ncurses 3x
ncurses(3x) ncurses(3x)
NAME
ncurses - CRT screen handling and optimization package
SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
DESCRIPTION
The ncurses library routines give the user a terminal-
independent method of updating character screens with rea-
sonable optimization. This implementation is ``new
curses'' (ncurses) and is the approved replacement for
4.4BSD classic curses, which has been discontinued. This
describes ncurses version 5.9 (patch 20120107).
The ncurses library emulates the curses library of System
V Release 4 UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide)
curses (also known as XSI curses). XSI stands for X/Open
System Interfaces Extension. The ncurses library is
freely redistributable in source form. Differences from
the SVr4 curses are summarized under the EXTENSIONS and
PORTABILITY sections below and described in detail in the
respective EXTENSIONS, PORTABILITY and BUGS sections of
individual man pages.
The ncurses library also provides many useful extensions,
i.e., features which cannot be implemented by a simple
add-on library but which require access to the internals
of the library.
A program using these routines must be linked with the
-lncurses option, or (if it has been generated) with the
debugging library -lncurses_g. (Your system integrator
may also have installed these libraries under the names
-lcurses and -lcurses_g.) The ncurses_g library generates
trace logs (in a file called 'trace' in the current direc-
tory) that describe curses actions. See also the section
on ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS.
The ncurses package supports: overall screen, window and
pad manipulation; output to windows and pads; reading ter-
minal input; control over terminal and curses input and
output options; environment query routines; color manipu-
lation; use of soft label keys; terminfo capabilities; and
access to low-level terminal-manipulation routines.
The library uses the locale which the calling program has
initialized. That is normally done with setlocale:
setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
If the locale is not initialized, the library assumes that
characters are printable as in ISO-8859-1, to work with
certain legacy programs. You should initialize the locale
and not rely on specific details of the library when the
locale has not been setup.
The function initscr or newterm must be called to initial-
ize the library before any of the other routines that deal
with windows and screens are used. The routine endwin
must be called before exiting.
To get character-at-a-time input without echoing (most
interactive, screen oriented programs want this), the fol-
lowing sequence should be used:
initscr(); cbreak(); noecho();
Most programs would additionally use the sequence:
nonl();
intrflush(stdscr, FALSE);
keypad(stdscr, TRUE);
Before a curses program is run, the tab stops of the ter-
minal should be set and its initialization strings, if
defined, must be output. This can be done by executing
the tput init command after the shell environment variable
TERM has been exported. tset(1) is usually responsible
for doing this. [See terminfo(5) for further details.]
The ncurses library permits manipulation of data struc-
tures, called windows, which can be thought of as two-
dimensional arrays of characters representing all or part
of a CRT screen. A default window called stdscr, which is
the size of the terminal screen, is supplied. Others may
be created with newwin.
Note that curses does not handle overlapping windows,
that's done by the panel(3x) library. This means that you
can either use stdscr or divide the screen into tiled win-
dows and not using stdscr at all. Mixing the two will
result in unpredictable, and undesired, effects.
Windows are referred to by variables declared as WINDOW *.
These data structures are manipulated with routines
described here and elsewhere in the ncurses manual pages.
Among those, the most basic routines are move and addch.
More general versions of these routines are included with
names beginning with w, allowing the user to specify a
window. The routines not beginning with w affect stdscr.
After using routines to manipulate a window, refresh is
called, telling curses to make the user's CRT screen look
like stdscr. The characters in a window are actually of
type chtype, (character and attribute data) so that other
information about the character may also be stored with
each character.
Special windows called pads may also be manipulated.
These are windows which are not constrained to the size of
the screen and whose contents need not be completely dis-
played. See curs_pad(3x) for more information.
In addition to drawing characters on the screen, video
attributes and colors may be supported, causing the char-
acters to show up in such modes as underlined, in reverse
video, or in color on terminals that support such display
enhancements. Line drawing characters may be specified to
be output. On input, curses is also able to translate
arrow and function keys that transmit escape sequences
into single values. The video attributes, line drawing
characters, and input values use names, defined in
<curses.h>, such as A_REVERSE, ACS_HLINE, and KEY_LEFT.
If the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS are set, or
if the program is executing in a window environment, line
and column information in the environment will override
information read by terminfo. This would affect a program
running in an AT&T 630 layer, for example, where the size
of a screen is changeable (see ENVIRONMENT).
If the environment variable TERMINFO is defined, any pro-
gram using curses checks for a local terminal definition
before checking in the standard place. For example, if
TERM is set to att4424, then the compiled terminal defini-
tion is found in
/usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.
(The a is copied from the first letter of att4424 to avoid
creation of huge directories.) However, if TERMINFO is
set to $HOME/myterms, curses first checks
$HOME/myterms/a/att4424,
and if that fails, it then checks
/usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.
