INFOCMP(8) Maintenance Commands and Procedures INFOCMP(8)

NAME

infocmp - compare or print out terminfo descriptions

SYNOPSIS

/usr/bin/infocmp [-d] [-c] [-n] [-I] [-L] [-C] [-r] [-u]
[-s | d | i | l | c] [-v] [-V] [-1] [-w width]
[-A directory] [-B directory] [termname]...

DESCRIPTION

infocmp compares a binary terminfo entry with other terminfo entries,
rewrites a terminfo description to take advantage of the use=
terminfo field, or prints out a terminfo description from the binary
file (term) in a variety of formats. It displays boolean fields
first, then numeric fields, followed by the string fields. If no
options are specified and zero, or one termname is specified, the -I
option is assumed. If more than one termname is specified, the -d
option is assumed.

OPTIONS

The -d, -c, and -n options can be used for comparisons. infocmp
compares the terminfo description of the first terminal termname with
each of the descriptions given by the entries for the other
terminal's termname. 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.

-d
Produce a list of each capability that is different between two
entries. This option is useful to show the difference between
two entries, created by different people, for the same or
similar terminals.


-c
Produce 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.


-n
Produce a list of each capability that is in neither entry. If
no termname is given, the environment 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.


The -I, -L, and -C options will produce a source listing for each
terminal named.

-I
Use the terminfo names.


-L
Use the long C variable name listed in <term.h>.


-C
Use the termcap names. The source produced by the -C option may
be used directly as a termcap entry, but not all of the
parameterized strings may be changed to the termcap format.
infocmp will attempt to convert most of the parameterized
information, but anything not converted will be plainly marked
in the output and commented out. These should be edited by
hand.


-r
When using -C, put out all capabilities in termcap form.


If no termname is given, the environment variable TERM will be used
for the terminal name.


All padding information for strings will be collected together and
placed at the beginning of the string where termcap expects it.
Mandatory padding (padding information with a trailing '/') will
become optional.


All termcap variables no longer supported by terminfo, but are
derivable from other terminfo variables, will be displayed. Not all
terminfo capabilities will be translated; only those variables which
were part of termcap will normally be displayed. Specifying the -r
option will take off this restriction, allowing all capabilities to
be displayed in termcap form.


Note that because padding is collected to the beginning of the
capability, not all capabilities are displayed. Mandatory 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:

terminfo termcap Representative Terminals
%p1%c %. adm
%p1%d %d hp, ANSI standard, vt100
%p1%'x'%+%c %+x concept
%i %i ANSI standard, vt100
%p1%?%'x'%>%t%p1%'y'%+%; %>xy concept
%p2 is printed before %p1 %r hp


-u
Produce 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 differences 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 relative to the
other.


A capability is displayed 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 is displayed 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 capability
gives a different value for that capability.


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 contain differing entries for the
same capabilities will produce different results, depending on the
order in which the entries are given. 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, it will cause the second specification to be ignored. Using
infocmp to recreate a description can be a useful check to make sure
that everything 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 specifying superfluous use=
fields. infocmp will flag any superfluous use= fields.

-s
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 are 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, respectively.


-v
Print out tracing information on standard error as the
program runs.


-V
Print out the version of the program in use on standard
error and exit.


-1
Print the fields one to a line. Otherwise, the fields are
printed several to a line to a maximum width of 60
characters.


-wwidth
Changes the output to width characters.


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 location, the system terminfo
database, usually in /usr/share/lib/terminfo, is used. The options -A
and -B may be used to override this location.

-A directory
Set TERMINFO for the first termname.


-B directory
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.

FILES

/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*

Compiled terminal description database.

SEE ALSO

curses(3CURSES), terminfo(5), attributes(7), captoinfo(8), tic(8)

February 17, 2023 INFOCMP(8)