TERMCAP(5) BSD Programmer's Manual TERMCAP(5) NNAAMMEE tteerrmmccaapp - terminal capability data base SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS tteerrmmccaapp DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN The TTeerrmmccaapp file is a data base describing terminals, used, for example, by vi(1) and curses(3). Terminals are described in tteerrmmccaapp by giving a set of capabilities that they have and by describing how operations are performed. Padding requirements and initialization sequences are includ- ed in tteerrmmccaapp. Entries in tteerrmmccaapp consist of a number of `:'-separated fields. The first entry for each terminal gives the names that are known for the ter- minal, separated by `|' characters. The first name given is the most common abbreviation for the terminal. The last name given should be a long name fully identifying the terminal, and all others are understood as synonyms for the terminal name. All names but the last should be in lower case and contain no blanks; the last name may well contain upper case characters and blanks for readability. Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should be chosen us- ing the following conventions. The particular piece of hardware making up the terminal should have a root name chosen, thus ``hp2621'' This name should not contain hyphens. Modes that the hardware can be in or user preferences should be indicated by appending a hyphen and an indicator of the mode. Therefore, a ``vt100'' in 132-column mode would be ``vt100-w''. The following suffixes should be used where possible: SSuuffffiixx MMeeaanniinngg EExxaammppllee -w Wide mode (more than 80 columns) vt100-w -am With automatic margins (usually default) vt100-am -nam Without automatic margins vt100-nam -_n Number of lines on the -na No arrow keys (leave them in local) concept100-na -_n_p Number of pages of memory concept100-4p -rv Reverse video concept100-rv CCAAPPAABBIILLIITTIIEESS The characters in the The _N_o_t_e_s function field in the table have the fol- lowing meanings (more than one may apply to a capability): N indicates numeric parameter(s) P indicates that padding may be specified * indicates that padding may be based on the number of lines affected o indicates capability is obsolete ``Obsolete'' capabilities have no _t_e_r_m_i_n_f_o equivalents, since they were considered useless, or are subsumed by other capabilities. New software should not rely on them at all. NNaammee TTyyppee NNootteess DDeessccrriippttiioonn functions ae str (P) End alternate character set. AL str (NP*) Add" _n new blank lines al str (P*) Add new blank line. am bool Terminal has automatic margins. as str (P) Start alternate character set. bc str (o) Backspace if not. ^^HH. bl str (P) Audible signal (bell). bs bool (o) Terminal can backspace with ^^HH. bt str (P) Back tab. bw bool llee (backspace) wraps from column 0 to last column. CC str Terminal settable command character in prototype. cd str (P*) Clear to end of display. ce str (P) Clear to end of line. ch str (NP) Set cursor column (horizontal position). cl str (P*) Clear screen and home cursor. CM str (NP) Memory-relative cursor addressing. cm str (NP) Screen-relative cursor motion. co num Number of columns in a line (See _B_U_G_S sec- tion below). cr str (P) Carriage return. cs str (NP) Change scrolling region (VT100). ct str (P) Clear all tab stops. cv str (NP) Set cursor row (vertical position). da bool Display may be retained above the screen. dB num (o) Milliseconds of bbss delay needed (default 0). db bool Display may be retained below the screen. DC str (NP*) Delete _n characters. dC num (o) Milliseconds of ccrr delay needed (default 0). dc str (P*) Delete character. dF num (o) Milliseconds of ffff delay needed (default 0). DL str (NP*) Delete _n lines. dl str (P*) Delete line. dm str Enter delete mode. dN num (o) Milliseconds of nnll delay needed (default 0). DO str (NP*) Move cursor down: _n lines. do str Down one line. ds str Disable status line. dT num (o) Milliseconds of horizontal tab delay needed (default 0). dV num (o) Milliseconds of vertical tab delay needed (default 0). ec str (NP) Erase _n characters. ed str End delete mode. ei str End insert mode. eo bool Can erase overstrikes with a blank. EP bool (o) Even parity. es bool Escape can be used on the status line. ff str (P*) Hardcopy terminal page eject. fs str Return from status line. gn bool Generic line type, for example dialup, switch). hc bool Hardcopy terminal. HD bool (o) Half-duplex. hd str Half-line down (forward 1/2 linefeed). ho str (P) Home cursor. hs bool Has extra ``status line''. hu str Half-line up (reverse 1/2 linefeed). hz bool Cannot print ``~'' (Hazeltine). i1-i3 str Terminal initialization strings (terminfo only) IC str (NP*) Insert _n blank characters. ic str (P*) Insert character. if str Name of file containing initialization string. im str Enter insert mode. in bool Insert mode distinguishes nulls. iP str Pathname of program for initialization (terminfo only). ip str (P*) Insert pad after character inserted. is str Terminal initialization string (tteerrmmccaapp on- ly). it num Tabs initially every _n positions. K1 str Sent by keypad upper left. K2 str Sent by keypad upper right. K3 str Sent by keypad center. K4 str Sent by keypad lower left. K5 str Sent by keypad lower right. k0-k9 str Sent by function keys 0-9. kA str Sent by insert-line key. ka str Sent by clear-all-tabs key. kb str Sent by backspace key. kC str Sent by clear-screen or erase key. kD str Sent by delete-character key. kd str Sent by down-arrow key. kE str Sent by clear-to-end-of-line key. ke str Out of ``keypad transmit'' mode. kF str Sent by scroll-forward/down key. kH str Sent by home-down key. kh