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43 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x 2024-03-23 ncurses 6.4 Library calls</H1>
45 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> Library calls <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
50 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
51 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
52 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
53 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> interfaces to
54 <EM>terminfo</EM> database
57 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
58 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
59 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
61 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
63 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
64 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
65 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
66 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
67 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
68 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
69 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
70 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
71 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
73 <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>
74 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
76 <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>
78 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> ...<STRONG>);</STRONG>
79 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>or</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
80 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p1</EM> ... <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p9</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
82 <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>
83 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
85 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
86 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
87 <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>
88 <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>
90 <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><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>newcol</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
92 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>cap-code</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
93 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>cap-code</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>cap-code</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> ...<STRONG>);</STRONG>
98 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>extensions</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
99 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm_s(int</STRONG> <EM>expected</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>mask</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
100 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tiscan_s(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>expected</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>mask</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
102 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>deprecated</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
103 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
106 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
107 These low-level functions must be called by programs that deal directly
108 with the <EM>terminfo</EM> database to handle certain terminal capabilities,
109 such as programming function keys. For all other functionality, <EM>curses</EM>
110 functions are more suitable and their use is recommended.
112 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
113 strings such as UTF-8.
115 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Capability names and codes use the POSIX portable character set.
117 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
118 strings of 8-bit characters.
121 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
122 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level <EM>curses</EM> functions
123 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
124 terminal-dependent variables listed in <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>.
126 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
127 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files
128 <EM>curses.h</EM> and <EM>term.h</EM> should be included (in that order) to get the
129 definitions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
131 The <EM>terminfo</EM> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
134 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
135 specified in <EM>terminfo</EM> are used.
137 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <EM>LINES</EM> and <EM>COLUMNS</EM> exist,
138 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
139 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
140 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
141 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <EM>terminfo</EM> database are
144 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
145 them. All <EM>terminfo</EM> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
146 sent to the terminal device with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG>
147 to restore the terminal modes before exiting; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>.
149 Programs that use cursor addressing should
151 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
153 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
155 Programs that execute shell subprocesses should
157 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
160 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
163 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> reads in the <EM>terminfo</EM> database, initializing the <EM>terminfo</EM>
164 structures, but does not set up the output virtualization structures
165 used by <EM>curses</EM>. Its parameters follow.
167 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
168 environment variable <EM>TERM</EM> is read.
171 is the file descriptor used for getting and setting terminal
174 Higher-level applications use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> to initialize the
175 terminal, passing an output <EM>stream</EM> rather than a <EM>descriptor</EM>.
176 In <EM>curses</EM>, the two are the same because <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> calls
177 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, passing the file descriptor derived from its output
181 points to an optional location where an error status can be
182 returned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
183 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
184 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with
185 status of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
187 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret:</EM>
189 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, and cannot be used
190 for <EM>curses</EM> applications.
192 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
193 checking the <STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG> (<STRONG>hc</STRONG>) capability.
195 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
196 a generic type, having too little information for <EM>curses</EM>
199 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
200 checking the <STRONG>generic_type</STRONG> (<STRONG>gn</STRONG>) capability.
202 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <EM>terminfo</EM> database could not be found.
204 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> reports an error message upon
205 finding an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
207 setupterm((char *)0, 1, (int *)0);
209 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
212 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
213 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> stores its information about the terminal in a <EM>TERMINAL</EM>
214 structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it detects an
215 error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy or
216 generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
219 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
220 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given
221 terminal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different
222 terminal types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of
223 terminal capabilities.
225 <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the <EM>terminfo</EM>
226 Boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from <EM>nterm</EM>. It
227 returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
229 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes it available
230 for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, references to any
231 of the <EM>terminfo</EM> Boolean, numeric, and string variables thereafter may
232 refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> has been
235 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except that it is
236 called after restoring memory to a previous state (for example, when
237 reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> assumes that
238 the windows and the input and output options are the same as when
239 memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be different.
240 Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various terminal state bits, calls
241 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
244 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
245 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A pointer is
246 returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied. Application
247 developers should keep in mind these quirks of the interface:
249 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
250 prototype expects <EM>long</EM> (integer) values.
252 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal
253 capabilities require no more than one or two parameters.
255 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
256 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
258 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
259 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
261 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM>stdarg.h</EM> rather than a
262 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are <EM>int</EM>s rather than
265 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
266 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
267 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data.
