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30 * @Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.16 2002/02/16 19:26:41 tom Exp @
34 <TITLE>curs_termcap 3x</TITLE>
35 <link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
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39 <H1>curs_termcap 3x</H1>
42 <!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
46 <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>, <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> - direct
47 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interface to the terminfo capability database
51 <H2>SYNOPSIS</H2><PRE>
52 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
53 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
54 <STRONG>extern</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>PC;</STRONG> <STRONG>extern</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>UP;</STRONG> <STRONG>extern</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>BC;</STRONG> <STRONG>extern</STRONG>
55 <STRONG>short</STRONG> <STRONG>ospeed;</STRONG>
56 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tgetent(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*bp,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*name);</STRONG>
57 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tgetflag(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*id);</STRONG>
58 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tgetnum(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*id);</STRONG>
59 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tgetstr(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*id,</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>**area);</STRONG>
60 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tgoto(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*cap,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>col,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>row);</STRONG>
61 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tputs(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*str,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>affcnt,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*putc)(int));</STRONG>
65 <H2>DESCRIPTION</H2><PRE>
66 These routines are included as a conversion aid for pro-
67 grams that use the <EM>termcap</EM> library. Their parameters are
68 the same and the routines are emulated using the <EM>terminfo</EM>
69 database. Thus, they can only be used to query the capa-
70 bilities of entries for which a terminfo entry has been
73 The <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> routine loads the entry for <EM>name</EM>. It returns
74 1 on success, 0 if there is no such entry, and -1 if the
75 terminfo database could not be found. The emulation
76 ignores the buffer pointer <EM>bp</EM>.
78 The <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> routine gets the boolean entry for <EM>id</EM>, or
79 zero if it is not available.
81 The <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> routine gets the numeric entry for <EM>id</EM>, or -1
82 if it is not available.
84 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> routine returns the string entry for <EM>id</EM>, or
85 zero if it is not available. Use <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to output the
86 returned string. The return value will also be copied to
87 the buffer pointed to by <EM>area</EM>, and the <EM>area</EM> value will be
88 updated to point past the null ending this value.
90 Only the first two characters of the <STRONG>id</STRONG> parameter of <STRONG>tget-</STRONG>
91 <STRONG>flag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> are compared in lookups.
93 The <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> routine instantiates the parameters into the
94 given capability. The output from this routine is to be
95 passed to <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
97 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine is described on the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
98 manual page. It can retrieve capabilities by either term-
101 The variables <STRONG>PC</STRONG>, <STRONG>UP</STRONG> and <STRONG>BC</STRONG> are set by <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> to the ter-
102 minfo entry's data for <STRONG>pad_char</STRONG>, <STRONG>cursor_up</STRONG> and
103 <STRONG>backspace_if_not_bs</STRONG>, respectively. <STRONG>UP</STRONG> is not used by
104 ncurses. <STRONG>PC</STRONG> is used in the <STRONG>tdelay_output</STRONG> function. <STRONG>BC</STRONG> is
105 used in the <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> emulation. The variable <STRONG>ospeed</STRONG> is set
106 by ncurses in a system-specific coding to reflect the ter-
112 <H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
113 Except where explicitly noted, routines that return an
114 integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 only speci-
115 fies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful
118 Routines that return pointers return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
123 If you call <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> to fetch <STRONG>ca</STRONG> or any other parameterized
124 string, be aware that it will be returned in terminfo
125 notation, not the older and not-quite-compatible termcap
126 notation. This won't cause problems if all you do with it
127 is call <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> or <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, which both expand terminfo-style
128 strings as terminfo. (The <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> function, if configured
129 to support termcap, will check if the string is indeed
130 terminfo-style by looking for "%p" parameters or "$<..>"
131 delays, and invoke a termcap-style parser if the string
132 does not appear to be terminfo).
134 Because terminfo conventions for representing padding in
135 string capabilities differ from termcap's, <STRONG>tputs("50");</STRONG>
136 will put out a literal "50" rather than busy-waiting for
137 50 milliseconds. Cope with it.
141 <H2>PORTABILITY</H2><PRE>
142 The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 describes these func-
143 tions. However, they are marked TO BE WITHDRAWN and may
144 be removed in future versions.
146 Neither the XSI Curses standard nor the SVr4 man pages
147 documented the return values of <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> correctly, though
148 all three were in fact returned ever since SVr1. In par-
149 ticular, an omission in the XSI Curses documentation has
150 been misinterpreted to mean that <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or
151 <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. Because the purpose of these functions is to provide
152 compatibility with the <EM>termcap</EM> library, that is a defect
153 in XCurses, Issue 4, Version 2 rather than in ncurses.
155 External variables are provided for support of certain
156 termcap applications. However, termcap applications' use
157 of those variables is poorly documented, e.g., not distin-
158 guishing between input and output. In particular, some
159 applications are reported to declare and/or modify <STRONG>ospeed</STRONG>.
163 <H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
164 <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="putc.3S.html">putc(3S)</A></STRONG>.
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