termcap(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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TERMCAP(3)                NetBSD Programmer's Manual                TERMCAP(3)


NAME

     tgetent, tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs - terminal independent
     operation routines


SYNOPSIS

     #include <termcap.h>

     char PC;
     char *BC;
     char *UP;
     short ospeed;

     int
     tgetent(char *bp, char *name);

     int
     tgetnum(char *id);

     int
     tgetflag(char *id);

     char *
     tgetstr(char *id, char **area);

     char *
     tgoto(char *cm, int destcol, int destline);

     void
     tputs(char *cp, int affcnt, void (*outc)(int));


DESCRIPTION

     These functions extract and use capabilities from a terminal capability
     data base, usually /usr/share/misc/termcap, the format of which is de-
     scribed in termcap(5).  These are low level routines; see curses(3) for a
     higher level package.

     The tgetent() function extracts the entry for terminal name into the
     buffer at bp. The bp argument should be a character buffer of size 1024
     and must be retained through all subsequent calls to tgetnum(),
     tgetflag(), and tgetstr().  The tgetent() function returns -1 if none of
     the termcap data base files could be opened, 0 if the terminal name given
     does not have an entry, and 1 if all goes well.  It will look in the en-
     vironment for a TERMCAP variable.  If found, and the value does not begin
     with a slash, and the terminal type name is the same as the environment
     string TERM, the TERMCAP string is used instead of reading a termcap
     file.  If it does begin with a slash, the string is used as a path name
     of the termcap file to search.  If TERMCAP does not begin with a slash
     and name is different from TERM, tgetent() searches the files
     $HOME/.termcap and /usr/share/misc/termcap, in that order, unless the en-
     vironment variable TERMPATH exists, in which case it specifies a list of
     file pathnames (separated by spaces or colons) to be searched instead.
     Whenever multiple files are searched and a tc field occurs in the re-
     quested entry, the entry it names must be found in the same file or one
     of the succeeding files.  This can speed up entry into programs that call
     tgetent(), as well as help debug new terminal descriptions or make one
     for your terminal if you can't write the file /usr/share/misc/termcap.

     The tgetnum() function gets the numeric value of capability id, returning
     -1 if it is not given for the terminal.  The tgetflag() function returns
     1 if the specified capability is present in the terminal's entry, 0 if it
     is not.  The tgetstr() function returns the string value of the capabili-
     ty id, places it in the buffer at area, and advances the area pointer.
     It decodes the abbreviations for this field described in termcap(5),  ex-
     cept for cursor addressing and padding information.  The tgetstr() func-
     tion returns NULL if the capability was not found.

     The tgoto() function returns a cursor addressing string decoded from cm
     to go to column destcol in line destline. It uses the external variables
     UP (from the up capability) and BC (if bc is given rather than bs) if
     necessary to avoid placing \n, ^D or ^@ in the returned string.  (Pro-
     grams which call tgoto() should be sure to turn off the XTABS bit(s),
     since tgoto() may now output a tab.  Note that programs using termcap
     should in general turn off XTABS anyway since some terminals use control-
     I for other functions, such as nondestructive space.)  If a % sequence is
     given which is not understood, then tgoto() returns (OOPS).

     The tputs() function decodes the leading padding information of the
     string cp; affcnt gives the number of lines affected by the operation, or
     1 if this is not applicable, outc is a routine which is called with each
     character in turn.  The external variable ospeed should contain the out-
     put speed of the terminal as encoded by stty(3).  The external variable
     PC should contain a pad character to be used (from the capability) if a
     null (^@) is inappropriate.


FILES

     /usr/lib/libtermcap.a    -l termcap library (also known as -l termlib)
     /usr/share/misc/termcap  standard terminal capability data base
     $HOME/.termcap           user's terminal capability data base


SEE ALSO

     ex(1),  curses(3),  termcap(5)


HISTORY

     The termcap functions appeared in 4.0BSD.

4th Berkeley Distribution      December 11, 1993                             2