X-Git-Url: http://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fncurses.3x.html;h=530b293ac1c87f23be19f7ced997adcf50ff9ced;hp=e3d6d08b2d63250a520cc0b6c8877cad4f1a0b4c;hb=f367fa254ce3fe29710c86971f04e03111c2bd2c;hpb=82a087c4c47679fcfa59bb6d7bdbe587355ba3f6
diff --git a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
index e3d6d08b..530b293a 100644
--- a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
+++ b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
@@ -63,16 +63,22 @@
sonable optimization. This implementation is ``new
curses'' (ncurses) and is the approved replacement for
4.4BSD classic curses, which has been discontinued. This
- describes ncurses version 5.6 (patch 20070303).
-
- The ncurses routines emulate the curses(3x) library of
- System V Release 4 UNIX, and the XPG4 curses standard (XSI
- curses) but the ncurses library is freely redistributable
- in source form. Differences from the SVr4 curses are sum-
- marized under the EXTENSIONS and PORTABILITY sections
- below and described in detail in the respective EXTEN-
- SIONS, PORTABILITY and BUGS sections of individual man
- pages.
+ describes ncurses version 5.9 (patch 20120107).
+
+ The ncurses library emulates the curses library of System
+ V Release 4 UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide)
+ curses (also known as XSI curses). XSI stands for X/Open
+ System Interfaces Extension. The ncurses library is
+ freely redistributable in source form. Differences from
+ the SVr4 curses are summarized under the EXTENSIONS and
+ PORTABILITY sections below and described in detail in the
+ respective EXTENSIONS, PORTABILITY and BUGS sections of
+ individual man pages.
+
+ The ncurses library also provides many useful extensions,
+ i.e., features which cannot be implemented by a simple
+ add-on library but which require access to the internals
+ of the library.
A program using these routines must be linked with the
-lncurses option, or (if it has been generated) with the
@@ -90,13 +96,25 @@
lation; use of soft label keys; terminfo capabilities; and
access to low-level terminal-manipulation routines.
- To initialize the routines, the routine initscr or newterm
- must be called before any of the other routines that deal
- with windows and screens are used. The routine endwin
- must be called before exiting. To get character-at-a-time
- input without echoing (most interactive, screen oriented
- programs want this), the following sequence should be
- used:
+ The library uses the locale which the calling program has
+ initialized. That is normally done with setlocale:
+
+ setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
+
+ If the locale is not initialized, the library assumes that
+ characters are printable as in ISO-8859-1, to work with
+ certain legacy programs. You should initialize the locale
+ and not rely on specific details of the library when the
+ locale has not been setup.
+
+ The function initscr or newterm must be called to initial-
+ ize the library before any of the other routines that deal
+ with windows and screens are used. The routine endwin
+ must be called before exiting.
+
+ To get character-at-a-time input without echoing (most
+ interactive, screen oriented programs want this), the fol-
+ lowing sequence should be used:
initscr(); cbreak(); noecho();
@@ -121,9 +139,9 @@
be created with newwin.
Note that curses does not handle overlapping windows,
- that's done by the panel(3x) library. This means that you
+ that's done by the panel(3x) library. This means that you
can either use stdscr or divide the screen into tiled win-
- dows and not using stdscr at all. Mixing the two will
+ dows and not using stdscr at all. Mixing the two will
result in unpredictable, and undesired, effects.
Windows are referred to by variables declared as WINDOW *.
@@ -160,7 +178,7 @@
If the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS are set, or
if the program is executing in a window environment, line
and column information in the environment will override
- information read by terminfo. This would effect a program
+ information read by terminfo. This would affect a program
running in an AT&T 630 layer, for example, where the size
of a screen is changeable (see ENVIRONMENT).
@@ -218,11 +236,67 @@
DOW.
Option setting routines require a Boolean flag bf with the
- value TRUE or FALSE; bf is always of type bool. The vari-
- ables ch and attrs below are always of type chtype. The
- types WINDOW, SCREEN, bool, and chtype are defined in
- <curses.h>. The type TERMINAL is defined in <term.h>.
