term(4) 							   File Formats 							   term(4)

NAME

       term - format of compiled term file

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*

DESCRIPTION

       The  term  file	is  compiled  from terminfo(4) source files using tic(1M). Compiled files are organized in a directory hierarchy under the
       first letter of each terminal name. For example, the vt100 file would have the pathname /usr/lib/terminfo/v/vt100. The default directory is
       /usr/share/lib/terminfo. Synonyms for the same terminal are implemented by multiple links to the same compiled file.

       The format has been chosen so that it is the same on all hardware. An 8-bit byte is assumed, but no assumptions about byte ordering or sign
       extension are made. Thus, these binary terminfo files can be transported to other hardware with 8-bit bytes.

       Short integers are stored in two 8-bit bytes. The first byte contains the least significant 8 bits of the value, and the second	byte  con-
       tains  the  most  significant  8 bits. (Thus, the value represented is 256*second+first.) The value -1 is represented by 0377,0377, and the
       value -2 is represented by 0376,0377; other negative values are illegal. The -1 generally means that a capability is missing from this ter-
       minal. The -2 means that the capability has been cancelled in the terminfo source and also is to be considered missing.

       The  compiled  file is created from the source file descriptions of the terminals (see the -I option of infocmp) by using the terminfo com-
       piler, tic, and read by the routine setupterm (see curses(3CURSES)). The file is divided into six parts in the following order: the header,
       terminal names, boolean flags, numbers, strings, and string table.

       The header section begins the file six short integers in the format described below. These integers are:

       1.  the magic number (octal 0432);

       2.  the size, in bytes, of the names section;

       3.  the number of bytes in the boolean section

       4.  the number of short integers in the numbers section;

       5.  the number of offsets (short integers) in the strings section;

       6.  the size, in bytes, of the string table.

       The  terminal  name section comes next. It contains the first line of the terminfo description, listing the various names for the terminal,
       separated by the bar ( | ) character (see term(5)). The section is terminated with an ASCII NUL character.

       The terminal name section is followed by the Boolean section, number section, string section, and string table.

       The boolean flags section consists of one byte for each flag. This byte is either 0 or 1 as the flag is present or absent. The value  of  2
       means that the flag has been cancelled. The capabilities are in the same order as the file <term.h>.

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

       The numbers section is similar to the boolean flags section. Each capability takes up two bytes, and is stored as a short integer.  If  the
       value represented is -1 or -2, the capability is taken to be missing.

       The strings section is also similar. Each capability is stored as a short integer, in the format above. A value of -1 or -2 means the capa-
       bility is missing. Otherwise, the value is taken as an offset from the beginning of the string table. Special characters in ^X or c  nota-
       tion are stored in their interpreted form, not the printing representation.  Padding information ($<nn>) and parameter information (%x) are
       stored intact in uninterpreted form.

       The final section is the string table. It contains all the values of string capabilities referenced in the string section. Each	string	is
       null terminated.

       Note that it is possible for setupterm to expect a different set of capabilities than are actually present in the file. Either the database
       may have been updated since setupterm has been recompiled (resulting in extra unrecognized entries in the file) or  the	program  may  have
       been  recompiled  more  recently  than the database was updated (resulting in missing entries).	The routine setupterm must be prepared for
       both possibilities--this is why the numbers and sizes are included. Also, new capabilities must always be added at the end of the lists	of
       boolean, number, and string capabilities.

       As an example, here is terminal information on the AT&T Model 37 KSR terminal as output by the infocmp -I tty37 command:

       37|tty37|AT&T model 37 teletype,
	 hc, os, xon,
	 bel=^G, cr=
, cub1=, cud1=
, cuu1=E7, hd=E9,
	 hu=E8, ind=
,

       The following is an octal dump of the corresponding term file, produced by the od -c /usr/share/lib/terminfo/t/tty37 command:

       0000000	 032 001       032   013   021 001   3     3   7   |   t
       0000020	   t   y   3   7   |   A   T   &   T	   m   o   d   e   l
       0000040	   3   7       t   e   l   e   t   y   p   e          
       0000060	       001               001        
       0000100	 001           377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
       0000120	 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   &  
       0000140	       377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
       0000160	 377 377   "   377 377 377 377   (   377 377 377 377 377 377
       0000200	 377 377   0   377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   -   377 377
       0000220	 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
	    *
       0000520	 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   $  
       0000540	 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   *  
       0000560	 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377
	    *
       0001160	 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377 377   3   7
       0001200	   |   t   t   y   3   7   |   A   T   &   T	   m   o   d   e
       0001220	   l	   3   7       t   e   l   e   t   y   p   e    
  
       0001240	  
    
   007       033   8   033   9   033   7
       0001260	    
       0001261

       Some limitations: total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes; all entries in the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.

FILES

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

       /usr/include/term.h	       terminfo header

       /usr/xpg4/include/term.h        X/Open Curses terminfo header

SEE ALSO

       infocmp(1M), curses(3CURSES), curses(3XCURSES), terminfo(4), term(5)

SunOS 5.10							    3 Jul 1996								   term(4)