str Sent by home key. kI str Sent by insert-character or enter-insert- mode key. kL str Sent by delete-line key. kl str Sent by left-arrow key. kM str Sent by insert key while in insert mode. km bool Has a ``meta'' key (shift, sets parity bit). kN str Sent by next-page key. kn num (o) Number of function (kk00- kk99) keys (default 0). ko str (o) Termcap entries for other non-function keys. kP str Sent by previous-page key. kR str Sent by scroll-backward/up key. kr str Sent by right-arrow key. kS str Sent by clear-to-end-of-screen key. ks str Put terminal in ``keypad transmit'' mode. kT str Sent by set-tab key. kt str Sent by clear-tab key. ku str Sent by up-arrow key. l0-l9 str Labels on function keys if not ``f_n''. LC bool (o) Lower-case only. LE str (NP) Move cursor left _n positions. le str (P) Move cursor left one position. li num Number of lines on screen or page (See _B_U_G_S section below) ll str Last line, first column lm num Lines of memory if > llii (0 means varies). ma str (o) Arrow key map (used by vi version 2 only). mb str Turn on blinking attribute. md str Turn on bold (extra bright) attribute. me str Turn off all attributes. mh str Turn on half-bright attribute. mi bool Safe to move while in insert mode. mk str Turn on blank attribute (characters invisible). ml str (o) Memory lock on above cursor. mm str Turn on ``meta mode'' (8th bit). mo str Turn off ``meta mode''. mp str Turn on protected attribute. mr str Turn on reverse-video attibute. ms bool Safe to move in standout modes. mu str (o) Memory unlock (turn off memory lock). nc bool (o) No correctly-working ccrr (Datamedia 2500, Hazeltine 2000). nd str Non-destructive space (cursor right). NL bool (o) \\nn is newline, not line feed. nl str (o) Newline character if not \\nn. ns bool (o) Terminal is a CRT but doesn't scroll. nw str (P) Newline (behaves like ccrr followed by ddoo )).. OP bool (o) Odd parity. os bool Terminal overstrikes. pb num Lowest baud where delays are required. pc str Pad character (default NUL ). pf str Turn off the printer. pk str Program function key _n to type string _s (terminfo only). pl str Program function key _n to execute string _s (terminfo only). pO str (N) Turn on the printer for _n bytes. po str Turn on the printer. ps str Print contents of the screen. pt bool (o) Has hardware tabs (may need to be set with iiss )).. px str Program function key _n to transmit string _s (terminfo only). r1-r3 str Reset terminal completely to sane modes (terminfo only). rc str (P) Restore cursor to position of last sscc. rf str Name of file containing reset codes. RI str (NP) Move cursor right _n positions. rp str (NP*) Repeat character _c _n times. rs str Reset terminal completely to sane modes (tteerrmmccaapp only). sa str (NP) Define the video attributes. sc str (P) Save cursor position. se str End standout mode. SF str (NP*) Scroll forward _n lines. sf str (P) Scroll text up. sg num Number of garbage chars left by ssoo or ssee (default 0). so str Begin standout mode. SR str (NP*) Scroll backward _n lines. sr str (P) Scroll text down. st str Set a tab in all rows, current column. ta str (P) Tab to next 8-position hardware tab stop. tc str Entry of similar terminal - must be last. te str String to end programs that use tteerrmmccaapp. ti str String to begin programs that use tteerrmmccaapp. ts str (N) Go to status line, column _n. UC bool (o) Upper-case only. uc str Underscore one character and move past it. ue str End underscore mode. ug num Number of garbage chars left by uuss or uuee (default 0). ul bool Underline character overstrikes. UP str (NP*) Move cursor up _n lines. up str Upline (cursor up). us str Start underscore mode. vb str Visible bell (must not move cursor). ve str Make cursor appear normal (undo vvss/ vvii). vi str Make cursor invisible. vs str Make cursor very visible. vt num Virtual terminal number (not supported on all systems). wi str (N) Set current window. ws num Number of columns in status line. xb bool Beehive (f1= ESC, f2=^^CC). xn bool Newline ignored after 80 cols (Concept). xo bool Terminal uses xoff/xon (DC3/DC1) handshak- ing. xr bool (o) Return acts like ccee ccrr nnll (Delta Data). xs bool Standout not erased by overwriting (Hewlett-Packard). xt bool Tabs ruin, magic char (Teleray 1061). xx bool (o) Tektronix 4025 insert-line. AA SSaammppllee EEnnttrryy The following entry, which describes the Concept-100, is among the more complex entries in the tteerrmmccaapp file as of this writing. ca|concept100|c100|concept|c104|concept100-4p|HDS Concept-100:\ :al=3*\E^R:am:bl=^G:cd=16*\E^C:ce=16\E^U:cl=2*^L:cm=\Ea%+ %+ :\ :co#80:.cr=9^M:db:dc=16\E^A:dl=3*\E^B:do=^J:ei=\E\200:eo:im=\E^P:in:\ :ip=16*:is=\EU\Ef\E7\E5\E8\El\ENH\EK\E\200\Eo&\200\Eo\47\E:k1=\E5:\ :k2=\E6:k3=\E7:kb=^h:kd=\E<:ke=\Ex:kh=\E?:kl=\E>:kr=\E=:ks=\EX:\ :ku=\E;:le=^H:li#24:mb=\EC:me=\EN\200:mh=\EE:mi:mk=\EH:mp=\EI:\ :mr=\ED:nd=\E=:pb#9600:rp=0.2*\Er%.