473 lines
15 KiB
HTML
473 lines
15 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Man page of term</TITLE>
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</HEAD><BODY>
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<H1>term</H1>
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Section: File Formats (5)<BR><A HREF="#index">Index</A>
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<A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html">Return to Main Contents</A><HR>
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<A NAME="lbAB"> </A>
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<H2>NAME</H2>
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term - format of compiled term file.
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<A NAME="lbAC"> </A>
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<H2>SYNOPSIS</H2>
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<B>term</B>
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<A NAME="lbAD"> </A>
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<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2>
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<A NAME="lbAE"> </A>
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<H3>STORAGE LOCATION</H3>
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Compiled terminfo descriptions are placed under the directory <B>/etc/terminfo</B>.
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Two configurations are supported (when building the <B>ncurses</B> libraries):
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<DL COMPACT>
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<DT id="1"><B>directory tree</B>
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<DD>
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A two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search
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of a huge <FONT SIZE="-1">UNIX</FONT> system directory: <B>/etc/terminfo/c/name</B> where
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<I>name</I>
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is the name of the terminal, and
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<I>c</I>
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is the first character of
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<I>name</I>.
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Thus,
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<I>act4</I>
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can be found in the file <B>/etc/terminfo/a/act4</B>.
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Synonyms for the same terminal are implemented by multiple
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links to the same compiled file.
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<DT id="2"><B>hashed database</B>
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<DD>
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Using Berkeley database, two types of records are stored:
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the terminfo data in the same format as stored in a directory tree with
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the terminfo's primary name as a key,
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and records containing only aliases pointing to the primary name.
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<DT id="3"><DD>
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If built to write hashed databases,
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<B>ncurses</B> can still read terminfo databases organized as a directory tree,
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but cannot write entries into the directory tree.
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It can write (or rewrite) entries in the hashed database.
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<DT id="4"><DD>
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<B>ncurses</B> distinguishes the two cases in the TERMINFO and TERMINFO_DIRS
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environment variable by assuming a directory tree for entries that
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correspond to an existing directory,
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and hashed database otherwise.
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</DL>
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<A NAME="lbAF"> </A>
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<H3>LEGACY STORAGE FORMAT</H3>
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The format has been chosen so that it will be the same on all hardware.
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An 8 or more bit byte is assumed, but no assumptions about byte ordering
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or sign extension are made.
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<P>
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The compiled file is created with the <B>tic</B> program,
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and read by the routine <B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?3X+setupterm">setupterm</A></B>(3X).
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The file is divided into six parts:
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the header,
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terminal names,
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boolean flags,
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numbers,
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strings,
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and
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string table.
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<P>
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The header section begins the file.
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This section contains six short integers in the format
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described below.
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These integers are
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<DL COMPACT><DT id="5"><DD>
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<DL COMPACT>
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<DT id="6">(1) the magic number (octal 0432);<DD>
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<DT id="7">(2) the size, in bytes, of the names section;<DD>
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<DT id="8">(3) the number of bytes in the boolean section;<DD>
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<DT id="9">(4) the number of short integers in the numbers section;<DD>
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<DT id="10">(5) the number of offsets (short integers) in the strings section;<DD>
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<DT id="11">(6) the size, in bytes, of the string table.<DD>
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</DL>
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</DL>
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<P>
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Short integers are stored in two 8-bit bytes.
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The first byte contains the least significant 8 bits of the value,
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and the second byte contains the most significant 8 bits.
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(Thus, the value represented is 256*second+first.)
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The value -1 is represented by the two bytes 0377, 0377; other negative
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values are illegal.
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This value generally
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means that the corresponding capability is missing from this terminal.
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Note that this format corresponds to the hardware of the <FONT SIZE="-1">VAX</FONT>
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and <FONT SIZE="-1">PDP</FONT>-11 (that is, little-endian machines).
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Machines where this does not correspond to the hardware must read the
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integers as two bytes and compute the little-endian value.
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<P>
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The terminal names section comes next.
