.\"***************************************************************************
-.\" Copyright (c) 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2003,2005 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 *
.\" authorization. *
.\"***************************************************************************
.\"
-.\" $Id: curs_getstr.3x,v 1.7 1998/03/11 21:12:53 juergen Exp $
+.\" $Id: curs_getstr.3x,v 1.14 2005/05/15 16:17:55 tom Exp $
.TH curs_getstr 3X ""
+.na
+.hy 0
.SH NAME
-\fBgetstr\fR, \fBwgetstr\fR, \fBmvgetstr\fR,
-\fBmvwgetstr\fR, \fBwgetnstr\fR - accept character strings from
-\fBcurses\fR terminal keyboard
+\fBgetstr\fR,
+\fBgetnstr\fR,
+\fBwgetstr\fR,
+\fBwgetnstr\fR,
+\fBmvgetstr\fR,
+\fBmvgetnstr\fR,
+\fBmvwgetstr\fR,
+\fBmvwgetnstr\fR - accept character strings from \fBcurses\fR terminal keyboard
+.ad
+.hy
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fB#include <curses.h>\fR
.br
\fBint wgetstr(WINDOW *win, char *str);\fR
.br
+\fBint wgetnstr(WINDOW *win, char *str, int n);\fR
+.br
\fBint mvgetstr(int y, int x, char *str);\fR
.br
\fBint mvwgetstr(WINDOW *win, int y, int x, char *str);\fR
.br
\fBint mvwgetnstr(WINDOW *, int y, int x, char *str, int n);\fR
.br
-\fBint wgetnstr(WINDOW *win, char *str, int n);\fR
-.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
The function \fBgetstr\fR is equivalent to a series of calls to \fBgetch\fR,
until a newline or carriage return is received (the terminating character is
All routines return the integer \fBERR\fR upon failure and an \fBOK\fR (SVr4
specifies only "an integer value other than \fBERR\fR") upon successful
completion.
+.PP
+X/Open defines no error conditions.
+.PP
+In this implementation,
+these functions return an error
+if the window pointer is null, or
+if its timeout expires without having any data.
.SH NOTES
Note that \fBgetstr\fR, \fBmvgetstr\fR, and \fBmvwgetstr\fR may be macros.
.SH PORTABILITY
-These functions are described in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4. They read
-single-byte characters only. The standard specifies that they return \fBERR\fR
-on failure, but the single error condition \fBEOVERFLOW\fR associated with
-extended-level conformance is not yet returned (the XSI curses support for
-multi-byte characters is not yet present).
+These functions are described in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4.
+They read single-byte characters only.
+The standard does not define any error conditions.
+This implementation returns ERR if the window pointer is null,
+or if the lower-level \fBwgetch\fR call returns an ERR.
SVr3 and early SVr4 curses implementations did not reject function keys;
the SVr4.0 documentation claimed that "special keys" (such as function
-keys, "home" key, "clear" key, \fIetc\fR.) are interpreted" without
+keys, "home" key, "clear" key, \fIetc\fR.) are "interpreted", without
giving details. It lied. In fact, the `character' value appended to the
string by those implementations was predictable but not useful
(being, in fact, the low-order eight bits of the key's KEY_ value).