- All other arguments are integers.
+ value TRUE or FALSE; bf is always of type bool. Most of
+ the data types used in the library routines, such as WIN-
+ DOW, SCREEN, bool, and chtype are defined in <curses.h>.
+ Types used for the terminfo routines such as TERMINAL are
+ defined in <term.h>.
+
+ This manual page describes functions which may appear in
+ any configuration of the library. There are two common
+ configurations of the library:
+
+ ncurses
+ the "normal" library, which handles 8-bit
+ characters. The normal (8-bit) library stores
+ characters combined with attributes in chtype
+ data.
+
+ Attributes alone (no corresponding character)
+ may be stored in chtype or the equivalent
+ attr_t data. In either case, the data is
+ stored in something like an integer.
+
+ Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
+ stored as a chtype.
+
+ ncursesw
+ the so-called "wide" library, which handles
+ multibyte characters (see the section on
+ ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS). The "wide" library
+ includes all of the calls from the "normal"
+ library. It adds about one third more calls
+ using data types which store multibyte charac-
+ ters:
+
+ cchar_t
+ corresponds to chtype. However it is a
+ structure, because more data is stored
+ than can fit into an integer. The char-
+ acters are large enough to require a full
+ integer value - and there may be more
+ than one character per cell. The video
+ attributes and color are stored in sepa-
+ rate fields of the structure.
+
+ Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
+ stored as a cchar_t.
+
+ wchar_t
+ stores a "wide" character. Like chtype,
+ this may be an integer.
+
+ wint_t
+ stores a wchar_t or WEOF - not the same,
+ though both may have the same size.
+
+ The "wide" library provides new functions
+ which are analogous to functions in the "nor-
+ mal" library. There is a naming convention
+ which relates many of the normal/wide vari-
+ ants: a "_w" is inserted into the name. For
+ example, waddch becomes wadd_wch.
+
Routine Name Index
The following table lists each curses routine and the name
@@ -235,6 +309,9 @@
--------------------------------------------
COLOR_PAIR curs_color(3x)
PAIR_NUMBER curs_attr(3x)
+ _nc_free_and_exit curs_memleaks(3x)*
+
+ _nc_freeall curs_memleaks(3x)*
_nc_tracebits curs_trace(3x)*
_traceattr curs_trace(3x)*
_traceattr2 curs_trace(3x)*
@@ -244,7 +321,6 @@
_tracedump curs_trace(3x)*
_tracef curs_trace(3x)*
_tracemouse curs_trace(3x)*
-
add_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
add_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
add_wchstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
@@ -300,6 +376,7 @@
echo curs_inopts(3x)
echo_wchar curs_add_wch(3x)
echochar curs_addch(3x)
+
endwin curs_initscr(3x)
erase curs_clear(3x)
erasechar curs_termattrs(3x)
@@ -309,16 +386,24 @@
flushinp curs_util(3x)
get_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
get_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
+ getattrs curs_attr(3x)
+ getbegx curs_legacy(3x)*
+ getbegy curs_legacy(3x)*
getbegyx curs_getyx(3x)
-
getbkgd curs_bkgd(3x)
getbkgrnd curs_bkgrnd(3x)
getcchar curs_getcchar(3x)
getch curs_getch(3x)
+ getcurx curs_legacy(3x)*
+ getcury curs_legacy(3x)*
+ getmaxx curs_legacy(3x)*
+ getmaxy curs_legacy(3x)*
getmaxyx curs_getyx(3x)
getmouse curs_mouse(3x)*
getn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
getnstr curs_getstr(3x)
+ getparx curs_legacy(3x)*
+ getpary curs_legacy(3x)*
getparyx curs_getyx(3x)
getstr curs_getstr(3x)
getsyx curs_kernel(3x)
@@ -356,7 +441,19 @@
instr curs_instr(3x)
intrflush curs_inopts(3x)
inwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