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It contains the first line of the terminfo description,
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listing the various names for the terminal,
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separated by the ``|'' character.
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The section is terminated with an <FONT SIZE="-1">ASCII NUL</FONT> character.
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<P>
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The boolean flags have one byte for each flag.
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This byte is either 0 or 1 as the flag is present or absent.
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The capabilities are in the same order as the file <<A HREF="file:///usr/include/term.h">term.h</A>>.
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<P>
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Between the boolean section and the number section,
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a null byte will be inserted, if necessary,
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to ensure that the number section begins on an even byte (this is a
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relic of the PDP-11's word-addressed architecture, originally
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designed in to avoid IOT traps induced by addressing a word on an
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odd byte boundary).
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All short integers are aligned on a short word boundary.
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<P>
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The numbers section is similar to the flags section.
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Each capability takes up two bytes,
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and is stored as a little-endian short integer.
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If the value represented is -1, the capability is taken to be missing.
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<P>
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The strings section is also similar.
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Each capability is stored as a short integer, in the format above.
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A value of -1 means the capability is missing.
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Otherwise, the value is taken as an offset from the beginning
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of the string table.
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Special characters in ^X or \c notation are stored in their
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interpreted form, not the printing representation.
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Padding information $<nn> and parameter information %x are
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stored intact in uninterpreted form.
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<P>
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The final section is the string table.
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It contains all the values of string capabilities referenced in
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the string section.
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Each string is null terminated.
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<A NAME="lbAG"> </A>
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<H3>EXTENDED STORAGE FORMAT</H3>
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The previous section describes the conventional terminfo binary format.
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With some minor variations of the offsets (see PORTABILITY),
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the same binary format is used in all modern UNIX systems.
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Each system uses a predefined set of boolean, number or string capabilities.
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<P>
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The <B>ncurses</B> libraries and applications support
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extended terminfo binary format,
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allowing users to define capabilities which are loaded at runtime.
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This
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extension is made possible by using the fact that the other implementations
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stop reading the terminfo data when they have reached the end of the size given
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in the header.
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<B>ncurses</B> checks the size,
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and if it exceeds that due to the predefined data,
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continues to parse according to its own scheme.
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<P>
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First, it reads the extended header (5 short integers):
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<DL COMPACT><DT id="12"><DD>
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<DL COMPACT>
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<DT id="13">(1)<DD>
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count of extended boolean capabilities
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<DT id="14">(2)<DD>
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count of extended numeric capabilities
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<DT id="15">(3)<DD>
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count of extended string capabilities
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<DT id="16">(4)<DD>
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count of the items in extended string table
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<DT id="17">(5)<DD>
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size of the extended string table in bytes
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</DL>
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</DL>
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<P>
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The count- and size-values for the extended string table
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include the extended capability <I>names</I> as well as
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extended capability <I>values</I>.
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<P>
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Using the counts and sizes, <B>ncurses</B> allocates arrays and reads data
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for the extended capabilities in the same order as the header information.
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<P>
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The extended string table contains values for string capabilities.
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After the end of these values, it contains the names for each of
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the extended capabilities in order, e.g., booleans, then numbers and
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finally strings.
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<P>
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Applications which manipulate terminal data can use the definitions
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described in <B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?3X+term_variables">term_variables</A></B>(3X) which associate the long capability
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names with members of a <B>TERMTYPE</B> structure.
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<A NAME="lbAH"> </A>
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<H3>EXTENDED NUMBER FORMAT</H3>
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<P>
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On occasion, 16-bit signed integers are not large enough.
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With <B>ncurses</B> 6.1, a new format was introduced by making a few changes
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to the legacy format:
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<BR> .IP • 4
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a different magic number (octal 01036)
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<BR> .IP • 4
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changing the type for the <I>number</I> array from signed 16-bit integers
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to signed 32-bit integers.
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<P>
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To maintain compatibility, the library presents the same data structures
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to direct users of the <B>TERMTYPE</B> structure as in previous formats.
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However, that cannot provide callers with the extended numbers.
