The TERMINFO database describes terminal and
printer capabilities. A wide range of capabilities
can be defined that include, for example, the number
of lines and columns for the device, whether or not
the terminal wraps at the right margin, or what character sequence
causes a carriage return. The database
is used by screen-oriented programs such as VI or
CURSES programs. By using TERMINFO to handle the
capabilities of individual devices, a program can
work with a variety of devices without any changes to
the code.
Refer to Chapter 3 “TERMINFO Database” for a complete description of the
TERMINFO database.
