TERMCAP(3)

NAME
termcap, tgetent, tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs - terminal independent operation routines

SYNOPSIS
#include <termcap.h>
int tgetent(char *bp, char *name)
int tgetflag(char *id)
int tgetnum(char *id)
char *tgetstr(char *id, char **area)
char *tgoto(char *cm, int destcol, int destline)
int tputs(char *cp, int affcnt, void (*outc)(int))

DESCRIPTION
These functions extract and use capabilities from the terminal capability data base termcap(5). These are low level routines; see curses(3) 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 it cannot find a termcap file, 0 if the terminal name given does not have an entry, and 1 if all goes well.

Tgetent uses the following recipe to find the termcap file and entry name:

if $TERMCAP is itself a termcap entry for name
then
use $TERMCAP
elif $TERMCAP names a file
then
use entry name found in that file
elif this is Minix-vmd
then
if $TERMPATH is defined
then
search the termcap files named in $TERMPATH for the first occurance of a name entry and use that entry
else
the path $HOME/.termcap:/etc/termcap:/usr/etc/termcap" is searched for entry name
fi
fi

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 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 that programs using termcap should in general turn off XTABS anyway since some terminals use 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 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.

SEE ALSO
curses(3), termcap(5).

AUTHOR
William Joy

NOTES
The Minix implementation does not support any of the external variables, only the functions calls. The Minix-vmd termcap does support it all, although noone in his right mind meddles with those variables.