INFOCMP(1M) INTERACTIVE UNIX System INFOCMP(1M)
NAME
infocmp - compare or print out terminfo descriptions
SYNOPSIS
infocmp [-d] [-c] [-n] [-I] [-L] [-C] [-r] [-u] [-s d|i|l|c]
[-v] [-V] [-1] [-w width] [-A directory] [-B directory]
[termname ...]
DESCRIPTION
The infocmp command can be used to compare a binary term-
info(4) entry with other terminfo entries, rewrite a term-
info(4) description to take advantage of the use= terminfo
field, or print out a terminfo(4) description from the
binary file [term(4)] in a variety of formats. In all
cases, the Boolean fields will be printed first, followed by
the numeric fields, followed by the string fields.
Default Options
If no options are specified and zero or one termnames are
specified, the -I option will be assumed. If more than one
termname is specified, the -d option will be assumed.
Comparison Options [-d] [-c] [-n]
The infocmp command compares the terminfo(4) description of
the first terminal termname with each of the descriptions
given by the entries for the other terminal's termnames. If
a capability is defined for only one of the terminals, the
value returned will depend on the type of the capability: F
for boolean variables, -1 for integer variables, and NULL
for string variables.
-d produce a list of each capability that is different.
In this manner, if one has two entries for the same
terminal or similar terminals, using infocmp will
show what is different between the two entries.
This is sometimes necessary when more than one per-
son produces an entry for the same terminal and one
wants to see what is different between the two.
-c produce a list of each capability that is common
between the two entries. Capabilities that are not
set are ignored. This option can be used as a quick
check to see if the -u option is worth using.
-n produce a list of each capability that is in neither
entry. If no termnames are given, the environment
variable TERM will be used for both of the term-
names. This can be used as a quick check to see if
anything was left out of the description.
Source Listing Options [-I] [-L] [-C] [-r]
The -I, -L, and -C options will produce a source listing for
each terminal named.
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INFOCMP(1M) INTERACTIVE UNIX System INFOCMP(1M)
-I use the terminfo(4) names
-L use the long C variable name listed in <term.h>
-C use the termcap names
-r when using -C, put out all capabilities in termcap
form
If no termnames are given, the environment variable TERM
will be used for the terminal name.
The source produced by the -C option may be used directly as
a termcap entry, but not all of the parameterized strings
may be changed to the termcap format. infocmp will attempt
to convert most of the parameterized information, but that
which it doesn't will be plainly marked in the output and
commented out. These should be edited by hand.
All padding information for strings will be collected
together and placed at the beginning of the string where
termcap expects it. Mandatory padding (padding information
with a trailing '/') will become optional.
All termcap variables no longer supported by terminfo(4),
but which are derivable from other terminfo(4) variables,
will be output. Not all terminfo(4) capabilities will be
translated; only those variables which were part of termcap
will normally be output. Specifying the -r option will take
off this restriction, allowing all capabilities to be output
in termcap form.
Note that because padding is collected to the beginning of
the capability, not all capabilities are output, mandatory
padding is not supported, and termcap strings were not as
flexible; it is not always possible to convert a terminfo(4)
string capability into an equivalent termcap format. Not
all of these strings will be able to be converted. A subse-
quent conversion of the termcap file back into terminfo(4)
format will not necessarily reproduce the original term-
info(4) source.
Some common terminfo parameter sequences, their termcap
equivalents, and some terminal types which commonly have
such sequences are:
Terminfo Termcap Representative Terminals
%p1%c %. adm
%p1%d %d hp, ANSI standard, vt100
%p1%'x'%+%c %+x concept
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%i %i ANSI standard, vt100
%p1%?%'x'%>%t%p1%'y'%+%; %>xy concept
%p2 is printed before %p1 %r hp
Use= Option [-u]
-u produce a terminfo(4) source description of the
first terminal termname which is relative to the sum
of the descriptions given by the entries for the
other terminals' termnames. It does this by analyz-
ing the differences between the first termname and
the other termnames and producing a description with
use= fields for the other terminals. In this
manner, it is possible to retrofit generic terminfo
entries into a terminal's description. Or, if two
similar terminals exist, but were coded at different
times or by different people so that each descrip-
tion is a full description, using infocmp will show
what can be done to change one description to be
relative to the other.
A capability will get printed with an at-sign (@) if it no
longer exists in the first termname, but one of the other
termname entries contains a value for it. A capability's
value gets printed if the value in the first termname is not
found in any of the other termname entries, or if the first
of the other termname entries that has this capability gives
a different value for the capability than that in the first
termname.
The order of the other termname entries is significant.
Since the terminfo compiler tic(1M) does a left-to-right
scan of the capabilities, specifying two use= entries that
contain differing entries for the same capabilities will
produce different results depending on the order that the
entries are given. infocmp will flag any such inconsisten-
cies between the other termname entries as they are found.
Alternatively, specifying a capability after a use= entry
that contains that capability will cause the second specifi-
cation to be ignored. Using infocmp to recreate a descrip-
tion can be a useful check to make sure that everything was
specified correctly in the original source description.
Another error that does not cause incorrect compiled files,
but will slow down the compilation time, is specifying extra
use= fields that are superfluous. infocmp will flag any
other termname use= fields that were not needed.
Other Options [-s d|i|l|c] [-v] [-V] [-1] [-w width]
-s sort the fields within each type according to the
argument below:
d leave fields in the order that they are stored
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in the terminfo data base.
i sort by terminfo name.
l sort by the long C variable name.
c sort by the termcap name.
If no -s option is given, the fields printed out
will be sorted alphabetically by the terminfo name
within each type, except in the case of the -C or
the -L options, which cause the sorting to be done
by the termcap name or the long C variable name,
respectively.
-v print out tracing information on standard error as
the program runs.
-V print out the version of the program in use on stan-
dard error and exit.
-1 cause the fields to print out one to a line. Other-
wise, the fields will be printed several to a line
to a maximum width of 60 characters.
-w change the output to width characters.
Changing Data Bases [-A directory] [-B directory]
The location of the compiled terminfo(4) data base is taken
from the environment variable TERMINFO. If the variable is
not defined or the terminal is not found in that location,
the system terminfo(4) data base, usually in /usr/lib/term-
info, will be used. The options -A and -B may be used to
override this location. The -A option will set TERMINFO for
the first termname and the -B option will set TERMINFO for
the other termnames. With this, it is possible to compare
descriptions for a terminal with the same name located in
two different data bases. This is useful for comparing
descriptions for the same terminal created by different peo-
ple. Otherwise the terminals would have to be named dif-
ferently in the terminfo(4) data base for a comparison to be
made.
FILES
/usr/lib/terminfo/?/* compiled terminal description data
base
DIAGNOSTICS
malloc is out of space!
There was not enough memory available to process
all the terminal descriptions requested. Run
infocmp several times, each time including a sub-
set of the desired termnames.
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INFOCMP(1M) INTERACTIVE UNIX System INFOCMP(1M)
use= order dependency found:
A value specified in one relative terminal specif-
ication was different from that in another rela-
tive terminal specification.
A relative terminal name did not contribute anything to the final
description.
done.
must have at least two terminal names for a comparison to be
The -u, -d, and -c options require at least two
terminal names.
SEE ALSO
captoinfo(1M).
tic(1M), curses(3X), term(4), terminfo(4) in the INTERACTIVE
SDS Guide and Programmer's Reference Manual.
Chapter 10 of the Programmer's Guide.
NOTE
The termcap data base (from earlier releases of UNIX System
V) may not be supplied in future releases.
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