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43 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x 2024-05-25 ncurses 6.5 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>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>,
52 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>,
53 <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> interfaces to <EM>terminfo</EM> database
56 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
57 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
58 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
60 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
62 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
63 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
64 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
65 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
66 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
67 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
68 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
69 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
70 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
72 <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>
73 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
75 <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>
77 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> ...<STRONG>);</STRONG>
78 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>or</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
79 <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>
81 <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>
82 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
84 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
85 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
86 <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>
87 <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>
89 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>cap-code</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
90 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>cap-code</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
91 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>cap-code</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
93 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> ...<STRONG>);</STRONG>
95 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>extensions</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
96 <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>
97 <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>
99 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>deprecated</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
100 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
103 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
104 These low-level functions must be called by programs that deal directly
105 with the <EM>terminfo</EM> database to handle certain terminal capabilities,
106 such as programming function keys. For all other functionality, <EM>curses</EM>
107 functions 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 and codes 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 <EM>curses</EM> 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="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>.
123 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
124 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files
125 <EM>curses.h</EM> and <EM>term.h</EM> should be included (in that order) to get the
126 definitions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
128 The <EM>terminfo</EM> 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 <EM>terminfo</EM> are used.
134 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <EM>LINES</EM> and <EM>COLUMNS</EM> 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 <EM>terminfo</EM> database are
141 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
142 them. All <EM>terminfo</EM> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
143 sent to the terminal device with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG>
144 to restore the terminal modes before exiting; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>.
146 Programs that 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 that 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 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> reads in the <EM>terminfo</EM> database, initializing the <EM>terminfo</EM>
161 structures, but does not set up the output virtualization structures
162 used by <EM>curses</EM>. Its parameters follow.
164 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
165 environment variable <EM>TERM</EM> is read.
168 is the file descriptor used for getting and setting terminal
171 Higher-level applications use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> to initialize the
172 terminal, passing an output <EM>stream</EM> rather than a <EM>descriptor</EM>.
173 In <EM>curses</EM>, the two are the same because <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> calls
174 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, passing the file descriptor derived from its output
178 points to an optional location where an error status can be
179 returned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
180 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
181 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with
182 status of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
184 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret:</EM>
186 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, and cannot be used
187 for <EM>curses</EM> applications.
189 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
190 checking the <STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG> (<STRONG>hc</STRONG>) capability.
192 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
193 a generic type, having too little information for <EM>curses</EM>
196 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
197 checking the <STRONG>generic_type</STRONG> (<STRONG>gn</STRONG>) capability.
199 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <EM>terminfo</EM> database could not be found.
201 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> reports an error message upon
202 finding an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
204 setupterm((char *)0, 1, (int *)0);
206 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
209 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
210 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> stores its information about the terminal in a <EM>TERMINAL</EM>
211 structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it detects an
212 error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy or
213 generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
216 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
217 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given
218 terminal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different
219 terminal types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of
220 terminal capabilities.
222 <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the <EM>terminfo</EM>
223 Boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from <EM>nterm</EM>. It
224 returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
226 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes it available
227 for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, references to any
228 of the <EM>terminfo</EM> Boolean, numeric, and string variables thereafter may
229 refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> has been
232 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except that it is
233 called after restoring memory to a previous state (for example, when
234 reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> assumes that
235 the windows and the input and output options are the same as when
236 memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be different.
237 Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various terminal state bits, calls
238 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
241 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
242 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A pointer is
243 returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied. Application
244 developers should keep in mind these quirks of the interface:
246 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
247 prototype expects <EM>long</EM> (integer) values.
249 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal
250 capabilities require no more than one or two parameters.
252 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
253 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
255 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
256 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
258 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM>stdarg.h</EM> rather than a
259 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are <EM>int</EM>s rather than
262 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
263 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
264 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data.
266 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
267 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the <EM>curses</EM>
268 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
269 which may be string parameters.
271 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
272 to 9) passed as <EM>char</EM> pointers rather than numbers.
274 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a
275 formatting capability to see what the <EM>curses</EM> library would assume.
278 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
279 String capabilities can contain padding information, a time delay
280 (accommodating performance limitations of hardware terminals) expressed
281 as <STRONG>$<</STRONG><EM>n</EM><STRONG>></STRONG>, where <EM>n</EM> is a nonnegative integral count of milliseconds. If <EM>n</EM>
282 exceeds 30,000 (thirty seconds), it is capped at that value.
284 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> interprets time-delay information in the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs
285 it, executing the delays:
287 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a <EM>terminfo</EM> string variable or the return
288 value of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
290 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or <STRONG>1</STRONG> if not applicable.
292 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <EM>putchar</EM>-like function to which the characters are passed,
295 If <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> processes a time-delay, it uses the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">delay_output(3x)</A></STRONG>
296 function, routing any resulting padding characters through this
299 <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
300 <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
302 <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> displays the string on the terminal in the video attribute mode
303 <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>.
304 The characters are passed to the <EM>putchar</EM>-like function <EM>putc</EM>.
306 <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> is like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, except that it outputs through <STRONG>putchar(3)</STRONG>.
