curs_getch 3x


curs_getch(3x)                                           curs_getch(3x)




NAME

       getch, wgetch, mvgetch, mvwgetch, ungetch, has_key - get
       (or push back) characters from curses terminal keyboard


SYNOPSIS

       #include <curses.h>

       int getch(void);
       int wgetch(WINDOW *win);
       int mvgetch(int y, int x);
       int mvwgetch(WINDOW *win, int y, int x);
       int ungetch(int ch);
       int has_key(int ch);


DESCRIPTION

       The getch, wgetch, mvgetch and mvwgetch, routines  read  a
       character  from the window.  In no-delay mode, if no input
       is waiting, the value ERR is returned.  In delay mode, the
       program  waits until the system passes text through to the
       program.  Depending on the setting of cbreak, this is  af-
       ter  one  character (cbreak mode), or after the first new-
       line (nocbreak mode).  In  half-delay  mode,  the  program
       waits  until a character is typed or the specified timeout
       has been reached.

       If echo is enabled, and the window is not a pad, then  the
       character  will  also be echoed into the designated window
       according to the following rules:

       o   If the character is the current erase character,  left
           arrow,  or backspace, the cursor is moved one space to
           the left and that screen  position  is  erased  as  if
           delch had been called.

       o   If  the  character value is any other KEY_ define, the
           user is alerted with a beep call.

       o   If the character is a carriage-return, and  if  nl  is
           enabled,  it  is translated to a line-feed after echo-
           ing.

       o   Otherwise  the  character  is  simply  output  to  the
           screen.

       If the window is not a pad, and it has been moved or modi-
       fied since the last call to  wrefresh,  wrefresh  will  be
       called before another character is read.

       If  keypad is TRUE, and a function key is pressed, the to-
       ken for that function key is returned instead of  the  raw
       characters.   Possible function keys are defined in <curs-
       es.h> as macros with values outside  the  range  of  8-bit
       characters  whose names begin with KEY_.  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), curses 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.

       The ungetch routine places ch back onto the input queue to
       be returned by the next call to wgetch.  There is just one
       input queue for all windows.


Function Keys

       The following function keys, defined in <curses.h>,  might
       be  returned  by  getch  if keypad has been enabled.  Note
       that not all of these are  necessarily  supported  on  any
       particular terminal.

            Name            Key name
            -------------------------------------------------
            KEY_BREAK       Break key
            KEY_DOWN        The four arrow keys ...
            KEY_UP
            KEY_LEFT
            KEY_RIGHT
            KEY_HOME        Home key (upward+left arrow)
            KEY_BACKSPACE   Backspace
            KEY_F0          Function keys; space for 64 keys
                            is reserved.
            KEY_F(n)        For 0 <= n <= 63
            KEY_DL          Delete line
            KEY_IL          Insert line
            KEY_DC          Delete character
            KEY_IC          Insert char or enter insert mode
            KEY_EIC         Exit insert char mode
            KEY_CLEAR       Clear screen
            KEY_EOS         Clear to end of screen
            KEY_EOL         Clear to end of line
            KEY_SF          Scroll 1 line forward
            KEY_SR          Scroll 1 line backward (reverse)
            KEY_NPAGE       Next page
            KEY_PPAGE       Previous page
            KEY_STAB        Set tab
            KEY_CTAB        Clear tab
            KEY_CATAB       Clear all tabs
            KEY_ENTER       Enter or send
            KEY_SRESET      Soft (partial) reset
            KEY_RESET       Reset or hard reset
            KEY_PRINT       Print or copy
            KEY_LL          Home down or bottom (lower left)
            KEY_A1          Upper left of keypad
            KEY_A3          Upper right of keypad
            KEY_B2          Center of keypad
            KEY_C1          Lower left of keypad
            KEY_C3          Lower right of keypad
            KEY_BTAB        Back tab key
            KEY_BEG         Beg(inning) key
            KEY_CANCEL      Cancel key
            KEY_CLOSE       Close key
            KEY_COMMAND     Cmd (command) key
            KEY_COPY        Copy key
            KEY_CREATE      Create key
            KEY_END         End key
            KEY_EXIT        Exit key
            KEY_FIND        Find key
            KEY_HELP        Help key
            KEY_MARK        Mark key
            KEY_MESSAGE     Message key
            KEY_MOUSE       Mouse event read
            KEY_MOVE        Move key

            KEY_NEXT        Next object key
            KEY_OPEN        Open key
            KEY_OPTIONS     Options key
            KEY_PREVIOUS    Previous object key
            KEY_REDO        Redo key
            KEY_REFERENCE   Ref(erence) key
            KEY_REFRESH     Refresh key
            KEY_REPLACE     Replace key
            KEY_RESIZE      Screen resized
            KEY_RESTART     Restart key
            KEY_RESUME      Resume key
            KEY_SAVE        Save key
            KEY_SBEG        Shifted beginning key
            KEY_SCANCEL     Shifted cancel key
            KEY_SCOMMAND    Shifted command key
            KEY_SCOPY       Shifted copy key
            KEY_SCREATE     Shifted create key
            KEY_SDC         Shifted delete char key
            KEY_SDL         Shifted delete line key
            KEY_SELECT      Select key
            KEY_SEND        Shifted end key
            KEY_SEOL        Shifted clear line key
            KEY_SEXIT       Shifted exit key
            KEY_SFIND       Shifted find key
            KEY_SHELP       Shifted help key
            KEY_SHOME       Shifted home key
            KEY_SIC         Shifted input key
            KEY_SLEFT       Shifted left arrow key
            KEY_SMESSAGE    Shifted message key
            KEY_SMOVE       Shifted move key
            KEY_SNEXT       Shifted next key
            KEY_SOPTIONS    Shifted options key
            KEY_SPREVIOUS   Shifted prev key
            KEY_SPRINT      Shifted print key
            KEY_SREDO       Shifted redo key
            KEY_SREPLACE    Shifted replace key
            KEY_SRIGHT      Shifted right arrow
            KEY_SRSUME      Shifted resume key
            KEY_SSAVE       Shifted save key
            KEY_SSUSPEND    Shifted suspend key
            KEY_SUNDO       Shifted undo key
            KEY_SUSPEND     Suspend key
            KEY_UNDO        Undo key

