curs_addch 3x

curs_addch(3x)                                                  curs_addch(3x)




NAME

       addch, waddch, mvaddch, mvwaddch, echochar, wechochar - add a character
       (with attributes) to a curses window, then advance the cursor


SYNOPSIS

       #include <curses.h>

       int addch(const chtype ch);
       int waddch(WINDOW *win, const chtype ch);
       int mvaddch(int y, int x, const chtype ch);
       int mvwaddch(WINDOW *win, int y, int x, const chtype ch);
       int echochar(const chtype ch);
       int wechochar(WINDOW *win, const chtype ch);


DESCRIPTION


Adding characters

       The addch, waddch, mvaddch and mvwaddch routines put the  character  ch
       into  the  given  window  at its current window position, which is then
       advanced.  They are  analogous  to  putchar(3)  in  stdio(3).   If  the
       advance is at the right margin:

       o   The cursor automatically wraps to the beginning of the next line.

       o   At  the  bottom of the current scrolling region, and if scrollok is
           enabled, the scrolling region is scrolled up one line.

       o   If scrollok is not enabled, writing a character at the lower  right
           margin  succeeds.   However, an error is returned because it is not
           possible to wrap to a new line

       If ch is a tab, newline, carriage return or backspace,  the  cursor  is
       moved appropriately within the window:

       o   Backspace  moves the cursor one character left; at the left edge of
           a window it does nothing.

       o   Carriage return moves the cursor to the window left margin  on  the
           current line.

       o   Newline  does  a clrtoeol, then moves the cursor to the window left
           margin on the next line, scrolling the window if on the last line.

       o   Tabs are considered to be at every eighth column.  The tab interval
           may be altered by setting the TABSIZE variable.

       If  ch  is  any  other  control  character, it is drawn in ^X notation.
       Calling winch after adding a control  character  does  not  return  the
       character  itself, but instead returns the ^-representation of the con-
       trol character.

       Video attributes can be combined with a character  argument  passed  to
       addch  or  related  functions by logical-ORing them into the character.
       (Thus, text, including attributes, can be  copied  from  one  place  to
       another using inch(3x) and addch.)  See the curs_attr(3x) page for val-
       ues of predefined video attribute constants that can be usefully  OR'ed
       into characters.


Echoing characters

       The  echochar  and wechochar routines are equivalent to a call to addch
       followed by a call to refresh(3x), or a call to waddch  followed  by  a
       call  to wrefresh.  The knowledge that only a single character is being
       output is used and, for non-control characters, a considerable  perfor-
       mance gain may be seen by using these routines instead of their equiva-
       lents.


Line Graphics

       The following variables may be used to add line drawing  characters  to
       the  screen  with  routines of the addch family.  The default character
       listed below is used if the acsc capability does not define a terminal-
       specific  replacement  for it, or if the terminal and locale configura-
       tion requires Unicode but the library is unable to use Unicode.

       The names are taken from VT100 nomenclature.

       ACS            ACS       acsc   Glyph
       Name           Default   char   Name
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       ACS_BLOCK      #         0      solid square block
       ACS_BOARD      #         h      board of squares
       ACS_BTEE       +         v      bottom tee
       ACS_BULLET     o         ~      bullet
       ACS_CKBOARD    :         a      checker board (stipple)
       ACS_DARROW     v         .      arrow pointing down
       ACS_DEGREE     '         f      degree symbol
       ACS_DIAMOND    +         `      diamond
       ACS_GEQUAL     >         >      greater-than-or-equal-to
       ACS_HLINE      -         q      horizontal line
       ACS_LANTERN    #         i      lantern symbol
       ACS_LARROW     <         ,      arrow pointing left
       ACS_LEQUAL     <         y      less-than-or-equal-to
       ACS_LLCORNER   +         m      lower left-hand corner
       ACS_LRCORNER   +         j      lower right-hand corner
       ACS_LTEE       +         t      left tee
       ACS_NEQUAL     !         |      not-equal
       ACS_PI         *         {      greek pi
       ACS_PLMINUS    #         g      plus/minus
       ACS_PLUS       +         n      plus
       ACS_RARROW     >         +      arrow pointing right
       ACS_RTEE       +         u      right tee
       ACS_S1         -         o      scan line 1
       ACS_S3         -         p      scan line 3
       ACS_S7         -         r      scan line 7
       ACS_S9         _         s      scan line 9
       ACS_STERLING   f         }      pound-sterling symbol
       ACS_TTEE       +         w      top tee
       ACS_UARROW     ^         -      arrow pointing up
       ACS_ULCORNER   +         l      upper left-hand corner
       ACS_URCORNER   +         k      upper right-hand corner
       ACS_VLINE      |         x      vertical line


