1Copyright (C) 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
2 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3See the end of the file for license conditions.
4
5
6 This directory contains files of elisp that customize Emacs for certain
7terminal types.
8
9 When Emacs starts, it checks the TERM environment variable to see what type
10of terminal the user is running on, checks for an elisp file named
11"term/${TERM}.el", and if one exists, loads it. If that doesn't yield a file
12that exists, the last hyphen and what follows it is stripped. If that doesn't
13yield a file that exists, the previous hyphen is stripped, and so on until all
14hyphens are gone. For example, if the terminal type is `aaa-48-foo', Emacs
15will try first `term/aaa-48-foo.el', then `term/aaa-48.el' and finally
16`term/aaa.el'. Each terminal specific file should contain a function
17named terminal-init-TERMINALNAME (eg terminal-init-aaa-48 for
18term/aaa-48.el) that Emacs will call in order to initialize the
19terminal. The terminal files should not contain any top level forms
20that are executed when the file is loaded, all the initialization
21actions are performed by the terminal-init-TERMINALNAME functions.
22
23 When writing terminal packages, there are some things it is good to keep in
24mind.
25
26 First, about keycap names. Your terminal package can create any keycap
27cookies it likes, but there are good reasons to stick to the set recognized by
28the X-windows code whenever possible. The key symbols recognized by Emacs
29are listed in src/term.c; look for the string `keys' in that file.
30
31 For one thing, it means that you'll have the same Emacs key bindings on in
32terminal mode as on an X console. If there are differences, you can bet
33they'll frustrate you after you've forgotten about them.
34
35 For another, the X keysms provide a standard set of names that Emacs knows
36about. It tries to bind many of them to useful things at startup, before your
37.emacs is read (so you can override them). In some ways, the X keysym standard
38is a admittedly poor one; it's incomplete, and not well matched to the set of
39`virtual keys' that UNIX terminfo(3) provides. But, trust us, the alternatives
40were worse.
41
42 This doesn't mean that if your terminal has a "Cokebottle" key you shouldn't
43define a [cokebottle] keycap. But if you must define cookies that aren't in
44that set, try to pattern them on the standard terminfo variable names for
45clarity; also, for a fighting chance that your binding may be useful to someone
46else someday.
47
48 For example, if your terminal has a `find' key, observe that terminfo
49supports a key_find capability and call your cookie [find].
50
51Here is a complete list, with corresponding X keysyms.
52
53-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
54Variable name cap X Keysym Description
55-------------- --- ------------ -------------------------------------
56key_down kd down Sent by terminal down arrow key
57key_up ku up Sent by terminal up arrow key
58key_left kl left Sent by terminal left arrow key
59key_right kr right Sent by terminal right arrow key
60key_home kh home Sent by home key.
61key_backspace kb Sent by backspace key
62key_dl kd deleteline Sent by delete line key.
63key_il kA insertline Sent by insert line.
64key_dc kD Sent by delete character key.
65key_ic kI insertchar (1) Sent by ins char/enter ins mode key.
66key_eic KM Sent by rmir or smir in insert mode.
67key_clear kC Sent by clear screen or erase key.
68key_eos kS Sent by clear-to-end-of-screen key.
69key_eol kE Sent by clear-to-end-of-line key.
70key_sf kF Sent by scroll-forward/down key
71key_sr kR Sent by scroll-backward/up key
72key_npage kN next (2) Sent by next-page key
73key_ppage kP prior (2) Sent by previous-page key
74key_stab kT Sent by set-tab key
75key_ctab kt Sent by clear-tab key
76key_catab ka Sent by clear-all-tabs key.