+ is_cleared curs_opaque(3x)*
+
+ is_idcok curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_idlok curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_immedok curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_keypad curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_leaveok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_linetouched curs_touch(3x)
+ is_nodelay curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_notimeout curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_scrollok curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_syncok curs_opaque(3x)*
+ is_term_resized resizeterm(3x)*
is_wintouched curs_touch(3x)
isendwin curs_initscr(3x)
key_defined key_defined(3x)*
@@ -376,7 +473,6 @@
mousemask curs_mouse(3x)*
move curs_move(3x)
mvadd_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
-
mvadd_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvadd_wchstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvaddch curs_addch(3x)
@@ -412,6 +508,7 @@
mvinsch curs_insch(3x)
mvinsnstr curs_insstr(3x)
mvinsstr curs_insstr(3x)
+
mvinstr curs_instr(3x)
mvinwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
mvprintw curs_printw(3x)
@@ -442,7 +539,6 @@
mvwin_wch curs_in_wch(3x)
mvwin_wchnstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
mvwin_wchstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
-
mvwinch curs_inch(3x)
mvwinchnstr curs_inchstr(3x)
mvwinchstr curs_inchstr(3x)
@@ -468,6 +564,7 @@
nocbreak curs_inopts(3x)
nodelay curs_inopts(3x)
noecho curs_inopts(3x)
+ nofilter curs_util(3x)*
nonl curs_outopts(3x)
noqiflush curs_inopts(3x)
noraw curs_inopts(3x)
@@ -477,6 +574,7 @@
pair_content curs_color(3x)
pechochar curs_pad(3x)
pnoutrefresh curs_pad(3x)
+
prefresh curs_pad(3x)
printw curs_printw(3x)
putp curs_terminfo(3x)
@@ -508,7 +606,6 @@
setterm curs_terminfo(3x)
setupterm curs_terminfo(3x)
slk_attr curs_slk(3x)*
-
slk_attr_off curs_slk(3x)
slk_attr_on curs_slk(3x)
slk_attr_set curs_slk(3x)
@@ -543,6 +640,7 @@
tigetstr curs_terminfo(3x)
timeout curs_inopts(3x)
touchline curs_touch(3x)
+
touchwin curs_touch(3x)
tparm curs_terminfo(3x)
tputs curs_termcap(3x)
@@ -557,6 +655,7 @@
use_default_colors default_colors(3x)*
use_env curs_util(3x)
use_extended_names curs_extend(3x)*
+ use_legacy_coding legacy_coding(3x)*
vid_attr curs_terminfo(3x)
vid_puts curs_terminfo(3x)
vidattr curs_terminfo(3x)
@@ -574,7 +673,6 @@
waddchnstr curs_addchstr(3x)
waddchstr curs_addchstr(3x)
waddnstr curs_addstr(3x)
-
waddnwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
waddstr curs_addstr(3x)
waddwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
@@ -608,6 +706,7 @@
wgetbkgrnd curs_bkgrnd(3x)
wgetch curs_getch(3x)
wgetn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
+
wgetnstr curs_getstr(3x)
wgetstr curs_getstr(3x)
whline curs_border(3x)
@@ -640,7 +739,6 @@
wscanw curs_scanw(3x)
wscrl curs_scroll(3x)
wsetscrreg curs_outopts(3x)
-
wstandend curs_attr(3x)
wstandout curs_attr(3x)
wsyncdown curs_window(3x)
@@ -659,9 +757,12 @@
pletion, unless otherwise noted in the routine descrip-
tions.
- All macros return the value of the w version, except
+ As a general rule, routines check for null pointers passed
+ as parameters, and handle this as an error.
+
+ All macros return the value of the w version, except
setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx, and getmaxyx. The
- return values of setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx,
+ return values of setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx,
and getmaxyx are undefined (i.e., these should not be used
as the right-hand side of assignment statements).