%+ :se=\Ed\Ee:sf=^J:so=\EE\ED:\ :.ta=8\t:te=\Ev \200\200\200\200\200\200\Ep\r\n:\ :ti=\EU\Ev 8p\Ep\r:ue=\Eg:ul:up=\E;:us=\EG:\ :vb=\Ek\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\EK:\ :ve=\Ew:vs=\EW:vt#8:xn:\ :bs:cr=^M:dC#9:dT#8:nl=^J:ta=^I:pt: Entries may continue onto multiple lines by giving a \ as the last char- acter of a line, and empty fields may be included for readability (here between the last field on a line and the first field on the next). Com- ments may be included on lines beginning with ``#''. TTyyppeess ooff CCaappaabbiilliittiieess Capabilities in tteerrmmccaapp are of three types: Boolean capabilities, which indicate particular features that the terminal has; numeric capabilities, giving the size of the display or the size of other attributes; and string capabilities, which give character sequences that can be used to perform particular terminal operations. All capabilities have two-letter codes. For instance, the fact that the Concept has _a_u_t_o_m_a_t_i_c _m_a_r_g_i_n_s (an automatic return and linefeed when the end of a line is reached) is indi- cated by the Boolean capability aamm. Hence the description of the Concept includes aamm. Numeric capabilities are followed by the character `#' then the value. In the example above ccoo, which indicates the number of columns the dis- play has, gives the value `80' for the Concept. Finally, string-valued capabilities, such as ccee (clear-to-end-of-line se- quence) are given by the two-letter code, an `=', then a string ending at the next following `:'. A delay in milliseconds may appear after the `=' in such a capability, which causes padding characters to be supplied by tputs after the remainder of the string is sent to provide this delay. The delay can be either a number, such as `20', or a number followed by an `*', such as `3*'. An `*' indicates that the padding required is pro- portional to the number of lines affected by the operation, and the amount given is the per-affected-line padding required. (In the case of insert-character, the factor is still the number of _l_i_n_e_s affected; this is always 1 unless the terminal has iinn and the software uses it.) When an `*' is specified, it is sometimes useful to give a delay of the form `3.5' to specify a delay per line to tenths of milliseconds. (Only one decimal place is allowed.) A number of escape sequences are provided in the string-valued capabili- ties for easy encoding of control characters there. \\EE maps to an ESC character, ^^XX maps to a control-X for any appropriate X, and the se- quences \\nn \\rr \\tt \\bb \\ff map to linefeed, return, tab, backspace, and form- feed, respectively. Finally, characters may be given as three octal dig- its after a \\, and the characters ^^ and \\ may be given as \\^^ and \\\\. If it is necessary to place a :: in a capability it must be escaped in octal as \\007722. If it is necessary to place a NUL character in a string capabil- ity it must be encoded as \\220000. (The routines that deal with tteerrmmccaapp use C strings and strip the high bits of the output very late, so that a \\220000 comes out as a \\000000 would.) Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out. To do this, put a period before the capability name. For example, see the first ccrr and ttaa in the example above. PPrreeppaarriinngg DDeessccrriippttiioonnss The most effective way to prepare a terminal description is by imitating the description of a similar terminal in tteerrmmccaapp and to build up a de- scription gradually, using partial descriptions with vi to check that they are correct. Be aware that a very unusual terminal may expose defi- ciencies in the ability of the tteerrmmccaapp file to describe it or bugs in vi. To easily test a new terminal description you are working on you can put it in your home directory in a file called _._t_e_r_m_c_a_p and programs will look there before looking in _/_u_s_r_/_s_h_a_r_e_/_m_i_s_c_/_t_e_r_m_c_a_p. You can also set the environment variable TERMPATH to a list of absolute file pathnames (separated by spaces or colons), one of which contains the description you are working on, and programs will search them in the order listed, and nowhere else. See termcap(3). The TERMCAP environment variable is usually set to the tteerrmmccaapp entry itself to avoid reading files when starting up a program. To get the padding for insert-line right (if the terminal manufacturer did not document it), a severe test is to use vi to edit _/_e_t_c_/_p_a_s_s_w_d at 9600 baud, delete roughly 16 lines from the middle of the screen, then hit the `u' key several times quickly. If the display messes up, more padding is usually needed. A similar test can be used for insert- character. BBaassiicc CCaappaabbiilliittiieess The number of columns on each line of the display is given by the ccoo nu- meric capability. If the display is a CRT, then the number of lines on the screen is given by the llii capability. If the display wraps around to the beginning of the next line when the cursor reaches the right margin, then it should have the aamm capability. If the terminal can clear its screen, the code to do this is given by the ccll string capability. If the terminal overstrikes (rather than clearing the position when a character is overwritten), it should have the ooss capability. If the terminal is a printing terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both hhcc and ooss. (ooss applies to storage scope terminals, such as the Tektronix 4010 series, as well as to hard copy and APL terminals.) If there is a code to move the cursor to the left edge of the current row, give this as ccrr. (Normally this will be carriage-return, ^^MM.) If there is a code to produce an audi- ble signal (bell, beep, etc. ) , give this as bbll. If there is a code (such as backspace) to move the cursor one position to the left, that capability should be given as llee. Similarly, codes to move to the right, up, and down should be given as nndd, uupp, and ddoo, respective- ly. These _l_o_c_a_l _c_u_r_s_o_r _m_o_t_i_o_n_s should not alter the text they pass over; for example, you would not normally use ``nd= '' unless the terminal has the ooss capability, because the space would erase the character moved over. A very important point here is that the local cursor motions encoded in tteerrmmccaapp have undefined behavior at the left and top edges of a CRT dis- play. Programs should never attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless bbww is given, and never attempt to go up off the top using