special variables
Many options in TF can be controlled by setting special global
variables.
Many variables have a limited
number of permitted values, with
corresponding integer values; these are called enumerated
variables.
All flags are enumerated variables
which can have the values "off" (0)
or "on" (1). Numeric variables
can have any integer value (within the
range allowed by your system). Attempting to unset numeric
variable or
give it a string value will force its value to 0.
A variable's type (enumerated, numeric, or string) affects its behavior
in expressions.
Special substitute-only variables
The following special variables
may be used only in substitutions,
never as a variable
reference in an
expression.
- #
- The number of words in a
macro's argument text.
- ?
- The string return value of the most recently executed
command
(builtin or macro).
(Macros) called as functions
return their value and do not set %?.)
- 1,2...
L1,L2...
*
R
- Positional parameters. See
"substitution".
- Pn
PL
PR
- The text matched by the nth parenthesized subexpression,
or the text to the left or right of the matched text,
in the last successful
regexp
comparison. See
%Pn for more details.
Special global variables
The following special global variables
can be examined and set. In the
following list, a '=' following a
variable name indicates its default
value. For variables that do not
have defaults listed, the default is
dependent on your system or configuration.
- COLUMNS
- If this variable is set in the environment when TF starts,
TF will use its value instead of the value from the terminal driver.
See %LINES,
columns().
- HOME
- Your home directory, used by
/cd and
filename expansion.
This is usually inherited from the environment when TF starts.
- LANG
- The current locale.
See locale.
Automatically exported to the environment when set.
- LC_ALL
- The current locale.
See locale.
Automatically exported to the environment when set.
- LC_CTYPE
- The current locale for character classification.
See locale.
Automatically exported to the environment when set.
- LC_TIME
- The current locale for time formatting.
See locale.
Automatically exported to the environment when set.
- LINES
- If this variable is set in the environment when TF starts,
TF will use its value instead of the value from the terminal driver.
See %COLUMNS,
lines().
- MAIL
- The name of a file which TF may check for mail.
See: mail.
- SHELL
- Shell used by
/sh
and
/quote !
.
This is usually inherited from the environment when TF starts.
- TERM
- Terminal type. Changing the value of
%TERM at any
time will cause TF to re-initialize its display functions to use
the new value.
The value of %TERM
should agree with your actual terminal or emulator.
If your emulator supports multiple terminal types, the recommended
type to use is vt220, vt100, or ansi (in that order).
%TERM
is usually inherited from the environment when TF starts.
See also: mode.
-
TFHELP=%{TFLIBDIR}/tf-help
- The name of the file used by
/help.
- TFLIBDIR
- The name of the TF library directory, which should contain the
help file (tf-help), the standard library (stdlib.tf), the local
library (local.tf), and many useful utility files.
The default value of
TFLIBDIR
is set when TF is installed, but can be overridden by setting it
in the environment before starting TF.
This directory will be searched by
/load if
TFPATH is
blank or not set.
See also: /load.
-
TFLIBRARY=%{TFLIBDIR}/stdlib.tf
- The name of the library file loaded at
startup. This can be
set in the environment before starting TF, to load from an
alternate library file.
- TFMAILPATH
- A space-separated list of files which TF may check for mail.
See: mail.
- TFPATH=
- A space-separated list of directories that will be searched
by /load. If this is set,
%{TFLIBDIR}
will be ignored by /load, so be
sure to include the value of
%{TFLIBDIR} in
%{TFPATH}
if you want to be able to /load
files with relative names from the standard library directory.
See also: /load.
- TZ
- On most systems, the timezone used to display formatted times.
In the United States,
the value is usually the local timezone name, followed by the
difference in hours from GMT, followed by an optional daylight
saving timezone name; for example, "PST8PDT". For details, see
your system documentation for tzset(3) or environ(5).
This is usually inherited from the environment when TF starts,
and is automatically exported to the environment when set.
- alert_time=5.0
- The number of seconds that alert
text is displayed on the
status line.
