TERMCAP(3X)
NAME
tgetent, tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs − terminal independent operation routines
USAGE
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 entries from the terminal capability database /etc/termcap, described in termcap(5). These are low level routines; for a higher-level package, see curses(3X).
Tgetent extracts the entry for terminal name and puts it into the buffer pointed to by 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 open the termcap file, zero 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 it finds one, and the value does not begin with a slash, and the terminal type name is the same as the environment string TERM, it reads the TERMCAP string instead of termcap file. If it does begin with a slash, it assumes the string is a pathname to be used instead of /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 can’t write on /etc/termcap.
Tgetnum gets the numeric value of entry id, returning -1 if it is not given for the terminal. Tgetflag returns 1 if the specified capability is present in the terminal’s entry, zero if it is not. Tgetstr gets the string value of capability id, placing it in the buffer at area, and advancing the area pointer. It decodes all abbreviations for this field described in termcap(5) except for cursor addressing and padding information.
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 that call tgoto should turn off the XTABS bit(s), since tgoto may now output a tab. Programs using termcap should, in general, turn off XTABS since some terminals use ↑I for other functions, such as nondestructive space.) If an incomprehensible % sequence is given, 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.
FILES
/usr/lib/libtermcap.a library of termcap routines.
/etc/termcap terminal capabilities database