Terminfo Source File

Many UNIX implementations use terminfo databases to allow screen-oriented programs to function correctly when used with different terminals (and other devices). For example, programs built using the curses library use terminfo databases in this manner.

Terminfo databases are comprised of several binary files, which are compiled from TI files. Each TI file contains a description of one or more terminal's capabilities.

Each description begins with a pipe-delimited list of names by which the terminal is known. (The first name is the terminal's common name; the last is its full name.) It then includes a list of the terminal's features, capabilities, and restrictions. For example, font entries describe the fonts a terminal uses.

To compile a TI file, developers use the tic command. This command creates a separate binary file for each terminal described in the TI file. Developers can then include these files in a terminfo database.

You can open and edit a TI file in any text or source code editor, such as GitHub Atom or Microsoft Visual Studio Code .

You can use the Unix command tic to compile a TI file into the binary files needed for a terminfo database.

Programs that open or reference TI files

Updated: June 1, 2022