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46 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x</H1>
48 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
53 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
54 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
55 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>,
56 <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interfaces to terminfo database
59 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
60 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
61 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
63 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
65 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
66 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
67 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
68 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
69 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
70 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
71 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
72 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
73 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
75 <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>
76 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
79 <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>
81 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
82 <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>
83 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
85 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
86 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
87 <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>
88 <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>
90 <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>
92 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
93 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
99 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
100 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
101 directly with the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database to handle certain terminal capabil-
102 ities, such as programming function keys. For all other functionality,
103 <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines are more suitable and their use is recommended.
106 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
107 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
108 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
109 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
111 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
112 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
113 <STRONG>es.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the defini-
114 tions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
116 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
119 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
120 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
122 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
123 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
124 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
125 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
126 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
129 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
130 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings [including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>] should be
131 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
132 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
134 Programs which use cursor addressing should
136 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
138 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
140 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
142 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
145 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
148 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
149 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
150 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
152 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
153 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
156 is the file descriptor used for all output.
159 points to an optional location where an error status can be re-
160 turned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
161 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
162 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with sta-
163 tus of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
165 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
167 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
170 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
171 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
173 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
174 a generic type, having too little information for curses
177 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
178 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic</STRONG>) capability.
180 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database could not be found.
182 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon find-
183 ing an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
185 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
187 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
189 The <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. The call:
191 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
193 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>. The <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine
194 is provided for BSD compatibility, and is not recommended for new pro-
198 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
199 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
200 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
201 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
202 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
205 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
206 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given termi-
207 nal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different terminal
208 types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of terminal capa-
211 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
212 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
213 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
215 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
216 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, refer-
217 ences to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables
218 thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
219 <STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> has been called.
221 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
222 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for exam-
223 ple, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
224 assumes that the windows and the input and output options are the same
225 as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be
226 different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty state bits,
227 calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
230 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
231 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
232 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
233 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the inter-
236 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
237 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
239 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal capa-
240 bilities require no more than one or two parameters.
242 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
243 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
247 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
248 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information to the string <EM>str</EM> and
251 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> must be a terminfo string variable or the return value from
252 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
254 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
256 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
259 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-
260 ways goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
262 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
263 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
264 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
267 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
268 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
270 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
271 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
272 attributes plus color, i.e.,
274 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
276 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
278 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
279 constants with the <EM>WA</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> prefix.
281 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
282 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an ex-
283 tension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
284 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
286 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
287 immediately (rather than at the next refresh).
290 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
291 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
292 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
293 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
294 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
296 These routines return special values to denote errors.
298 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
300 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
302 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
304 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
306 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
308 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
310 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
312 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
313 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
315 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
318 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
319 These null-terminated arrays contain
321 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short terminfo names ("codes"),
323 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> names ("names", and
325 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long terminfo names ("fnames")
327 for each of the predefined <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables:
329 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
330 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
331 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
334 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
335 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
336 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful com-
337 pletion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine descriptions.
339 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
341 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
343 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
344 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
346 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
348 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
349 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
352 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
353 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
354 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error con-
355 ditions are documented above.
357 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
358 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
359 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
360 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
363 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
365 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
366 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
368 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
369 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
372 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
373 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
374 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
376 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
377 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
379 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
380 stored in the arrays described here.
383 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
384 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
385 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
386 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the ter-
387 minal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V curses),
388 it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable way to
389 cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
391 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
392 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
393 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-lev-
394 el functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions using
395 the more reliable buffering scheme.
398 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
399 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header decla-
400 rations, which were defined at the same time the C language was first
401 standardized in the late 1980s.
403 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
404 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
405 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
406 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
407 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
408 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
410 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
411 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The ncurses ABI
412 6 enables this feature by default.
414 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
415 rather than a variable argument list.
417 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be con-
418 figured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
419 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
422 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
423 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
426 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
427 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
429 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
432 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
433 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
437 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
438 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
439 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
441 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
442 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
444 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
445 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
446 and does no error-checking.
448 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
449 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and re-
450 fresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> and
451 System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data allo-
452 cated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a
453 terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not well
456 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This im-
457 plementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
458 that case, the old location is unknown.
461 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
462 <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_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG>,
463 <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><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
467 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
471 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
472 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
473 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
475 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
476 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
477 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
478 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
479 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
480 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
483 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
484 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
486 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></li>
487 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
488 <li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
489 <li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
490 <li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
491 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
494 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>