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52 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x 2023-08-05 ncurses 6.4 Library calls</H1>
54 <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>
59 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
60 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
61 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
62 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interfaces to
66 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
67 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
68 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
70 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
72 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
73 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
79 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
80 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
82 <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>
83 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
84 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
85 <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>
87 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
89 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p1</EM> <EM>...</EM> <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p9</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
91 <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>
92 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
95 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <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>
97 <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>
99 <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>
101 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
102 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
103 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
105 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
108 <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>
109 <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>
112 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
113 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
114 directly with the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database to handle certain terminal capabil-
115 ities, such as programming function keys. For all other functionality,
116 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines are more suitable and their use is recommended.
118 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
119 strings such as UTF-8:
121 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
123 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
124 strings of 8-bit characters.
127 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
128 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
129 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
130 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
132 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
133 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
134 <STRONG>es.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the defini-
135 tions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
137 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
140 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
141 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
143 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
144 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
145 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
146 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
147 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
150 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
151 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
152 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
153 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
155 Programs which use cursor addressing should
157 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
159 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
161 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
163 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
166 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
169 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
170 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
171 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
173 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
174 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
177 is the file descriptor used for getting and setting terminal
180 Higher-level applications use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> for initializing the
181 terminal, passing an output <EM>stream</EM> rather than a <EM>descriptor</EM>.
182 In curses, the two are the same because <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> calls <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
183 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG>, passing the file descriptor derived from its output
187 points to an optional location where an error status can be re-
188 turned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
189 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
190 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with sta-
191 tus of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
193 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
195 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
198 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
199 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
201 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
202 a generic type, having too little information for curses
205 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
206 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) capability.
208 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database could not be found.
210 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon find-
211 ing an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
213 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
215 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
218 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
219 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
220 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
221 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
222 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
225 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
226 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given termi-
227 nal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different terminal
228 types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of terminal capa-
231 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
232 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
233 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
235 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
236 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, refer-
237 ences to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables
238 thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
239 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> has been called.
241 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
242 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for exam-
243 ple, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
244 assumes that the windows and the input and output options are the same
245 as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be
246 different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty state bits,
247 calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
250 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
251 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
252 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
253 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the inter-
256 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
257 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
259 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal capa-
260 bilities require no more than one or two parameters.
262 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
263 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
265 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
266 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
268 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
269 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
272 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
273 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
274 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data:
276 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
277 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the curses
278 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
279 which may be string parameters.
281 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
282 to 9) which will be passed as char* rather than numbers.
284 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a format-
285 ting capability to see what the curses library would assume.
288 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
289 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information (i.e., by interpreting
290 marker embedded in the terminfo capability such as "$<5>" as 5 mil-
291 liseconds) to the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it:
293 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
294 value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
296 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
297 which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM> inter-
300 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
302 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
305 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-
306 ways goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
308 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
309 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
310 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
313 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
314 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
316 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
317 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
318 attributes plus color, i.e.,
320 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
322 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
324 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
325 constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
327 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
328 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an ex-
329 tension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
330 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
332 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
333 immediately (rather than at the next refresh). Unlike the other low-
334 level output functions, which either write to the standard output or
335 pass an output function parameter, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> uses an output file descriptor
336 derived from the output stream parameter of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG>.
338 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
339 level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because SystemV did
340 this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
343 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
344 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
345 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
346 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
347 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
349 These routines return special values to denote errors.
351 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
353 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
355 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
357 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
359 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
361 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
363 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
365 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
366 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
368 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
371 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
372 These null-terminated arrays contain
374 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short terminfo names ("codes"),
376 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> names ("names"), and
378 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long terminfo names ("fnames")
380 for each of the predefined <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables:
382 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
383 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
384 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
387 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
388 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
389 description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this memo-
390 ry. If an application calls
392 <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
394 the memory will be freed.
396 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
397 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
399 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
400 were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
401 per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
403 <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
404 terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
405 binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
407 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
408 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
409 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
412 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
413 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
414 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful com-
415 pletion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine descriptions.
417 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
419 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
421 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
422 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
424 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
426 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
427 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
430 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
431 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
432 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error con-
433 ditions are documented above.
