term(4) - osol9

1term(4)                          File Formats                          term(4)
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NAME

6       term - format of compiled term file
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SYNOPSIS

9       /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
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DESCRIPTION

13       The  term file is compiled from terminfo(4) source files using tic(1M).
14       Compiled files are organized in a directory hierarchy under  the  first
15       letter  of  each  terminal name. For example, the vt100 file would have
16       the  pathname  /usr/lib/terminfo/v/vt100.  The  default  directory   is
17       /usr/share/lib/terminfo. Synonyms for the same terminal are implemented
18       by multiple links to the same compiled file.
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21       The format has been chosen so that it is the same on all  hardware.  An
22       8-bit  byte  is assumed, but no assumptions about byte ordering or sign
23       extension are made. Thus, these binary terminfo  files  can  be  trans‐
24       ported to other hardware with 8-bit bytes.
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27       Short  integers  are stored in two 8-bit bytes. The first byte contains
28       the least significant 8 bits of the value, and the second byte contains
29       the  most  significant 8 bits. (Thus, the value represented is 256*sec‐
30       ond+first.) The value −1 is represented by 0377,0377, and the value  −2
31       is  represented by 0376,0377; other negative values are illegal. The −1
32       generally means that a capability is missing from this terminal. The −2
33       means that the capability has been cancelled in the terminfo source and
34       also is to be considered missing.
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37       The compiled file is created from the source file descriptions  of  the
38       terminals  (see  the  -I  option of infocmp) by using the terminfo com‐
39       piler, tic, and read by the routine  setupterm  (see  curses(3CURSES)).
40       The  file is divided into six parts in the following order: the header,
41       terminal names, boolean flags, numbers, strings, and string table.
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44       The header section begins the file six short  integers  in  the  format
45       described below. These integers are:
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47           1.     the magic number (octal 0432);
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49           2.     the size, in bytes, of the names section;
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51           3.     the number of bytes in the boolean section
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53           4.     the number of short integers in the numbers section;
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55           5.     the  number  of offsets (short integers) in the strings sec‐
56                  tion;
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58           6.     the size, in bytes, of the string table.
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61       The terminal name section comes next. It contains the first line of the
62       terminfo description, listing the various names for the terminal, sepa‐
63       rated by the bar ( | ) character (see term(5)). The section  is  termi‐
64       nated with an ASCII NUL character.
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67       The  terminal  name  section is followed by the Boolean section, number
68       section, string section, and string table.
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71       The boolean flags section consists of one byte for each flag. This byte
72       is either 0 or 1 as the flag is present or absent. The value of 2 means
73       that the flag has been cancelled. The  capabilities  are  in  the  same
74       order as the file <term.h>.
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77       Between  the  boolean flags section and the number section, a null byte
78       is inserted, if necessary, to ensure that the number section begins  on
79       an  even  byte  offset.  All short integers are aligned on a short word
80       boundary.
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83       The numbers section is similar to the boolean flags section. Each capa‐
84       bility  takes  up  two  bytes, and is stored as a short integer. If the
85       value represented is −1 or −2, the capability is taken to be missing.
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88       The strings section is also similar. Each capability  is  stored  as  a
89       short integer, in the format above. A value of −1 or −2 means the capa‐
90       bility is missing. Otherwise, the value is taken as an offset from  the
91       beginning  of the string table. Special characters in ^X or \c notation
92       are stored in their interpreted form, not the printing  representation.
93       Padding  information  ($<nn>) and parameter information (%x) are stored
94       intact in uninterpreted form.
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97       The final section is the string table. It contains all  the  values  of
98       string  capabilities  referenced  in the string section. Each string is
99       null terminated.
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102       Note that it is possible for setupterm to expect  a  different  set  of
103       capabilities than are actually present in the file. Either the database
104       may have been updated since setupterm has been recompiled (resulting in
105       extra  unrecognized  entries  in the file) or the program may have been
106       recompiled more recently than the database was  updated  (resulting  in
107       missing  entries). The routine setupterm must be prepared for both pos‐
108       sibilities—this is why the numbers and sizes are  included.  Also,  new
109       capabilities  must  always be added at the end of the lists of boolean,
110       number, and string capabilities.
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113       As an example, here is terminal information on the AT&T  Model  37  KSR
114       terminal as output by the infocmp -I tty37 command:
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116         37|tty37|AT&T model 37 teletype,
117           hc, os, xon,
118           bel=^G, cr=\r, cub1=\b, cud1=\n, cuu1=\E7, hd=\E9,
119           hu=\E8, ind=\n,
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124       The following is an octal dump of the corresponding term file, produced
125       by the od -c /usr/share/lib/terminfo/t/tty37 command:
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127         0000000   032 001      \0 032  \0 013  \0 021 001   3  \0   3   7   |   t
128         0000020     t   y   3   7   |   A   T   &   T       m   o   d   e   l
129         0000040     3   7       t   e   l   e   t   y   p   e  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0
130         0000060    \0  \0  \0 001  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 001  \0  \0  \0  \0
131         0000100   001  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
132         0000120   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   &  \0
133         0000140        \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
134         0000160   377 377   "  \0 377 377 377 377   (  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377
135         0000200   377 377   0  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   -  \0 377 377
136         0000220   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
137              *
138         0000520   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   $  \0
139         0000540   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   *  \0
140         0000560   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
141              *
142         0001160   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   3   7
143         0001200     |   t   t   y   3   7   |   A   T   &   T       m   o   d   e
144         0001220     l       3   7       t   e   l   e   t   y   p   e  \0  \r  \0
145         0001240    \n  \0  \n  \0 007  \0  \b  \0 033   8  \0 033   9  \0 033   7
146         0001260    \0  \0
147         0001261
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152       Some limitations: total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes;  all
153       entries in the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.
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FILES

156       /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
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158           compiled terminal description database
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161       /usr/include/term.h
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163           terminfo header
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166       /usr/xpg4/include/term.h
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168           X/Open Curses terminfo header
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NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

FILES

SEE ALSO