{ "content": [ { "type": "text", "text": "# term(5) (man)\n\n**Summary:** term - format of compiled term file.\n\n## Examples\n\n- `As an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler ADM-3, a popular though rather`\n- `stupid early terminal:`\n- `adm3a|lsi adm3a,`\n- `am,`\n- `cols#80, lines#24,`\n- `bel=^G, clear= 32$<1>, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,`\n- `cuf1=^L, cup=\\E=%p1%{32}%+%c%p2%{32}%+%c, cuu1=^K,`\n- `home=^^, ind=^J,`\n- `and a hexadecimal dump of the compiled terminal description:`\n- `0000 1a 01 10 00 02 00 03 00 82 00 31 00 61 64 6d 33 ........ ..1.adm3`\n- `0010 61 7c 6c 73 69 20 61 64 6d 33 61 00 00 01 50 00 a|lsi ad m3a...P.`\n- `0020 ff ff 18 00 ff ff 00 00 02 00 ff ff ff ff 04 00 ........ ........`\n- `0030 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 0a 00 25 00 27 00 ff ff ........ ..%.'...`\n- `0040 29 00 ff ff ff ff 2b 00 ff ff 2d 00 ff ff ff ff ).....+. ..-.....`\n- `0050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `0060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `0070 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `0080 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `0090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `00a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `00b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `00c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `00d0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `00e0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `00f0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `0100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `0110 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........`\n- `0120 ff ff ff ff ff ff 2f 00 07 00 0d 00 1a 24 3c 31 ....../. .....$<1`\n- `0130 3e 00 1b 3d 25 70 31 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 >..=%p1% {32}%+%c`\n- `0140 25 70 32 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 00 0a 00 1e %p2%{32} %+%c....`\n- `0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ .`\n\n## See Also\n\n- ncurses(3NCURSES)\n- terminfo(5)\n\n## Section Outline\n\n- **NAME** (2 lines)\n- **SYNOPSIS** (1 lines) — 1 subsections\n - term (1 lines)\n- **DESCRIPTION** (4 lines) — 2 subsections\n - directory tree (5 lines)\n - hashed database (147 lines)\n- **PORTABILITY** (1 lines) — 5 subsections\n - setupterm (8 lines)\n - Binary format (16 lines)\n - Magic codes (6 lines)\n - The TERMTYPE structure (4 lines)\n - Mixed-case terminal names (5 lines)\n- **EXAMPLE** (37 lines)\n- **LIMITS** (12 lines)\n- **FILES** (2 lines)\n- **SEE ALSO** (2 lines)\n- **AUTHORS** (11 lines)\n\n## Full Content\n\n### NAME\n\nterm - format of compiled term file.\n\n### SYNOPSIS\n\n#### term\n\n### DESCRIPTION\n\nSTORAGE LOCATION\nCompiled terminfo descriptions are placed under the directory /etc/terminfo. Two configura‐\ntions are supported (when building the ncurses libraries):\n\n#### directory tree\n\nA two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search of a huge UNIX system directory:\n/etc/terminfo/c/name where name is the name of the terminal, and c is the first charac‐\nter of name. Thus, act4 can be found in the file /etc/terminfo/a/act4. Synonyms for\nthe same terminal are implemented by multiple links to the same compiled file.\n\n#### hashed database\n\nUsing Berkeley database, two types of records are stored: the terminfo data in the same\nformat as stored in a directory tree with the terminfo's primary name as a key, and\nrecords containing only aliases pointing to the primary name.\n\nIf built to write hashed databases, ncurses can still read terminfo databases organized\nas a directory tree, but cannot write entries into the directory tree. It can write (or\nrewrite) entries in the hashed database.\n\nncurses distinguishes the two cases in the TERMINFO and TERMINFODIRS environment vari‐\nable by assuming a directory tree for entries that correspond to an existing directory,\nand hashed database otherwise.\n\nLEGACY STORAGE FORMAT\nThe format has been chosen so that it will be the same on all hardware. An 8 or more bit\nbyte is assumed, but no assumptions about byte ordering or sign extension are made.\n\nThe compiled file is created with the tic program, and read by the routine setupterm(3X).\nThe file is divided into six parts:\n\na) header,\n\nb) terminal names,\n\nc) boolean flags,\n\nd) numbers,\n\ne) strings, and\n\nf) string table.\n\nThe header section begins the file. This section contains six short integers in the format\ndescribed below. These integers are\n\n(1) the magic number (octal 0432);\n\n(2) the size, in bytes, of the terminal names section;\n\n(3) the number of bytes in the boolean flags section;\n\n(4) the number of short integers in the numbers section;\n\n(5) the number of offsets (short integers) in the strings section;\n\n(6) the size, in bytes, of the string table.