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tic(1M)                                                                tic(1M)

NAME
       tic - the terminfo entry-description compiler
SYNOPSIS
       tic  [-01CDGIKLNTUVacfgrstx]  [-e  names]  [-o dir] [-R subset] [-v[n]]
       [-w[n]] file
DESCRIPTION
       The tic command translates a terminfo file from source format into com-
       piled  format.   The  compiled  format  is  necessary  for use with the
       library routines in ncurses(3X).
       As described in term(5), the database may be either  a  directory  tree
       (one  file  per  terminal  entry)  or a hashed database (one record per
       entry).  The tic command writes only one type of  entry,  depending  on
       how it was built:
       o   For directory trees, the top-level directory, e.g., /usr/share/ter-
           minfo, specifies the location of the database.
       o   For hashed databases, a filename is needed.  If the given  file  is
           not  found  by  that  name,  but  can be found by adding the suffix
           ".db", then that is used.
           The default name for the hashed database is the same as the default
           directory name (only adding a ".db" suffix).
       In either case (directory or hashed database), tic will create the con-
       tainer if it does not exist.  For a directory, this would be the  "ter-
       minfo" leaf, versus a "terminfo.db" file.
       The  results  are  normally  placed  in  the  system  terminfo database
       /usr/share/terminfo.  The compiled terminal description can  be  placed
       in a different terminfo database.  There are two ways to achieve this:
       o   First,  you  may override the system default either by using the -o
           option, or by setting the variable TERMINFO in your shell  environ-
           ment to a valid database location.
       o   Secondly,  if  tic cannot write in /usr/share/terminfo or the loca-
           tion specified using your  TERMINFO  variable,  it  looks  for  the
           directory  $HOME/.terminfo (or hashed database $HOME/.terminfo.db);
           if that location exists, the entry is placed there.
       Libraries that read terminfo entries are expected to check  in  succes-
       sion
       o   a location specified with the TERMINFO environment variable,
       o   $HOME/.terminfo,
       o   directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment variable,
       o   a compiled-in list of directories (no default value), and
       o   the system terminfo database (/usr/share/terminfo).
   OPTIONS
       -0     restricts the output to a single line
       -1     restricts the output to a single column
       -a     tells  tic to retain commented-out capabilities rather than dis-
              carding them.  Capabilities are commented by prefixing them with
              a  period.   This sets the -x option, because it treats the com-
              mented-out entries as user-defined  names.   If  the  source  is
              termcap,  accept  the  2-character  names required by version 6.
              Otherwise these are ignored.
       -C     Force source translation to termcap format.  Note: this  differs
              from  the  -C  option  of infocmp(1M) in that it does not merely
              translate capability names, but also translates terminfo strings
              to  termcap  format.  Capabilities that are not translatable are
              left in the entry under their terminfo names but  commented  out
              with  two  preceding  dots.  The actual format used incorporates
              some improvements for escaped characters from  terminfo  format.
              For a stricter BSD-compatible translation, add the -K option.
       -c     tells  tic to only check file for errors, including syntax prob-
              lems and bad use links.   If  you  specify  -C  (-I)  with  this
              option,  the code will print warnings about entries which, after
              use resolution, are more than 1023 (4096) bytes long.  Due to  a
              fixed buffer length in older termcap libraries, as well as buggy
              checking for the buffer length (and a documented limit  in  ter-
              minfo),  these entries may cause core dumps with other implemen-
              tations.
       -D     tells tic to print the database locations that it  knows  about,
              and exit.  The first location shown is the one to which it would
              write compiled terminal descriptions.  If tic  is  not  able  to
              find  a writable database location according to the rules summa-
              rized above, it will print a diagnostic and exit with  an  error
              rather than printing a list of database locations.
       -e names
              Limit  writes  and translations to the following comma-separated
              list of terminals.  If any name or alias of a  terminal  matches
              one  of  the  names  in  the  list, the entry will be written or
              translated as normal.  Otherwise no output will be generated for
              it.   The  option  value is interpreted as a file containing the
              list if it contains a '/'.  (Note: depending on how tic was com-
              piled, this option may require -I or -C.)
       -f     Display     complex     terminfo     strings    which    contain
              if/then/else/endif expressions indented for readability.
       -G     Display constant literals in  decimal  form  rather  than  their
              character equivalents.
       -g     Display  constant  character literals in quoted form rather than
              their decimal equivalents.
       -I     Force source translation to terminfo format.
       -K     Suppress some longstanding ncurses extensions to termcap format,
              e.g., "\s" for space.
       -L     Force  source  translation  to  terminfo format using the long C
              variable names listed in <term.h>
       -N     Disable smart defaults.  Normally, when translating from termcap
              to  terminfo,  the  compiler makes a number of assumptions about
              the  defaults  of  string   capabilities   reset1_string,   car-
              riage_return,  cursor_left,  cursor_down,  scroll_forward,  tab,
              newline, key_backspace, key_left, and key_down, then attempts to
              use  obsolete termcap capabilities to deduce correct values.  It
              also normally suppresses output of obsolete termcap capabilities
              such  as bs.  This option forces a more literal translation that
              also preserves the obsolete capabilities.
       -odir  Write compiled entries to given  database  location.   Overrides
              the TERMINFO environment variable.
       -Rsubset
              Restrict  output to a given subset.  This option is for use with
              archaic versions of terminfo like  those  on  SVr1,  Ultrix,  or
              HP/UX  that  do not support the full set of SVR4/XSI Curses ter-
              minfo; and outright broken ports like AIX 3.x  that  have  their
              own  extensions  incompatible  with SVr4/XSI.  Available subsets
              are "SVr1", "Ultrix", "HP", "BSD" and "AIX"; see terminfo(5) for
              details.
