# terminfo 5 2025-08-16 ncurses 6.6 File formats

    terminfo(5)                      File formats                      terminfo(5)

## NAME

           terminfo - terminal capability database

## SYNOPSIS

           /usr/share/terminfo/*/*

## DESCRIPTION

           Terminfo  is  a  database describing terminals, used by screen-oriented
           programs  such  as  nvi(1),  lynx(1),   mutt(1),   and   other   curses
           applications,  using  high-level calls to libraries such as curses(3x).
           It is also used via low-level calls by  non-curses  applications  which
           may  be  screen-oriented  (such  as  clear(1))  or  non-screen (such as
           tabs(1)).

           Terminfo describes terminals by giving a set of capabilities which they
           have, by specifying how to perform screen operations, and by specifying
           padding requirements and initialization sequences.

           This document describes ncurses version 6.6 (patch 20260117).

### terminfo Entry Syntax

           Entries in terminfo consist of a sequence of fields:

           o   Each field ends with a comma "," (embedded commas  may  be  escaped
               with a backslash or written as "\054").

           o   White space between fields is ignored.

           o   The first field in a terminfo entry begins in the first column.

           o   Newlines  and  leading  whitespace (spaces or tabs) may be used for
               formatting entries for readability.  These are removed from  parsed
               entries.

               The  infocmp  -f and -W options rely on this to format if-then-else
               expressions, or  to  enforce  maximum  line-width.   The  resulting
               formatted terminal description can be read by tic.

           o   The  first  field for each terminal gives the names which are known
               for the terminal, separated by "|" characters.

               The first name given  is  the  most  common  abbreviation  for  the
               terminal  (its  primary name), the last name given should be a long
               name fully identifying the terminal  (see  longname(3x)),  and  all
               others  are  treated as synonyms (aliases) for the primary terminal
               name.

               X/Open Curses advises that all names but  the  last  should  be  in
               lower  case  and  contain no blanks; the last name may well contain
               upper case and blanks for readability.

               This implementation is not so strict; it allows mixed case  in  the
               primary name and aliases.  If the last name has no embedded blanks,
               it  allows  that  to  be both an alias and a verbose name (but will
               warn about this ambiguity).

           o   Lines beginning with a "#" in  the  first  column  are  treated  as
               comments.

               While comment lines are valid at any point, the output of captoinfo
               and  infotocap  (aliases  for tic) will move comments so they occur
               only between entries.

           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,  thus  "hp2621".   This
           name should not contain hyphens.  Modes that the hardware can be in, or
           user  preferences, should be indicated by appending a hyphen and a mode
           suffix.  Thus, a vt100  in  132-column  mode  would  be  vt100-w.   The
           following suffixes should be used where possible:

           Suffix   Example     Meaning
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           -nn      aaa-60      Number of lines on the screen
           -np      c100-4p     Number of pages of memory
           -am      vt100-am    With automargins (usually the default)
           -m       ansi-m      Mono mode; suppress color
           -mc      wy30-mc     Magic cookie; spaces when highlighting
           -na      c100-na     No arrow keys (leave them in local)
           -nam     vt100-nam   Without automatic margins
           -nl      hp2621-nl   No status line
           -ns      hp2626-ns   No status line
           -rv      c100-rv     Reverse video
           -s       vt100-s     Enable status line
           -vb      wy370-vb    Use visible bell instead of beep
           -w       vt100-w     Wide mode (> 80 columns, usually 132)

           For more on terminal naming conventions, see the term(7) manual page.

### terminfo Capabilities Syntax

           The  terminfo  entry  consists  of several capabilities, i.e., features
           that the  terminal  has,  or  methods  for  exercising  the  terminal's
           features.

           After the first field (giving the name(s) of the terminal entry), there
           should be one or more capability fields.  These are Boolean, numeric or
           string names with corresponding values:

           o   Boolean  capabilities  are  true  when  present, false when absent.
               There is no explicit value for Boolean capabilities.

           o   Numeric capabilities  have  a  "#"  following  the  name,  then  an
               unsigned decimal integer value.

           o   String  capabilities  have a "=" following the name, then an string
               of characters making up the capability value.

               String capabilities can be split into multiple lines, just  as  the
               fields  comprising  a  terminal  entry  can  be split into multiple
               lines.  While blanks between fields are  ignored,  blanks  embedded
               within  a string value are retained, except for leading blanks on a
               line.

           Any capability can be canceled,  i.e.,  suppressed  from  the  terminal
           entry, by following its name with "@" rather than a capability value.

### Similar Terminals

           If  there  are  two  very  similar  terminals, one (the variant) can be
           defined  as  being  just  like  the  other  (the  base)  with   certain
           exceptions.   In  the  definition of the variant, the string capability
           use can be given with the name of the base terminal:

           o   The capabilities given before use override those in the  base  type
               named by use.

           o   If  there are multiple use capabilities, they are merged in reverse
               order.  That is, the rightmost use reference  is  processed  first,
               then the one to its left, and so forth.

           o   Capabilities  given  explicitly in the entry override those brought
               in by use references.

           A capability can be canceled by placing xx@ to  the  left  of  the  use
           reference  that  imports  it, where xx is the capability.  For example,
           the entry

                  2621-nl, smkx@, rmkx@, use=2621,

           defines a 2621-nl that does not have the smkx or rmkx capabilities, and
           hence does not turn on the function key labels  when  in  visual  mode.
           This  is  useful  for  different modes for a terminal, or for different
           user preferences.

           An entry included via use can contain canceled capabilities, which have
           the same effect as if those cancels were inline in the  using  terminal
           entry.

### Standard Capabilities

           Tables  of  capabilities ncurses recognizes in a terminfo terminal type
           description and available to terminfo-using code follow.

           o   The capability name identifies the symbol by which  the  programmer
               using the terminfo API accesses the capability.

           o   The TI (terminfo) code is the short name used by a person composing
               or updating a terminal type entry.

               Whenever  possible, these codes are the same as or similar to those
               of the ANSI X3.64-1979 standard (now superseded by  ECMA-48,  which
               uses identical or very similar names).  Semantics are also intended
               to match those of the specification.

               terminfo  codes have no hard length limit, but ncurses maintains an
               informal one of 5 characters to keep them short and  to  allow  the
               tabs  in  the  source  file Caps to line up nicely.  (Some standard
               codes exceed this limit regardless.)

           o   The TC (termcap) code is that used  by  the  corresponding  API  of
               ncurses.   (Some  capabilities  are  new,  and  have names that BSD
               termcap did not originate.)

           o   The  description  field  attempts  to   convey   the   capability's
               semantics.

           The description field employs a handful of notations.

           (P)    indicates that padding may be specified.

           (P*)   indicates  that  padding may vary in proportion to the number of
                  output lines affected.

           #i     indicates  the  ith  parameter  of  a  string  capability;   the
                  programmer   should  pass  the  string  to  tparm(3x)  with  the
                  parameters listed.

                  If the description lists no parameters, passing  the  string  to
                  tparm(3x)  may  produce unexpected behavior, for instance if the
                  string contains percent signs.

                                          Code
           Boolean Capability Name    TI        TC  Description
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           auto_left_margin           bw        bw  cub1 wraps from column 0 to
                                                    last column
           auto_right_margin          am        am  terminal has automatic margins
           no_esc_ctlc                xsb       xb  beehive (f1=escape, f2=ctrl C)
           ceol_standout_glitch       xhp       xs  standout not erased by
                                                    overwriting (hp)
           eat_newline_glitch         xenl      xn  newline ignored after 80 cols
                                                    (concept)
           erase_overstrike           eo        eo  can erase overstrikes with a
                                                    blank
           generic_type               gn        gn  generic line type
           hard_copy                  hc        hc  hardcopy terminal
           has_meta_key               km        km  Has a meta key (i.e., sets
                                                    8th-bit)
           has_status_line            hs        hs  has extra status line
           insert_null_glitch         in        in  insert mode distinguishes
                                                    nulls
           memory_above               da        da  display may be retained above
                                                    the screen
           memory_below               db        db  display may be retained below
                                                    the screen
           move_insert_mode           mir       mi  safe to move while in insert
                                                    mode
           move_standout_mode         msgr      ms  safe to move while in standout
                                                    mode
           over_strike                os        os  terminal can overstrike
           status_line_esc_ok         eslok     es  escape can be used on the
                                                    status line
           dest_tabs_magic_smso       xt        xt  tabs destructive, magic so
                                                    char (t1061)
           tilde_glitch               hz        hz  cannot print ~'s (Hazeltine)
           transparent_underline      ul        ul  underline character
                                                    overstrikes
           xon_xoff                   xon       xo  terminal uses xon/xoff
                                                    handshaking
           needs_xon_xoff             nxon      nx  padding will not work,
                                                    xon/xoff required
           prtr_silent                mc5i      5i  printer will not echo on
                                                    screen
           hard_cursor                chts      HC  cursor is hard to see
           non_rev_rmcup              nrrmc     NR  smcup does not reverse rmcup
           no_pad_char                npc       NP  pad character does not exist
           non_dest_scroll_region     ndscr     ND  scrolling region is non-
                                                    destructive
           can_change                 ccc       cc  terminal can re-define
                                                    existing colors
           back_color_erase           bce       ut  screen erased with background
                                                    color
           hue_lightness_saturation   hls       hl  terminal uses only HLS color
                                                    notation (Tektronix)
           col_addr_glitch            xhpa      YA  only positive motion for
                                                    hpa/mhpa caps
           cr_cancels_micro_mode      crxm      YB  using cr turns off micro mode
           has_print_wheel            daisy     YC  printer needs operator to
                                                    change character set
           row_addr_glitch            xvpa      YD  only positive motion for
                                                    vpa/mvpa caps
           semi_auto_right_margin     sam       YE  printing in last column causes
                                                    cr
           cpi_changes_res            cpix      YF  changing character pitch
                                                    changes resolution
           lpi_changes_res            lpix      YG  changing line pitch changes
                                                    resolution

                                          Code
           Numeric Capability Name    TI        TC  Description
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           columns                    cols      co  number of columns in a line
           init_tabs                  it        it  tabs initially every # spaces
           lines                      lines     li  number of lines on screen or
                                                    page
           lines_of_memory            lm        lm  lines of memory if > line. 0
                                                    means varies
           magic_cookie_glitch        xmc       sg  number of blank characters
                                                    left by smso or rmso
           padding_baud_rate          pb        pb  lowest baud rate where padding
                                                    needed
           virtual_terminal           vt        vt  virtual terminal number
                                                    (CB/unix)
           width_status_line          wsl       ws  number of columns in status
                                                    line
           num_labels                 nlab      Nl  number of labels on screen
           label_height               lh        lh  rows in each label
           label_width                lw        lw  columns in each label
           max_attributes             ma        ma  maximum combined attributes
                                                    terminal can handle
           maximum_windows            wnum      MW  maximum number of definable
                                                    windows
           max_colors                 colors    Co  maximum number of colors on
                                                    screen
           max_pairs                  pairs     pa  maximum number of color-pairs
                                                    on the screen
           no_color_video             ncv       NC  video attributes that cannot
                                                    be used with colors

           The following numeric capabilities  are  present  in  the  SVr4.0  term
           structure,  but  are  not yet documented in the man page.  They came in
           with SVr4's printer support.

                                          Code
           Numeric Capability Name    TI        TC  Description
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           buffer_capacity            bufsz     Ya  numbers of bytes buffered
                                                    before printing
           dot_vert_spacing           spinv     Yb  spacing of pins vertically in
                                                    pins per inch
           dot_horz_spacing           spinh     Yc  spacing of dots horizontally
                                                    in dots per inch
           max_micro_address          maddr     Yd  maximum value in
                                                    micro_..._address
           max_micro_jump             mjump     Ye  maximum value in
                                                    parm_..._micro
           micro_col_size             mcs       Yf  character step size when in
                                                    micro mode
           micro_line_size            mls       Yg  line step size when in micro
                                                    mode
           number_of_pins             npins     Yh  numbers of pins in print-head
           output_res_char            orc       Yi  horizontal resolution in units
                                                    per line
           output_res_line            orl       Yj  vertical resolution in units
                                                    per line
           output_res_horz_inch       orhi      Yk  horizontal resolution in units
                                                    per inch
           output_res_vert_inch       orvi      Yl  vertical resolution in units
                                                    per inch
           print_rate                 cps       Ym  print rate in characters per
                                                    second
           wide_char_size             widcs     Yn  character step size when in
                                                    double wide mode
           buttons                    btns      BT  number of buttons on mouse
           bit_image_entwining        bitwin    Yo  number of passes for each bit-
                                                    image row
           bit_image_type             bitype    Yp  type of bit-image device

