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 ter-
minfo 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 is assumed. If more than one termname is specified, the
-d option is 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 capa-
bility: 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 ter-
minal named.
-I Use the terminfo names
-L Use the long C variable name listed in <term.h>
-C Use the termcap names
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-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 parameter-
ized 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. Manda-
tory 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 capa-
bility, not all capabilities are output. Mandatory padding is not sup-
ported. 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
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,
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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 ter-
minfo 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 incon-
sistencies between the other termname entries as they are found.
Alternatively, specifying a capability after a use= entry that con-
tains 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
the sorting to be done by the termcap name or the long C vari-
able name, respectively.
-v Prints out tracing information on standard error as the pro-
gram runs.
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-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 envi-
ronment variable TERMINFO. If the variable is not defined, or the ter-
minal 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 descrip-
tions for a terminal with the same name located in two different data-
bases. This is useful for comparing descriptions for the same terminal
created by different people.
LOCALE
The LCMESSAGES environment variable governs the language in which
message texts are displayed.
If LCMESSAGES is undefined or is defined as the null string, it
defaults to the value of LANG. If LANG is likewise undefined or null,
the system acts as if it were not internationalized.
If any of the locale variables has an invalid value, the system acts
as if none of the variables was set.
The LCALL environment variable governs the entire locale. LCALL
takes precedence over all the other environment variables which affect
internationalization.
FILES
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
Compiled terminal description database.
SEE ALSO
captoinfo(1M), tic(1M), curses(3X), terminfo(4).
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