local cursor motions. In order to scroll text up, a program goes to the bottom left corner of the screen and sends the ssff (index) string. To scroll text down, a pro- gram goes to the top left corner of the screen and sends the ssrr (reverse index) string. The strings ssff and ssrr have undefined behavior when not on their respective corners of the screen. Parameterized versions of the scrolling sequences are SSFF and SSRR, which have the same semantics as ssff and ssrr except that they take one parameter and scroll that many lines. They also have undefined behavior except at the appropriate corner of the screen. The aamm capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the right edge of the screen when text is output there, but this does not necessarily apply to nndd from the last column. Leftward local motion is defined from the left edge only when bbww is given; then an llee from the left edge will move to the right edge of the previous row. This is useful for drawing a box around the edge of the screen, for example. If the terminal has switch- selectable automatic margins, the tteerrmmccaapp description usually assumes that this feature is on, _i_._e., aamm. If the terminal has a command that moves to the first column of the next line, that command can be given as nnww (newline). It is permissible for this to clear the remainder of the current line, so if the terminal has no correctly-working CR and LF it may still be possible to craft a working nnww out of one or both of them. These capabilities suffice to describe hardcopy and ``glass-tty'' termi- nals. Thus the Teletype model 33 is described as T3|tty33|33|tty|Teletype model 33:\ :bl=^G:co#72:cr=^M:do=^J:hc:os: and the Lear Siegler ADM-3 is described as l3|adm3|3|LSI ADM-3:\ :am:bl=^G:cl=^Z:co#80:cr=^M:do=^J:le=^H:li#24:sf=^J: PPaarraammeetteerriizzeedd SSttrriinnggss Cursor addressing and other strings requiring parameters are described by a parameterized string capability, with printf(3)-like escapes %%xx in it, while other characters are passed through unchanged. For example, to ad- dress the cursor the ccmm capability is given, using two parameters: the row and column to move to. (Rows and columns are numbered from zero and refer to the physical screen visible to the user, not to any unseen memo- ry. If the terminal has memory-relative cursor addressing, that can be indicated by an analogous CCMM capability.) The %% encodings have the following meanings: %% output `%' %d output value as in printf %d %2 output value as in printf %2d %3 output value as in printf %3d %. output value as in printf %c %+_x add _x to value, then do %. %>_x_y if value > _x then add _y, no output %r reverse order of two parameters, no output %i increment by one, no output %n exclusive-or all parameters with 0140 (Datamedia 2500) %B BCD (16*(value/10)) + (value%10), no output %D Reverse coding (value - 2*(value%16)), no output (Delta Data). Consider the Hewlett-Packard 2645, which, to get to row 3 and column 12, needs to be sent ``\E&a12c03Y'' padded for 6 milliseconds. Note that the order of the row and column coordinates is reversed here and that the row and column are sent as two-digit integers. Thus its ccmm capability is ``cm=6\E&%r%2c%2Y''. The Datamedia 2500 needs the current row and column sent encoded in bina- ry using ``%.''. Terminals that use ``%.'' need to be able to backspace the cursor (llee) and to move the cursor up one line on the screen (uupp). This is necessary because it is not always safe to transmit \\nn, ^^DD, and \\rr, as the system may change or discard them. (Programs using tteerrmmccaapp must set terminal modes so that tabs are not expanded, so \\tt is safe to send. This turns out to be essential for the Ann Arbor 4080.) A final example is the Lear Siegler ADM-3a, which offsets row and column by a blank character, thus ``cm=\E=%+ %+ ''. Row or column absolute cursor addressing can be given as single parameter capabilities cchh (horizontal position absolute) and ccvv (vertical position absolute). Sometimes these are shorter than the more general two- parameter sequence (as with the Hewlett-Packard 2645) and can be used in preference to ccmm. If there are parameterized local motions (_e_._g., move _n positions to the right) these can be given as DDOO, LLEE, RRII, and UUPP with a single parameter indicating how many positions to move. These are pri- marily useful if the terminal does not have ccmm, such as the Tektronix 4025. CCuurrssoorr MMoottiioonnss If the terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to the very upper left corner of the screen), this can be given as hhoo. Similarly, a fast way of getting to the lower left-hand corner can be given as llll; this may in- volve going up with uupp from the home position, but a program should never do this itself (unless llll does), because it can make no assumption about the effect of moving up from the home position. Note that the home posi- tion is the same as cursor address (0,0): to the top left corner of the screen, not of memory. (Therefore, the ``\EH'' sequence on Hewlett- Packard terminals cannot be used for hhoo.) AArreeaa CClleeaarrss If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end of the line, leaving the cursor where it is, this should be given as ccee. If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end of the display, this should be given as ccdd. ccdd must only be invoked from the first column of a line. (Therefore, it can be simulated by a request to delete a large number of lines, if a true ccdd is not available.) IInnsseerrtt//DDeelleettee LLiinnee If the terminal can open a new blank line before the line containing the cursor, this should be given as aall; this must be