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curses(S)

profile(M)

terminfo(M)

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sh(C)

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 term(M)                         19 June 1992                         term(M)


 Name

    term - conventional names for terminals

 Description

    These names are used by certain commands (for example, man(C), tabs(C),
    tput(C), vi(C) and curses(S)) and are maintained as part of the shell
    environment in the environment variable TERM (see sh(C), profile(M), and
    environ(M)).

    Entries in terminfo(F) source files consist of a number of comma-
    separated fields.  (To obtain the source description for a terminal, use
    the -I option of infocmp(ADM).)  White space after each comma is ignored.
    The first line of each terminal description in the terminfo(F) database
    gives the names by which terminfo(F) knows the terminal, separated by bar
    (|) characters.  The first name given is the most common abbreviation for
    the terminal (this is the one to use to set the environment variable TER-
    MINFO in $HOME.profile; see profile(M.)  The last name given should be a
    long name fully identifying the terminal, and all others are understood
    as synonyms for the terminal name.  All names but the last should contain
    no blanks and must be unique in the first 14 characters; the last name
    may contain blanks for readability.

    Terminal names (except for the last, verbose entry) should be chosen
    using the following conventions.  The particular piece of hardware making
    up the terminal should have a root name chosen.  For example, for the
    AT&T 4425 terminal, the root name is att4425.  This name should not con-
    tain hyphens, except that synonyms may be chosen that do not conflict
    with other names.  Up to 8 characters, chosen from [a-z0-9], make up a
    basic terminal name.  Names should generally be based on original ven-
    dors, rather than local distributors.  A terminal acquired from one ven-
    dor should not have more than one distinct basic name.  Terminal sub-
    models, operational modes that the hardware can be in, or user prefer-
    ences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and an indicator of the
    mode.  Thus, an AT&T 4425 terminal in 132 column mode would be att4425-w.
    The following suffixes should be used where possible:

    _________________________________________________________________________
    Suffix    Meaning                                 Example
    _________________________________________________________________________
    -w        Wide mode (more than 80 columns)        att4425-w
    -am       With auto. margins (usually default)    vt100-am
    -nam      Without automatic margins               vt100-nam
    -n        Number of lines on the screen           aaa-60
    -na       No arrow keys (leave them in local)     c100-na
    -np       Number of pages of memory               c100-4p
    -rv       Reverse video                           att4415-rv

    To avoid conflicts with the naming conventions used in describing the
    different modes of a terminal (for example, -w), it is recommended that a
    terminal's root name not contain hyphens.  Further, it is good practice
    to make all terminal names used in the terminfo(F) database unique.  Ter-
    minal entries that are present only for inclusion in other entries via
    the use= facilities should have a ``+'' in their name, as in 4415+nl.

    Some of the known terminal names may include the following (for a com-
    plete list, type:  ls -C /usr/lib/terminfo/? ):

