curs_refresh 3x

NAME

       doupdate,  redrawwin,  refresh,  wnoutrefresh,  wredrawln,
       wrefresh - refresh curses windows and lines

SYNOPSIS

       #include <curses.h>

       int refresh(void);
       int wrefresh(WINDOW *win);
       int wnoutrefresh(WINDOW *win);
       int doupdate(void);
       int redrawwin(WINDOW *win);
       int wredrawln(WINDOW *win, int beg_line, int num_lines);

DESCRIPTION

       The refresh and wrefresh  routines  (or  wnoutrefresh  and
       doupdate)  must be called to get actual output to the ter-
       minal, as other routines  merely  manipulate  data  struc-
       tures.   The  routine  wrefresh copies the named window to
       the physical terminal screen, taking into account what  is
       already there to do optimizations.  The refresh routine is
       the same, using stdscr  as  the  default  window.   Unless
       leaveok  has been enabled, the physical cursor of the ter-
       minal is left at the location of the cursor for that  win-
       dow.

       The  wnoutrefresh  and  doupdate  routines  allow multiple
       updates with more  efficiency  than  wrefresh  alone.   In
       addition  to  all  the window structures, curses keeps two
       data structures representing the terminal screen: a physi-
       cal screen, describing what is actually on the screen, and
       a virtual screen, describing what the programmer wants  to
       have on the screen.

       The  routine wrefresh works by first calling wnoutrefresh,
       which copies the named window to the virtual  screen,  and
       then  calling  doupdate, which compares the virtual screen
       to the physical screen and does the actual update.  If the
       programmer  wishes  to  output  several windows at once, a
       series of calls to wrefresh results in  alternating  calls
       to  wnoutrefresh  and  doupdate, causing several bursts of
       output to the screen.  By first calling  wnoutrefresh  for
       each  window,  it  is then possible to call doupdate once,
       resulting in only one burst of output,  with  fewer  total
       characters transmitted and less CPU time used.  If the win
       argument to wrefresh is the global  variable  curscr,  the
       screen  is immediately cleared and repainted from scratch.

       The phrase "copies the named window to the virtual screen"
       above  is  ambiguous.   What  actually happens is that all
       touched (changed) lines in the window are  copied  to  the
       virtual  screen.   This affects programs that use overlap-
       ping windows; it means that if two  windows  overlap,  you
       can  refresh  them  in either order and the overlap region
       will be modified only when it is explicitly changed.  (But
       see  the  section on PORTABILITY below for a warning about
       exploiting this behavior.)

       The wredrawln routine indicates to curses that some screen
       lines  are corrupted and should be thrown away before any-
       thing is written over  them.   It  touches  the  indicated
       lines  (marking  them  changed).   The routine redrawwin()
       touches the entire window.

RETURN VALUE

       Routines that return an integer return ERR  upon  failure,
       and  OK  (SVr4 only specifies "an integer value other than
       ERR") upon successful completion.

NOTES

       Note that refresh and redrawwin may be macros.

PORTABILITY

       The XSI Curses standard, Issue  4  describes  these  func-
       tions.

       Whether  wnoutrefresh()  copies  to the virtual screen the
       entire contents of a window or just its  changed  portions
       has never been well-documented in historic curses versions
       (including SVr4).  It might be unwise to  rely  on  either
       behavior  in  programs  that  might have to be linked with
       other curses implementations.   Instead,  you  can  do  an
       explicit  touchwin()  before  the  wnoutrefresh()  call to
       guarantee an entire-contents copy anywhere.

SEE ALSO

       curses(3x), curs_outopts(3x)