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63 <H1 class="no-header">curs_attr 3x</H1>
65 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>
70 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
71 <STRONG>attr_get</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattr_get</STRONG>, <STRONG>attr_set</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattr_set</STRONG>, <STRONG>attr_off</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattr_off</STRONG>, <STRONG>attr_on</STRONG>,
72 <STRONG>wattr_on</STRONG>, <STRONG>attroff</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattroff</STRONG>, <STRONG>attron</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattron</STRONG>, <STRONG>attrset</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattrset</STRONG>, <STRONG>chgat</STRONG>,
73 <STRONG>wchgat</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvchgat</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvwchgat</STRONG>, <STRONG>color_set</STRONG>, <STRONG>wcolor_set</STRONG>, <STRONG>standend</STRONG>, <STRONG>wstandend</STRONG>,
74 <STRONG>standout</STRONG>, <STRONG>wstandout</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> character and window attribute control
78 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
79 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
81 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_get(attr_t</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
82 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wattr_get(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
83 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_set(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
84 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wattr_set(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
86 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_off(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
87 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wattr_off(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
88 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_on(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
89 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wattr_on(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
91 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>attroff(int</STRONG> <EM>attrs);</EM>
92 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wattroff(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
93 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>attron(int</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wattron(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
95 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>attrset(int</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wattrset(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
98 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>chgat(int</STRONG> <EM>n</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attr</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
99 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wchgat(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG>
100 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>n</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attr</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
101 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvchgat(int</STRONG> <EM>y</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>x</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG>
102 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>n</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attr</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
103 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvwchgat(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win,</EM> <EM>int</EM> <EM>y,</EM> <EM>int</EM> <EM>x</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG>
104 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>n,</EM> <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attr</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
106 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>color_set(short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void*</STRONG> <EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
107 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wcolor_set(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void*</STRONG> <EM>opts);</EM>
109 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>standend(void);</STRONG>
110 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wstandend(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
111 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>standout(void);</STRONG>
112 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wstandout(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>win</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
115 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
116 These routines manipulate the current attributes of the named window,
117 which then apply to all characters that are written into the window
118 with <STRONG>waddch</STRONG>, <STRONG>waddstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>wprintw</STRONG>. Attributes are a property of the
119 character, and move with the character through any scrolling and in-
120 sert/delete line/character operations. To the extent possible, they
121 are displayed as appropriate modifications to the graphic rendition of
122 characters put on the screen.
124 These routines do not affect the attributes used when erasing portions
125 of the window. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd(3x)</A></STRONG> for functions which modify the at-
126 tributes used for erasing and clearing.
128 Routines which do not have a <STRONG>WINDOW*</STRONG> parameter apply to <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>. For
129 example, <STRONG>attr_set</STRONG> is the <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG> variant of <STRONG>wattr_set</STRONG>.
132 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Window-attributes">Window attributes</a></H3><PRE>
133 There are two sets of functions:
135 <STRONG>o</STRONG> functions for manipulating the window attributes and color: <STRONG>wat-</STRONG>
136 <STRONG>tr_set</STRONG> and <STRONG>wattr_get</STRONG>.
138 <STRONG>o</STRONG> functions for manipulating only the window attributes (not color):
139 <STRONG>wattr_on</STRONG> and <STRONG>wattr_off</STRONG>.
141 The <STRONG>wattr_set</STRONG> function sets the current attributes of the given window
142 to <EM>attrs</EM>, with color specified by <EM>pair</EM>.
144 Use <STRONG>wattr_get</STRONG> to retrieve attributes for the given window.
146 Use <STRONG>attr_on</STRONG> and <STRONG>wattr_on</STRONG> to turn on window attributes, i.e., values
147 OR'd together in <EM>attr</EM>, without affecting other attributes. Use <STRONG>at-</STRONG>
148 <STRONG>tr_off</STRONG> and <STRONG>wattr_off</STRONG> to turn off window attributes, again values OR'd
149 together in <EM>attr</EM>, without affecting other attributes.