@@ -675,18 +776,23 @@
important ones have been already discussed in detail.
BAUDRATE
- The debugging library checks this environment symbol
+ The debugging library checks this environment symbol
when the application has redirected output to a file.
- The symbol's numeric value is used for the baudrate.
+ The symbol's numeric value is used for the baudrate.
If no value is found, ncurses uses 9600. This allows
- testers to construct repeatable test-cases that take
+ testers to construct repeatable test-cases that take
into account costs that depend on baudrate.
CC When set, change occurrences of the command_character
- (i.e., the cmdch capability) of the loaded terminfo
- entries to the value of this symbol. Very few ter-
+ (i.e., the cmdch capability) of the loaded terminfo
+ entries to the value of this symbol. Very few ter-
minfo entries provide this feature.
+ Because this name is also used in development envi-
+ ronments to represent the C compiler's name, ncurses
+ ignores it if it does not happen to be a single char-
+ acter.
+
COLUMNS
Specify the width of the screen in characters.
Applications running in a windowing environment usu-
@@ -776,12 +882,25 @@
nal's default colors are white-on-black (see
default_colors(3x)). You may set the foreground and
background color values with this environment vari-
- able by proving a 2-element list:
- foreground,background. For example, to tell ncurses
- to not assume anything about the colors, set this to
- "-1,-1". To make it green-on-black, set it to "2,0".
- Any positive value from zero to the terminfo max_col-
- ors value is allowed.
+ able by proving a 2-element list: foreground,back-
+ ground. For example, to tell ncurses to not assume
+ anything about the colors, set this to "-1,-1". To
+ make it green-on-black, set it to "2,0". Any posi-
+ tive value from zero to the terminfo max_colors value
+ is allowed.
+
+ NCURSES_GPM_TERMS
+ This applies only to ncurses configured to use the
+ GPM interface.
+
+ If present, the environment variable is a list of one
+ or more terminal names against which the TERM envi-
+ ronment variable is matched. Setting it to an empty
+ value disables the GPM interface; using the built-in
+ support for xterm, etc.
+
+ If the environment variable is absent, ncurses will
+ attempt to open GPM if TERM contains "linux".
NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS
Ncurses may use tabs as part of the cursor movement
@@ -794,8 +913,8 @@
Some terminals use a magic-cookie feature which
requires special handling to make highlighting and
other video attributes display properly. You can
- suppress the highlighting entirely for these termi-
- nals by setting this environment variable.
+ suppress the highlighting entirely for these
+ terminals by setting this environment variable.
NCURSES_NO_PADDING
Most of the terminal descriptions in the terminfo
@@ -851,106 +970,133 @@
When setting this variable, you should set it to a
nonzero value. Setting it to zero (or to a nonnum-
- ber) disables the special check for Linux and screen.
+ ber) disables the special check for "linux" and
+ "screen".
+
+ As an alternative to the environment variable,
+ ncurses checks for an extended terminfo capability
+ U8. This is a numeric capability which can be com-
+ piled using tic -x. For example
+
+ # linux console, if patched to provide working
+ # VT100 shift-in/shift-out, with corresponding font.
+ linux-vt100|linux console with VT100 line-graphics,
+ U8#0, use=linux,
+
+ # uxterm with vt100Graphics resource set to false
+ xterm-utf8|xterm relying on UTF-8 line-graphics,
+ U8#1, use=xterm,
+
+ The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters, to per-
+ mit it to be used by applications that use ncurses'
+ termcap interface.
NCURSES_TRACE
- During initialization, the ncurses debugging library
- checks the NCURSES_TRACE symbol. If it is defined,
+ During initialization, the ncurses debugging library
+ checks the NCURSES_TRACE symbol. If it is defined,
to a numeric value, ncurses calls the trace function,
using that value as the argument.
- The argument values, which are defined in curses.h,
- provide several types of information. When running
- with traces enabled, your application will write the
+ The argument values, which are defined in curses.h,
+ provide several types of information. When running
+ with traces enabled, your application will write the
file trace to the current directory.
