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* t
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- * Copyright (c) 1998-2007,2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+ * Copyright (c) 1998-2009,2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
* *
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
* copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
* authorization. *
****************************************************************************
- * @Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.91 2008/10/11 20:43:11 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.94 2010/01/09 16:34:57 tom Exp @
-->
<HTML>
<HEAD>
sonable optimization. This implementation is ``new
curses'' (ncurses) and is the approved replacement for
4.4BSD classic curses, which has been discontinued. This
- describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 5.6 (patch 20081011).
+ describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 5.7 (patch 20100109).
The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library emulates the <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG> library of
System V Release 4 UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability
Among those, the most basic routines are <STRONG>move</STRONG> and <STRONG>addch</STRONG>.
More general versions of these routines are included with
names beginning with <STRONG>w</STRONG>, allowing the user to specify a
- window. The routines not beginning with <STRONG>w</STRONG> affect <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.
+ window. The routines not beginning with <STRONG>w</STRONG> affect <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.
- After using routines to manipulate a window, <STRONG>refresh</STRONG> is
- called, telling <STRONG>curses</STRONG> to make the user's CRT screen look
- like <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>. The characters in a window are actually of
- type <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>, (character and attribute data) so that other
- information about the character may also be stored with
+ After using routines to manipulate a window, <STRONG>refresh</STRONG> is
+ called, telling <STRONG>curses</STRONG> to make the user's CRT screen look
+ like <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>. The characters in a window are actually of
+ type <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>, (character and attribute data) so that other
+ information about the character may also be stored with
each character.
- Special windows called <EM>pads</EM> may also be manipulated.
+ Special windows called <EM>pads</EM> 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-
+ the screen and whose contents need not be completely dis-
played. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(3x)</A></STRONG> 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
+ 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, <STRONG>curses</STRONG> 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
+ be output. On input, <STRONG>curses</STRONG> 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
<STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, such as <STRONG>A_REVERSE</STRONG>, <STRONG>ACS_HLINE</STRONG>, and <STRONG>KEY_LEFT</STRONG>.
If the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> are set, or
- if the program is executing in a window environment, line
- and column information in the environment will override
+ if the program is executing in a window environment, line
+ and column information in the environment will override
information read by <EM>terminfo</EM>. This would affect a program
- running in an AT&T 630 layer, for example, where the size
+ running in an AT&T 630 layer, for example, where the size
of a screen is changeable (see <STRONG>ENVIRONMENT</STRONG>).
- If the environment variable <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> is defined, any pro-
- gram using <STRONG>curses</STRONG> checks for a local terminal definition
- before checking in the standard place. For example, if
+ If the environment variable <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> is defined, any pro-
+ gram using <STRONG>curses</STRONG> checks for a local terminal definition
+ before checking in the standard place. For example, if
<STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is set to <STRONG>att4424</STRONG>, then the compiled terminal defini-
tion is found in
<STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424</STRONG>.
(The <STRONG>a</STRONG> is copied from the first letter of <STRONG>att4424</STRONG> to avoid
- creation of huge directories.) However, if <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> is
+ creation of huge directories.) However, if <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> is
set to <STRONG>$HOME/myterms</STRONG>, <STRONG>curses</STRONG> first checks
<STRONG>$HOME/myterms/a/att4424</STRONG>,
<STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424</STRONG>.
- This is useful for developing experimental definitions or
+ This is useful for developing experimental definitions or
when write permission in <STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo</STRONG> is not avail-
able.
- The integer variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLS</STRONG> are defined in
- <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> and will be filled in by <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> with the size
+ The integer variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLS</STRONG> are defined in
+ <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> and will be filled in by <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> with the size
of the screen. The constants <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> and <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG> have the val-
ues <STRONG>1</STRONG> and <STRONG>0</STRONG>, respectively.
- The <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines also define the <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> variable
+ The <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines also define the <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> variable
<STRONG>curscr</STRONG> which is used for certain low-level operations like
- clearing and redrawing a screen containing garbage. The
+ clearing and redrawing a screen containing garbage. The
<STRONG>curscr</STRONG> can be used in only a few routines.
<STRONG>Routine</STRONG> <STRONG>and</STRONG> <STRONG>Argument</STRONG> <STRONG>Names</STRONG>
- Many <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines have two or more versions. The rou-
+ Many <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines have two or more versions. The rou-
tines prefixed with <STRONG>w</STRONG> require a window argument. The rou-
tines prefixed with <STRONG>p</STRONG> require a pad argument. Those with-
out a prefix generally use <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.
