What is "termcap"

Termcap (terminal capability) is a software library and database used on Unix-like computers. It enables programs to use display computer terminals in a device-independent manner, which greatly simplifies the process of writing portable text mode applications. Bill Joy wrote the first termcap library in 1978 for the Berkeley Unix operating system; it has since been ported to most Unix and Unix-like environments. Joy's design was reportedly influenced by the design of the terminal data store in the earlier Incompatible Timesharing System.

A termcap database can describe the capabilities of hundreds of different display terminals. This allows programs to have character-based display output, independent of the type of terminal. On-screen text editors such as vi and emacs are examples of programs that may use termcap. Other programs are listed in the Termcap category.

Examples of what the database describes:

• how many columns wide the display is
• what string to send to move the cursor to an arbitrary position (including how to encode the row and column numbers)
• how to scroll the screen up one or several lines
• how much padding is needed for such a scrolling operation.