77key_enter @8 kp-enter Enter/send (unreliable)
78key_print %9 print print or copy
79key_ll kH Sent by home-down key
80key_a1 K1 kp-1 Upper left of keypad
81key_a3 K3 kp-3 Upper right of keypad
82key_b2 K2 kp-5 Center of keypad
83key_c1 K4 kp-7 Lower left of keypad
84key_c3 K5 kp-9 Lower right of keypad
85key_btab kB backtab Back tab key
86key_beg @1 begin beg(inning) key
87key_cancel @2 cancel cancel key
88key_close @3 close key
89key_command @4 execute (3) cmd (command) key
90key_copy @5 copy key
91key_create @6 create key
92key_end @7 end end key
93key_exit @9 exit key
94key_find @0 find key
95key_help %1 help key
96key_mark %2 mark key
97key_message %3 message key
98key_move %4 move key
99key_next %5 next (2) next object key
100key_open %6 open key
101key_options %7 menu (3) options key
102key_previous %8 previous (2) previous object key
103key_redo %0 redo redo key
104key_reference &1 ref(erence) key
105key_refresh &2 refresh key
106key_replace &3 replace key
107key_restart &4 reset (3) restart key
108key_resume &5 resume key
109key_save &6 save key
110key_sbeg &9 shifted beginning key
111key_select *6 select select key
112key_suspend &7 suspend key
113key_undo &8 undo undo key
114
115key_scancel &0 shifted cancel key
116key_scommand *1 shifted command key
117key_scopy *2 shifted copy key
118key_screate *3 shifted create key
119key_sdc *4 shifted delete char key
120key_sdl *5 shifted delete line key
121key_send *7 shifted end key
122key_seol *8 shifted clear line key
123key_sexit *9 shifted exit key
124key_sf kF shifted find key
125key_shelp #1 shifted help key
126key_shome #2 shifted home key
127key_sic #3 shifted input key
128key_sleft #4 shifted left arrow key
129key_smessage %a shifted message key
130key_smove %b shifted move key
131key_snext %c shifted next key
132key_soptions %d shifted options key
133key_sprevious %e shifted prev key
134key_sprint %f shifted print key
135key_sredo %g shifted redo key
136key_sreplace %h shifted replace key
137key_sright %i shifted right arrow
138key_sresume %j shifted resume key
139key_ssave !1 shifted save key
140key_suspend !2 shifted suspend key
141key_sundo !3 shifted undo key
142
143key_f0 k0 f0 (4) function key 0
144key_f1 k1 f1 function key 1
145key_f2 k2 f2 function key 2
146key_f3 k3 f3 function key 3
147key_f4 k4 f4 function key 4
148key_f5 k5 f5 function key 5
149key_f6 k6 f6 function key 6
150key_f7 k7 f7 function key 7
151key_f8 k8 f8 function key 8
152key_f9 k9 f9 function key 9
153key_f10 k; f10 (4) function key 10
154key_f11 F1 f11 function key 11
155 : : : :
156key_f35 FP f35 function key 35
157key_f36 FQ function key 36
158 : : : :
159key_f64 k1 function key 64
160
161(1) The terminfo documentation says this may be the 'insert character' or
162 `enter insert mode' key. Accordingly, key_ic is mapped to the `insertchar'
163 keysym if there is also a key_dc key; otherwise it's mapped to `insert'.
164 The presumption is that keyboards with `insert character' keys usually
165 have `delete character' keys paired with them.
166
167(2) If there is no key_next key but there is a key_npage key, key_npage
168 will be bound to the `next' keysym. If there is no key_previous key but
169 there is a key_ppage key, key_ppage will be bound to the `previous' keysym.
170
171(3) Sorry, these are not exact but they're the best we can do.
172
173(4) The uses of the "k0" capability are inconsistent; sometimes it
174 describes F10, whereas othertimes it describes F0 and "k;" describes F10.
175 Emacs attempts to politely accommodate both systems by testing for
176 "k;", and if it is present, assuming that "k0" denotes F0, otherwise F10.
177-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
178
179 The following X keysyms do *not* have terminfo equivalents. These are
180the cookies your terminal package will have to set up itself, if you want them:
181
182 break
183 system
184 user
185 kp-backtab
186 kp-space
187 kp-tab
188 kp-f1
189 kp-f2
190 kp-f3
191 kp-f4
192 kp-multiply
193 kp-add
194 kp-separator
195 kp-subtract
196 kp-decimal
197 kp-divide
198 kp-0
199 kp-2
200 kp-4
201 kp-6
202 kp-8
203 kp-equal
204
205 In general, you should not bind any of the standard keysym names to
206functions in a terminal package. There's code in loaddefs.el that does that;
207the less people make exceptions to that, the more consistent an interface Emacs
208will have across different keyboards. Those exceptions should go in your
209.emacs file.
210
211 Finally, if you're using a USL UNIX or a Sun box or anything else with the
212USL version of curses(3) on it, bear in mind that the original curses(3) had
213(and still has) a very much smaller set of keycaps. In fact, the reliable
214ones were just the arrow keys and the first ten function keys. If you care
215about making your package portable to older Berkeley machines, don't count on
216the setup code to bind anything else.
217
218 If your terminal's arrow key sequences are so funky that they conflict with
219normal Emacs key bindings, the package should set up a function called
220(enable-foo-arrow-keys), where `foo' becomes the terminal name, and leave
221it up to the user's .emacs file whether to call it.
222
223 Before writing a terminal-support package, it's a good idea to read the
224existing ones and learn the common conventions.
225
226
227This file is part of GNU Emacs.
228
229GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
230it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
231the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
232any later version.
233
234GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
235but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
236MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
237GNU General Public License for more details.
238
239You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
240along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
241Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
242Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
243