    2621,hp2621                 Hewlett-Packard 2621 series
    2631                        Hewlett-Packard 2631 line printer
    2631-c                      Hewlett-Packard 2631 line printer - compressed
                                mode
    2631-e                      Hewlett-Packard 2631 line printer - expanded
                                mode
    2640,hp2640                 Hewlett-Packard 2640 series
    2645,hp2645                 Hewlett-Packard 2645 series
    3270                        IBM Model 3270
    33,tty33                    AT&T TELETYPE Model 33 KSR
    35,tty35                    AT&T TELETYPE Model 35 KSR
    37,tty37                    AT&T TELETYPE Model 37 KSR
    4000a                       Trendata 4000a
    4014,tek4014                TEKTRONIX 4014
    40,tty40                    AT&T TELETYPE Dataspeed 40/2
    43,tty43                    AT&T TELETYPE Model 43 KSR
    4410,5410                   AT&T 4410/5410 terminal in 80-column mode - ver-
                                sion 2
    4410-nfk,5410-nfk           AT&T 4410/5410 without function keys - version 1
    4410-nsl,5410-nsl           AT&T 4410/5410 without pln defined
    4410-w,5410-w               AT&T 4410/5410 in 132-column mode
    4410v1,5410v1               AT&T 4410/5410 terminal in 80-column mode - ver-
                                sion 1
    4410v1-w,5410v1-w           AT&T 4410/5410 terminal in 132-column mode -
                                version 1
    4415,5420                   AT&T 4415/5420 in 80-column mode
    4415-nl,5420-nl             AT&T 4415/5420 without changing labels
    4415-rv,5420-rv             AT&T 4415/5420 80 columns in reverse video
    4415-rv-nl,5420-rv-nl       AT&T 4415/5420 reverse video without changing
                                labels
    4415-w,5420-w               AT&T 4415/5420 in 132-column mode
    4415-w-nl,5420-w-nl         AT&T 4415/5420 in 132-column mode without chang-
                                ing labels
    4415-w-rv,5420-w-rv         AT&T 4415/5420 132 columns in reverse video
    4415-w-rv-nl,5420-w-rv-nl   AT&T 4415/5420 132 columns reverse video without
                                changing labels
    4418,5418                   AT&T 5418 in 80-column mode
    4418-w,5418-w               AT&T 5418 in 132-column mode
    4420                        AT&T TELETYPE Model 4420
    4424                        AT&T TELETYPE Model 4424
    4424-2                      AT&T TELETYPE Model 4424 in display function
                                group ii
    4425,5425                   AT&T 4425/5425
    4425-fk,5425-fk             AT&T 4425/5425 without function keys
    4425-nl,5425-nl             AT&T 4425/5425 without changing labels in 80-
                                column mode
    4425-w,5425-w               AT&T 4425/5425 in 132-column mode
    4425-w-fk,5425-w-fk         AT&T 4425/5425 without function keys in 132-
                                column mode
    4425-nl-w,5425-nl-w         AT&T 4425/5425 without changing labels in 132-
                                column mode
    4426                        AT&T TELETYPE Model 4426S
    450                         ASI 450 (same as Diablo 1620)
    450-12                      DASI 450 in 12-pitch mode
    500,att500                  AT&T-IS 500 terminal
    510,510a                    AT&T 510/510a in 80-column mode
    513bct,att513               AT&T 513 bct terminal
    5320                        AT&T 5320 hardcopy terminal
    5420_2                      AT&T 5420 model 2 in 80-column mode
    5420_2-w                    AT&T 5420 model 2 in 132-column mode
    5620,dmd                    AT&T 5620 terminal 88 columns
    5620-24,dmd-24              AT&T TELETYPE Model DMD 5620 in a 24x80 layer
    5620-34,dmd-34              AT&T TELETYPE Model DMD 5620 in a 34x80 layer
    610,610bct                  AT&T 610 bct terminal in 80-column mode
    610-w,610bct-w              AT&T 610 bct terminal in 132-column mode
    7300,pc7300,unix_pc         AT&T UNIX PC Model 7300
    735,ti                      Texas Instruments TI735 and TI725
    745                         Texas Instruments TI745
    dumb                        generic name for terminals that lack reverse
                                line-feed and other special escape sequences
    hp                          Hewlett-Packard (same as 2645)
    lp                          generic name for a line printer
    pt505                       AT&T Personal Terminal 505 (22 lines)
    pt505-24                    AT&T Personal Terminal 505 (24-line mode)
    sync                        generic name for synchronous TELETYPE Model
                                4540-compatible terminals

    Commands whose behavior depends on the type of terminal should accept
    arguments of the form -Tterm where term is one of the names given above;
    if no such argument is present, such commands should obtain the terminal
    type from the environment variable TERM, which, in turn, should contain
    term.

 File

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

 See also

    curses(S), profile(M), terminfo(M), terminfo(F), environ(M),
    infocmp(ADM), sh(C), stty(C), tabs(C), tput(C), tplot(ADM), vi(C)

 Notes

    Not all programs follow the above naming conventions.


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