                                          Code
           String Capability Name     TI        TC  Description
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           back_tab                   cbt       bt  back tab (P)
           bell                       bel       bl  audible signal (bell) (P)
           carriage_return            cr        cr  carriage return (P*) (P*)
           change_scroll_region       csr       cs  change region to line #1 to
                                                    line #2 (P)
           clear_all_tabs             tbc       ct  clear all tab stops (P)
           clear_screen               clear     cl  clear screen and home cursor
                                                    (P*)
           clr_eol                    el        ce  clear to end of line (P)
           clr_eos                    ed        cd  clear to end of screen (P*)
           column_address             hpa       ch  horizontal position #1,
                                                    absolute (P)
           command_character          cmdch     CC  terminal settable cmd
                                                    character in prototype !?
           cursor_address             cup       cm  move to row #1 columns #2
           cursor_down                cud1      do  down one line
           cursor_home                home      ho  home cursor (if no cup)
           cursor_invisible           civis     vi  make cursor invisible
           cursor_left                cub1      le  move left one space
           cursor_mem_address         mrcup     CM  memory relative cursor
                                                    addressing, move to row #1
                                                    columns #2
           cursor_normal              cnorm     ve  make cursor appear normal
                                                    (undo civis/cvvis)
           cursor_right               cuf1      nd  non-destructive space (move
                                                    right one space)
           cursor_to_ll               ll        ll  last line, first column (if no
                                                    cup)
           cursor_up                  cuu1      up  up one line
           cursor_visible             cvvis     vs  make cursor very visible
           delete_character           dch1      dc  delete character (P*)
           delete_line                dl1       dl  delete line (P*)
           dis_status_line            dsl       ds  disable status line
           down_half_line             hd        hd  half a line down
           enter_alt_charset_mode     smacs     as  start alternate character set
                                                    (P)
           enter_blink_mode           blink     mb  turn on blinking
           enter_bold_mode            bold      md  turn on bold (extra bright)
                                                    mode
           enter_ca_mode              smcup     ti  string to start programs using
                                                    cup
           enter_delete_mode          smdc      dm  enter delete mode
           enter_dim_mode             dim       mh  turn on half-bright mode
           enter_insert_mode          smir      im  enter insert mode
           enter_secure_mode          invis     mk  turn on blank mode (characters
                                                    invisible)
           enter_protected_mode       prot      mp  turn on protected mode
           enter_reverse_mode         rev       mr  turn on reverse video mode
           enter_standout_mode        smso      so  begin standout mode
           enter_underline_mode       smul      us  begin underline mode
           erase_chars                ech       ec  erase #1 characters (P)
           exit_alt_charset_mode      rmacs     ae  end alternate character set
                                                    (P)
           exit_attribute_mode        sgr0      me  turn off all attributes
           exit_ca_mode               rmcup     te  strings to end programs using
                                                    cup
           exit_delete_mode           rmdc      ed  end delete mode
           exit_insert_mode           rmir      ei  exit insert mode
           exit_standout_mode         rmso      se  exit standout mode
           exit_underline_mode        rmul      ue  exit underline mode
           flash_screen               flash     vb  visible bell (may not move
                                                    cursor)
           form_feed                  ff        ff  hardcopy terminal page eject
                                                    (P*)
           from_status_line           fsl       fs  return from status line
           init_1string               is1       i1  initialization string
           init_2string               is2       is  initialization string
           init_3string               is3       i3  initialization string
           init_file                  if        if  name of initialization file
           insert_character           ich1      ic  insert character (P)
           insert_line                il1       al  insert line (P*)
           insert_padding             ip        ip  insert padding after inserted
                                                    character
           key_backspace              kbs       kb  backspace key
           key_catab                  ktbc      ka  clear-all-tabs key
           key_clear                  kclr      kC  clear-screen or erase key
           key_ctab                   kctab     kt  clear-tab key
           key_dc                     kdch1     kD  delete-character key
           key_dl                     kdl1      kL  delete-line key
           key_down                   kcud1     kd  down-arrow key
           key_eic                    krmir     kM  sent by rmir or smir in insert
                                                    mode
           key_eol                    kel       kE  clear-to-end-of-line key
           key_eos                    ked       kS  clear-to-end-of-screen key
           key_f0                     kf0       k0  F0 function key
           key_f1                     kf1       k1  F1 function key
           key_f10                    kf10      k;  F10 function key
           key_f2                     kf2       k2  F2 function key
           key_f3                     kf3       k3  F3 function key
           key_f4                     kf4       k4  F4 function key
           key_f5                     kf5       k5  F5 function key
           key_f6                     kf6       k6  F6 function key
           key_f7                     kf7       k7  F7 function key
           key_f8                     kf8       k8  F8 function key
           key_f9                     kf9       k9  F9 function key
           key_home                   khome     kh  home key
           key_ic                     kich1     kI  insert-character key
           key_il                     kil1      kA  insert-line key
           key_left                   kcub1     kl  left-arrow key
           key_ll                     kll       kH  lower-left key (home down)
           key_npage                  knp       kN  next-page key
           key_ppage                  kpp       kP  previous-page key
           key_right                  kcuf1     kr  right-arrow key
           key_sf                     kind      kF  scroll-forward key
           key_sr                     kri       kR  scroll-backward key
           key_stab                   khts      kT  set-tab key
           key_up                     kcuu1     ku  up-arrow key
           keypad_local               rmkx      ke  leave keypad transmit mode
           keypad_xmit                smkx      ks  enter keypad transmit mode
           lab_f0                     lf0       l0  label on function key f0 if
                                                    not f0
           lab_f1                     lf1       l1  label on function key f1 if
                                                    not f1
           lab_f10                    lf10      la  label on function key f10 if
                                                    not f10
           lab_f2                     lf2       l2  label on function key f2 if
                                                    not f2
           lab_f3                     lf3       l3  label on function key f3 if
                                                    not f3
           lab_f4                     lf4       l4  label on function key f4 if
                                                    not f4
           lab_f5                     lf5       l5  label on function key f5 if
                                                    not f5
           lab_f6                     lf6       l6  label on function key f6 if
                                                    not f6
           lab_f7                     lf7       l7  label on function key f7 if
                                                    not f7
           lab_f8                     lf8       l8  label on function key f8 if
                                                    not f8
           lab_f9                     lf9       l9  label on function key f9 if
                                                    not f9