This is useful for developing experimental definitions or
when write permission in /usr/share/terminfo is not avail-
able.
The integer variables LINES and COLS are defined in
<curses.h> and will be filled in by initscr with the size
of the screen. The constants TRUE and FALSE have the val-
ues 1 and 0, respectively.
The curses routines also define the WINDOW * variable
curscr which is used for certain low-level operations like
clearing and redrawing a screen containing garbage. The
curscr can be used in only a few routines.
Routine and Argument Names
Many curses routines have two or more versions. The rou-
tines prefixed with w require a window argument. The rou-
tines prefixed with p require a pad argument. Those with-
out a prefix generally use stdscr.
The routines prefixed with mv require a y and x coordinate
to move to before performing the appropriate action. The
mv routines imply a call to move before the call to the
other routine. The coordinate y always refers to the row
(of the window), and x always refers to the column. The
upper left-hand corner is always (0,0), not (1,1).
The routines prefixed with mvw take both a window argument
and x and y coordinates. The window argument is always
specified before the coordinates.
In each case, win is the window affected, and pad is the
pad affected; win and pad are always pointers to type WIN-
DOW.
Option setting routines require a Boolean flag bf with the
value TRUE or FALSE; bf is always of type bool. Most of
the data types used in the library routines, such as WIN-
DOW, SCREEN, bool, and chtype are defined in <curses.h>.
Types used for the terminfo routines such as TERMINAL are
defined in <term.h>.
This manual page describes functions which may appear in
any configuration of the library. There are two common
configurations of the library:
ncurses
the "normal" library, which handles 8-bit
characters. The normal (8-bit) library stores
characters combined with attributes in chtype
data.
Attributes alone (no corresponding character)
may be stored in chtype or the equivalent
attr_t data. In either case, the data is
stored in something like an integer.
Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
stored as a chtype.
ncursesw
the so-called "wide" library, which handles
multibyte characters (see the section on
ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS). The "wide" library
includes all of the calls from the "normal"
library. It adds about one third more calls
using data types which store multibyte charac-
ters:
cchar_t
corresponds to chtype. However it is a
structure, because more data is stored
than can fit into an integer. The char-
acters are large enough to require a full
integer value - and there may be more
than one character per cell. The video
attributes and color are stored in sepa-
rate fields of the structure.
Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
stored as a cchar_t.
wchar_t
stores a "wide" character. Like chtype,
this may be an integer.
wint_t
stores a wchar_t or WEOF - not the same,
though both may have the same size.
The "wide" library provides new functions
which are analogous to functions in the "nor-
mal" library. There is a naming convention
which relates many of the normal/wide vari-
ants: a "_w" is inserted into the name. For
example, waddch becomes wadd_wch.
Routine Name Index
The following table lists each curses routine and the name
of the manual page on which it is described. Routines
flagged with `*' are ncurses-specific, not described by
XPG4 or present in SVr4.
curses Routine Name Manual Page Name
--------------------------------------------
COLOR_PAIR curs_color(3x)
PAIR_NUMBER curs_attr(3x)
_nc_free_and_exit curs_memleaks(3x)*
_nc_freeall curs_memleaks(3x)*
_nc_tracebits curs_trace(3x)*
_traceattr curs_trace(3x)*
_traceattr2 curs_trace(3x)*
_tracechar curs_trace(3x)*
_tracechtype curs_trace(3x)*
_tracechtype2 curs_trace(3x)*
_tracedump curs_trace(3x)*
_tracef curs_trace(3x)*
_tracemouse curs_trace(3x)*
add_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
add_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
add_wchstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
addch curs_addch(3x)
addchnstr curs_addchstr(3x)
addchstr curs_addchstr(3x)
addnstr curs_addstr(3x)
addnwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
addstr curs_addstr(3x)
addwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
assume_default_colors default_colors(3x)*
attr_get curs_attr(3x)
attr_off curs_attr(3x)
attr_on curs_attr(3x)
attr_set curs_attr(3x)
attroff curs_attr(3x)
attron curs_attr(3x)
attrset curs_attr(3x)
baudrate curs_termattrs(3x)
beep curs_beep(3x)
bkgd curs_bkgd(3x)
bkgdset curs_bkgd(3x)
bkgrnd curs_bkgrnd(3x)
bkgrndset curs_bkgrnd(3x)
border curs_border(3x)
border_set curs_border_set(3x)
box curs_border(3x)
box_set curs_border_set(3x)
can_change_color curs_color(3x)
cbreak curs_inopts(3x)
chgat curs_attr(3x)
clear curs_clear(3x)
clearok curs_outopts(3x)
clrtobot curs_clear(3x)
clrtoeol curs_clear(3x)
color_content curs_color(3x)
color_set curs_attr(3x)
copywin curs_overlay(3x)
curs_set curs_kernel(3x)
curses_version curs_extend(3x)*
def_prog_mode curs_kernel(3x)
def_shell_mode curs_kernel(3x)
define_key define_key(3x)*
del_curterm curs_terminfo(3x)
delay_output curs_util(3x)
delch curs_delch(3x)
deleteln curs_deleteln(3x)
delscreen curs_initscr(3x)
delwin curs_window(3x)
derwin curs_window(3x)
doupdate curs_refresh(3x)
dupwin curs_window(3x)
echo curs_inopts(3x)
echo_wchar curs_add_wch(3x)
echochar curs_addch(3x)
endwin curs_initscr(3x)
erase curs_clear(3x)
erasechar curs_termattrs(3x)
erasewchar curs_termattrs(3x)
filter curs_util(3x)
flash curs_beep(3x)
flushinp curs_util(3x)
get_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
get_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
getattrs curs_attr(3x)
getbegx curs_legacy(3x)*
getbegy curs_legacy(3x)*
getbegyx curs_getyx(3x)
getbkgd curs_bkgd(3x)
getbkgrnd curs_bkgrnd(3x)
getcchar curs_getcchar(3x)
getch curs_getch(3x)
getcurx curs_legacy(3x)*
getcury curs_legacy(3x)*
getmaxx curs_legacy(3x)*
getmaxy curs_legacy(3x)*
getmaxyx curs_getyx(3x)
getmouse curs_mouse(3x)*
getn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
getnstr curs_getstr(3x)
getparx curs_legacy(3x)*
getpary curs_legacy(3x)*
getparyx curs_getyx(3x)
getstr curs_getstr(3x)
getsyx curs_kernel(3x)
getwin curs_util(3x)
getyx curs_getyx(3x)
halfdelay curs_inopts(3x)
has_colors curs_color(3x)
has_ic curs_termattrs(3x)
has_il curs_termattrs(3x)
has_key curs_getch(3x)*
hline curs_border(3x)
hline_set curs_border_set(3x)
idcok curs_outopts(3x)
idlok curs_outopts(3x)
immedok curs_outopts(3x)
in_wch curs_in_wch(3x)
in_wchnstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
in_wchstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
inch curs_inch(3x)
inchnstr curs_inchstr(3x)
inchstr curs_inchstr(3x)
init_color curs_color(3x)
init_pair curs_color(3x)
initscr curs_initscr(3x)
innstr curs_instr(3x)
innwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
ins_nwstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
ins_wch curs_ins_wch(3x)
ins_wstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
insch curs_insch(3x)
insdelln curs_deleteln(3x)
insertln curs_deleteln(3x)
insnstr curs_insstr(3x)
insstr curs_insstr(3x)
instr curs_instr(3x)
intrflush curs_inopts(3x)
inwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
is_cleared curs_opaque(3x)*
is_idcok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_idlok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_immedok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_keypad curs_opaque(3x)*
is_leaveok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_linetouched curs_touch(3x)
is_nodelay curs_opaque(3x)*
is_notimeout curs_opaque(3x)*
is_scrollok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_syncok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_term_resized resizeterm(3x)*
is_wintouched curs_touch(3x)
isendwin curs_initscr(3x)
key_defined key_defined(3x)*
key_name curs_util(3x)
keybound keybound(3x)*
keyname curs_util(3x)
keyok keyok(3x)*
keypad curs_inopts(3x)
killchar curs_termattrs(3x)
killwchar curs_termattrs(3x)
leaveok curs_outopts(3x)
longname curs_termattrs(3x)
mcprint curs_print(3x)*
meta curs_inopts(3x)
mouse_trafo curs_mouse(3x)*
mouseinterval curs_mouse(3x)*
mousemask curs_mouse(3x)*
move curs_move(3x)
mvadd_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
mvadd_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvadd_wchstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvaddch curs_addch(3x)
mvaddchnstr curs_addchstr(3x)
mvaddchstr curs_addchstr(3x)
mvaddnstr curs_addstr(3x)
mvaddnwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
mvaddstr curs_addstr(3x)
mvaddwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
mvchgat curs_attr(3x)
mvcur curs_terminfo(3x)
mvdelch curs_delch(3x)
mvderwin curs_window(3x)
mvget_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
mvget_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
mvgetch curs_getch(3x)
mvgetn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
mvgetnstr curs_getstr(3x)
mvgetstr curs_getstr(3x)
mvhline curs_border(3x)
mvhline_set curs_border_set(3x)
mvin_wch curs_in_wch(3x)
mvin_wchnstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
mvin_wchstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
mvinch curs_inch(3x)
mvinchnstr curs_inchstr(3x)
mvinchstr curs_inchstr(3x)
mvinnstr curs_instr(3x)
mvinnwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
mvins_nwstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
mvins_wch curs_ins_wch(3x)
mvins_wstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
mvinsch curs_insch(3x)
mvinsnstr curs_insstr(3x)
mvinsstr curs_insstr(3x)
mvinstr curs_instr(3x)
mvinwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
mvprintw curs_printw(3x)
mvscanw curs_scanw(3x)
mvvline curs_border(3x)
mvvline_set curs_border_set(3x)
mvwadd_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
mvwadd_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvwadd_wchstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvwaddch curs_addch(3x)
mvwaddchnstr curs_addchstr(3x)
mvwaddchstr curs_addchstr(3x)
mvwaddnstr curs_addstr(3x)
mvwaddnwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
mvwaddstr curs_addstr(3x)
mvwaddwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
mvwchgat curs_attr(3x)
mvwdelch curs_delch(3x)
mvwget_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
mvwget_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
mvwgetch curs_getch(3x)
mvwgetn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
mvwgetnstr curs_getstr(3x)
mvwgetstr curs_getstr(3x)
mvwhline curs_border(3x)
mvwhline_set curs_border_set(3x)
mvwin curs_window(3x)
mvwin_wch curs_in_wch(3x)
mvwin_wchnstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
mvwin_wchstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
mvwinch curs_inch(3x)
mvwinchnstr curs_inchstr(3x)
mvwinchstr curs_inchstr(3x)
mvwinnstr curs_instr(3x)
mvwinnwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
mvwins_nwstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
mvwins_wch curs_ins_wch(3x)
mvwins_wstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
mvwinsch curs_insch(3x)
mvwinsnstr curs_insstr(3x)
mvwinsstr curs_insstr(3x)
mvwinstr curs_instr(3x)
mvwinwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
mvwprintw curs_printw(3x)
mvwscanw curs_scanw(3x)
mvwvline curs_border(3x)
mvwvline_set curs_border_set(3x)
napms curs_kernel(3x)
newpad curs_pad(3x)
newterm curs_initscr(3x)
newwin curs_window(3x)
nl curs_outopts(3x)
nocbreak curs_inopts(3x)
nodelay curs_inopts(3x)
noecho curs_inopts(3x)
nofilter curs_util(3x)*
nonl curs_outopts(3x)
noqiflush curs_inopts(3x)
noraw curs_inopts(3x)
notimeout curs_inopts(3x)
overlay curs_overlay(3x)
overwrite curs_overlay(3x)
pair_content curs_color(3x)
pechochar curs_pad(3x)
pnoutrefresh curs_pad(3x)
prefresh curs_pad(3x)
printw curs_printw(3x)
putp curs_terminfo(3x)
putwin curs_util(3x)
qiflush curs_inopts(3x)
raw curs_inopts(3x)
redrawwin curs_refresh(3x)
refresh curs_refresh(3x)
reset_prog_mode curs_kernel(3x)
reset_shell_mode curs_kernel(3x)
resetty curs_kernel(3x)
resizeterm resizeterm(3x)*
restartterm curs_terminfo(3x)
ripoffline curs_kernel(3x)
savetty curs_kernel(3x)
scanw curs_scanw(3x)
scr_dump curs_scr_dump(3x)
scr_init curs_scr_dump(3x)
scr_restore curs_scr_dump(3x)
scr_set curs_scr_dump(3x)
scrl curs_scroll(3x)
scroll curs_scroll(3x)
scrollok curs_outopts(3x)
set_curterm curs_terminfo(3x)
set_term curs_initscr(3x)
setcchar curs_getcchar(3x)
setscrreg curs_outopts(3x)
setsyx curs_kernel(3x)
setterm curs_terminfo(3x)
setupterm curs_terminfo(3x)
slk_attr curs_slk(3x)*
slk_attr_off curs_slk(3x)
slk_attr_on curs_slk(3x)
slk_attr_set curs_slk(3x)
slk_attroff curs_slk(3x)
slk_attron curs_slk(3x)
slk_attrset curs_slk(3x)
slk_clear curs_slk(3x)
slk_color curs_slk(3x)
slk_init curs_slk(3x)
slk_label curs_slk(3x)
slk_noutrefresh curs_slk(3x)
slk_refresh curs_slk(3x)
