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- * @Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.22 2007/06/02 20:40:07 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.27 2011/10/15 21:11:24 tom Exp @
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</PRE>
<H2>NAME</H2><PRE>
- <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>, <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> - direct
- <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interface to the terminfo capability database
+ <STRONG>PC</STRONG>, <STRONG>UP</STRONG>, <STRONG>BC</STRONG>, <STRONG>ospeed</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>,
+ <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>, <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> - direct <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interface to the terminfo
+ capability database
</PRE>
</PRE>
<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2><PRE>
- These routines are included as a conversion aid for pro-
- grams that use the <EM>termcap</EM> library. Their parameters are
- the same and the routines are emulated using the <EM>terminfo</EM>
- database. Thus, they can only be used to query the capa-
- bilities of entries for which a terminfo entry has been
+ These routines are included as a conversion aid for pro-
+ grams that use the <EM>termcap</EM> library. Their parameters are
+ the same and the routines are emulated using the <EM>terminfo</EM>
+ database. Thus, they can only be used to query the capa-
+ bilities of entries for which a terminfo entry has been
compiled.
- The <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> routine loads the entry for <EM>name</EM>. It returns
- 1 on success, 0 if there is no such entry, and -1 if the
- terminfo database could not be found. The emulation
- ignores the buffer pointer <EM>bp</EM>.
+ The <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> routine loads the entry for <EM>name</EM>. It returns:
- The <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> routine gets the boolean entry for <EM>id</EM>, or
- zero if it is not available.
+ 1 on success,
+
+ 0 if there is no such entry (or that it is a generic
+ type, having too little information for curses ap-
+ plications to run), and
+
+ -1 if the terminfo database could not be found.
+
+ This differs from the <EM>termcap</EM> library in two ways:
+
+ - The emulation ignores the buffer pointer <EM>bp</EM>. The
+ <EM>termcap</EM> library would store a copy of the terminal
+ description in the area referenced by this pointer.
+ However, ncurses stores its terminal descriptions in
+ compiled binary form, which is not the same thing.
+
+ - There is a difference in return codes. The <EM>termcap</EM>
+ library does not check if the terminal description
+ is marked with the <EM>generic</EM> capability, or if the
+ terminal description has cursor-addressing.
+
+ The <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> routine gets the boolean entry for <EM>id</EM>, or ze-
+ ro if it is not available.
The <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> routine gets the numeric entry for <EM>id</EM>, or -1
if it is not available.
The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> routine returns the string entry for <EM>id</EM>, or
- zero if it is not available. Use <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to output the
- returned string. The return value will also be copied to
+ zero if it is not available. Use <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to output the re-
+ turned string. The return value will also be copied to
the buffer pointed to by <EM>area</EM>, and the <EM>area</EM> value will be
updated to point past the null ending this value.
<STRONG>backspace_if_not_bs</STRONG>, respectively. <STRONG>UP</STRONG> is not used by
ncurses. <STRONG>PC</STRONG> is used in the <STRONG>tdelay_output</STRONG> function. <STRONG>BC</STRONG> is
used in the <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> emulation. The variable <STRONG>ospeed</STRONG> is set
- by ncurses in a system-specific coding to reflect the
- terminal speed.
+ by ncurses in a system-specific coding to reflect the ter-
+ minal speed.
</PRE>
<H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
- Except where explicitly noted, routines that return an
- integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 only speci-
- fies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful
- completion.
+ Except where explicitly noted, routines that return an in-
+ teger return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 only specifies
+ "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful comple-
+ tion.
Routines that return pointers return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
</PRE>
<H2>BUGS</H2><PRE>
If you call <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> to fetch <STRONG>ca</STRONG> or any other parameterized
- string, be aware that it will be returned in terminfo
- notation, not the older and not-quite-compatible termcap
- notation. This will not cause problems if all you do with
+ string, be aware that it will be returned in terminfo no-
+ tation, not the older and not-quite-compatible termcap no-
+ tation. This will not cause problems if all you do with
it is call <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> or <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, which both expand terminfo-
style strings as terminfo. (The <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> function, if con-
figured to support termcap, will check if the string is
</PRE>
<H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
- <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="putc.3.html">putc(3)</A></STRONG>.
+ <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="putc.3.html">putc(3)</A></STRONG>.
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