Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: vt100 termcap (problem/question)
Message-ID: <12218@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 23 Feb 90 09:31:04 GMT
References: <1177@psc90.UUCP>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 23

In article <1177@psc90.UUCP> pyr4@psc90.UUCP (**** The Wizard ****) writes:
>	This is 2reverse video2
>	so=2\E[7m   :se=2\E[m
>	What I would like to know is are they there for some purpose?  If
>so what is it.  I would also like to how to use tgoto and tputs if possible.

There are two parts to your problem.  The minor one is that some turkey
has given you a bogus VT100 termcap.  The VT100 absolutely must use
DC3/DC1 flow control for proper operation; if the termcap description
is properly set up, there is no need for the padding specifications
(which is what the "2"s are).  The major problem is that termcap string
capabilities are designed to be output only by tputs() or tgoto(),
which know how to handle all the relevant termcap conventions.  You
should not attempt to simply printf() the capability strings.  This
will be made clearer in the new revised termcap manual that I'm
currently preparing, which will be posted somewhere and shipped off
to Berkeley (with the intent that it be included in 4.4BSD) when it's
ready.

tgoto() and tputs() should be described under TERMLIB(3X) in your UNIX
manual, and termcap is explained under TERMCAP(5) or TERMCAP(4),
depending on whose manual section numbering system you're afflicted
with.