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The library uses a similar but hidden data structure <B>TERMTYPE2</B>
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to provide data for the terminfo functions.
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<A NAME="lbAI"> </A>
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<H2>PORTABILITY</H2>
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<A NAME="lbAJ"> </A>
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<H3>setupterm</H3>
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<P>
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Note that it is possible for
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<B>setupterm</B>
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to expect a different set of capabilities
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than are actually present in the file.
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Either the database may have been updated since
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<B>setupterm</B>
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has been recompiled
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(resulting in extra unrecognized entries in the file)
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or the program may have been recompiled more recently
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than the database was updated
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(resulting in missing entries).
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The routine
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<B>setupterm</B>
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must be prepared for both possibilities -
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this is why the numbers and sizes are included.
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Also, new capabilities must always be added at the end of the lists
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of boolean, number, and string capabilities.
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<A NAME="lbAK"> </A>
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<H3>Binary format</H3>
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<P>
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X/Open Curses does not specify a format for the terminfo database.
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UNIX System V curses used a directory-tree of binary files,
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one per terminal description.
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<P>
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Despite the consistent use of little-endian for numbers and the otherwise
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self-describing format, it is not wise to count on portability of binary
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terminfo entries between commercial UNIX versions.
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The problem is that there
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are at least three versions of terminfo (under HP-UX, AIX, and OSF/1) which
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diverged from System V terminfo after SVr1, and have added extension
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capabilities to the string table that (in the binary format) collide with
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System V and XSI Curses extensions.
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See <B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?5+terminfo">terminfo</A></B>(5) for detailed
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discussion of terminfo source compatibility issues.
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<P>
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This implementation is by default compatible with the binary
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terminfo format used by Solaris curses,
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except in a few less-used details
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where it was found that the latter did not match X/Open Curses.
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The format used by the other Unix versions
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can be matched by building ncurses
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with different configuration options.
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<A NAME="lbAL"> </A>
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<H3>Magic codes</H3>
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<P>
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The magic number in a binary terminfo file is the first 16-bits (two bytes).
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Besides making it more reliable for the library to check that a file
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is terminfo,
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utilities such as <B>file</B> also use that to tell what the file-format is.
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System V defined more than one magic number,
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with 0433, 0435 as screen-dumps (see <B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?5+scr_dump">scr_dump</A></B>(5)).
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This implementation uses 01036 as a continuation of that sequence,
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but with a different high-order byte to avoid confusion.
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<A NAME="lbAM"> </A>
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<H3>The TERMTYPE structure</H3>
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<P>
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Direct access to the <B>TERMTYPE</B> structure is provided for legacy
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applications.
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Portable applications should use the <B>tigetflag</B> and related functions
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described in <B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?3X+curs_terminfo">curs_terminfo</A></B>(3X) for reading terminal capabilities.
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<A NAME="lbAN"> </A>
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<H3>Mixed-case terminal names</H3>
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<P>
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A small number of terminal descriptions use uppercase characters in
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their names.
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If the underlying filesystem ignores the difference between
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uppercase and lowercase,
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<B>ncurses</B> represents the ``first character''
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of the terminal name used as
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the intermediate level of a directory tree in (two-character) hexadecimal form.
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<A NAME="lbAO"> </A>
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<H2>EXAMPLE</H2>
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As an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler
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ADM-3, a popular though rather stupid early terminal:
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<BR> .sp
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<BR> .in +4
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<PRE>
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adm3a|lsi adm3a,
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am,
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cols#80, lines#24,
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bel=^G, clear= 32$<1>, cr=^M, cub1=^H, cud1=^J,
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cuf1=^L, cup=\E=%p1%{32}%+%c%p2%{32}%+%c, cuu1=^K,
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home=^^, ind=^J,
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.sp .in +4
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and a hexadecimal dump of the compiled terminal description:
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.sp .in +4<FONT SIZE="-2">0000 1a 01 10 00 02 00 03 00 82 00 31 00 61 64 6d 33 ........ ..1.adm3
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0010 61 7c 6c 73 69 20 61 64 6d 33 61 00 00 01 50 00 a|lsi ad m3a...P.