           meta_off                   rmm       mo  turn off meta mode
           meta_on                    smm       mm  turn on meta mode (8th-bit on)
           newline                    nel       nw  newline (behave like cr
                                                    followed by lf)
           pad_char                   pad       pc  padding char (instead of null)
           parm_dch                   dch       DC  delete #1 characters (P*)
           parm_delete_line           dl        DL  delete #1 lines (P*)
           parm_down_cursor           cud       DO  down #1 lines (P*)
           parm_ich                   ich       IC  insert #1 characters (P*)
           parm_index                 indn      SF  scroll forward #1 lines (P)
           parm_insert_line           il        AL  insert #1 lines (P*)
           parm_left_cursor           cub       LE  move #1 characters to the left
                                                    (P)
           parm_right_cursor          cuf       RI  move #1 characters to the
                                                    right (P*)
           parm_rindex                rin       SR  scroll back #1 lines (P)
           parm_up_cursor             cuu       UP  up #1 lines (P*)
           pkey_key                   pfkey     pk  program function key #1 to
                                                    type string #2
           pkey_local                 pfloc     pl  program function key #1 to
                                                    execute string #2
           pkey_xmit                  pfx       px  program function key #1 to
                                                    transmit string #2
           print_screen               mc0       ps  print contents of screen
           prtr_off                   mc4       pf  turn off printer
           prtr_on                    mc5       po  turn on printer
           repeat_char                rep       rp  repeat char #1 #2 times (P*)
           reset_1string              rs1       r1  reset string
           reset_2string              rs2       r2  reset string
           reset_3string              rs3       r3  reset string
           reset_file                 rf        rf  name of reset file
           restore_cursor             rc        rc  restore cursor to position of
                                                    last save_cursor
           row_address                vpa       cv  vertical position #1 absolute
                                                    (P)
           save_cursor                sc        sc  save current cursor position
                                                    (P)
           scroll_forward             ind       sf  scroll text up (P)
           scroll_reverse             ri        sr  scroll text down (P)
           set_attributes             sgr       sa  define video attributes #1-#9
                                                    (PG9)
           set_tab                    hts       st  set a tab in every row,
                                                    current columns
           set_window                 wind      wi  current window is lines #1-#2
                                                    cols #3-#4
           tab                        ht        ta  tab to next 8-space hardware
                                                    tab stop
           to_status_line             tsl       ts  move to status line, column #1
           underline_char             uc        uc  underline char and move past
                                                    it
           up_half_line               hu        hu  half a line up
           init_prog                  iprog     iP  path name of program for
                                                    initialization
           key_a1                     ka1       K1  upper left of keypad
           key_a3                     ka3       K3  upper right of keypad
           key_b2                     kb2       K2  center of keypad
           key_c1                     kc1       K4  lower left of keypad
           key_c3                     kc3       K5  lower right of keypad
           prtr_non                   mc5p      pO  turn on printer for #1 bytes
           char_padding               rmp       rP  like ip but when in insert
                                                    mode
           acs_chars                  acsc      ac  graphics charset pairs, based
                                                    on vt100
           plab_norm                  pln       pn  program label #1 to show
                                                    string #2
           key_btab                   kcbt      kB  back-tab key
           enter_xon_mode             smxon     SX  turn on xon/xoff handshaking
           exit_xon_mode              rmxon     RX  turn off xon/xoff handshaking
           enter_am_mode              smam      SA  turn on automatic margins
           exit_am_mode               rmam      RA  turn off automatic margins
           xon_character              xonc      XN  XON character
           xoff_character             xoffc     XF  XOFF character
           ena_acs                    enacs     eA  enable alternate char set
           label_on                   smln      LO  turn on soft labels
           label_off                  rmln      LF  turn off soft labels
           key_beg                    kbeg      @1  begin key
           key_cancel                 kcan      @2  cancel key
           key_close                  kclo      @3  close key
           key_command                kcmd      @4  command key
           key_copy                   kcpy      @5  copy key
           key_create                 kcrt      @6  create key
           key_end                    kend      @7  end key
           key_enter                  kent      @8  enter/send key
           key_exit                   kext      @9  exit key
           key_find                   kfnd      @0  find key
           key_help                   khlp      %1  help key
           key_mark                   kmrk      %2  mark key
           key_message                kmsg      %3  message key
           key_move                   kmov      %4  move key
           key_next                   knxt      %5  next key
           key_open                   kopn      %6  open key
           key_options                kopt      %7  options key
           key_previous               kprv      %8  previous key
           key_print                  kprt      %9  print key
           key_redo                   krdo      %0  redo key
           key_reference              kref      &1  reference key
           key_refresh                krfr      &2  refresh key
           key_replace                krpl      &3  replace key
           key_restart                krst      &4  restart key
           key_resume                 kres      &5  resume key
           key_save                   ksav      &6  save key
           key_suspend                kspd      &7  suspend key
           key_undo                   kund      &8  undo key
           key_sbeg                   kBEG      &9  shifted begin key
           key_scancel                kCAN      &0  shifted cancel key
           key_scommand               kCMD      *1  shifted command key
           key_scopy                  kCPY      *2  shifted copy key
           key_screate                kCRT      *3  shifted create key
           key_sdc                    kDC       *4  shifted delete-character key
           key_sdl                    kDL       *5  shifted delete-line key
           key_select                 kslt      *6  select key
           key_send                   kEND      *7  shifted end key
           key_seol                   kEOL      *8  shifted clear-to-end-of-line
                                                    key
           key_sexit                  kEXT      *9  shifted exit key
           key_sfind                  kFND      *0  shifted find key
           key_shelp                  kHLP      #1  shifted help key
           key_shome                  kHOM      #2  shifted home key
           key_sic                    kIC       #3  shifted insert-character key
           key_sleft                  kLFT      #4  shifted left-arrow key
           key_smessage               kMSG      %a  shifted message key
           key_smove                  kMOV      %b  shifted move key
           key_snext                  kNXT      %c  shifted next key
           key_soptions               kOPT      %d  shifted options key
           key_sprevious              kPRV      %e  shifted previous key
           key_sprint                 kPRT      %f  shifted print key
           key_sredo                  kRDO      %g  shifted redo key
           key_sreplace               kRPL      %h  shifted replace key
           key_sright                 kRIT      %i  shifted right-arrow key
           key_srsume                 kRES      %j  shifted resume key
           key_ssave                  kSAV      !1  shifted save key
           key_ssuspend               kSPD      !2  shifted suspend key
           key_sundo                  kUND      !3  shifted undo key
           req_for_input              rfi       RF  send next input char (for
                                                    ptys)
           key_f11                    kf11      F1  F11 function key
           key_f12                    kf12      F2  F12 function key
           key_f13                    kf13      F3  F13 function key
           key_f14                    kf14      F4  F14 function key
           key_f15                    kf15      F5  F15 function key
           key_f16                    kf16      F6  F16 function key
           key_f17                    kf17      F7  F17 function key
           key_f18                    kf18      F8  F18 function key
           key_f19                    kf19      F9  F19 function key
           key_f20                    kf20      FA  F20 function key
           key_f21                    kf21      FB  F21 function key
           key_f22                    kf22      FC  F22 function key
           key_f23                    kf23      FD  F23 function key
           key_f24                    kf24      FE  F24 function key
           key_f25                    kf25      FF  F25 function key
           key_f26                    kf26      FG  F26 function key
           key_f27                    kf27      FH  F27 function key
           key_f28                    kf28      FI  F28 function key
           key_f29                    kf29      FJ  F29 function key
           key_f30                    kf30      FK  F30 function key
           key_f31                    kf31      FL  F31 function key
           key_f32                    kf32      FM  F32 function key
           key_f33                    kf33      FN  F33 function key
           key_f34                    kf34      FO  F34 function key
           key_f35                    kf35      FP  F35 function key
           key_f36                    kf36      FQ  F36 function key
           key_f37                    kf37      FR  F37 function key
           key_f38                    kf38      FS  F38 function key
           key_f39                    kf39      FT  F39 function key
           key_f40                    kf40      FU  F40 function key
           key_f41                    kf41      FV  F41 function key
           key_f42                    kf42      FW  F42 function key
           key_f43                    kf43      FX  F43 function key
           key_f44                    kf44      FY  F44 function key
           key_f45                    kf45      FZ  F45 function key
           key_f46                    kf46      Fa  F46 function key
           key_f47                    kf47      Fb  F47 function key
           key_f48                    kf48      Fc  F48 function key
           key_f49                    kf49      Fd  F49 function key
           key_f50                    kf50      Fe  F50 function key
           key_f51                    kf51      Ff  F51 function key
           key_f52                    kf52      Fg  F52 function key
           key_f53                    kf53      Fh  F53 function key
           key_f54                    kf54      Fi  F54 function key
           key_f55                    kf55      Fj  F55 function key
           key_f56                    kf56      Fk  F56 function key
           key_f57                    kf57      Fl  F57 function key
           key_f58                    kf58      Fm  F58 function key
           key_f59                    kf59      Fn  F59 function key
           key_f60                    kf60      Fo  F60 function key
           key_f61                    kf61      Fp  F61 function key
           key_f62                    kf62      Fq  F62 function key
           key_f63                    kf63      Fr  F63 function key
           clr_bol                    el1       cb  Clear to beginning of line
           clear_margins              mgc       MC  clear right and left soft
                                                    margins
           set_left_margin            smgl      ML  set left soft margin at
                                                    current column (not in BSD
                                                    termcap)
           set_right_margin           smgr      MR  set right soft margin at
                                                    current column
           label_format               fln       Lf  label format
           set_clock                  sclk      SC  set clock, #1 hrs #2 mins #3
                                                    secs
           display_clock              dclk      DK  display clock
           remove_clock               rmclk     RC  remove clock
           create_window              cwin      CW  define a window #1 from #2,#3
                                                    to #4,#5
           goto_window                wingo     WG  go to window #1
           hangup                     hup       HU  hang-up phone
           dial_phone                 dial      DI  dial number #1
           quick_dial                 qdial     QD  dial number #1 without
                                                    checking
           tone                       tone      TO  select touch tone dialing
           pulse                      pulse     PU  select pulse dialing
           flash_hook                 hook      fh  flash switch hook
           fixed_pause                pause     PA  pause for 2-3 seconds
           wait_tone                  wait      WA  wait for dial-tone
           user0                      u0        u0  User string #0
           user1                      u1        u1  User string #1
           user2                      u2        u2  User string #2
           user3                      u3        u3  User string #3
           user4                      u4        u4  User string #4
           user5                      u5        u5  User string #5
           user6                      u6        u6  User string #6
           user7                      u7        u7  User string #7
           user8                      u8        u8  User string #8
           user9                      u9        u9  User string #9
           orig_pair                  op        op  Set default pair to its
                                                    original value
           orig_colors                oc        oc  Set all color pairs to the
                                                    original ones
           initialize_color           initc     Ic  initialize color #1 to
                                                    (#2,#3,#4)
           initialize_pair            initp     Ip  Initialize color pair #1 to
                                                    fg=(#2,#3,#4), bg=(#5,#6,#7)
           set_color_pair             scp       sp  Set current color pair to #1
           set_foreground             setf      Sf  Set foreground color #1
           set_background             setb      Sb  Set background color #1
           change_char_pitch          cpi       ZA  Change number of characters
                                                    per inch to #1
           change_line_pitch          lpi       ZB  Change number of lines per
                                                    inch to #1
           change_res_horz            chr       ZC  Change horizontal resolution
                                                    to #1
           change_res_vert            cvr       ZD  Change vertical resolution to
                                                    #1
           define_char                defc      ZE  Define a character #1, #2 dots
                                                    wide, descender #3
           enter_doublewide_mode      swidm     ZF  Enter double-wide mode
           enter_draft_quality        sdrfq     ZG  Enter draft-quality mode
           enter_italics_mode         sitm      ZH  Enter italic mode
           enter_leftward_mode        slm       ZI  Start leftward carriage motion
           enter_micro_mode           smicm     ZJ  Start micro-motion mode
           enter_near_letter_quality  snlq      ZK  Enter NLQ mode
           enter_normal_quality       snrmq     ZL  Enter normal-quality mode
           enter_shadow_mode          sshm      ZM  Enter shadow-print mode
           enter_subscript_mode       ssubm     ZN  Enter subscript mode
           enter_superscript_mode     ssupm     ZO  Enter superscript mode
           enter_upward_mode          sum       ZP  Start upward carriage motion
           exit_doublewide_mode       rwidm     ZQ  End double-wide mode
           exit_italics_mode          ritm      ZR  End italic mode
           exit_leftward_mode         rlm       ZS  End left-motion mode
           exit_micro_mode            rmicm     ZT  End micro-motion mode
           exit_shadow_mode           rshm      ZU  End shadow-print mode
           exit_subscript_mode        rsubm     ZV  End subscript mode
           exit_superscript_mode      rsupm     ZW  End superscript mode
           exit_upward_mode           rum       ZX  End reverse character motion
           micro_column_address       mhpa      ZY  Like column_address in micro
                                                    mode
           micro_down                 mcud1     ZZ  Like cursor_down in micro mode
           micro_left                 mcub1     Za  Like cursor_left in micro mode
           micro_right                mcuf1     Zb  Like cursor_right in micro
                                                    mode
           micro_row_address          mvpa      Zc  Like row_address #1 in micro
                                                    mode
           micro_up                   mcuu1     Zd  Like cursor_up in micro mode
           order_of_pins              porder    Ze  Match software bits to print-
                                                    head pins
           parm_down_micro            mcud      Zf  Like parm_down_cursor in micro
                                                    mode
           parm_left_micro            mcub      Zg  Like parm_left_cursor in micro
                                                    mode
           parm_right_micro           mcuf      Zh  Like parm_right_cursor in
                                                    micro mode
           parm_up_micro              mcuu      Zi  Like parm_up_cursor in micro
                                                    mode
           select_char_set            scs       Zj  Select character set, #1
           set_bottom_margin          smgb      Zk  Set bottom margin at current
                                                    line
           set_bottom_margin_parm     smgbp     Zl  Set bottom margin at line #1
                                                    or (if smgtp is not given) #2
                                                    lines from bottom
           set_left_margin_parm       smglp     Zm  Set left (right) margin at
                                                    column #1
           set_right_margin_parm      smgrp     Zn  Set right margin at column #1
           set_top_margin             smgt      Zo  Set top margin at current line
           set_top_margin_parm        smgtp     Zp  Set top (bottom) margin at row
                                                    #1
           start_bit_image            sbim      Zq  Start printing bit image
                                                    graphics
           start_char_set_def         scsd      Zr  Start character set definition
                                                    #1, with #2 characters in the
                                                    set
           stop_bit_image             rbim      Zs  Stop printing bit image
                                                    graphics
           stop_char_set_def          rcsd      Zt  End definition of character
                                                    set #1
           subscript_characters       subcs     Zu  List of subscriptable
                                                    characters
           superscript_characters     supcs     Zv  List of superscriptable
                                                    characters
           these_cause_cr             docr      Zw  Printing any of these
                                                    characters causes CR
           zero_motion                zerom     Zx  No motion for subsequent
                                                    character

           The following string  capabilities  are  present  in  the  SVr4.0  term
           structure, but were originally not documented in the man page.

                                          Code
           String Capability Name     TI        TC  Description
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           char_set_names             csnm      Zy  Produce #1'th item from list
                                                    of character set names
           key_mouse                  kmous     Km  Mouse event has occurred
           mouse_info                 minfo     Mi  Mouse status information
           req_mouse_pos              reqmp     RQ  Request mouse position
           get_mouse                  getm      Gm  Curses should get button
                                                    events, parameter #1 not
                                                    documented.
           set_a_foreground           setaf     AF  Set foreground color to #1,
                                                    using ANSI escape
           set_a_background           setab     AB  Set background color to #1,
                                                    using ANSI escape

           pkey_plab                  pfxl      xl  Program function key #1 to
                                                    type string #2 and show string
                                                    #3
           device_type                devt      dv  Indicate language, codeset
                                                    support
           code_set_init              csin      ci  Init sequence for multiple
                                                    codesets
           set0_des_seq               s0ds      s0  Shift to codeset 0 (EUC set 0,
                                                    ASCII)
           set1_des_seq               s1ds      s1  Shift to codeset 1
           set2_des_seq               s2ds      s2  Shift to codeset 2
           set3_des_seq               s3ds      s3  Shift to codeset 3
           set_lr_margin              smglr     ML  Set both left and right
                                                    margins to #1, #2.  (ML is not
                                                    in BSD termcap).
           set_tb_margin              smgtb     MT  Sets both top and bottom
                                                    margins to #1, #2
           bit_image_repeat           birep     Xy  Repeat bit image cell #1 #2
                                                    times
           bit_image_newline          binel     Zz  Move to next row of the bit
                                                    image
           bit_image_carriage_return  bicr      Yv  Move to beginning of same row
           color_names                colornm   Yw  Give name for color #1
           define_bit_image_region    defbi     Yx  Define rectangular bit image
                                                    region
           end_bit_image_region       endbi     Yy  End a bit-image region
           set_color_band             setcolor  Yz  Change to ribbon color #1
           set_page_length            slines    YZ  Set page length to #1 lines
           display_pc_char            dispc     S1  Display PC character #1
           enter_pc_charset_mode      smpch     S2  Enter PC character display
                                                    mode
           exit_pc_charset_mode       rmpch     S3  Exit PC character display mode
           enter_scancode_mode        smsc      S4  Enter PC scancode mode
           exit_scancode_mode         rmsc      S5  Exit PC scancode mode
           pc_term_options            pctrm     S6  PC terminal options
           scancode_escape            scesc     S7  Escape for scancode emulation
           alt_scancode_esc           scesa     S8  Alternate escape for scancode
                                                    emulation

           The  XSI  Curses standard added these hardcopy capabilities.  They were
           used in some post-4.1 versions of System V curses,  e.g.,  Solaris  2.5
           and  IRIX  6.x.   Except for YI, the ncurses termcap names for them are
           invented.  According to the XSI Curses standard, they have  no  termcap
           names.   If  your  compiled terminfo entries use these, they may not be
           binary-compatible with System V terminfo entries after SVr4.1; beware!

                                          Code
           String Capability Name     TI        TC  Description
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           enter_horizontal_hl_mode   ehhlm     Xh  Enter horizontal highlight
                                                    mode
           enter_left_hl_mode         elhlm     Xl  Enter left highlight mode
           enter_low_hl_mode          elohlm    Xo  Enter low highlight mode
           enter_right_hl_mode        erhlm     Xr  Enter right highlight mode
           enter_top_hl_mode          ethlm     Xt  Enter top highlight mode
           enter_vertical_hl_mode     evhlm     Xv  Enter vertical highlight mode
           set_a_attributes           sgr1      sA  Define second set of video
                                                    attributes #1-#6
           set_pglen_inch             slength   YI  Set page length to #1
                                                    hundredth of an inch (some
                                                    implementations use sL for
                                                    termcap).

### User-Defined Capabilities

           The preceding section  listed  the  standard  capabilities.   Some  are
           esoteric,  supporting  functionality  that  terminal  emulators  do not
           implement, or may never have been realized  in  manufactured  hardware.
           Occasionally,  emulators  have  special  features  that  are awkward or
           impossible to represent via standard capabilities.

           ncurses   addresses   this   limitation   by   allowing    user-defined
           capabilities.   The  tic  and infocmp programs provide an -x option for
           this purpose.  When -x is used,  tic  treats  unknown  capabilities  as
           user-defined.   That  is,  if  tic encounters a capability name that it
           does not recognize, the program infers the capability's type  (Boolean,
           numeric,  or  string) from the syntax of the capability value and makes
           an extended table entry for  that  capability.   use_extended_names(3x)
           makes   this   information  conditionally  available  to  applications.
           ncurses library functions supply  callers  with  capability  data,  the
           interpretation of which is mostly up to the application.

           o   ncurses  treats  user-defined string capabilities whose names begin
               with "k" as function keys.

           o   Capability types (Boolean, numeric, or string)  determined  by  tic
               can  be  inferred  by  successful  tigetflag(3x), tigetnum(3x), and
               tigetstr(3x) calls.

           o   If the capability name happens to be two characters, the capability
               is also available through the termcap interface.

           While  termcap  is  said  to  be  extensible  because  it  mandates  no
           capabilities, in practice it has been limited to those defined by term-
           info implementations.  As a rule, employ only user-defined capabilities
           of  Boolean  and  numeric  type  with  termcap  applications  to  avoid
           overrunning the 1023 byte limit assumed by termcap implementations  and
           their   applications.   Specifically,  support  for  extended  sets  of
           function keys (past the 60 numbered keys and  the  handful  of  special
           named  keys)  is  better achieved with longer names available via term-
           info.