invoked only from the first position of a line. The cursor must then appear at the left of the newly blank line. If the terminal can delete the line that the cursor is on, this should be given as ddll; this must only be used from the first po- sition on the line to be deleted. Versions of aall and ddll which take a single parameter and insert or delete that many lines can be given as AALL and DDLL. If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like the VT100), the command to set this can be described with the ccss capability, which takes two parameters: the top and bottom lines of the scrolling region. The cursor position is, alas, undefined after using this command. It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line using this command -- the sscc and rrcc (save and restore cursor) commands are also useful. In- serting lines at the top or bottom of the screen can also be done using ssrr or ssff on many terminals without a true insert/delete line, and is of- ten faster even on terminals with those features. If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part of memory which all commands affect, it should be given as the parameterized string wwii. The four parameters are the starting and ending lines in memory and the starting and ending columns in memory, in that order. (This terminfo capability is described for completeness. It is unlikely that any tteerrmmccaapp- using program will support it.) If the terminal can retain display memory above the screen, then the ddaa capability should be given; if display memory can be retained below, then ddbb should be given. These indicate that deleting a line or scrolling may bring non-blank lines up from below or that scrolling back with ssrr may bring down non-blank lines. IInnsseerrtt//DDeelleettee CChhaarraacctteerr There are two basic kinds of intelligent terminals with respect to in- sert/delete character that can be described using tteerrmmccaapp. The most com- mon insert/delete character operations affect only the characters on the current line and shift characters off the end of the line rigidly. Other terminals, such as the Concept-100 and the Perkin Elmer Owl, make a dis- tinction between typed and untyped blanks on the screen, shifting upon an insert or delete only to an untyped blank on the screen which is either eliminated or expanded to two untyped blanks. You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clearing the screen then typing text separated by cursor motions. Type ``abc def'' using local cursor motions (not spaces) between the ``abc'' and the ``def''. Then position the cursor be- fore the ``abc'' and put the terminal in insert mode. If typing charac- ters 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 ``abc'' shifts over to the ``def'' which then move together around the end of the current line and onto the next as you insert, then you have the second type of terminal and should give the ca- pability iinn, which stands for ``insert null''. While these are two logi- cally separate attributes (one line _v_s. multi-line insert mode, and spe- cial treatment of untyped spaces), we have seen no terminals whose insert mode cannot be described with the single attribute. TTeerrmmccaapp can describe both terminals that have an insert mode and termi- nals that send a simple sequence to open a blank position on the current line. Give as iimm the sequence to get into insert mode. Give as eeii the sequence to leave insert mode. Now give as iicc any sequence that needs to be sent just before each character to be inserted. Most terminals with a true insert mode will not give iicc; terminals that use a sequence to open a screen position should give it here. (If your terminal has both, in- sert mode is usually preferable to iicc. Do not give both unless the termi- nal actually requires both to be used in combination.) If post-insert padding is needed, give this as a number of milliseconds in iipp (a string option). Any other sequence that may need to be sent after insertion of a single character can also be given in iipp. If your terminal needs to be placed into an `insert mode' and needs a special code preceding each in- serted character, then both iimm/ eeii and iicc can be given, and both will be used. The IICC capability, with one parameter _n, will repeat the effects of iicc _n times. It is occasionally necessary to move around while in insert mode to delete characters on the same line (_e_._g., if there is a tab after the in- sertion position). If your terminal allows motion while in insert mode, you can give the capability mmii to speed up inserting in this case. Omit- ting mmii will affect only speed. Some terminals (notably Datamedia's) must not have mmii because of the way their insert mode works. Finally, you can specify ddcc to delete a single character, DDCC with one pa- rameter _n to delete _n characters, and delete mode by giving ddmm and eedd to enter and exit delete mode (which is any mode the terminal needs to be placed in for ddcc to work). HHiigghhlliigghhttiinngg,, UUnnddeerrlliinniinngg,, aanndd VViissiibbllee BBeellllss If your terminal has one or more kinds of display attributes, these can be represented in a number of different ways. You should choose one dis- play form as _s_t_a_n_d_o_u_t _m_o_d_e, representing a good high-contrast, easy-on- the-eyes format for highlighting error messages and other attention get- ters. (If you have a choice, reverse video plus half-bright is good, or reverse video alone.) The sequences to enter and exit standout mode are given as ssoo and ssee, respectively. If the code to change into or out of standout mode leaves one or even two blank spaces or garbage characters on