*term.txt*      For Vim version 5.5b.  Last change: 1999 Sep 09


		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL    by Bram Moolenaar


Terminal information					*terminal-info*

Vim uses information about the terminal you are using to fill the screen and
recognize what keys you hit.  If this information is not correct the screen
may be messed up or keys may not be recognized.  The actions which have to be
performed on the screen are accomplished by outputting a string of
characters.  Special keys produce a string of characters.  These strings are
stored in the terminal options, see |terminal-options|.

NOTE: Most of this is not used when running the |GUI|.

1. Startup			|startup-terminal|
2. Terminal options		|terminal-options|
3. Window size			|window-size|
4. Slow and fast terminals	|slow-fast-terminal|
5. Using the mouse		|mouse-using|

==============================================================================
1. Startup						*startup-terminal*

When Vim is started a default terminal type is assumed.  For the Amiga this is
a standard CLI window, for MS-DOS the pc terminal, for Unix an ansi terminal.
A few other terminal types are always available, see below |builtin-terms|.

You can give the terminal name with the '-T' Vim argument.  If it is not given
Vim will try to get the name from the TERM environment variable.

							*termcap* *terminfo*
On Unix the terminfo database or termcap file is used.  This is referred to as
"termcap" in all the documentation.  At compile time, when running configure,
the choice whether to use terminfo or termcap is done automatically.  When
running Vim the output of ":version" will show |+terminfo| if terminfo is
used.  Also see |xterm-screens|.

On non-Unix systems a termcap is only available if Vim was compiled with
TERMCAP defined.

					*builtin-terms* *builtin_terms*
Which builtin terminals are available depends on a few defines in feature.h,
which needs to be set at compile time:
    define		output of ":version"	terminals builtin	~
NO_BUILTIN_TCAPS	-builtin_terms		none
SOME_BUILTIN_TCAPS	+builtin_terms		most common ones (default)
ALL_BUILTIN_TCAPS	++builtin_terms		all available

You can see a list of available builtin terminals with ":set term=xxx" (when
not running the GUI).  Also see |+builtin_terms|.

If the termcap code is included Vim will try to get the strings for the
terminal you are using from the termcap file and the builtin termcaps.  Both
are always used, if an entry for the terminal you are using is present.  Which
one is used first depends on the 'ttybuiltin' option:

'ttybuiltin' on		1: builtin termcap	2: external termcap
'ttybuiltin' off	1: external termcap	2: builtin termcap

If an option is missing in one of them, it will be obtained from the other
one.  If an option is present in both, the one first encountered is used.

Which external termcap file is used varies from system to system and may
depend on the environment variables "TERMCAP" and "TERMPATH".  See "man
tgetent".

Settings depending on terminal			*term-dependent-settings*

If you want to set options or mappings, depending on the terminal name, you
can do this best in your .vimrc.  Example:

>   if &term == "xterm"
>     ... xterm maps and settings ...
>   elseif &term =~ "vt10."
>     ... vt100, vt102 maps and settings ...
>   endif

						*raw-terminal-mode*
For normal editing the terminal will be put into "raw" mode.  The strings
defined with 't_ti' and 't_ks' will be sent to the terminal.  Normally this
puts the terminal in a state where the termcap codes are valid and activates
the cursor and function keys.  When Vim exits the terminal will be put back
into the mode it was before Vim started.  The strings defined with 't_te' and
't_ke' will be sent to the terminal.  On the Amiga with commands that execute
an external command (e.g., "!!") the terminal will be put into Normal mode for
a moment.  This means that you can stop the output to the screen by hitting a
printing key.  Output resumes when you hit <BS>.

							*cs7-problem*
Note: If the terminal settings are changed after running Vim, you might have
an illegal combination of settings.  This has been reported on Solaris 2.5
with "stty cs8 parenb", which is restored as "stty cs7 parenb".  Use
"stty cs8 -parenb -istrip" instead, this is restored correctly.

Some termcap entries are wrong in the sense that after sending 't_ks' the
cursor keys send codes different from the codes defined in the termcap.  To
avoid this you can set 't_ks' (and 't_ke') to empty strings.  This must be
done during initialization (see |initialization|), otherwise its too late.

Some termcap entries assume that the highest bit is always reset.  For
example: The cursor-up entry for the amiga could be ":ku=\EA:".  But the Amiga
really sends "\233A".  This works fine if the highest bit is reset, e.g., when
using an Amiga over a serial line.  If the cursor keys don't work, try the
entry ":ku=\233A:".

Some termcap entries have the entry ":ku=\E[A:".  But the Amiga really sends
"\233A".  On output "\E[" and "\233" are often equivalent, on input they
aren't.  You will have to change the termcap entry, or change the key code with
the :set command to fix this.

Many cursor key codes start with an <Esc>.  Vim must find out if this a single
hit of the <Esc> key or the start of a cursor key sequence.  It waits for a
next character to arrive.  If it does not arrive within one second a single
<Esc> is assumed.  On very slow systems this may fail, causing cursor keys not
to work sometimes.  If you discover this problem reset the 'timeout' option.
Vim will wait for the next character to arrive after an <Esc>.  If you want to
enter a single <Esc> you must type it t                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       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