- TERM Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is
+ TERM Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is
distinct, though many are similar.
TERMCAP
If the ncurses library has been configured with term-
- cap support, ncurses will check for a terminal's
+ cap support, ncurses will check for a terminal's
description in termcap form if it is not available in
the terminfo database.
- The TERMCAP symbol contains either a terminal
- description (with newlines stripped out), or a file
- name telling where the information denoted by the
- TERM symbol exists. In either case, setting it
- directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this
+ The TERMCAP symbol contains either a terminal
+ description (with newlines stripped out), or a file
+ name telling where the information denoted by the
+ TERM symbol exists. In either case, setting it
+ directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this
information, e.g., /etc/termcap.
TERMINFO
Overrides the directory in which ncurses searches for
your terminal description. This is the simplest, but
- not the only way to change the list of directories.
+ not the only way to change the list of directories.
The complete list of directories in order follows:
- - the last directory to which ncurses wrote, if any,
- is searched first
+ o the last directory to which ncurses wrote, if
+ any, is searched first
- - the directory specified by the TERMINFO symbol
+ o the directory specified by the TERMINFO symbol
- - $HOME/.terminfo
+ o $HOME/.terminfo
- - directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS symbol
+ o directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS symbol
- - one or more directories whose names are configured
- and compiled into the ncurses library, e.g.,
- /usr/share/terminfo
+ o one or more directories whose names are config-
+ ured and compiled into the ncurses library, e.g.,
+ /usr/share/terminfo
TERMINFO_DIRS
- Specifies a list of directories to search for termi-
- nal descriptions. The list is separated by colons
- (i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. All of
+ Specifies a list of directories to search for termi-
+ nal descriptions. The list is separated by colons
+ (i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. All of
the terminal descriptions are in terminfo form, which
- makes a subdirectory named for the first letter of
+ makes a subdirectory named for the first letter of
the terminal names therein.
+ If ncurses is built with a hashed database, then each
+ entry in this list can also be the path of the corre-
+ sponding database file.
+
+ If ncurses is built with a support for reading term-
+ cap files directly, then an entry in this list may be
+ the path of a termcap file.
+
TERMPATH
- If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses
- checks the TERMPATH symbol. This is a list of
- filenames separated by spaces or colons (i.e., ":")
- on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. If the TERMPATH
- symbol is not set, ncurses looks in the files
- /etc/termcap, /usr/share/misc/termcap and
- $HOME/.termcap, in that order.
-
- The library may be configured to disregard the following
- variables when the current user is the superuser (root),
- or if the application uses setuid or setgid permissions:
+ If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses
+ checks the TERMPATH symbol. This is a list of file-
+ names separated by spaces or colons (i.e., ":") on
+ Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. If the TERMPATH symbol
+ is not set, ncurses looks in the files /etc/termcap,
+ /usr/share/misc/termcap and $HOME/.termcap, in that
+ order.
+
+ The library may be configured to disregard the following
+ variables when the current user is the superuser (root),
+ or if the application uses setuid or setgid permissions:
$TERMINFO, $TERMINFO_DIRS, $TERMPATH, as well as $HOME.
ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS
- Several different configurations are possible, depending
- on the configure script options used when building
- ncurses. There are a few main options whose effects are
+ Several different configurations are possible, depending
+ on the configure script options used when building
+ ncurses. There are a few main options whose effects are
visible to the applications developer using ncurses:
--disable-overwrite
- The standard include for ncurses is as noted in SYN-
+ The standard include for ncurses is as noted in SYN-
OPSIS:
#include <curses.h>
- This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when
- ncurses is not the main implementation of curses of
- the computer. If ncurses is installed disabling
- overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdirectory,
+ This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when
+ ncurses is not the main implementation of curses of
+ the computer. If ncurses is installed disabling
+ overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdirectory,
e.g.,
#include <ncurses/curses.h>
- It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you
+ It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you
to use -lcurses to build executables.