152 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-window-attributes">Legacy window attributes</a></H3><PRE>
153 The X/Open window attribute routines which <EM>set</EM> or <EM>get</EM>, turn <EM>on</EM> or <EM>off</EM>
154 are extensions of older routines which assume that color pairs are OR'd
155 into the attribute parameter. These newer routines use similar names,
156 because X/Open simply added an underscore (<STRONG>_</STRONG>) for the newer names.
158 The <STRONG>int</STRONG> datatype used in the legacy routines is treated as if it is the
159 same size as <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> (used by <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">addch(3x)</A></STRONG>). It holds the common video at-
160 tributes (such as bold, reverse), as well as a few bits for color.
161 Those bits correspond to the <STRONG>A_COLOR</STRONG> symbol. The <STRONG>COLOR_PAIR</STRONG> macro pro-
162 vides a value which can be OR'd into the attribute parameter. For ex-
163 ample, as long as that value fits into the <STRONG>A_COLOR</STRONG> mask, then these
164 calls produce similar results:
166 attrset(A_BOLD | COLOR_PAIR(<EM>pair</EM>));
167 attr_set(A_BOLD, <EM>pair</EM>, NULL);
169 However, if the value does not fit, then the <STRONG>COLOR_PAIR</STRONG> macro uses only
170 the bits that fit. For example, because in ncurses <STRONG>A_COLOR</STRONG> has eight
171 (8) bits, then <STRONG>COLOR_PAIR(259)</STRONG> is 4 (259-255).
173 The <STRONG>PAIR_NUMBER</STRONG> macro extracts a pair number from an <STRONG>int</STRONG> (or <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>).
174 For example, the <EM>input</EM> and <EM>output</EM> values in these statements would be
177 int value = A_BOLD | COLOR_PAIR(<EM>input</EM>);
178 int <EM>output</EM> = PAIR_NUMBER(value);
180 The <STRONG>attrset</STRONG> routine is a legacy feature predating SVr4 curses but kept
181 in X/Open Curses for the same reason that SVr4 curses kept it: compati-
184 The remaining <STRONG>attr</STRONG>* functions operate exactly like the corresponding
185 <STRONG>attr_</STRONG>* functions, except that they take arguments of type <STRONG>int</STRONG> rather
186 than <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG>.
188 There is no corresponding <STRONG>attrget</STRONG> function as such in X/Open Curses,
189 although ncurses provides <STRONG>getattrs</STRONG> (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_legacy.3x.html">curs_legacy(3x)</A></STRONG>).
192 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Change-character-rendition">Change character rendition</a></H3><PRE>
193 The routine <STRONG>chgat</STRONG> changes the attributes of a given number of charac-
194 ters starting at the current cursor location of <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>. It does not
195 update the cursor and does not perform wrapping. A character count of
196 -1 or greater than the remaining window width means to change at-
197 tributes all the way to the end of the current line. The <STRONG>wchgat</STRONG> func-
198 tion generalizes this to any window; the <STRONG>mvwchgat</STRONG> function does a cur-
199 sor move before acting.
201 In these functions, the color <EM>pair</EM> argument is a color-pair index (as
202 in the first argument of <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG>, see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>).
205 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Change-window-color">Change window color</a></H3><PRE>
206 The routine <STRONG>color_set</STRONG> sets the current color of the given window to the
207 foreground/background combination described by the color <EM>pair</EM> parame-
211 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Standout">Standout</a></H3><PRE>
212 The routine <STRONG>standout</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>attron(A_STANDOUT)</STRONG>. The routine
213 <STRONG>standend</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>attrset(A_NORMAL)</STRONG> or <STRONG>attrset(0)</STRONG>, that is, it
214 turns off all attributes.
216 X/Open does not mark these "restricted", because
218 <STRONG>o</STRONG> they have well established legacy use, and
220 <STRONG>o</STRONG> there is no ambiguity about the way the attributes might be com-
221 bined with a color pair.
