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52 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x 2023-10-21 ncurses 6.4 Library calls</H1>
54 <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>
59 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
60 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
61 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
62 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> interfaces to
63 <EM>terminfo</EM> database
66 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
67 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
68 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
70 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
72 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
73 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
79 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
80 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
82 <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>
83 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
84 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
85 <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>
87 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
89 <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>
91 <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>
92 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
95 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <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>
97 <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>
99 <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>
101 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
102 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
103 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
105 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
107 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>extensions</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
108 <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>
109 <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>
112 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
113 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
114 directly with the <EM>terminfo</EM> database to handle certain terminal
115 capabilities, such as programming function keys. For all other
116 functionality, <EM>curses</EM> routines are more suitable and their use is
119 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
120 strings such as UTF-8:
122 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
124 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
125 strings of 8-bit characters.
128 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
129 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
130 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
131 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
133 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
134 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files
135 <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the
136 definitions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
138 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
141 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
142 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
144 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
145 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
146 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
147 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
148 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
151 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
152 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
153 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
154 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
156 Programs which use cursor addressing should
158 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
160 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
162 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
164 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
167 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
170 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
171 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
172 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
174 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
175 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
178 is the file descriptor used for getting and setting terminal
181 Higher-level applications use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> for initializing the
182 terminal, passing an output <EM>stream</EM> rather than a <EM>descriptor</EM>.
183 In curses, the two are the same because <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> calls
184 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, passing the file descriptor derived from its output
188 points to an optional location where an error status can be
189 returned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
190 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
191 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with
192 status of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
194 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
196 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
197 <EM>curses</EM> applications.
199 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
200 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
202 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
203 a generic type, having too little information for <EM>curses</EM>
206 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
207 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) capability.
209 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <EM>terminfo</EM> database could not be found.
211 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon
212 finding an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
214 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
216 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
219 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
220 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
221 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
222 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
223 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
226 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
227 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given
228 terminal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different
229 terminal types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of
230 terminal capabilities.
232 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
233 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
234 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
236 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
237 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>,
238 references to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string
239 variables thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until
240 another <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> has been called.
242 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
243 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for
244 example, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump).
245 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> assumes that the windows and the input and output options
246 are the same as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud
247 rate may be different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty
248 state bits, calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
251 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
252 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
253 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
254 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the
257 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
258 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
260 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal
261 capabilities require no more than one or two parameters.
263 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
264 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
266 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
267 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
269 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
270 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
273 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
274 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
275 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data:
277 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
278 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the curses
279 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
280 which may be string parameters.
282 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
283 to 9) which will be passed as char* rather than numbers.
285 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a
286 formatting capability to see what the curses library would assume.
289 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
290 String capabilities can contain padding information, a time delay
291 (accommodating performance limitations of hardware terminals) expressed
292 as <STRONG>$<</STRONG><EM>n</EM><STRONG>></STRONG>, where <EM>n</EM> is a nonnegative integral count of milliseconds. If <EM>n</EM>
293 exceeds 30,000 (thirty seconds), it is capped at that value.
295 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine interprets time-delay information in the string <EM>str</EM>
296 and outputs it, executing the delays:
298 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
299 value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
301 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
302 which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM>
305 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
307 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
310 If <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> processes a time-delay, it uses the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">delay_output(3x)</A></STRONG>
311 function, routing any resulting padding characters through this
314 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>
315 always goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
317 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
318 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
319 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
322 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
323 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
325 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
326 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
327 attributes plus color, i.e.,
329 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
331 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
333 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
334 constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
336 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
337 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an
338 extension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
339 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
341 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
342 immediately (rather than at the next refresh). Unlike the other low-
343 level output functions, which either write to the standard output or
344 pass an output function parameter, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> uses an output file descriptor
345 derived from the output stream parameter of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG>.
347 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
348 level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because System V
349 did this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
352 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
353 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
354 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
355 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
356 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
358 These routines return special values to denote errors.
360 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
362 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
364 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
366 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
368 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
370 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
372 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
374 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
375 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
377 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
380 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
381 These null-terminated arrays contain
383 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("codes"),
385 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <EM>termcap</EM> names ("names"), and
387 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("fnames")
389 for each of the predefined <EM>terminfo</EM> variables:
391 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
392 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
393 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
396 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
397 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
398 description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this
399 memory. If an application calls
401 <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
403 the memory will be freed.
