curs_util(3x) Library calls curs_util(3x)
delay_output, filter, flushinp, getwin, key_name, keyname, nofilter,
putwin, unctrl, use_env, use_tioctl, wunctrl - miscellaneous curses
utility routines
#include <curses.h>
const char *unctrl(chtype c);
wchar_t *wunctrl(cchar_t *c);
const char *keyname(int c);
const char *key_name(wchar_t w);
void filter(void);
void use_env(bool f);
int putwin(WINDOW *win, FILE *filep);
WINDOW *getwin(FILE *filep);
int delay_output(int ms);
int flushinp(void);
/* extensions */
void nofilter(void);
void use_tioctl(bool f);
The unctrl routine returns a character string which is a printable rep-
resentation of the character c:
o Printable characters are displayed as themselves, e.g., a one-char-
acter string containing the key.
o Control characters are displayed in the ^X notation.
o Printing characters are displayed as is.
o DEL (character 127) is displayed as ^?.
o Values above 128 are either meta characters (if the screen has not
been initialized, or if meta(3x) has been called with a TRUE param-
eter), shown in the M-X notation, or are displayed as themselves.
In the latter case, the values may not be printable; this follows
the X/Open specification.
The corresponding wunctrl returns a printable representation of a com-
plex character c.
In both unctrl and wunctrl the attributes and color associated with the
character parameter are ignored.
The keyname routine returns a character string corresponding to the key
c. Key codes are different from character codes.
o Key codes below 256 are characters. They are displayed using unc-
trl.
o Values above 256 may be the codes for function keys. The function
key name is displayed.
o Otherwise (if there is no corresponding name and the key is not a
character) the function returns null, to denote an error. X/Open
also lists an "UNKNOWN KEY" return value, which some implementa-
tions return rather than null.
The corresponding key_name returns a multibyte character string corre-
sponding to the wide-character value w. The two functions (keyname and
key_name) do not return the same set of strings:
o keyname returns null where key_name would display a meta character.
o key_name does not return the name of a function key.
The filter routine, if used, must be called before initscr or newterm
are called. Calling filter causes these changes in initialization:
o LINES is set to 1;
o the capabilities clear, cud1, cud, cup, cuu1, cuu, vpa are dis-
abled;
o the capability ed is disabled if bce is set;
o and the home string is set to the value of cr.
The nofilter routine cancels the effect of a preceding filter call.
That allows the caller to initialize a screen on a different device,
using a different value of $TERM. The limitation arises because the
filter routine modifies the in-memory copy of the terminal information.
The use_env routine, if used, should be called before initscr or
newterm are called (because those compute the screen size). It modi-
fies the way ncurses treats environment variables when determining the
screen size.
o Normally ncurses looks first at the terminal database for the
screen size.
If use_env was called with FALSE for parameter, it stops here un-
less use_tioctl was also called with TRUE for parameter.
o Then it asks for the screen size via operating system calls. If
successful, it overrides the values from the terminal database.
o Finally (unless use_env was called with FALSE parameter), ncurses
examines the LINES or COLUMNS environment variables, using a value
in those to override the results from the operating system or ter-
minal database.
Ncurses also updates the screen size in response to SIGWINCH, un-
less overridden by the LINES or COLUMNS environment variables,
The use_tioctl routine, if used, should be called before initscr or
newterm are called (because those compute the screen size). After
use_tioctl is called with TRUE as an argument, ncurses modifies the
last step in its computation of screen size as follows:
o checks if the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables are set to a
number greater than zero.
o for each, ncurses updates the corresponding environment variable
with the value that it has obtained via operating system call or
from the terminal database.
o ncurses re-fetches the value of the environment variables so that
it is still the environment variables which set the screen size.
The use_env and use_tioctl routines combine as summarized here:
use_env use_tioctl Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------
TRUE FALSE This is the default behavior. ncurses
uses operating system calls unless over-
ridden by $LINES or $COLUMNS environment
variables.
TRUE TRUE ncurses updates $LINES and $COLUMNS
based on operating system calls.
FALSE TRUE ncurses ignores $LINES and $COLUMNS, us-
es operating system calls to obtain
size.
FALSE FALSE ncurses relies on the terminal database
to determine size.
The putwin routine writes all data associated with window (or pad) win
into the file to which filep points. This information can be later re-
trieved using the getwin function.
The getwin routine reads window related data stored in the file by
putwin. The routine then creates and initializes a new window using
that data. It returns a pointer to the new window. There are a few
caveats:
o the data written is a copy of the WINDOW structure, and its associ-
ated character cells. The format differs between the wide-charac-
ter (ncursesw) and non-wide (ncurses) libraries. You can transfer
data between the two, however.
o the retrieved window is always created as a top-level window (or
pad), rather than a subwindow.
o the window's character cells contain the color pair value, but not
the actual color numbers. If cells in the retrieved window use
color pairs which have not been created in the application using
init_pair, they will not be colored when the window is refreshed.
