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51 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x 2023-07-01 ncurses 6.4 Library calls</H1>
53 <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>
58 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
59 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
60 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
61 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interfaces to
65 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
66 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
67 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
69 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
71 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
72 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
73 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
79 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
81 <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>
82 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
83 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
84 <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>
86 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
88 <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>
90 <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>
91 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
93 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
95 <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>
96 <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>
98 <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>
100 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
101 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
102 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
104 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
107 <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>
108 <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>
111 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
112 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
113 directly with the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database to handle certain terminal capabil-
114 ities, such as programming function keys. For all other functionality,
115 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines are more suitable and their use is recommended.
117 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
118 strings such as UTF-8:
120 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
122 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
123 strings of 8-bit characters.
126 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
127 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
128 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
129 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
131 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
132 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
133 <STRONG>es.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the defini-
134 tions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
136 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
139 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
140 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
142 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
143 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
144 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
145 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
146 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
149 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
150 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
151 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
152 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
154 Programs which use cursor addressing should
156 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
158 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
160 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
162 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
165 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
168 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
169 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
170 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
172 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
173 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
176 is the file descriptor used for getting and setting terminal
179 Higher-level applications use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> for initializing the
180 terminal, passing an output <EM>stream</EM> rather than a <EM>descriptor</EM>.
181 In curses, the two are the same because <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> calls <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
182 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG>, passing the file descriptor derived from its output
186 points to an optional location where an error status can be re-
187 turned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
188 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
189 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with sta-
190 tus of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
192 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
194 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
197 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
198 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
200 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
201 a generic type, having too little information for curses
204 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
205 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) capability.
207 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database could not be found.
209 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon find-
210 ing an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
212 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
214 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
217 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
218 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
219 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
220 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
221 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
224 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
225 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given termi-
226 nal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different terminal
227 types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of terminal capa-
230 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
231 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
232 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
234 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
235 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, refer-
236 ences to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables
237 thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
238 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> has been called.
240 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
241 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for exam-
242 ple, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
243 assumes that the windows and the input and output options are the same
244 as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be
245 different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty state bits,
246 calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
249 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
250 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
251 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
252 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the inter-
255 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
256 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
258 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal capa-
259 bilities require no more than one or two parameters.
261 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
262 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
264 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
265 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
267 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
268 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
271 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
272 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
273 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data:
275 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
276 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the curses
277 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
278 which may be string parameters.
280 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
281 to 9) which will be passed as char* rather than numbers.
283 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a format-
284 ting capability to see what the curses library would assume.
287 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
288 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information (i.e., by interpreting
289 marker embedded in the terminfo capability such as "$<5>" as 5 mil-
290 liseconds) to the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it:
292 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
293 value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
295 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
296 which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM> inter-
299 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
301 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
304 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-
305 ways goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
307 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
308 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
309 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
312 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
313 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
315 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
316 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
317 attributes plus color, i.e.,
319 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
321 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
323 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
324 constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
326 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
327 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an ex-
328 tension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
329 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
331 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
332 immediately (rather than at the next refresh). Unlike the other low-
333 level output functions, which either write to the standard output or
334 pass an output function parameter, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> uses an output file descriptor
335 derived from the output stream parameter of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG>.
337 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
338 level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because SystemV did
339 this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
342 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
343 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
344 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
345 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
346 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
348 These routines return special values to denote errors.
350 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
352 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
354 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
356 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
358 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
360 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
362 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
364 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
365 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
367 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
370 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
371 These null-terminated arrays contain
373 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short terminfo names ("codes"),
375 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> names ("names"), and
377 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long terminfo names ("fnames")
379 for each of the predefined <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables:
381 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
382 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
383 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
386 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
387 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
388 description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this memo-
389 ry. If an application calls
391 <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
393 the memory will be freed.
395 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
396 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
398 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
399 were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
400 per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
402 <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
403 terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
404 binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
406 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
407 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
408 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
411 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
412 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
413 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful com-
414 pletion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine descriptions.
416 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
418 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
420 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
421 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
423 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
425 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
426 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
429 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
430 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
431 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error con-
432 ditions are documented above.