       Keypad is arranged like this:


                         +-----+------+-------+
                         | A1  |  up  |  A3   |
                         +-----+------+-------+
                         |left |  B2  | right |
                         +-----+------+-------+
                         | C1  | down |  C3   |
                         +-----+------+-------+
       The has_key routine takes a key value from the above list,
       and returns TRUE or FALSE according to whether the current
       terminal type recognizes a key with that value.  Note that
       a  few  values  do  not  correspond  to  a real key, e.g.,
       KEY_RESIZE and KEY_MOUSE.  See resizeterm(3x) for more de-
       tails  about  KEY_RESIZE, and curs_mouse(3x) for a discus-
       sion of KEY_MOUSE.


RETURN VALUE

       All routines return the integer ERR upon  failure  and  an
       integer value other than ERR (OK in the case of ungetch())
       upon successful completion.

          ungetch
               returns ERR if there is no more room in the FIFO.

          wgetch
               returns ERR if the window pointer is null,  or  if
               its timeout expires without having any data.

       Functions  with a "mv" prefix first perform a cursor move-
       ment using wmove, and return an error if the  position  is
       outside the window, or if the window pointer is null.


NOTES

       Use of the escape key by a programmer for a single charac-
       ter function is discouraged, as it will cause a  delay  of
       up to one second while the keypad code looks for a follow-
       ing function-key sequence.

       Note that some keys may be the same as commonly used  con-
       trol keys, e.g., KEY_ENTER versus control/M, KEY_BACKSPACE
       versus control/H.  Some curses implementations may  differ
       according  to  whether  they treat these control keys spe-
       cially (and ignore the terminfo), or use the terminfo def-
       initions.   Ncurses  uses  the terminfo definition.  If it
       says  that  KEY_ENTER  is  control/M,  getch  will  return
       KEY_ENTER when you press control/M.

       Generally,  KEY_ENTER denotes the character(s) sent by the
       Enter key on the numeric keypad:

       o   the terminal description lists the most useful keys,

       o   the Enter key on the regular keyboard is already  han-
           dled by the standard ASCII characters for carriage-re-
           turn and line-feed,

       o   depending on whether nl or nonl was  called,  pressing
           "Enter"  on  the  regular keyboard may return either a
           carriage-return or line-feed, and finally

       o   "Enter or send" is the standard description  for  this
           key.

       When  using  getch, wgetch, mvgetch, or mvwgetch, nocbreak
       mode (nocbreak) and echo mode (echo) should not be used at
       the  same  time.  Depending on the state of the tty driver
       when each character is typed, the program may produce  un-
       desirable results.

       Note that getch, mvgetch, and mvwgetch may be macros.

       Historically, the set of keypad macros was largely defined
       by the extremely function-key-rich keyboard  of  the  AT&T
       7300,  aka  3B1,  aka Safari 4.  Modern personal computers
       usually have only a small subset of these.   IBM  PC-style
       consoles   typically  support  little  more  than  KEY_UP,
       KEY_DOWN,   KEY_LEFT,   KEY_RIGHT,   KEY_HOME,    KEY_END,
       KEY_NPAGE, KEY_PPAGE, and function keys 1 through 12.  The
       Ins key is usually mapped to KEY_IC.


PORTABILITY

       The *get* functions are described in the XSI Curses  stan-
       dard,  Issue  4.   They  read single-byte characters only.
       The standard specifies that they return  ERR  on  failure,
       but specifies no error conditions.

       The  echo  behavior of these functions on input of KEY_ or
       backspace characters was not specified in the  SVr4  docu-
       mentation.  This description is adopted from the XSI Curs-
       es standard.

       The behavior of getch and friends in the presence of  han-
       dled  signals  is  unspecified  in the SVr4 and XSI Curses
       documentation.  Under historical  curses  implementations,
       it  varied depending on whether the operating system's im-
       plementation  of  handled  signal  receipt  interrupts   a
       read(2)  call in progress or not, and also (in some imple-
       mentations) depending on whether an input timeout or  non-
       blocking mode has been set.

       Programmers concerned about portability should be prepared
       for either of two cases: (a) signal receipt does  not  in-
       terrupt  getch;  (b)  signal  receipt interrupts getch and
       causes it to return ERR with errno set  to  EINTR.   Under
       the  ncurses  implementation, handled signals never inter-
       rupt getch.

       The has_key function is unique to ncurses.   We  recommend
       that  any  code  using it be conditionalized on the NCURS-
       ES_VERSION feature macro.


SEE ALSO

       curses(3x),       curs_inopts(3x),       curs_outopts(3x),
       curs_mouse(3x),   curs_move(3x),   curs_refresh(3x),   re-
       sizeterm(3x).

       Comparable functions in the wide-character (ncursesw)  li-
       brary are described in curs_get_wch(3x).



                                                         curs_getch(3x)