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51 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x</H1>
53 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
58 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
59 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
60 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
61 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interfaces to
65 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
66 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
67 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
69 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
71 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
72 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
73 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
79 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
81 <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>
82 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
83 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
84 <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>
86 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
88 <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>
90 <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>
91 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
93 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
95 <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>
96 <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>
98 <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>
100 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
101 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
102 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
104 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
107 <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>
108 <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>
111 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
112 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
113 directly with the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database to handle certain terminal capabil-
114 ities, such as programming function keys. For all other functionality,
115 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines are more suitable and their use is recommended.
117 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
118 strings such as UTF-8:
120 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
122 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
123 strings of 8-bit characters.
126 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
127 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
128 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
129 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
131 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
132 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
133 <STRONG>es.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the defini-
134 tions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
136 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
139 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
140 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
142 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
143 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
144 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
145 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
146 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
149 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
150 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
151 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
152 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
154 Programs which use cursor addressing should
156 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
158 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
160 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
162 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
165 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
168 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
169 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
170 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
172 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
173 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
176 is the file descriptor used for all output.
179 points to an optional location where an error status can be re-
180 turned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
181 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
182 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with sta-
183 tus of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
185 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
187 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
190 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
191 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
193 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
194 a generic type, having too little information for curses
197 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
198 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic</STRONG>) capability.
200 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database could not be found.
202 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon find-
203 ing an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
205 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
207 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
210 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
211 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
212 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
213 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
214 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
217 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
218 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given termi-
219 nal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different terminal
220 types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of terminal capa-
223 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
224 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
225 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
227 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
228 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, refer-
229 ences to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables
230 thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
231 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> has been called.
233 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
234 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for exam-
235 ple, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
236 assumes that the windows and the input and output options are the same
237 as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be
238 different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty state bits,
239 calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
242 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
243 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
244 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
245 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the inter-
248 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
249 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
251 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal capa-
252 bilities require no more than one or two parameters.
254 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
255 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
257 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
258 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
260 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
261 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
264 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
265 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
266 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data:
268 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
269 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the curses
270 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
271 which may be string parameters.
273 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
274 to 9) which will be passed as char* rather than numbers.
276 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a format-
277 ting capability to see what the curses library would assume.
280 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
281 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information (i.e., by interpreting
282 marker embedded in the terminfo capability such as "$<5>" as 5 mil-
283 liseconds) to the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it:
285 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
286 value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
288 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
289 which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM> inter-
292 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
294 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
297 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> al-
298 ways goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
300 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
301 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
302 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
305 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
306 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
308 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
309 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
310 attributes plus color, i.e.,
312 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
314 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
316 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
317 constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
319 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
320 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an ex-
321 tension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
322 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
324 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
325 immediately (rather than at the next refresh).
327 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
328 level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because SystemV did
329 this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
332 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
333 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
334 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
335 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
336 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
338 These routines return special values to denote errors.
340 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
342 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
344 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
346 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
348 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
350 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
352 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
354 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
355 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
357 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
360 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
361 These null-terminated arrays contain
363 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short terminfo names ("codes"),
365 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> names ("names"), and
367 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long terminfo names ("fnames")
369 for each of the predefined <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables:
371 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
372 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
373 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
376 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
377 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
378 description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this memo-
379 ry. If an application calls
381 <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
383 the memory will be freed.
385 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
386 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
388 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
389 were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
390 per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
392 <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
393 terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
394 binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
396 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
397 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
398 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
401 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
402 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
403 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful com-
404 pletion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine descriptions.
406 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
408 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
410 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
411 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
413 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
415 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
416 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
419 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
420 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
421 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error con-
422 ditions are documented above.
424 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
425 returns a null if the capability would require unexpected pa-
426 rameters, e.g., too many, too few, or incorrect types (strings
427 where integers are expected, or vice versa).
429 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
430 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
431 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
432 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
435 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
436 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with sys-
437 tems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
438 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
440 In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
441 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
442 page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
443 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call:
445 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
447 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not recommend-
448 ed for new programs. This implementation provides each of those sym-
449 bols as macros for BSD compatibility,
452 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
453 SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
454 these low-level functions:
456 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
457 ------------------------------------------------------------
458 fixterm restore tty to "in curses" state
459 gettmode establish current tty modes
460 mvcur low level cursor motion
461 putp utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send char-
462 acters via <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
464 resetterm set tty modes to "out of curses" state
465 resetty reset tty flags to stored value
466 saveterm save current modes as "in curses" state
467 savetty store current tty flags
468 setterm establish terminal with given type
469 setupterm establish terminal with given type
470 tparm instantiate a string expression with parameters
471 tputs apply padding information to a string
472 vidattr like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
473 vidputs output a string to put terminal in a specified
476 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for termcap
477 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date"):
479 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
480 ------------------------------------------------
481 tgetent look up termcap entry for given <EM>name</EM>
482 tgetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
483 tgetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
484 tgetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
485 tgoto apply parameters to given capability
486 tputs apply padding to capability, calling
487 a function to put characters
489 Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
490 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
492 SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability val-
493 ues (like the termcap interface), and reusing tgoto and tputs:
495 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
496 -------------------------------------------
497 tigetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
498 tigetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
499 tigetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
501 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 terminfo functions which had no
502 counterpart in the termcap interface, documenting them as obsolete:
504 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
505 -----------------------------
507 fixterm reset_prog_mode
510 resetterm reset_shell_mode
511 saveterm def_prog_mode
514 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
515 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and han-
516 dling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two parame-
517 ters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
519 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal descrip-
520 tions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental improvements to
523 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
524 <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
526 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
527 the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
530 SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
532 There are other low-level functions declared in the curses header files
533 on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked "obso-
534 lete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
537 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
539 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></H3><PRE>
540 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>, and
541 are not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous ver-
545 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
546 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
548 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
549 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
552 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
553 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
554 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
556 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
557 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
559 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
560 stored in the arrays described here.
563 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
564 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
565 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
566 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the ter-
567 minal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V curses),
568 it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable way to
569 cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
571 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
572 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
573 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-lev-
574 el functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions using
575 the more reliable buffering scheme.
578 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
579 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header decla-
580 rations, which were defined at the same time the C language was first
581 standardized in the late 1980s.
583 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
584 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
585 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
586 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
587 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
588 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
590 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
591 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The ncurses ABI
592 6 enables this feature by default.
594 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
595 rather than a variable argument list.
597 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be con-
598 figured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
599 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
602 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
603 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
605 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
606 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
607 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
609 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
611 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
612 nine on each call is awkward.
614 Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
615 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That ap-
616 proach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standarized.
617 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
620 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
621 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string parame-
622 ters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string parame-
623 ters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
625 The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
626 an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
627 cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
628 places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
630 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a ta-
631 ble, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
634 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
635 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
637 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
640 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
641 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
645 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
646 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
647 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
649 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
650 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
652 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
653 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
654 and does no error-checking.
656 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
657 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and re-
658 fresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> and
659 System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data allo-
660 cated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a
661 terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not well
664 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This im-
665 plementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
666 that case, the old location is unknown.
669 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
670 <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>,
671 <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>, <STRONG>ter-</STRONG>
672 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">minfo(5)</A></STRONG>
676 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
680 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
681 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
682 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
684 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
685 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
686 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
687 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
688 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
689 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
690 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
693 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a>
695 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
698 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
699 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
701 <li><a href="#h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></li>
702 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></li>
703 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
704 <li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
705 <li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
706 <li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
707 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
710 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>