# tic 1m

    tic(1m)                                                         tic(1m)

## NAME

           tic - the terminfo entry-description compiler

## SYNOPSIS

           tic  [-01CDGIKLNTUVacfgqrstx]  [-e names] [-o dir] [-Q[n]]
           [-R subset] [-v[n]] [-w[n]] file

## DESCRIPTION

           The tic command translates a  terminfo  file  from  source
           format  into compiled format.  The compiled format is nec-
           essary 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/terminfo, 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 container if it does not exist.  For  a  direc-
           tory,  this  would  be the "terminfo" leaf, versus a "ter-
           minfo.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  data-
           base.  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  TER-
               MINFO  in  your  shell environment to a valid database
               location.

           o   Secondly, if tic cannot write  in  /usr/share/terminfo
               or  the  location  specified using your TERMINFO vari-
               able, 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 succession

           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
               (/usr/local/ncurses/share/terminfo:/usr/share/ter-
               minfo), 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 discarding them.  Capabilities are com-
                  mented  by prefixing them with a period.  This sets
                  the -x option, because it treats the  commented-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.

                  If  this  is combined with -c, tic makes additional
                  checks to report cases where the terminfo values do
                  not  have an exact equivalent in termcap form.  For
                  example:

                  o   sgr usually will not convert,  because  termcap
                      lacks  the  ability  to work with more than two
                      parameters, and because termcap lacks  many  of
                      the  arithmetic/logical  operators used in ter-
                      minfo.

                  o   capabilities with more than one delay  or  with
                      delays  before  the  end of the string will not
                      convert completely.

           -c     tells tic to only check file for errors,  including
                  syntax  problems and bad use links.  If you specify
                  -C (-I) with this option, the code will print warn-
                  ings 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 doc-
                  umented limit in terminfo), these entries may cause
                  core dumps with other implementations.

                  tic checks string capabilities to ensure that those
                  with parameters will be valid expressions.  It does
                  this check only for the predefined string capabili-
                  ties;  those  which  are defined with the -x option
                  are ignored.

           -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
                  summarized  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 con-
                  taining  the  list  if  it  contains a '/'.  (Note:
                  depending on how tic was compiled, this option  may
                  require -I or -C.)

           -f     Display  complex  terminfo  strings  which  contain
                  if/then/else/endif expressions indented  for  read-
                  ability.

           -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 num-
                  ber  of  assumptions  about  the defaults of string
                  capabilities reset1_string,  carriage_return,  cur-
                  sor_left,  cursor_down,  scroll_forward,  tab, new-
                  line, 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.

           -Qn    Rather than show source in terminfo (text)  format,
                  print  the  compiled (binary) format in hexadecimal
                  or base64 form, depending on the option's value:

                   1  hexadecimal

                   2  base64

                   3  hexadecimal and base64

           -q     Suppress comments  and  blank  lines  when  showing
                  translated source.

           -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 terminfo; and  out-
                  right 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  capabilities)  even  when  doing translation to
                  termcap format.  This may be needed if you are pre-
                  paring  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 loca-
                  tion 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 terminfo).

           -t     tells  tic  to  discard commented-out capabilities.
                  Normally when translating from terminfo to termcap,
                  untranslatable capabilities 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 term-
                caps.

           -V   reports the version of ncurses which was used in this
                program, and exits.

           -vn  specifies  that  (verbose) output be written to stan-
                dard 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  supply  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 descrip-
                  tion 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 doc-
           umented in terminfo(5).  The exception is the use capabil-
           ity.

           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  description  fields  may  be
           treated that way and check them for dangerous characters.

## EXTENSIONS

           Unlike the SVr4 tic command, this implementation can actu-
           ally compile termcap sources.  In fact,  entries  in  ter-
           minfo  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 anywhere in the source file, or any-
           where in the file tree rooted at TERMINFO (if TERMINFO  is
           defined), or in the user's $HOME/.terminfo database (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  explic-
           itly 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 6.0 (patch 20160611).

## AUTHOR

           Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> and
           Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net>

                                                                    tic(1m)