308 <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> correspond to <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, respectively.
309 They use multiple parameters to represent the character attributes and
312 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM>, of type <EM>attr</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM>, for the attributes and
314 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM>, of type <EM>short</EM>, for the color pair number.
316 Use the attribute constants prefixed with "<STRONG>WA_</STRONG>" with <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and
317 <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>.
319 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
320 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument; but see
321 section "EXTENSIONS" below.
323 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> is a low-level function that does not use high-level <EM>curses</EM>
324 state, <EM>ncurses</EM> declares it in <EM>curses.h</EM> because System V did this (see
325 section "HISTORY" below).
328 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
329 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> return the value of the capability
330 corresponding to the <EM>terminfo</EM> <EM>cap-code</EM>, such as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>, passed to them.
331 The <EM>cap-code</EM> for each capability is given in the table column entitled
332 <EM>cap-code</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
334 These functions return special values to denote errors.
336 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> returns
338 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>cap-code</EM> is not a Boolean capability, or
340 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
342 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> returns
344 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>cap-code</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
346 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
348 <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> returns
350 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
351 if <EM>cap-code</EM> is not a string capability, or
353 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
356 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
357 These null-terminated arrays contain
359 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("codes"),
361 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <EM>termcap</EM> names ("names"), and
363 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("fnames")
365 for each of the predefined <EM>terminfo</EM> variables:
367 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
368 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
369 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
372 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
373 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
374 description. As a side effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this
375 memory. If an application calls
377 del_curterm(cur_term);
379 the memory will be freed.
381 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
382 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> as follows.
384 <STRONG>o</STRONG> They add the "static" <EM>terminfo</EM> variables [a-z]. Before <EM>ncurses</EM>
385 6.3, those were shared by all screens. With <EM>ncurses</EM> 6.3, those are
386 allocated per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
388 <STRONG>o</STRONG> To improve performance, <EM>ncurses</EM> 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
389 <EM>terminfo</EM> strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
390 binary tree referenced from the <EM>TERMINAL</EM> structure.
392 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
393 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
394 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
397 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
398 X/Open Curses defines no failure conditions. In <EM>ncurses</EM>,
400 <STRONG>del_curtem</STRONG>
401 fails if its terminal parameter is null.
403 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error codes.
405 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
406 fails if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>.
408 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
409 fails if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create the initial
410 windows (<STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, <STRONG>curscr</STRONG>, and <STRONG>newscr</STRONG>) Other error conditions are
413 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
414 returns a null pointer if the capability would require unexpected
415 parameters; that is, too many, too few, or incorrect types
416 (strings where integers are expected, or vice versa).
418 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
419 fails if the string parameter is null. It does not detect I/O
420 errors: X/Open Curses states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return value
421 of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
424 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
425 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> function in <EM>ncurses</EM> is a special case. It was originally
426 implemented based on a draft of X/Open Curses, as a macro, before other
427 parts of the <EM>ncurses</EM> wide-character API were developed, and unlike the
428 other wide-character functions, is also provided in the non-wide-
429 character configuration.
432 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
433 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <EM>ncurses</EM>, and are
434 not found in SVr4 <EM>curses</EM>, 4.4BSD <EM>curses</EM>, or any other previous <EM>curses</EM>
437 <EM>ncurses</EM> allows <EM>opts</EM> to be a pointer to <EM>int</EM>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM>
438 (<EM>short</EM>) argument.
441 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
442 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered non-portable.
443 All other functions are as described by X/Open.
446 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-Macros">Compatibility Macros</a></H3><PRE>
447 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with
448 systems before SVr4 (see section "HISTORY" below). They include
449 <STRONG>Bcrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bfixterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bgettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bnocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bresetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>Bsaveterm</STRONG>, and
450 <STRONG>Bsetterm</STRONG>.
452 In SVr4, these are found in <EM>curses.h</EM>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
453 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
454 page. It further notes that <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> was replaced by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating
456 setupterm(<EM>term</EM>, 1, (int *)0)
457 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, discouraging the
458 latter for new programs. <EM>ncurses</EM> implements each of these symbols as
459 macros for BSD <EM>curses</EM> compatibility.
462 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-Data">Legacy Data</a></H3><PRE>
463 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
464 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
466 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
467 provide them without declaring them. X/Open Curses does not specify
470 Extended terminal capability names, as defined by "<STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>", are not
471 stored in the arrays described here.
474 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Buffering">Output Buffering</a></H3><PRE>
475 Older versions of <EM>ncurses</EM> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
476 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
477 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the
478 terminal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V
479 <EM>curses</EM>), it was problematic because <EM>ncurses</EM> did not allow a reliable
480 way to clean up on receiving <STRONG>SIGTSTP</STRONG>.
482 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
483 <EM>ncurses</EM>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
484 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-
485 level functions in <EM>ncurses</EM> employ alternate versions of these functions
486 using the more reliable buffering scheme.