slk_restore curs_slk(3x)
slk_set curs_slk(3x)
slk_touch curs_slk(3x)
standend curs_attr(3x)
standout curs_attr(3x)
start_color curs_color(3x)
subpad curs_pad(3x)
subwin curs_window(3x)
syncok curs_window(3x)
term_attrs curs_termattrs(3x)
termattrs curs_termattrs(3x)
termname curs_termattrs(3x)
tgetent curs_termcap(3x)
tgetflag curs_termcap(3x)
tgetnum curs_termcap(3x)
tgetstr curs_termcap(3x)
tgoto curs_termcap(3x)
tigetflag curs_terminfo(3x)
tigetnum curs_terminfo(3x)
tigetstr curs_terminfo(3x)
timeout curs_inopts(3x)
touchline curs_touch(3x)
touchwin curs_touch(3x)
tparm curs_terminfo(3x)
tputs curs_termcap(3x)
tputs curs_terminfo(3x)
trace curs_trace(3x)*
typeahead curs_inopts(3x)
unctrl curs_util(3x)
unget_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
ungetch curs_getch(3x)
ungetmouse curs_mouse(3x)*
untouchwin curs_touch(3x)
use_default_colors default_colors(3x)*
use_env curs_util(3x)
use_extended_names curs_extend(3x)*
use_legacy_coding legacy_coding(3x)*
vid_attr curs_terminfo(3x)
vid_puts curs_terminfo(3x)
vidattr curs_terminfo(3x)
vidputs curs_terminfo(3x)
vline curs_border(3x)
vline_set curs_border_set(3x)
vw_printw curs_printw(3x)
vw_scanw curs_scanw(3x)
vwprintw curs_printw(3x)
vwscanw curs_scanw(3x)
wadd_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
wadd_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
wadd_wchstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
waddch curs_addch(3x)
waddchnstr curs_addchstr(3x)
waddchstr curs_addchstr(3x)
waddnstr curs_addstr(3x)
waddnwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
waddstr curs_addstr(3x)
waddwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
wattr_get curs_attr(3x)
wattr_off curs_attr(3x)
wattr_on curs_attr(3x)
wattr_set curs_attr(3x)
wattroff curs_attr(3x)
wattron curs_attr(3x)
wattrset curs_attr(3x)
wbkgd curs_bkgd(3x)
wbkgdset curs_bkgd(3x)
wbkgrnd curs_bkgrnd(3x)
wbkgrndset curs_bkgrnd(3x)
wborder curs_border(3x)
wborder_set curs_border_set(3x)
wchgat curs_attr(3x)
wclear curs_clear(3x)
wclrtobot curs_clear(3x)
wclrtoeol curs_clear(3x)
wcolor_set curs_attr(3x)
wcursyncup curs_window(3x)
wdelch curs_delch(3x)
wdeleteln curs_deleteln(3x)
wecho_wchar curs_add_wch(3x)
wechochar curs_addch(3x)
wenclose curs_mouse(3x)*
werase curs_clear(3x)
wget_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
wget_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
wgetbkgrnd curs_bkgrnd(3x)
wgetch curs_getch(3x)
wgetn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
wgetnstr curs_getstr(3x)
wgetstr curs_getstr(3x)
whline curs_border(3x)
whline_set curs_border_set(3x)
win_wch curs_in_wch(3x)
win_wchnstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
win_wchstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
winch curs_inch(3x)
winchnstr curs_inchstr(3x)
winchstr curs_inchstr(3x)
winnstr curs_instr(3x)
winnwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
wins_nwstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
wins_wch curs_ins_wch(3x)
wins_wstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
winsch curs_insch(3x)
winsdelln curs_deleteln(3x)
winsertln curs_deleteln(3x)
winsnstr curs_insstr(3x)
winsstr curs_insstr(3x)
winstr curs_instr(3x)
winwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
wmouse_trafo curs_mouse(3x)*
wmove curs_move(3x)
wnoutrefresh curs_refresh(3x)
wprintw curs_printw(3x)
wredrawln curs_refresh(3x)
wrefresh curs_refresh(3x)
wresize wresize(3x)*
wscanw curs_scanw(3x)
wscrl curs_scroll(3x)
wsetscrreg curs_outopts(3x)
wstandend curs_attr(3x)
wstandout curs_attr(3x)
wsyncdown curs_window(3x)
wsyncup curs_window(3x)
wtimeout curs_inopts(3x)
wtouchln curs_touch(3x)
wunctrl curs_util(3x)
wvline curs_border(3x)
wvline_set curs_border_set(3x)
RETURN VALUE
Routines that return an integer return ERR upon failure
and an integer value other than ERR upon successful com-
pletion, unless otherwise noted in the routine descrip-
tions.
As a general rule, routines check for null pointers passed
as parameters, and handle this as an error.
All macros return the value of the w version, except
setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx, and getmaxyx. The
return values of setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx,
and getmaxyx are undefined (i.e., these should not be used
as the right-hand side of assignment statements).
Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment symbols are useful for customiz-
ing the runtime behavior of the ncurses library. The most
important ones have been already discussed in detail.
BAUDRATE
The debugging library checks this environment symbol
when the application has redirected output to a file.
The symbol's numeric value is used for the baudrate.
If no value is found, ncurses uses 9600. This allows
testers to construct repeatable test-cases that take
into account costs that depend on baudrate.
CC When set, change occurrences of the command_character
(i.e., the cmdch capability) of the loaded terminfo
entries to the value of this symbol. Very few ter-
minfo entries provide this feature.
Because this name is also used in development envi-
ronments to represent the C compiler's name, ncurses
ignores it if it does not happen to be a single char-
acter.
COLUMNS
Specify the width of the screen in characters.
Applications running in a windowing environment usu-
ally are able to obtain the width of the window in
which they are executing. If neither the COLUMNS
value nor the terminal's screen size is available,
ncurses uses the size which may be specified in the
terminfo database (i.e., the cols capability).
It is important that your application use a correct
size for the screen. This is not always possible
because your application may be running on a host
which does not honor NAWS (Negotiations About Window
Size), or because you are temporarily running as
another user. However, setting COLUMNS and/or LINES
overrides the library's use of the screen size
obtained from the operating system.
Either COLUMNS or LINES symbols may be specified
independently. This is mainly useful to circumvent
legacy misfeatures of terminal descriptions, e.g.,
xterm which commonly specifies a 65 line screen. For
best results, lines and cols should not be specified
in a terminal description for terminals which are run
as emulations.
Use the use_env function to disable all use of exter-
nal environment (including system calls) to determine
the screen size.
ESCDELAY
Specifies the total time, in milliseconds, for which
ncurses will await a character sequence, e.g., a
function key. The default value, 1000 milliseconds,
is enough for most uses. However, it is made a vari-
able to accommodate unusual applications.
The most common instance where you may wish to change
this value is to work with slow hosts, e.g., running
on a network. If the host cannot read characters
rapidly enough, it will have the same effect as if
the terminal did not send characters rapidly enough.
The library will still see a timeout.
Note that xterm mouse events are built up from char-
acter sequences received from the xterm. If your
application makes heavy use of multiple-clicking, you
may wish to lengthen this default value because the
timeout applies to the composed multi-click event as
well as the individual clicks.
In addition to the environment variable, this imple-
mentation provides a global variable with the same
name. Portable applications should not rely upon the
presence of ESCDELAY in either form, but setting the
environment variable rather than the global variable
does not create problems when compiling an applica-
tion.
HOME Tells ncurses where your home directory is. That is
where it may read and write auxiliary terminal
descriptions:
$HOME/.termcap
$HOME/.terminfo
LINES
Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in
characters. See COLUMNS for a detailed description.
MOUSE_BUTTONS_123
This applies only to the OS/2 EMX port. It specifies
the order of buttons on the mouse. OS/2 numbers a
3-button mouse inconsistently from other platforms:
1 = left
2 = right
3 = middle.
This symbol lets you customize the mouse. The symbol
must be three numeric digits 1-3 in any order, e.g.,
123 or 321. If it is not specified, ncurses uses
132.
NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS
Override the compiled-in assumption that the termi-
nal's default colors are white-on-black (see
default_colors(3x)). You may set the foreground and
background color values with this environment vari-
able by proving a 2-element list: foreground,back-
ground. For example, to tell ncurses to not assume
anything about the colors, set this to "-1,-1". To
make it green-on-black, set it to "2,0". Any posi-
tive value from zero to the terminfo max_colors value
is allowed.
NCURSES_GPM_TERMS
This applies only to ncurses configured to use the
GPM interface.
If present, the environment variable is a list of one
or more terminal names against which the TERM envi-
ronment variable is matched. Setting it to an empty
value disables the GPM interface; using the built-in
support for xterm, etc.
If the environment variable is absent, ncurses will
attempt to open GPM if TERM contains "linux".
NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS
Ncurses may use tabs as part of the cursor movement
optimization. In some cases, your terminal driver
may not handle these properly. Set this environment
variable to disable the feature. You can also adjust
your stty settings to avoid the problem.
NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIES
Some terminals use a magic-cookie feature which
requires special handling to make highlighting and
other video attributes display properly. You can
suppress the highlighting entirely for these
terminals by setting this environment variable.
NCURSES_NO_PADDING
Most of the terminal descriptions in the terminfo
database are written for real "hardware" terminals.