See tfio.
- auto_fg=on
- (flag) If on when the
foreground
socket disconnects,
TF will automatically bring another
socket into the
foreground.
- background=on
- (flag) If on, text from
background
worlds is processed and
recorded immediately upon receipt. Otherwise, the text is ignored
until the socket is brought
into the foreground.
In either case, the text is not displayed
until the socket is brought
into the foreground
(but see
%{bg_output}).
- backslash=on
- (flag) Enables use of '\' to quote the following character
literally during macro
expansion. Generally, this
should only be turned off if you are having problems with '\' in
macros written before version
3.0.
- bamf=off
-
- off
- (0): server "portals"
are ignored.
- on
- (1): Unter-style
bamfing is enabled
(disconnect).
- old
- (2): Old-style
bamfing
is enabled (no disconnect).
See /bamf.
- bg_output=on
- (flag)
When a world
is brought into the
foreground,
%bg_output
determines how to display output that was produced while the
world was in the
background:
If on, the window display resumes where it left off;
if off, the window display jumps to the end, showing only the last
screenful. Turning
%bg_output
off is equivalent to always using the -q option with
/fg.
The %bg_output
flag has no effect on other processing, including
triggers and
history. This flag is
ignored if the
%{background}
flag is off.
%{background}
is tested when the world is
foregrounded (in versions
before 5.0, it was tested when the text was received).
(See also: /fg -q)
- binary_eol=LF
- Determines what to send as end-of-line marker in
TELNET BINARY mode.
Valid values are "LF", "CR", and "CRLF".
(See: /telnet)
- borg=on
- (flag) Enables trigger
bodies (attributes are
unaffected). (See: triggers,
%max_trig)
- clearfull=off
- (flag) In visual mode, clear
input window rather than scroll when full. Always 1 if terminal
can not scroll.
- cleardone=off
- (flag) In visual mode,
enables clearing of input window when return is pressed.
- clock
- This variable is no longer supported. To disable the status bar
clock, use
"
/clock off
".
To make the clock display in 12-hour format, do
"/clock
%I:%M
".
See /clock.
- clock_format=%H:%M
- The format of the clock displayed on the
status line.
To make the clock display in 12-hour format, "
/set
clock_format=%I:%M
".
See /clock.
- connect=nonblocking
- Set to "blocking" or "nonblocking" to determine how
/connect works.
Default is "nonblocking" on platforms that support it.
Nonblocking allows you to continue doing other things while TF
tries to establish a new connection.
See also %gethostbyname.
- defcompile=off
- (flag) If off, macros are
compiled the first time they are executed; if on,
macros are compiled immediately
when they are defined. Since syntax checking is performed during
compilation, setting defcompile=on will
allow you to see the syntax errors in a macro when you define it.
- e=2.718281828...
- Euler's number.
- expand_tabs=on
- (flag) If on (and
%emulation)
is "print", "ansi_strip", or "ansi_attr"),
tabs received from a server are expanded to spaces (according to
%tabsize)
immediately, before any trigger)
processing. If off, tab characters are left in received lines.
- emulation=ansi_attr
- Determines how special codes sent by the server should be
interpreted by TF.
The set of printable characters is determined by the current
locale. Valid values for
%emulation are:
- raw:
- No conversion is done; lines are not wrapped; all
nonprintable characters are displayed, and their effect is
undefined (depending mainly on your terminal). TF's input
display is not guaranteed correct; use at your own risk.
This mode allows the
server to have most of the control over the screen, but is
not guaranteed to give the desired effect. For best
results,
%visual
should be "off", and TF
attributes should
not be used.
- print:
- Tabs are expanded (if
%expand_tabs
is on);
backspaces are interpreted; lines are wrapped;
nonprintable characters removed.
- ansi_strip:
- Like "print", but ANSI display codes are also removed.