434 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
435 returns a null if the capability would require unexpected pa-
436 rameters, e.g., too many, too few, or incorrect types (strings
437 where integers are expected, or vice versa).
439 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
440 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
441 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
442 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
445 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
446 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with sys-
447 tems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
448 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
450 In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
451 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
452 page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
453 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call:
455 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
457 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not recommend-
458 ed for new programs. This implementation provides each of those sym-
459 bols as macros for BSD compatibility,
462 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
463 SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
464 these low-level functions:
466 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
467 ------------------------------------------------------------
468 fixterm restore tty to "in curses" state
469 gettmode establish current tty modes
470 mvcur low level cursor motion
471 putp utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send char-
472 acters via <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
473 resetterm set tty modes to "out of curses" state
474 resetty reset tty flags to stored value
475 saveterm save current modes as "in curses" state
476 savetty store current tty flags
477 setterm establish terminal with given type
478 setupterm establish terminal with given type
479 tparm instantiate a string expression with parameters
480 tputs apply padding information to a string
481 vidattr like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
482 vidputs output a string to put terminal in a specified
485 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for termcap
486 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date"):
488 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
489 ------------------------------------------------
490 tgetent look up termcap entry for given <EM>name</EM>
491 tgetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
492 tgetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
493 tgetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
494 tgoto apply parameters to given capability
495 tputs apply padding to capability, calling
496 a function to put characters
498 Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
499 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
501 SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability val-
502 ues (like the termcap interface), and reusing tgoto and tputs:
504 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
505 -------------------------------------------
506 tigetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
507 tigetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
508 tigetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
510 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 terminfo functions which had no
511 counterpart in the termcap interface, documenting them as obsolete:
513 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
514 -----------------------------
516 fixterm reset_prog_mode
519 resetterm reset_shell_mode
520 saveterm def_prog_mode
523 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
524 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and han-
525 dling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two parame-
526 ters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
528 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal descrip-
529 tions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental improvements to
532 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
533 <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
535 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
536 the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
539 SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
541 There are other low-level functions declared in the curses header files
542 on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked "obso-
543 lete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
546 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
548 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></H3><PRE>
549 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>, and
550 are not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous ver-
554 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
555 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
557 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
558 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
561 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
562 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
563 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
565 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
566 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
568 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
569 stored in the arrays described here.
572 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
573 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
574 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
575 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the ter-
576 minal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V curses),
577 it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable way to
578 cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
580 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
581 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
582 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-lev-
583 el functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions using
584 the more reliable buffering scheme.
587 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
588 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header decla-
589 rations, which were defined at the same time the C language was first
590 standardized in the late 1980s.
592 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
593 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
594 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
595 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
596 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
597 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
599 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
600 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The ncurses ABI
601 6 enables this feature by default.
603 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
604 rather than a variable argument list.
606 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be con-
607 figured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
608 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
611 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
612 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
614 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
615 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
616 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
618 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
620 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
621 nine on each call is awkward.
623 Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
624 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That ap-
625 proach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
626 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
629 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
630 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string parame-
631 ters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string parame-
632 ters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
634 The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
635 an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
636 cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
637 places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
639 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a ta-
640 ble, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
643 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
644 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
646 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
649 SVr4 curses uses the special value "dumb".
651 The difference between the two is that the former uses the <STRONG>gn</STRONG>
652 (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) terminfo capability, while the latter does not. A
653 generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
655 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
656 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
660 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
661 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
662 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
664 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
665 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
667 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
668 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
669 and does no error-checking.
671 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
672 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and re-
673 fresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> and
674 System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data allo-
675 cated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a
676 terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not well
679 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This im-
680 plementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
681 that case, the old location is unknown.
684 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
685 <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>,
686 <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>
687 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">minfo(5)</A></STRONG>
691 ncurses 6.4 2023-07-01 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
695 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
696 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
697 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
699 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
700 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
701 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
702 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
703 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
704 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
705 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
708 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a>
710 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
713 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
714 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
716 <li><a href="#h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></li>
717 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></li>
718 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
719 <li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
720 <li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
721 <li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
722 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
725 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>