+ Thus, a variable intended to hold the return value of a
+ function key must be of short size or larger.
+
+ When a character that could be the beginning of a function
+ key is received (which, on modern terminals, means an es-
+ cape character), <STRONG>curses</STRONG> sets a timer. If the remainder of
+ the sequence does not come in within the designated time,
+ the character is passed through; otherwise, the function
+ key value is returned. For this reason, many terminals
+ experience a delay between the time a user presses the es-
+ cape key and the escape is returned to the program.
+
+ In <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>, the timer normally expires after the value in
+ <STRONG>ESCDELAY</STRONG> (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>). If <STRONG>notimeout</STRONG> is <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG>,
+ the timer does not expire; it is an infinite (or very
+ large) value. Because function keys usually begin with an
+ escape character, the terminal may appear to hang in no-
+ timeout mode after pressing the escape key until another
+ key is pressed.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Ungetting-characters">Ungetting characters</a></H3><PRE>