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54 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x 2023-11-25 ncurses 6.4 Library calls</H1>
56 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> Library calls <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
61 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
62 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
63 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
64 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> interfaces to
65 <EM>terminfo</EM> database
68 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
69 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
70 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
72 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
79 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
80 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
81 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
82 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
84 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
85 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
86 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
87 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>restartterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
89 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
91 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p1</EM> <EM>...</EM> <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p9</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
93 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tputs(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
97 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
98 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_puts(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> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
99 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_attr(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>
101 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvcur(int</STRONG> <EM>oldrow</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>oldcol</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>newrow</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>newcol</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
103 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
104 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
105 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
107 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
109 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>extensions</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
110 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm_s(int</STRONG> <EM>expected</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>mask</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
111 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tiscan_s(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>expected</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>mask</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
114 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
115 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
116 directly with the <EM>terminfo</EM> database to handle certain terminal
117 capabilities, such as programming function keys. For all other
118 functionality, <EM>curses</EM> routines are more suitable and their use is
121 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
122 strings such as UTF-8:
124 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
126 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
127 strings of 8-bit characters.
130 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
131 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
132 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
133 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
135 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
136 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files
137 <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the
138 definitions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
140 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
143 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
144 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
146 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
147 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
148 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
149 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
150 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
153 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
154 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
155 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
156 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
158 Programs which use cursor addressing should
160 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
162 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
164 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
166 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
169 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
172 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
173 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
174 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
176 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
177 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
180 is the file descriptor used for getting and setting terminal
183 Higher-level applications use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> for initializing the
184 terminal, passing an output <EM>stream</EM> rather than a <EM>descriptor</EM>.
185 In curses, the two are the same because <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> calls
186 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, passing the file descriptor derived from its output
190 points to an optional location where an error status can be
191 returned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
192 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
193 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with
194 status of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
196 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
198 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
199 <EM>curses</EM> applications.
201 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
202 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
204 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
205 a generic type, having too little information for <EM>curses</EM>
208 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
209 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) capability.
211 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <EM>terminfo</EM> database could not be found.
213 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon
214 finding an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
216 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
218 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
221 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
222 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
223 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
224 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
225 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
228 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
229 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given
230 terminal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different
231 terminal types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of
232 terminal capabilities.
234 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
235 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
236 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
238 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
239 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>,
240 references to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string
241 variables thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until
242 another <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> has been called.
244 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
245 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for
246 example, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump).
247 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> assumes that the windows and the input and output options
248 are the same as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud
249 rate may be different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty
250 state bits, calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
253 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
254 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
255 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
256 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the
259 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
260 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
262 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal
263 capabilities require no more than one or two parameters.
265 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
266 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
268 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
269 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
271 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
272 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
275 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
276 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
277 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data:
279 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
280 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the curses
281 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
282 which may be string parameters.
284 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
285 to 9) which will be passed as char* rather than numbers.
287 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a
288 formatting capability to see what the curses library would assume.
291 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
292 String capabilities can contain padding information, a time delay
293 (accommodating performance limitations of hardware terminals) expressed
294 as <STRONG>$<</STRONG><EM>n</EM><STRONG>></STRONG>, where <EM>n</EM> is a nonnegative integral count of milliseconds. If <EM>n</EM>
295 exceeds 30,000 (thirty seconds), it is capped at that value.
297 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine interprets time-delay information in the string <EM>str</EM>
298 and outputs it, executing the delays:
300 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
301 value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
303 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
304 which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM>
307 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
309 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
312 If <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> processes a time-delay, it uses the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">delay_output(3x)</A></STRONG>
313 function, routing any resulting padding characters through this
316 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>
317 always goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
319 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
320 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
321 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
324 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
325 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
327 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
328 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
329 attributes plus color, i.e.,
331 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
333 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
335 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
336 constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
338 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
339 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an
340 extension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
341 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
343 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
344 immediately (rather than at the next refresh). Unlike the other low-
345 level output functions, which either write to the standard output or
346 pass an output function parameter, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> uses an output file descriptor
347 derived from the output stream parameter of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG>.
349 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
350 level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because System V
351 did this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
354 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
355 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
356 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
357 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
358 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
360 These routines return special values to denote errors.
362 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
364 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
366 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
368 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
370 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
372 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
374 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
376 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
377 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
379 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
382 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
383 These null-terminated arrays contain
385 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("codes"),
387 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <EM>termcap</EM> names ("names"), and
389 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("fnames")
391 for each of the predefined <EM>terminfo</EM> variables:
393 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
394 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
395 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
398 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
399 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
400 description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this
401 memory. If an application calls
403 <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
405 the memory will be freed.
