What $TERM should be utilized in order to enable both 256 colors and mouse movement events within Python's curses module?

Question

What $TERM should be utilized in order to enable both 256 colors and mouse movement events within Python's curses module?

When I set the TERM environment variable to 'xterm-1003', I can receive mouse move events, but the color display is not great and curses.can_change_color() returns False.

os.environ['TERM'] = 'xterm-1003'
...
curses.mousemask(curses.ALL_MOUSE_EVENTS | curses.REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION)
...
while True:
    event = screen.getch()
    if event == curses.KEY_MOUSE:
        # Mouse move events are received without needing a click
        _, mx, my, _, _ = curses.getmouse()

If I change the TERM env var to 'xterm-256color', the color palette improves and curses.can_change_color() returns True. However, mouse events are only triggered by clicking a button.

>ls /usr/share/terminfo/x/

The terminal info directory reports various available options:

xfce           xterm-256color  xterm-hp      xterm-r5     xterm-xf86-v32   xterm-xfree86
xterm          xterm-88color   xterm-new     xterm-r6     xterm-xf86-v33   xterm-xi
xterm-1002     xterm-8bit      xterm-nic     xterm-sco    xterm-xf86-v333  xterms
xterm-1003     xterm-basic     xterm-noapp   xterm-sun    xterm-xf86-v40
xterm-16color  xterm-bold      xterm-old     xterm-vt220  xterm-xf86-v43
xterm-24       xterm-color     xterm-pcolor  xterm-vt52   xterm-xf86-v44

None of these options seem to satisfy both requirements of curses.can_change_color() being True and receiving mouse move events. Is there a method to achieve both by adjusting the $TERM value or another approach?

Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

python ncurses curses xterm python-curses

Answer 1

Answer №1

If you want to customize your terminal settings, you have the freedom to create your own using tools like infocmp (to display an entry's contents) and tic (to compile an entry). If system permissions are a concern, it will save to $HOME/.terminfo.

To begin, take a look at xterm-1003 and xterm-256color:

> infocmp -x xterm-1003 xterm-256color
comparing xterm-1003 to xterm-256color.
    comparing booleans.
        ccc: F:T.
    comparing numbers.
        colors: 8, 256.
        pairs: 64, 32767.
    comparing strings.
        initc: NULL, '\E]4;%p1%d;rgb\:%p2%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p3%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p4%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X\E\\'.
        setab: '...'.
        setaf: '...'.
        setb: '...', NULL.
        setf: '...', NULL.
        XM: '...', NULL.

In essence, you simply need to add the XM functionality to a modified version of xterm-256color.

Here's how:

```
infocmp -x xterm-256color >foo
```
Edit foo file to include the XM string
tic -x foo

The "-x" flag is crucial for tic to process the XM capability, which is recognized by ncurses as an additional custom feature in the directory database.

Answer 2

If you want to customize your terminal settings, you have the freedom to create your own using tools like infocmp (to display an entry's contents) and tic (to compile an entry). If system permissions are a concern, it will save to $HOME/.terminfo.

To begin, take a look at xterm-1003 and xterm-256color:

> infocmp -x xterm-1003 xterm-256color
comparing xterm-1003 to xterm-256color.
    comparing booleans.
        ccc: F:T.
    comparing numbers.
        colors: 8, 256.
        pairs: 64, 32767.
    comparing strings.
        initc: NULL, '\E]4;%p1%d;rgb\:%p2%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p3%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X/%p4%{255}%*%{1000}%/%2.2X\E\\'.
        setab: '...'.
        setaf: '...'.
        setb: '...', NULL.
        setf: '...', NULL.
        XM: '...', NULL.

In essence, you simply need to add the XM functionality to a modified version of xterm-256color.

Here's how:

```
infocmp -x xterm-256color >foo
```
Edit foo file to include the XM string
tic -x foo

The "-x" flag is crucial for tic to process the XM capability, which is recognized by ncurses as an additional custom feature in the directory database.

Answer 3

Answer №2

Check out this helpful solution which offers a straightforward approach without causing any system disruptions.

curses.mousemask(curses.REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION)
print('\033[?1003h') # activate mouse tracking using the XTERM API

Make sure to follow the order: first call mousemask(), then execute the print statement.

Answer 4

Check out this helpful solution which offers a straightforward approach without causing any system disruptions.

curses.mousemask(curses.REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION)
print('\033[?1003h') # activate mouse tracking using the XTERM API

Make sure to follow the order: first call mousemask(), then execute the print statement.

Answer 5

Answer №3

The issue at hand: Mouse position being reported even without any mouse button being clicked.

This response is meant to complement the previous answer by Thomas Dickey. By following the referenced links and carrying out basic instructions, I successfully pinpointed an XM string that resolved my desired mouse behavior.

