infocmp(1M) infocmp(1M)
NAME
infocmp - compare or print out terminfo descriptions
SYNOPSIS
infocmp [-dceEGgnpqrILCuV1] [-v n] [-s d| i| l| c]
[-w width] [-A directory] [-B directory]
[termname...]
DESCRIPTION
infocmp can be used to compare a binary terminfo entry
with other terminfo entries, rewrite a terminfo descrip-
tion 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.
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]
infocmp 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:
F for boolean variables, -1 for integer variables, and
NULL for string variables.
The -d option produces a list of each capability that is
different between two entries. This option is useful to
show the difference between two entries, created by dif-
ferent people, for the same or similar terminals.
The -c option produces a list of each capability that is
common between 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.
The -n option produces a list of each capability that is
in neither entry. If no termnames are given, the environ-
ment variable TERM will be used for both of the termnames.
This can be used as a quick check to see if anything was
left out of a description.
Source Listing Options [-I] [-L] [-C] [-r]
The -I, -L, and -C options will produce a source listing
for each terminal named.
center tab(/) ; l l . -I/use the terminfo 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 parameterized strings can
be changed to the termcap format. infocmp will attempt to
convert most of the parameterized information, and any-
thing 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 informa-
tion with a trailing '/') 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 which were part of termcap will nor-
mally 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. Manda-
tory 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.
Some common terminfo parameter sequences, their termcap
equivalents, and some terminal types which commonly have
such sequences, are:
center tab(/) ; l c l l l l. terminfo/termcap/Representa-
tive 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
Use= Option [-u]
The -u option produces a terminfo 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 analyzing the dif-
ferences 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 description is a full description, using infocmp will
show what can be done to change one description to be rel-
ative 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 capabil-
ity 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 does a left-to-right scan
of the capabilities, specifying two use= entries that con-
tain differing entries for the same capabilities will pro-
duce different results depending on the order that the
entries are given in. infocmp 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 speci-
fication to be ignored. Using infocmp to recreate a
description can be a useful check to make sure that every-
thing 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 speci-
fying extra use= fields that are superfluous. infocmp
will flag any other termname use= fields that were not
needed.
Changing Databases [-A directory] [-B directory]
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 loca-
tion, the system terminfo database, in /usr/share/ter-
minfo, 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 databases. This is useful for
comparing descriptions for the same terminal created by
different people.
Other Options [-s d|i|l|c] [-1FTVefip] [-Rsubset] [-v n] [-w
width]
The -s option sorts the fields within each type according
to the argument below:
d leave fields in the order that they are stored in the
terminfo database.
i sort by terminfo name.
l sort by the long C variable name.
c sort by the termcap name.
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, respec-
tively.
-1 causes the fields to be printed out one to a line.
Otherwise, the fields will be printed several to a
line to a maximum width of 60 characters.
-F compare terminfo files. This assumes that two fol-
lowing arguments are filenames. The files are
searched for pairwise matches between entries, with
two entries considered to match if any of their names
do. The report printed to standard output lists
entries with no matches in the other file, and
entries with more than one match. For entries with
exactly one match it includes a difference report.
Normally, to reduce the volume of the report, use
references are not resolved before looking for dif-
ferences, but resolution can be forced by also
specifying -r.
-G Display constant literals in decimal form rather than
their character equivalents.
-a tells infocmp to retain commented-out capabilities
rather than discarding them. Capabilities are com-
mented by prefixing them with a period.
-q Make the comparison listing shorter by omitting sub-
headings, and using "-" for absent capabilities, "@"
for canceled rather than "NULL".
-Rsubset
Restrict output to a given subset. This option is
for use with archaic versions of terminfo like those
on SVr1, Ultrix, or HP/UX that do not support the
full set of SVR4/XSI Curses terminfo; and variants
such as AIX that have their own extensions incompati-
ble with SVr4/XSI. Available terminfo subsets are
"SVr1", "Ultrix", "HP", and "AIX"; see terminfo(5)
for details. You can also choose the subset "BSD"
which selects only capabilities with termcap equiva-
lents recognized by 4.4BSD.
-T eliminates size-restrictions on the generated text.
This is mainly useful for testing and analysis, since
the compiled descriptions are limited (e.g., 1023 for
termcap, 4096 for terminfo).
-V reports the version of ncurses which was used in this
program, and exits.
-e Dump the capabilities of the given terminal as a C
initializer for a TERMTYPE structure (the terminal
capability structure in the <term.h>). This option
is useful for preparing versions of the curses
library hardwired for a given terminal type.
-E Dump the capabilities of the given terminal as
tables, needed in the C initializer for a TERMTYPE
structure (the terminal capability structure in the
<term.h>). This option is useful for preparing ver-
sions of the curses library hardwired for a given
terminal type. The tables are all declared static,
and are named according to the type and the name of
the corresponding terminal entry.
Before ncurses 5.0, the split between the -e and -E
options was not needed; but support for extended
names required making the arrays of terminal capabil-
ities separate from the TERMTYPE structure.
-f Display complex terminfo strings which contain
if/then/else/endif expressions indented for readabil-
ity.
-g Display constant character literals in quoted form
rather than their decimal equivalents.
-i Analyze the initialization (is1, is2, is3), and reset
(rs1, rs2, rs3), strings in the entry. For each
string, the code tries to analyze it into actions in
terms of the other capabilities in the entry, certain
X3.64/ISO 6429/ECMA-48 capabilities, and certain DEC
VT-series private modes (the set of recognized
special sequences has been selected for completeness
over the existing terminfo database). Each report
line consists of the capability name, followed by a
colon and space, followed by a printable expansion of
the capability string with sections matching recog-
nized actions translated into {}-bracketed descrip-
tions. Here is a list of the DEC/ANSI special
sequences recognized:
center tab(/) ; l l l l. 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}).
-p Ignore padding specifications when comparing strings.
-v n prints out tracing information on standard error as
the program runs. Higher values of n induce greater
verbosity.
-w width
changes the output to width characters.
FILES
/usr/share/terminfo Compiled terminal description
database.
EXTENSIONS
The -E, -F, -G, -R, -T, -V, -a, -e, -f, -g, -i, -p, and -q
options are not supported in SVr4 curses.
The -r option's notion of `termcap' capabilities is System
V Release 4's. Actual BSD curses versions will have a
more restricted set. To see only the 4.4BSD set, use -r
-RBSD.
BUGS
The -F option of infocmp(1M) should be a toe(1M) mode.
SEE ALSO
infocmp(1M), captoinfo(1M), infotocap(1M), tic(1M),
toe(1M), curses(3X), terminfo(5).
AUTHOR
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> and Thomas E.
Dickey <dickey@herndon4.his.com>
infocmp(1M)