\n\nThe capabilities in the boolean flags, numbers, and strings sections are in the same order as\nthe file .\n\nShort integers are signed, in the range -32768 to 32767. They are stored as two 8-bit bytes.\nThe first byte contains the least significant 8 bits of the value, and the second byte con‐\ntains the most significant 8 bits. (Thus, the value represented is 256*second+first.) This\nformat corresponds to the hardware of the VAX and PDP-11 (that is, little-endian machines).\nMachines where this does not correspond to the hardware must read the integers as two bytes\nand compute the little-endian value.\n\nNumbers in a terminal description, whether they are entries in the numbers or strings table,\nare positive integers. Boolean flags are treated as positive one-byte integers. In each\ncase, those positive integers represent a terminal capability. The terminal compiler tic\nuses negative integers to handle the cases where a capability is not available:\n\n• If a capability is absent from this terminal, tic stores a -1 in the corresponding table.\n\nThe integer value -1 is represented by two bytes 0377, 0377.\nAbsent boolean values are represented by the byte 0 (false).\n\n• If a capability has been canceled from this terminal, tic stores a -2 in the correspond‐\ning table.\n\nThe integer value -2 is represented by two bytes 0377, 0376.\nThe boolean value -2 is represented by the byte 0376.\n\n• Other negative values are illegal.\n\nThe terminal names section comes after the header. It contains the first line of the ter‐\nminfo description, listing the various names for the terminal, separated by the “|” charac‐\nter. The terminal names section is terminated with an ASCII NUL character.\n\nThe boolean flags section has one byte for each flag. Boolean capabilities are either 1 or 0\n(true or false) according to whether the terminal supports the given capability or not.\n\nBetween the boolean flags section and the number section, a null byte will be inserted, if\nnecessary, to ensure that the number section begins on an even byte This is a relic of the\nPDP-11's word-addressed architecture, originally designed to avoid traps induced by address‐\ning a word on an odd byte boundary. All short integers are aligned on a short word boundary.\n\nThe numbers section is similar to the boolean flags section. Each capability takes up two\nbytes, and is stored as a little-endian short integer.\n\nThe strings section is also similar. Each capability is stored as a short integer. The ca‐\npability value is an index into the string table.\n\nThe string table is the last section. It contains all of the values of string capabilities\nreferenced in the strings section. Each string is null-terminated. Special characters in ^X\nor \\c notation are stored in their interpreted form, not the printing representation. Pad‐\nding information $ and parameter information %x are stored intact in uninterpreted form.\n\nEXTENDED STORAGE FORMAT\nThe previous section describes the conventional terminfo binary format. With some minor\nvariations of the offsets (see PORTABILITY), the same binary format is used in all modern\nUNIX systems. Each system uses a predefined set of boolean, number or string capabilities.\n\nThe ncurses libraries and applications support extended terminfo binary format, allowing\nusers to define capabilities which are loaded at runtime. This extension is made possible by\nusing the fact that the other implementations stop reading the terminfo data when they have\nreached the end of the size given in the header. ncurses checks the size, and if it exceeds\nthat due to the predefined data, continues to parse according to its own scheme.\n\nFirst, it reads the extended header (5 short integers):\n\n(1) count of extended boolean capabilities\n\n(2) count of extended numeric capabilities\n\n(3) count of extended string capabilities\n\n(4) count of the items in extended string table\n\n(5) size of the extended string table in bytes\n\nThe count- and size-values for the extended string table include the extended capability\nnames as well as extended capability values.\n\nUsing the counts and sizes, ncurses allocates arrays and reads data for the extended capabil‐\nities in the same order as the header information.\n\nThe extended string table contains values for string capabilities. After the end of these\nvalues, it contains the names for each of the extended capabilities in order, e.g., booleans,\nthen numbers and finally strings.