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* @Id: term.7,v 1.48 2024/03/16 15:35:01 tom Exp @

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<HTML>

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<TITLE>term 7 2024-03-16 ncurses 6.5 Miscellaneous</TITLE>

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<H1 class="no-header">term 7 2024-03-16 ncurses 6.5 Miscellaneous</H1>

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<PRE>

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<A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A> Miscellaneous <A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A>

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</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>

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term - conventions for naming terminal types

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</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>

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The environment variable TERM should normally contain the type name of

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the terminal, console or display-device type you are using. This

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information is critical for all screen-oriented programs, including

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your editor and mailer.

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A default TERM value will be set on a per-line basis by either

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/etc/inittab (e.g., System-V-like Unices) or /etc/ttys (BSD Unices).

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This will nearly always suffice for workstation and microcomputer

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consoles.

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If you use a dialup line, the type of device attached to it may vary.

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Older Unix systems pre-set a very dumb terminal type like "dumb" or

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"dialup" on dialup lines. Newer ones may pre-set "vt100", reflecting

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the prevalence of DEC VT100-compatible terminals and personal-computer

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emulators.

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Modern telnets pass your TERM environment variable from the local side

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to the remote one. There can be problems if the remote terminfo or

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termcap entry for your type is not compatible with yours, but this

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situation is rare and can almost always be avoided by explicitly

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exporting "vt100" (assuming you are in fact using a VT100-superset

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console, terminal, or terminal emulator).

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In any case, you are free to override the system TERM setting to your

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taste in your shell profile. The <A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A> utility may be of assistance;

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you can give it a set of rules for deducing or requesting a terminal

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type based on the tty device and baud rate.

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Setting your own TERM value may also be useful if you have created a

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custom entry incorporating options (such as visual bell or reverse-

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video) which you wish to override the system default type for your

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line.

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Terminal type descriptions are stored as files of capability data

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underneath /usr/share/terminfo. To browse a list of all terminal names

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recognized by the system, do

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micky387

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toe | more

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from your shell. These capability files are in a binary format

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optimized for retrieval speed (unlike the old text-based termcap format

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they replace); to examine an entry, you must use the <A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A>

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command. Invoke it as follows:

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infocmp entry_name

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where entry_name is the name of the type you wish to examine (and the

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name of its capability file the subdirectory of /usr/share/terminfo

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named for its first letter). This command dumps a capability file in

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the text format described by <A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A>.

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The first line of a <A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A> description gives the names by which

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terminfo knows a terminal, separated by "|" (pipe-bar) characters with

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the last name field terminated by a comma. The first name field is the

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type's primary name, and is the one to use when setting TERM. The last

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name field (if distinct from the first) is actually a description of

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the terminal type (it may contain blanks; the others must be single

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words). Name fields between the first and last (if present) are

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aliases for the terminal, usually historical names retained for

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compatibility.

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There are some conventions for how to choose terminal primary names

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that help keep them informative and unique. Here is a step-by-step

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guide to naming terminals that also explains how to parse them:

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First, choose a root name. The root will consist of a lower-case

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letter followed by up to seven lower-case letters or digits. You need

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to avoid using punctuation characters in root names, because they are

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used and interpreted as filenames and shell meta-characters (such as !,

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$, *, ?, etc.) embedded in them may cause odd and unhelpful behavior.

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The slash (/), or any other character that may be interpreted by

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anyone's file system (\, $, [, ]), is especially dangerous (terminfo is

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platform-independent, and choosing names with special characters could

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someday make life difficult for users of a future port). The dot (.)

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character is relatively safe as long as there is at most one per root

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name; some historical terminfo names use it.

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The root name for a terminal or workstation console type should almost

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always begin with a vendor prefix (such as hp for Hewlett-Packard, wy

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for Wyse, or att for AT&T terminals), or a common name of the terminal

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line (vt for the VT series of terminals from DEC, or sun for Sun

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Microsystems workstation consoles, or regent for the ADDS Regent

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series. You can list the terminfo tree to see what prefixes are

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already in common use. The root name prefix should be followed when

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appropriate by a model number; thus vt100, hp2621, wy50.

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The root name for a PC-Unix console type should be the OS name, i.e.,

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linux, bsdos, freebsd, netbsd. It should not be console or any other

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generic that might cause confusion in a multi-platform environment! If

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a model number follows, it should indicate either the OS release level

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or the console driver release level.

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The root name for a terminal emulator (assuming it does not fit one of

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the standard ANSI or vt100 types) should be the program name or a

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readily recognizable abbreviation of it (i.e., versaterm, ctrm).

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Following the root name, you may add any reasonable number of hyphen-

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separated feature suffixes.

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2p Has two pages of memory. Likewise 4p, 8p, etc.

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mc Magic-cookie. Some terminals (notably older Wyses) can only

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support one attribute without magic-cookie lossage. Their base

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entry is usually paired with another that has this suffix and uses

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magic cookies to support multiple attributes.

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-am Enable auto-margin (right-margin wraparound).

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-m Mono mode - suppress color support.

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-na No arrow keys - termcap ignores arrow keys which are actually

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there on the terminal, so the user can use the arrow keys locally.

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-nam No auto-margin - suppress am capability.

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-nl No labels - suppress soft labels.

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-nsl No status line - suppress status line.

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-pp Has a printer port which is used.

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-rv Terminal in reverse video mode (black on white).

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-s Enable status line.

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-vb Use visible bell (flash) rather than beep.

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-w Wide; terminal is in 132-column mode.

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Conventionally, if your terminal type is a variant intended to specify

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a line height, that suffix should go first. So, for a hypothetical

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FuBarCo model 2317 terminal in 30-line mode with reverse video, best

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form would be fubar-30-rv (rather than, say, "fubar-rv-30").

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Terminal types that are written not as standalone entries, but rather

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as components to be plugged into other entries via use capabilities,

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are distinguished by using embedded plus signs rather than dashes.

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Commands which use a terminal type to control display often accept a -T

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option that accepts a terminal name argument. Such programs should

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fall back on the TERM environment variable when no -T option is

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specified.

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</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>

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/usr/share/terminfo

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compiled terminal description database

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/etc/inittab

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tty line initialization (AT&T-like Unices)

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/etc/ttys

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tty line initialization (BSD-like Unices)

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</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>

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For maximum compatibility with older System V Unices, names and aliases

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should be unique within the first 14 characters.

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</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>

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<A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A>, <A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A>, <A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A>

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ncurses 6.5 2024-03-16 <A HREF="term.7.html">term(7)</A>

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</PRE>

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<ul>

<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></li>

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<li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>

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<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>

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</ul>

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</div>

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