-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
<!--
****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 1998-2009,2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+ * Copyright (c) 1998-2010,2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
* *
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
* copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
* authorization. *
****************************************************************************
- * @Id: curs_color.3x,v 1.36 2014/11/16 00:44:29 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: curs_color.3x,v 1.37 2015/04/04 19:42:47 tom Exp @
-->
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
+<meta name="generator" content="Manpage converted by man2html - see http://invisible-island.net/scripts/readme.html#others_scripts">
<TITLE>curs_color 3x</TITLE>
<link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
-<H1>curs_color 3x</H1>
-<HR>
+<H1 class="no-header">curs_color 3x</H1>
<PRE>
-<!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
-<H2>NAME</H2><PRE>
+<H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG>start_color</STRONG>, <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG>, <STRONG>init_color</STRONG>, <STRONG>has_colors</STRONG>,
<STRONG>can_change_color</STRONG>, <STRONG>color_content</STRONG>, <STRONG>pair_content</STRONG>, <STRONG>COLOR_PAIR</STRONG>
- <STRONG>curses</STRONG> color manipulation routines
</PRE>
-<H2>SYNOPSIS</H2><PRE>
+<H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG>#</STRONG> <STRONG>include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>start_color(void);</STRONG>
</PRE>
-<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2><PRE>
- <STRONG>Overview</STRONG>
+<H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
+
+</PRE>
+<H3><a name="h3-Overview">Overview</a></H3><PRE>
<STRONG>curses</STRONG> support color attributes on terminals with that ca-
pability. To use these routines <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> must be
called, usually right after <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>. Colors are always
The routine <STRONG>pair_content</STRONG> allows a programmer to find out
how a given color-pair is currently defined.
- <STRONG>Routine</STRONG> <STRONG>Descriptions</STRONG>
+
+</PRE>
+<H3><a name="h3-Routine-Descriptions">Routine Descriptions</a></H3><PRE>
The <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> routine requires no arguments. It must be
called if the programmer wants to use colors, and before
any other color manipulation routine is called. It is
good practice to call this routine right after <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>.
- <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> initializes eight basic colors (black, red,
- green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white), and two
- global variables, <STRONG>COLORS</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLOR_PAIRS</STRONG> (respectively
- defining the maximum number of colors and color-pairs the
- terminal can support). It also restores the colors on the
- terminal to the values they had when the terminal was just
- turned on.
-
- These limits apply to color values and color pairs. Val-
- ues outside these limits are not legal, and may result in
+ <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> does this:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> It initializes two global variables, <STRONG>COLORS</STRONG> and <STRONG>COL-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>OR_PAIRS</STRONG> (respectively defining the maximum number of
+ colors and color-pairs the terminal can support).
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> It initializes the special color pair <STRONG>0</STRONG> to the default
+ foreground and background colors. No other color
+ pairs are initialized.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> It restores the colors on the terminal to the values
+ they had when the terminal was just turned on.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the terminal supports the <STRONG>initc</STRONG> (<STRONG>initialize_color</STRONG>)
+ capability, <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> initializes its internal table
+ representing the red, green and blue components of the
+ color palette.
+
+ The components depend on whether the terminal uses CGA
+ (aka "ANSI") or HLS (i.e., the <STRONG>hls</STRONG> (<STRONG>hue_lightness_sat-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>uration</STRONG>) capability is set). The table is initialized
+ first for eight basic colors (black, red, green, yel-
+ low, blue, magenta, cyan, and white), and after that
+ (if the terminal supports more than eight colors) the
+ components are initialized to <STRONG>1000</STRONG>.
+
+ <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> does not attempt to set the terminal's
+ color palette to match its built-in table. An appli-
+ cation may use <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> to alter the internal table
+ along with the terminal's color.
+
+ These limits apply to color values and color pairs. Val-
+ ues outside these limits are not legal, and may result in
a runtime error:
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>COLORS</STRONG> corresponds to the terminal database's <STRONG>max_col-</STRONG>
<STRONG>o</STRONG> color values are expected to be in the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> to <STRONG>COL-</STRONG>
<STRONG>ORS-1</STRONG>, inclusive (including <STRONG>0</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLORS-1</STRONG>).
