TERM

TERM

[TJ Luoma]

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How do I know which TERM I should use?

Is it determined by the terminal application that I am using (i.e.
Terminal.app or iTerm on Mac OS X, or "Screens" on iPad), or is there a
decent "baseline" I ought to be able to use safely?

I'm not entirely sure what TERM really does, other than control whether or
not 'ls' will output color, or whether color can be used in zsh's $PROMPT.
I've used "vt100" for ages, but it appears that pretty limited w/r/t colors,
etc.

Thanks!

TjL

Re: TERM

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2011-08-30 12:17:15 -0400, TJ Luoma wrote:
> How do I know which TERM I should use?

You should normally use the value provided by your terminal. Avoid
generic values such as "xterm", unless you never ssh to other
machines, as the terminfo databases for such generic values are
platform-dependent (for instance, Mac OS X has kbs=^H, while
Debian has kbs=\177).

> Is it determined by the terminal application that I am using (i.e.
> Terminal.app or iTerm on Mac OS X, or "Screens" on iPad), or is there a
> decent "baseline" I ought to be able to use safely?

AFAIK, iTerm tries to be compatible with the configured TERM value,
but at least with the old versions (latest on Tiger), it does that
badly (I suppose that for MacPorts users, it doesn't know which
database to use: the one from Apple or the one from MacPorts).

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.net/>
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Re: TERM

[Jérémie Roquet]

Hi TjL,

2011/8/30 TJ Luoma <luomat@gmail.com>:
> How do I know which TERM I should use?
>
> Is it determined by the terminal application that I am using (i.e.
> Terminal.app or iTerm on Mac OS X, or "Screens" on iPad), or is there a
> decent "baseline" I ought to be able to use safely?

If you mean $TERM, you shouldn't have to set it by hand (ie. it
depends on the terminal you are using).

> I'm not entirely sure what TERM really does, other than control whether or
> not 'ls' will output color, or whether color can be used in zsh's $PROMPT.

It can be used to know which control codes are supported, for example
(to set the window / tab title, for colors, cursor movements…)

> I've used "vt100" for ages, but it appears that pretty limited w/r/t colors,
> etc.

Try xterm, rxvt, rxvt-256color…

Best regards,

-- 
Jérémie

Re: TERM

[Jérémie Roquet]

2011/8/30 Jérémie Roquet <arkanosis@gmail.com>:
> It can be used to know which control codes are supported

I meant control /sequences/, of course.

-- 
Jérémie

Re: TERM

[TJ Luoma]

Well, I'm glad I asked! Removing the TERM= from .zshenv solved the
problem that I was having with my $PROMPT when I ssh via my iPad. I
thought that the iPad just wasn't "smart" enough… turns out it was
just a TERM setting…

My terminal client (iTerm 2) will let me set the TERM in the

Preferences » Profiles » Terminal » "Report Terminal Type"

but if I had a conflict in the preferences vs the zshenv, it also
caused problems.

Thanks again!

TjL