       -r     Force  entry  resolution (so there are no remaining tc capabili-
              ties) even when doing translation to termcap format.   This  may
              be  needed  if  you  are  preparing a termcap file for a termcap
              library (such as GNU termcap through version 1.3 or BSD  termcap
              through  4.3BSD)  that  does not handle multiple tc capabilities
              per entry.
       -s     Summarize the compile by  showing  the  database  location  into
              which  entries  are written, and the number of entries which are
              compiled.
       -T     eliminates size-restrictions on the  generated  text.   This  is
              mainly  useful  for  testing  and  analysis,  since the compiled
              descriptions are limited (e.g., 1023 for termcap, 4096 for  ter-
              minfo).
       -t     tells  tic to discard commented-out capabilities.  Normally when
              translating from terminfo to termcap,  untranslatable  capabili-
              ties are commented-out.
       -U   tells  tic  to  not post-process the data after parsing the source
            file.  Normally, it infers data which is commonly missing in older
            terminfo data, or in termcaps.
       -V   reports the version of ncurses which was used in this program, and
            exits.
       -vn  specifies that (verbose) output be written to standard error trace
            information showing tic's progress.  The optional parameter n is a
            number from 1 to 10, inclusive, indicating the  desired  level  of
            detail  of  information.  If n is omitted, the default level is 1.
            If n is specified and greater than  1,  the  level  of  detail  is
            increased.
            The debug flag levels are as follows:
            1      Names of files created and linked
            2      Information related to the ``use'' facility
            3      Statistics from the hashing algorithm
            5      String-table memory allocations
            7      Entries into the string-table
            8      List of tokens encountered by scanner
            9      All values computed in construction of the hash table
            If the debug level n is not given, it is taken to be one.
       -wn  specifies the width of the output.  The parameter is optional.  If
            it is omitted, it defaults to 60.
       -x   Treat unknown capabilities as user-defined.  That is, if you  sup-
            ply  a capability name which tic does not recognize, it will infer
            its type (boolean, number or string) from the syntax and  make  an
            extended  table  entry  for that.  User-defined capability strings
            whose name begins with ``k'' are treated as function keys.
   PARAMETERS
       file   contains one or more terminfo terminal  descriptions  in  source
              format   [see   terminfo(5)].   Each  description  in  the  file
              describes the capabilities of a particular terminal.
              If file is ``-'', then the data is read from the standard input.
              The file parameter may also be the path of a character-device.
   PROCESSING
       All  but  one  of  the capabilities recognized by tic are documented in
       terminfo(5).  The exception is the use capability.
       When a use=entry-name field is discovered in a terminal entry currently
       being  compiled,  tic  reads  in the binary from /usr/share/terminfo to
       complete the entry.  (Entries created from file  will  be  used  first.
       tic  duplicates  the  capabilities in entry-name for the current entry,
       with the exception of those capabilities that explicitly are defined in
       the current entry.
       When  an  entry, e.g., entry_name_1, contains a use=entry_name_2 field,
       any  canceled  capabilities  in  entry_name_2  must  also   appear   in
       entry_name_1  before  use=  for  these  capabilities  to be canceled in
       entry_name_1.
       Total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes.  The name field cannot
       exceed  512  bytes.   Terminal names exceeding the maximum alias length
       (32 characters on systems with long filenames, 14 characters otherwise)
       will  be  truncated  to  the maximum alias length and a warning message
       will be printed.
COMPATIBILITY
       There is  some  evidence  that  historic  tic  implementations  treated
       description  fields with no whitespace in them as additional aliases or
       short names.  This tic does not do that, but it does warn when descrip-
       tion  fields may be treated that way and check them for dangerous char-
       acters.
EXTENSIONS
       Unlike the SVr4 tic command, this implementation can  actually  compile
       termcap  sources.   In fact, entries in terminfo and termcap syntax can
       be mixed in a single source file.  See  terminfo(5)  for  the  list  of
       termcap names taken to be equivalent to terminfo names.
       The  SVr4  manual  pages  are not clear on the resolution rules for use
       capabilities.  This implementation of tic will find  use  targets  any-
       where  in  the source file, or anywhere in the file tree rooted at TER-
       MINFO (if TERMINFO is defined), or in the user's $HOME/.terminfo  data-
       base (if it exists), or (finally) anywhere in the system's file tree of
       compiled entries.
       The error messages from this tic have the same format as  GNU  C  error
       messages, and can be parsed by GNU Emacs's compile facility.
       The  -0, -1, -C, -G, -I, -N, -R, -T, -V, -a, -e, -f, -g, -o, -r, -s, -t
       and -x options are not supported under SVr4.  The SVr4 -c mode does not
       report bad use links.
       System  V  does  not  compile  entries  to  or  read  entries from your
       $HOME/.terminfo database unless TERMINFO is explicitly set to it.
FILES
       /usr/share/terminfo/?/*
            Compiled terminal description database.
SEE ALSO
       infocmp(1M),   captoinfo(1M),   infotocap(1M),   toe(1M),   curses(3X),
       term(5).  terminfo(5).
       This describes ncurses version 5.9 (patch 20130511).
AUTHOR
       Eric S. Raymond <esr AT snark.com> and
       Thomas E. Dickey <dickey AT invisible-island.net>

                                                                       tic(1M)