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)