\n\nApplications which manipulate terminal data can use the definitions described in termvari‐‐\nables(3X) which associate the long capability names with members of a TERMTYPE structure.\n\nEXTENDED NUMBER FORMAT\nOn occasion, 16-bit signed integers are not large enough. With ncurses 6.1, a new format was\nintroduced by making a few changes to the legacy format:\n\n• a different magic number (octal 01036)\n\n• changing the type for the number array from signed 16-bit integers to signed 32-bit inte‐\ngers.\n\nTo maintain compatibility, the library presents the same data structures to direct users of\nthe TERMTYPE structure as in previous formats. However, that cannot provide callers with the\nextended numbers. The library uses a similar but hidden data structure TERMTYPE2 to provide\ndata for the terminfo functions.\n\n### PORTABILITY\n\n#### setupterm\n\nNote that it is possible for setupterm to expect a different set of capabilities than are ac‐\ntually present in the file. Either the database may have been updated since setupterm was\nrecompiled (resulting in extra unrecognized entries in the file) or the program may have been\nrecompiled more recently than the database was updated (resulting in missing entries). The\nroutine setupterm must be prepared for both possibilities - this is why the numbers and sizes\nare included. Also, new capabilities must always be added at the end of the lists of bool‐\nean, number, and string capabilities.\n\n#### Binary format\n\nX/Open Curses does not specify a format for the terminfo database. UNIX System V curses used\na directory-tree of binary files, one per terminal description.\n\nDespite the consistent use of little-endian for numbers and the otherwise self-describing\nformat, it is not wise to count on portability of binary terminfo entries between commercial\nUNIX versions. The problem is that there are at least three versions of terminfo (under\nHP-UX, AIX, and OSF/1) which diverged from System V terminfo after SVr1, and have added ex‐\ntension capabilities to the string table that (in the binary format) collide with System V\nand XSI Curses extensions. See terminfo(5) for detailed discussion of terminfo source com‐\npatibility issues.\n\nThis implementation is by default compatible with the binary terminfo format used by Solaris\ncurses, except in a few less-used details where it was found that the latter did not match\nX/Open Curses. The format used by the other Unix versions can be matched by building ncurses\nwith different configuration options.\n\n#### Magic codes\n\nThe magic number in a binary terminfo file is the first 16-bits (two bytes). Besides making\nit more reliable for the library to check that a file is terminfo, utilities such as file\nalso use that to tell what the file-format is. System V defined more than one magic number,\nwith 0433, 0435 as screen-dumps (see scrdump(5)). This implementation uses 01036 as a con‐\ntinuation of that sequence, but with a different high-order byte to avoid confusion.\n\n#### The TERMTYPE structure\n\nDirect access to the TERMTYPE structure is provided for legacy applications. Portable appli‐\ncations should use the tigetflag and related functions described in cursterminfo(3X) for\nreading terminal capabilities.\n\n#### Mixed-case terminal names\n\nA small number of terminal descriptions use uppercase characters in their names. If the un‐\nderlying filesystem ignores the difference between uppercase and lowercase, ncurses repre‐\nsents the “first character” of the terminal name used as the intermediate level of a direc‐\ntory tree in (two-character) hexadecimal form.\n\n### EXAMPLE\n\nAs an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler ADM-3, a popular though rather\nstupid early terminal:\n\nadm3a|lsi adm3a,\nam,\ncols#80, lines#24,\nbel=^G, clear= 32$<1>, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,\ncuf1=^L, cup=\\E=%p1%{32}%+%c%p2%{32}%+%c, cuu1=^K,\nhome=^^, ind=^J,\n\n\nand a hexadecimal dump of the compiled terminal description:\n\n0000 1a 01 10 00 02 00 03 00 82 00 31 00 61 64 6d 33 ........ ..1.adm3\n0010 61 7c 6c 73 69 20 61 64 6d 33 61 00 00 01 50 00 a|lsi ad m3a...P.\n0020 ff ff 18 00 ff ff 00 00 02 00 ff ff ff ff 04 00 ........ ........\n0030 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 0a 00 25 00 27 00 ff ff ........ ..%.'...\n0040 29 00 ff ff ff ff 2b 00 ff ff 2d 00 ff ff ff ff ).....+. ..-.....\n0050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n0060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n0070 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n0080 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n0090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n00a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n00b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n00c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n00d0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n00e0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n00f0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n0100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n0110 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........