termcap(3x)termcap(3x)NAME
tgetent, tgetnum, tgetoption, 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 *iid;
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)();
LIBRARY
Termcap library (libtermcap.a or libtermlib.a)
DESCRIPTION
These functions extract and use capabilities from the terminal capabil‐
ity database termcap(4). 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 capability should be a character buffer of size 1024
and must be retained through all subsequent calls to tgetnum, tgetop‐
tion, and tgetstr. The tgetent returns -1 if it cannot open the termcap
file, 0 if the terminal name given does not have an entry, and 1 for
success. 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 the termcap file. If it does begin with a
slash, the string is used as a path name rather than
/usr/share/lib/termcap. This can speed up entry into programs that call
tgetent, as well as to help debug new terminal descriptions or to make
one for your terminal if you cannot write the file /usr/share/lib/term‐
cap.
The tgetnum function gets the numeric value of capability id, returning
-1 if is not given for the terminal.
The tgetoption function returns 1 if the specified capability is
present in the terminal's entry, 0 if it is not.
The 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(4), 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 vari‐
ables 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, in general, programs using
termcap should 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, tgoto returns OOPS.
The tputs function decodes the leading padding information of the
string cp. The affcnt parameter gives the number of lines affected by
the operation, or 1 if this is not applicable. The outc parameter is
the name of a routine that is called with each character in turn. The
external variable ospeed should contain the output speed of the termi‐
nal as encoded by stty(). The external variable PC should contain a pad
character to be used (from the pc capability) if a null (^@) is inap‐
propriate.
FILES
Termcap library (also known as termlib) Standard terminal capability
database Backwards-compatible soft link to /usr/share/lib/termcap
SEE ALSO
Functions: curses(3), curs_termcap(3)
Files: termcap(4)termcap(3x)