224 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-VIDEO-ATTRIBUTES">VIDEO ATTRIBUTES</a></H2><PRE>
225 The following video attributes, defined in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, can be passed to
226 the routines <STRONG>attron</STRONG>, <STRONG>attroff</STRONG>, and <STRONG>attrset</STRONG>, or OR'd with the characters
227 passed to <STRONG>addch</STRONG> (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">curs_addch(3x)</A></STRONG>).
229 <EM>Name</EM> <EM>Description</EM>
230 -----------------------------------------------------------------
231 <STRONG>A_NORMAL</STRONG> Normal display (no highlight)
232 <STRONG>A_STANDOUT</STRONG> Best highlighting mode of the terminal.
233 <STRONG>A_UNDERLINE</STRONG> Underlining
234 <STRONG>A_REVERSE</STRONG> Reverse video
235 <STRONG>A_BLINK</STRONG> Blinking
236 <STRONG>A_DIM</STRONG> Half bright
237 <STRONG>A_BOLD</STRONG> Extra bright or bold
238 <STRONG>A_PROTECT</STRONG> Protected mode
239 <STRONG>A_INVIS</STRONG> Invisible or blank mode
240 <STRONG>A_ALTCHARSET</STRONG> Alternate character set
241 <STRONG>A_ITALIC</STRONG> Italics (non-X/Open extension)
242 <STRONG>A_CHARTEXT</STRONG> Bit-mask to extract a character
243 <STRONG>A_COLOR</STRONG> Bit-mask to extract a color (legacy routines)
245 These video attributes are supported by <STRONG>attr_on</STRONG> and related functions
246 (which also support the attributes recognized by <STRONG>attron</STRONG>, etc.):
248 <EM>Name</EM> <EM>Description</EM>
249 -----------------------------------------
250 <STRONG>WA_HORIZONTAL</STRONG> Horizontal highlight
251 <STRONG>WA_LEFT</STRONG> Left highlight
252 <STRONG>WA_LOW</STRONG> Low highlight
253 <STRONG>WA_RIGHT</STRONG> Right highlight
254 <STRONG>WA_TOP</STRONG> Top highlight
255 <STRONG>WA_VERTICAL</STRONG> Vertical highlight
257 The return values of many of these routines are not meaningful (they
258 are implemented as macro-expanded assignments and simply return their
259 argument). The SVr4 manual page claims (falsely) that these routines
260 always return <STRONG>1</STRONG>.
263 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
264 These functions may be macros:
266 <STRONG>attroff</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattroff</STRONG>, <STRONG>attron</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattron</STRONG>, <STRONG>attrset</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattrset</STRONG>, <STRONG>standend</STRONG>
267 and <STRONG>standout</STRONG>.
269 Color pair values can only be OR'd with attributes if the pair number
270 is less than 256. The alternate functions such as <STRONG>color_set</STRONG> can pass a
271 color pair value directly. However, ncurses ABI 4 and 5 simply OR this
272 value within the alternate functions. You must use ncurses ABI 6 to
273 support more than 256 color pairs.
276 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
277 X/Open Curses is largely based on SVr4 curses, adding support for
278 "wide-characters" (not specific to Unicode). Some of the X/Open dif-
279 ferences from SVr4 curses address the way video attributes can be ap-
280 plied to wide-characters. But aside from that, <STRONG>attrset</STRONG> and <STRONG>attr_set</STRONG>
281 are similar. SVr4 curses provided the basic features for manipulating
282 video attributes. However, earlier versions of curses provided a part
285 As seen in 2.8BSD, curses assumed 7-bit characters, using the eighth
286 bit of a byte to represent the <EM>standout</EM> feature (often implemented as
287 bold and/or reverse video). The BSD curses library provided functions
288 <STRONG>standout</STRONG> and <STRONG>standend</STRONG> which were carried along into X/Open Curses due
289 to their pervasive use in legacy applications.
