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  41 <H1 class="no-header">curs_initscr 3x</H1>
  42 <PRE>
  43 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>                                              <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>
  44
  45
  46
  47
  48 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
  49        <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>endwin</STRONG>, <STRONG>isendwin</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_term</STRONG>, <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> screen
  50        initialization and manipulation routines
  51
  52
  53 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
  54        <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG>&lt;curses.h&gt;</STRONG>
  55
  56        <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*initscr(void);</STRONG>
  57        <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>endwin(void);</STRONG>
  58        <STRONG>bool</STRONG> <STRONG>isendwin(void);</STRONG>
  59        <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*newterm(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>type</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>FILE</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>outfd</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>FILE</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>infd</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
  60        <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_term(SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>new</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
  61        <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>delscreen(SCREEN*</STRONG> <EM>sp</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
  62
  63
  64 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
  65
  66 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-initscr">initscr</a></H3><PRE>
  67        <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> is normally the first <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routine to call when  initializing
  68        a  program.   A few special routines sometimes need to be called before
  69        it; these are <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">slk_init(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>filter</STRONG>, <STRONG>ripoffline</STRONG>, <STRONG>use_env</STRONG>.  For multiple-
  70        terminal applications, <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> may be called before <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>.
  71
  72        The initscr code determines the terminal type and initializes all <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
  73        <STRONG>es</STRONG> data structures.  <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> also causes the first call to  <STRONG><A HREF="curscurs_refresh.3x.html">refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>
  74        to  clear  the  screen.  If errors occur, <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> writes an appropriate
  75        error message to standard error and exits; otherwise, a pointer is  re-
  76        turned to <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.
  77
  78
  79 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-newterm">newterm</a></H3><PRE>
  80        A program that outputs to more than one terminal should use the <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>
  81        routine for each terminal instead of <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>.  A program that needs  to
  82        inspect capabilities, so it can continue to run in a line-oriented mode
  83        if the terminal cannot support a screen-oriented  program,  would  also
  84        use <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>.  The routine <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> should be called once for each termi-
  85        nal.  It returns a variable of type <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> which should be saved as a
  86        reference to that terminal.  <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>'s arguments are
  87
  88        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   the <EM>type</EM> of the terminal to be used in place of <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG>,
  89
  90        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   a file pointer for output to the terminal, and
  91
  92        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   another file pointer for input from the terminal
  93
  94        If the <EM>type</EM> parameter is <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>, <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG> will be used.
  95
  96
  97 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-endwin">endwin</a></H3><PRE>
  98        The  program  must also call <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> for each terminal being used before
  99        exiting from <STRONG>curses</STRONG>.  If <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> is called more than once for the  same
 100        terminal, the first terminal referred to must be the last one for which
 101        <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> is called.
 102
 103        A program should always call <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> before  exiting  or  escaping  from
 104        <STRONG>curses</STRONG> mode temporarily.  This routine
 105
 106        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   resets colors to correspond with the default color pair 0,
 107
 108        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   moves the cursor to the lower left-hand corner of the screen,
 109
 110        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   clears  the  remainder of the line so that it uses the default col-
 111            ors,
 112
 113        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   sets the cursor to normal visibility (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_set(3x)</A></STRONG>),
 114
 115        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   stops cursor-addressing mode using the <EM>exit</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>ca</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>mode</EM> terminal  capa-
 116            bility,
 117
 118        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   restores tty modes (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">reset_shell_mode(3x)</A></STRONG>).
 119
 120        Calling <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">refresh(3x)</A></STRONG> or <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">doupdate(3x)</A></STRONG> after a temporary escape causes the
 121        program to resume visual mode.
 122
 123
 124 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-isendwin">isendwin</a></H3><PRE>
 125        The <STRONG>isendwin</STRONG> routine returns <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> if <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> has been called without any
 126        subsequent calls to <STRONG>wrefresh</STRONG>, and <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG> otherwise.
