ncurses 5.9 - patch 20120908

[ncurses.git] / man / curs_termcap.3x

diff --git a/man/curs_termcap.3x b/man/curs_termcap.3x
index 655794d04666f37619b7c0a453e513030cd32881..4d8a62cd6c5c750ea1e862fdaec897336aef611c 100644 (file)
--- a/man/curs_termcap.3x
+++ b/man/curs_termcap.3x
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .\"***************************************************************************
-.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2005,2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.              *
+.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2010,2011 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            *
@@ -26,16 +26,24 @@
 .\" authorization.                                                           *
 .\"***************************************************************************
 .\"
-.\" $Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.21 2006/12/24 16:05:49 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.27 2011/10/15 21:11:24 tom Exp $
 .TH curs_termcap 3X ""
+.na
+.hy 0
 .ds n 5
 .SH NAME
+\fBPC\fR,
+\fBUP\fR,
+\fBBC\fR,
+\fBospeed\fR,
 \fBtgetent\fR,
 \fBtgetflag\fR,
 \fBtgetnum\fR,
 \fBtgetstr\fR,
 \fBtgoto\fR,
-\fBtputs\fR - direct \fBcurses\fR interface to the terminfo capability database
+\fBtputs\fR \- direct \fBcurses\fR interface to the terminfo capability database
+.ad
+.hy
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 \fB#include <curses.h>\fR
 .br
@@ -69,15 +77,43 @@ can only be used to query the capabilities of entries for which a
 terminfo entry has been compiled.
 .PP
 The \fBtgetent\fR routine loads the entry for \fIname\fR.
-It returns 1 on success, 0 if there is no such entry, and -1 if the
-terminfo database could not be found.
+It returns:
+.RS 3
+.TP 3
+1
+on success,
+.TP 3
+0
+if there is no such entry
+(or that it is a generic type, having too little information for curses
+applications to run), and
+.TP 3
+\-1
+if the terminfo database could not be found.
+.RE
+.PP
+This differs from the \fItermcap\fP library in two ways:
+.RS 3
+.TP 3
+-
 The emulation ignores the buffer pointer \fIbp\fR.
+The \fItermcap\fP 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.
+.TP 3
+-
+There is a difference in return codes.
+The \fItermcap\fP library does not check if the terminal
+description is marked with the \fIgeneric\fP capability,
+or if the terminal description has cursor-addressing.
+.RE
 .PP
 The \fBtgetflag\fR routine gets the boolean entry for \fIid\fR,
 or zero if it is not available.
 .PP
 The \fBtgetnum\fR routine gets the numeric entry for \fIid\fR,
-or -1 if it is not available.
+or \-1 if it is not available.
 .PP
 The \fBtgetstr\fR routine returns the string entry for \fIid\fR,
 or zero if it is not available.
@@ -122,7 +158,7 @@ Routines that return pointers return \fBNULL\fR on error.
 .SH BUGS
 If you call \fBtgetstr\fR to fetch \fBca\fR 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 won't cause problems if all
+not-quite-compatible termcap notation.  This will not cause problems if all
 you do with it is call \fBtgoto\fR or \fBtparm\fR, which both expand
 terminfo-style strings as terminfo.
 (The \fBtgoto\fR function, if configured to support termcap, will check
@@ -158,10 +194,7 @@ e.g., not distinguishing between input and output.
 In particular, some applications are reported to declare and/or
 modify \fBospeed\fR.
 .SH SEE ALSO
-\fBcurses\fR(3X), \fBterminfo\fR(\*n), \fBputc\fR(3).
-.\"#
-.\"# The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
-.\"# Local Variables:
-.\"# mode:nroff
-.\"# fill-column:79
-.\"# End:
+\fBcurses\fR(3X),
+\fBterminfo\fR(\*n),
+\fBterm_variables\fR(3X),
+\fBputc\fR(3).