- ansi_attr:
- Like "ansi_strip", but ANSI
display attribute codes
will be converted to TF's internal format and
displayed correctly (on any terminal). Other ANSI display
codes (e.g., cursor motion) will be removed. Recommended
for servers that send vt100/ansi display
attribute codes.
- debug:
- converts nonprinting characters to a printable form.
See also:
%telopt.
See also:
%istrip,
%meta_esc,
%tabsize,
%expand_tabs,
locale,
attributes,
debugging.
- end_color
- The code that should be sent to your terminal to return to
normal color after a
%{start_color_name}
code. See: color.
- gag=on
- (flag) Enable the gag
attribute.
(See: /gag,
/nogag)
- gethostbyname=nonblocking
- Set to "blocking" or "nonblocking" to determine how
/connect does hostname
resolution.
See also %connect.
- gpri=0
- Priority of subsequent
/gags. (See:
/gag)
- hook=on
- (flag) Enable hooks. (See:
hooks,
/hook) Note that
autologin and
automatic %{lp}
setting will not work if
%{hook}
is 0.
- hilite=on
- (flag) Enable display
attributes,
whether from a trigger, the
server, or whatever.
(See: /hilite,
/nohilite)
- hiliteattr=B
- Defines the attributes
used by hilites. Can be
any combination of
attributes, including color
names. (See: attributes,
/hilite)
- histsize=1000
- When a new world history
is created, it will have space for
%{histsize}
lines. A world history is
created the first time text is sent to it. (See also:
/histsize)
- hpri=0
- Priority of subsequent
/hilites.
- insert=on
- (flag) If on, keyboard input is inserted; if off, input
overstrikes existing text.
- isize=3
- Size of input window in
visual mode.
The output window will be redrawn when this is changed.
See also: lines(),
winlines().
- istrip=off
- (flag) If on, the meta (high) bit will be stripped from all input
characters. Note that this will prevent
%meta_esc
and locales with 8-bit characters
from working correctly.
- kbnum=
- A value that can be set by typing ESC followed by digits,
to be used as an argument (repeat count) for a subsequent keybinding.
See: keybindings.
- kecho=off
- (flag) Re-echoing of keyboard input, preceded by
%{kprefix}.
See also: /localecho,
/addworld -e.
- keepalive=on
- (flag) Enable periodic "pings" (TCP keepalive) of servers,
to prevent network timeouts and detect dropped connections.
- keypad=on
- (flag) Enable application keypad mode, if supported by the terminal.
Application keypad mode makes the numeric keypad generate characters
different than the usual digit characters, so they may be distinguished
from the digit keys across the top of the keyboard.
- kprefix=
- Prefix for echoed keyboard text, if
%{kecho} is
on.
- login=on
- (flag) Enable automatic login
hook. (See:
automatic login,
hooks,
/world)
- lp=off
- (flag) Displays partial lines as
prompts, after a short
timeout. Useful for LP and Diku MUDs. (See:
prompts)
- lpquote=off
- (flag) If on, all
/quote and
/repeat processes
run when an LP prompt is
received instead of when a timer expires. The -P option of
/quote and
/repeat provides the same
feature on a per-process basis.
(See: processes)
- maildelay=60.0
- (time) Delay in seconds between mail checks. Setting this to 0
disables mail checking. The file to be checked is named by the
%{MAIL}
variable.
- matching=glob
- Determines the default
pattern matching style.
- "simple":
- straightforward string comparison.
- "glob":
- shell-like matching (as before version 3.2).
- "regexp":
- regular expression.
See also: patterns,
regmatch(),
%Pn.
- max_instr=5000
- Maximum number of instructions in a
macro execution. A value of 0
will allow unlimited instructions. An "instruction" is a basic
internal tf operation, such as addition, testing an /if or /while
condition, a substitution, sending a line of text to a server, or
joining two commands with a "%|" pipe.
- max_kbnum=999
- The maximum value of
kbnum
that can be set via the keyboard.
See: keybindings.
- max_recur=100
- Maximum depth of recursive
macro calls or
triggers.