Many people use terminal emulators which run in a
windowing environment and use curses-based applica-
tions. Terminal emulators can duplicate all of the
important aspects of a hardware terminal, but they do
not have the same limitations. The chief limitation
of a hardware terminal from the standpoint of your
application is the management of dataflow, i.e., tim-
ing. Unless a hardware terminal is interfaced into a
terminal concentrator (which does flow control), it
(or your application) must manage dataflow, prevent-
ing overruns. The cheapest solution (no hardware
cost) is for your program to do this by pausing after
operations that the terminal does slowly, such as
clearing the display.
As a result, many terminal descriptions (including
the vt100) have delay times embedded. You may wish
to use these descriptions, but not want to pay the
performance penalty.
Set the NCURSES_NO_PADDING symbol to disable all but
mandatory padding. Mandatory padding is used as a
part of special control sequences such as flash.
NCURSES_NO_SETBUF
Normally ncurses enables buffered output during ter-
minal initialization. This is done (as in SVr4
curses) for performance reasons. For testing pur-
poses, both of ncurses and certain applications, this
feature is made optional. Setting the
NCURSES_NO_SETBUF variable disables output buffering,
leaving the output in the original (usually line
buffered) mode.
NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS
During initialization, the ncurses library checks for
special cases where VT100 line-drawing (and the cor-
responding alternate character set capabilities)
described in the terminfo are known to be missing.
Specifically, when running in a UTF-8 locale, the
Linux console emulator and the GNU screen program
ignore these. Ncurses checks the TERM environment
variable for these. For other special cases, you
should set this environment variable. Doing this
tells ncurses to use Unicode values which correspond
to the VT100 line-drawing glyphs. That works for the
special cases cited, and is likely to work for termi-
nal emulators.
When setting this variable, you should set it to a
nonzero value. Setting it to zero (or to a nonnum-
ber) disables the special check for "linux" and
"screen".
As an alternative to the environment variable,
ncurses checks for an extended terminfo capability
U8. This is a numeric capability which can be com-
piled using tic -x. For example
# linux console, if patched to provide working
# VT100 shift-in/shift-out, with corresponding font.
linux-vt100|linux console with VT100 line-graphics,
U8#0, use=linux,
# uxterm with vt100Graphics resource set to false
xterm-utf8|xterm relying on UTF-8 line-graphics,
U8#1, use=xterm,
The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters, to per-
mit it to be used by applications that use ncurses'
termcap interface.
NCURSES_TRACE
During initialization, the ncurses debugging library
checks the NCURSES_TRACE symbol. If it is defined,
to a numeric value, ncurses calls the trace function,
using that value as the argument.
The argument values, which are defined in curses.h,
provide several types of information. When running
with traces enabled, your application will write the
file trace to the current directory.
TERM Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is
distinct, though many are similar.
TERMCAP
If the ncurses library has been configured with term-
cap support, ncurses will check for a terminal's
description in termcap form if it is not available in
the terminfo database.
The TERMCAP symbol contains either a terminal
description (with newlines stripped out), or a file
name telling where the information denoted by the
TERM symbol exists. In either case, setting it
directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this
information, e.g., /etc/termcap.
TERMINFO
Overrides the directory in which ncurses searches for
your terminal description. This is the simplest, but
not the only way to change the list of directories.
The complete list of directories in order follows:
o the last directory to which ncurses wrote, if
any, is searched first
o the directory specified by the TERMINFO symbol
o $HOME/.terminfo
o directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS symbol
o one or more directories whose names are config-
ured and compiled into the ncurses library, e.g.,
/usr/share/terminfo
TERMINFO_DIRS
Specifies a list of directories to search for termi-
nal descriptions. The list is separated by colons
(i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. All of
the terminal descriptions are in terminfo form, which
makes a subdirectory named for the first letter of
the terminal names therein.
If ncurses is built with a hashed database, then each
entry in this list can also be the path of the corre-
sponding database file.
If ncurses is built with a support for reading term-
cap files directly, then an entry in this list may be
the path of a termcap file.
TERMPATH
If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses
checks the TERMPATH symbol. This is a list of file-
names separated by spaces or colons (i.e., ":") on
Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. If the TERMPATH symbol
is not set, ncurses looks in the files /etc/termcap,
/usr/share/misc/termcap and $HOME/.termcap, in that
order.
The library may be configured to disregard the following
variables when the current user is the superuser (root),
or if the application uses setuid or setgid permissions:
$TERMINFO, $TERMINFO_DIRS, $TERMPATH, as well as $HOME.
ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS
Several different configurations are possible, depending
on the configure script options used when building
ncurses. There are a few main options whose effects are
visible to the applications developer using ncurses:
--disable-overwrite
The standard include for ncurses is as noted in SYN-
OPSIS:
#include <curses.h>
This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when
ncurses is not the main implementation of curses of
the computer. If ncurses is installed disabling
overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdirectory,
e.g.,
#include <ncurses/curses.h>
It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you
to use -lcurses to build executables.
