+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
+ ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
+
+ <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
+ fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
+ than longs.
+
+ Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
+ consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
+ as alternatives to deal with untrusted data:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
+ <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the curses
+ library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
+ which may be string parameters.
+
+ The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
+ to 9) which will be passed as char* rather than numbers.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a
+ formatting capability to see what the curses library would assume.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
+ The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information (i.e., by interpreting
+ marker embedded in the terminfo capability such as "$<5>" as 5
+ milliseconds) to the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
+ value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
+
+ The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
+ which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM>
+ interface.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
+ one at a time.
+
+ The <STRONG>putp</STRONG> routine calls <STRONG>tputs(</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>putchar)</STRONG>. The output of <STRONG>putp</STRONG>
+ always goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
+
+ The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
+ attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
+ in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
+ <EM>putc</EM>.
+
+ The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
+ through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
+
+ The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
+ respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
+ attributes plus color, i.e.,
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
+
+ The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
+ constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
+
+ X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
+ applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an
+ extension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
+ <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
+
+ The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
+ immediately (rather than at the next refresh). Unlike the other low-
+ level output functions, which either write to the standard output or
+ pass an output function parameter, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> uses an output file descriptor
+ derived from the output stream parameter of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+
+ While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
+ level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because System V
+ did this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
+ The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
+ capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
+ as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
+ entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
+
+ These routines return special values to denote errors.
+
+ The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
+
+ <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
+
+ <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
+
+ The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
+
+ <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
+
+ <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
+
+ The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
+
+ <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
+ if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
+
+ <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
+ These null-terminated arrays contain
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("codes"),
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <EM>termcap</EM> names ("names"), and
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("fnames")
+
+ for each of the predefined <EM>terminfo</EM> variables:
+
+ <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
+ Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
+ description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this
+ memory. If an application calls
+
+ <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
+
+ the memory will be freed.
+
+ The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
+ by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
+ were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
+ per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
+ terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
+ binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
+
+ The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
+ they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
+ <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
+
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
+ Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
+ only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful
+ completion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine
+ descriptions.
+
+ Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
+
+ X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
+
+ <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
+ returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
+
+ <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
+
+ <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
+ returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
+ error.
+
+ <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
+ returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
+ the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error
+ conditions are documented above.
+
+ <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
+ returns a null if the capability would require unexpected
+ parameters, e.g., too many, too few, or incorrect types
+ (strings where integers are expected, or vice versa).
+
+ <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
+ returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
+ detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
+ value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
+ This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with
+ systems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
+ <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
+
+ In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
+ likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
+ page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
+ <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call
+
+ <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
+
+ provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not
+ recommended for new programs. This implementation provides each of
+ those symbols as macros for BSD compatibility,
+
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
+ SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
+ the following low-level functions.
+
+ <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG> restore tty to "in curses" state
+
+ <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG> establish current tty modes
+ <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> low level cursor motion
+ <STRONG>putp</STRONG> utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send characters via
+ <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
+ <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG> set tty modes to "out of curses" state
+ <STRONG>resetty</STRONG> reset tty flags to stored value
+ <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG> save current modes as "in curses" state
+ <STRONG>savetty</STRONG> store current tty flags
+ <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
+ <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
+ <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> instantiate a string expression with parameters
+ <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding information to a string
+ <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> output a string to put terminal in a specified video
+ attribute mode
+
+ The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for <EM>termcap</EM>
+ compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date").
+
+ <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> look up <EM>termcap</EM> entry for given <EM>name</EM>
+ <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
+ <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
+ <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
+ <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> apply parameters to given capability
+ <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding to capability, calling a function to put
+ characters
+
+ Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
+ structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
+
+ SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability
+ values (like the termcap interface), and reusing <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>:
+
+ <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
+ <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
+ <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
+
+ SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 <EM>terminfo</EM> functions which had no
+ counterpart in the <EM>termcap</EM> interface, documenting them as obsolete.
+
+ <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ crmode cbreak
+ fixterm reset_prog_mode
+ gettmode <EM>n/a</EM>
+ nocrmode nocbreak
+ resetterm reset_shell_mode
+ saveterm def_prog_mode
+ setterm setupterm
+
+ SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
+ <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and
+ handling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two
+ parameters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
+
+ SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal
+ descriptions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental
+ improvements to the SVr2 library:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
+ <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
+ the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
+ provided in SVr2.
+
+ SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
+
+ There are other low-level functions declared in the <EM>curses</EM> header files
+ on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked
+ "obsolete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
+
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></H3><PRE>
+ The functions marked as extensions were designed for <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>, and
+ are not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous
+ version of curses.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
+ X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
+
+ The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
+ non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
+ <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
+ part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
+
+ Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
+ provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
+
+ Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
+ stored in the arrays described here.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
+ Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
+ <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
+ the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the
+ terminal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V
+ curses), it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable
+ way to cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
+
+ The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
+ <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
+ write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-
+ level functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions
+ using the more reliable buffering scheme.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
+ The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header
+ declarations, which were defined at the same time the C language was
+ first standardized in the late 1980s.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
+ might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
+ constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
+ would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
+ not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
+ hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
+
+ As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
+ the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The <EM>ncurses</EM> ABI
+ 6 enables this feature by default.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
+ rather than a variable argument list.
+
+ This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be
+ configured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
+ should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
+ this purpose.
+
+ In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
+ Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
+
+ While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
+ available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
+ configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
+
+ Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
+ nine on each call is awkward.
+
+ Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
+ the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That
+ approach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
+ Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
+ fit in a long).
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
+ such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string
+ parameters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string
+ parameters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
+
+ The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
+ an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
+ cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
+ places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
+
+ The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a
+ table, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
+ If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
+ value "unknown".
+
+ SVr4 curses uses the special value "dumb".
+
+ The difference between the two is that the former uses the <STRONG>gn</STRONG>
+ (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) terminfo capability, while the latter does not. A
+ generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
+ checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
+ string.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
+ In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
+ <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
+
+ In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
+
+ At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
+ other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
+ and does no error-checking.
+
+ X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
+ the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and
+ refresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
+ and System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data
+ allocated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as
+ a terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not
+ well specified.
+
+ X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This
+ implementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
+ that case, the old location is unknown.
+
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
+ <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_memleaks.3x.html">curs_memleaks(3x)</A></STRONG>,
+ <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>putc(3)</STRONG>,