Previous: systemsystemcommand Up: ../slides.html Next: text
VT100 | VT52 > <WIDTH number> In order to better support command recognition and in-line help, the parsing package can take advantage of terminal cursor editing capabilities if it knows what kind of a terminal is in use. The default is a dumb terminal, one of the equivalent types GLASS or HARDCOPY, which has no cursor editing capabilities whatever. The other five types (and more can easily be added) represent common types of terminals from many different manufacturers. For neat output display, the parsing package also needs to know the terminal output width, which can be defined by the WIDTH option. It defaults to 72 columns if not specified. If no options are specified, the TERMINAL command will display the current terminal type and width. When the operating system can provide this information, as is the case on the DEC-20, then the terminal type and width will be automatically obtained at the beginning of each command line, so that if the job is moved from one terminal to another, terminal handling will continue to be correct, and it will not be necessary to issue this command.