           The ncurses library uses a few of these user-defined  capabilities,  as
           described   in  user_caps(5).   For  other  user-defined  capabilities,
           including function keys,  consult  the  source  form  of  the  terminal
           database,  terminfo.src,  under  the  heading  "NCURSES  USER-DEFINABLE
           CAPABILITIES".

### A Sample Entry

           The following entry, describing an ANSI X3.64- (or ECMA-48-)  -standard
           terminal (henceforth "ANSI-standard" for brevity), is representative of
           what a terminfo entry for a modern terminal typically looks like.

           ansi|ansi/pc-term compatible with color,
                   am, mc5i, mir, msgr,
                   colors#8, cols#80, it#8, lines#24, ncv#3, pairs#64,
                   acsc=+\020\,\021-\030.^Y0\333`\004a\261f\370g\361h\260
                        j\331k\277l\332m\300n\305o~p\304q\304r\304s_t\303
                        u\264v\301w\302x\263y\363z\362{\343|\330}\234~\376,
                   bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z, clear=\E[H\E[J,
                   cr=^M, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\E[D, cud=\E[%p1%dB, cud1=\E[B,
                   cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C, cup=\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH,
                   cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A, dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P,
                   dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[M, ech=\E[%p1%dX, ed=\E[J, el=\E[K,
                   el1=\E[1K, home=\E[H, hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ht=\E[I, hts=\EH,
                   ich=\E[%p1%d@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[L, ind=^J,
                   indn=\E[%p1%dS, invis=\E[8m, kbs=^H, kcbt=\E[Z, kcub1=\E[D,
                   kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A, khome=\E[H, kich1=\E[L,
                   mc4=\E[4i, mc5=\E[5i, nel=\r\E[S, op=\E[39;49m,
                   rep=%p1%c\E[%p2%{1}%-%db, rev=\E[7m, rin=\E[%p1%dT,
                   rmacs=\E[10m, rmpch=\E[10m, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m,
                   s0ds=\E(B, s1ds=\E)B, s2ds=\E*B, s3ds=\E+B,
                   setab=\E[4%p1%dm, setaf=\E[3%p1%dm,
                   sgr=\E[0;10%?%p1%t;7%;
                              %?%p2%t;4%;
                              %?%p3%t;7%;
                              %?%p4%t;5%;
                              %?%p6%t;1%;
                              %?%p7%t;8%;
                              %?%p9%t;11%;m,
                   sgr0=\E[0;10m, smacs=\E[11m, smpch=\E[11m, smso=\E[7m,
                   smul=\E[4m, tbc=\E[3g, u6=\E[%i%d;%dR, u7=\E[6n,
                   u8=\E[?%[;0123456789]c, u9=\E[c, vpa=\E[%i%p1%dd,

           Entries  may continue onto multiple lines by placing white space at the
           beginning of each line except the first.  Comments may be  included  on
           lines beginning with "#".  Capabilities in terminfo are of three types:

           o   Boolean  capabilities  which  indicate  that  the terminal has some
               particular feature,

           o   numeric capabilities giving the size of the terminal or the size of
               particular delays, and

           o   string capabilities, which give a sequence which  can  be  used  to
               perform particular terminal operations.

### Types of Capabilities

           All capabilities have names.  For instance, the fact that ANSI-standard
           terminals  have  automatic margins (i.e., an automatic return and line-
           feed when the end of a line is reached) is indicated by the  capability
           am.   Hence  the description of ansi includes am.  Numeric capabilities
           are followed by the character "#" and  then  a  positive  value.   Thus
           cols, which indicates the number of columns the terminal has, gives the
           value  "80" for ansi.  Values for numeric capabilities may be specified
           in decimal, octal, or hexadecimal, using  the  C  programming  language
           conventions (e.g., 255, 0377 and 0xff or 0xFF).

           Finally,  string  valued capabilities, such as el (clear to end of line
           sequence) are given by the two-character  code,  an  "=",  and  then  a
           string ending at the next following ",".

           A  number  of  escape  sequences  are  provided  in  the  string valued
           capabilities for easy encoding of characters there:

           o   Both \E and \e map to an ESCAPE character,

           o   ^x maps to a control-x for any appropriate x, and

           o   the sequences

                 \n, \l, \r, \t, \b, \f, and \s

               produce

                 newline, line-feed, return, tab, backspace, form-feed, and space,

               respectively.

           X/Open Curses does not say what "appropriate x" might be.  In practice,
           that is a printable ASCII graphic character.  The special case "^?"  is
           interpreted  as  DEL (127).  In all other cases, the character value is
           logically "and"-ed with 0x1f, mapping to ASCII  control  codes  in  the
           range 0 through 31.

           Other escapes include

           o   \^ for ^,

           o   \\ for \,

           o   \, for comma,

           o   \: for :,

           o   and \0 for null.

               \0 will produce \200, which does not terminate a string but behaves
               as  a null character on most terminals, providing CS7 is specified.
               See stty(1).

               The reason for this quirk is to maintain  binary  compatibility  of
               the  compiled  terminfo files with other implementations, e.g., the
               SVr4 systems, which document this.   Compiled  terminfo  files  use
               null-terminated  strings,  with  no  lengths.  Modifying this would
               require a new binary  format,  which  would  not  work  with  other
               implementations.

           Finally, characters may be given as three octal digits after a \.

           A  delay  in  milliseconds  may appear anywhere in a string capability,
           enclosed in $<..> brackets, as in el=\EK$<5>,  and  padding  characters
           are supplied by tputs(3x) to provide this delay.

           o   The  delay  must  be  a  number  with  at most one decimal place of
               precision; it may be followed by suffixes "*" or "/" or both.

           o   A "*" indicates that the padding required is  proportional  to  the
               number  of lines affected by the operation, and the amount given is
               the per-affected-unit padding required.  (In  the  case  of  insert
               character, the factor is still the number of lines affected.)

               Normally, padding is advisory if the device has the xon capability;
               it is used for cost computation but does not trigger delays.

           o   A  "/"  suffix indicates that the padding is mandatory and forces a
               delay of the given number of milliseconds even on devices for which
               xon is present to indicate flow control.

           Sometimes individual capabilities must be commented out.  To  do  this,
           put  a  period before the capability name.  For example, see the second
           ind in the example above.

### Fetching Compiled Descriptions

           Terminal descriptions in ncurses  are  stored  in  terminal  databases.
           These  databases,  which are found by their pathname, may be configured
           either as directory trees or hashed databases (see term(5)),

           The library  uses  a  compiled-in  list  of  pathnames,  which  can  be
           overridden  by  environment  variables.   Before  starting  to  search,
           ncurses checks the search list, eliminating  duplicates  and  pathnames
           where  no  terminal  database  is found.  The ncurses library reads the
           first description which passes its consistency checks.

           o   The environment variable TERMINFO is checked first, for a  terminal
               database containing the terminal description.

           o   Next, ncurses looks in $HOME/.terminfo for a compiled description.

               This  is an optional feature which may be omitted entirely from the
               library,  or  limited  to  prevent  accidental  use  by  privileged
               applications.

           o   Next,  if  the  environment  variable TERMINFO_DIRS is set, ncurses
               interprets the contents of  that  variable  as  a  list  of  colon-
               separated pathnames of terminal databases to be searched.

               An  empty  pathname  (i.e.,  if  the variable begins or ends with a
               colon, or contains adjacent colons) is interpreted  as  the  system
               location /usr/share/terminfo.

           o   Finally, ncurses searches these compiled-in locations:

               o   a list of directories (/usr/share/terminfo), and

               o   the system terminfo directory, /usr/share/terminfo

           The TERMINFO variable can contain a terminal description instead of the
           pathname  of  a terminal database.  If this variable begins with "hex:"
           or "b64:" then ncurses reads a terminal description  from  hexadecimal-
           or  base64-encoded  data,  and  if  that  description  matches the name
           sought, will use that.  This encoded data can be  set  using  the  "-Q"
           option of tic or infocmp.

           The  preceding addresses the usual configuration of ncurses, which uses
           terminal descriptions prepared in terminfo format.   While  termcap  is
           less  expressive,  ncurses  can  also  be  configured  to  read termcap
           descriptions.   In  that  configuration,  it  checks  the  TERMCAP  and
           TERMPATH  variables  (for  content and search path, respectively) after
           the system terminal database.

### Preparing Descriptions

           We now outline how to prepare  descriptions  of  terminals.   The  most
           effective  way  to  prepare  a terminal description is by imitating the
           description of a similar  terminal  in  terminfo  and  to  build  up  a
           description gradually, using partial descriptions with vi or some other
           screen-oriented  program to check that they are correct.  Be aware that
           a very unusual terminal may expose deficiencies in the ability  of  the
           terminfo file to describe it or bugs in the screen-handling code of the
           test program.

           To  get the padding for insert line right (if the terminal manufacturer
           did not document it) a severe test is to edit  a  large  file  at  9600
           baud, delete 16 or so lines from the middle of the screen, then hit the
           "u" key several times quickly.  If the terminal messes up, more padding
           is usually needed.  A similar test can be used for insert character.

### Basic Capabilities

           The  number  of  columns  on each line for the terminal is given by the
           cols numeric capability.  If the terminal is a CRT, then the number  of
           lines  on the screen is given by the lines capability.  If the terminal
           wraps around to the beginning of the next  line  when  it  reaches  the
           right  margin,  then it should have the am capability.  If the terminal
           can clear its screen, leaving the cursor in  the  home  position,  then
           this  is  given  by  the  clear  string  capability.   If  the terminal
           overstrikes (rather than clearing a position when a character is struck
           over) then it should have the os capability.   If  the  terminal  is  a
           printing terminal, with no soft copy unit, give it both hc and os.  (os
           applies  to  storage scope terminals, such as TEKTRONIX 4010 series, as
           well as hard copy and APL terminals.)  If there is a code to  move  the
           cursor  to  the  left  edge  of  the  current  line,  give  this as cr.
           (Normally this will be carriage return, control/M.)  If there is a code
           to produce an audible signal (bell, beep, etc) give this as bel.

           If there is a code to move the cursor one position to the left (such as
           backspace) that capability should be given as cub1.   Similarly,  codes
           to  move  to the right, up, and down should be given as cuf1, cuu1, and
           cud1.  These local cursor motions should not alter the text  they  pass
           over,  for  example,  you  would  not normally use "cuf1= " because the
           space would erase the character moved over.

           A very important point here is that the local cursor motions encoded in
           terminfo are undefined at the left and top edges  of  a  CRT  terminal.
           Programs should never attempt to backspace around the left edge, unless
           bw  is given, and never attempt to go up locally off the top.  In order
           to scroll text up, a program will go to the bottom left corner  of  the
           screen and send the ind (index) string.

           To  scroll  text  down,  a  program  goes to the top left corner of the
           screen and sends the ri (reverse index) string.  The strings ind and ri
           are undefined when not on their respective corners of the screen.

           Parameterized versions of the scrolling  sequences  are  indn  and  rin
           which  have  the same semantics as ind and ri except that they take one
           parameter, and scroll that many lines.  They are also undefined  except
           at the appropriate edge of the screen.

           The  am capability tells whether the cursor sticks at the right edge of
           the screen when text is output, but this does not necessarily apply  to
           a  cuf1  from  the last column.  The only local motion which is defined
           from the left edge is if bw is given, then a cub1 from  the  left  edge
           will  move to the right edge of the previous line.  If bw is not given,
           the effect is undefined.  This is useful for drawing a box  around  the
           edge of the screen, for example.  If the terminal has switch selectable
           automatic  margins,  the terminfo file usually assumes that this is on;
           i.e., am.  If the terminal has a  command  which  moves  to  the  first
           column  of  the  next line, that command can be given as nel (newline).
           It does not matter if the command clears the remainder of  the  current
           line,  so  if the terminal has no cr and lf it may still be possible to
           craft a working nel out of one or both of them.

           These  capabilities  suffice  to  describe  hard-copy  and  "glass-tty"
           terminals.  Thus the model 33 teletype is described as

           33|tty33|tty|model 33 teletype,
                   bel=^G, cols#72, cr=^M, cud1=^J, hc, ind=^J, os,

           while the Lear Siegler ADM-3 is described as

           adm3|3|lsi adm3,
                   am, bel=^G, clear=^Z, cols#80, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,
                   ind=^J, lines#24,

### Parameterized Strings

           Cursor  addressing  and  other  strings  requiring  parameters  in  the
           terminal are described  by  a  parameterized  string  capability,  with
           printf-like  escapes  such  as  %x  in it.  For example, to address the
           cursor, the cup capability is given, using two parameters: the line and
           column to address to.  (Lines and columns are numbered  from  zero  and
           refer  to  the  physical  screen visible to the user, not to any unseen
           memory.)  If the terminal has memory relative cursor  addressing,  that
           can be indicated by mrcup.

           The  parameter mechanism uses a stack and special % codes to manipulate
           it.  Typically a sequence will push one  of  the  parameters  onto  the
           stack  and  then  print  it  in  some  format.  Print (e.g., "%d") is a
           special case.  Other operations, including "%t" pop their operand  from
           the  stack.   It  is  noted  that  more  complex  operations  are often
           necessary, e.g., in the sgr string.

