NAME
termcap - terminal capability database
DESCRIPTION
The termcap database is an obsolete facility for describing the capabilities of character-cell terminals and printers. It is retained only for compatibility with old programs; new programs should use the terminfo(5) database and associated libraries.
/etc/termcap is an ASCII file (the database master) that lists the capabilities of many different types of terminals. Programs can read termcap to find the particular escape codes needed to control the visual attributes of the terminal actually in use. (Other aspects of the terminal are handled by stty(1).) The termcap database is indexed on the TERM environment variable.
Termcap entries must be defined on a single logical line, with '\' used to suppress the newline. Fields are separated by ':'. The first field of each entry starts at the left-hand margin, and contains a list of names for the terminal, separated by '|'.
The first subfield may (in BSD termcap entries from versions 4.3 and earlier) contain a short name consisting of two characters. This short name may consist of capital or small letters. In 4.4BSD, termcap entries this field is omitted.
The second subfield (first, in the newer 4.4BSD format) contains the name used by the environment variable TERM. It should be spelled in lowercase letters. Selectable hardware capabilities should be marked by appending a hyphen and a suffix to this name. See below for an example. Usual suffixes are w (more than 80 characters wide), am (automatic margins), nam (no automatic margins), and rv (reverse video display). The third subfield contains a long and descriptive name for this termcap entry.
Subsequent fields contain the terminal capabilities; any continued capability lines must be indented one tab from the left margin.
Although there is no defined order, it is suggested to write first boolean, then numeric, and then string capabilities, each sorted alphabetically without looking at lower or upper spelling. Capabilities of similar functions can be written in one line.
Example for:
Head line:
vt|vt101|DEC VT 101 terminal in 80 character mode:\
Head line: Vt|vt101-w|DEC VT 101 terminal in (wide) 132
character mode:\
Boolean: :bs:\
Numeric: :co#80:\
String: :sr=\E[H:\
Boolean capabilities
5i
Printer will not echo on screen
am
Automatic margins which means automatic line wrap
bs
Control-H (8 dec.) performs a backspace
bw
Backspace on left margin wraps to previous line and right margin
da
Display retained above screen
db
Display retained below screen
eo
A space erases all characters at cursor position
es
Escape sequences and special characters work in status line
gn
Generic device
hc
This is a hardcopy terminal
HC
The cursor is hard to see when not on bottom line
hs
Has a status line
hz
Hazeltine bug, the terminal can not print tilde characters
in
Terminal inserts null bytes, not spaces, to fill whitespace
km
Terminal has a meta key
mi
Cursor movement works in insert mode
ms
Cursor movement works in standout/underline mode
NP
No pad character
NR
ti does not reverse te
nx
No padding, must use XON/XOFF
os
Terminal can overstrike
ul
Terminal underlines although it can not overstrike
xb
Beehive glitch, f1 sends ESCAPE, f2 sends ^C
xn
Newline/wraparound glitch
xo
Terminal uses xon/xoff protocol
xs
Text typed over standout text will be displayed in standout
xt
Teleray glitch, destructive tabs and odd standout mode
Numeric capabilities
co
Number of columns
dB
Delay in milliseconds for backspace on hardcopy terminals
dC
Delay in milliseconds for carriage return on hardcopy terminals
dF
Delay in milliseconds for form feed on hardcopy terminals
dN
Delay in milliseconds for new line on hardcopy terminals
dT
Delay in milliseconds for tabulator stop on hardcopy terminals
dV
Delay in milliseconds for vertical tabulator stop on
hardcopy terminals
it
Difference between tab positions
lh
Height of soft labels
lm
Lines of memory
lw
Width of soft labels
li
Number of lines
Nl
Number of soft labels
pb
Lowest baud rate which needs padding
sg
Standout glitch
ug
