Terminal capabilities

Following tables show all capabilities of the terminal type "xterm" defined in /usr/share/lib/terminfo/x/xterm resp. /etc/termcap. 

Terminal capabilities of type str (control character sequences)

Remarks:

• In the termcap file, \E represents the ESC character (different from other notations such as ^[ or \e).
• In the meaning column, #1 resp. #2 represent the 1st resp. 2nd numeric argument represented by %d parameters in the control character sequence.
• The %i prefix before the %d parameter in the control character sequence means that the given numeric argument will be incremented by 1 before output.
• The %pn prefix (n=1...9) means that the n-th parameter is pushed to the stack.

terminfo name	termcap name	control character sequence	meaning
bel	bl	\a	ring the terminal bell
cr	cr	\r	carriage return
csr	cs	\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dr	change scrolling region to rows #1 to #2
tbc	ct	\E[3g	clear all tab stops
clear	cl	\E[H\E[2J	clear screen, cursor to upper left
el	ce	\E[K	clear to end of line
ed	cd	\E[J	clear display after cursor
cup	cm	\E[%i%p1%d;%p2%dH	move cursor to row #1 and column #2
cud1	do	\v	move cursor down 1 rom
home	ho	\E[H	move cursor home (upper left corner)
cub1	le	\b	move cursor left (back) 1 column
cuf1	nd	\E[C	move cursor right (forward) 1 column
cuu1	up	\E[A	move cursor up 1 row
dch1	dc	\E[P	delete 1 character at cursor
dl1	dl	\E[M	delete 1 line at cursor
smacs	as	\E(0	start using alternate character set
rev	mr	\E[7m	turn on reverse attribute
smso	so	\E[7m	standout mode start
smul	us	\E[4m	underline mode start
rmacs	ae	\E(B	end using alternate character set
sgr0	me	\E[m	turn off all attributes
rmso	se	\E[m	standout mode end
rmul	ue	\E[m	underline mode end
fsl	fs	\E8	return from status line
ich1	ic	\E[@	insert (space for) one character
il1	al	\E[L	insert 1 line below cursor
nel	nw	\EE	newline (CR followed by LF)
dch	DC	\E[%p1%dP	delete #1 characters at cursor
dl	DL	\E[%p1%dM	delete #1 lines at cursor
cud	DO	\E[%p1%dB	move cursor down #1 rows
ich	IC	\E[%p1%d@	insert space for #1 characters at cursor
il	AL	\E[%p1%dL	add #1 lines above cursor
cub	LE	\E[%p1%dD	move cursor left #1 columns
cuf	RI	\E[%p1%dC	move cursor right #1 columns
cuu	UP	\E[%p1%dA	move cursor up #1 rows
rs1	r1	\E>\E[1;3;4;5;6l\E[?7h\E[m\E[r\E[2J\E[H	reset terminal string 1
rc	rc	\E8	restore cursor position (saved by sc)
sc	sc	\E7	save cursor position
ind	sf	\n	scroll forward 1 line
ri	sr	\EM	scroll backwards one line
hts	st	\EH	set a tab in every row, current columns
ht	ta	\t	hardware tab stop
tsl	ts	\E7\E[27;000H	move to status line
acsc	ac	``aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~	graphics charset pairs (based on vt100)
kbs	kb	\b	string sent by backspace key
kclr	kc	\E[40~	string sent by clear-screen key
kdch1	kD	\E[P	string sent by delete-character key
kdl1	kL	\E[M	string sent by delete-line key
kcud1	kd	\E[B	string sent by down-arrow key
kel	kE	\E[24~\E[11~	string sent by clear-to-end-of-line key
ked	kS	\E[39~	string sent by clear-to-end-of-screen key
khome	kh	\E[h	string sent by home key
kich1	kI	\E[2}}	string sent by insert-character key
kil1	kA	\E[24~\E[2~	string sent by insert-line key
kcub1	kl	\E[D	string sent by left arrow key
kll	kH	\E[24~\E[3~	string sent by lower-left key
knp	kN	\E[6~	string sent by next-page key
kpp	kP	\E[5~	string sent by previous-page key
kcuf1	kr	\E[C	string sent by right arrow key
kcuu1	ku	\E[A	string sent by up arrow key
kcbt	kB	\EOj	string sent by back-tab key
kcan	@2	\E[24~\E[4~	string sent by cancel key
kcmd	@4	\E[37~	string sent by command key
kcpy	@5	\E[24~\E[21~	string sent by copy key
kend	@7	\E[4~	string sent by end key
khlp	%1	\E[28~	string sent by help key
kmrk	%2	\E[24~\E[12~	string sent by mark key
kmov	%4	\E[24~\E[23~	string sent by move key
knxt	%5	\E[42~	string sent by next key
kprt	%9	\E[24~\E[15~	string sent by print key
krfr	&2	\E[24~\E[13~	string sent by refresh key
krst	&4	\E[28~	string sent by restart key
ksav	&6	\E[24~\E[17~	string sent by save key
kund	&8	\E[38~	string sent by undo key
kf1	k1	\E[11~	string sent by function key F1
kf2	k2	\E[12~	string sent by function key F2
kf3	k3	\E[13~	string sent by function key F3
kf4	k4	\E[14~	string sent by function key F4
kf5	k5	\E[15~	string sent by function key F5
kf6	k6	\E[17~	string sent by function key F6
kf7	k7	\E[18~	string sent by function key F7
kf8	k8	\E[19~	string sent by function key F8
kf9	k9	\E[20~	string sent by function key F9
kf10	k;	\E[21~	string sent by function key F10
kf11	F1	\E[23~	string sent by function key F11
kf12	F2	\E[24~	string sent by function key F12
kf13	F3	\E[25~	string sent by function key F13
kf14	F4	\E[26~	string sent by function key F14
kf15	F5	\E[28~	string sent by function key F15
kf16	F6	kmenu	string sent by function key F16
kf17	F7	\E[31~	string sent by function key F17
kf18	F8	\E[32~	string sent by function key F18
kf19	F9	\E[33~	string sent by function key F19
kf20	FA	\E[34~	string sent by function key F20
kf21	FB	\E[69~	string sent by function key F21
kf22	FC	\E[70~	string sent by function key F22
kf23	FD	\E[71~	string sent by function key F23
kf24	FE	\E[72~	string sent by function key F24

