.\"***************************************************************************
-.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2012,2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2013,2015 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 *
.\" authorization. *
.\"***************************************************************************
.\"
-.\" $Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.30 2013/01/19 15:58:48 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.31 2015/04/26 00:49:10 tom Exp $
.TH curs_termcap 3X ""
.de bP
.IP \(bu 4
The \fBtgetstr\fR routine returns the string entry for \fIid\fR,
or zero if it is not available.
Use \fBtputs\fR to output the returned string.
-The return value will also be copied to the buffer pointed to by \fIarea\fR,
+The \fIarea\fP parameter is used as follows:
+.RS 3
+.bP
+It is assumed to be the address of a pointer to a buffer managed by the
+calling application.
+.bP
+However, ncurses checks to ensure that \fBarea\fP is not NULL,
+and also that the resulting buffer pointer is not NULL.
+If either check fails, the \fIarea\fP parameter is ignored.
+.bP
+If the checks succeed, ncurses also copies the return value to
+the buffer pointed to by \fIarea\fR,
and the \fIarea\fR value will be updated to point past the null ending
this value.
+.bP
+The return value itself is an address in the terminal description which
+is loaded into memory.
+.RE
.PP
Only the first two characters of the \fBid\fR parameter of
\fBtgetflag\fR,