File: gettext.info,  Node: The TERM variable,  Next: The --style option,  Prev: The --color option,  Up: Colorizing

10.11.2 The environment variable ‘TERM’
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   The environment variable ‘TERM’ contains a identifier for the text
window's capabilities.  You can get a detailed list of these
capabilities by using the ‘infocmp’ command, using ‘man 5 terminfo’ as a
reference.

   When producing text with embedded color directives, ‘msgcat’ looks at
the ‘TERM’ variable.  Text windows today typically support at least 8
colors.  Often, however, the text window supports 16 or more colors,
even though the ‘TERM’ variable is set to a identifier denoting only 8
supported colors.  It can be worth setting the ‘TERM’ variable to a
different value in these cases:

‘xterm’
     ‘xterm’ is in most cases built with support for 16 colors.  It can
     also be built with support for 88 or 256 colors (but not both).
     You can try to set ‘TERM’ to either ‘xterm-16color’,
     ‘xterm-88color’, or ‘xterm-256color’.

‘rxvt’
     ‘rxvt’ is often built with support for 16 colors.  You can try to
     set ‘TERM’ to ‘rxvt-16color’.

‘konsole’
     ‘konsole’ too is often built with support for 16 colors.  You can
     try to set ‘TERM’ to ‘konsole-16color’ or ‘xterm-16color’.

   After setting ‘TERM’, you can verify it by invoking ‘msgcat
--color=test’ and seeing whether the output looks like a reasonable
color map.