the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do, then ssgg should be giv- en to tell how many characters are left. Codes to begin underlining and end underlining can be given as uuss and uuee, respectively. Underline mode change garbage is specified by uugg, similar to ssgg. If the terminal has a code to underline the current character and move the cursor one position to the right, such as the Microterm Mime, this can be given as uucc. Other capabilities to enter various highlighting modes include mmbb (blink- ing), mmdd (bold or extra bright), mmhh (dim or half-bright), mmkk (blanking or invisible text), mmpp (protected), mmrr (reverse video), mmee (turn off _a_l_l at- tribute modes), aass (enter alternate character set mode), and aaee (exit al- ternate character set mode). Turning on any of these modes singly may or may not turn off other modes. If there is a sequence to set arbitrary combinations of mode, this should be given as ssaa (set attributes), taking 9 parameters. Each parameter is either 0 or 1, as the corresponding attributes is on or off. The 9 pa- rameters are, in order: standout, underline, reverse, blink, dim, bold, blank, protect, and alternate character set. Not all modes need be sup- ported by ssaa, only those for which corresponding attribute commands ex- ist. (It is unlikely that a tteerrmmccaapp-using program will support this ca- pability, which is defined for compatibility with terminfo.) Terminals with the ``magic cookie'' glitches (ssgg and uugg), rather than maintaining extra attribute bits for each character cell, instead deposit special ``cookies'', or ``garbage characters ,,'' when they receive mode- setting sequences, which affect the display algorithm. Some terminals, such as the Hewlett-Packard 2621, automatically leave standout mode when they move to a new line or when the cursor is ad- dressed. Programs using standout mode should exit standout mode on such terminals before moving the cursor or sending a newline. On terminals where this is not a problem, the mmss capability should be present to say that this overhead is unnecessary. If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indicate an error quietly (a bell replacement), this can be given as vvbb; it must not move the cursor. If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal when it is not on the bottom line (to change, for example, a non-blinking underline into an easier-to-find block or blinking underline), give this sequence as vvss. If there is a way to make the cursor completely invisible, give that as vvii. The capability vvee, which undoes the effects of both of these modes, should also be given. If your terminal correctly displays underlined characters (with no spe- cial codes needed) even though it does not overstrike, then you should give the capability uull. If overstrikes are erasable with a blank, this should be indicated by giving eeoo. KKeeyyppaadd If the terminal has a keypad that transmits codes when the keys are pressed, this information can be given. Note that it is not possible to handle terminals where the keypad only works in local mode (this applies, for example, to the unshifted Hewlett-Packard 2621 keys). If the keypad can be set to transmit or not transmit, give these codes as kkss and kkee. Otherwise the keypad is assumed to always transmit. The codes sent by the left-arrow, right-arrow, up-arrow, down-arrow, and home keys can be given as kkll, kkrr, kkuu, kkdd, and kkhh, respectively. If there are function keys such as f0, f1, ..., f9, the codes they send can be given as kk00, kk11, kk99. If these keys have labels other than the default f0 through f9, the labels can be given as ll00, ll11, ll99. The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be given: kkHH (home down), kkbb (backspace), kkaa (clear all tabs), kktt (clear the tab stop in this column), kkCC (clear screen or erase), kkDD (delete character), kkLL (delete line), kkMM (exit insert mode), kkEE (clear to end of line), kkSS (clear to end of screen), kkII (insert char- acter or enter insert mode), kkAA (insert line), kkNN (next page), kkPP (previ- ous page), kkFF (scroll forward/down), kkRR (scroll backward/up), and kkTT (set a tab stop in this column). In addition, if the keypad has a 3 by 3 ar- ray of keys including the four arrow keys, then the other five keys can be given as KK11, KK22, KK33, KK44, and KK55. These keys are useful when the ef- fects of a 3 by 3 directional pad are needed. The obsolete kkoo capability formerly used to describe ``other'' function keys has been completely supplanted by the above capabilities. The mmaa entry is also used to indicate arrow keys on terminals that have single-character arrow keys. It is obsolete but still in use in version 2 of vvii which must be run on some minicomputers due to memory limita- tions. This field is redundant with kkll, kkrr, kkuu, kkdd, and kkhh. It consists of groups of two characters. In each group, the first character is what an arrow key sends, and the second character is the corresponding vvii com- mand. These commands are _h for kkll, _j for kkdd, _k for kkuu, _l for kkrr, and _H for kkhh. For example, the Mime would have ``ma=^Hh^Kj^Zk^Xl'' indicating arrow keys left (^H), down (^K), up (^Z), and right (^X). (There is no home key on the Mime.) TTaabbss aanndd IInniittiiaalliizzaattiioonn If the terminal needs to be in a special mode when running a program that uses these capabilities, the codes to enter and exit this mode can be given as ttii and ttee. This arises, for example, from terminals like the Concept with more than one page of memory. If the terminal has only mem- ory-relative cursor addressing and not screen-relative cursor addressing, a screen-sized window must be fixed into