Underline glitch
vt
virtual terminal number
ws
Width of status line if different from screen width
String capabilities
!1
shifted save key
!2
shifted suspend key
!3
shifted undo key
#1
shifted help key
#2
shifted home key
#3
shifted input key
#4
shifted cursor left key
%0
redo key
%1
help key
%2
mark key
%3
message key
%4
move key
%5
next-object key
%6
open key
%7
options key
%8
previous-object key
%9
print key
%a
shifted message key
%b
shifted move key
%c
shifted next key
%d
shifted options key
%e
shifted previous key
%f
shifted print key
%g
shifted redo key
%h
shifted replace key
%i
shifted cursor right key
%j
shifted resume key
&0
shifted cancel key
&1
reference key
&2
refresh key
&3
replace key
&4
restart key
&5
resume key
&6
save key
&7
suspend key
&8
undo key
&9
shifted begin key
*0
shifted find key
*1
shifted command key
*2
shifted copy key
*3
shifted create key
*4
shifted delete character
*5
shifted delete line
*6
select key
*7
shifted end key
*8
shifted clear line key
*9
shifted exit key
@0
find key
@1
begin key
@2
cancel key
@3
close key
@4
command key
@5
copy key
@6
create key
@7
end key
@8
enter/send key
@9
exit key
al
Insert one line
AL
Insert %1 lines
ac
Pairs of block graphic characters to map alternate character set
ae
End alternative character set
as
Start alternative character set for block graphic characters
bc
Backspace, if not ^H
bl
Audio bell
bt
Move to previous tab stop
cb
Clear from beginning of line to cursor
cc
Dummy command character
cd
Clear to end of screen
ce
Clear to end of line
ch
Move cursor horizontally only to column %1
cl
Clear screen and cursor home
cm
Cursor move to row %1 and column %2 (on screen)
CM
Move cursor to row %1 and column %2 (in memory)
cr
Carriage return
cs
Scroll region from line %1 to %2
ct
Clear tabs
cv
Move cursor vertically only to line %1
dc
Delete one character
DC
Delete %1 characters
dl
Delete one line
DL
Delete %1 lines
dm
Begin delete mode
do
Cursor down one line
DO
Cursor down #1 lines
ds
Disable status line
eA
Enable alternate character set
ec
Erase %1 characters starting at cursor
ed
End delete mode
ei
End insert mode
ff
Formfeed character on hardcopy terminals
fs
Return character to its position before going to status line
F1
The string sent by function key f11
F2
The string sent by function key f12
F3
The string sent by function key f13
...
...
F9
The string sent by function key f19
FA
The string sent by function key f20
FB
The string sent by function key f21
...
...
FZ
The string sent by function key f45
Fa
The string sent by function key f46
Fb
The string sent by function key f47
...
...
Fr
The string sent by function key f63
hd
Move cursor a half line down
ho
Cursor home
hu
Move cursor a half line up
i1
Initialization string 1 at login
i3
Initialization string 3 at login
is
Initialization string 2 at login
ic
Insert one character
IC
Insert %1 characters
if
Initialization file
im
Begin insert mode
ip
Insert pad time and needed special characters after insert
iP
Initialization program
K1
upper left key on keypad
K2
center key on keypad
K3
upper right key on keypad
K4
bottom left key on keypad
K5
bottom right key on keypad
k0
Function key 0
k1
Function key 1
k2
Function key 2
k3
Function key 3
k4
Function key 4
k5
Function key 5
k6
Function key 6
k7
Function key 7
k8
Function key 8
k9
Function key 9
k;
Function key 10
ka
Clear all tabs key
kA
Insert line key
kb
Backspace key
kB
Back tab stop
kC
Clear screen key
kd
Cursor down key
kD
Key for delete character under cursor
ke
turn keypad off
kE
Key for clear to end of line
kF
Key for scrolling forward/down
kh
Cursor home key
kH
Cursor hown down key
kI
Insert character/Insert mode key
kl
Cursor left key
kL
Key for delete line
kM
Key for exit insert mode
kN
Key for next page
kP
Key for previous page
kr
Cursor right key
kR
Key for scrolling backward/up
ks
Turn keypad on
kS
Clear to end of screen key
kt
Clear this tab key
kT
Set tab here key
ku
Cursor up key
l0
Label of zeroth function key, if not f0
l1
Label of first function key, if not f1
l2
Label of first function key, if not f2
...