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> a special color value <STRONG>-1</STRONG> is used in certain extended
- functions to denote the <EM>default</EM> <EM>color</EM> (see <STRONG>use_de-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> a special color value <STRONG>-1</STRONG> is used in certain extended
+ functions to denote the <EM>default</EM> <EM>color</EM> (see <STRONG>use_de-</STRONG>
<STRONG>fault_colors</STRONG>).
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>COLOR_PAIRS</STRONG> corresponds to the terminal database's
- <STRONG>max_pairs</STRONG> capability, which is typically a signed
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>COLOR_PAIRS</STRONG> corresponds to the terminal database's
+ <STRONG>max_pairs</STRONG> capability, which is typically a signed
16-bit integer (see <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>).
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> legal color pair values are in the range <STRONG>1</STRONG> to <STRONG>COL-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> legal color pair values are in the range <STRONG>1</STRONG> to <STRONG>COL-</STRONG>
<STRONG>OR_PAIRS-1</STRONG>, inclusive.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> color pair <STRONG>0</STRONG> is special; it denotes "no color".
- Color pair <STRONG>0</STRONG> is assumed to be white on black, but is
+ Color pair <STRONG>0</STRONG> is assumed to be white on black, but is
actually whatever the terminal implements before color
is initialized. It cannot be modified by the applica-
tion.
- The <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG> routine changes the definition of a color-
- pair. It takes three arguments: the number of the color-
- pair to be changed, the foreground color number, and the
+ The <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG> routine changes the definition of a color-
+ pair. It takes three arguments: the number of the color-
+ pair to be changed, the foreground color number, and the
background color number. For portable applications:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> The first argument must be a legal color pair value.
- If default colors are used (see <STRONG>use_default_colors</STRONG>)
- the upper limit is adjusted to allow for extra pairs
- which use a default color in foreground and/or back-
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The first argument must be a legal color pair value.
+ If default colors are used (see <STRONG>use_default_colors</STRONG>)
+ the upper limit is adjusted to allow for extra pairs
+ which use a default color in foreground and/or back-
ground.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> The second and third arguments must be legal color
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The second and third arguments must be legal color
values.
- If the color-pair was previously initialized, the screen
- is refreshed and all occurrences of that color-pair are
+ If the color-pair was previously initialized, the screen
+ is refreshed and all occurrences of that color-pair are
changed to the new definition.
- As an extension, ncurses allows you to set color pair <STRONG>0</STRONG>
- via the <STRONG>assume_default_colors</STRONG> routine, or to specify the
- use of default colors (color number <STRONG>-1</STRONG>) if you first in-
+ As an extension, ncurses allows you to set color pair <STRONG>0</STRONG>
+ via the <STRONG>assume_default_colors</STRONG> routine, or to specify the
+ use of default colors (color number <STRONG>-1</STRONG>) if you first in-
voke the <STRONG>use_default_colors</STRONG> routine.
- The <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> routine changes the definition of a color.
- It takes four arguments: the number of the color to be
- changed followed by three RGB values (for the amounts of
+ The <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> routine changes the definition of a color.
+ It takes four arguments: the number of the color to be
+ changed followed by three RGB values (for the amounts of
red, green, and blue components). The first argument must
- be a legal color value; default colors are not allowed
- here. (See the section <STRONG>Colors</STRONG> for the default color in-
+ be a legal color value; default colors are not allowed
+ here. (See the section <STRONG>Colors</STRONG> for the default color in-
dex.) Each of the last three arguments must be a value in
- the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> through <STRONG>1000</STRONG>. When <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> is used, all
+ the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> through <STRONG>1000</STRONG>. When <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> is used, all
occurrences of that color on the screen immediately change
to the new definition.
- The <STRONG>has_colors</STRONG> routine requires no arguments. It returns
- <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> if the terminal can manipulate colors; otherwise, it
+ The <STRONG>has_colors</STRONG> routine requires no arguments. It returns
+ <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> if the terminal can manipulate colors; otherwise, it
returns <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>. This routine facilitates writing terminal-
- independent programs. For example, a programmer can use
- it to decide whether to use color or some other video at-
+ independent programs. For example, a programmer can use
+ it to decide whether to use color or some other video at-
tribute.
