infocmp - compare or print out terminfo descriptions
infocmp [-cdeFinpILCuV1] [-A directory] [-B directory]
[-s d|i|l|c] [-v n] [-w width]
[termname...]
The infocmp(1) utility can be used to compare a binary terminfo entry with other terminfo entries, rewrite a terminfo description to take advantage of the use= terminfo field, or print out a terminfo description from the binary file (term) 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.
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.
The options are summarized here and explained in more detail later in this topic.
The infocmp(1) utility compares the terminfo 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:
The -C, -I, and -L options will produce a source listing for each terminal named. The -r modifies -C:
If no termname is given, the environment variable TERM will be used for the terminal name.
The source produced by the -C option can be used directly as a termcap entry, but not all parameterized strings can be changed to the termcap format. The infocmp(1) utility will attempt to convert most of the parameterized information. Anything not converted 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 forward slash (/) will become optional.
All termcap variables no longer supported by terminfo, but which are derivable from other terminfo variables, will be output. Not all terminfo capabilities will be translated; only those variables that were part of termcap will normally be output. Specifying the -r option will remove 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. Because termcap strings are not as flexible, it is not always possible to convert a terminfo string capability into an equivalent termcap format. A subsequent conversion of the termcap file back into terminfo format will not necessarily reproduce the original terminfo source.
The following table provides lists common terminfo parameter sequences, their termcap equivalents, and some terminal types which commonly have such sequences.
| terminfo | termcap | Representative Terminals |
|---|---|---|
| %p1%c | %. | adm |
| %p1%d | %d | hp, ANSI standard, vt100 |
| %p1%'x'%+%c | %+x | concept |
| %i | %iq | ANSI standard, vt100 |
| %p1%?%'x'%>%t%p1%'y'%+%; | %>xy | concept |
| %p2 is printed before %p1 | %r | hp |
The -u option produces a terminfo source description of the first terminal termname that is relative to the sum of the descriptions given by the entries for the other terminals termnames. It does this by analyzing 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. In addition, if two similar terminals exist, but were coded at different times or by different people so that each description is a full description, using infocmp(1) will show what can be done to change one description to be relative to the other.
A capability will be 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(1) 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 in which the entries are given. The infocmp(1) utility will flag any such inconsistencies 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 specification to be ignored. Using infocmp(1) to recreate a description can be a useful way to ensure 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 use= fields that are superfluous. The infocmp(1) utility will flag superfluous termname use= fields.
If the -s option is not 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.
The location of the compiled terminfo database 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 database, usually in /usr/share/lib/terminfo, will be used. The options -A and -B can 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. This makes it possible to compare descriptions for a terminal with the same name located in two different databases. This is useful for comparing descriptions for the same terminal created by different people.
| Action | Meaning |
|---|---|
| RIS | Full reset |
| SC | Save cursor |
| RC | Restore cursor |
| LL | Home-down |
| RSR | Reset scroll region |
| ISO DEC G0 | Enable DEC graphics for G0 |
| ISO UK G0 | Enable UK chars for G0 |
| ISO US G0 | Enable US chars for G0 |
| ISO DEC G1 | Enable DEC graphics for G1 |
| ISO UK G1 | Enable UK chars for G1 |
| ISO US G1 | Enable US chars for G1 |
| DECPAM | Application keypad mode |
| DECPNM | Normal keypad mode |
| DECANSI | Enter ANSI mode |
| DEC[+-]CKM | Application cursor keys |
| DEC[+-]ANM | Set VT52 mode |
| DEC[+-]COLM | 132-column mode |
| DEC[+-]SCLM | Smooth scroll |
| DEC[+-]SCNM | Reverse video mode |
| DEC[+-]OM | Origin mode |
| DEC[+-]AWM | Wraparound mode |
| DEC[+-]ARM | Auto-repeat mode |
It also recognizes a SGR action corresponding to ANSI/ISO 6429/ECMA Set Graphics Rendition, with the values NORMAL, BOLD, UNDERLINE, BLINK, and REVERSE. All but NORMAL may be prefixed with '+' (turn on) or '-' (turn off). An SGR0 designates an empty highlight sequence (equivalent to {SGR:NORMAL}).
The -F option is not supported in SVr4 curses.
The -R, -p, -e and -i options are not supported in SVr4 curses.
The -r option's notion of termcap capabilities is the same as that in System V Release 4. Actual Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) curses versions will have a more restricted set. To see only the 4.4BSD set, use -r -RBSD.
The -F option of infocmp(1) should be a toe(1) mode.
Eric S. Raymond <esr@nark.thyrsus.com>
infocmp(1)
captoinfo(1)
infotocap(1)
tic(1)
toe(1)
curses(3)