269 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
270 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the <EM>curses</EM>
271 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
272 which may be string parameters.
274 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
275 to 9) passed as <EM>char</EM> pointers rather than numbers.
277 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a
278 formatting capability to see what the <EM>curses</EM> library would assume.
281 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
282 String capabilities can contain padding information, a time delay
283 (accommodating performance limitations of hardware terminals) expressed
284 as <STRONG>$<</STRONG><EM>n</EM><STRONG>></STRONG>, where <EM>n</EM> is a nonnegative integral count of milliseconds. If <EM>n</EM>
285 exceeds 30,000 (thirty seconds), it is capped at that value.
287 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> interprets time-delay information in the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs
288 it, executing the delays:
290 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a <EM>terminfo</EM> string variable or the return
291 value of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
293 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
294 which happens to share these function names with the <EM>terminfo</EM> API.
296 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or <STRONG>1</STRONG> if not applicable.
298 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <EM>putchar</EM>-like function to which the characters are passed,
301 If <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> processes a time-delay, it uses the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">delay_output(3x)</A></STRONG>
302 function, routing any resulting padding characters through this
305 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls "<STRONG>tputs(</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>putchar)</STRONG>". The output of <STRONG>putp</STRONG> always goes to
306 <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
308 <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> displays the string on the terminal in the video attribute mode
309 <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>.
310 The characters are passed to the <EM>putchar</EM>-like function <EM>putc</EM>.
312 <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> is like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, except that it outputs through <STRONG>putchar(3)</STRONG>.
314 <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> correspond to <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, respectively.
315 They use multiple parameters to represent the character attributes and
318 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM>, of type <EM>attr</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM>, for the attributes and
320 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM>, of type <EM>short</EM>, for the color pair number.
322 Use the attribute constants prefixed with "<STRONG>WA_</STRONG>" with <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and
323 <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>.
325 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
326 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument; but see
327 section "EXTENSIONS" below.
329 <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect immediately
330 (rather than at the next refresh). Unlike the other low-level output
331 functions, which either write to the standard output or pass an output
332 function parameter, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> uses an output file descriptor derived from
333 the output stream parameter of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG>.
335 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions that do not use high-level
336 <EM>curses</EM> state, <EM>ncurses</EM> declares them in <EM>curses.h</EM> because System V did
337 this (see section "HISTORY" below).
340 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
341 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> return the value of the capability
342 corresponding to the <EM>terminfo</EM> <EM>cap-code</EM>, such as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>, passed to them.
343 The <EM>cap-code</EM> for each capability is given in the table column entitled
344 <EM>cap-code</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
346 These functions return special values to denote errors.
348 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> returns
350 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>cap-code</EM> is not a Boolean capability, or
352 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
354 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> returns
356 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>cap-code</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
358 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
360 <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> returns
362 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
363 if <EM>cap-code</EM> is not a string capability, or
365 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
368 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
369 These null-terminated arrays contain
371 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("codes"),
373 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <EM>termcap</EM> names ("names"), and
375 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("fnames")
377 for each of the predefined <EM>terminfo</EM> variables:
379 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
380 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
381 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
384 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
385 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
386 description. As a side effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this
387 memory. If an application calls
389 del_curterm(cur_term);
391 the memory will be freed.
393 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
394 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> as follows.
396 <STRONG>o</STRONG> They add the "static" <EM>terminfo</EM> variables [a-z]. Before <EM>ncurses</EM>
397 6.3, those were shared by all screens. With <EM>ncurses</EM> 6.3, those are
398 allocated per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
400 <STRONG>o</STRONG> To improve performance, <EM>ncurses</EM> 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
401 <EM>terminfo</EM> strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
402 binary tree referenced from the <EM>TERMINAL</EM> structure.
404 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
405 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
406 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
409 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
410 X/Open Curses defines no failure conditions. In <EM>ncurses</EM>,
412 <STRONG>del_curtem</STRONG>
413 fails if its terminal parameter is null.
415 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error codes.
417 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
418 fails if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an error.
420 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
421 fails if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create the initial
422 windows (<STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, <STRONG>curscr</STRONG>, and <STRONG>newscr</STRONG>) Other error conditions are
425 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
426 returns a null pointer if the capability would require unexpected
427 parameters; that is, too many, too few, or incorrect types
428 (strings where integers are expected, or vice versa).
430 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
431 fails if the string parameter is null. It does not detect I/O
432 errors: X/Open Curses states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return value
433 of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
436 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
437 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> function in <EM>ncurses</EM> is a special case. It was originally
438 implemented based on a draft of X/Open Curses, as a macro, before other
439 parts of the <EM>ncurses</EM> wide-character API were developed, and unlike the
440 other wide-character functions, is also provided in the non-wide-
441 character configuration.
444 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
445 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <EM>ncurses</EM>, and are
446 not found in SVr4 <EM>curses</EM>, 4.4BSD <EM>curses</EM>, or any other previous <EM>curses</EM>
449 <EM>ncurses</EM> allows <EM>opts</EM> to be a pointer to <EM>int</EM>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM>
450 (<EM>short</EM>) argument.
453 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
454 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered non-portable.
455 All other functions are as described by X/Open.
458 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-Macros">Compatibility Macros</a></H3><PRE>
459 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with
460 systems before SVr4 (see section "HISTORY" below). They include
461 <STRONG>Bcrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bfixterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bgettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bnocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bresetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bsaveterm</STRONG>, and
462 <STRONG>Bsetterm</STRONG>.
464 In SVr4, these are found in <EM>curses.h</EM>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
465 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
466 page. It further notes that <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> was replaced by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating
468 setupterm(<EM>term</EM>, 1, (int *)0)
469 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, discouraging the
470 latter for new programs. <EM>ncurses</EM> implements each of these symbols as
471 macros for BSD <EM>curses</EM> compatibility.
474 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-Data">Legacy Data</a></H3><PRE>
475 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
476 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
478 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
479 provide them without declaring them. X/Open Curses does not specify
482 Extended terminal capability names, as defined by "<STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>", are not
483 stored in the arrays described here.
486 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Buffering">Output Buffering</a></H3><PRE>
487 Older versions of <EM>ncurses</EM> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
488 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
489 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the
490 terminal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V
491 <EM>curses</EM>), it was problematic because <EM>ncurses</EM> did not allow a reliable
492 way to clean up on receiving <STRONG>SIGTSTP</STRONG>.
494 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
495 <EM>ncurses</EM>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
496 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-
497 level functions in <EM>ncurses</EM> employ alternate versions of these functions
498 using the more reliable buffering scheme.
501 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-Prototypes">Function Prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
502 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 <EM>curses</EM> header
503 declarations, which were defined at the same time the C language was
504 first standardized in the late 1980s.
506 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <EM>const</EM> less effectively than a later design
507 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
508 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
509 would use <EM>const</EM>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
510 not use <EM>const</EM> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
511 hand, "writable strings" are an obsolescent feature.
513 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
514 the function prototypes to use the <EM>const</EM> keyword. The <EM>ncurses</EM> ABI
515 6 enables this feature by default.
517 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
518 rather than a variable argument list.
520 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be
521 configured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
522 should provide nine parameters after the format; zeroes are fine
525 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
526 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
528 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in <EM>ncurses</EM>, the older form is only
529 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
530 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
532 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
534 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
535 nine on each call is awkward.
537 Using <EM>long</EM> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
538 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That
539 approach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
540 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
541 fit in a <EM>long</EM>).
543 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
544 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string
545 parameters. However, only a few <EM>terminfo</EM> capabilities use string
546 parameters (for instance, the ones used for programmable function
549 The <EM>ncurses</EM> library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
550 an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
551 cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
552 places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
554 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a
555 table, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
557 <STRONG>Special</STRONG> <EM>TERM</EM> <STRONG>treatment</STRONG>
558 If configured to use the terminal driver, as with the MinGW port,
560 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty <EM>TERM</EM> variable as the special
563 SVr4 <EM>curses</EM> uses the special value "dumb".
565 The difference between the two is that the former uses the
566 <STRONG>generic_type</STRONG> (<STRONG>gn</STRONG>) <EM>terminfo</EM> capability, while the latter does not.
567 A generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
569 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
570 checking if <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG> is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
574 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-Portability-Issues">Other Portability Issues</a></H3><PRE>
575 In SVr4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> returns an <EM>int</EM>, <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to
576 implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
578 In SVr4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type "<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>".