           The % encodings have the following meanings:

           %%   outputs "%"

           %[[:]flags][width[.precision]][doxXs]
                as in printf(3), flags are [-+#] and space.  Use a  ":"  to  allow
                the next character to be a "-" flag, avoiding interpreting "%-" as
                an operator.

           %c   print pop() like %c in printf

           %s   print pop() like %s in printf

           %p[1-9]
                push i'th parameter

           %P[a-z]
                set dynamic variable [a-z] to pop()

           %g[a-z]
                get dynamic variable [a-z] and push it

           %P[A-Z]
                set static variable [a-z] to pop()

           %g[A-Z]
                get static variable [a-z] and push it

                The  terms  "static"  and "dynamic" are misleading.  Historically,
                these are simply two different sets of variables, whose values are
                not reset between calls to tparm(3x).  However, that fact  is  not
                documented in other implementations.  Relying on it will adversely
                impact portability to other implementations:

                o   SVr2  curses  supported dynamic variables.  Those are set only
                    by a %P operator.  A %g for a  given  variable  without  first
                    setting  it  with  %P will give unpredictable results, because
                    dynamic variables are an  uninitialized  local  array  on  the
                    stack in the tparm function.

                o   SVr3.2  curses supported static variables.  Those are an array
                    in the TERMINAL structure (declared in term.h), and are zeroed
                    automatically when the setupterm function allocates the data.

                o   SVr4 curses made no further improvements to the dynamic/static
                    variable feature.

                o   Solaris XPG4 curses does not distinguish between  dynamic  and
                    static  variables.  They are the same.  Like SVr4 curses, XPG4
                    curses does not initialize these explicitly.

                o   Before version 6.3, ncurses stores  both  dynamic  and  static
                    variables in persistent storage, initialized to zeros.

                o   Beginning  with version 6.3, ncurses stores static and dynamic
                    variables in the same manner as SVr4.

                    o   Unlike  other  implementations,  ncurses   zeros   dynamic
                        variables before the first %g or %P operator.

                    o   Like  SVr2,  the  scope of dynamic variables in ncurses is
                        within the current call to tparm.  Use static variables if
                        persistent storage is needed.

           %'c' char constant c

           %{nn}
                integer constant nn

           %l   push strlen(pop)

           %+, %-, %*, %/, %m
                arithmetic (%m is mod): push(pop() op pop())

           %&, %|, %^
                bit operations ("and", "or" and  exclusive  "or"):  push(pop()  op
                pop())

           %=, %>, %<
                logical operations: push(pop() op pop())

           %A, %O
                logical "and" and "or" operations (for conditionals)

           %!, %~
                unary operations (logical and bit complement): push(op pop())

           %i   add 1 to first two parameters (for ANSI terminals)

           %? expr %t thenpart %e elsepart %;
                This forms an if-then-else.  The %e elsepart is optional.  Usually
                the  %?  expr  part  pushes a value onto the stack, and %t pops it
                from the stack, testing if it is nonzero (true).  If  it  is  zero
                (false), control passes to the %e (else) part.

                It is possible to form else-if's a la Algol 68:
                %? c1 %t b1 %e c2 %t b2 %e c3 %t b3 %e c4 %t b4 %e %;

                where ci are conditions, bi are bodies.

                Use  the  -f  option of tic or infocmp to see the structure of if-
                then-else's.  Some strings, e.g., sgr can be very complicated when
                written on one line.  The -f option splits the string  into  lines
                with the parts indented.

           Binary  operations  are  in postfix form with the operands in the usual
           order.  That is, to get x-5 one  would  use  "%gx%{5}%-".   %P  and  %g
           variables are persistent across escape-string evaluations.

           Consider the HP2645, which, to get to line 3 and column 12, needs to be
           sent  \E&a12c03Y padded for 6 milliseconds.  The order of the lines and
           columns is inverted here, and the lines and column are printed  as  two
           digits.  The corresponding terminal description is expressed thus:
                  cup=\E&a%p2%dc%p1%dY$<6>,

           The Microterm ACT-IV needs the current line and column sent preceded by
           a ^T, with the line and column simply encoded in binary,
                  cup=^T%p1%c%p2%c

           Terminals  which  use  "%c"  need  to  be  able to backspace the cursor
           (cub1), and to move the cursor up one line on the screen (cuu1).   This
           is necessary because it is not always safe to transmit \n ^D and \r, as
           the  system  may change or discard them.  (The library routines dealing
           with terminfo set tty modes so that tabs are never expanded, so  \t  is
           safe to send.  This turns out to be essential for the Ann Arbor 4080.)

           A final example is the LSI ADM-3A, which uses line and column offset by
           a space, thus
                  cup=\E=%p1%' '%+%c%p2%' '%+%c

           After  sending "\E=", this pushes the first parameter, pushes the ASCII
           value for a space (32), adds them (pushing the  sum  on  the  stack  in
           place  of  the  two  previous  values)  and  outputs  that  value  as a
           character.  Then the same is  done  for  the  second  parameter.   More
           complex arithmetic is possible using the stack.

### Cursor Motions

           If  the  terminal has a fast way to home the cursor (to very upper left
           corner of screen) then this can be given as home; similarly a fast  way
           of  getting  to the lower left-hand corner can be given as ll; this may
           involve going up with cuu1 from the home position, but a program should
           never do this itself (unless ll does) because it can make no assumption
           about the effect of moving up from the home position.   Note  that  the
           home  position  is  the  same  as  addressing to (0,0): to the top left
           corner of the screen, not of memory.  (Thus, the  \EH  sequence  on  HP
           terminals cannot be used for home.)

           If  the  terminal  has line or column absolute cursor addressing, these
           can be given as single parameter capabilities hpa (horizontal  position
           absolute)  and  vpa  (vertical position absolute).  Sometimes these are
           shorter than the more general  two  parameter  sequence  (as  with  the
           hp2645)   and  can  be  used  in  preference  to  cup.   If  there  are
           parameterized local motions (e.g., move n spaces to  the  right)  these
           can  be  given  as  cud,  cub,  cuf,  and  cuu  with a single parameter
           indicating how many spaces to move.  These are primarily useful if  the
           terminal does not have cup, such as the TEKTRONIX 4025.

           If  the  terminal  needs to be in a special mode when running a program
           that uses these capabilities, the codes to enter and exit this mode can
           be given as smcup and rmcup.  This arises, for example, from  terminals
           like  the  Concept  with more than one page of memory.  If the terminal
           has only memory relative cursor  addressing  and  not  screen  relative
           cursor  addressing,  a  one  screen-sized window must be fixed into the
           terminal for cursor addressing to work properly.  This is also used for
           the TEKTRONIX 4025, where smcup sets the command character  to  be  the
           one  used  by  terminfo.   If  the  smcup sequence will not restore the
           screen after an rmcup  sequence  is  output  (to  the  state  prior  to
           outputting rmcup), specify nrrmc.

### Margins

           SVr4  (and  X/Open Curses) list several string capabilities for setting
           margins.  Two were intended for use with  terminals,  and  another  six
           were intended for use with printers.

           o   The two terminal capabilities assume that the terminal may have the
               capability  of  setting the left and/or right margin at the current
               cursor column position.

           o   The printer capabilities assume that the printer may have two types
               of capability:

               o   the ability to set a top and/or bottom margin using the current
                   line position, and

               o   parameterized capabilities for setting the top,  bottom,  left,
                   right margins given the number of lines or columns.

           In  practice,  the  categorization into "terminal" and "printer" is not
           suitable:

           o   The AT&T SVr4 terminal database uses  smgl  four  times,  for  AT&T
               hardware.

               Three  of  the  four  are  printers.   They lack the ability to set
               left/right margins by specifying the column.

           o   Other (non-AT&T) terminals may support margins but using  different
               assumptions from AT&T.

               For  instance,  the DEC VT420 supports left/right margins, but only
               using a column parameter.  As an added complication, the VT420 uses
               two settings to fully enable left/right margins (left/right  margin
               mode,  and  origin  mode).   The  former enables the margins, which
               causes printed text to wrap  within  margins,  but  the  latter  is
               needed to prevent cursor-addressing outside those margins.

           o   Both  DEC  VT420  left/right  margins are set with a single control
               sequence.  If either is omitted, the corresponding margin is set to
               the left or right edge of the  display  (rather  than  leaving  the
               margin unmodified).

           These are the margin-related capabilities:

                     Name    Description
                     ---------------------------------------------------
                     smgl    Set left margin at current column
                     smgr    Set right margin at current column
                     smgb    Set bottom margin at current line
                     smgt    Set top margin at current line
                     smgbp   Set bottom margin at line N
                     smglp   Set left margin at column N
                     smgrp   Set right margin at column N
                     smgtp   Set top margin at line N
                     smglr   Set both left and right margins to L and R
                     smgtb   Set both top and bottom margins to T and B

           When  writing  an  application that uses these string capabilities, the
           pairs should be first checked to see if each capability in the pair  is
           set or only one is set:

           o   If  both  smglp  and  smgrp  are  set,  each  is used with a single
               argument, N, that gives the column number of  the  left  and  right
               margin, respectively.

           o   If  both  smgtp  and smgbp are set, each is used to set the top and
               bottom margin, respectively:

               o   smgtp is used with a single argument, N, the line number of the
                   top margin.

               o   smgbp is used with two arguments, N and M, that give  the  line
                   number of the bottom margin, the first counting from the top of
                   the  page  and  the  second  counting  from  the  bottom.  This
                   accommodates the two styles of specifying the bottom margin  in
                   different manufacturers' printers.

               When  designing  a terminfo entry for a printer that has a settable
               bottom margin, only the first or second argument  should  be  used,
               depending on the printer.  When developing an application that uses
               smgbp to set the bottom margin, both arguments must be given.

           Conversely, when only one capability in the pair is set:

           o   If  only  one  of  smglp and smgrp is set, then it is used with two
               arguments, the column number of the left and right margins, in that
               order.

           o   Likewise, if only one of smgtp and smgbp is set, then  it  is  used
               with  two  arguments  that give the top and bottom margins, in that
               order, counting from the top of the page.

               When designing a terminfo entry for a printer that requires setting
               both left and right or top and bottom margins simultaneously,  only
               one  capability  in  the  pairs  smglp and smgrp or smgtp and smgbp
               should be defined, leaving the other unset.

           Except for very old terminal descriptions, e.g.,  those  developed  for
           SVr4,  the  scheme  just  described  should be considered obsolete.  An
           improved set of capabilities was added late in the SVr4 releases (smglr
           and smgtb),  which  explicitly  use  two  parameters  for  setting  the
           left/right or top/bottom margins.

           When setting margins, the line- and column-values are zero-based.

           The  mgc  string  capability  should  be defined.  Applications such as
           tabs(1) rely upon this to reset all margins.

### Area Clears

           If the terminal can clear from the current position to the end  of  the
           line,  leaving  the cursor where it is, this should be given as el.  If
           the terminal can clear from the beginning of the line  to  the  current
           position  inclusive,  leaving  the  cursor  where it is, this should be
           given as el1.  If the terminal can clear from the current  position  to
           the  end  of  the display, then this should be given as ed.  Ed is only
           defined from the first column of a line.  (Thus, it can be simulated by
           a request to delete a large number of  lines,  if  a  true  ed  is  not
           available.)

### Insert/Delete Line and Vertical Motions

           If  the  terminal  can  open a new blank line before the line where the
           cursor is, this should be given as il1; this  is  done  only  from  the
           first  position  of  a  line.  The cursor must then appear on the newly
           blank line.  If the terminal can delete the line which  the  cursor  is
           on,  then this should be given as dl1; this is done only from the first
           position on the line to be deleted.  Versions of il1 and dl1 which take
           a single parameter and insert or delete that many lines can be given as
           il and dl.

           If the terminal has a settable scrolling region (like  the  vt100)  the
           command  to  set  this  can be described with the csr capability, which
           takes two parameters: the top and bottom lines of the scrolling region.
           The cursor position is, alas, undefined after using this command.

           It is possible to get the effect of insert or delete line using csr  on
           a  properly  chosen  region;  the  sc  and rc (save and restore cursor)
           commands may be useful for ensuring that your synthesized insert/delete
           string does not move the cursor.  (Note that  the  ncurses(3x)  library
           does   this   synthesis   automatically,   so   you  need  not  compose
           insert/delete strings for an entry with csr).

           Yet another way to construct insert  and  delete  might  be  to  use  a
           combination  of  index  with  the  memory-lock  feature  found  on some
           terminals  (like  the  HP-700/90  series,  which   however   also   has
           insert/delete).

           Inserting  lines  at  the  top or bottom of the screen can also be done
           using ri or ind on many terminals without a  true  insert/delete  line,
           and is often faster even on terminals with those features.

           The  Boolean  non_dest_scroll_region  should  be  set if each scrolling
           window is effectively a view port on a screen-sized  canvas.   To  test
           for  this  capability,  create  a scrolling region in the middle of the
           screen, write something to the bottom line, move the cursor to the  top
           of  the region, and do ri followed by dl1 or ind.  If the data scrolled
           off the bottom of the region by the ri re-appears,  then  scrolling  is
           non-destructive.  System V and X/Open Curses expect that ind, ri, indn,
           and  rin  will  simulate  destructive  scrolling;  their  documentation
           cautions you not to define  csr  unless  this  is  true.   This  curses
           implementation  is  more  liberal  and  will  do  explicit erases after
           scrolling if ndsrc is defined.