My concern with the XM string mentioned in the prior answer was the continuous reporting of mouse position when no mouse button was pressed. My objective was to only receive mouse position updates during a mouse drag event — meaning when a mouse button was actually held down. While constant reporting might be useful for implementing a "mouse hover" feature, it served no purpose for me and simply led to wasted processing cycles in the application's event loop.

To discover the appropriate XM string, I undertook the following steps:

Created a 'foo' file as instructed in the aforementioned answer:
```
infocmp -x xterm-256color > foo
```
Extracted all the XM strings from the content provided in the terminal database link.
Appended one of the XM strings to my version of 'foo' and executed tic -x foo (implementing the new configuration instantly).
Executed my program to observe if the mouse positioning functioned as desired.
If the behavior varied, returned to step 3 to test the next string.

The extracted (commented out) XM strings from the "terminal database" link are displayed below:

#    XM=\E[?9%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?9%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[M%p3%' '%+%c%p2%'!'%+%c%p1%'!'%+%c,
#    XM=\E[?1000%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[M%?%p4%t%p3%e%{3}%;%'\s'%+%c%p2%'!'%+%c%p1%'!'%+%c,
#    XM=\E[?1001%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?1002%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?1003%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?1005;1000%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[M%?%p4%t3%e%p3%'\s'%+%c%;%p2%'!'%+%c%p1%'!'%+%c,
#    XM=\E[?1006;1000%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[<%i%p3%d;%p1%d;%p2%d;%?%p4%tM%em%;,

The XM string that produced the desired outcome on my Ubuntu 20 system's bash terminal was:

    XM=\E[?1002%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,

I envision doing additional fine-tuning to enable this behavior on other systems once my application is close to distribution-ready.

A potential downside is that this alteration may impact bash behavior overall, not just when my app is operating within a bash terminal. A possibly better approach could involve refraining from modifying the xterm-256color file directly, but rather creating a custom file with a distinct name unlikely to clash with standard files. Subsequently, in my application, setting the TERM environment variable to this unique file before launching curses.

    os.environ['TERM'] = 'mouse-tweaked-xterm-256color'
    curses.wrapper(start_my_app)

Update: The newly generated xterm-256color file via tic was found on my system under ${HOME}/.terminfo/x/. I renamed it and implemented the above code snippet to define TERM within the application.

Answer 6

The issue at hand: Mouse position being reported even without any mouse button being clicked.

This response is meant to complement the previous answer by Thomas Dickey. By following the referenced links and carrying out basic instructions, I successfully pinpointed an XM string that resolved my desired mouse behavior.

My concern with the XM string mentioned in the prior answer was the continuous reporting of mouse position when no mouse button was pressed. My objective was to only receive mouse position updates during a mouse drag event — meaning when a mouse button was actually held down. While constant reporting might be useful for implementing a "mouse hover" feature, it served no purpose for me and simply led to wasted processing cycles in the application's event loop.

To discover the appropriate XM string, I undertook the following steps:

Created a 'foo' file as instructed in the aforementioned answer:
```
infocmp -x xterm-256color > foo
```
Extracted all the XM strings from the content provided in the terminal database link.
Appended one of the XM strings to my version of 'foo' and executed tic -x foo (implementing the new configuration instantly).
Executed my program to observe if the mouse positioning functioned as desired.
If the behavior varied, returned to step 3 to test the next string.

The extracted (commented out) XM strings from the "terminal database" link are displayed below:

#    XM=\E[?9%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?9%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[M%p3%' '%+%c%p2%'!'%+%c%p1%'!'%+%c,
#    XM=\E[?1000%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[M%?%p4%t%p3%e%{3}%;%'\s'%+%c%p2%'!'%+%c%p1%'!'%+%c,
#    XM=\E[?1001%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?1002%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?1003%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    XM=\E[?1005;1000%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[M%?%p4%t3%e%p3%'\s'%+%c%;%p2%'!'%+%c%p1%'!'%+%c,
#    XM=\E[?1006;1000%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,
#    xm=\E[<%i%p3%d;%p1%d;%p2%d;%?%p4%tM%em%;,

The XM string that produced the desired outcome on my Ubuntu 20 system's bash terminal was:

    XM=\E[?1002%?%p1%{1}%=%th%el%;,

I envision doing additional fine-tuning to enable this behavior on other systems once my application is close to distribution-ready.

A potential downside is that this alteration may impact bash behavior overall, not just when my app is operating within a bash terminal. A possibly better approach could involve refraining from modifying the xterm-256color file directly, but rather creating a custom file with a distinct name unlikely to clash with standard files. Subsequently, in my application, setting the TERM environment variable to this unique file before launching curses.

    os.environ['TERM'] = 'mouse-tweaked-xterm-256color'
    curses.wrapper(start_my_app)

Update: The newly generated xterm-256color file via tic was found on my system under ${HOME}/.terminfo/x/. I renamed it and implemented the above code snippet to define TERM within the application.

What $TERM should be utilized in order to enable both 256 colors and mouse movement events within Python's curses module?

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

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