The routines prefixed with <STRONG>mv</STRONG> require a <EM>y</EM> and <EM>x</EM> coordinate
- to move to before performing the appropriate action. The
- <STRONG>mv</STRONG> routines imply a call to <STRONG>move</STRONG> before the call to the
- other routine. The coordinate <EM>y</EM> always refers to the row
- (of the window), and <EM>x</EM> always refers to the column. The
+ to move to before performing the appropriate action. The
+ <STRONG>mv</STRONG> routines imply a call to <STRONG>move</STRONG> before the call to the
+ other routine. The coordinate <EM>y</EM> always refers to the row
+ (of the window), and <EM>x</EM> always refers to the column. The
upper left-hand corner is always (0,0), not (1,1).
The routines prefixed with <STRONG>mvw</STRONG> take both a window argument
- and <EM>x</EM> and <EM>y</EM> coordinates. The window argument is always
+ and <EM>x</EM> and <EM>y</EM> coordinates. The window argument is always
specified before the coordinates.
- In each case, <EM>win</EM> is the window affected, and <EM>pad</EM> is the
+ In each case, <EM>win</EM> is the window affected, and <EM>pad</EM> is the
pad affected; <EM>win</EM> and <EM>pad</EM> are always pointers to type <STRONG>WIN-</STRONG>
<STRONG>DOW</STRONG>.
Option setting routines require a Boolean flag <EM>bf</EM> with the
- value <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> or <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>; <EM>bf</EM> is always of type <STRONG>bool</STRONG>. Most of
- the data types used in the library routines, such as <STRONG>WIN-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>DOW</STRONG>, <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG>, <STRONG>bool</STRONG>, and <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> are defined in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>.
- Types used for the terminfo routines such as <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> are
+ value <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> or <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>; <EM>bf</EM> is always of type <STRONG>bool</STRONG>. Most of
+ the data types used in the library routines, such as <STRONG>WIN-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>DOW</STRONG>, <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG>, <STRONG>bool</STRONG>, and <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> are defined in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>.
+ Types used for the terminfo routines such as <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> are
defined in <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>.
- This manual page describes functions which may appear in
- any configuration of the library. There are two common
+ 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 <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>
+ characters combined with attributes in <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>
data.
- Attributes alone (no corresponding character)
- may be stored in <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> or the equivalent
- <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> data. In either case, the data is
+ Attributes alone (no corresponding character)
+ may be stored in <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> or the equivalent
+ <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> data. In either case, the data is
stored in something like an integer.
- Each cell (row and column) in a <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> is
+ Each cell (row and column) in a <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> is
stored as a <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>.
ncursesw
- the so-called "wide" library, which handles
- multibyte characters (See the section on
+ the so-called "wide" library, which handles
+ multibyte characters (See the section on
<STRONG>ALTERNATE</STRONG> <STRONG>CONFIGURATIONS</STRONG>). The "wide" library
- includes all of the calls from the "normal"
- library. It adds about one third more calls
+ includes all of the calls from the "normal"
+ library. It adds about one third more calls
using data types which store multibyte charac-
ters:
<STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG>
- corresponds to <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>. However it is a
- structure, because more data is stored
- than can fit into an integer. The char-
+ corresponds to <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>. 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-
+ 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 <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> is
stored as a <STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG>.
<STRONG>wchar_t</STRONG>
- stores a "wide" character. Like <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>,
+ stores a "wide" character. Like <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>,
this may be an integer.
<STRONG>wint_t</STRONG>
- stores a <STRONG>wchar_t</STRONG> or <STRONG>WEOF</STRONG> - not the same,
+ stores a <STRONG>wchar_t</STRONG> or <STRONG>WEOF</STRONG> - 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
+ 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, <STRONG>waddch</STRONG> becomes <STRONG>wadd_wch</STRONG>.
-
<STRONG>Routine</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG> <STRONG>Index</STRONG>
The following table lists each <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routine and the name
- of the manual page on which it is described. Routines
- flagged with `*' are ncurses-specific, not described by
+ of the manual page on which it is described. Routines
+ flagged with `*' are ncurses-specific, not described by
XPG4 or present in SVr4.