RETURN VALUE

       All routines return the integer ERR upon failure and OK on success (the
       SVr4  manuals specify only "an integer value other than ERR") upon suc-
       cessful completion, unless otherwise noted  in  the  preceding  routine
       descriptions.

       Functions  with  a  "mv"  prefix  first perform a cursor movement using
       wmove, and return an error if the position is outside the window, or if
       the window pointer is null.


NOTES

       Note that addch, mvaddch, mvwaddch, and echochar may be macros.


PORTABILITY

       All  these functions are described in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4.
       The defaults specified for forms-drawing characters apply in the  POSIX
       locale.


ACS Symbols

       X/Open Curses states that the ACS_ definitions are char constants.  For
       the wide-character implementation (see curs_add_wch), there are  analo-
       gous WACS_ definitions which are cchar_t constants.

       Some  ACS  symbols  (ACS_S3,  ACS_S7,  ACS_LEQUAL,  ACS_GEQUAL, ACS_PI,
       ACS_NEQUAL, ACS_STERLING) were not documented in any publicly  released
       System  V.   However,  many  publicly  available terminfos include acsc
       strings in which their key characters (pryz{|})  are  embedded,  and  a
       second-hand  list  of  their  character descriptions has come to light.
       The ACS-prefixed names for them were invented for ncurses(3x).

       The displayed values for the ACS_ and WACS_ constants depend on

       o   the library configuration, i.e., ncurses versus ncursesw, where the
           latter  is  capable  of displaying Unicode while the former is not,
           and

       o   whether the locale uses UTF-8 encoding.

       In certain cases, the terminal is unable to display line-drawing  char-
       acters except by using UTF-8 (see the discussion of NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS
       in ncurses(3x)).


Character Set

       X/Open Curses assumes that the parameter passed to  waddch  contains  a
       single  character.   As  discussed in curs_attr(3x), that character may
       have been more than eight bits in an SVr3 or SVr4  implementation,  but
       in  the  X/Open Curses model, the details are not given.  The important
       distinction between SVr4 curses and X/Open Curses is that the non-char-
       acter information (attributes and color) was separated from the charac-
       ter information which is packed in a chtype to pass to waddch.

       In this implementation, chtype holds eight bits.   But  ncurses  allows
       multibyte  characters  to be passed in a succession of calls to waddch.
       The other implementations do not do  this;  a  call  to  waddch  passes
       exactly one character which may be rendered as one or more cells on the
       screen depending on whether it is printable.

       Depending on the locale settings, ncurses will inspect the byte  passed
       in  each  call  to waddch, and check if the latest call will continue a
       multibyte sequence.  When a character is complete, ncurses displays the
       character and moves to the next position in the screen.

       If  the  calling  application  interrupts  the succession of bytes in a
       multibyte character by moving the current location (e.g., using wmove),
       ncurses discards the partially built character, starting over again.

       For  portability to other implementations, do not rely upon this behav-
       ior:

       o   check if a character can be represented as a  single  byte  in  the
           current locale before attempting call waddch, and

       o   call wadd_wch for characters which cannot be handled by waddch.


TABSIZE

       The  TABSIZE variable is implemented in some versions of curses, but is
       not part of X/Open curses.

       If ch is a carriage return, the cursor is moved to the beginning of the
       current  row of the window.  This is true of other implementations, but
       is not documented.


SEE ALSO

       curses(3x),  curs_attr(3x),  curs_clear(3x),  curs_inch(3x),  curs_out-
       opts(3x), curs_refresh(3x), curs_variables(3x), putc(3).

       Comparable  functions  in  the  wide-character  (ncursesw)  library are
       described in curs_add_wch(3x).



                                                                curs_addch(3x)