2 ****************************************************************************
3 * Copyright 2018-2021,2022 Thomas E. Dickey *
4 * Copyright 1998-2016,2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
6 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
7 * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
8 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
9 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
10 * distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
11 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
12 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
14 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
15 * in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
17 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
18 * OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
19 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
20 * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
21 * DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
22 * OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
23 * THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
25 * Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
26 * holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
27 * sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
29 ****************************************************************************
30 * @Id: curs_terminfo.3x,v 1.80 2022/01/01 21:50:06 tom Exp @
31 * ***************************************************************************
32 * ***************************************************************************
33 * ***************************************************************************
34 * ***************************************************************************
35 * ***************************************************************************
36 * ***************************************************************************
37 * ***************************************************************************
38 * ***************************************************************************
39 * ***************************************************************************
41 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
44 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
45 <meta name="generator" content="Manpage converted by man2html - see https://invisible-island.net/scripts/readme.html#others_scripts">
46 <TITLE>curs_terminfo 3x</TITLE>
47 <link rel="author" href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
51 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x</H1>
53 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
58 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
59 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
60 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>,
61 <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interfaces to terminfo database
64 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
65 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
66 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
68 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
70 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
71 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
72 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
73 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
80 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
81 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
82 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
83 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>restartterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
85 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
86 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tputs(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
87 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
89 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
90 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
91 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_puts(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
92 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_attr(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvcur(int</STRONG> <EM>oldrow</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>oldcol</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>newrow</EM>, int <EM>newcol</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
97 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
98 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
100 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
103 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
104 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
105 directly with the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database to handle certain terminal capabil-
106 ities, such as programming function keys. For all other functionality,
107 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines are more suitable and their use is recommended.
109 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
110 strings such as UTF-8:
112 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
114 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
115 strings of 8-bit characters.
118 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
119 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
120 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
121 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
123 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
124 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
125 <STRONG>es.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the defini-
126 tions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
128 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
131 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
132 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
134 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
135 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
136 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
137 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
138 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
141 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
142 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
143 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
144 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
146 Programs which use cursor addressing should
148 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
150 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
152 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
154 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
157 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
160 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
161 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
162 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
164 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
165 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
168 is the file descriptor used for all output.
171 points to an optional location where an error status can be re-
172 turned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
173 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
174 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with sta-
175 tus of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
177 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
179 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
182 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
183 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
185 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
186 a generic type, having too little information for curses
189 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
190 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic</STRONG>) capability.
192 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database could not be found.
194 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon find-
195 ing an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
197 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
199 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
202 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
203 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
204 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
205 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
206 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
209 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
210 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given termi-
211 nal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different terminal
212 types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of terminal capa-
215 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
216 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
217 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
219 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
220 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, refer-
221 ences to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables
222 thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
223 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> has been called.
225 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
226 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for exam-
227 ple, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
228 assumes that the windows and the input and output options are the same
229 as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be
230 different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty state bits,
231 calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
234 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
235 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
236 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
237 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the inter-
240 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
241 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
243 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal capa-
244 bilities require no more than one or two parameters.
246 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
247 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
249 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
250 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
252 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
253 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
257 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
258 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information (i.e., by interpreting
259 marker embedded in the terminfo capability such as "$<5>" as 5 mil-
260 liseconds) to the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it:
262 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
263 value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
265 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
266 which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM> inter-
269 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
271 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
274 The <STRONG>putp</STRONG> routine calls <STRONG>tputs(</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>putchar)</STRONG>. The output of <STRONG>putp</STRONG> al-
275 ways goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
277 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
278 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
279 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
282 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
283 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
285 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
286 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
287 attributes plus color, i.e.,
289 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
291 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
293 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
294 constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
296 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
297 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an ex-
298 tension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
299 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
301 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
302 immediately (rather than at the next refresh).