           If the terminal has the ability to define a window as part  of  memory,
           which  all  commands  affect,  it  should be given as the parameterized
           string wind.  The four parameters are the starting and ending lines  in
           memory and the starting and ending columns in memory, in that order.

           If the terminal can retain display memory above, then the da capability
           should  be  given;  if  display  memory  can be retained below, then db
           should be given.  These indicate that deleting a line or scrolling  may
           bring  non-blank lines up from below or that scrolling back with ri may
           bring down non-blank lines.

### Insert/Delete Character

           There are two basic kinds of  intelligent  terminals  with  respect  to
           insert/delete  character  which  can  be described using terminfo.  The
           most  common  insert/delete  character  operations  affect   only   the
           characters  on the current line and shift characters off the end of the
           line rigidly.  Other terminals, such as the Concept 100 and the  Perkin
           Elmer  Owl,  make a distinction between typed and untyped blanks on the
           screen, shifting upon an insert or delete only to an untyped  blank  on
           the  screen  which  is  either  eliminated,  or expanded to two untyped
           blanks.

           You can determine the kind of terminal you have by clearing the  screen
           and  then  typing  text separated by cursor motions.  Type "abc    def"
           using local cursor motions (not  spaces)  between  the  "abc"  and  the
           "def".   Then position the cursor before the "abc" and put the terminal
           in insert mode.  If typing characters causes the rest of  the  line  to
           shift  rigidly  and  characters to fall off the end, then your terminal
           does not distinguish between blanks  and  untyped  positions.   If  the
           "abc"  shifts over to the "def" which then move together around the end
           of the current line and onto the next  as  you  insert,  you  have  the
           second  type  of  terminal,  and  should  give the capability in, which
           stands for "insert null".

           While these are two logically  separate  attributes  (one  line  versus
           multi-line  insert  mode,  and  special treatment of untyped spaces) we
           have seen no terminals whose insert mode cannot be described  with  the
           single attribute.

           Terminfo  can  describe  both  terminals which have an insert mode, and
           terminals which send a simple sequence to open a blank position on  the
           current line.  Give as smir the sequence to get into insert mode.  Give
           as  rmir  the  sequence  to  leave  insert  mode.  Now give as ich1 any
           sequence needed to be sent just before  sending  the  character  to  be
           inserted.   Most  terminals with a true insert mode will not give ich1;
           terminals which send a sequence to open a screen position  should  give
           it here.

           If  your  terminal has both, insert mode is usually preferable to ich1.
           Technically, you should not give  both  unless  the  terminal  actually
           requires  both to be used in combination.  Accordingly, some non-curses
           applications get confused if both are present; the symptom  is  doubled
           characters  in  an  update using insert.  This requirement is now rare;
           most ich sequences do not require previous smir, and most  smir  insert
           modes  do  not  require ich1 before each character.  Therefore, the new
           curses actually assumes this is the case and uses either  rmir/smir  or
           ich/ich1  as appropriate (but not both).  If you have to write an entry
           to be used under new curses for a terminal old  enough  to  need  both,
           include the rmir/smir sequences in ich1.

           If post insert padding is needed, give this as a number of milliseconds
           in  ip (a string option).  Any other sequence which may need to be sent
           after an insert of a single character may also be given in ip.  If your
           terminal needs both to be placed into an "insert mode"  and  a  special
           code  to  precede each inserted character, then both smir/rmir and ich1
           can be given, and both will be used.   The  ich  capability,  with  one
           parameter, n, will repeat the effects of ich1 n times.

           If  padding  is  necessary between characters typed while not in insert
           mode, give this as a number of milliseconds padding in rmp.

           It is occasionally necessary to move around while  in  insert  mode  to
           delete  characters  on the same line (e.g., if there is a tab after the
           insertion position).  If your terminal allows motion  while  in  insert
           mode  you  can  give  the  capability mir to speed up inserting in this
           case.  Omitting mir will affect only speed.   Some  terminals  (notably
           Datamedia's)  must  not  have  mir because of the way their insert mode
           works.

           Finally, you can specify dch1 to delete a single  character,  dch  with
           one  parameter,  n,  to  delete n characters, and delete mode by giving
           smdc and rmdc to enter and exit delete  mode  (any  mode  the  terminal
           needs to be placed in for dch1 to work).

           A  command  to  erase  n  characters (equivalent to outputting n blanks
           without moving the cursor) can be given as ech with one parameter.

### Highlighting, Underlining, and Visible Bells

           If your terminal has one or more kinds of display attributes, these can
           be represented in a number of different ways.  You  should  choose  one
           display  form  as  standout  mode,  representing a good, high contrast,
           easy-on-the-eyes, format for  highlighting  error  messages  and  other
           attention  getters.   (If  you  have a choice, reverse video plus half-
           bright is good, or reverse video alone.)  The sequences  to  enter  and
           exit  standout  mode  are given as smso and rmso, respectively.  If the
           code to change into or out of standout mode  leaves  one  or  even  two
           blank  spaces  on  the screen, as the TVI 912 and Teleray 1061 do, then
           xmc should be given to tell how many spaces are left.

           Codes to begin underlining and end underlining can be given as smul and
           rmul respectively.  If the terminal has a code to underline the current
           character and move the cursor one space  to  the  right,  such  as  the
           Microterm Mime, this can be given as uc.

           Other  capabilities  to  enter various highlighting modes include blink
           (blinking) bold (bold or extra bright) dim (dim or  half-bright)  invis
           (blanking  or invisible text) prot (protected) rev (reverse video) sgr0
           (turn off all attribute modes) smacs  (enter  alternate  character  set
           mode) and rmacs (exit alternate character set mode).  Turning on any of
           these modes singly may or may not turn off other modes.

           If  there  is  a  sequence to set arbitrary combinations of modes, this
           should be given as sgr (set attributes),  taking  9  parameters.   Each
           parameter is either zero (0) or nonzero, as the corresponding attribute
           is  on  or  off.   The 9 parameters are, in order: standout, underline,
           reverse, blink, dim, bold, blank,  protect,  alternate  character  set.
           Not  all  modes  need  be  supported  by  sgr,  only  those  for  which
           corresponding separate attribute commands exist.

           For example, the DEC vt220 supports most of the modes:

                       tparm Parameter   Attribute    Escape Sequence
                       ------------------------------------------------
                       none              none         \E[0m
                       p1                standout     \E[0;1;7m
                       p2                underline    \E[0;4m
                       p3                reverse      \E[0;7m
                       p4                blink        \E[0;5m
                       p5                dim          not available
                       p6                bold         \E[0;1m
                       p7                invis        \E[0;8m
                       p8                protect      not used
                       p9                altcharset   ^O (off) ^N (on)

           We begin each escape sequence by turning off any existing modes,  since
           there  is  no quick way to determine whether they are active.  Standout
           is set up to be  the  combination  of  reverse  and  bold.   The  vt220
           terminal  has  a  protect  mode,  though it is not commonly used in sgr
           because it protects characters on the screen from the host's  erasures.
           The  altcharset  mode  also is different in that it is either ^O or ^N,
           depending on whether it is off or on.  If all modes are turned on,  the
           resulting sequence is \E[0;1;4;5;7;8m^N.

           Some  sequences  are  common  to  different  modes.  For example, ;7 is
           output when either p1 or p3 is true, that is,  if  either  standout  or
           reverse modes are turned on.

           Writing out the above sequences, along with their dependencies yields

                     Sequence   When to Output      terminfo Translation
                     ----------------------------------------------------
                     \E[0       always              \E[0
                     ;1         if p1 or p6         %?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;
                     ;4         if p2               %?%p2%|%t;4%;
                     ;5         if p4               %?%p4%|%t;5%;
                     ;7         if p1 or p3         %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;
                     ;8         if p7               %?%p7%|%t;8%;
                     m          always              m
                     ^N or ^O   if p9 ^N, else ^O   %?%p9%t^N%e^O%;

           Putting this all together into the sgr sequence gives:

               sgr=\E[0%?%p1%p6%|%t;1%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;
                   %?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p7%t;8%;m%?%p9%t\016%e\017%;,

           Remember  that  if  you specify sgr, you must also specify sgr0.  Also,
           some implementations rely on sgr  being  given  if  sgr0  is,  Not  all
           terminfo  entries  necessarily  have  an  sgr  string,  however.   Many
           terminfo entries are derived from termcap entries  which  have  no  sgr
           string.  The only drawback to adding an sgr string is that termcap also
           assumes that sgr0 does not exit alternate character set mode.

           Terminals   with  the  "magic  cookie"  glitch  (xmc)  deposit  special
           "cookies" when they receive mode-setting sequences,  which  affect  the
           display  algorithm  rather  than  having extra bits for each character.
           Some terminals, such as the HP 2621, automatically leave standout  mode
           when  they  move  to  a  new line or the cursor is addressed.  Programs
           using standout mode should exit standout mode before moving the  cursor
           or  sending a newline, unless the msgr capability, asserting that it is
           safe to move in standout mode, is present.

           If the terminal has a way of flashing the screen to indicate  an  error
           quietly  (a  bell replacement) then this can be given as flash; it must
           not move the cursor.

           If the cursor needs to be made more visible than normal when it is  not
           on the bottom line (to make, for example, a non-blinking underline into
           an  easier  to  find block or blinking underline) give this sequence as
           cvvis.  If there is a way to make the cursor completely invisible, give
           that as civis.  The capability cnorm should be given which  undoes  the
           effects of both of these modes.

           If  your  terminal  correctly  generates underlined characters (with no
           special codes needed) even though it  does  not  overstrike,  then  you
           should  give  the  capability  ul.  If a character overstriking another
           leaves both characters on the screen, specify the  capability  os.   If
           overstrikes are erasable with a blank, then this should be indicated by
           giving eo.

### Keypad and Function Keys

           If  the  terminal  has  a keypad that transmits codes when the keys are
           pressed, this information can be given.  Note that it is  not  possible
           to handle terminals where the keypad only works in local (this applies,
           for  example, to the unshifted HP 2621 keys).  If the keypad can be set
           to transmit or not  transmit,  give  these  codes  as  smkx  and  rmkx.
           Otherwise the keypad is assumed to always transmit.

           The  codes  sent  by the left arrow, right arrow, up arrow, down arrow,
           and home keys can be given as kcub1, kcuf1,  kcuu1,  kcud1,  and  khome
           respectively.  If there are function keys such as f0, f1, ..., f10, the
           codes  they  send  can  be given as kf0, kf1, ..., kf10.  If these keys
           have labels other than the default f0 through f10, the  labels  can  be
           given as lf0, lf1, ..., lf10.

           The codes transmitted by certain other special keys can be given:

           o   kll (home down),

           o   kbs (backspace),

           o   ktbc (clear all tabs),

           o   kctab (clear the tab stop in this column),

           o   kclr (clear screen or erase key),

           o   kdch1 (delete character),

           o   kdl1 (delete line),

           o   krmir (exit insert mode),

           o   kel (clear to end of line),

           o   ked (clear to end of screen),

           o   kich1 (insert character or enter insert mode),

           o   kil1 (insert line),

           o   knp (next page),

           o   kpp (previous page),

           o   kind (scroll forward/down),

           o   kri (scroll backward/up),

           o   khts (set a tab stop in this column).

           In  addition,  if  the  keypad has a 3 by 3 array of keys including the
           four arrow keys, the other five keys can be given  as  ka1,  ka3,  kb2,
           kc1,  and  kc3.   These  keys  are  useful when the effects of a 3 by 3
           directional pad are needed.

           Strings to program function keys can be given as pfkey, pfloc, and pfx.
           A string to program screen labels should be specified as pln.  Each  of
           these  strings takes two parameters: the function key number to program
           (from 0 to 10) and the string to program it with.  Function key numbers
           out of this range may program undefined keys in  a  terminal  dependent
           manner.   The  difference between the capabilities is that pfkey causes
           pressing the given key to be the same as  the  user  typing  the  given
           string;  pfloc  causes  the  string  to  be executed by the terminal in
           local; and pfx causes the string to be transmitted to the computer.

           The capabilities nlab, lw and lh  define  the  number  of  programmable
           screen  labels  and  their  width and height.  If there are commands to
           turn the labels on and off, give  them  in  smln  and  rmln.   smln  is
           normally  output  after one or more pln sequences to make sure that the
           change becomes visible.

### Tabs and Initialization

           A few capabilities are used only to manage tab stops.

           o   If the terminal has hardware tabs, specify the  character  sequence
               that  advances  to  the  next tab stop as the value of the tab (ht)
               string capability (usually Control+I).

           o   Specify a character sequence that retreats (moves leftward) to  the
               preceding  tab  stop  as  the  value  of  the back_tab (cbt) string
               capability.

               By convention, if the terminal modes are configured such that  tabs
               are  expanded by the host rather than terminal, applications should
               not employ the tab (ht) or back_tab (cbt) capabilities even if they
               are present, since the user may not have  the  tab  stops  properly
               set.

           o   If  the  terminal  has  hardware  tab stops that are set at every n
               character cells when the terminal is powered up, specify n  as  the
               value of the the numeric capability init_tabs (it).

