term(4)




NAME

     term - format of compiled term file


SYNOPSIS

     /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*


DESCRIPTION

     The term file is  compiled  from  terminfo(4)  source  files
     using  tic(1M).  Compiled files are organized in a directory
     hierarchy under the first letter of each terminal name.  For
     example,   the   vt100   file   would   have   the  pathname
     /usr/lib/terminfo/v/vt100.   The   default   directory    is
     /usr/share/lib/terminfo.  Synonyms for the same terminal are
     implemented by multiple links to the same compiled file.

     The format has been chosen so that it is  the  same  on  all
     hardware. An 8-bit byte is assumed, but no assumptions about
     byte ordering or sign extension are made. Thus, these binary
     terminfo  files can be transported to other hardware with 8-
     bit bytes.

     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*second+first.)  The  value -1 is
     represented by 0377,0377, and the value -2 is represented by
     0376,0377;  other  negative  values are illegal. The -1 gen-
     erally means that a capability is missing from  this  termi-
     nal.  The -2 means that the capability has been cancelled in
     the terminfo source and also is to be considered missing.

     The compiled file is created from the source  file  descrip-
     tions  of  the  terminals  (see the -I option of infocmp) by
     using the terminfo compiler, tic, and read  by  the  routine
     setupterm  (see  curses(3CURSES)).  The file is divided into
     six parts in  the  following  order:  the  header,  terminal
     names, boolean flags, numbers, strings, and string table.

     The header section begins the file 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.

     The terminal name section comes next. It contains the  first
     line  of the terminfo description, listing the various names
     for the terminal, separated by the bar ( | ) character  (see
     term(5)).  The section is terminated with an ASCII NUL char-
     acter.

     The terminal name section is followed by  the  Boolean  sec-
     tion, number section, string section, and string table.

     The boolean flags section consists  of  one  byte  for  each
     flag.  This  byte is either 0 or 1 as the flag is present or
     absent. The value of 2 means that the  flag  has  been  can-
     celled.  The  capabilities are in the same order as the file
     <term.h>.

     Between the boolean flags section and the number section,  a
     null  byte  is  inserted,  if  necessary, to ensure that the
     number section begins on an  even  byte  offset.  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 short
     integer. If the value represented is -1 or -2, the  capabil-
     ity 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 or -2 means the capability  is  missing.  Otherwise,  the
     value is taken as an offset from the beginning 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 sec-
     tion. Each string is null terminated.

     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
     has been 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 capabili-
     ties.

     As an example, here is  terminal  information  on  the  AT&T
     Model 37 KSR terminal as output by the infocmp -I tty37 com-
     mand:

     37|tty37|AT&T model 37 teletype,
       hc, os, xon,
       bel=^G, cr=\r, cub1=\b, cud1=\n, cuu1=\E7, hd=\E9,
       hu=\E8, ind=\n,

     The following is an octal dump  of  the  corresponding  term
     file,  produced by the od -c /usr/share/lib/terminfo/t/tty37
     command:

     0000000   032 001      \0 032  \0 013  \0 021 001   3  \0   3   7   |   t
     0000020     t   y   3   7   |   A   T   &   T       m   o   d   e   l
     0000040     3   7       t   e   l   e   t   y   p   e  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0
     0000060    \0  \0  \0 001  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 001  \0  \0  \0  \0
     0000100   001  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
     0000120   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   &  \0
     0000140        \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
     0000160   377 377   "  \0 377 377 377 377   (  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377
     0000200   377 377   0  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   -  \0 377 377
     0000220   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
          *
     0000520   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   $  \0
     0000540   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   *  \0
     0000560   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
          *
     0001160   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   3   7
     0001200     |   t   t   y   3   7   |   A   T   &   T       m   o   d   e
     0001220     l       3   7       t   e   l   e   t   y   p   e  \0  \r  \0
     0001240    \n  \0  \n  \0 007  \0  \b  \0 033   8  \0 033   9  \0 033   7
     0001260    \0  \0
     0001261

     Some limitations: total compiled entries cannot exceed  4096
     bytes;  all  entries  in  the  name  field cannot exceed 128
     bytes.


FILES

     /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
           compiled terminal description database

     /usr/include/term.h
           terminfo header

     /usr/xpg4/include/term.h
           X/Open Curses terminfo header


SEE ALSO

     infocmp(1M), curses(3CURSES), curses(3XCURSES), terminfo(4),
     term(5)

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