termcap(3) — Subroutines
Digital
NAME
tgetent, tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs − terminal independent operation routines
LIBRARY
Termcap functions (libcurses.a)
SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
cc program-name −D_BSD −lcurses
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 a terminal capability database, usually /usr/share/lib/termcap, the format of which is described in 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 buffer at bp. The bp value should be a character buffer of size 1024 and must be retained through all subsequent calls to tgetnum, tgetflag, and tgetstr. The tgetent function returns −1 if none of the termcap database files could be opened, 0 if the terminal name given does not have an entry, and 1 if 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 a termcap file. If it does begin with a slash, the string is used as a path name of the termcap file to search. If TERMCAP does not begin with a slash and name is different from TERM, tgetent searches the files $HOME/.termcap and /usr/share/lib/termcap, in that order, unless the environment variable TERMPATH exists, in which case it specifies a list of file pathnames (separated by spaces or colons) to be searched instead. Whenever multiple files are searched and a tc field occurs in the requested entry, the entry it names must be found in the same file or one of the succeeding files. This can speed up entry into programs that call tgetent, as well as help debug new terminal descriptions or make one for your terminal if you cannot write the file /usr/share/lib/termcap.
The tgetnum function gets the numeric value of capability id, returning −1 if is not given for the terminal.
The tgetflag 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 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, 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 terminal as encoded by stty(). The external variable PC should contain a pad character to be used (from the pc capability) if a null (^@) is inappropriate.
FILES
/usr/ccs/lib/libcurses.a
Termcap functions in the curses library
/usr/share/lib/termcap
Standard terminal capability database
/etc/termcapBackwards-compatible soft link to /usr/share/lib/termcap
$HOME/.termcap
User’s terminal capability database