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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