer
- ones may pre-set `vt100', reflecting the prevalence of DEC
+ minal type like "dumb" or "dialup" on dialup lines. Newer
+ ones may pre-set "vt100", reflecting the prevalence of DEC
VT100-compatible terminals and personal-computer emula-
tors.
@@ -71,7 +73,7 @@
if the remote terminfo or termcap entry for your type is
not compatible with yours, but this situation is rare and
can almost always be avoided by explicitly exporting
- `vt100' (assuming you are in fact using a VT100-superset
+ "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 TERM set-
@@ -81,9 +83,9 @@
the tty device and baud rate.
Setting your own TERM 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.
+ created a custom entry incorporating options (such as vis-
+ ual bell or reverse-video) which you wish to override the
+ system default type for your line.
Terminal type descriptions are stored as files of capabil-
ity data underneath /usr/share/terminfo. To browse a list
@@ -94,19 +96,19 @@
from your shell. These capability files are in a binary
format optimized for retrieval speed (unlike the old text-
based termcap format they replace); to examine an entry,
- you must use the infocmp(1) command. Invoke it as fol-
+ you must use the infocmp(1m) command. Invoke it as fol-
lows:
- infocmp entry-name
+ infocmp entry_name
- where entry-name is the name of the type you wish to exam-
+ where entry_name 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 terminfo(5).
The first line of a terminfo(5) description gives the
- names by which terminfo knows a terminal, separated by `|'
+ 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
@@ -126,10 +128,10 @@
ters or digits. You need to avoid using punctuation char-
acters in root names, because they are used and inter-
preted 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 platform-independent,
+ $, *, ?, etc.) embedded in them may cause odd and unhelp-
+ ful behavior. The slash (/), or any other character that
+ may be interpreted by anyone's file system (\, $, [, ]),
+ is especially dangerous (terminfo is platform-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
@@ -148,15 +150,16 @@
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
+ 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 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. versaterm, ctrm).
+
+ 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 readily recognizable abbreviation of
+ it (i.e., versaterm, ctrm).
Following the root name, you may add any reasonable number
of hyphen-separated feature suffixes.
@@ -169,23 +172,23 @@
another that has this suffix and uses magic cookies
to support multiple attributes.
- -am Enable auto-margin (right-margin wraparound)
+ -am Enable auto-margin (right-margin wraparound).
- -m Mono mode - suppress color support
+ -m Mono mode - suppress color support.
-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
+ -nam No auto-margin - suppress am capability.
- -nl No labels - suppress soft labels
+ -nl No labels - suppress soft labels.
- -nsl No status line - suppress status line
+ -nsl No status line - suppress status line.
-pp Has a printer port which is used.
- -rv Terminal in reverse video mode (black on white)
+ -rv Terminal in reverse video mode (black on white).
-s Enable status line.
@@ -197,7 +200,7 @@
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').
+ 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
@@ -210,68 +213,38 @@
environment variable when no -T option is specified.
-