291 Some terminals in the 1980s could support a variety of video at-
292 tributes, although the BSD curses library could do nothing with those.
293 System V (1983) provided an improved curses library. It defined the <STRONG>A_</STRONG>
294 symbols for use by applications to manipulate the other attributes.
295 There are few useful references for the chronology.
297 Goodheart's book <EM>UNIX</EM> <EM>Curses</EM> <EM>Explained</EM> (1991) describes SVr3 (1987),
298 commenting on several functions:
300 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <STRONG>attron</STRONG>, <STRONG>attroff</STRONG>, <STRONG>attrset</STRONG> functions (and most of the functions
301 found in SVr4 but not in BSD curses) were introduced by System V,
303 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the alternate character set feature with <STRONG>A_ALTCHARSET</STRONG> was added in
304 SVr2 and improved in SVr3 (by adding <STRONG>acs_map[]</STRONG>),
306 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> and related color-functions were introduced by System
309 <STRONG>o</STRONG> pads, soft-keys were added in SVr3, and
311 Goodheart did not mention the background character or the <STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG> type.
312 Those are respectively SVr4 and X/Open features. He did mention the <STRONG>A_</STRONG>
313 constants, but did not indicate their values. Those were not the same
314 in different systems, even for those marked as System V.
316 Different Unix systems used different sizes for the bit-fields in
317 <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> for <EM>characters</EM> and <EM>colors</EM>, and took into account the different
318 integer sizes (32-bit versus 64-bit).
320 This table showing the number of bits for <STRONG>A_COLOR</STRONG> and <STRONG>A_CHARTEXT</STRONG> was
321 gleaned from the curses header files for various operating systems and
322 architectures. The inferred architecture and notes reflect the format
323 and size of the defined constants as well as clues such as the alter-
324 nate character set implementation. A 32-bit library can be used on a
325 64-bit system, but not necessarily the reverse.
327 <EM>Year</EM> <EM>System</EM> <EM>Arch</EM> <EM>Color</EM> <EM>Char</EM> <EM>Notes</EM>
328 ----------------------------------------------------------------
329 1992 Solaris 5.2 32 6 17 SVr4 curses
330 1992 HPUX 9 32 no 8 SVr2 curses
331 1992 AIX 3.2 32 no 23 SVr2 curses
332 1994 OSF/1 r3 32 no 23 SVr2 curses
333 1995 HP-UX 10.00 32 6 16 SVr3 "curses_colr"
334 1995 HP-UX 10.00 32 6 8 SVr4, X/Open curses
335 1995 Solaris 5.4 32/64 7 16 X/Open curses
336 1996 AIX 4.2 32 7 16 X/Open curses
337 1996 OSF/1 r4 32 6 16 X/Open curses
338 1997 HP-UX 11.00 32 6 8 X/Open curses
340 2000 U/Win 32/64 7/31 16 uses <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>
346 <STRONG>o</STRONG> HP-UX 10.20 (1996) added support for 64-bit PA-RISC processors
349 <STRONG>o</STRONG> HP-UX 10.30 (1997) marked "curses_colr" obsolete. That version
350 of curses was dropped with HP-UX 11.30 in 2006.
352 Regarding OSF/1 (and Tru64),
354 <STRONG>o</STRONG> These used 64-bit hardware. Like ncurses, the OSF/1 curses in-
355 terface is not customized for 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
357 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Unlike other systems which evolved from AT&T code, OSF/1 provid-
358 ed a new implementation for X/Open curses.
362 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The initial release of Solaris was in 1992.
364 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>xpg4</EM> (X/Open) curses was developed by MKS from 1990 to 1995.
365 Sun's copyright began in 1996.
367 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Sun updated the X/Open curses interface after 64-bit support was
368 introduced in 1997, but did not modify the SVr4 curses inter-
373 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Development of the curses library began in 1991, stopped in
376 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Color support was added in 1998.
378 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The library uses only <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> (no <STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG>).
