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* t
****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 1998-2009,2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
+ * Copyright (c) 1998-2010,2011 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 1.101 2010/12/04 18:38:55 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.103 2011/02/05 23:21:29 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 5.7 (patch 20110122).
+ describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 5.8 (patch 20110226).
The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library emulates the curses library of System
V Release 4 UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide)
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>*
_traceattr2 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_trace.3x.html">curs_trace(3x)</A></STRONG>*
_tracechar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_trace.3x.html">curs_trace(3x)</A></STRONG>*
echo <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
echo_wchar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_add_wch.3x.html">curs_add_wch(3x)</A></STRONG>
echochar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">curs_addch(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
endwin <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>
erase <STRONG><A HREF="curs_clear.3x.html">curs_clear(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
erasechar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG>
erasewchar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG>
filter <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>
intrflush <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
inwstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inwstr.3x.html">curs_inwstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
is_cleared <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+
is_idcok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_idlok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
-
is_immedok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_keypad <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_leaveok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
mvinsch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_insch.3x.html">curs_insch(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvinsnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_insstr.3x.html">curs_insstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvinsstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_insstr.3x.html">curs_insstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
mvinstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_instr.3x.html">curs_instr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvinwstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inwstr.3x.html">curs_inwstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
mvprintw <STRONG><A HREF="curs_printw.3x.html">curs_printw(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvscanw <STRONG><A HREF="curs_scanw.3x.html">curs_scanw(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvvline <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border.3x.html">curs_border(3x)</A></STRONG>
pair_content <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
pechochar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(3x)</A></STRONG>
pnoutrefresh <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
prefresh <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(3x)</A></STRONG>
printw <STRONG><A HREF="curs_printw.3x.html">curs_printw(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
putp <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
putwin <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>
qiflush <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
tigetstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
timeout <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
touchline <STRONG><A HREF="curs_touch.3x.html">curs_touch(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
touchwin <STRONG><A HREF="curs_touch.3x.html">curs_touch(3x)</A></STRONG>
tparm <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
tputs <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG>
tputs <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
trace <STRONG><A HREF="curs_trace.3x.html">curs_trace(3x)</A></STRONG>*
wgetbkgrnd <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgrnd.3x.html">curs_bkgrnd(3x)</A></STRONG>
wgetch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch(3x)</A></STRONG>
wgetn_wstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_get_wstr.3x.html">curs_get_wstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
wgetnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getstr.3x.html">curs_getstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
wgetstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getstr.3x.html">curs_getstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
whline <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border.3x.html">curs_border(3x)</A></STRONG>
whline_set <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border_set.3x.html">curs_border_set(3x)</A></STRONG>
win_wch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_in_wch.3x.html">curs_in_wch(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>
+ 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-
- ally are able to obtain the width of the window in
- which they are executing. If neither the <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG>
- value nor the terminal's screen size is available,
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses the size which may be specified in the
+ 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 <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG>
+ value nor the terminal's screen size is available,
+ <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses the size which may be specified in the
terminfo database (i.e., the <STRONG>cols</STRONG> 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 <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> and/or <STRONG>LINES</STRONG>
+ 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 <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> and/or <STRONG>LINES</STRONG>
overrides the library's use of the screen size
obtained from the operating system.
- Either <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> or <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> symbols may be specified
- independently. This is mainly useful to circumvent
- legacy misfeatures of terminal descriptions, e.g.,
+ Either <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> or <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> 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, <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>cols</STRONG> should not be specified
+ best results, <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>cols</STRONG> should not be specified
in a terminal description for terminals which are run
as emulations.
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,
+ 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.
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> where your home directory is. That is
+ HOME Tells <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> where your home directory is. That is
where it may read and write auxiliary terminal
descriptions:
$HOME/.terminfo
LINES
- Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in
- characters. See COLUMNS for a detailed description.
+ 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
ber) disables the special check for "linux" and
"screen".
+ As an alternative to the environment variable,
+ ncurses checks for an extended terminfo capability
+ <STRONG>U8</STRONG>. This is a numeric capability which can be com-
+ piled using <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>. 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 <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:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> the last directory to which <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> wrote, if
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the last directory to which <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> wrote, if
any, is searched first
<STRONG>o</STRONG> the directory specified by the TERMINFO symbol
<STRONG>o</STRONG> directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS symbol
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> one or more directories whose names are config-
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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
+ 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
- "_g" and a "_p" to the root names respectively, e.g.,
- <STRONG>libncurses_g.a</STRONG> and <STRONG>libncurses_p.a</STRONG>.
+ The shared and normal (static) library names differ
+ by their suffixes, e.g., <STRONG>libncurses.so</STRONG> and
+ <STRONG>libncurses.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.
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>
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:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> The routine <STRONG>slk_attr</STRONG> is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> The routines <STRONG>getmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mousemask</STRONG>, <STRONG>ungetmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mousein-</STRONG>
<STRONG>terval</STRONG>, and <STRONG>wenclose</STRONG> relating to mouse interfacing are
- not part of XPG4, nor are they present in SVr4. See
+ 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.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> 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
the discussion of <STRONG>is_scrollok</STRONG>, etc.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> This implementation can be configured to provide rudi-
- mentary support for multi-threaded applications. See
+ mentary support for multi-threaded applications. See
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_threads.3x.html">curs_threads(3x)</A></STRONG> for details.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> This implementation can also be configured to provide
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> This implementation can also be configured to provide
a set of functions which improve the ability to manage
- multiple screens. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_sp_funcs.3x.html">curs_sp_funcs(3x)</A></STRONG> for details.
+ multiple
screens. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_sp_funcs.3x.html">curs_sp_funcs(3x)</A></STRONG> for details.
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
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff