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captoinfo(ADM)

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 infocmp(ADM)                    19 June 1992                    infocmp(ADM)


 Name

    infocmp - compare or print out terminfo descriptions

 Syntax

    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

    The infocmp command can be used to compare a binary terminfo(F) 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(F)) 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]

    The infocmp command compares the terminfo description of the first termi-
    nal 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 capabil-
    ity:  F for boolean variables, -1 for integer variables, and NULL for
    string variables.

    -d   produce a list of each capability that is different.  In this
         manner, if one has two entries for the same terminal or similar ter-
         minals, using infocmp will show what is different between the two
         entries.  This is sometimes necessary when more than one person pro-
         duces an entry for the same terminal and one wants to see what is
         different between the two.

    -c   produce a list of each capability that is common between the 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   produce 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 the description.

    Source listing options [-I] [-L] [-C] [-r]

    The -I, -L, and -C options will produce a source listing for each termi-
    nal named.

    -I   use the terminfo names

    -L   use the long C variable name listed in <term.h>

    -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 parameter-
    ized information, but that which it doesn't 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 padd-
    ing (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 ter-
    minfo 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 capabil-
    ity, not all capabilities are output, mandatory padding is not supported,
    and termcap strings were not as flexible; it is not always possible to
    convert a terminfo string capability into an equivalent termcap format.
    Not all of these strings will be able to be converted.  A subsequent
    conversion of the termcap file back into terminfo format will not neces-
    sarily 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

    Use= option [-u]

    -u   produce 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 analyz-
         ing the differences between the first termname and the other term-
         names 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, 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(C) 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.  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   sort 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 no -s option is 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 variable name, respectively.

    -v   print out tracing information on standard error as the program runs.

    -V   print out the version of the program in use on standard error and
         exit.

    -1   cause the fields to print out one to a line.  Otherwise, the fields
         will be printed several to a line to a maximum width of 60 charac-
         ters.

    -w   change the output to width characters.

    Changing data bases [-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/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 term-
    names.  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.  Otherwise the terminals would have to be named differently in
    the terminfo database for a comparison to be made.

 Files

    /usr/lib/terminfo/?/*   compiled terminal description database

 Diagnostics

    malloc is out of space!
         There was not enough memory available to process all the terminal
         descriptions requested.  Run infocmp several times, each time
         including a subset of the desired termnames.

    use= order dependency found:
         A value specified in one relative terminal specification was dif-
         ferent from that in another relative terminal specification.

    'use=term' did not add anything to the description.
         A relative terminal name did not contribute anything to the final
         description.

    must have at least two terminal names for a comparison to be done.
         The -u, -d, and -c options require at least two terminal names.

 See also

    captoinfo(ADM), curses(S), terminfo(F), tic(C)


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