489 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-Prototypes">Function Prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
490 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 <EM>curses</EM> header
491 declarations, which were defined at the same time the C language was
492 first standardized in the late 1980s.
494 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <EM>const</EM> less effectively than a later design
495 might, sometimes applying it needlessly to values that are already
496 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters that normally
497 would use <EM>const</EM>. Passing <EM>const</EM>-qualified parameters to functions
498 that do not declare them <EM>const</EM> may prevent the program from
499 compiling. On the other hand, "writable strings" are an
502 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
503 the function prototypes to use the <EM>const</EM> keyword. The <EM>ncurses</EM> ABI
504 6 enables this feature by default.
506 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
507 rather than a variable argument list.
509 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be
510 configured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
511 should provide nine parameters after the format; zeroes are fine
514 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
515 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
517 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in <EM>ncurses</EM>, the older form is only
518 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
519 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
521 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
523 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
524 nine on each call is awkward.
526 Using <EM>long</EM> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
527 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That
528 approach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
529 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
530 fit in a <EM>long</EM>).
532 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
533 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string
534 parameters. However, only a few <EM>terminfo</EM> capabilities use string
535 parameters (for instance, the ones used for programmable function
538 The <EM>ncurses</EM> library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
539 <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it cannot
540 check if a calling program provides strings in the right places for
541 the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
543 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a
544 table, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
546 <STRONG>Special</STRONG> <EM>TERM</EM> <STRONG>treatment</STRONG>
547 If configured to use the terminal driver, as with the MinGW port,
549 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty <EM>TERM</EM> variable as the special
552 SVr4 <EM>curses</EM> uses the special value "dumb".
554 The difference between the two is that the former uses the
555 <STRONG>generic_type</STRONG> (<STRONG>gn</STRONG>) <EM>terminfo</EM> capability, while the latter does not.
556 A generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
558 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
559 checking if <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG> is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
563 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-Portability-Issues">Other Portability Issues</a></H3><PRE>
564 In SVr4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> returns an <EM>int</EM>, <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to
565 implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
567 In SVr4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type "<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>".
569 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
570 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. It instead returns the length of the
571 string, and does no error checking.
574 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
575 SVr2 (1984) introduced the <EM>terminfo</EM> feature. Its programming manual
576 mentioned the following low-level functions.
578 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
579 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
580 <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG> restore terminal to "in <EM>curses</EM>" state
581 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG> establish current terminal modes
582 <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> low level cursor motion
583 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> use <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send characters via <EM>putchar</EM>
584 <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG> set terminal modes to "out of <EM>curses</EM>" state
585 <STRONG>resetty</STRONG> reset terminal flags to stored value
586 <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG> save current modes as "in <EM>curses</EM>" state
587 <STRONG>savetty</STRONG> store current terminal flags
588 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
589 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
590 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> interpolate parameters into string capability
591 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding information to a string
592 <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but output through <EM>putchar</EM>
593 <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> write string to terminal, applying specified attributes
595 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for <EM>termcap</EM>
596 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date").
598 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
599 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
600 <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> look up <EM>termcap</EM> entry for given <EM>name</EM>
601 <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> get Boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
602 <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
603 <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
604 <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> apply parameters to given capability
605 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> write characters via a function parameter, applying padding
607 Early <EM>terminfo</EM> programs obtained capability values from the <EM>TERMINAL</EM>
608 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
610 SVr3 (1987) extended <EM>terminfo</EM> by adding functions to retrieve
611 capability values (like the <EM>termcap</EM> interface), and reusing <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> and
612 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
614 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
615 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
616 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> get Boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
617 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
618 <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
620 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 <EM>terminfo</EM> functions that had no
621 counterpart in the <EM>termcap</EM> interface, documenting them as obsolete.
623 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
624 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
626 fixterm reset_prog_mode
627 gettmode <EM>n/a</EM>
629 resetterm reset_shell_mode
630 saveterm def_prog_mode
633 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
634 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and to
635 handle capabilities accessed by functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used
636 more than the two parameters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
638 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal
639 descriptions; for example, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some changes reflected
640 incremental improvements to the SVr2 library.
642 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>TERMINAL</EM> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
643 <EM>term</EM> structure provided in SVr2.
645 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in the
646 programming manual at this point, though the variables had been
649 SVr4 (1989) added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
651 Other low-level functions are declared in the <EM>curses</EM> header files of
652 Unix systems, but none are documented. Those noted as "obsolete" by
653 SVr3 remained in use by System V's <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
656 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
657 <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>,
658 <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>,
659 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
663 ncurses 6.5 2024-05-25 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
667 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
668 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
669 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
671 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
672 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
673 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
674 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
675 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
676 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
677 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
680 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
681 <li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
682 <li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
683 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
685 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-Macros">Compatibility Macros</a></li>
686 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-Data">Legacy Data</a></li>
687 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Buffering">Output Buffering</a></li>
688 <li><a href="#h3-Function-Prototypes">Function Prototypes</a></li>
689 <li><a href="#h3-Other-Portability-Issues">Other Portability Issues</a></li>
692 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
693 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
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