The database is named by the basename of the first file argument and the string ``.db . '' The getcap(3) routines can access the database in this form much more quickly than they can the original text file(s).
The ``tc'' capabilities of the records are expanded before the record is stored into the database.
The options as as follows:
The first type is a key which consists of the first capability of the record (not including the trailing colon (``:'')) with a data field consisting of a special byte followed by the rest of the record. The special byte is either a 0 or 1, where a 0 means that the record is okay, and a 1 means that there was a ``tc'' capability in the record that couldn't be expanded.
The second type is a key which consists of one of the names from the first capability of the record with a data field consisting a special byte followed by the the first capability of the record. The special byte is a 2.
In normal operation names are looked up in the database, resulting in a key/data pair of the second type. The data field of this key/data pair is used to look up a key/data pair of the first type which has the real data associated with the name.