Following terminal capabilities (terminfo names) of type str have the value NULL (unsupported):

cbt, hpa, cmdch, civis, mrcup, cnorm, ll, cvvis, dsl, hd, blink, bold, smcup, smdc, dim, smir, invis, prot, ech, rmcup, rmdc, rmir, flash, ff, is1, is2, is3, if, ip, ktbc, kctab, krmir, kf0, kind, kri, khts, rmkx, smkx, lf0, lf1, lf10, lf2, lf3, lf4, lf5, lf6, lf7, lf8, lf9, rmm, smm, pad, indn, rin, pfkey, pfloc, pfx, mc0, mc4, mc5, rep, rs2, rs3, rf, vpa, sgr, wind, uc, hu, iprog, ka1, ka3, kb2, kc1, kc3, mc5p, rmp, pln, smxon, rmxon, smam, rmam, xonc, xoffc, enacs, smln, rmln, kbeg, kclo, kcrt, kent, kext, kfnd, kmsg, kopn, kopt, kprv, krdo, kref, krpl, kres, kspd, kBEG, kCAN, kCMD, kCPY, kCRT, kDC, kDL, kslt, kEND, kEOL, kEXT, kFND, kHLP, kHOM, kIC, kLFT, kMSG, kMOV, kNXT, kOPT, kPRV, kPRT, kRDO, kRPL, kRIT, kRES, kSAV, kSPD, kUND, rfi, kf25, kf26, kf27, kf28, kf29, kf30, kf31, kf32, kf33, kf34, kf35, kf36, kf37, kf38, kf39, kf40, kf41, kf42, kf43, kf44, kf45, kf46, kf47, kf48, kf49, kf50, kf51, kf52, kf53, kf54, kf55, kf56, kf57, kf58, kf59, kf60, kf61, kf62, kf63, el1, mgc, smgl, smgr, fln, sclk, dclk, rmclk, cwin, wingo, hup, dial, qdial, tone, pulse, hook, pause, wait, u0, u1, u2, u3, u4, u5, u6, u7, u8, u9, op, oc, initc, initp, scp, setf, setb, cpi, lpi, chr, cvr, defc, swidm, sdrfq, sitm, slm, smicm, snlq, snrmq, sshm, ssubm, ssupm, sum, rwidm, ritm, rlm, rmicm, rshm, rsubm, rsupm, rum, mhpa, mcud1, mcub1, mcuf1, mvpa, mcuu1, porder, mcud, mcub, mcuf, mcuu, scs, smgb, smgbp, smglp, smgrp, smgt, smgtp, sbim, scsd, rbim, rcsd, subcs, supcs, docr, zerom, csnm, kmous, minfo, reqmp, getm, setaf, setab, pfxl, devt, csin, s0ds, s1ds, s2ds, s3ds, smglr, smgtb, birep, binel, bicr, colornm, defbi, endbi, setcolor, slines, dispc, smpch, rmpch, smsc, rmsc, pctrm, scesc, scesa, sht, sbt, kmenu, kmode, kdw, kiw

Terminal capabilities of type bool

terminfo name	termcap name	meaning	value
am	am	terminal does automargin (wraparound)	1
xenl	xn	terminal ignores newline at automargin (wraparound)	1
km	km	terminal has "meta key"	1

Following terminal capabilities (terminfo names) of type bool have the value 0 (false):

bw, xsb, xhp, eo, gn, hc, hs, in, da, db, mir, msgr, os, eslok, xt, hz, ul, xon, nxon, mc5i, chts, nrrmc, npc, ndscr, ccc, bce, hls, xhpa, crxm, daisy, xvpa, sam, cpix, lpix

Terminal capabilities of type num

terminfo name	termcap name	meaning	value
cols	co	number of columns	80 (for example)
it	it	initial value of tab stop width	8
lines	li	number of lines	28 (for example)

Following terminal capabilities (terminfo names) of type num have the value -1 (unsupported):

lm, xmc, pb, vt, wsl, nlab, lh, lw, ma, wnum, colors, pairs, ncv, bufsz, spinv, spinh, maddr, mjump, mcs, mls, npins, orc, orl, orhi, orvi, cps, widcs, btns, bitwin, bitype

Trick to change the xterm window title

For terminals of the xterm type (and also for several other terminal types), in addition to the above-mentioned terminal properties, the following control character sequence is available to change the title line of the terminal window, for example, to "TITLE TEXT":

\E]0;TITLE TEXT^G

The special characters and their meaning are:

character	meaning	ASCII value	EBCDIC value	alternative representations
\E	ESC character	\033 = 0x1b	\047 = 0x27	^[ or \e
^G	CTRL-G character	\007 = 0x07	\057 = 0x2f	BEL or \a

However, this will not work if the terminal settings prohibit manipulation of the terminal window's title bar.