1 Copyright (C) 1999, 2001-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
2 See the end of the file for copying permissions.
4 This file describes what you must or might want to do to termcap entries
5 to make terminals work properly and efficiently with Emacs. Information
6 on likely problems with specific types of terminals appears at the end
9 *** What you want in a terminal ***
12 1. Easy to compute suitable padding for.
13 2. Never ever sends ^S/^Q unless you type them, at least in one mode.
16 1. Supports insert/delete of multiple lines in one command.
17 2. Same for multiple characters, though doing them one by
18 one is usually fast enough except on emulators running on
19 machines with bitmap screens.
22 1. Considerably more than 24 lines.
23 2. Meta key (shift-like key that controls the 0200 bit
24 in every character you type).
26 *** New termcap strings ***
28 Emacs supports certain termcap strings that are not described in the
29 4.2 manual but appear to be standard in system V. The one exception
30 is 'cS', which I invented.
32 'AL' insert several lines. Takes one parameter, the number of
33 lines to be inserted. You specify how to send this parameter
34 using a %-construct, just like the cursor positions in the 'cm'
37 'DL' delete several lines. One parameter.
39 'IC' insert several characters. One parameter.
41 'DC' delete several characters. One parameter.
43 'rp' repeat a character. Takes two parameters, the character
44 to be repeated and the number of times to repeat it.
45 Most likely you will use '%.' for sending the character
46 to be repeated. Emacs interprets a padding spec with a *
47 as giving the amount of padding per repetition.
49 WARNING: Many terminals have a command to repeat the
50 *last character output* N times. This means that the character
51 will appear N+1 times in a row when the command argument is N.
52 However, the 'rp' string's parameter is the total number of
53 times wanted, not one less. Therefore, such repeat commands
54 may be used in an 'rp' string only if you use Emacs's special
55 termcap operator '%a-c\001' to subtract 1 from the repeat count
56 before substituting it into the string. It is probably safe
57 to use this even though the Unix termcap does not accept it
58 because programs other than Emacs probably won't look for 'rp'
61 'cs' set scroll region. Takes two parameters, the vertical
62 positions of the first line to include in the scroll region
63 and the last line to include in the scroll region.
64 Both parameters are origin-zero. The effect of this
65 should be to cause a following insert-line or delete-line
66 not to move lines below the bottom of the scroll region.
68 This is not the same convention that Emacs version 16 used.
69 That is because I was led astray by unclear documentation
70 of the meaning of %i in termcap strings. Since the termcap
71 documentation for 'cs' is also unclear, I had to deduce the
72 correct parameter conventions from what would make the VT-100's
73 'cs' string work properly. From an incorrect assumption about
74 %i, I reached an incorrect conclusion about 'cs', but the result
75 worked correctly on the VT100 and ANSI terminals. In Emacs
76 version 17, both 'cs' and %i work correctly.
78 The version 16 convention was to pass, for the second parameter,
79 the line number of the first line beyond the end of the
82 'cS' set scroll region. Differs from 'cs' in taking parameters
83 differently. There are four parameters:
84 1. Total number of lines on the screen.
85 2. Number of lines above desired scroll region.
86 3. Number of lines below (outside of) desired scroll region.
87 4. Total number of lines on the screen, like #1.
88 This is because an Ambassador needs the parameters like this.
91 Emacs will not attempt to use ^M, ^J or ^H for cursor motion
92 unless these capabilities are present and say to use those
95 'km' Says the terminal has a Meta key.
97 Defining these strings is important for getting maximum performance
100 Make sure that the 'ti' string sets all modes needed for editing
101 in Emacs. For example, if your terminal has a mode that controls
102 wrap at the end of the line, you must decide whether to specify
103 the 'am' flag in the termcap entry; whichever you decide, the 'ti'
104 string should contain commands to set the mode that way.
105 (Emacs also sends the 'vs' string after the 'ti' string.
106 You can put the mode-setting commands in either one of them.)
108 *** Specific Terminal Types ***
110 Watch out for termcap entries for Ann Arbor Ambassadors that
111 give too little padding for clear-screen. 7.2 msec per line is right.
112 These are the strings whose padding you probably should change:
113 :al=1*\E[L:dl=1*\E[M:cd=7.2*\E[J:cl=7.2*\E[H\E[J:
114 I have sometimes seen '\E[2J' at the front of the 'ti' string;
115 this is a clear-screen, very slow, and it can cause you to get
116 Control-s sent by the terminal at startup. I recommend removing
117 the '\E[2J' from the 'ti' string.
