Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Re: termcap str + params -> control seq. How?
Message-ID: <7068@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 8 Apr 91 18:05:58 GMT
References: <577@bria> <1931@ahds.UUCP> <4797@cernvax.cern.ch>
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 22

>Exactly what I found. I wanted more efficient sequences to move right
>on the same line, so I put in a termcap entry of the form
>
>  rt=\E[%dC:

Which might well be considered an argument in favor of *terminfo*.

At least according to the SunOS 4.0.3 TERMCAP(5) manual page, and the
4.3-tahoe TERMCAP(5) manual page, the "RI" capability takes a single
numeric parameter, and moves the cursor right that many positions -
i.e., there's *already* a capability of the sort you wanted, but with a
name *other* than the one you chose.

Unfortunately, given that there's no single place that specifies what
the complete set of valid capabilities (at least for any given OS
release) are, it's easy for people to add them, ignorant of the fact
that some programs might accept some *other* name for the same
capability.  The fact that every Tom, Dick, and Harriet can "add" new
capabilities to "termcap" isn't an unmixed blessing....

("terminfo", of course, already has an equivalent capability, namely
"cuf".)