407 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
408 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
410 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
411 were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
412 per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
414 <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
415 terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
416 binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
418 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
419 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
420 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
423 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
424 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
425 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful
426 completion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine
429 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
431 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
433 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
434 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
436 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
438 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
439 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
442 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
443 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
444 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error
445 conditions are documented above.
447 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
448 returns a null if the capability would require unexpected
449 parameters, e.g., too many, too few, or incorrect types
450 (strings where integers are expected, or vice versa).
452 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
453 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
454 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
455 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
458 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
459 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
462 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
463 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>, and
464 are not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous
468 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
469 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
470 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
473 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
474 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with
475 systems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
476 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
478 In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
479 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
480 page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
481 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call
483 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
485 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not
486 recommended for new programs. This implementation provides each of
487 those symbols as macros for BSD compatibility.
490 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
491 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
492 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
494 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
495 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
497 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
498 stored in the arrays described here.
501 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
502 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
503 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
504 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the
505 terminal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V
506 curses), it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable
507 way to cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
509 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
510 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
511 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-
512 level functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions
513 using the more reliable buffering scheme.
516 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
517 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header
518 declarations, which were defined at the same time the C language was
519 first standardized in the late 1980s.
521 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
522 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
523 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
524 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
525 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
526 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
528 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
529 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The <EM>ncurses</EM> ABI
530 6 enables this feature by default.
532 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
533 rather than a variable argument list.
535 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be
536 configured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
537 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
540 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
541 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
543 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
544 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
545 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
547 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
549 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
550 nine on each call is awkward.
552 Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
553 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That
554 approach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
555 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
558 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
559 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string
560 parameters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string
561 parameters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
563 The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
564 an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
565 cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
566 places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
568 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a
569 table, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
572 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
573 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
575 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
578 SVr4 curses uses the special value "dumb".
580 The difference between the two is that the former uses the <STRONG>gn</STRONG>
581 (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) terminfo capability, while the latter does not. A
582 generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
584 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
585 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
589 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
590 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
591 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
593 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
594 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
596 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
597 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
598 and does no error-checking.
600 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
601 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and
602 refresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
603 and System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data
604 allocated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as
605 a terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not
608 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This
609 implementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
610 that case, the old location is unknown.
613 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
614 SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
615 the following low-level functions.
617 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
618 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
619 <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG> restore tty to "in curses" state
620 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG> establish current tty modes
621 <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> low level cursor motion
623 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send characters via
624 <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
625 <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG> set tty modes to "out of curses" state
626 <STRONG>resetty</STRONG> reset tty flags to stored value
627 <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG> save current modes as "in curses" state
628 <STRONG>savetty</STRONG> store current tty flags
629 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
630 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
631 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> instantiate a string expression with parameters
632 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding information to a string
633 <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
634 <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> output a string to put terminal in a specified video
637 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for <EM>termcap</EM>
638 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date").
640 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
641 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
642 <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> look up <EM>termcap</EM> entry for given <EM>name</EM>
643 <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
644 <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
645 <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
646 <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> apply parameters to given capability
647 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding to capability, calling a function to put
650 Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
651 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
653 SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability
654 values (like the termcap interface), and reusing <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>:
656 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
657 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
658 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
659 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
660 <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
662 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 <EM>terminfo</EM> functions which had no
663 counterpart in the <EM>termcap</EM> interface, documenting them as obsolete.
665 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
666 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
668 fixterm reset_prog_mode
669 gettmode <EM>n/a</EM>
671 resetterm reset_shell_mode
672 saveterm def_prog_mode
675 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
676 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and
677 handling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two
678 parameters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
680 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal
681 descriptions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental
682 improvements to the SVr2 library:
684 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
685 <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
687 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
688 the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
691 SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
693 There are other low-level functions declared in the <EM>curses</EM> header files
694 on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked
695 "obsolete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
698 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
699 <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>,
700 <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>putc(3)</STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>,
701 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
705 ncurses 6.4 2023-11-25 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
709 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
710 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
711 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
713 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
714 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
715 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
716 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
717 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
718 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
719 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
722 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
723 <li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
724 <li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
725 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
727 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
728 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
729 <li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
730 <li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
731 <li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
732 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
735 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
736 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>