-
<STRONG>curses</STRONG> Routine Name Manual Page Name
--------------------------------------------
COLOR_PAIR <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
PAIR_NUMBER <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>
+ _nc_free_and_exit <STRONG><A HREF="curs_memleaks.3x.html">curs_memleaks(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+ _nc_freeall <STRONG><A HREF="curs_memleaks.3x.html">curs_memleaks(3x)</A></STRONG>*
_nc_tracebits <STRONG><A HREF="curs_trace.3x.html">curs_trace(3x)</A></STRONG>*
_traceattr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_trace.3x.html">curs_trace(3x)</A></STRONG>*
</PRE>
<H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
- Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure
- and an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon successful com-
- pletion, unless otherwise noted in the routine descrip-
+ Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure
+ and an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon successful com-
+ pletion, unless otherwise noted in the routine descrip-
tions.
- All macros return the value of the <STRONG>w</STRONG> version, except
+ All macros return the value of the <STRONG>w</STRONG> version, except
<STRONG>setscrreg</STRONG>, <STRONG>wsetscrreg</STRONG>, <STRONG>getyx</STRONG>, <STRONG>getbegyx</STRONG>, and <STRONG>getmaxyx</STRONG>. The
- return values of <STRONG>setscrreg</STRONG>, <STRONG>wsetscrreg</STRONG>, <STRONG>getyx</STRONG>, <STRONG>getbegyx</STRONG>,
+ return values of <STRONG>setscrreg</STRONG>, <STRONG>wsetscrreg</STRONG>, <STRONG>getyx</STRONG>, <STRONG>getbegyx</STRONG>,
and <STRONG>getmaxyx</STRONG> are undefined (i.e., these should not be used
as the right-hand side of assignment statements).
important ones have been already discussed in detail.
BAUDRATE
- The debugging library checks this environment symbol
+ 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.
+ The symbol's numeric value is used for the baudrate.
If no value is found, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses 9600. This allows
- testers to construct repeatable test-cases that take
+ 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 <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG> capability) of the loaded terminfo
- entries to the value of this symbol. Very few ter-
+ (i.e., the <STRONG>cmdch</STRONG> 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, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
+ 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-
LINES
Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in
- characters. See COLUMNS for a detailed description.
+ 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
+ the order of buttons on the mouse. OS/2 numbers a
3-button mouse inconsistently from other platforms:
1 = left
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, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses
+ must be three numeric digits 1-3 in any order, e.g.,
+ 123 or 321. If it is not specified, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses
132.
NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS
- Override the compiled-in assumption that the termi-
- nal's default colors are white-on-black (see
- <STRONG><A HREF="default_colors.3x.html">default_colors(3x)</A></STRONG>). 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-
+ Override the compiled-in assumption that the termi-
+ nal's default colors are white-on-black (see
+ <STRONG><A HREF="default_colors.3x.html">default_colors(3x)</A></STRONG>). 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 <STRONG>max_colors</STRONG> value
is allowed.
NCURSES_GPM_TERMS
- This applies only to ncurses configured to use the
+ 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
+ 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
+ If the environment variable is absent, ncurses will
attempt to open GPM if TERM contains "linux".
NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS
- <STRONG>Ncurses</STRONG> may use tabs as part of the cursor movement
- optimization. In some cases, your terminal driver
- may not handle these properly. Set this environment
+ <STRONG>Ncurses</STRONG> 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 <STRONG>stty</STRONG> 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 termi-
+ requires special handling to make highlighting and
+ other video attributes display properly. You can
+ suppress the highlighting entirely for these termi-
nals 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
- applications. 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., timing. Unless a hardware terminal is inter-
- faced into a terminal concentrator (which does flow
- control), it (or your application) must manage
- dataflow, preventing 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
+ 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
+ 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 <EM>flash</EM>.
NCURSES_NO_SETBUF
- Normally <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> enables buffered output during ter-
- minal initialization. This is done (as in SVr4
- curses) for performance reasons. For testing pur-
+ Normally <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> enables buffered output during ter-
+ minal initialization. This is done (as in SVr4
+ curses) for performance reasons. For testing pur-
poses, both of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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
+ leaving the output in the original (usually line
buffered) mode.
NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS
During initialization, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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
+ 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.
+ 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".
NCURSES_TRACE
- During initialization, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> debugging library
- checks the NCURSES_TRACE symbol. If it is defined,
+ During initialization, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> debugging library
+ checks the NCURSES_TRACE symbol. If it is defined,
to a numeric value, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> calls the <STRONG>trace</STRONG> function,
using that value as the argument.
- The argument values, which are defined in <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG>,
- provide several types of information. When running
- with traces enabled, your application will write the
+ The argument values, which are defined in <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG>,
+ provide several types of information. When running
+ with traces enabled, your application will write the
file <STRONG>trace</STRONG> to the current directory.
