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TERMCAP
!!!TERMCAP
NAME
DESCRIPTION
SEE ALSO
----
!!NAME


termcap - terminal capability database
!!DESCRIPTION


The termcap database is an obsolete facility for describing
the capabilities of character-cell terminals and printers.
It is retained only for capability with old programs; new
ones should use the terminfo(5) database and
associated libraries.


__/etc/termcap__ is an ASCII file (the database master)
that lists the capabilities of many different types of
terminal. Programs can read termcap to find the particular
escape codes needed to control the visual attributes of the
terminal actually in use. (Other aspects of the terminal are
handled by stty.) The termcap database is indexed on the
TERM environment variable.


Termcap entries must be defined on a single logical line,
with `' used to suppress the newline. Fields are separated
by `:'. The first field of each entry starts at the
left-hand margin, and contains a list of names for the
terminal, separated by '|'.


The first subfield may (in BSD termcap entries from versions
4.3 and prior) contain a short name consisting of two
characters. This short name may consist of capital or small
letters. In 4.4BSD termcap entries this field is
omitted.


The second subfield (first, in the newer 4.4BSD format)
contains the name used by the environment variable TERM. It
should be spelled in lowercase letters. Selectable hardware
capabilities should be marked by appending a hyphen and a
suffix to this name. See below for an example. Usual
suffixes are w (more than 80 characters wide), am (automatic
margins), nam (no automatic margins) and rv (reverse video
display). The third subfield contains a long and descriptive
name for this termcap entry.


Subsequent fields contain the terminal capabilities; any
continued capability lines must be indented one tab from the
left margin.


Although there is no defined order, it is suggested to write
first boolean, then numeric and at last string capabilities,
each sorted alphabetically without looking at lower or upper
spelling. Capabilities of similar functions can be written
in one line.


Example for:
Head line: vt|vt101|DEC VT 101 terminal in 80 character mode:\
Head line: Vt|vt101-w|DEC VT 101 terminal in (wide) 132 character mode:\
Boolean: :bs:\
Numeric: :co#80:\
String: :sr=E[[H:\


__Boolean Capabilities__


5i   Printer will not echo on screen
am   Automatic margins which means automatic line wrap
bs   Control-H (8 dec.) performs a backspace
bw   Backspace on left margin wraps to previous line and right margin
da   Display retained above screen
db   Display retained below screen
eo   A space erases all characters at cursor position
es   Escape sequences and special characters work in status line
gn   Generic device
hc   This is a hardcopy terminal
HC   The cursor is hard to see when not on bottom line
hs   Has a status line
hz   Hazeltine bug, the terminal can not print tilde characters
in   Terminal inserts nulls, not spaces, to fill whitespace
km   Terminal has a meta key
mi   Cursor movement works in insert mode
ms   Cursor movement works in standout/underline mode
NP   No pad character
NR   ti does not reverse te
nx   No padding, must use XON/XOFF
os   Terminal can overstrike
ul   Terminal underlines although it can not overstrike
xb   Beehive glitch, f1 sends ESCAPE, f2 sends ^C
xn   Newline/wraparound glitch
xo   Terminal uses xon/xoff protocol
xs   Text typed over standout text will be displayed in standout
xt   Teleray glitch, destructive tabs and odd standout mode


__Numeric Capabilities__


co   Number of columns
dB   Delay in milliseconds for backspace on hardcopy terminals
dC   Delay in milliseconds for carriage return on hardcopy terminals
dF   Delay in milliseconds for form feed on hardcopy terminals
dN   Delay in milliseconds for new line on hardcopy terminals
dT   Delay in milliseconds for tabulator stop on hardcopy terminals
dV   Delay in milliseconds for vertical tabulator stop on hardcopy terminals
it   Difference between tab positions
lh   Height of soft labels
lm   Lines of memory
lw   Width of soft labels
li   Number of lines
Nl   Number of soft labels
pb   Lowest baud rate which needs padding
sg   Standout glitch
ug   Underline glitch
vt   virtual terminal number
ws   Width of status line if different from screen width


__String Capabilities__


!1   shifted save key
!2   shifted suspend key
!3   shifted undo key
#1   shifted help key
#2   shifted home key
#3   shifted input key
#4   shifted cursor left key
%0   redo key
%1   help key
%2   mark key
%3   message key
%4   move key
%5   next-object key
%6   open key
%7   options key
%8   previous-object key
%9   print key
%a   shifted message key
%b   shifted move key
%c   shifted next key
%d   shifted options key
%e   shifted previous key
%f   shifted print key
%g   shifted redo key
%h   shifted replace key
%i   shifted cusor right key
%j   shifted resume key
There are several ways of defining the control codes for string capabilities:


Normal Characters except '^','' and '%' repesent
themself.


A '^x' means Control-x. Control-A equals 1
decimal.


x means a special code. x can be one of the following
charaters:


E Escape (27)
n Linefeed (10)
r Carriage return (13)
t Tabulation (9)
b Backspace (8)
f Form feed (12)
0 Null character. A xxx specifies the octal character
xxx.


i


Increments paramters by one.


r


Single parameter capability


+


Add value of next character to this parameter and do binary
output


2


Do ASCII output of this parameter with a field with of
2


d


Do ASCII output of this parameter with a field with of
3


%


Print a '%'


If you use binary output, then you should avoid the null
character because it terminates the string. You should reset
tabulator expansion if a tabulator can be the binary output
of a parameter.


Warning:


The above metacharacters for parameters may be wrong, they
document Minix termcap which may not be compatible with
Linux termcap.


The block grafic characters can be specified by three string
capabilities:


as


start the alternative charset


ae


end it


ac


pairs of characters. The first character is the name of the
block grafic symbol and the second characters is its
definition.


The following names are available:


+    right arrow (
The values in parentheses are suggested defaults which are used by curses, if the capabilities are missing.
!!SEE ALSO


termcap(3), curses(3),
terminfo(5)
----
12 pages link to termcap(5):
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Last edited on Tuesday, June 4, 2002 12:30:41 am by "perry"
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