Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!brl-adm!brl-smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) Newsgroups: comp.terminals Subject: Re: character insert: ic, im, ei, ip? Message-ID: <7866@brl-smoke.ARPA> Date: 11 May 88 13:51:10 GMT References: <8700002@uiucdcsm> Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB)) Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD. Lines: 49 In article <8700002@uiucdcsm> kkim@uiucdcsm.cs.uiuc.edu writes: > i got confused about the following termcap entries used >in unix systems: ic, im, ei, ip. ... >Q: what is the difference between these two? some simple example >will help. start with the following on the display, with the cursor between the "a"s and the "b"s. aaaaabbbbb The "ic" code produces aaaaa bbbbb The "im" code produces aaaaabbbbb (no visible change, just an internal mode is set) The "ic" code followed by "ccc" produces aaaaacccbbb The first character was in effect inserted (actually it overwrote a blank that the "ic" code inserted) and the following characters just do the normal thing, namely overwrite what is on the display. The "im" code followed by "ccc" produces aaaaacccbbbbb You'd better do an "ei" to get out of insert mode. >Q: my Qume QVT-101 terminal needs "ESCAPE Q" to insert a character. >which of the two types does my terminal belong to? shall i give >"\EQ" to "ic" or "im"? "ic" inserts just ONE following character after which the terminal reverts to overwrite mode. "im" initiates a mode in which ALL subsequent characters are inserted until the "ei" string is sent. One cannot tell from your description which of the two cases applies. My guess would be "im" with ei=\ER, because that's what HP terminals do. >Q: what is the difference between ip and ei? also what is "post >insert padding" and when is it required? some example will help. Padding is used to cause a delay while some time-consuming operation occurs during which additional screen formatting instructions could be lost. Delay might be necessary for insertion of each character because it takes time for the terminal to copy the block of characters that has to be moved to new locations in its display memory. "ei" undoes the effect of "im" and has nothing to do with padding.