


      TERM(4)                                                   TERM(4)



      NAME
           term - format of compiled term file.

      SYNTAX
           term

      DESCRIPTION
           Compiled terminfo descriptions are placed under the
           directory /usr/lib/terminfo.  In order to avoid a linear
           search of a huge UNIX system directory, a two-level scheme
           is used: /usr/lib/terminfo/c/name where name is the name of
           the terminal, and c is the first character of name.  Thus,
           act4 can be found in the file /usr/lib/terminfo/a/act4.
           Synonyms for the same terminal are implemented by multiple
           links to the same compiled file.

           The format has been chosen so that it will be the same on
           all hardware.  An 8 or more bit byte is assumed, but no
           assumptions about byte ordering or sign extension are made.

           The compiled file is created with the compile program, and
           read by the routine setupterm.  Both of these pieces of
           software are part of curses(3X).  The file is divided into
           six parts:  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.

           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, other negative value are
           illegal.  The -1 generally means that a capability is
           missing from this terminal.  Note that this format
           corresponds to the hardware of the VAX and PDP-11.  Machines
           where this does not correspond to the hardware read the
           integers as two bytes and compute the result.

           The terminal names section comes next.  It contains the
           first line of the terminfo description, listing the various
           names for the terminal, separated by the `|' character.  The
           section is terminated with an ASCII NUL character.

           The boolean flags have one byte for each flag.  This byte is



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      TERM(4)                                                   TERM(4)



           either 0 or 1 as the flag is present or absent.  The
           capabilities are in the same order as the file <term.h>.

           Between the boolean section and the number section, a null
           byte will be inserted, if necessary, to ensure that the
           number section begins on an even byte.  All short integers
           are aligned on a short word boundary.

           The numbers section is similar to the flags section.  Each
           capability takes up two bytes, and is stored as a short
           integer.  If the value represented is -1, the capability 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 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
           section.  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
           capabilities.

           As an example, an octal dump of the description for the
           Microterm ACT 4 is included:

           microterm|act4|microterm act iv,
               cr=^M, cud1=^J, ind=^J, bel=^G, am, cub1=^H,
               ed=^_, el=^^, clear=^L, cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c,
               cols#80, lines#24, cuf1=^X, cuu1=^Z, home=^],

           000 032 001      \0 025  \0  \b  \0 212  \0   "  \0   m   i   c   r
           020   o   t   e   r   m   |   a   c   t   4   |   m   i   c   r   o
           040   t   e   r   m       a   c   t       i   v  \0  \0 001  \0  \0
           060  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0
           100  \0  \0   P  \0 377 377 030  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
           120 377 377 377 377  \0  \0 002  \0 377 377 377 377 004  \0 006  \0



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      TERM(4)                                                   TERM(4)



           140  \b  \0 377 377 377 377  \n  \0 026  \0 030  \0 377 377 032  \0
           160 377 377 377 377 034  \0 377 377 036  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377
           200 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
           *
           520 377 377 377 377      \0 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
           540 377 377 377 377 377 377 007  \0  \r  \0  \f  \0 036  \0 037  \0
           560 024   %   p   1   %   c   %   p   2   %   c  \0  \n  \0 035  \0
           600  \b  \0 030  \0 032  \0  \n  \0


           Some limitations: total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096
           bytes.  The name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.

      FILES
           /usr/lib/terminfo/*/*    compiled terminal capability data
           base

      SEE ALSO
           curses(3X), terminfo(4).




































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