TERMCAP(3) BSD Library Functions Manual TERMCAP(3)NAME
tgetent, tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs — terminal independent
operation routines
SYNOPSIS
char PC;
char *BC;
char *UP;
short ospeed;
tgetent(char *bp, char *name);
tgetnum(char *id);
tgetflag(char *id);
char *
tgetstr(char *id, char **area);
char *
tgoto(char *cm, destcol, destline);
tputs(register char *cp, int affcnt, int (*outc)());
DESCRIPTION
These functions extract and use capabilities from a terminal capability
data base, usually /usr/share/misc/termcap, the format of which is
described 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 buf‐
fer 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 environment
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 environment variable
TERMPATH exists, in which case it specifies a list of file pathnames
(separated by spaces or colons) to be searched instead. Whenever multi‐
ple files are searched and a tc field occurs in the requested 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 termi‐
nal 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 capabil‐
ity id, places it in the buffer at area, and advances the area pointer.
It decodes the abbreviations for this field described in termcap(5),
except for cursor addressing and padding information. The tgetstr()
function 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 ltermcap library (also known as -l ltermlib)
/usr/share/misc/termcap standard terminal capability data base
$HOME/.termcap user's terminal capability data base
SEE ALSOex(1), curses(3), termcap(5)HISTORY
The tgetent functions appeared in 4.0BSD.
4th Berkeley Distribution December 11, 1993 4th Berkeley Distribution