               The  tset  and  "tput  init" commands interpret the presence of the
               init_tabs  (it)  capability  as  implying  that  the  terminal   is
               responsible for tab stop expansion as well as an instruction to set
               the tab stops to its value.  If the terminal has tab stops that can
               be  saved in non-volatile memory, its terminfo type description can
               assume that they are properly set.

           Other capabilities include

           o   is1, is2, and is3, initialization strings for the terminal,

           o   iprog, the path name of a program  to  be  run  to  initialize  the
               terminal,

           o   and if, the name of a file containing long initialization strings.

           These  strings  are  expected to set the terminal into modes consistent
           with the rest of the terminfo description.  They are normally  sent  to
           the  terminal,  by  the  init option of the tput program, each time the
           user logs in.  They will be printed in the following order:

                  run the program
                         iprog

                  output
                         is1 and
                         is2

                  set the margins using
                         mgc or
                         smglp and smgrp or
                         smgl and smgr

                  set tabs using
                         tbc and hts

                  print the file
                         if

                  and finally output
                         is3.

           Most initialization is done with is2.  Special terminal  modes  can  be
           set  up  without duplicating strings by putting the common sequences in
           is2 and special cases in is1 and is3.

           A set of sequences that does a harder  reset  from  a  totally  unknown
           state can be given as rs1, rs2, rf and rs3, analogous to is1 , is2 , if
           and  is3  respectively.   These  strings  are output by reset option of
           tput, or by the reset program (an alias of tset), which  is  used  when
           the terminal gets into a wedged state.  Commands are normally placed in
           rs1, rs2 rs3 and rf only if they produce annoying effects on the screen
           and are not necessary when logging in.  For example, the command to set
           the  vt100  into  80-column  mode would normally be part of is2, but it
           causes an annoying glitch of the screen  and  is  not  normally  needed
           since the terminal is usually already in 80-column mode.

           The  reset  program  writes  strings including iprog, etc., in the same
           order as the init program, using rs1, etc., instead of  is1,  etc.   If
           any  of  rs1, rs2, rs3, or rf reset capability strings are missing, the
           reset  program  falls  back  upon  the   corresponding   initialization
           capability string.

           If  there are commands to set and clear tab stops, they can be given as
           tbc (clear all tab stops) and hts (set a tab stop in the current column
           of every line).  If a more complex sequence is needed to set  the  tabs
           than can be described by this, the sequence can be placed in is2 or if.

           The  tput  reset  command uses the same capability strings as the reset
           command, although the two programs (tput and reset)  provide  different
           command-line options.

           In  practice,  these  terminfo  capabilities  are  not  often  used  in
           initialization of tabs (though they are required for the tabs program):

           o   Almost all hardware terminals (at least those which supported tabs)
               initialized those to every eight columns:

               The only exception was the AT&T 2300  series,  which  set  tabs  to
               every five columns.

           o   In  particular,  developers  of  the  hardware  terminals which are
               commonly used as models  for  modern  terminal  emulators  provided
               documentation demonstrating that eight columns were the standard.

           o   Because of this, the terminal initialization programs tput and tset
               use   the  tbc  (clear_all_tabs)  and  hts  (set_tab)  capabilities
               directly only when the it (init_tabs) capability is set to a  value
               other than eight.

### Delays and Padding

           Many  older  and slower terminals do not support either XON/XOFF or DTR
           handshaking, including hard copy terminals and some very  archaic  CRTs
           (including,  for  example,  DEC  VT100s).   These  may  require padding
           characters after certain cursor motions and screen changes.

           If the terminal uses xon/xoff handshaking for flow control (that is, it
           automatically emits ^S back to the host  when  its  input  buffers  are
           close  to  full),  set xon.  This capability suppresses the emission of
           padding.  You  can  also  set  it  for  memory-mapped  console  devices
           effectively that do not have a speed limit.  Padding information should
           still  be  included  so  that  routines can make better decisions about
           relative costs, but actual pad characters will not be transmitted.

           If pb (padding baud rate) is given, padding is suppressed at baud rates
           below the value of pb.  If the entry has no  padding  baud  rate,  then
           whether padding is emitted or not is completely controlled by xon.

           If  the  terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
           then this can be given as pad.  Only the first  character  of  the  pad
           string is used.

### Status Lines

           Some  terminals  have an extra "status line" which is not normally used
           by software (and thus not counted in the terminal's lines capability).

           The simplest case is a status line which is cursor-addressable but  not
           part of the main scrolling region on the screen; the Heathkit H19 has a
           status  line  of  this  kind,  as  would a 24-line VT100 with a 23-line
           scrolling region set up on initialization.  This situation is indicated
           by the hs capability.

           Some terminals with status lines need special sequences to  access  the
           status  line.  These may be expressed as a string with single parameter
           tsl which takes the cursor to a given zero-origin column on the  status
           line.   The  capability  fsl  must  return  to  the  main-screen cursor
           positions before the last tsl.  You may need to embed the string values
           of sc (save  cursor)  and  rc  (restore  cursor)  in  tsl  and  fsl  to
           accomplish this.

           The  status  line is normally assumed to be the same width as the width
           of the terminal.  If this is  untrue,  you  can  specify  it  with  the
           numeric capability wsl.

           A command to erase or blank the status line may be specified as dsl.

           The  Boolean  capability  eslok  specifies that escape sequences, tabs,
           etc., work ordinarily in the status line.

           The ncurses implementation does not yet use any of these  capabilities.
           They are documented here in case they ever become important.

### Line Graphics

           Many  terminals have alternate character sets useful for forms-drawing.
           Terminfo and curses have built-in  support  for  most  of  the  drawing
           characters  supported  by the VT100, with some characters from the AT&T
           4410v1 added.  This alternate character set may  be  specified  by  the
           acsc capability.

                              acsc
           ACS Name      Value   Symbol   ASCII Fallback / Glyph Name
           ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           ACS_RARROW    0x2b      +      >  arrow pointing right
           ACS_LARROW    0x2c      ,      <  arrow pointing left
           ACS_UARROW    0x2d      -      ^  arrow pointing up
           ACS_DARROW    0x2e      .      v  arrow pointing down
           ACS_BLOCK     0x30      0      #  solid square block
           ACS_DIAMOND   0x60      `      +  diamond
           ACS_CKBOARD   0x61      a      :  checker board (stipple)
           ACS_DEGREE    0x66      f      \  degree symbol
           ACS_PLMINUS   0x67      g      #  plus/minus
           ACS_BOARD     0x68      h      #  board of squares
           ACS_LANTERN   0x69      i      #  lantern symbol
           ACS_LRCORNER  0x6a      j      +  lower right corner
           ACS_URCORNER  0x6b      k      +  upper right corner
           ACS_ULCORNER  0x6c      l      +  upper left corner
           ACS_LLCORNER  0x6d      m      +  lower left corner
           ACS_PLUS      0x6e      n      +  large plus or crossover
           ACS_S1        0x6f      o      ~  scan line 1
           ACS_S3        0x70      p      -  scan line 3
           ACS_HLINE     0x71      q      -  horizontal line
           ACS_S7        0x72      r      -  scan line 7
           ACS_S9        0x73      s      _  scan line 9
           ACS_LTEE      0x74      t      +  tee pointing right
           ACS_RTEE      0x75      u      +  tee pointing left
           ACS_BTEE      0x76      v      +  tee pointing up
           ACS_TTEE      0x77      w      +  tee pointing down
           ACS_VLINE     0x78      x      |  vertical line
           ACS_LEQUAL    0x79      y      <  less-than-or-equal-to
           ACS_GEQUAL    0x7a      z      >  greater-than-or-equal-to
           ACS_PI        0x7b      {      *  greek pi
           ACS_NEQUAL    0x7c      |      !  not-equal
           ACS_STERLING  0x7d      }      f  UK pound sign
           ACS_BULLET    0x7e      ~      o  bullet

           A few notes apply to the table itself:

           o   X/Open  Curses  incorrectly  states that the mapping for lantern is
               uppercase "I" although Unix implementations use the  lowercase  "i"
               mapping.

           o   The  DEC  VT100  implemented graphics using the alternate character
               set feature, temporarily switching modes and sending characters  in
               the  range  0x60  (96)  to 0x7e (126) (the acsc Value column in the
               table).

           o   The AT&T terminal added graphics characters outside that range.

               Some of the characters within the range do  not  match  the  VT100;
               presumably  they  were  used in the AT&T terminal: board of squares
               replaces the VT100 newline symbol, while  lantern  symbol  replaces
               the VT100 vertical tab symbol.  The other VT100 symbols for control
               characters  (horizontal tab, carriage return and line-feed) are not
               (re)used in curses.

           The best way to define a new device's graphics set is to add  a  column
           to  a  copy of this table for your terminal, giving the character which
           (when emitted between smacs/rmacs switches) will  be  rendered  as  the
           corresponding graphic.  Then read off the VT100/your terminal character
           pairs right to left in sequence; these become the ACSC string.

### Color Handling

           The  curses  library  functions init_pair and init_color manipulate the
           color pairs and colors (color  values  or  indices,  such  as  "1=red")
           discussed  in this section (see curs_color(3x) for details on these and
           related functions).

           Most color terminals are either "Tektronix-like" or "HP-like" in  their
           approach to color management.

           o   Tektronix-like  terminals  define  a  set  of  n colors (where n is
               usually 8), and can alter character-cell foreground and  background
               colors  independently,  mixing  them  into  nxn color pairs.  ANSI-
               standard terminals are Tektronix-like.

           o   On HP-like  terminals,  the  user  must  set  up  each  color  pair
               separately;   foreground   and  background  are  not  independently
               alterable.  Up  to  m  color  pairs  may  be  configured  from  2xm
               different colors.

           Some  basic  color management capabilities are independent of the color
           encoding method.  The  numeric  capabilities  max_colors  (colors)  and
           max_pairs (pairs) specify the maximum numbers of colors and color pairs
           that  the  device  can  display  simultaneously.   The  orig_pair  (op)
           ("original pair") string capability resets  foreground  and  background
           colors  to their default values for the terminal.  The orig_colors (oc)
           ("original colors") string capability resets all colors or color  pairs
           to  their  default  values  for  the  terminal.   Some  terminal  types
           (including many PC terminal emulators)  erase  screen  areas  with  the
           current  background  color rather than the power-up default background;
           these should declare the Boolean capability back_color_erase (bce).

           While the  curses  library  works  with  color  pairs  (reflecting  the
           inability  of  some  devices  to  set  foreground and background colors
           independently), there  are  separate  capabilities  for  setting  these
           features:

           o   To   change  the  current  foreground  or  background  color  on  a
               Tektronix-type terminal, use setaf (set ANSI foreground) and  setab
               (set  ANSI  background)  or  setf  (set  foreground)  and setb (set
               background).  These take one parameter, the color number.  The SVr4
               documentation describes only setaf/setab; the XPG4 draft says  that
               "If  the  terminal supports ANSI escape sequences to set background
               and  foreground,  they  should  be  coded  as  setaf   and   setab,
               respectively.

           o   If  the  terminal supports other escape sequences to set background
               and  foreground,  they  should  be  coded   as   setf   and   setb,
               respectively.   The  vidputs  and the refresh(3x) functions use the
               setaf and setab capabilities if they are defined.

           The setaf/setab  and  setf/setb  capabilities  take  a  single  numeric
           argument each.  Argument values 0-7 of setaf/setab are portably defined
           as  follows (the middle column is the symbolic #define available in the
           header for the curses or ncurses libraries).  The terminal hardware  is
           free  to  map  these  as  it  likes, but the RGB values indicate normal
           locations in color space.

                        Color      #define       Value        RGB
                       ------------------------------------------------
                       black     COLOR_BLACK       0     0,   0,   0
                       red       COLOR_RED         1     max, 0,   0
                       green     COLOR_GREEN       2     0,   max, 0
                       yellow    COLOR_YELLOW      3     max, max, 0
                       blue      COLOR_BLUE        4     0,   0,   max
                       magenta   COLOR_MAGENTA     5     max, 0,   max
                       cyan      COLOR_CYAN        6     0,   max, max
                       white     COLOR_WHITE       7     max, max, max

           The argument values of setf/setb historically correspond to a different
           mapping, i.e.,

                        Color      #define       Value        RGB
                       ------------------------------------------------
                       black     COLOR_BLACK       0     0,   0,   0
                       blue      COLOR_BLUE        1     0,   0,   max
                       green     COLOR_GREEN       2     0,   max, 0
                       cyan      COLOR_CYAN        3     0,   max, max
                       red       COLOR_RED         4     max, 0,   0
                       magenta   COLOR_MAGENTA     5     max, 0,   max
                       yellow    COLOR_YELLOW      6     max, max, 0
                       white     COLOR_WHITE       7     max, max, max

           It is important to not confuse the  two  sets  of  color  capabilities;
           otherwise red/blue will be interchanged on the display.

           On  an  HP-like terminal, use scp with a color pair number parameter to
           set which color pair is current.

