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30 * @Id: curs_terminfo.3x,v 1.30 2008/08/16 20:53:27 tom Exp @
34 <TITLE>curs_terminfo 3x</TITLE>
35 <link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
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39 <H1>curs_terminfo 3x</H1>
42 <!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
43 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
50 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>,
51 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
52 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG>
53 interfaces to terminfo database
57 <H2>SYNOPSIS</H2><PRE>
58 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
59 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
61 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>fildes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
62 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setterm(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
63 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
64 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
65 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>restartterm(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>fildes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
66 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
67 <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>
68 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
69 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
70 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
71 <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>)(char));</STRONG>
72 <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>
73 <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>, int <EM>newcol</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
80 <H2>DESCRIPTION</H2><PRE>
81 These low-level routines must be called by programs that
82 have to deal directly with the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database to handle
83 certain terminal capabilities, such as programming func-
84 tion keys. For all other functionality, <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines
85 are more suitable and their use is recommended.
87 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. Note that <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
88 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> is automatically called by <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>.
89 This defines the set of terminal-dependent variables
90 [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>]. The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and
91 <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> as follows:
93 If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG>
94 and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
96 Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and
97 <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist, their values are used. If these en-
98 vironment variables do not exist and the program is
99 running in a window, the current window size is
100 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do
101 not exist, the values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> speci-
102 fied in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are used.
104 The header files <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included
105 (in this order) to get the definitions for these strings,
106 numbers, and flags. Parameterized strings should be
107 passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
108 strings [including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>] should be printed
109 with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call the <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore
110 the tty modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>]. Pro-
111 grams which use cursor addressing should output <STRONG>en-</STRONG>
112 <STRONG>ter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and should output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG>
113 before exiting. Programs desiring shell escapes should
116 <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell
117 is called and should output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>re-</STRONG>
118 <STRONG>set_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from the shell.
120 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, ini-
121 tializing the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the
122 output virtualization structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. The ter-
123 minal type is the character string <EM>term</EM>; if <EM>term</EM> is null,
124 the environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used. All output is to
125 file descriptor <STRONG>fildes</STRONG> which is initialized for output.
126 If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>
127 and stores a status value in the integer pointed to by <EM>er-</EM>
128 <EM>rret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with status of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in
129 <EM>errret</EM> is normal. If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
131 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be
132 used for curses applications.
134 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or
135 that it is a generic type, having too little
136 information for curses applications to run.
138 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database could not be
141 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon
142 finding an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
144 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
146 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>std-</STRONG>
147 <STRONG>out</STRONG>.
149 The <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine is being replaced by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. The
152 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
154 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>. The
155 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine is included here for BSD compatibility,
156 and is not recommended for new programs.
158 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets the variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to
159 <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and
160 string variables use the values from <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns
161 the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
163 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by
164 <EM>oterm</EM> and makes it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is
165 the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, references to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
166 boolean, numeric, and string variables thereafter may re-
167 fer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
170 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and
171 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except that it is called after restoring memory
172 to a previous state (for example, when reloading a game
173 saved as a core image dump). It assumes that the windows
174 and the input and output options are the same as when mem-
175 ory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be
176 different. Accordingly, it saves various tty state bits,
177 calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
179 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parame-
180 ters <EM>pi</EM>. A pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with
181 the parameters applied.
183 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information to the
184 string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it. The <EM>str</EM> must be a terminfo
185 string variable or the return value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>,
186 or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>. <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if
187 not applicable. <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which
188 the characters are passed, one at a time.
190 The <STRONG>putp</STRONG> routine calls <STRONG>tputs(</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>putchar)</STRONG>. Note that
191 the output of <STRONG>putp</STRONG> always goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, not to the
192 <EM>fildes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
194 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in
195 the video attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination
196 of the attributes listed in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters
197 are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine <EM>putc</EM>.
199 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except
200 that it outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
202 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr
203 and vidputs, respectively. They use a set of arguments
204 for representing the video attributes plus color, i.e.,
205 one of type attr_t for the attributes and one of short for
206 the color_pair number. The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines
207 are designed to use the attribute constants with the <EM>WA</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG>
208 prefix. The opts argument is reserved for future use.
209 Currently, applications must provide a null pointer for
212 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It
213 takes effect immediately (rather than at the next re-
216 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the
217 value of the capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>cap-</EM>
218 <EM>name</EM> passed to them, such as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>.
220 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns the value <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is
221 not a boolean capability, or <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent
222 from the terminal description.
224 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns the value <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is
225 not a numeric capability, or <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or ab-
226 sent from the terminal description.
228 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns the value <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG> if <EM>cap-</EM>
229 <EM>name</EM> is not a string capability, or <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or
230 absent from the terminal description.
232 The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table col-
233 umn entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of
234 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
236 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
238 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
240 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
242 These null-terminated arrays contain the <EM>capnames</EM>, the
243 <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> codes, and the full C names, for each of the <STRONG>ter-</STRONG>
244 <STRONG>minfo</STRONG> variables.
248 <H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
249 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure
250 and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 only specifies "an integer value other than
251 <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful completion, unless otherwise noted
252 in the preceding routine descriptions.
254 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
256 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementa-
259 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
260 returns an error if its terminal parameter is
263 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
265 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
266 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
267 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> returns an error.
269 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
270 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough
271 memory, or create the initial windows (stdscr,
272 curscr, newscr). Other error conditions are
275 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
276 returns an error if the string parameter is
277 null. It does not detect I/O errors: X/Open
278 states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return value of
279 the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
284 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine should be used in place of <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
285 It may be useful when you want to test for terminal capa-
286 bilities without committing to the allocation of storage
287 involved in <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>.
289 Note that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
293 <H2>PORTABILITY</H2><PRE>
294 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must
295 be considered non-portable. All other functions are as
298 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>.
299 This is not part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some
302 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type
303 and returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the
304 X/Open Curses semantics.
306 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the
307 type <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
309 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) re-
310 turns a value other than OK/ERR from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns
311 the length of the string, and does no error-checking.
313 X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of pa-
314 rameters, rather than a variable argument list. This im-
315 plementation uses a variable argument list. Portable ap-
316 plications should provide 9 parameters after the format;
317 zeroes are fine for this purpose.
319 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state
320 may not match the actual terminal state, and that an ap-
321 plication should touch and refresh the window before re-
322 suming normal curses calls. Both ncurses and System V Re-
323 lease 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data allo-
324 cated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is docu-
325 mented as a terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses
326 function which is not well specified.
328 X/Open states that the old location must be given for
329 <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This implementation allows the caller to use -1's
330 for the old ordinates. In that case, the old location is
333 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by
334 <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not stored in the arrays described in this
339 <H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
340 <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>curs_term-</STRONG>
341 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">cap(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="putc.3.html">putc(3)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
345 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
349 Man(1) output converted with
350 <a href="http://www.oac.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/man2html.html">man2html</a>