380 Once X/Open curses was adopted in the mid-1990s, the constraint of a
381 32-bit interface with many colors and wide-characters for <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> became
382 a moot point. The <STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG> structure (whose size and members are not
383 specified in X/Open Curses) could be extended as needed.
385 Other interfaces are rarely used now:
387 <STRONG>o</STRONG> BSD curses was improved slightly in 1993/1994 using Keith Bostic's
388 modification to make the library 8-bit clean for <STRONG>nvi</STRONG>. He moved
389 <EM>standout</EM> attribute to a structure member.
391 The resulting 4.4BSD curses was replaced by ncurses over the next
394 <STRONG>o</STRONG> U/Win is rarely used now.
397 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
398 This implementation provides the <STRONG>A_ITALIC</STRONG> attribute for terminals which
399 have the <STRONG>enter_italics_mode</STRONG> (<STRONG>sitm</STRONG>) and <STRONG>exit_italics_mode</STRONG> (<STRONG>ritm</STRONG>) capa-
400 bilities. Italics are not mentioned in X/Open Curses. Unlike the oth-
401 er video attributes, <STRONG>A_ITALIC</STRONG> is unrelated to the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> capa-
402 bilities. This implementation makes the assumption that <STRONG>exit_at-</STRONG>
403 <STRONG>tribute_mode</STRONG> may also reset italics.
405 Each of the functions added by XSI Curses has a parameter <EM>opts</EM>, which
406 X/Open Curses still (after more than twenty years) documents as re-
407 served for future use, saying that it should be <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>. This implementa-
408 tion uses that parameter in ABI 6 for the functions which have a color-
409 pair parameter to support <EM>extended</EM> <EM>color</EM> <EM>pairs</EM>:
411 <STRONG>o</STRONG> For functions which modify the color, e.g., <STRONG>wattr_set</STRONG>, if <EM>opts</EM> is
412 set it is treated as a pointer to <STRONG>int</STRONG>, and used to set the color
413 pair instead of the <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> parameter.
415 <STRONG>o</STRONG> For functions which retrieve the color, e.g., <STRONG>wattr_get</STRONG>, if <EM>opts</EM> is
416 set it is treated as a pointer to <STRONG>int</STRONG>, and used to retrieve the
417 color pair as an <STRONG>int</STRONG> value, in addition retrieving it via the stan-
418 dard pointer to <STRONG>short</STRONG> parameter.
420 The remaining functions which have <EM>opts</EM>, but do not manipulate color,
421 e.g., <STRONG>wattr_on</STRONG> and <STRONG>wattr_off</STRONG> are not used by this implementation except
422 to check that they are <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>.
425 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
426 These functions are supported in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4. The
427 standard defined the dedicated type for highlights, <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG>, which was
428 not defined in SVr4 curses. The functions taking <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> arguments were
429 not supported under SVr4.
431 Very old versions of this library did not force an update of the screen
432 when changing the attributes. Use <STRONG>touchwin</STRONG> to force the screen to
433 match the updated attributes.
435 The XSI Curses standard states that whether the traditional functions
436 <STRONG>attron</STRONG>/<STRONG>attroff</STRONG>/<STRONG>attrset</STRONG> can manipulate attributes other than <STRONG>A_BLINK</STRONG>,
437 <STRONG>A_BOLD</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_DIM</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_REVERSE</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_STANDOUT</STRONG>, or <STRONG>A_UNDERLINE</STRONG> is "unspecified".
438 Under this implementation as well as SVr4 curses, these functions cor-
439 rectly manipulate all other highlights (specifically, <STRONG>A_ALTCHARSET</STRONG>,
440 <STRONG>A_PROTECT</STRONG>, and <STRONG>A_INVIS</STRONG>).