This helps prevent infinite macro loops.
A value of 0 will allow unlimited recursion.
- max_trig=100
- Maximum number of triggers
allowed in a 10 second period. When this value is exceeded,
a message is printed and
%borg is
automatically turned off to disable triggers.
This helps prevent infinite trigger loops.
A value of 0 will allow unlimited triggers.
- mccp=on (if tf was compiled with MCCP support)
- (flag) If on, MCCPv2 is allowed on new connections.
See mccp.
- mecho=off
-
- "off" (0):
- do not echo macro
expansions.
- "on" (1):
- echo
expansions of
non-invisible macros.
- "all" (2):
- echo
expansions of all
macros.
%{mprefix}
will be prepended once for each recursion level when
macro
expansion echoing is
enabled.
See also debugging.
- meta_esc=nonprint
- (flag) If
%istrip is off,
typed characters with their meta (high) bit set may have the meta bit
stripped and be prefixed with an ESC character.
This allows META-x and ESC x to invoke the same keybinding.
Possible values of
%meta_esc:
- "off" (0):
- Never convert a meta bit to ESC.
- "on" (1):
- Always convert a meta bit to ESC.
- "nonprint" (2):
- Convert a meta bit to ESC only if the meta bit makes
the character unprintable in the current
locale.
Meta bit conversion can be prevented for a single keystroke by preceeding
it with the LNEXT key (^V),
regardless of the state of
%meta_esc.
- more=off
- (flag) Displays output one screenfull at a time. (See:
/more)
- mprefix=+
- Prefix for macro echoing,
if %{mecho} is
not "off".
- oldslash=on
- (flag) If on, sequences of more than one '/' in a
macro body will be compressed
by one during macro
expansion. This allows
macros written before version
3.0 to work properly.
With oldslash=off, only slashes at the beginning of a body are
handled specially.
You are encouraged to turn this off. (See:
evaluation)
- pi=3.141592654...
- The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
- pedantic=off
- (flag) If on, TF will generate warnings about some potential
problems in your macro code. Often the warnings indicate code that
is technically valid but may not do what you intended.
See also debugging.
- prompt_sec
- prompt_usec
- Obsolete. Use
%{prompt_wait}
instead.
- prompt_wait=0.25
- (time) The delay (in seconds) used to recognize
unterminated prompts. (See:
prompts).
- proxy_host=
proxy_port=23
- These two variables
describe the proxy
server used for opening connections.
(See: proxy).
- ptime=1.0
- (time) Default delay (in seconds) between
/quote and
/repeat
process runs.
- qecho=off
- (flag) Echoing of /quote
text, prefixed by
%{qprefix}.
See also debugging.
- qprefix=
- Prefix for /quote
echoing, if
%{qecho} is
on.
- quiet=off
- (flag) Gag text after
login until the mud sends
"Use the WHO command", "### end of messages ###", or 25 lines.
Note: This will not function correctly
on MUDs which don't send those strings or 25 lines in the
introductory text.
- quitdone=off
- (flag) Quit upon disconnection from last
socket.
- redef=on
- (flag) Allows redefinition of existing worlds, keybindings,
and named macros.
- refreshtime=250000
- The delay (in microseconds) for redisplaying your keyboard
input after it is overwritten by incoming text
in non-visual mode.
If you you are on a slow modem, you may wish to increase this delay.
On a fast connection, you may wish to decrease it.
The default is 250000 (1/4 second).
- scroll=on
- (flag) In visual mode,
scroll output instead of wrapping from bottom to top.
- shpause=on
- (flag) Wait for a keypress after returning from
/sh.
- sigfigs=15
- The maximum number of significant digits to display when printing a
floating point number. Note that 16 or more may introduce rounding
error. Also note that some real numbers with up to 6 decimal places are
stored with fixed points, not floating points, so are not affected by
sigfigs
(or rounding error).
- snarf=off
- (flag) Don't send empty lines to the server.