- The <STRONG>can_change_color</STRONG> routine requires no arguments. It
- returns <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> if the terminal supports colors and can
- change their definitions; other, it returns <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>. This
+ The <STRONG>can_change_color</STRONG> routine requires no arguments. It
+ returns <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> if the terminal supports colors and can
+ change their definitions; other, it returns <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>. This
routine facilitates writing terminal-independent programs.
- The <STRONG>color_content</STRONG> routine gives programmers a way to find
+ The <STRONG>color_content</STRONG> routine gives programmers a way to find
the intensity of the red, green, and blue (RGB) components
in a color. It requires four arguments: the color number,
- and three addresses of <STRONG>short</STRONG>s for storing the information
- about the amounts of red, green, and blue components in
+ and three addresses of <STRONG>short</STRONG>s for storing the information
+ about the amounts of red, green, and blue components in
the given color. The first argument must be a legal color
- value, i.e., <STRONG>0</STRONG> through <STRONG>COLORS-1</STRONG>, inclusive. The values
- that are stored at the addresses pointed to by the last
- three arguments are in the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> (no component) through
+ value, i.e., <STRONG>0</STRONG> through <STRONG>COLORS-1</STRONG>, inclusive. The values
+ that are stored at the addresses pointed to by the last
+ three arguments are in the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> (no component) through
<STRONG>1000</STRONG> (maximum amount of component), inclusive.
- The <STRONG>pair_content</STRONG> routine allows programmers to find out
- what colors a given color-pair consists of. It requires
- three arguments: the color-pair number, and two addresses
- of <STRONG>short</STRONG>s for storing the foreground and the background
- color numbers. The first argument must be a legal color
- value, i.e., in the range <STRONG>1</STRONG> through <STRONG>COLOR_PAIRS-1</STRONG>, inclu-
+ The <STRONG>pair_content</STRONG> routine allows programmers to find out
+ what colors a given color-pair consists of. It requires
+ three arguments: the color-pair number, and two addresses
+ of <STRONG>short</STRONG>s for storing the foreground and the background
+ color numbers. The first argument must be a legal color
+ value, i.e., in the range <STRONG>1</STRONG> through <STRONG>COLOR_PAIRS-1</STRONG>, inclu-
sive. The values that are stored at the addresses pointed
- to by the second and third arguments are in the range <STRONG>0</STRONG>
+ to by the second and third arguments are in the range <STRONG>0</STRONG>
through <STRONG>COLORS</STRONG>, inclusive.
- <STRONG>Colors</STRONG>
+
+</PRE>
+<H3><a name="h3-Colors">Colors</a></H3><PRE>
In <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> the following macros are defined. These are
- the default colors. <STRONG>curses</STRONG> also assumes that <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG>
+ the default colors. <STRONG>curses</STRONG> also assumes that <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG>
is the default background color for all terminals.
<STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG>
</PRE>
-<H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
- The routines <STRONG>can_change_color()</STRONG> and <STRONG>has_colors()</STRONG> return
+<H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
+ The routines <STRONG>can_change_color()</STRONG> and <STRONG>has_colors()</STRONG> return
<STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> or <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>.
All other routines return the integer <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and
- an <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 specifies only "an integer value other than
+ an <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 specifies only "an integer value other than
<STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful completion.
- X/Open defines no error conditions. This implementation
- will return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> on attempts to use color values outside
+ X/Open defines no error conditions. This implementation
+ will return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> on attempts to use color values outside
the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> to COLORS-1 (except for the default colors ex-
- tension), or use color pairs outside the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> to <STRONG>COL-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>OR_PAIRS-1</STRONG>. Color values used in <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> must be in
- the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> to <STRONG>1000</STRONG>. An error is returned from all func-
- tions if the terminal has not been initialized. An error
- is returned from secondary functions such as <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG> if
+ tension), or use color pairs outside the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> to <STRONG>COL-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>OR_PAIRS-1</STRONG>. Color values used in <STRONG>init_color</STRONG> must be in
+ the range <STRONG>0</STRONG> to <STRONG>1000</STRONG>. An error is returned from all func-
+ tions if the terminal has not been initialized. An error
+ is returned from secondary functions such as <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG> if
<STRONG>start_color</STRONG> was not called.