the display for cursor address- ing to work properly. This is also used for the Tektronix 4025, where ttii sets the command character to be the one used by tteerrmmccaapp. Other capabilities include iiss, an initialization string for the terminal, and iiff, the name of a file containing long initialization strings. These strings are expected to set the terminal into modes consistent with the rest of the tteerrmmccaapp description. They are normally sent to the terminal by the tset program each time the user logs in. They will be printed in the following order: iiss; setting tabs using cctt and sstt; and finally iiff. (Terminfo uses ii11--ii22 instead of iiss and runs the program iiPP and prints ii33 after the other initializations.) A pair of sequences that does a harder reset from a totally unknown state can be analogously given as rrss and iiff. These strings are output by the reset program, which is used when the terminal gets into a wedged state. (Terminfo uses rr11--rr33 instead of rrss.) Commands are normally placed in rrss and rrff only if they produce annoying effects on the screen and are not necessary when logging in. For exam- ple, the command to set the VT100 into 80-column mode would normally be part of iiss, but it causes an annoying glitch of the screen and is not normally needed since the terminal is usually already in 80-column mode. If the terminal has hardware tabs, the command to advance to the next tab stop can be given as ttaa (usually ^^II). A ``backtab'' command which moves leftward to the previous tab stop can be given as bbtt. By convention, if the terminal driver modes indicate that tab stops are being expanded by the computer rather than being sent to the terminal, programs should not use ttaa or bbtt even if they are present, since the user may not have the tab stops properly set. If the terminal has hardware tabs that are ini- tially set every _n positions when the terminal is powered up, then the numeric parameter iitt is given, showing the number of positions between tab stops. This is normally used by the tset command to determine whether to set the driver mode for hardware tab expansion, and whether to set the tab stops. If the terminal has tab stops that can be saved in nonvolatile memory, the tteerrmmccaapp description can assume that they are properly set. If there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can be given as cctt (clear all tab stops) and sstt (set a tab stop in the current column of ev- ery row). If a more complex sequence is needed to set the tabs than can be described by this, the sequence can be placed in iiss or iiff. DDeellaayyss Certain capabilities control padding in the terminal driver. These are primarily needed by hardcopy terminals and are used by the tset program to set terminal driver modes appropriately. Delays embedded in the capa- bilities ccrr, ssff, llee, ffff, and ttaa will cause the appropriate delay bits to be set in the terminal driver. If ppbb (padding baud rate) is given, these values can be ignored at baud rates below the value of ppbb. For 4.2BSD tset, the delays are given as numeric capabilities ddCC, ddNN, ddBB, ddFF, and ddTT instead. MMiisscceellllaanneeoouuss If the terminal requires other than a NUL (zero) character as a pad, this can be given as ppcc. Only the first character of the ppcc string is used. If the terminal has commands to save and restore the position of the cur- sor, give them as sscc and rrcc. If the terminal has an extra ``status line'' that is not normally used by software, this fact can be indicated. If the status line is viewed as an extra line below the bottom line, then the capability hhss should be given. Special strings to go to a position in the status line and to return from the status line can be given as ttss and ffss. (fs must leave the cursor po- sition in the same place that it was before ttss. If necessary, the sscc and rrcc strings can be included in ttss and ffss to get this effect.) The capa- bility ttss takes one parameter, which is the column number of the status line to which the cursor is to be moved. If escape sequences and other special commands such as tab work while in the status line, the flag eess can be given. A string that turns off the status line (or otherwise erases its contents) should be given as ddss. The status line is normally assumed to be the same width as the rest of the screen, _i_._e., ccoo. If the status line is a different width (possibly because the terminal does not allow an entire line to be loaded), then its width in columns can be in- dicated with the numeric parameter wwss. If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can be indicated with hhuu (half-line up) and hhdd (half-line down). This is primarily useful for superscripts and subscripts on hardcopy terminals. If a hardcopy terminal can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as ffff (usually ^^LL). 