--enable-widec
- The configure script renames the library and (if the
- --disable-overwrite option is used) puts the header
+ The configure script renames the library and (if the
+ --disable-overwrite option is used) puts the header
files in a different subdirectory. All of the
- library names have a "w" appended to them, i.e.,
+ library names have a "w" appended to them, i.e.,
instead of
-lncurses
@@ -960,16 +1106,16 @@
-lncursesw
You must also define _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED when com-
- piling for the wide-character library to use the
- extended (wide-character) functions. The curses.h
- file which is installed for the wide-character
- library is designed to be compatible with the normal
+ piling for the wide-character library to use the
+ extended (wide-character) functions. The curses.h
+ file which is installed for the wide-character
+ library is designed to be compatible with the normal
library's header. Only the size of the WINDOW struc-
- ture differs, and very few applications require more
- than a pointer to WINDOWs. If the headers are
- installed allowing overwrite, the wide-character
- library's headers should be installed last, to allow
- applications to be built using either library from
+ ture differs, and very few applications require more
+ than a pointer to WINDOWs. If the headers are
+ installed allowing overwrite, the wide-character
+ library's headers should be installed last, to allow
+ applications to be built using either library from
the same set of headers.
--with-shared
@@ -979,16 +1125,16 @@
--with-debug
--with-profile
- The shared and normal (static) library names differ
- by their suffixes, e.g., libncurses.so and
- libncurses.a. The debug and profiling libraries add
- a "_g" and a "_p" to the root names respectively,
+ The shared and normal (static) library names differ
+ by their suffixes, e.g., libncurses.so and
+ libncurses.a. The debug and profiling libraries add
+ a "_g" and a "_p" to the root names respectively,
e.g., libncurses_g.a and libncurses_p.a.
--with-trace
- The trace function normally resides in the debug
+ The trace function normally resides in the debug
library, but it is sometimes useful to configure this
- in the shared library. Configure scripts should
+ in the shared library. Configure scripts should
check for the function's existence rather than assum-
ing it is always in the debug library.
@@ -996,15 +1142,16 @@
FILES
/usr/share/tabset
- directory containing initialization files for the
+ directory containing initialization files for the
terminal capability database /usr/share/terminfo ter-
minal capability database
SEE ALSO
- terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_"
+ terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_"
for detailed routine descriptions.
+ curs_variables(3x)
@@ -1012,95 +1159,119 @@
The ncurses library can be compiled with an option
(-DUSE_GETCAP) that falls back to the old-style /etc/term-
cap file if the terminal setup code cannot find a terminfo
- entry corresponding to TERM. Use of this feature is not
- recommended, as it essentially includes an entire termcap
- compiler in the ncurses startup code, at significant cost
+ entry corresponding to TERM. Use of this feature is not
+ recommended, as it essentially includes an entire termcap
+ compiler in the ncurses startup code, at significant cost
in core and startup cycles.
- The ncurses library includes facilities for capturing
- mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm). See
+ The ncurses library includes facilities for capturing
+ mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm). See
the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.
- The ncurses library includes facilities for responding to
- window resizing events, e.g., when running in an xterm.
- See the resizeterm(3x) and wresize(3x) manual pages for
- details. In addition, the library may be configured with
+ The ncurses library includes facilities for responding to
+ window resizing events, e.g., when running in an xterm.
+ See the resizeterm(3x) and wresize(3x) manual pages for
+ details. In addition, the library may be configured with
a SIGWINCH handler.
- The ncurses library extends the fixed set of function key
- capabilities of terminals by allowing the application
- designer to define additional key sequences at runtime.
+ The ncurses library extends the fixed set of function key
+ capabilities of terminals by allowing the application
+ designer to define additional key sequences at runtime.
See the define_key(3x) key_defined(3x), and keyok(3x) man-
ual pages for details.