...
la
Label of tenth function key, if not f10
le
Cursor left one character
ll
Move cursor to lower left corner
LE
Cursor left %1 characters
LF
Turn soft labels off
LO
Turn soft labels on
mb
Start blinking
MC
Clear soft margins
md
Start bold mode
me
End all mode like so, us, mb, md, and mr
mh
Start half bright mode
mk
Dark mode (Characters invisible)
ML
Set left soft margin
mm
Put terminal in meta mode
mo
Put terminal out of meta mode
mp
Turn on protected attribute
mr
Start reverse mode
MR
Set right soft margin
nd
Cursor right one character
nw
Carriage return command
pc
Padding character
pf
Turn printer off
pk
Program key %1 to send string %2 as if typed by user
pl
Program key %1 to execute string %2 in local mode
pn
Program soft label %1 to show string %2
po
Turn the printer on
pO
Turn the printer on for %1 (<256) bytes
ps
Print screen contents on printer
px
Program key %1 to send string %2 to computer
r1
Reset string 1 to set terminal to sane modes
r2
Reset string 2 to set terminal to sane modes
r3
Reset string 3 to set terminal to sane modes
RA
disable automatic margins
rc
Restore saved cursor position
rf
Reset string filename
RF
Request for input from terminal
RI
Cursor right %1 characters
rp
Repeat character %1 for %2 times
rP
Padding after character sent in replace mode
rs
Reset string
RX
Turn off XON/XOFF flow control
sa
Set %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 attributes
SA
enable automatic margins
sc
Save cursor position
se
End standout mode
sf
Normal scroll one line
SF
Normal scroll %1 lines
so
Start standout mode
sr
Reverse scroll
SR
scroll back %1 lines
st
Set tabulator stop in all rows at current column
SX
Turn on XON/XOFF flow control
ta
move to next hardware tab
tc
Read in terminal description from another entry
te
End program that uses cursor motion
ti
Begin program that uses cursor motion
ts
Move cursor to column %1 of status line
uc
Underline character under cursor and move cursor right
ue
End underlining
up
Cursor up one line
UP
Cursor up %1 lines
us
Start underlining
vb
Visible bell
ve
Normal cursor visible
vi
Cursor invisible
vs
Standout cursor
wi
Set window from line %1 to %2 and column %3 to %4
XF
XOFF character if not ^S
There are several ways of defining the control codes for string capabilities:
Every normal character represents itself, except '^', '\', and '%'.
A ^x means Control-x. Control-A equals 1 decimal.
\x means a special code. x can be one of the following characters:
E Escape (27)
n Linefeed (10)
r Carriage return (13)
t Tabulation (9)
b Backspace (8)
f Form feed (12)
0 Null character. A \xxx specifies the octal character
xxx.
i
Increments parameters by one.
r
Single parameter capability
+
Add value of next character to this parameter and do binary output
2
Do ASCII output of this parameter with a field with of 2
d
Do ASCII output of this parameter with a field with of 3
%
Print a '%'
If you use
binary output, then you should avoid the null character
('0円') because it terminates the string. You should reset
tabulator expansion if a tabulator can be the binary output
of a parameter.
Warning:
The above metacharacters for parameters may be wrong: they document Minix termcap which may not be compatible with Linux termcap.
The block graphic characters can be specified by three string capabilities:
as
start the alternative charset
ae
end the alternative charset
ac
pairs of characters. The first character is the name of the block graphic symbol and the second characters is its definition.
The following names are available:
+ right arrow (>)
,
left arrow (<)
.
down arrow (v)
0
full square (#)
I
lantern (#)
-
upper arrow (^)
’
rhombus (+)
a
chess board (:)
f
degree (’)
g
plus-minus (#)
h
square (#)
j
right bottom corner (+)
k
right upper corner (+)
l
left upper corner (+)
m
left bottom corner (+)
n
cross (+)
o
upper horizontal line (-)
q
middle horizontal line (-)
s
bottom horizontal line (_)
t
left tee (+)
u
right tee (+)
v
bottom tee (+)
w
normal tee (+)
x
vertical line (|)
~
paragraph (???)
The values in parentheses are suggested defaults which are used by the curses library, if the capabilities are missing.
SEE ALSO
ncurses(3), termcap(3), terminfo(5)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 5.09 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.