# captoinfo 1m 2025-11-11 ncurses 6.6 User commands

    captoinfo(1m)                    User commands                   captoinfo(1m)

## NAME

           captoinfo - convert a termcap description into a terminfo description

## SYNOPSIS

           captoinfo [tic-option] [file ...]

           captoinfo -V

## DESCRIPTION

           captoinfo  translates  terminal  descriptions.   It looks in each given
           text file for termcap entries  and,  for  each  one  found,  writes  an
           equivalent terminfo description to the standard output stream.  termcap
           tc capabilities translate to terminfo "use" capabilities.

           If  no  files  are  specified,  captoinfo interprets the content of the
           environment variable TERMCAP as a file  name,  and  extracts  only  the
           entry for the terminal type named in the environment variable TERM from
           it.   If  the  environment variable TERMCAP is not set, captoinfo reads
           /etc/termcap.

           This utility is implemented as a link to tic(1m), with the latter's  -I
           option  implied.  You can use other tic options such as -1, -f, -v, -w,
           and -x.  The -V option reports the version of ncurses  associated  with
           this program and exits with a successful status.

### Translations from Nonstandard Capabilities

           captoinfo  translates  some  obsolete,  nonstandard  capabilities  into
           standard terminfo capabilities.  It issues a diagnostic to the standard
           error stream for each, inviting the user  to  check  that  it  has  not
           mistakenly translated an unknown or mistyped capability name.

                     termcap Code
                  Obsolete   Standard    Origin      terminfo capability
                  ---------------------------------------------------------
                     BO         mr        AT&T      enter_reverse_mode
                     CI         vi        AT&T      cursor_invisible
                     CV         ve        AT&T      cursor_normal
                     DS         mh        AT&T      enter_dim_mode
                     EE         me        AT&T      exit_attribute_mode
                     FE         LF        AT&T      label_on
                     FL         LO        AT&T      label_off
                     XS         mk        AT&T      enter_secure_mode
                     EN         @7        XENIX     key_end
                     GE         ae        XENIX     exit_alt_charset_mode
                     GS         as        XENIX     enter_alt_charset_mode
                     HM         kh        XENIX     key_home
                     LD         kL        XENIX     key_dl
                     PD         kN        XENIX     key_npage
                     PN         po        XENIX     prtr_off
                     PS         pf        XENIX     prtr_on
                     PU         kP        XENIX     key_ppage
                     RT         @8        XENIX     kent
                     UP         ku        XENIX     kcuu1
                     KA         k;      Tektronix   key_f10
                     KB         F1      Tektronix   key_f11
                     KC         F2      Tektronix   key_f12
                     KD         F3      Tektronix   key_f13
                     KE         F4      Tektronix   key_f14
                     KF         F5      Tektronix   key_f15
                     BC         Sb      Tektronix   set_background
                     FC         Sf      Tektronix   set_foreground
                     HS         mh        IRIX      enter_dim_mode

           XENIX termcap had a set of extension capabilities, corresponding to box
           drawing characters of CCSID ("code page") 437, as follows.

                          termcap Code            Graphic
                          -----------------------------------------
                               G2        upper left corner
                               G3        lower left corner
                               G1        upper right corner
                               G4        lower right corner
                               GR        tee pointing right
                               GL        tee pointing left
                               GU        tee pointing up
                               GD        tee pointing down
                               GH        horizontal line
                               GV        vertical line
                               GC        intersection
                               G6        double upper left corner
                               G7        double lower left corner
                               G5        double upper right corner
                               G8        double lower right corner
                               Gr        double tee pointing right
                               Gr        double tee pointing left
                               Gu        double tee pointing up
                               Gd        double tee pointing down
                               Gh        double horizontal line
                               Gv        double vertical line
                               Gc        double intersection
                               GG        ACS magic cookie count

           captoinfo composes single-line box-drawing capabilities into a terminfo
           acs_chars  (acsc)  string  capability,  and discards GG and double-line
           capabilities with a warning diagnostic.

           AIX has a terminfo facility descended from SVr2 terminfo, but which  is
           incompatible  with the SVr4 format.  captoinfo translates the following
           AIX extensions.

                                        IBM    X/Open
                                       ---------------
                                       ksel    kslt
                                       kbtab   kcbt
                                       font0   s0ds
                                       font1   s1ds
                                       font2   s2ds
                                       font3   s3ds

           It furthermore translates the  AIX  box1  capability  to  an  acs_chars
           (acsc) string capability.

           The   HP-UX   terminfo   library   supports  two  nonstandard  terminfo
           capabilities: memory_lock (meml) and memory_unlock  (memu).   captoinfo
           discards these with a warning message.

## FILES

           /etc/termcap
                  default termcap terminal capability database

## EXTENSIONS

           This command is an SVr4 curses and ncurses extension.

## PORTABILITY

           X/Open Curses Issue 7 (2009) does not specify this command.

           SVr4 systems provide captoinfo as a separate application from tic.  Its
           -v  option  does not accept a trace level argument n; repeat -v n times
           instead.

           NetBSD does not provide this application.

## AUTHORS

           Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> and
           Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net>

## SEE ALSO

           infocmp(1m), tic(1m), curses(3x), terminfo(5)

    ncurses 6.6                       2025-11-11                     captoinfo(1m)