\n0120 ff ff ff ff ff ff 2f 00 07 00 0d 00 1a 24 3c 31 ....../. .....$<1\n0130 3e 00 1b 3d 25 70 31 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 >..=%p1% {32}%+%c\n0140 25 70 32 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 00 0a 00 1e %p2%{32} %+%c....\n0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ .\n\n### LIMITS\n\nSome limitations:\n\n• total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy format.\n\n• total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended format.\n\n• the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.\n\nCompiled entries are limited to 32768 bytes because offsets into the strings table use two-\nbyte integers. The legacy format could have supported 32768-byte entries, but was limited a\nvirtual memory page's 4096 bytes.\n\n### FILES\n\n/etc/terminfo/*/* compiled terminal capability database\n\n### SEE ALSO\n\nncurses(3NCURSES), terminfo(5).\n\n### AUTHORS\n\nThomas E. Dickey\nextended terminfo format for ncurses 5.0\nhashed database support for ncurses 5.6\nextended number support for ncurses 6.1\n\nEric S. Raymond\ndocumented legacy terminfo format, e.g., from pcurses.\n\n\n\nterm(5)\n\n" } ], "structuredContent": { "command": "term", "section": "5", "mode": "man", "summary": "term - format of compiled term file.", "synopsis": "", "flags": [], "examples": [ "As an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler ADM-3, a popular though rather", "stupid early terminal:", "adm3a|lsi adm3a,", "am,", "cols#80, lines#24,", "bel=^G, clear= 32$<1>, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,", "cuf1=^L, cup=\\E=%p1%{32}%+%c%p2%{32}%+%c, cuu1=^K,", "home=^^, ind=^J,", "and a hexadecimal dump of the compiled terminal description:", "0000 1a 01 10 00 02 00 03 00 82 00 31 00 61 64 6d 33 ........ ..1.adm3", "0010 61 7c 6c 73 69 20 61 64 6d 33 61 00 00 01 50 00 a|lsi ad m3a...P.", "0020 ff ff 18 00 ff ff 00 00 02 00 ff ff ff ff 04 00 ........ ........", "0030 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 0a 00 25 00 27 00 ff ff ........ ..%.'...", "0040 29 00 ff ff ff ff 2b 00 ff ff 2d 00 ff ff ff ff ).....+. ..-.....", "0050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "0060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "0070 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "0080 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "0090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "00a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "00b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "00c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "00d0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "00e0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "00f0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "0100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "0110 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........", "0120 ff ff ff ff ff ff 2f 00 07 00 0d 00 1a 24 3c 31 ....../. .....$<1", "0130 3e 00 1b 3d 25 70 31 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 >..=%p1% {32}%+%c", "0140 25 70 32 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 00 0a 00 1e %p2%{32} %+%c....", "0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ ." ], "see_also": [ { "name": "ncurses", "section": "3NCURSES", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ncurses/3NCURSES/json" }, { "name": "terminfo", "section": "5", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/terminfo/5/json" } ], "section_outline": [ { "name": "NAME", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "SYNOPSIS", "lines": 1, "subsections": [ { "name": "term", "lines": 1 } ] }, { "name": "DESCRIPTION", "lines": 4, "subsections": [ { "name": "directory tree", "lines": 5 }, { "name": "hashed database", "lines": 147 } ] }, { "name": "PORTABILITY", "lines": 1, "subsections": [ { "name": "setupterm", "lines": 8 }, { "name": "Binary format", "lines": 16 }, { "name": "Magic codes", "lines": 6 }, { "name": "The TERMTYPE structure", "lines": 4 }, { "name": "Mixed-case terminal names", "lines": 5 } ] }, { "name": "EXAMPLE", "lines": 37, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "LIMITS", "lines": 12, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "FILES", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "SEE ALSO", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "AUTHORS", "lines": 11, "subsections": [] } ] } }