435 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
436 returns a null if the capability would require unexpected pa-
437 rameters, e.g., too many, too few, or incorrect types (strings
438 where integers are expected, or vice versa).
440 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
441 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
442 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
443 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
446 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
447 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with sys-
448 tems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
449 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
451 In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
452 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
453 page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
454 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call:
456 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
458 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not recommend-
459 ed for new programs. This implementation provides each of those sym-
460 bols as macros for BSD compatibility,
463 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
464 SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
465 these low-level functions:
467 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
468 ------------------------------------------------------------
469 fixterm restore tty to "in curses" state
470 gettmode establish current tty modes
471 mvcur low level cursor motion
472 putp utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send char-
473 acters via <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
474 resetterm set tty modes to "out of curses" state
475 resetty reset tty flags to stored value
476 saveterm save current modes as "in curses" state
477 savetty store current tty flags
478 setterm establish terminal with given type
479 setupterm establish terminal with given type
480 tparm instantiate a string expression with parameters
481 tputs apply padding information to a string
482 vidattr like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
483 vidputs output a string to put terminal in a specified
486 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for termcap
487 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date"):
489 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
490 ------------------------------------------------
491 tgetent look up termcap entry for given <EM>name</EM>
492 tgetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
493 tgetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
494 tgetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
495 tgoto apply parameters to given capability
496 tputs apply padding to capability, calling
497 a function to put characters
499 Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
500 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
502 SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability val-
503 ues (like the termcap interface), and reusing tgoto and tputs:
505 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
506 -------------------------------------------
507 tigetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
508 tigetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
509 tigetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
511 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 terminfo functions which had no
512 counterpart in the termcap interface, documenting them as obsolete:
514 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
515 -----------------------------
517 fixterm reset_prog_mode
520 resetterm reset_shell_mode
521 saveterm def_prog_mode
524 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
525 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and han-
526 dling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two parame-
527 ters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
529 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal descrip-
530 tions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental improvements to
533 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
534 <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
536 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
537 the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
540 SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
542 There are other low-level functions declared in the curses header files
543 on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked "obso-
544 lete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
547 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
549 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></H3><PRE>
550 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>, and
551 are not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous ver-
555 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
556 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
558 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
559 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
562 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
563 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
564 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
566 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
567 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
569 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
570 stored in the arrays described here.
573 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
574 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
575 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
576 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the ter-
577 minal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V curses),
578 it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable way to
579 cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
581 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
582 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
583 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-lev-
584 el functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions using
585 the more reliable buffering scheme.
588 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
589 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header decla-
590 rations, which were defined at the same time the C language was first
591 standardized in the late 1980s.
593 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
594 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
595 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
596 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
597 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
598 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
600 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
601 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The ncurses ABI
602 6 enables this feature by default.
604 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
605 rather than a variable argument list.
607 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be con-
608 figured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
609 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
612 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
613 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
615 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
616 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
617 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
619 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
621 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
622 nine on each call is awkward.
624 Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
625 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That ap-
626 proach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
627 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
630 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
631 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string parame-
632 ters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string parame-
633 ters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
635 The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
636 an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
637 cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
638 places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
640 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a ta-
641 ble, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
644 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
645 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
647 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
650 SVr4 curses uses the special value "dumb".
652 The difference between the two is that the former uses the <STRONG>gn</STRONG>
653 (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) terminfo capability, while the latter does not. A
654 generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
656 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
657 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
661 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
662 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
663 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
665 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
666 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
668 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
669 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
670 and does no error-checking.
672 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
673 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and re-
674 fresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> and
675 System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data allo-
676 cated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a
677 terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not well
680 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This im-
681 plementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
682 that case, the old location is unknown.
685 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
686 <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>,
687 <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>
688 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">minfo(5)</A></STRONG>
692 ncurses 6.4 2023-08-05 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
696 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
697 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
698 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
700 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
701 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
702 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
703 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
704 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
705 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
706 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
709 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a>
711 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
714 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
715 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
717 <li><a href="#h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></li>
718 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</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-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
723 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
726 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>