.\"***************************************************************************
-.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2017,2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+.\" Copyright 2018-2019,2020 Thomas E. Dickey *
+.\" Copyright 1998-2010,2017 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_printw.3x,v 1.22 2018/04/07 20:18:55 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: curs_printw.3x,v 1.27 2020/07/10 23:06:23 William.Pursell Exp $
.TH curs_printw 3X ""
+.ie \n(.g .ds `` \(lq
+.el .ds `` ``
+.ie \n(.g .ds '' \(rq
+.el .ds '' ''
.de bP
.ie n .IP \(bu 4
.el .IP \(bu 2
\fBint vwprintw(WINDOW *win, const char *fmt, va_list varglist);\fR
.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBprintw\fR, \fBwprintw\fR, \fBmvprintw\fR and \fBmvwprintw\fR
-routines are analogous to \fBprintf\fR [see \fBprintf\fR(3)]. In
+routines are analogous to \fBprintf\fR [see \fBprintf\fR(3)].
+In
effect, the string that would be output by \fBprintf\fR is output
instead as though \fBwaddstr\fR were used on the given window.
.PP
-The \fBvwprintw\fR and \fBwv_printw\fR routines are analogous
+The \fBvwprintw\fR and \fBvw_printw\fR routines are analogous
to \fBvprintf\fR [see \fBprintf\fR(3)]
and perform a \fBwprintw\fR using a variable argument list.
The third argument is a \fBva_list\fR, a pointer to a
buffer used to format the results.
It will return an error if the window pointer is null.
.PP
-Functions with a "mv" prefix first perform a cursor movement using
+Functions with a \*(``mv\*('' prefix first perform a cursor movement using
\fBwmove\fP, and return an error if the position is outside the window,
or if the window pointer is null.
+.SH HISTORY
+While \fBprintw\fP was implemented in 4BSD,
+it was unused until 4.2BSD (which used it in games).
+That early version of curses was before the ANSI C standard.
+It did not use <varargs.h>, though that was available.
+In 1991 (a couple of years after SVr4 was generally available,
+and after the C standard was published),
+other developers updated the library,
+using <stdarg.h> internally in 4.4BSD curses.
+Even with this improvement,
+BSD curses did not use function prototypes (or even declare
+functions) in the <curses.h> header until 1992.
+.PP
+SVr2 documented
+\fBprintw\fP,
+\fBwprintw\fP
+tersely as \*(``printf on \fIstdscr\fP\*('' and
+tersely as \*(``printf on \fIwin\fP\*('', respectively.
+.PP
+SVr3 added
+\fBmvprintw\fP, and
+\fBmvwprintw\fP, with a three-line summary saying that they were analogous
+to \fBprintf\fP(3),
+explaining that the string which would be output from \fBprintf\fP(3) would
+instead be output using \fBwaddstr\fP on the given window.
+SVr3 also added \fBvwprintw\fP, saying that the third parameter
+is a \fBva_list\fP, defined in <varargs.h>,
+and referring the reader to the manual pages for \fIvarargs\fP and
+\fIvprintf\fP for detailed descriptions.
+.PP
+SVr4 added no new variations of \fBprintw\fP,
+but provided for using <varargs.h> or <stdarg.h> to define the \fBva_list\fP
+type.
+.PP
+X/Open Curses added \fBvw_printw\fP to replace \fBvwprintw\fP,
+stating that its \fBva_list\fP definition requires <stdarg.h>.
.SH PORTABILITY
In this implementation, \fBvw_printw\fP and \fBvwprintw\fP are equivalent,
to support legacy applications.
However, the latter (\fBvwprintw\fP) is obsolete:
.bP
-The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 described these functions. The function
+The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 described these functions.
+The function
\fBvwprintw\fR is marked TO BE WITHDRAWN, and is to be replaced by a function
\fBvw_printw\fR using the \fB<stdarg.h>\fR interface.
.bP
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff