TERMCAP(3X)

NAME
termcap, tgetent, tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs - terminal independent 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 the terminal capability data base termcap(5). These are low level routines; see curses(3V) for a higher level package.

tgetent() extracts the entry for terminal name into the bp buffer, with the current size of the tty (usually a window). This allows pre-SunWindows programs to run in a window of arbitrary size. 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 it cannot open the termcap() file, 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 the termcap file. If it does begin with a slash, the string is used as a path name rather than /etc/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 /etc/termcap. Note: if the window size changes, the ``lines'' and ``columns'' entries in bp are no longer correct. See the for details regarding [how to handle] this.

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() gets the string value of capability ID, placing it in the buffer at area, advancing the area pointer. It decodes the abbreviations for this field described in termcap(5), except for cursor addressing and padding information. tgetstr() returns the string pointer if successful. Otherwise it returns zero.

tgoto() 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. (Programs which call tgoto() should be sure to turn off the XTABS bit(s),since tgoto() may now output a tab. Note: programs using termcap() should in general turn off XTABS anyway since some terminals use ^I (CTRL-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 encoded output speed of the terminal as described in tty(4). 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
/etc/termcap
    data base

SEE ALSO
ex(1), curses(3V), tty(4), termcap(5)