- TERM Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is
+ TERM Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is
distinct, though many are similar.
TERMCAP
If the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library has been configured with <EM>term-</EM>
- <EM>cap</EM> support, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> will check for a terminal's
+ <EM>cap</EM> support, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> to ignore the usual place for this
+ 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 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> to ignore the usual place for this
information, e.g., /etc/termcap.
TERMINFO
Overrides the directory in which <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> searches for
your terminal description. This is the simplest, but
- not the only way to change the list of directories.
+ not the only way to change the list of directories.
The complete list of directories in order follows:
- the last directory to which <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> wrote, if any,
/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
+ 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
+ makes a subdirectory named for the first letter of
the terminal names therein.
TERMPATH
- If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
- checks the TERMPATH symbol. This is a list of file-
- names separated by spaces or colons (i.e., ":") on
+ If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
+ 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, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> looks in the files /etc/termcap,
- /usr/share/misc/termcap and $HOME/.termcap, in that
+ is not set, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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:
+ 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.
</PRE>
<H2>ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS</H2><PRE>
- Several different configurations are possible, depending
- on the configure script options used when building
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. There are a few main options whose effects are
+ Several different configurations are possible, depending
+ on the configure script options used when building
+ <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. There are a few main options whose effects are
visible to the applications developer using <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>:
--disable-overwrite
- The standard include for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is as noted in <STRONG>SYN-</STRONG>
+ The standard include for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is as noted in <STRONG>SYN-</STRONG>
<STRONG>OPSIS</STRONG>:
<STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
- This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is not the main implementation of curses of
- the computer. If <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is installed disabling
- overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdirectory,
+ This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when
+ <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is not the main implementation of curses of
+ the computer. If <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is installed disabling
+ overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdirectory,
e.g.,
<STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><ncurses/curses.h></STRONG>
- It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you
+ It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you
to use <STRONG>-lcurses</STRONG> to build executables.
--enable-widec
- The configure script renames the library and (if the
- <STRONG>--disable-overwrite</STRONG> option is used) puts the header
+ The configure script renames the library and (if the
+ <STRONG>--disable-overwrite</STRONG> option is used) puts the header
files in a different subdirectory. All of the
- library names have a "w" appended to them, i.e.,
+ library names have a "w" appended to them, i.e.,
instead of
<STRONG>-lncurses</STRONG>
<STRONG>-lncursesw</STRONG>
You must also define <STRONG>_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED</STRONG> when com-
- piling for the wide-character library to use the
- extended (wide-character) functions. The <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG>
- file which is installed for the wide-character
- library is designed to be compatible with the normal
+ piling for the wide-character library to use the
+ extended (wide-character) functions. The <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG>
+ 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 <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> struc-
- ture differs, and very few applications require more
- than a pointer to <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG>s. 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
+ ture differs, and very few applications require more
+ than a pointer to <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG>s. 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-debug
--with-profile
- The shared and normal (static) library names differ
- by their suffixes, e.g., <STRONG>libncurses.so</STRONG> and <STRONG>libn-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>curses.a</STRONG>. The debug and profiling libraries add a
+ The shared and normal (static) library names differ
+ by their suffixes, e.g., <STRONG>libncurses.so</STRONG> and <STRONG>libn-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>curses.a</STRONG>. The debug and profiling libraries add a
"_g" and a "_p" to the root names respectively, e.g.,
<STRONG>libncurses_g.a</STRONG> and <STRONG>libncurses_p.a</STRONG>.
--with-trace
- The <STRONG>trace</STRONG> function normally resides in the debug
+ The <STRONG>trace</STRONG> function normally resides in the debug
library, but it is sometimes useful to configure this
- in the shared library. Configure scripts should
+ in the shared library. Configure scripts should
check for the function's existence rather than assum-
ing it is always in the debug library.
</PRE>
<H2>FILES</H2><PRE>
/usr/share/tabset
- directory containing initialization files for the
+ directory containing initialization files for the
terminal capability database /usr/share/terminfo ter-
minal capability database
</PRE>
<H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
- <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> and related pages whose names begin "curs_"
+ <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> and related pages whose names begin "curs_"
for detailed routine descriptions.
The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library can be compiled with an option
(<STRONG>-DUSE_GETCAP</STRONG>) that falls back to the old-style /etc/term-
cap file if the terminal setup code cannot find a terminfo
- entry corresponding to <STRONG>TERM</STRONG>. Use of this feature is not
- recommended, as it essentially includes an entire termcap
- compiler in the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> startup code, at significant cost
+ entry corresponding to <STRONG>TERM</STRONG>. Use of this feature is not
+ recommended, as it essentially includes an entire termcap
+ compiler in the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> startup code, at significant cost
in core and startup cycles.