           Some terminals allow the color values to be modified:

           o   On a Tektronix-like terminal, the capability ccc may be present  to
               indicate  that colors can be modified.  If so, the initc capability
               will take a color number (0 to colors - 1)and three more parameters
               which describe the color.  These three parameters default to  being
               interpreted  as  RGB  (Red,  Green,  Blue)  values.  If the Boolean
               capability hls is present, they are instead as HLS (Hue, Lightness,
               Saturation) indices.  The ranges are terminal-dependent.

           o   On an HP-like terminal, initp may give a capability for changing  a
               color  pair  value.   It  will  take seven parameters; a color pair
               number (0 to max_pairs -  1),  and  two  triples  describing  first
               background  and  then  foreground colors.  These parameters must be
               (Red, Green, Blue) or (Hue,  Lightness,  Saturation)  depending  on
               hls.

           On  some  color  terminals,  colors  collide  with highlights.  You can
           register these collisions with the ncv capability.  This is a bit  mask
           of   attributes   not   to  be  used  when  colors  are  enabled.   The
           correspondence with the attributes understood by curses is as follows:

                             Attribute     Bit   Decimal   Set by
                            --------------------------------------
                            A_STANDOUT      0         1    sgr
                            A_UNDERLINE     1         2    sgr
                            A_REVERSE       2         4    sgr
                            A_BLINK         3         8    sgr
                            A_DIM           4        16    sgr
                            A_BOLD          5        32    sgr
                            A_INVIS         6        64    sgr
                            A_PROTECT       7       128    sgr
                            A_ALTCHARSET    8       256    sgr
                            A_HORIZONTAL    9       512    sgr1
                            A_LEFT         10      1024    sgr1
                            A_LOW          11      2048    sgr1
                            A_RIGHT        12      4096    sgr1
                            A_TOP          13      8192    sgr1
                            A_VERTICAL     14     16384    sgr1
                            A_ITALIC       15     32768    sitm

           For example, on many IBM PC consoles, the underline attribute  collides
           with  the  foreground  color  blue  and is not available in color mode.
           These should have an ncv capability of 2.

           SVr4 curses does nothing with ncv, ncurses recognizes it and  optimizes
           the output in favor of colors.

### Miscellaneous

           If  the  terminal requires other than a null (zero) character as a pad,
           then this can be given as pad.  Only the first  character  of  the  pad
           string is used.  If the terminal does not have a pad character, specify
           npc.   Note that ncurses implements the termcap-compatible PC variable;
           though the application may set this value to  something  other  than  a
           null,  ncurses will test npc first and use napms if the terminal has no
           pad character.

           If the terminal can move up or down half a line, this can be  indicated
           with  hu  (half-line  up)  and  hd (half-line down).  This is primarily
           useful for superscripts and subscripts on hard-copy  terminals.   If  a
           hard-copy terminal can eject to the next page (form feed), give this as
           ff (usually control/L).

           If  there  is  a  command to repeat a given character a given number of
           times  (to  save  time  transmitting  a  large  number   of   identical
           characters)  this  can  be indicated with the parameterized string rep.
           The first parameter is the character to be repeated and the  second  is
           the number of times to repeat it.  Thus, tparm(repeat_char, 'x', 10) is
           the same as "xxxxxxxxxx".

           If the terminal has a settable command character, such as the TEKTRONIX
           4025,  this can be indicated with cmdch.  A prototype command character
           is chosen which is used in all capabilities.  This character  is  given
           in  the  cmdch  capability to identify it.  The following convention is
           supported on some Unix systems: The environment is to be searched for a
           CC variable, and if found, all occurrences of the  prototype  character
           are replaced with the character in the environment variable.

           Terminal  descriptions  that  do not represent a specific kind of known
           terminal, such as switch, dialup, patch, and  network,  should  include
           the  gn (generic) capability so that programs can complain that they do
           not know how to talk to the terminal.  (This capability does not  apply
           to  virtual  terminal  descriptions  for which the escape sequences are
           known.)

           If the terminal has a "meta key" which acts as a shift key, setting the
           8th bit of any character transmitted, this fact can be  indicated  with
           km.   Otherwise, software will assume that the 8th bit is parity and it
           will usually be cleared.  If strings exist to turn this "meta mode"  on
           and off, they can be given as smm and rmm.

           If the terminal has more lines of memory than will fit on the screen at
           once,  the number of lines of memory can be indicated with lm.  A value
           of lm#0 indicates that the number of lines is not fixed, but that there
           is still more memory than fits on the screen.

           If the terminal is one of those supported by the Unix virtual  terminal
           protocol, the terminal number can be given as vt.

           Media  copy strings which control an auxiliary printer connected to the
           terminal can be given as mc0: print the contents of  the  screen,  mc4:
           turn  off  the printer, and mc5: turn on the printer.  When the printer
           is on, all text sent to the terminal will be sent to the  printer.   It
           is  undefined whether the text is also displayed on the terminal screen
           when the printer is on.  A variation  mc5p  takes  one  parameter,  and
           leaves  the  printer  on  for  as  many  characters as the value of the
           parameter, then turns the printer off.  The parameter should not exceed
           255.  All text, including mc4, is transparently passed to  the  printer
           while an mc5p is in effect.

### Glitches and Brain Damage

           Hazeltine  terminals, which do not allow "~" characters to be displayed
           should indicate hz.

           Terminals which ignore a line-feed immediately after an am  wrap,  such
           as the Concept and vt100, should indicate xenl.

           If  el  is  required  to get rid of standout (instead of merely writing
           normal text on top of it), xhp should be given.

           Teleray terminals, where tabs turn all characters moved over to blanks,
           should indicate xt (destructive tabs).  Note: the  variable  indicating
           this   is   now  "dest_tabs_magic_smso";  in  older  versions,  it  was
           teleray_glitch.  This glitch is also taken  to  mean  that  it  is  not
           possible  to  position  the  cursor on top of a "magic cookie", that to
           erase standout mode it is instead necessary to use  delete  and  insert
           line.  The ncurses implementation ignores this glitch.

           The  Beehive Superbee, which is unable to correctly transmit the escape
           or control/C characters, has xsb, indicating that the f1  key  is  used
           for  escape  and  f2  for control/C.  (Only certain Superbees have this
           problem, depending on the ROM.)  Note that in older terminfo  versions,
           this capability was called "beehive_glitch"; it is now "no_esc_ctl_c".

           Other  specific  terminal  problems  may  be  corrected  by adding more
           capabilities of the form xx.

### Pitfalls of Long Entries

           Long terminfo entries are unlikely to be a problem; to date,  no  entry
           has   even   approached   terminfo's  4096-byte  string-table  maximum.
           Unfortunately, the termcap translations are much more strictly  limited
           (to 1023 bytes), thus termcap translations of long terminfo entries can
           cause problems.

           The  man  pages  for  4.3BSD and older versions of tgetent instruct the
           user to allocate a 1024-byte buffer for the termcap entry.   The  entry
           gets  null-terminated by the termcap library, so that makes the maximum
           safe length for a termcap entry 1k-1 (1023) bytes.  Depending  on  what
           the  application  and the termcap library being used does, and where in
           the termcap file the terminal type that tgetent is  searching  for  is,
           several bad things can happen:

           o   some termcap libraries print a warning message,

           o   some exit if they find an entry that's longer than 1023 bytes,

           o   some neither exit nor warn, doing nothing useful, and

           o   some simply truncate the entries to 1023 bytes.

           Some application programs allocate more than the recommended 1K for the
           termcap entry; others do not.

           Each  termcap  entry has two important sizes associated with it: before
           "tc" expansion, and after "tc" expansion.  "tc" is the capability  that
           tacks on another termcap entry to the end of the current one, to add on
           its capabilities.  If a termcap entry does not use the "tc" capability,
           then of course the two lengths are the same.

           The  "before tc expansion" length is the most important one, because it
           affects more than just users of that particular terminal.  This is  the
           length  of the entry as it exists in /etc/termcap, minus the backslash-
           newline pairs, which tgetent strips out while reading it.  Some termcap
           libraries strip off the final newline, too (GNU termcap does not).  Now
           suppose:

           o   a termcap entry before expansion is more than 1023 bytes long,

           o   and the application has only allocated a 1k buffer,

           o   and the termcap library (like the one in BSD/OS 1.1 and GNU)  reads
               the  whole entry into the buffer, no matter what its length, to see
               if it is the entry it wants,

           o   and tgetent is searching for a terminal type  that  either  is  the
               long  entry,  appears  in the termcap file after the long entry, or
               does not appear in the file at all (so that tgetent has  to  search
               the whole termcap file).

           Then  tgetent  will  overwrite  memory, perhaps its stack, and probably
           core  dump  the  program.   Programs  like  telnet   are   particularly
           vulnerable;  modern  telnets  pass  along values like the terminal type
           automatically.  The results are almost as undesirable  with  a  termcap
           library,  like SunOS 4.1.3 and Ultrix 4.4, that prints warning messages
           when it reads an overly long  termcap  entry.   If  a  termcap  library
           truncates  long entries, like OSF/1 3.0, it is immune to dying here but
           will return incorrect data for the terminal.

           The "after tc expansion" length will  have  a  similar  effect  to  the
           above, but only for people who actually set TERM to that terminal type,
           since  tgetent  only  does "tc" expansion once it is found the terminal
           type it was looking for, not while searching.

           In summary, a termcap entry that is longer than 1023 bytes  can  cause,
           on  various  combinations of termcap libraries and applications, a core
           dump, warnings, or incorrect operation.  If it is too long even  before
           "tc"  expansion,  it will have this effect even for users of some other
           terminal types and users whose TERM variable does not  have  a  termcap
           entry.

           When  in  -C (translate to termcap) mode, the ncurses implementation of
           tic(1m) issues warning messages when the pre-tc  length  of  a  termcap
           translation  is  too  long.  The -c (check) option also checks resolved
           (after tc expansion) lengths.

## FILES

           /usr/share/terminfo
                  compiled terminal description database directory

## EXTENSIONS

           Searching   for   terminal   descriptions   in   $HOME/.terminfo    and
           TERMINFO_DIRS is not supported by older implementations.

           Some  SVr4  curses  implementations,  and  all previous to SVr4, do not
           interpret the %A and %O operators in parameter strings.

           SVr4/XPG4 do not specify whether msgr licenses  movement  while  in  an
           alternate-character-set  mode  (such modes may, among other things, map
           CR and NL to characters  that  do  not  trigger  local  motions).   The
           ncurses  implementation  ignores  msgr in ALTCHARSET mode.  This raises
           the  possibility  that  an  XPG4  implementation  making  the  opposite
           interpretation  may need terminfo entries made for ncurses to have msgr
           turned off.

           The ncurses library handles insert-character and insert-character modes
           in a slightly non-standard way to get better  update  efficiency.   See
           the Insert/Delete Character subsection above.

           The  parameter  substitutions  for  set_clock and display_clock are not
           documented in SVr4  or  X/Open  Curses.   They  are  deduced  from  the
           documentation for the AT&T 505 terminal.

           Be  careful  assigning the kmous capability.  The ncurses library wants
           to interpret it as KEY_MOUSE, for use by terminals and  emulators  like
           xterm  that can return mouse-tracking information in the keyboard-input
           stream.

           X/Open Curses does not mention  italics.   Portable  applications  must
           assume  that  numeric  capabilities  are  signed  16-bit  values.  This
           includes the no_color_video (ncv) capability.   The  32768  mask  value
           used  for  italics  with ncv can be confused with an absent or canceled
           ncv.  If italics should work with colors, then the ncv  value  must  be
           specified, even if it is zero.

           Different  commercial  ports  of  terminfo and curses support different
           subsets of X/Open Curses and  (in  some  cases)  different  extensions.
           Here  is  a  summary,  accurate  as  of  October  1995, after which the
           commercial Unix market contracted and lost diversity.

           o   SVr4, Solaris, and ncurses support all SVr4 capabilities.

           o   IRIX supports the SVr4  set  and  adds  one  undocumented  extended
               string capability (set_pglen).

           o   SVr1   and   Ultrix   support   a  restricted  subset  of  terminfo
               capabilities.  The Booleans end with xon_xoff;  the  numerics  with
               width_status_line; and the strings with prtr_non.

           o   HP/UX   supports  the  SVr1  subset,  plus  the  SVr[234]  numerics
               num_labels,  label_height,  label_width,  plus  function  keys   11
               through  63, plus plab_norm, label_on, and label_off, plus a number
               of incompatible string table extensions.

           o   AIX supports the SVr1 subset, plus function  keys  11  through  63,
               plus a number of incompatible string table extensions.

           o   OSF/1 supports both the SVr4 set and the AIX extensions.

## PORTABILITY

           Do  not  count  on  compiled  (binary)  terminfo entries being portable
           between commercial Unix  systems.   At  least  two  implementations  of
           terminfo (those of HP-UX and AIX) diverged from those of other System V
           Unices  after  SVr1,  adding extension capabilities to the string table
           that (in the binary format) collide with subsequent System V and X/Open
           Curses extensions.

## AUTHORS

           Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.  Based on pcurses
           by Pavel Curtis.

## SEE ALSO

           infocmp(1m),    tabs(1),    tic(1m),    curses(3x),     curs_color(3x),
           curs_terminfo(3x),  curs_variables(3x),  printf(3), term_variables(3x),
           term(5), user_caps(5)

    ncurses 6.6                       2025-08-16                       terminfo(5)