--enable-widec
The configure script renames the library and (if the
--disable-overwrite option is used) puts the header
files in a different subdirectory. All of the
library names have a "w" appended to them, i.e.,
instead of
-lncurses
you link with
-lncursesw
You must also define _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED when com-
piling for the wide-character library to use the
extended (wide-character) functions. The curses.h
file which is installed for the wide-character
library is designed to be compatible with the normal
library's header. Only the size of the WINDOW struc-
ture differs, and very few applications require more
than a pointer to WINDOWs. If the headers are
installed allowing overwrite, the wide-character
library's headers should be installed last, to allow
applications to be built using either library from
the same set of headers.
--with-shared
--with-normal
--with-debug
--with-profile
The shared and normal (static) library names differ
by their suffixes, e.g., libncurses.so and
libncurses.a. The debug and profiling libraries add
a "_g" and a "_p" to the root names respectively,
e.g., libncurses_g.a and libncurses_p.a.
--with-trace
The trace function normally resides in the debug
library, but it is sometimes useful to configure this
in the shared library. Configure scripts should
check for the function's existence rather than assum-
ing it is always in the debug library.
FILES
/usr/share/tabset
directory containing initialization files for the
terminal capability database /usr/share/terminfo ter-
minal capability database
SEE ALSO
terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_"
for detailed routine descriptions.
curs_variables(3x)
EXTENSIONS
The ncurses library can be compiled with an option
(-DUSE_GETCAP) that falls back to the old-style /etc/term-
cap file if the terminal setup code cannot find a terminfo
entry corresponding to TERM. Use of this feature is not
recommended, as it essentially includes an entire termcap
compiler in the ncurses startup code, at significant cost
in core and startup cycles.
The ncurses library includes facilities for capturing
mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm). See
the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.
The ncurses library includes facilities for responding to
window resizing events, e.g., when running in an xterm.
See the resizeterm(3x) and wresize(3x) manual pages for
details. In addition, the library may be configured with
a SIGWINCH handler.
The ncurses library extends the fixed set of function key
capabilities of terminals by allowing the application
designer to define additional key sequences at runtime.
See the define_key(3x) key_defined(3x), and keyok(3x) man-
ual pages for details.
The ncurses library can exploit the capabilities of termi-
nals which implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 con-
trols, which allow an application to reset the terminal to
its original foreground and background colors. From the
users' perspective, the application is able to draw col-
ored text on a background whose color is set indepen-
dently, providing better control over color contrasts.
See the default_colors(3x) manual page for details.
The ncurses library includes a function for directing
application output to a printer attached to the terminal
device. See the curs_print(3x) manual page for details.
PORTABILITY
The ncurses library is intended to be BASE-level confor-
mant with XSI Curses. The EXTENDED XSI Curses functional-
ity (including color support) is supported.
A small number of local differences (that is, individual
differences between the XSI Curses and ncurses calls) are
described in PORTABILITY sections of the library man
pages.
Unlike other implementations, this one checks parameters
such as pointers to WINDOW structures to ensure they are
not null. The main reason for providing this behavior is
to guard against programmer error. The standard interface
does not provide a way for the library to tell an applica-
tion which of several possible errors were detected.
Relying on this (or some other) extension will adversely
affect the portability of curses applications.
This implementation also contains several extensions:
o The routine has_key is not part of XPG4, nor is it
present in SVr4. See the curs_getch(3x) manual page
for details.
o The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it
present in SVr4. See the curs_slk(3x) manual page for
details.
o The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mousein-
terval, and wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are
not part of XPG4, nor are they present in SVr4. See
the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.
o The routine mcprint was not present in any previous
curses implementation. See the curs_print(3x) manual
page for details.
o The routine wresize is not part of XPG4, nor is it
present in SVr4. See the wresize(3x) manual page for
details.
o The WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden
from application programs. See curs_opaque(3x) for
the discussion of is_scrollok, etc.
o This implementation can be configured to provide rudi-
mentary support for multi-threaded applications. See
curs_threads(3x) for details.
o This implementation can also be configured to provide
a set of functions which improve the ability to manage
multiple screens. See curs_sp_funcs(3x) for details.
In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
bilities cr, ind, cub1, ff and tab activated corresponding
delay bits in the UNIX tty driver. In this implementa-
tion, all padding is done by sending NUL bytes. This
method is slightly more expensive, but narrows the inter-
face to the UNIX kernel significantly and increases the
package's portability correspondingly.
NOTES
The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the
header files <stdio.h> and <unctrl.h>.
If standard output from a ncurses program is re-directed
to something which is not a tty, screen updates will be
directed to standard error. This was an undocumented fea-
ture of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
AUTHORS
Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
ncurses(3x)
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