The ncurses library can exploit the capabilities of termi-
- nals which implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 con-
+ nals which implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 con-
trols, which allow an application to reset the terminal to
- its original foreground and background colors. From the
- users' perspective, the application is able to draw col-
- ored text on a background whose color is set indepen-
- dently, providing better control over color contrasts.
+ its original foreground and background colors. From the
+ users' perspective, the application is able to draw col-
+ ored text on a background whose color is set indepen-
+ dently, providing better control over color contrasts.
See the default_colors(3x) manual page for details.
- The ncurses library includes a function for directing
- application output to a printer attached to the terminal
+ The ncurses library includes a function for directing
+ application output to a printer attached to the terminal
device. See the curs_print(3x) manual page for details.
PORTABILITY
- The ncurses library is intended to be BASE-level confor-
- mant with the XSI Curses standard. The EXTENDED XSI
- Curses functionality (including color support) is sup-
- ported.
+ The ncurses library is intended to be BASE-level confor-
+ mant with XSI Curses. The EXTENDED XSI Curses functional-
+ ity (including color support) is supported.
A small number of local differences (that is, individual
differences between the XSI Curses and ncurses calls) are
described in PORTABILITY sections of the library man
pages.
- The routine has_key is not part of XPG4, nor is it present
- in SVr4. See the curs_getch(3x) manual page for details.
+ Unlike other implementations, this one checks parameters
+ such as pointers to WINDOW structures to ensure they are
+ not null. The main reason for providing this behavior is
+ to guard against programmer error. The standard interface
+ does not provide a way for the library to tell an applica-
+ tion which of several possible errors were detected.
+ Relying on this (or some other) extension will adversely
+ affect the portability of curses applications.
+
+ This implementation also contains several extensions:
+
+ o The routine has_key is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ present in SVr4. See the curs_getch(3x) manual page
+ for details.
+
+ o The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ present in SVr4. See the curs_slk(3x) manual page for
+ details.
+
+ o The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mousein-
+ terval, and wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are
+ not part of XPG4, nor are they present in SVr4. See
+ the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.
+
+ o The routine mcprint was not present in any previous
+ curses implementation. See the curs_print(3x) manual
+ page for details.
- The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it
- present in SVr4. See the curs_slk(3x) manual page for
- details.
+ o The routine wresize is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ present in SVr4. See the wresize(3x) manual page for
+ details.
- The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mouseinter-
- val, and wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are not
- part of XPG4, nor are they present in SVr4. See the
- curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.
+ o The WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden
+ from application programs. See curs_opaque(3x) for
+ the discussion of is_scrollok, etc.
- The routine mcprint was not present in any previous curses
- implementation. See the curs_print(3x) manual page for
- details.
+ o This implementation can be configured to provide rudi-
+ mentary support for multi-threaded applications. See
+ curs_threads(3x) for details.
- The routine wresize is not part of XPG4, nor is it present
- in SVr4. See the wresize(3x) manual page for details.
+ o This implementation can also be configured to provide
+ a set of functions which improve the ability to manage
+ multiple screens. See curs_sp_funcs(3x) for details.
- In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
+ In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
bilities cr, ind, cub1, ff and tab activated corresponding
- delay bits in the UNIX tty driver. In this implementa-
- tion, all padding is done by NUL sends. This method is
- slightly more expensive, but narrows the interface to the
- UNIX kernel significantly and increases the package's
- portability correspondingly.
+ delay bits in the UNIX tty driver. In this implementa-
+ tion, all padding is done by sending NUL bytes. This
+ method is slightly more expensive, but narrows the inter-
+ face to the UNIX kernel significantly and increases the
+ package's portability correspondingly.
NOTES
- The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the
+ The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the
header files <stdio.h> and <unctrl.h>.
- If standard output from a ncurses program is re-directed
- to something which is not a tty, screen updates will be
+ If standard output from a ncurses program is re-directed
+ to something which is not a tty, screen updates will be
directed to standard error. This was an undocumented fea-
ture of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
AUTHORS
- Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
+ Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.