infocmp(1M) infocmp(1M)
NAME
infocmp - compare or print out terminfo descriptions
SYNOPSIS
infocmp [-d] [-c] [-n] [-I] [-L] [-C] [-r] [-u] [-s d|i|l|c] [-v] [-
V]
[-1] [-w width] [-A directory] [-B directory] [termname ...]
DESCRIPTION
infocmp can be used to compare a binary terminfo entry with other
terminfo entries, rewrite a terminfo description to take advantage of
the use= terminfo field, or print out a terminfo description from the
binary file (term) in a variety of formats. In all cases, the
boolean fields will be printed first, followed by the numeric fields,
followed by the string fields.
Default Options
If no options are specified and zero or one termnames are specified,
the -I option will be assumed. If more than one termname is
specified, the -d option will be assumed.
Comparison Options [-d] [-c] [-n]
infocmp compares the terminfo description of the first terminal
termname with each of the descriptions given by the entries for the
other terminal's termnames. If a capability is defined for only one
of the terminals, the value returned will depend on the type of the
capability: F for boolean variables, -1 for integer variables, and
NULL for string variables.
-d produces a list of each capability that is different between
two entries. This option is useful to show the difference
between two entries, created by different people, for the
same or similar terminals.
-c produces a list of each capability that is common between two
entries. Capabilities that are not set are ignored. This
option can be used as a quick check to see if the -u option
is worth using.
-n produces a list of each capability that is in neither entry.
If no termnames are given, the environment variable TERM will
be used for both of the termnames. This can be used as a
quick check to see if anything was left out of a description.
Source Listing Options [-I] [-L] [-C] [-r]
The -I, -L, and -C options will produce a source listing for each
terminal named.
-I use the terminfo names
-L use the long C variable name listed in <term.h>
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-C use the termcap names
-r when using -C, put out all capabilities in termcap form
If no termnames are given, the environment variable TERM will be used
for the terminal name.
The source produced by the -C option may be used directly as a
termcap entry, but not all of the parameterized strings may be
changed to the termcap format. infocmp will attempt to convert most
of the parameterized information, but anything not converted will be
plainly marked in the output and commented out. These should be
edited by hand.
All padding information for strings will be collected together and
placed at the beginning of the string where termcap expects it.
Mandatory padding (padding information with a trailing '/') will
become optional.
All termcap variables no longer supported by terminfo, but which are
derivable from other terminfo variables, will be output. Not all
terminfo capabilities will be translated; only those variables which
were part of termcap will normally be output. Specifying the -r
option will take off this restriction, allowing all capabilities to
be output in termcap form.
Note that because padding is collected to the beginning of the
capability, not all capabilities are output. Mandatory padding is
not supported. Because termcap strings are not as flexible, it is
not always possible to convert a terminfo string capability into an
equivalent termcap format. A subsequent conversion of the termcap
file back into terminfo format will not necessarily reproduce the
original terminfo source.
Some common terminfo parameter sequences, their termcap equivalents,
and some terminal types which commonly have such sequences, are:
terminfo termcap Representative Terminals
%p1%c %. adm
%p1%d %d hp, ANSI standard, vt100
%p1%'x'%+%c %+x concept
%i %i ANSI standard, vt100
%p1%?%'x'%>%t%p1%'y'%+%; %>xy concept
%p2 is printed before %p1 %r hp
Use= Option [-u]
-u produces a terminfo source description of the first terminal
termname which is relative to the sum of the descriptions
given by the entries for the other terminals termnames. It
does this by analyzing the differences between the first
termname and the other termnames and producing a description
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with use= fields for the other terminals. In this manner, it
is possible to retrofit generic terminfo entries into a
terminal's description. Or, if two similar terminals exist,
but were coded at different times or by different people so
that each description is a full description, using infocmp
will show what can be done to change one description to be
relative to the other.
A capability will get printed with an at-sign (@) if it no longer
exists in the first termname, but one of the other termname entries
contains a value for it. A capability's value gets printed if the
value in the first termname is not found in any of the other termname
entries, or if the first of the other termname entries
that has this capability gives a different value for the capability
than that in the first termname.
The order of the other termname entries is significant. Since the
terminfo compiler tic does a left-to-right scan of the capabilities,
specifying two use= entries that contain differing entries for the
same capabilities will produce different results
depending on the order that the entries are given in. infocmp will
flag any such inconsistencies between the other termname entries as
they are found.
Alternatively, specifying a capability after a use= entry that
contains that capability will cause the second specification to be
ignored. Using infocmp to recreate a description can be a useful
check to make sure that everything was specified correctly in the
original source description.
Another error that does not cause incorrect compiled files, but will
slow down the compilation time, is specifying extra use= fields that
are superfluous. infocmp will flag any other termname use= fields
that were not needed.
Other Options [-s d|i|l|c] [-v] [-V] [-1] [-w width]
-s sorts the fields within each type according to the argument
below:
d leave fields in the order that they are stored in the
terminfo database.
i sort by terminfo name.
l sort by the long C variable name.
c sort by the termcap name.
If the -s option is not given, the fields printed out will be
sorted alphabetically by the terminfo name within each type,
except in the case of the -C or the -L options, which cause
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the sorting to be done by the termcap name or the long C
variable name, respectively.
-v prints out tracing information on standard error as the
program runs.
-V prints out the version of the program in use on standard
error and exit.
-1 causes the fields to be printed out one to a line.
Otherwise, the fields will be printed several to a line to a
maximum width of 60 characters.
-w changes the output to width characters.
Changing Databases [-A directory] [-B directory]
The location of the compiled terminfo database is taken from the
environment variable TERMINFO . If the variable is not defined, or
the terminal is not found in that location, the system terminfo
database, usually in /usr/share/lib/terminfo, will be used. The
options -A and -B may be used to override this location. The -A
option will set TERMINFO for the first termname and the -B option
will set TERMINFO for the other termnames. With this, it is possible
to compare descriptions for a terminal with the same name located in
two different databases. This is useful for comparing descriptions
for the same terminal created by different people.
FILES
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/* Compiled terminal description
database.
SEE ALSO
curses(3X), captoinfo(1M), terminfo(4), tic(1M).
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