 127
 128
 129 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-set_term">set_term</a></H3><PRE>
 130        The  <STRONG>set_term</STRONG>  routine  is  used to switch between different terminals.
 131        The screen reference <STRONG>new</STRONG> becomes the new current terminal.  The  previ-
 132        ous  terminal  is  returned  by  the routine.  This is the only routine
 133        which manipulates <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> pointers; all other routines affect  only  the
 134        current terminal.
 135
 136
 137 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-delscreen">delscreen</a></H3><PRE>
 138        The  <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG>  routine  frees  storage associated with the <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> data
 139        structure.  The <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> routine does not do this, so <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG> should be
 140        called after <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> if a particular <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> is no longer needed.
 141
 142
 143 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
 144        <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> returns the integer <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> upon successful com-
 145        pletion.
 146
 147        Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
 148
 149        X/Open defines no error conditions.  In this implementation
 150
 151        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> returns an error if the terminal was not initialized.
 152
 153        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> returns an error if it cannot allocate the data  structures
 154            for  the  screen,  or  for the top-level windows within the screen,
 155            i.e., <STRONG>curscr</STRONG>, <STRONG>newscr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.
 156
 157        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>set_term</STRONG> returns no error.
 158
 159
 160 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
 161        These functions were described in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4.  As
 162        of 2015, the current document is X/Open Curses, Issue 7.
 163
 164
 165 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Differences">Differences</a></H3><PRE>
 166        X/Open  specifies that portable applications must not call <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> more
 167        than once:
 168
 169        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   The portable way to use <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> is once only,  using  <STRONG>refresh</STRONG>  (see
 170            <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">curs_refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>) to restore the screen after <STRONG>endwin</STRONG>.
 171
 172        <STRONG>o</STRONG>   This implementation allows using <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> after <STRONG>endwin</STRONG>.
 173
 174        Old versions of curses, e.g., BSD 4.4, may have returned a null pointer
 175        from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> when an error is detected, rather  than  exiting.   It  is
 176        safe but redundant to check the return value of <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> in XSI Curses.
 177
 178
 179 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Unset-TERM-Variable">Unset TERM Variable</a></H3><PRE>
 180        If  the  TERM variable is missing or empty, <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> uses the value "un-
 181        known", which normally corresponds to a terminal entry with the <EM>generic</EM>
 182        (<EM>gn</EM>)  capability.   Generic  entries  are  detected  by  <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> (see
 183        <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>) and cannot be used for full-screen operation.  Other
 184        implementations may handle a missing/empty TERM variable differently.
 185
 186
 187 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Signal-Handlers">Signal Handlers</a></H3><PRE>
 188        Quoting from X/Open Curses, section 3.1.1:
 189
 190             <EM>Curses</EM>  <EM>implementations</EM>  <EM>may</EM>  <EM>provide</EM>  <EM>for</EM> <EM>special</EM> <EM>handling</EM> <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM>
 191             <STRONG>SIGINT</STRONG><EM>,</EM> <STRONG>SIGQUIT</STRONG>  <EM>and</EM>  <STRONG>SIGTSTP</STRONG>  <EM>signals</EM>  <EM>if</EM>  <EM>their</EM>  <EM>disposition</EM>  <EM>is</EM>
 192             <STRONG>SIG_DFL</STRONG> <EM>at</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>time</EM> <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> <EM>is</EM> <EM>called</EM> <STRONG>...</STRONG>
 193
 194             <EM>Any</EM>  <EM>special</EM>  <EM>handling</EM>  <EM>for</EM> <EM>these</EM> <EM>signals</EM> <EM>may</EM> <EM>remain</EM> <EM>in</EM> <EM>effect</EM> <EM>for</EM>
 195             <EM>the</EM> <EM>life</EM> <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>process</EM> <EM>or</EM> <EM>until</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>process</EM> <EM>changes</EM> <EM>the</EM>  <EM>disposi-</EM>
 196             <EM>tion</EM> <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>signal.</EM>
 197
 198             <EM>None</EM>  <EM>of</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>Curses</EM> <EM>functions</EM> <EM>are</EM> <EM>required</EM> <EM>to</EM> <EM>be</EM> <EM>safe</EM> <EM>with</EM> <EM>respect</EM>
 199             <EM>to</EM> <EM>signals</EM> ...