<STRONG>init_color</STRONG>
- returns an error if the terminal does not support
- this feature, e.g., if the <EM>initialize</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>color</EM> capa-
+ returns an error if the terminal does not support
+ this feature, e.g., if the <EM>initialize</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>color</EM> capa-
bility is absent from the terminal description.
<STRONG>start_color</STRONG>
- returns an error if the color table cannot be al-
+ returns an error if the color table cannot be al-
located.
</PRE>
-<H2>NOTES</H2><PRE>
- In the <EM>ncurses</EM> implementation, there is a separate color
+<H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
+ In the <EM>ncurses</EM> implementation, there is a separate color
activation flag, color palette, color pairs table, and as-
- sociated COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS counts for each screen;
- the <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> function only affects the current screen.
+ sociated COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS counts for each screen;
+ the <STRONG>start_color</STRONG> function only affects the current screen.
The SVr4/XSI interface is not really designed with this in
- mind, and historical implementations may use a single
+ mind, and historical implementations may use a single
shared color palette.
Note that setting an implicit background color via a color
- pair affects only character cells that a character write
- operation explicitly touches. To change the background
- color used when parts of a window are blanked by erasing
+ pair affects only character cells that a character write
+ operation explicitly touches. To change the background
+ color used when parts of a window are blanked by erasing
or scrolling operations, see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd(3x)</A></STRONG>.
- Several caveats apply on 386 and 486 machines with VGA-
+ Several caveats apply on 386 and 486 machines with VGA-
compatible graphics:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> COLOR_YELLOW is actually brown. To get yellow, use
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> COLOR_YELLOW is actually brown. To get yellow, use
COLOR_YELLOW combined with the <STRONG>A_BOLD</STRONG> attribute.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> The A_BLINK attribute should in theory cause the back-
- ground to go bright. This often fails to work, and
+ ground to go bright. This often fails to work, and
even some cards for which it mostly works (such as the
- Paradise and compatibles) do the wrong thing when you
- try to set a bright "yellow" background (you get a
+ Paradise and compatibles) do the wrong thing when you
+ try to set a bright "yellow" background (you get a
blinking yellow foreground instead).
<STRONG>o</STRONG> Color RGB values are not settable.
</PRE>
-<H2>PORTABILITY</H2><PRE>
- This implementation satisfies XSI Curses's minimum maxi-
+<H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
+ This implementation satisfies XSI Curses's minimum maxi-
mums for <STRONG>COLORS</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLOR_PAIRS</STRONG>.
- The <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG> routine accepts negative values of fore-
- ground and background color to support the <STRONG>use_de-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>fault_colors</STRONG> extension, but only if that routine has been
+ The <STRONG>init_pair</STRONG> routine accepts negative values of fore-
+ ground and background color to support the <STRONG>use_de-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>fault_colors</STRONG> extension, but only if that routine has been
first invoked.
- The assumption that <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> is the default background
- color for all terminals can be modified using the <STRONG>as-</STRONG>
+ The assumption that <STRONG>COLOR_BLACK</STRONG> is the default background
+ color for all terminals can be modified using the <STRONG>as-</STRONG>
<STRONG>sume_default_colors</STRONG> extension.
- This implementation checks the pointers, e.g., for the
- values returned by <STRONG>color_content</STRONG> and <STRONG>pair_content</STRONG>, and
+ This implementation checks the pointers, e.g., for the
+ values returned by <STRONG>color_content</STRONG> and <STRONG>pair_content</STRONG>, and
will treat those as optional parameters when null.
</PRE>
-<H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
+<H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
<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_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>curs_vari-</STRONG>
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">ables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="default_colors.3x.html">default_colors(3x)</A></STRONG>
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
-<HR>
-Man(1) output converted with <a href="http://invisible-island.net/scripts/readme.html#others_scripts">man2html</a>
+<div class="nav">
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#h3-Overview">Overview</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Routine-Descriptions">Routine Descriptions</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Colors">Colors</a></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+<li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
</BODY>
</HTML>