42.3 Why Changing TERM Sometimes Doesn't Work

The use of tset to set the TERMCAP environmentvariable ( 5.4 ) can cause problems for new users who do not understand it completely. For example, as long as the TERMCAP variable is not set, programs look by default in /etc/termcap . However, once the TERMCAP variable contains the actual termcap entry, changing the value of TERM will no longer have any effect on a program like vi .

If you set the value of TERM correctly but vi or other programs that depend on TERM still do not seem to work, check ( 6.1 ) that TERMCAP is not set to the actual termcap entry ( 41.11 ) . You can clear this condition with the command:

% 

unsetenv TERMCAP

or:

$ 

TERMCAP=

or:

$ 

unset TERMCAP

        
(newer Bourne shells)