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library includes facilities for capturing
- mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm). See
+ The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library includes facilities for capturing
+ mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm). See
the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_mouse.3x.html">curs_mouse(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page for details.
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library includes facilities for responding to
- window resizing events, e.g., when running in an xterm.
- See the <STRONG><A HREF="resizeterm.3x.html">resizeterm(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="wresize.3x.html">wresize(3x)</A></STRONG> manual pages for
- details. In addition, the library may be configured with
+ The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library includes facilities for responding to
+ window resizing events, e.g., when running in an xterm.
+ See the <STRONG><A HREF="resizeterm.3x.html">resizeterm(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="wresize.3x.html">wresize(3x)</A></STRONG> manual pages for
+ details. In addition, the library may be configured with
a SIGWINCH handler.
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library extends the fixed set of function key
- capabilities of terminals by allowing the application
- designer to define additional key sequences at runtime.
+ The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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 <STRONG><A HREF="define_key.3x.html">define_key(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="key_defined.3x.html">key_defined(3x)</A></STRONG>, and <STRONG><A HREF="keyok.3x.html">keyok(3x)</A></STRONG> man-
ual pages for details.
The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library can exploit the capabilities of termi-
- nals which implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 con-
+ 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.
+ 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 <STRONG><A HREF="default_colors.3x.html">default_colors(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page for details.
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library includes a function for directing
- application output to a printer attached to the terminal
+ The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library includes a function for directing
+ application output to a printer attached to the terminal
device. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_print.3x.html">curs_print(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page for details.
</PRE>
<H2>PORTABILITY</H2><PRE>
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library is intended to be BASE-level confor-
+ The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> calls) are
- described in <STRONG>PORTABILITY</STRONG> sections of the library man
+ A small number of local differences (that is, individual
+ differences between the XSI Curses and <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> calls) are
+ described in <STRONG>PORTABILITY</STRONG> sections of the library man
pages.
This implementation also contains several extensions:
- The routine <STRONG>has_key</STRONG> is not part of XPG4, nor is it
- present in SVr4. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page
+ The routine <STRONG>has_key</STRONG> is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ present in SVr4. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page
for details.
- The routine <STRONG>slk_attr</STRONG> is not part of XPG4, nor is it
- present in SVr4. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page
+ The routine <STRONG>slk_attr</STRONG> is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ present in SVr4. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page
for details.
- The routines <STRONG>getmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mousemask</STRONG>, <STRONG>ungetmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mou-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>seinterval</STRONG>, and <STRONG>wenclose</STRONG> relating to mouse interfac-
- ing are not part of XPG4, nor are they present in
- SVr4. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_mouse.3x.html">curs_mouse(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page for
+ The routines <STRONG>getmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mousemask</STRONG>, <STRONG>ungetmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mou-</STRONG>
+ <STRONG>seinterval</STRONG>, and <STRONG>wenclose</STRONG> relating to mouse interfac-
+ ing are not part of XPG4, nor are they present in
+ SVr4. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_mouse.3x.html">curs_mouse(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page for
details.
- The routine <STRONG>mcprint</STRONG> was not present in any previous
+ The routine <STRONG>mcprint</STRONG> was not present in any previous
curses implementation. See the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_print.3x.html">curs_print(3x)</A></STRONG> manual
page for details.
- The routine <STRONG>wresize</STRONG> is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ The routine <STRONG>wresize</STRONG> is not part of XPG4, nor is it
present in SVr4. See the <STRONG><A HREF="wresize.3x.html">wresize(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page for
details.
The WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden
- from application programs. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG> for
+ from application programs. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG> for
the discussion of <STRONG>is_scrollok</STRONG>, etc.
- In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
+ In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
bilities <STRONG>cr</STRONG>, <STRONG>ind</STRONG>, <STRONG>cub1</STRONG>, <STRONG>ff</STRONG> and <STRONG>tab</STRONG> 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
+ 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.
</PRE>
<H2>NOTES</H2><PRE>
- The header file <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> automatically includes the
+ The header file <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> automatically includes the
header files <STRONG><stdio.h></STRONG> and <STRONG><unctrl.h></STRONG>.
- If standard output from a <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> program is re-directed
- to something which is not a tty, screen updates will be
+ If standard output from a <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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.
</PRE>
<H2>AUTHORS</H2><PRE>
- Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
+ Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff