infotocap Command in Linux
The infotocap command in Linux converts the terminfo description into a termcap description. The terminfo is a more advanced and flexible system that handles modern terminal capabilities. It has largely replaced termcap, which is simpler but more limited and is now considered outdated.
Converting terminfo to termcap is necessary to maintain compatibility with older systems, applications, or environments. This conversion ensures that modern terminals or terminal descriptions can work in a legacy or constrained environment.
Table of Contents
Here is a comprehensive guide to the options available with the infotocap command −
Syntax of infotocap Command
The syntax of the infotocap command is as follows −
infotocap [options] [file]
The [options] field is used to specify the options to change the command's behavior. The [file] option is used to specify the terminfo file that is required to convert to termcap. The terminfo files are binary and not directly accessible. They first need to be converted to text files.
Options of infotocap Command
The options of the infotocap command are listed below −
| Options | Description |
|---|---|
| -v | To print the tracing information to standard error (stderr) as the command executes |
| -V | To display the version of the command |
| -1 | To display one field per line, instead of several fields on each line (default maximum width is 60 characters) |
| -w | To change the output width characters |
Examples of infotocap Command in Linux
This section demonstrates the usage of infotocap command in Linux with examples −
Converting a terminfo File to termcap
To convert a terminfo file to termcap, use the infotocap command with the terminal file path. The terminal files are located in the /usr/share/terminfo directory.
To convert the terminfo files to termcap, they need to be converted into a .txt or .info file. The infotocap command does not directly convert terminfo files because they are binary.
Directly converting the binary gives the error shown in the image below −
First, convert the terminfo binary file to a .info file using the infocmp command. For example, to convert the xterm binary, use −
infocmp xterm > xterm.info
An xterm.info file will be generated in the current working directory. To convert it to a termcap file, use the command given below −
infotocap xterm.info
Displaying Tracing Information
To display the tracing information while converting, use the -v option −
infotocap -v xterm.info
Displaying Output Fields in One Line
By default, the output is displayed in several lines with a line width of 60 characters. To display the output in one line, use the -1 option −
infotocap -1 xterm.info
Modifying the Output Line Width
To modify the output width, use the -w option. For example, to set it to 100 characters, use the infotocap command in the following way −
infotocap -w100 xterm.info
Conclusion
The terminfo is a database system that defines the capabilities and behaviors of various types of terminals. It describes controlling a terminal's display, input, and other features.
The terminfo has replaced the termcap, which was simple. Some older systems still use termcap databases. To maintain the compatibility, the terminfo files can be converted to termcap. To convert, the infotocap command is used.
In this tutorial, we explained the infotocap command, its syntax, options, and usage in Linux with examples.