 200
 201        This implementation establishes signal handlers during  initialization,
 202        e.g., <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>.  Applications which must handle these signals
 203        should set up the corresponding handlers  <EM>after</EM>  initializing  the  li-
 204        brary:
 205
 206        <STRONG>SIGINT</STRONG>
 207             The  handler  <EM>attempts</EM> to cleanup the screen on exit.  Although it
 208             <EM>usually</EM> works as expected, there are limitations:
 209
 210             <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Walking the <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> list is unsafe, since all  list  management
 211                 is done without any signal blocking.
 212
 213             <STRONG>o</STRONG>   On systems which have <STRONG>REENTRANT</STRONG> turned on, <STRONG>set_term</STRONG> uses func-
 214                 tions which could deadlock or misbehave in other ways.
 215
 216             <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> calls other functions, many of which use stdio or other
 217                 library functions which are clearly unsafe.
 218
 219        <STRONG>SIGTERM</STRONG>
 220             This  uses  the same handler as <STRONG>SIGINT</STRONG>, with the same limitations.
 221             It is not mentioned in X/Open Curses, but  is  more  suitable  for
 222             this purpose than <STRONG>SIGQUIT</STRONG> (which is used in debugging).
 223
 224        <STRONG>SIGTSTP</STRONG>
 225             This  handles the <EM>stop</EM> signal, used in job control.  When resuming
 226             the process,  this  implementation  discards  pending  input  with
 227             <STRONG>flushinput</STRONG>  (see  <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>), and repaints the screen assuming
 228             that it has been completely altered.  It also  updates  the  saved
 229             terminal modes with <STRONG>def_shell_mode</STRONG> (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>).
 230
 231        <STRONG>SIGWINCH</STRONG>
 232             This  handles  the  window-size  changes which were ignored in the
 233             standardization efforts.  The handler sets a  (signal-safe)  vari-
 234             able  which  is  later  tested in <STRONG>wgetch</STRONG> (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch(3x)</A></STRONG>).  If
 235             <STRONG>keypad</STRONG> has been enabled for the corresponding window,  <STRONG>wgetch</STRONG>  re-
 236             turns  the  key symbol <STRONG>KEY_RESIZE</STRONG>.  At the same time, <STRONG>wgetch</STRONG> calls
 237             <STRONG>resizeterm</STRONG> to adjust the standard screen <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, and update  other
 238             data such as <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLS</STRONG>.
 239
 240
 241 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
 242        <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>,  <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">curs_refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>curs_ter-</STRONG>
 243        <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">minfo(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>.
 244
 245
 246
 247                                                               <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>
 248 </PRE>
 249 <div class="nav">
 250 <ul>
 251 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
 252 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
 253 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
 254 <ul>
 255 <li><a href="#h3-initscr">initscr</a></li>
 256 <li><a href="#h3-newterm">newterm</a></li>
 257 <li><a href="#h3-endwin">endwin</a></li>
 258 <li><a href="#h3-isendwin">isendwin</a></li>
 259 <li><a href="#h3-set_term">set_term</a></li>
 260 <li><a href="#h3-delscreen">delscreen</a></li>
 261 </ul>
 262 </li>
 263 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
 264 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
 265 <ul>
 266 <li><a href="#h3-Differences">Differences</a></li>
 267 <li><a href="#h3-Unset-TERM-Variable">Unset TERM Variable</a></li>
 268 <li><a href="#h3-Signal-Handlers">Signal Handlers</a></li>
 269 </ul>
 270 </li>
 271 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
 272 </ul>
 273 </div>
 274 </BODY>
 275 </HTML>