term(4) FILE FORMATS term(4)
NAME
term - format of compiled term file
SYNOPSIS
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
DESCRIPTION
Compiled terminfo(4) descriptions are placed under the
directory /usr/share/lib/terminfo. In order to avoid a
linear search of a huge UNIX system directory, a two-level
scheme is used: /usr/share/lib/terminfo/c/name where name
is the name of the terminal, and c is the first character of
name. Thus, att4425 can be found in the file
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/a/att4425. Synonyms for the same
terminal are implemented by multiple links to the same com-
piled file.
The format has been chosen so that it is the same on all
hardware. An 8-bit byte is assumed, but no assumptions
about byte ordering or sign extension are made. Thus, these
binary terminfo files can be transported to other hardware
with 8-bit bytes.
Short integers are stored in two 8-bit bytes. The first
byte contains the least significant 8 bits of the value, and
the second byte contains the most significant 8 bits.
(Thus, the value represented is 256*second+first.) The
value -1 is represented by 0377,0377, and the value -2 is
represented by 0376,0377; other negative values are illegal.
The -1 generally means that a capability is missing from
this terminal. The -2 means that the capability has been
cancelled in the terminfo source and also is to be con-
sidered missing.
The compiled file is created from the source file descrip-
tions of the terminals (see the -I option of infocmp) by
using the terminfo compiler, tic, and read by the routine
setupterm [see curses(3X).] The file is divided into six
parts in the following order: the header, terminal names,
boolean flags, numbers, strings, and string table.
The header section begins the file. This section contains
six short integers in the format described below. These
integers are (1) the magic number (octal 0432); (2) the
size, in bytes, of the names section; (3) the number of
bytes in the boolean section; (4) the number of short
integers in the numbers section; (5) the number of offsets
(short integers) in the strings section; (6) the size, in
bytes, of the string table.
The terminal names section comes next. It contains the
first line of the terminfo description, listing the various
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term(4) FILE FORMATS term(4)
names for the terminal, separated by the bar ( | ) character
(see term(5)). The section is terminated with an ASCII NUL
character.
The boolean flags have one byte for each flag. This byte is
either 0 or 1 as the flag is present or absent. The value
of 2 means that the flag has been cancelled. The capabili-
ties are in the same order as the file <term.h>.
Between the boolean section and the number section, a null
byte is inserted, if necessary, to ensure that the number
section begins on an even byte offset. All short integers
are aligned on a short word boundary.
The numbers section is similar to the boolean flags section.
Each capability takes up two bytes, and is stored as a short
integer. If the value represented is -1 or -2, the capabil-
ity is taken to be missing.
The strings section is also similar. Each capability is
stored as a short integer, in the format above. A value of
-1 or -2 means the capability is missing. Otherwise, the
value is taken as an offset from the beginning of the string
table. Special characters in ^X or \c notation are stored
in their interpreted form, not the printing representation.
Padding information ($<nn>) and parameter information (%x)
are stored intact in uninterpreted form.
The final section is the string table. It contains all the
values of string capabilities referenced in the string sec-
tion. Each string is null terminated.
Note that it is possible for setupterm to expect a different
set of capabilities than are actually present in the file.
Either the database may have been updated since setupterm
has been recompiled (resulting in extra unrecognized entries
in the file) or the program may have been recompiled more
recently than the database was updated (resulting in missing
entries). The routine setupterm must be prepared for both
possibilities-this is why the numbers and sizes are
included. Also, new capabilities must always be added at
the end of the lists of boolean, number, and string capabil-
ities.
As an example, here is terminal information on the AT&T
Model 37 KSR terminal as output by the infocmp -I tty37 com-
mand:
37|tty37|AT&T model 37 teletype,
hc, os, xon,
bel=^G, cr=\r, cub1=\b, cud1=\n, cuu1=\E7, hd=\E9,
hu=\E8, ind=\n,
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term(4) FILE FORMATS term(4)
And here is an octal dump of the term file, produced by the
od -c /usr/share/lib/terminfo/t/tty37 command:
0000000 032 001 \0 032 \0 013 \0 021 001 3 \0 3 7 | t
0000020 t y 3 7 | A T & T m o d e l
0000040 3 7 t e l e t y p e \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
0000060 \0 \0 \0 001 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 001 \0 \0 \0 \0
0000100 001 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
0000120 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 & \0
0000140 \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
0000160 377 377 " \0 377 377 377 377 ( \0 377 377 377 377 377 377
0000200 377 377 0 \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 - \0 377 377
0000220 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
*
0000520 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 $ \0
0000540 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 * \0
0000560 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
*
0001160 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 3 7
0001200 | t t y 3 7 | A T & T m o d e
0001220 l 3 7 t e l e t y p e \0 \r \0
0001240 \n \0 \n \0 007 \0 \b \0 033 8 \0 033 9 \0 033 7
0001260 \0 \0
0001261
Some limitations: total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096
bytes; all entries in the name field cannot exceed 128
bytes.
FILES
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*compiled terminal description
database
/usr/include/term.hterminfo header file
SEE ALSO
curses(3X).
infocmp(1M), terminfo(4), term(5)
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