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From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.terminals
Subject: Re: proper termcap/terminfo attribute for Unix DEL character?
Message-ID: <13422@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 26 Jul 90 19:50:06 GMT
References: <9007261324.AA06152@jade.berkeley.edu>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 20

In article <9007261324.AA06152@jade.berkeley.edu> lwv27@cas.BITNET writes:
>On most Unix systems that I have been on, one can use stty to redefine the
>the character which generates a delete signal (known as DEL).

Actually, SIGINT (interrupt).

>On some keyboards, there is a key labeled, DEL.  Others, the key is labeled
>Delete.  On yet others, there is no such key, and folks assign either ^?, ^C,
>etc.

Even on terminals having DEL keys, which virtually all do, people from a DEC
OS heritage often prefer to use CTRL-C as their interrupt-generating keystroke.

>What I have yet to see is a termcap or terminfo entry to allow the user
>to specify to a program what key should be treated as that character.

The reason you don't see it is that it is inappropriate.  Termcap/terminfo
is intended to describe the characteristics of the terminal/printer device,
not the manner in which it "ought" to be used.  The SIGINT input character
is a matter of user preference, and the stty approach is suitable for it.