The delay_output routine inserts an ms millisecond pause in output.
This routine should not be used extensively because padding characters
are used rather than a CPU pause. If no padding character is speci-
fied, this uses napms to perform the delay.
The flushinp routine throws away any typeahead that has been typed by
the user and has not yet been read by the program.
Except for flushinp, routines that return an integer return ERR upon
failure and OK (SVr4 specifies only "an integer value other than ERR")
upon successful completion.
Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.
X/Open does not define any error conditions. In this implementation
flushinp
returns an error if the terminal was not initialized.
putwin
returns an error if the associated fwrite calls return an er-
ror.
The SVr4 documentation describes the action of filter only in the
vaguest terms. The description here is adapted from the XSI Curses
standard (which erroneously fails to describe the disabling of cuu).
The keyname function may return the names of user-defined string capa-
bilities which are defined in the terminfo entry via the -x option of
tic. This implementation automatically assigns at run-time keycodes to
user-defined strings which begin with "k". The keycodes start at
KEY_MAX, but are not guaranteed to be the same value for different runs
because user-defined codes are merged from all terminal descriptions
which have been loaded. The use_extended_names(3x) function controls
whether this data is loaded when the terminal description is read by
the library.
The nofilter and use_tioctl routines are specific to ncurses. They
were not supported on Version 7, BSD or System V implementations. It
is recommended that any code depending on ncurses extensions be condi-
tioned using NCURSES_VERSION.
The putwin and getwin functions have several issues with portability:
o The files written and read by these functions use an implementa-
tion-specific format. Although the format is an obvious target for
standardization, it has been overlooked.
Interestingly enough, according to the copyright dates in Solaris
source, the functions (along with scr_init, etc.) originated with
the University of California, Berkeley (in 1982) and were later (in
1988) incorporated into SVr4. Oddly, there are no such functions
in the 4.3BSD curses sources.
o Most implementations simply dump the binary WINDOW structure to the
file. These include SVr4 curses, NetBSD and PDCurses, as well as
older ncurses versions. This implementation (as well as the X/Open
variant of Solaris curses, dated 1995) uses textual dumps.
The implementations which use binary dumps use block-I/O (the
fwrite and fread functions). Those that use textual dumps use
buffered-I/O. A few applications may happen to write extra data in
the file using these functions. Doing that can run into problems
mixing block- and buffered-I/O. This implementation reduces the
problem on writes by flushing the output. However, reading from a
file written using mixed schemes may not be successful.
The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 describes these functions. It states
that unctrl and wunctrl will return a null pointer if unsuccessful, but
does not define any error conditions. This implementation checks for
three cases:
o the parameter is a 7-bit US-ASCII code. This is the case that
X/Open Curses documented.
o the parameter is in the range 128-159, i.e., a C1 control code. If
use_legacy_coding(3x) has been called with a 2 parameter, unctrl
returns the parameter, i.e., a one-character string with the param-
eter as the first character. Otherwise, it returns "~@", "~A",
etc., analogous to "^@", "^A", C0 controls.
X/Open Curses does not document whether unctrl can be called before
initializing curses. This implementation permits that, and returns
the "~@", etc., values in that case.
o parameter values outside the 0 to 255 range. unctrl returns a null
pointer.
The strings returned by unctrl in this implementation are determined at
compile time, showing C1 controls from the upper-128 codes with a "~"
prefix rather than "^". Other implementations have different conven-
tions. For example, they may show both sets of control characters with
"^", and strip the parameter to 7 bits. Or they may ignore C1 controls
and treat all of the upper-128 codes as printable. This implementation
uses 8 bits but does not modify the string to reflect locale. The
use_legacy_coding(3x) function allows the caller to change the output
of unctrl.
Likewise, the meta(3x) function allows the caller to change the output
of keyname, i.e., it determines whether to use the "M-" prefix for
"meta" keys (codes in the range 128 to 255). Both use_legacy_cod-
ing(3x) and meta(3x) succeed only after curses is initialized. X/Open
Curses does not document the treatment of codes 128 to 159. When
treating them as "meta" keys (or if keyname is called before initializ-
ing curses), this implementation returns strings "M-^@", "M-^A", etc.
X/Open Curses documents unctrl as declared in <unctrl.h>, which ncurses
does. However, ncurses' <curses.h> includes <unctrl.h>, matching the
behavior of SVr4 curses. Other implementations may not do that.
If ncurses is configured to provide the sp-functions extension, the
state of use_env and use_tioctl may be updated before creating each
screen rather than once only (curs_sp_funcs(3x)). This feature of
use_env is not provided by other implementations of curses.
curses(3x), curs_initscr(3x), curs_inopts(3x), curs_kernel(3x),
curs_scr_dump(3x), curs_sp_funcs(3x), curs_variables(3x), legacy_cod-
ing(3x).
ncurses 6.4 2023-08-05 curs_util(3x)