304 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
305 level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because SystemV did
306 this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
309 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
310 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
311 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
312 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
313 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
315 These routines return special values to denote errors.
317 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
319 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
321 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
323 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
325 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
327 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
329 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
331 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
332 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
334 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
337 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
338 These null-terminated arrays contain
340 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short terminfo names ("codes"),
342 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> names ("names"), and
344 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long terminfo names ("fnames")
346 for each of the predefined <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables:
348 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
349 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
350 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
353 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
354 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
355 description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this memo-
356 ry. If an application calls
358 <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
360 the memory will be freed.
362 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
363 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
365 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
366 were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
367 per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
369 <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
370 terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
371 binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
373 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
374 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
375 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
378 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
379 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
380 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful com-
381 pletion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine descriptions.
383 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
385 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
387 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
388 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
390 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
392 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
393 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
396 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
397 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
398 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error con-
399 ditions are documented above.
401 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
402 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
403 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
404 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
407 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
408 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with sys-
409 tems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
410 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
412 In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
413 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
414 page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
415 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call:
417 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
419 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not recommend-
420 ed for new programs. This implementation provides each of those sym-
421 bols as macros for BSD compatibility,
424 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
425 SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
426 these low-level functions:
428 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
429 ------------------------------------------------------------
430 fixterm restore tty to "in curses" state
431 gettmode establish current tty modes
432 mvcur low level cursor motion
433 putp utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send char-
434 acters via <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
435 resetterm set tty modes to "out of curses" state
436 resetty reset tty flags to stored value
437 saveterm save current modes as "in curses" state
438 savetty store current tty flags
439 setterm establish terminal with given type
440 setupterm establish terminal with given type
441 tparm instantiate a string expression with parameters
442 tputs apply padding information to a string
443 vidattr like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
444 vidputs output a string to put terminal in a specified
447 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for termcap
448 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date"):
450 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
451 ------------------------------------------------
452 tgetent look up termcap entry for given <EM>name</EM>
453 tgetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
454 tgetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
455 tgetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
456 tgoto apply parameters to given capability
457 tputs apply padding to capability, calling
458 a function to put characters
460 Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
461 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
463 SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability val-
464 ues (like the termcap interface), and reusing tgoto and tputs:
466 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
467 -------------------------------------------
468 tigetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
470 tigetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
471 tigetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
473 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 terminfo functions which had no
474 counterpart in the termcap interface, documenting them as obsolete:
476 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
477 -----------------------------
479 fixterm reset_prog_mode
482 resetterm reset_shell_mode
483 saveterm def_prog_mode
486 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
487 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and han-
488 dling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two parame-
489 ters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
491 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal descrip-
492 tions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental improvements to
495 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
496 <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
498 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
499 the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
502 SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
504 There are other low-level functions declared in the curses header files
505 on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked "obso-
506 lete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
509 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
511 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
512 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
514 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
515 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
518 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
519 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
520 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
522 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
523 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
525 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
526 stored in the arrays described here.
529 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
530 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
531 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
532 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the ter-
533 minal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V curses),
534 it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable way to
535 cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
537 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
538 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
539 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-lev-
540 el functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions using
541 the more reliable buffering scheme.
544 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
545 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header decla-
546 rations, which were defined at the same time the C language was first
547 standardized in the late 1980s.
549 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
550 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
551 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
552 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
553 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
554 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
556 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
557 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The ncurses ABI
558 6 enables this feature by default.
560 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
561 rather than a variable argument list.
563 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be con-
564 figured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
565 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
568 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
569 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
572 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
573 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
575 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
578 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
579 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
583 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
584 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
585 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
587 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
588 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
590 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
591 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
592 and does no error-checking.
594 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
595 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and re-
596 fresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> and
597 System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data allo-
598 cated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a
599 terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not well
602 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This im-
603 plementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
604 that case, the old location is unknown.
607 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
608 <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_memleaks.3x.html">curs_memleaks(3x)</A></STRONG>,
609 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>putc(3)</STRONG>, <STRONG>ter-</STRONG>
610 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">minfo(5)</A></STRONG>
614 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
618 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
619 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
620 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
622 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
623 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
624 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
625 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
626 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
627 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
628 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
631 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a>
633 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
636 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
637 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
639 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></li>
640 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
641 <li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
642 <li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
643 <li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
644 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
647 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>