442 XSI Curses added these entry points:
444 <STRONG>attr_get</STRONG>, <STRONG>attr_on</STRONG>, <STRONG>attr_off</STRONG>, <STRONG>attr_set</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattr_on</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattr_off</STRONG>, <STRONG>wat-</STRONG>
445 <STRONG>tr_get</STRONG>, <STRONG>wattr_set</STRONG>
447 The new functions are intended to work with a new series of highlight
448 macros prefixed with <STRONG>WA_</STRONG>. The older macros have direct counterparts in
449 the newer set of names:
451 <EM>Name</EM> <EM>Description</EM>
452 ------------------------------------------------------------
453 <STRONG>WA_NORMAL</STRONG> Normal display (no highlight)
454 <STRONG>WA_STANDOUT</STRONG> Best highlighting mode of the terminal.
455 <STRONG>WA_UNDERLINE</STRONG> Underlining
456 <STRONG>WA_REVERSE</STRONG> Reverse video
457 <STRONG>WA_BLINK</STRONG> Blinking
458 <STRONG>WA_DIM</STRONG> Half bright
459 <STRONG>WA_BOLD</STRONG> Extra bright or bold
460 <STRONG>WA_ALTCHARSET</STRONG> Alternate character set
462 XSI curses does not assign values to these symbols, nor does it state
463 whether or not they are related to the similarly-named A_NORMAL, etc.:
465 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The XSI curses standard specifies that each pair of corresponding
466 <STRONG>A_</STRONG> and <STRONG>WA_</STRONG>-using functions operates on the same current-highlight
469 <STRONG>o</STRONG> However, in some implementations, those symbols have unrelated val-
472 For example, the Solaris <EM>xpg4</EM> (X/Open) curses declares <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> to be
473 an unsigned short integer (16-bits), while <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> is a unsigned in-
474 teger (32-bits). The <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> symbols in this case are different from
475 the <STRONG>A_</STRONG> symbols because they are used for a smaller datatype which
476 does not represent <STRONG>A_CHARTEXT</STRONG> or <STRONG>A_COLOR</STRONG>.
478 In this implementation (as in many others), the values happen to be
479 the same because it simplifies copying information between <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>
480 and <STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG> variables.
482 The XSI standard extended conformance level adds new highlights <STRONG>A_HORI-</STRONG>
483 <STRONG>ZONTAL</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_LEFT</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_LOW</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_RIGHT</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_TOP</STRONG>, <STRONG>A_VERTICAL</STRONG> (and corresponding
484 <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> macros for each). As of August 2013, no known terminal provides
485 these highlights (i.e., via the <STRONG>sgr1</STRONG> capability).
488 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
489 All routines return the integer <STRONG>OK</STRONG> on success, or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> on failure.
491 X/Open does not define any error conditions.
495 <STRONG>o</STRONG> returns an error if the window pointer is null.
497 <STRONG>o</STRONG> returns an error if the color pair parameter for <STRONG>wcolor_set</STRONG> is out-
498 side the range 0..COLOR_PAIRS-1.
500 <STRONG>o</STRONG> does not return an error if either of the parameters of <STRONG>wattr_get</STRONG>
501 used for retrieving attribute or color-pair values is <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>.
503 Functions with a "mv" prefix first perform a cursor movement using
504 <STRONG>wmove</STRONG>, and return an error if the position is outside the window, or if
505 the window pointer is null.
508 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
509 <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">curs_addch(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addstr.3x.html">curs_addstr(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd(3x)</A></STRONG>,
510 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_printw.3x.html">curs_printw(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>
514 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>
518 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
519 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
520 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
522 <li><a href="#h3-Window-attributes">Window attributes</a></li>
523 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-window-attributes">Legacy window attributes</a></li>
524 <li><a href="#h3-Change-character-rendition">Change character rendition</a></li>
525 <li><a href="#h3-Change-window-color">Change window color</a></li>
526 <li><a href="#h3-Standout">Standout</a></li>
529 <li><a href="#h2-VIDEO-ATTRIBUTES">VIDEO ATTRIBUTES</a></li>
530 <li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
531 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
532 <li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
533 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
534 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
535 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>