405 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
406 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
408 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
409 were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
410 per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
412 <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
413 terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
414 binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
416 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
417 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
418 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
421 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
422 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
423 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful
424 completion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine
427 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
429 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
431 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
432 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
434 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
436 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
437 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
440 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
441 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
442 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error
443 conditions are documented above.
445 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
446 returns a null if the capability would require unexpected
447 parameters, e.g., too many, too few, or incorrect types
448 (strings where integers are expected, or vice versa).
450 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
451 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
452 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
453 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
456 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
457 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with
458 systems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
459 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
461 In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
462 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
463 page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
464 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call
466 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
468 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not
469 recommended for new programs. This implementation provides each of
470 those symbols as macros for BSD compatibility,
473 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
474 SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
475 the following low-level functions.
477 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
478 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
479 <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG> restore tty to "in curses" state
480 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG> establish current tty modes
481 <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> low level cursor motion
482 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send characters via
483 <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
484 <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG> set tty modes to "out of curses" state
485 <STRONG>resetty</STRONG> reset tty flags to stored value
486 <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG> save current modes as "in curses" state
487 <STRONG>savetty</STRONG> store current tty flags
488 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
489 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
490 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> instantiate a string expression with parameters
491 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding information to a string
492 <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
493 <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> output a string to put terminal in a specified video
496 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for <EM>termcap</EM>
497 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date").
499 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
500 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
501 <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> look up <EM>termcap</EM> entry for given <EM>name</EM>
502 <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
503 <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
504 <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
505 <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> apply parameters to given capability
506 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding to capability, calling a function to put
509 Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
510 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
512 SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability
513 values (like the termcap interface), and reusing <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>:
515 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
516 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
517 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
518 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
519 <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
521 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 <EM>terminfo</EM> functions which had no
522 counterpart in the <EM>termcap</EM> interface, documenting them as obsolete.
524 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
525 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
527 fixterm reset_prog_mode
528 gettmode <EM>n/a</EM>
530 resetterm reset_shell_mode
531 saveterm def_prog_mode
534 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
535 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and
536 handling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two
537 parameters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
539 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal
540 descriptions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental
541 improvements to the SVr2 library:
543 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
544 <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
546 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
547 the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
550 SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
552 There are other low-level functions declared in the <EM>curses</EM> header files
553 on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked
554 "obsolete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
557 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
559 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></H3><PRE>
560 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>, and
561 are not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous
565 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
566 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
568 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
569 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
572 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
573 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
574 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
576 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
577 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
579 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
580 stored in the arrays described here.
583 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
584 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
585 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
586 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the
587 terminal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V
588 curses), it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable
589 way to cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
591 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
592 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
593 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-
594 level functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions
595 using the more reliable buffering scheme.
598 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
599 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header
600 declarations, which were defined at the same time the C language was
601 first standardized in the late 1980s.
603 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
604 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
605 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
606 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
607 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
608 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
610 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
611 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The <EM>ncurses</EM> ABI
612 6 enables this feature by default.
614 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
615 rather than a variable argument list.
617 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be
618 configured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
619 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
622 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
623 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
625 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
626 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
627 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
629 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
631 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
632 nine on each call is awkward.
634 Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
635 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That
636 approach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
637 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
640 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
641 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string
642 parameters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string
643 parameters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
645 The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
646 an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
647 cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
648 places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
650 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a
651 table, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
654 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
655 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
657 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
660 SVr4 curses uses the special value "dumb".
662 The difference between the two is that the former uses the <STRONG>gn</STRONG>
663 (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) terminfo capability, while the latter does not. A
664 generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
666 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
667 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
671 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
672 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
673 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
675 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
676 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
678 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
679 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
680 and does no error-checking.
682 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
683 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and
684 refresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
685 and System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data
686 allocated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as
687 a terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not
690 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This
691 implementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
692 that case, the old location is unknown.
695 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
696 <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>,
697 <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>,
698 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
702 ncurses 6.4 2023-10-21 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
706 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
707 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
708 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
710 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
711 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
712 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
713 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
714 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
715 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
716 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
719 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a>
721 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
724 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
725 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
727 <li><a href="#h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></li>
728 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></li>
729 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
730 <li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
731 <li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
732 <li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
733 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
736 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>