Py-Terminfo is a pure-python parser for compiled terminfo files. Unlike other libraries, it has no binary dependecies on ncurses. However, it has a one-time dependency on an ncurses capabilities table, such as those found in the ncurses source.
- Python 2.7 or Python 3.3+
- Access to a capabilities table or a py-terminfo cache file (see below)
Due to the nature of the compiled terminfo format (see the term(5) manpage),
py-terminfo needs access to an ordered list of capability names to associate
with raw capability values. A utility is included
(py-terminfo-create-cache.py) that reads the capabilities file an creates
a cached form suitable for use by py-terminfo (instead of keeping the capabilities
file around).
If you do not have access to a capabilities file, a useable subset of the required
information can be loaded from term.h. Only the variable name and number are
loaded, and you must pass use_variable_names=True to the TermInfo constructor.
To load the information, pass use_term_h=True or use_term_h='/path/to/term.h'
to load_cap_info.
First, you'll have to load capabilities information. This information is used by py-terminfo to associate capabilities data with the corresponding capability name.
>>> from terminfo import TermInfo, load_cap_info
>>> cap_info = load_cap_info(cache_file='./.caps-cache')
>>> cap_info
<Capabilites Table: flags#44, numbers#39, strings#414, aliases#49>
>>>You can also use the returned object to get information about different terminal capabilities:
>>> cap_info.flags
<Capabilities Sub-Table(flags): 44 entries>
>>> cap_info.find('ccc')
Capability(number=27, name='ccc', variable_name='can_change', type='flags', old_cap_name='cc', key_name=None, key_value=None, versions='-----', description='terminal can re-define existing colors')
>>> cap_info.numbers[0]
Capability(number=0, name='cols', variable_name='columns', type='numbers', old_cap_name='co', key_name=None, key_value=None, versions='YBCGE', description='number of columns in a line')
>>> cap_info.strings.by_variable_name('initialize_color')
Capability(number=299, name='initc', variable_name='initialize_color', type='strings', old_cap_name='Ic', key_name=None, key_value=None, versions='-----', description='initialize color #1 to (#2,#3,#4)')
>>>After you've loaded the capabilities information, you can load a terminfo file and inspect it for capabilities:
>>> with open('/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm', 'rb') as f:
... info = TermInfo(f.read(), cap_info)
...
>>> info
<TermInfo(xterm): flags#10, numbers#5, strings#221, ext=True>
>>> info.names
[u'xterm', u'xterm terminal emulator (X Window System)']
>>>You can access the different capabilities:
>>> info.flags
<Capabilites(flags) [am, xenl, km, mir, msgr, mc5i, npc, bce, OTbs]>
>>> info.numbers
<Capabilites(numbers) {cols: 80, it: 8, lines: 24, colors: 8, pairs: 64}>
>>> info.strings['bel']
'\x07'
>>> info.numbers['columns']
80
>>> 'ccc' in info.flags
False
>>>You can also access the data from the ncurses extended terminfo:
>>> info.has_extended_capabilities
True
>>> info.extended_flags
<Extended Capabilites(flags) [AX]>
>>>If you don't want py-terminfo to try and parse extended capabilities,
pass parse_extended=False to the TermInfo constructor.
The print-terminfo.py utility functions similarly to the the infocmp utility
included with ncurses. It demonstrates how to load capabilities information and
parse terminfo files, extracting capabilities.