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), this can be indicated with the parameterized string rrpp. The first parameter is the character to be repeated and the second is the number of times to re- peat it. (This is a terminfo feature that is unlikely to be supported by a program that uses tteerrmmccaapp.) If the terminal has a settable command character, such as the Tektronix 4025, this can be indicated with CCCC. A prototype command character is chosen which is used in all capabilities. This character is given in the CCCC capability to identify it. The following convention is supported on some UNIX systems: The environment is to be searched for a CC variable, and if found, all occurrences of the prototype character are replaced by the character in the environment variable. This use of the CC environ- ment variable is a very bad idea, as it conflicts with make(1). Terminal descriptions that do not represent a specific kind of known ter- minal, such as _s_w_i_t_c_h, _d_i_a_l_u_p, _p_a_t_c_h, and network, should include the ggnn (generic) capability so that programs can complain that they do not know how to talk to the terminal. (This capability does not apply to _v_i_r_t_u_a_l terminal descriptions for which the escape sequences are known.) If the terminal uses xoff/xon (DC3/DC1) handshaking for flow control, give xxoo. Padding information should still be included so that routines can make better decisions about costs, but actual pad characters will not be transmitted. If the terminal has a ``meta key'' which acts as a shift key, setting the 8th bit of any character transmitted, then this fact can be indicated with kkmm. Otherwise, software will assume that the 8th bit is parity and it will usually be cleared. If strings exist to turn this ``meta mode'' on and off, they can be given as mmmm and mmoo. If the terminal has more lines of memory than will fit on the screen at once, the number of lines of memory can be indicated with llmm. An explicit value of 0 indicates that the number of lines is not fixed, but that there is still more memory than fits on the screen. If the terminal is one of those supported by the UNIX system virtual ter- minal protocol, the terminal number can be given as vvtt. Media copy strings which control an auxiliary printer connected to the terminal can be given as ppss: print the contents of the screen; ppff: turn off the printer; and ppoo: turn on the printer. When the printer is on, all text sent to the terminal will be sent to the printer. It is unde- fined whether the text is also displayed on the terminal screen when the printer is on. A variation ppOO takes one parameter and leaves the printer on for as many characters as the value of the parameter, then turns the printer off. The parameter should not exceed 255. All text, including ppff, is transparently passed to the printer while ppOO is in effect. Strings to program function keys can be given as ppkk, ppll, and ppxx. Each of these strings takes two parameters: the function key number to program (from 0 to 9) and the string to program it with. Function key numbers out of this range may program undefined keys in a terminal-dependent man- ner. The differences among the capabilities are that ppkk causes pressing the given key to be the same as the user typing the given string; ppll causes the string to be executed by the terminal in local mode; and ppxx causes the string to be transmitted to the computer. Unfortunately, due to lack of a definition for string parameters in tteerrmmccaapp, only terminfo supports these capabilities. GGlliittcchheess aanndd BBrraaiinnddaammaaggee Hazeltine terminals, which do not allow `~' characters to be displayed, should indicate hhzz. The nncc capability, now obsolete, formerly indicated Datamedia terminals, which echo \\rr \\nn for carriage return then ignore a following linefeed. Terminals that ignore a linefeed immediately after an aamm wrap, such as the Concept, should indicate xxnn. If ccee is required to get rid of standout (instead of merely writing nor- mal text on top of it), xxss should be given. Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved over to blanks, should indicate xxtt (destructive tabs). This glitch is also taken to mean that it is not possible to position the cursor on top of a magic cookie, and that to erase standout mode it is necessary to use delete and insert line. The Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly transmit the ESC or ^^CC characters, has xxbb, indicating that the ``f1'' key is used for ESC and ``f2'' for ^C. (Only certain Superbees have this problem, depending on the ROM.) Other specific terminal problems may be corrected by adding more capabil- ities of the form xx _x. SSiimmiillaarr TTeerrmmiinnaallss If there are two very similar terminals, one can be defined as being just like the other with certain exceptions. The string capability ttcc can be given with the name of the similar terminal. This capability must be _l_a_s_t, and the combined length of the entries must not exceed 1024. The capabilities given before ttcc override those in the terminal type invoked by ttcc. A capability can be canceled by placing xxxx@@ to the left of the ttcc invocation, where xxxx is the capability. For example, the entry hn|2621-nl:ks@:ke@:tc=2621: defines a ``2621-nl'' that does not have the kkss or kkee capabilities, 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 prefer- ences. FFIILLEESS /usr/share/misc/termcap File containing terminal descriptions. /usr/share/misc/termcap.db Hash database file containing terminal de- scriptions (see cap_mkdb(1)). SSEEEE AALLSSOO ex(1), cap_mkdb(1), more(1), tset(1), ul(1), vi(1), curses(3), printf(3), termcap(3), term(7) CCAAVVEEAATTSS AANNDD BBUUGGSS The _N_o_t_e: tteerrmmccaapp functions were replaced by terminfo in AT&T System V UNIX Release 2.0. The transition will be relatively painless if capabil- ities flagged as ``obsolete'' are avoided. Lines and columns are now stored by the kernel as well as in the termcap entry. Most programs now use the kernel information primarily; the in- formation in this file is used only if the kernel does not have any in- formation. Vi allows only 256 characters for string capabilities, and the routines in termlib(3) do not check for overflow of this buffer. The total length of a single entry (excluding only escaped newlines) may not exceed 1024. Not all programs support all entries. HHIISSTTOORRYY The tteerrmmccaapp file format appeared in 3BSD. 3rd Berkeley Distribution June 8, 1993 14