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0020 ff ff 18 00 ff ff 00 00 02 00 ff ff ff ff 04 00 ........ ........
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0030 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 0a 00 25 00 27 00 ff ff ........ ..%.'...
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0040 29 00 ff ff ff ff 2b 00 ff ff 2d 00 ff ff ff ff ).....+. ..-.....
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0050 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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0060 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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0070 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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0080 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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0090 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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00a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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00b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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00c0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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00d0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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00e0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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00f0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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0100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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0110 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ........ ........
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0120 ff ff ff ff ff ff 2f 00 07 00 0d 00 1a 24 3c 31 ....../. .....$<1
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0130 3e 00 1b 3d 25 70 31 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 >..=%p1% {32}%+%c
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0140 25 70 32 25 7b 33 32 7d 25 2b 25 63 00 0a 00 1e %p2%{32} %+%c....
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0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ .</FONT>
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</PRE>
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<BR> .in -4
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<P>
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<A NAME="lbAP"> </A>
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<H2>LIMITS</H2>
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Some limitations:
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<BR> .IP • 4
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total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy format.
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<BR> .IP • 4
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total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended format.
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<BR> .IP • 4
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the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.
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<A NAME="lbAQ"> </A>
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<H2>FILES</H2>
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/etc/terminfo/*/*<TT> </TT>compiled terminal capability data base<BR>
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<A NAME="lbAR"> </A>
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<H2>SEE ALSO</H2>
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<B>ncurses</B>(3NCURSES), <B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?5+terminfo">terminfo</A></B>(5).
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<A NAME="lbAS"> </A>
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<H2>AUTHORS</H2>
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Thomas E. Dickey
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<BR>
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extended terminfo format for ncurses 5.0
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<BR>
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hashed database support for ncurses 5.6
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<BR>
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extended number support for ncurses 6.1
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<P>
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Eric S. Raymond
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<BR>
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documented legacy terminfo format, e.g., from pcurses.
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A NAME="index"> </A><H2>Index</H2>
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<DL>
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<DT id="18"><A HREF="#lbAB">NAME</A><DD>
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<DT id="19"><A HREF="#lbAC">SYNOPSIS</A><DD>
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<DT id="20"><A HREF="#lbAD">DESCRIPTION</A><DD>
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<DL>
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<DT id="21"><A HREF="#lbAE">STORAGE LOCATION</A><DD>
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<DT id="22"><A HREF="#lbAF">LEGACY STORAGE FORMAT</A><DD>
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<DT id="23"><A HREF="#lbAG">EXTENDED STORAGE FORMAT</A><DD>
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<DT id="24"><A HREF="#lbAH">EXTENDED NUMBER FORMAT</A><DD>
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</DL>
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<DT id="25"><A HREF="#lbAI">PORTABILITY</A><DD>
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<DL>
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<DT id="26"><A HREF="#lbAJ">setupterm</A><DD>
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<DT id="27"><A HREF="#lbAK">Binary format</A><DD>
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<DT id="28"><A HREF="#lbAL">Magic codes</A><DD>
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<DT id="29"><A HREF="#lbAM">The TERMTYPE structure</A><DD>
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<DT id="30"><A HREF="#lbAN">Mixed-case terminal names</A><DD>
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</DL>
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<DT id="31"><A HREF="#lbAO">EXAMPLE</A><DD>
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<DT id="32"><A HREF="#lbAP">LIMITS</A><DD>
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<DT id="33"><A HREF="#lbAQ">FILES</A><DD>
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<DT id="34"><A HREF="#lbAR">SEE ALSO</A><DD>
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<DT id="35"><A HREF="#lbAS">AUTHORS</A><DD>
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</DL>
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<HR>
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This document was created by
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<A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html">man2html</A>,
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using the manual pages.<BR>
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Time: 00:06:06 GMT, March 31, 2021
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</BODY>
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