TERMCAP(3)TERMCAP(3)NAME
tgetent, tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs - terminal indepen‐
dent operation routines
SYNOPSIS
char PC;
char *BC;
char *UP;
short ospeed;
tgetent(bp, name)
char *bp, *name;
tgetnum(id)
char *id;
tgetflag(id)
char *id;
char *
tgetstr(id, area)
char *id, **area;
char *
tgoto(cm, destcol, destline)
char *cm;
tputs(cp, affcnt, outc)
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(3X)
for a higher level package.
Tgetent extracts the entry for terminal name into the buffer at bp. Bp
should be a character buffer of size 1024 and must be retained through
all subsequent calls to tgetnum, tgetflag, and tgetstr. Tgetent
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 TERM‐
CAP does not begin with a slash and name is different from TERM, tge‐
tent 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 multiple 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 terminal if you can't
write the file /usr/share/misc/termcap.
Tgetnum gets the numeric value of capability id, returning -1 if is not
given for the terminal. Tgetflag returns 1 if the specified capability
is present in the terminal's entry, 0 if it is not. Tgetstr returns
the string value of the capability 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. Tgetstr returns NULL if the capability was not found.
Tgoto returns a cursor addressing string decoded from cm to go to col‐
umn 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. (Programs 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”.
Tputs 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 output speed
of the terminal as encoded by stty(3). The external variable PC should
contain a pad character to be used (from the pc capability) if a null
(^@) is inappropriate.
FILES
/usr/lib/libtermcap.a -ltermcap library (also known as -ltermlib)
/usr/share/misc/termcapstandard terminal capability data base
$HOME/.termcap user's terminal capability data base
SEE ALSOex(1), curses(3), termcap(5)4th Berkeley Distribution June 23, 1990 TERMCAP(3)