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-<H1 class="no-header">ncurses 3x</H1>
+<H1 class="no-header">ncurses 3x 2024-02-24 ncurses 6.4 Library calls</H1>
<PRE>
-<STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>
<STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>
+<STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>
Library calls <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> - CRT screen handling and optimization package
+ <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> - character-cell terminal interface with optimized output
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library routines give the user a terminal-independent
+ The <EM>ncurses</EM> library routines give the user a terminal-independent
method of updating character screens with reasonable optimization.
- This implementation is "new curses" (ncurses) and is the approved
+ This implementation is "new curses" (<EM>ncurses</EM>) and is the approved
replacement for 4.4BSD classic curses, which has been discontinued.
- This describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 6.2 (patch 20210327).
-
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library is freely redistributable in source form. Differences
- from the SVr4 curses are summarized under the <STRONG>EXTENSIONS</STRONG> and
- <STRONG>PORTABILITY</STRONG> sections below and described in detail in the respective
- <STRONG>EXTENSIONS</STRONG>, <STRONG>PORTABILITY</STRONG> and <STRONG>BUGS</STRONG> sections of individual man pages.
-
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> 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 <STRONG>-lncurses</STRONG>
- option, or (if it has been generated) with the debugging library
- <STRONG>-lncurses_g</STRONG>. (Your system integrator may also have installed these
- libraries under the names <STRONG>-lcurses</STRONG> and <STRONG>-lcurses_g</STRONG>.) The ncurses_g
- library generates trace logs (in a file called 'trace' in the current
- directory) that describe curses actions. See also the section on
- <STRONG>ALTERNATE</STRONG> <STRONG>CONFIGURATIONS</STRONG>.
-
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> package supports: overall screen, window and pad
- manipulation; output to windows and pads; reading terminal input;
- control over terminal and <STRONG>curses</STRONG> input and output options; environment
- query routines; color manipulation; use of soft label keys; terminfo
+ This describes <EM>ncurses</EM> version 6.4 (patch 20240224).
+
+ The <EM>ncurses</EM> library emulates the curses library of System V Release 4
+ Unix ("SVr4"), and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide) curses (also known
+ as XSI curses). XSI stands for X/Open System Interfaces Extension.
+ The <EM>ncurses</EM> library is freely redistributable in source form.
+
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> man pages employ several sections to clarify matters of usage
+ and interoperability with other <EM>curses</EM> implementations.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> "NOTES" describes matters and caveats of which any user of the
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> API should be aware, such as limitations on the size of an
+ underlying integral type or the availability of a preprocessor
+ macro exclusive of a function definition (which prevents its
+ address from being taken). This section also describes
+ implementation details that will be significant to the programmer
+ but which are not standardized.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> "EXTENSIONS" presents <EM>ncurses</EM> innovations beyond the X/Open Curses
+ standard and/or the SVr4 <EM>curses</EM> implementation. They are termed
+ <EM>extensions</EM> to indicate that they cannot be implemented solely by
+ using the library API, but require access to the library's internal
+ state.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> "PORTABILITY" discusses matters (beyond the exercise of extensions)
+ that should be considered when writing to a <EM>curses</EM> standard, or to
+ multiple implementations.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> "HISTORY" examines points of detail in <EM>ncurses</EM> and other <EM>curses</EM>
+ implementations over the decades of their development, particularly
+ where precedent or inertia have frustrated better design (and, in a
+ few cases, where such inertia has been overcome).
+
+ A program using these routines must be linked with the <STRONG>-lncurses</STRONG>
+ option, or (if it has been generated) with the debugging library
+ <STRONG>-lncurses_g</STRONG>. (Your system integrator may also have installed these
+ libraries under the names <STRONG>-lcurses</STRONG> and <STRONG>-lcurses_g</STRONG>.) The ncurses_g
+ library generates trace logs (in a file called "trace" in the current
+ directory) that describe curses actions. See section "ALTERNATE
+ CONFIGURATIONS" below.
+
+ The <EM>ncurses</EM> package supports: overall screen, window and pad
+ manipulation; output to windows and pads; reading terminal input;
+ control over terminal and <STRONG>curses</STRONG> input and output options; environment
+ query routines; color manipulation; use of soft label keys; terminfo
capabilities; and access to low-level terminal-manipulation routines.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
- The library uses the locale which the calling program has initialized.
- That is normally done with <STRONG>setlocale</STRONG>:
+ The library uses the locale which the calling program has initialized.
+ That is normally done with <STRONG>setlocale(3)</STRONG>:
<STRONG>setlocale(LC_ALL,</STRONG> <STRONG>"");</STRONG>
- 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.
+ 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 set up.
- The function <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> must be called to initialize the
- library before any of the other routines that deal with windows and
- screens are used. The routine <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">endwin(3x)</A></STRONG> must be called before
+ The function <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> must be called to initialize the
+ library before any of the other routines that deal with windows and
+ screens are used. The routine <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">endwin(3x)</A></STRONG> must be called before
exiting.
- To get character-at-a-time input without echoing (most interactive,
- screen oriented programs want this), the following sequence should be
+ To get character-at-a-time input without echoing (most interactive,
+ screen oriented programs want this), the following sequence should be
used:
<STRONG>initscr();</STRONG> <STRONG>cbreak();</STRONG> <STRONG>noecho();</STRONG>
<STRONG>keypad(stdscr,</STRONG> <STRONG>TRUE);</STRONG>
Before a <STRONG>curses</STRONG> program is run, the tab stops of the terminal should be
- set and its initialization strings, if defined, must be output. This
- can be done by executing the <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>init</STRONG> command after the shell
- environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> has been exported. <STRONG>tset(1)</STRONG> is usually
- responsible for doing this. [See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for further details.]