118 The 'ti' or 'vs' strings also usually need stuff added to them, such as
119 \E[>33;52;54h\E[>30;37;38;39l
120 You might want to add the following to the 'te' or 've' strings:
122 The following additional capabilities will improve performance:
123 :AL=1*\E[%dL:DL=1*\E[%dM:IC=4\E[%d@:DC=4\E[%dP:rp=1*%.\E[%a-c\001%db:
124 If you find that the Meta key does not work, make sure that
126 is present in the termcap entry.
128 Watch out for termcap entries for VT100's that fail to specify
129 the 'sf' string, or that omit the padding needed for the 'sf' and 'sr'
130 strings (2msec per line affected). What you need is
131 :sf=2*^J:sr=2*\EM:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:
133 The Concept-100 and Concept-108 have many modes that 'ti' strings
134 often fail to initialize. If you have problems on one of these
135 terminals, that is probably the place to fix them. These terminals
136 can support an 'rp' string.
138 Watch out on HP terminals for problems with standout disappearing on
139 part of the mode line. These problems are due to the absence of
140 :sg#0: which some HP terminals need.
142 The vi55 is said to require 'ip=2'.
144 The Sun console should have these capabilities for good performance.
145 :AL=\E[%dL:DL=\E[%dM:IC=\E[%d@:DC=\E[%dP:
147 The vt220 needs to be set to vt220 mode, 7 bit, space parity
148 in order to work fully with TERM=vt220.
150 If you are using a LAT terminal concentrator, you need to issue these
151 commands to turn off flow control:
153 set port flow control disable
154 define port flow control disable
156 On System V, in the terminfo database, various terminals may have
157 the 'xt' flag that should not have it. 'xt' should be present only
158 for the Teleray 1061 or equivalent terminal.
160 In particular, System V for the 386 often has 'xt' for terminal type
161 AT386 or AT386-M, which is used for the console. You should delete
162 this flag. Here is how:
164 You can get a copy of the terminfo "source" for at386 using the
165 command: 'infocmp at386 >at386.tic'. Edit the file at386.tic and remove
166 the 'xt' flag. Then compile the new entry with: 'tic at386.tic'.
168 It is also reported that these terminal types sometimes have the wrong
169 reverse-scroll string. It should be \E[T, but sometimes is given as \E[S.
171 Here is what watserv1!maytag!focsys!larry recommends for these terminals:
173 # This copy of the terminfo description has been fixed.
174 # The suggestions came from a number of usenet postings.
176 # Intel AT/386 for color card with monochrome display
178 AT386-M|at386-m|386AT-M|386at-m|at/386 console,
181 acsc=``a1fxgqh0jYk?lZm@nEooppqDrrsstCu4vAwBx3yyzz{{||}}~~,
182 bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z,
184 cr=\r, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\E[D, cud=\E[%p1%dB,
185 cud1=\E[B, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C,
186 cup=\E[%i%p1%02d;%p2%02dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A,
187 dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[1M,
188 ech=\E[%p1%dX,ed=\E[J, el=\E[K, el1=\E[1K\E[X, flash=^G, home=\E[H,
189 hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ich=\E[%p1%d@, ich1=\E[1@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[1L,
190 ind=\E[S, indn=\E[%p1%dS, invis=\E[9m,
191 is2=\E[0;10;38m, kbs=\b, kcbt=^], kclr=\E[2J,
192 kcub1=\E[D, kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A,
193 kdch1=\E[P, kend=\E[Y, kf1=\EOP, kf10=\EOY, kf11=\EOZ,
194 kf12=\EOA, kf2=\EOQ, kf3=\EOR, kf4=\EOS, kf5=\EOT,
195 kf6=\EOU, kf7=\EOV, kf8=\EOW, kf9=\EOX, khome=\E[H,
196 kich1=\E[@, knp=\E[U, kpp=\E[V, krmir=\E0, rev=\E[7m, ri=\E[T,
197 rin=\E[%p1%dT, rmacs=\E[10m, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m,
198 sgr=\E[10m\E[0%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p9%t;12%;%?%p7%t;9%;m,
199 sgr0=\E[0;10m, smacs=\E[12m, smso=\E[7m, smul=\E[4m,
202 # AT&T 386 color console
204 AT386|at386|386AT|386at|at/386 console,
205 colors#8, ncv#3, pairs#64,
208 setb=\E[%?%p1%{0}%=%t40m
216 setf=\E[%?%p1%{0}%=%t30m
227 # Color console version that supports underline but maps blue
228 # foreground color to cyan.
230 AT386-UL|at386-ul|386AT-UL|386at-ul|at/386 console,
237 This document is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
238 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
239 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
240 (at your option) any later version.
242 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
243 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
244 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
245 GNU General Public License for more details.
247 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
248 along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.