Termcap (terminal capability) is a legacy software library and database used on Unix-like computers that enables programs to use display computer terminals in a device-independent manner, which greatly simplifies the process of writing portable text mode applications. It was superseded by the terminfo database used by ncurses, tput, and other programs.
Bill Joy wrote the first termcap library in 1978[1][2] for the Berkeley Unix operating system; it has since been ported to most Unix and Unix-like environments, even OS-9.[3] Joy's design was reportedly influenced by the design of the terminal data store in the earlier Incompatible Timesharing System.[4][better source needed][dubious – discuss]
A termcap database can describe the capabilities of hundreds of different display terminals. This allows programs to have character-based display output, independent of the type of terminal. On-screen text editors such as vi and Emacs are examples of programs that may use termcap. Other programs are listed in the Termcap category.
Examples of what the database describes:
how many columns wide the display is
what string to send to move the cursor to an arbitrary position (including how to encode the row and column numbers)
how to scroll the screen up one or several lines
how much padding is needed for such a scrolling operation.
^Peter H. Salus, "The history of Unix is as much about collaboration as it is about technology", Byte, October 1994.
^Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold and Elan Amir, "Screen Updating and Cursor Movement Optimization: A Library Package"
^Joel Mathew Hegberg (November 1994). "Tackling Termcap, Part I". OS-9/OSK Answers!. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
Termcap (terminal capability) is a legacy software library and database used on Unix-like computers that enables programs to use display computer terminals...
to support Rogue, a text-based adventure game. It originally used the termcap library, which was used in other programs, such as the vi editor. The success...
implemented the first terminfo library in 1981–1982 as an improvement over termcap. The improvements include faster access to stored terminal descriptions...
terminal capabilities. Depending on the system, tput uses the terminfo or termcap database, as well as looking into the environment for the terminal type...
sequences were different for different terminals, elaborate libraries such as termcap ("terminal capabilities") and utilities such as tput had to be created...
capabilities. The termcap (for "terminal capabilities") library was developed for BSD systems. It uses a database stored in the file /etc/termcap. This database...
rate and any buffers being full. Some terminal control packages, such as termcap, employ "padding" (short delays using millisecond granularity) to allow...
with all the neat features like spell checking, login/logout watching and termcap support that were "probably too weird to make it into an AT&T product"...
option; it checks only the Unix file type and file permissions and uses the termcap database When the option to use color to indicate item types is selected...
string, e.g. in this abbreviated ls -l output: lrwxrwxrwx ... termcap -> /usr/share/misc/termcap lrwxrwxrwx ... S03xinetd -> ../init.d/xinetd One of the strengths...
to the 2BSD and 4BSD Berkeley Unix distributions, including: curses and termcap: a hardware-independent library for controlling cursor movement, screen...
ISBN 978-1-351-09400-9. Free Software Foundation (November 7, 1998). "Padding". The Termcap Library. Retrieved 2024-01-13. Golden, V. Ellen (April 14, 1981). "An Introduction...
over a longer time, using delays after time-consuming operations (e.g. in termcap) or employing a mechanism to resend data which has not been received correctly...
input forms using the appropriate control codes; In Unix-like systems the termcap or terminfo files, the stty utility, and the TERM environment variable...
w3m is a free software/open source text-based web browser and terminal pager. It has support for tables, frames, SSL connections, color, and inline images...
case is a motherboard with a modem port, keyboard port, and an aux. port. Termcap provides support for the Visual 50 by way of the entries named v50, vi50...
control and another to the pseudo terminal concept and to libraries like termcap and curses that build atop it. Stevens adds three chapters giving more...
elements from BSD, notably the vi text editor and its supporting libraries (termcap and curses). Its kernel featured some original extensions by Microsoft...
the downstairs (a '>' sign) to the next level. Apart from the original termcap interface shown above, there are other interfaces that replace standard...
the TERM environment variable (and, optionally for the termcap and terminfo libraries, the TERMCAP and TERMINFO environment variables, respectively). This...
license: we're going to standard BSD, copyright UC Berkeley". Lionel Sambuc. "Termcap update, replacing elvis by nvi". "nvi commitlog". Archived from the original...
(the first mechanism for binary Email attachments), w and load averages, termcap, and curses. Her PhD dissertation was the creation of a new type of syntax-directed...
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