- sockmload=off
- (flag) Load macro files
when foregrounding a world
("/dokey socketf",
"/dokey socketb", or
"/fg"). Normally, a world's
macro file is loaded only when
TF first connects to it. (Note: the WORLD
hook is more useful than
sockmload).
- start_color_name
- The code that should be sent to your terminal to produce
color name. See:
color.
- status_attr
- The
attributes used to display
the status line
in visual mode.
See: status line.
- status_fields
- The list of fields displayed on
the status line
in visual mode.
See: status line.
- status_pad=_
- The padding character used in displaying
the status line
in visual mode.
See: status line.
- tabsize=8
- Tabs will be replaced with spaces to pad to a multiple of
%{tabsize}.
See also:
%expand_tabs,
%emulation.
- telopt=off
- (flag) Display telnet
option negotiations (for debugging purposes). See also:
%emulation=debug,
debugging.
- tfhost=
- Name or address to use for the client (tf) end of connections.
See also:
addworld,
connect.
- sub=off
-
- "off" (0):
- input is not
expanded.
- "on" (1):
- input "%;"
is expanded to
newlines.
- "full" (2):
- input undergoes full
macro expansion.
- time_format=%H:%M
- The format used to display times in
/recall and
/time. The default displays
hours and minutes. See
ftime() for a
description of the format.
- visual=on
- (flag) Divides the screen into an input window and an output
window. The output window will be redrawn when this is changed.
(See: mode)
- warn_5keys=on
- (flag) If on, TF will warn the first time some of the new
5.0 keybindings are used.
- warn_curly_re=on
- (flag) If on, TF will warn when using a
regexp
containing '{', which has a new meaning in version 5.0.
- warn_status=on
- (flag) If on, TF will warn when directly setting
%status_fields,
%status_int_more,
%status_int_world, or
%status_int_clock,
which have new default values and new ways to set them in version 5.0.
See status line.
- watchdog=off
- (flag) Gag repeated
lines. (See: /watchdog)
- watchname=off
- (flag) Gag overactive
players. (See:
/watchname)
- wordpunct=_
- List of punctuation that will be considered to be part of a
word instead of delimiting the ends of a word, by
kbwordleft() and
kbwordright()
(and therefore by /dokey
WLEFT, WRIGHT, etc).
- wrap=on
- (flag) Enable wordwrap on the screen. TF will try to break
lines at spaces or other punctuation to fit them within
%{wrapsize}
columns.
%{wrap} is
ignored if
%{emulation}
is "raw".
See also:
%{wrappunct},
%{wrapsize},
%{wrapspace}.
- wraplog=off
- (flag) Enable wordwrap in log files. See also:
%wrap.
- wrappunct=10
- When wrapping,
allow wrapping at any punctuation if wrapping only at spaces would
have caused more than
%wrappunct
characters to wrap. This is particularly useful for long URLs.
- wrapsize=79
- Lines (input and output) extending past this column will be
split. Default value is one less than the number of columns on
your terminal (typically 80). Output is not wrapped if
%{emulation}
is "raw". See also:
%wrap,
%wrappunct,
%wrapspace,
columns().
- wrapspace=4
- Wrapped text is indented by this many spaces. See also:
%wrap,
%wrapsize.
The following builtin commands
set the corresponding variables,
and also perform additional functions:
/gag,
/hilite,
/hook,
/nogag,
/nohilite,
/watchdog, and
/watchname
The standard library also defines the following
macros to set the values of the
corresponding variables:
/background,
/bamf,
/borg,
/clearfull,
/cleardone,
/gpri,
/hpri,
/insert,
/isize,
/login,
/lp,
/lpquote,
/kecho,
/mecho,
/more,
/ptime,
/qecho,
/quiet,
/quitdone,
/redef,
/shpause,
/sockmload,
/sub,
/visual and
/wrapspace.
Note: The variables 'L' and 'R' are
reserved (see: variables).
You should not assign values to them.
See:
variables,
/set
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Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003 Ken Keys