580 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
581 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. It instead returns the length of the
582 string, and does no error checking.
584 X/Open Curses notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the <EM>curses</EM> state may not
585 match the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch
586 and refresh the window before resuming normal <EM>curses</EM> calls. Both
587 <EM>ncurses</EM> and SVr4 <EM>curses</EM> implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the <EM>SCREEN</EM> data allocated
588 in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a <EM>terminfo</EM>
589 function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a <EM>curses</EM> function that is not well specified.
591 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the <EM>curses</EM> state may not match
592 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and
593 refresh the window before resuming normal <EM>curses</EM> calls. Both <EM>ncurses</EM>
594 and SVr4 <EM>curses</EM> implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the <EM>SCREEN</EM> data allocated in
595 either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a <EM>terminfo</EM>
596 function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a <EM>curses</EM> function that is not well specified.
598 X/Open Curses states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> to
599 accommodate terminals that lack absolute cursor positioning. <EM>ncurses</EM>
600 allows the caller to use -1 for either or both old coordinates. The -1
601 tells <EM>ncurses</EM> that the old location is unknown, and that it must use
602 only absolute motion, as with the <STRONG>cursor_address</STRONG> (<STRONG>cup</STRONG>) capability,
603 rather than the least costly combination of absolute and relative
607 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
608 SVr2 (1984) introduced the <EM>terminfo</EM> feature. Its programming manual
609 mentioned the following low-level functions.
611 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
612 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
613 <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG> restore terminal to "in <EM>curses</EM>" state
614 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG> establish current terminal modes
615 <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> low level cursor motion
616 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> use <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send characters via <EM>putchar</EM>
617 <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG> set terminal modes to "out of <EM>curses</EM>" state
618 <STRONG>resetty</STRONG> reset terminal flags to stored value
619 <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG> save current modes as "in <EM>curses</EM>" state
620 <STRONG>savetty</STRONG> store current terminal flags
621 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
622 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
623 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> interpolate parameters into string capability
624 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding information to a string
625 <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but output through <EM>putchar</EM>
626 <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> write string to terminal, applying specified attributes
628 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for <EM>termcap</EM>
629 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date").
631 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
632 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
633 <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> look up <EM>termcap</EM> entry for given <EM>name</EM>
634 <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> get Boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
635 <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
636 <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
637 <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> apply parameters to given capability
638 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> write characters via a function parameter, applying padding
640 Early <EM>terminfo</EM> programs obtained capability values from the <EM>TERMINAL</EM>
641 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
643 SVr3 (1987) extended <EM>terminfo</EM> by adding functions to retrieve
644 capability values (like the <EM>termcap</EM> interface), and reusing <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> and
645 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
647 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
648 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
649 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> get Boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
650 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
651 <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
653 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 <EM>terminfo</EM> functions that had no
654 counterpart in the <EM>termcap</EM> interface, documenting them as obsolete.
656 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
657 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
659 fixterm reset_prog_mode
660 gettmode <EM>n/a</EM>
662 resetterm reset_shell_mode
663 saveterm def_prog_mode
666 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
667 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and to
668 handle capabilities accessed by functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used
669 more than the two parameters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
671 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal
672 descriptions; for example, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some changes reflected
673 incremental improvements to the SVr2 library.
675 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>TERMINAL</EM> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
676 <EM>term</EM> structure provided in SVr2.
678 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in the
679 programming manual at this point, though the variables had been
682 SVr4 (1989) added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
684 Other low-level functions are declared in the <EM>curses</EM> header files of
685 Unix systems, but none are documented. Those noted as "obsolete" by
686 SVr3 remained in use by System V's <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
689 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
690 <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>,
691 <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>putc(3)</STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>,
692 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
696 ncurses 6.4 2024-03-23 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
700 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
701 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
702 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
704 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
705 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
706 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
707 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
708 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
709 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
710 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
713 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
714 <li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
715 <li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
716 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
718 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-Macros">Compatibility Macros</a></li>
719 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-Data">Legacy Data</a></li>
720 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Buffering">Output Buffering</a></li>
721 <li><a href="#h3-Function-Prototypes">Function Prototypes</a></li>
722 <li><a href="#h3-Other-Portability-Issues">Other Portability Issues</a></li>
725 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
726 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>