-
-
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Datatypes">Datatypes</a></H3><PRE>
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library permits manipulation of data structures, called
- <EM>windows</EM>, which can be thought of as two-dimensional arrays of
- characters representing all or part of a CRT screen. A default window
- called <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, which is the size of the terminal screen, is supplied.
- Others may be created with <STRONG>newwin</STRONG>.
-
- Note that <STRONG>curses</STRONG> does not handle overlapping windows, that's done by
- the <STRONG><A HREF="panel.3x.html">panel(3x)</A></STRONG> library. This means that you can either use <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG> or
- divide the screen into tiled windows and not using <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG> at all.
- Mixing the two will result in unpredictable, and undesired, effects.
-
- Windows are referred to by variables declared as <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG>. These data
- structures are manipulated with routines described here and elsewhere
- in the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> manual pages. 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>.
-
- After using routines to manipulate a window, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">refresh(3x)</A></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.
+ set and its initialization strings, if defined, must be output. This
+ can be done by executing the <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>init</STRONG> command after the shell
+ environment variable <EM>TERM</EM> has been exported. (The BSD-style <STRONG><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></STRONG>
+ utility also performs this function.) See subsection "Tabs and
+ Initialization" of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Overview">Overview</a></H3><PRE>
+ A <EM>curses</EM> library abstracts the terminal screen by representing all or
+ part of it as a <EM>WINDOW</EM> data structure. A <EM>window</EM> is a rectangular grid
+ of character cells, addressed by row and column coordinates (<EM>y</EM>, <EM>x</EM>),
+ with the upper left corner as (0, 0). A window called <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, the same
+ size as the terminal screen, is always available. Create others with
+ <STRONG><A HREF="curs_window.3x.html">newwin(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+
+ A <EM>curses</EM> library does not manage overlapping windows. (See <STRONG><A HREF="panel.3x.html">panel(3x)</A></STRONG>
+ if you desire this.) You can either use <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG> to manage one screen-
+ filling window, or tile the screen into non-overlapping windows and not
+ use <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG> at all. Mixing the two approaches will result in
+ unpredictable, and undesired, effects.
+
+ Functions permit manipulation of a window and the <EM>cursor</EM> identifying
+ the cell within it at which the next output operation will occur.
+ Among those, the most basic are <STRONG><A HREF="curs_move.3x.html">move(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">addch(3x)</A></STRONG>: these place the
+ cursor and write a character to <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, respectively. As a rule,
+ window-addressing functions feature names prefixed (or infixed, see
+ below) with "w"; these allow the user to specify a pointer to a <EM>WINDOW.</EM>
+ Counterparts not thus prefixed (or infixed) affect <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>. Because
+ moving the cursor prior to another operation is so common, <EM>curses</EM>
+ generally also provides functions with a "mv" prefix as a convenience.
+ Thus, the library defines all of <STRONG>addch</STRONG>, <STRONG>waddch</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvaddch</STRONG>, and <STRONG>mvwaddch</STRONG>.
+ When both prefixes are present, the order of arguments is a <EM>WINDOW</EM>
+ pointer first, then a <EM>y</EM> and <EM>x</EM> coordinate pair.
+
+ Updating the terminal screen with every <EM>curses</EM> call can cause
+ unpleasant flicker or inefficient use of the communications channel to
+ the device. Therefore, after using <EM>curses</EM> functions to accumulate a
+ set of desired updates that make sense to present together, call
+ <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">refresh(3x)</A></STRONG> to tell the library to make the user's screen look like
+ <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>. <EM>ncurses</EM> <EM>optimizes</EM> its output by computing a minimal number of
+ operations to mutate the screen from its state at the previous refresh
+ to the new one. Effective optimization demands accurate information
+ about the terminal device: the management of such information is the
+ province of the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> API, a feature of every standard <EM>curses</EM>
+ implementation.
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 displayed. 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 characters 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 <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, such as <STRONG>A_REVERSE</STRONG>, <STRONG>ACS_HLINE</STRONG>,
- and <STRONG>KEY_LEFT</STRONG>.
-
-
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Environment-variables">Environment variables</a></H3><PRE>
- 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 information read by
- <EM>terminfo</EM>. This would affect a program 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 program 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 definition 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 set to <STRONG>$HOME/myterms</STRONG>,
- <STRONG>curses</STRONG> first checks
-
- <STRONG>$HOME/myterms/a/att4424</STRONG>,
-
- and if that fails, it then checks
-
- <STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424</STRONG>.
-
- This is useful for developing experimental definitions or when write
- permission in <STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo</STRONG> is not available.
-
- 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 values <STRONG>1</STRONG> and <STRONG>0</STRONG>, respectively.
-
- 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 <STRONG>curscr</STRONG> can be used in only a few
- routines.
-
-
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Routine-and-Argument-Names">Routine and Argument Names</a></H3><PRE>
- Many <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines have two or more versions. The routines prefixed
- with <STRONG>w</STRONG> require a window argument. The routines prefixed with <STRONG>p</STRONG> require
- a pad argument. Those without 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 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 specified before the
- coordinates.
-
- 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>WINDOW</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>WINDOW</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 configurations of
- the library:
-
- <EM>ncurses</EM>
- the "normal" library, which handles 8-bit characters. The
- normal (8-bit) library stores 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 stored in something like an integer.
-
- Each cell (row and column) in a <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> is stored as a <STRONG>chtype</STRONG>.
-
- <EM>ncursesw</EM>
- 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 using data types
- which store multibyte characters:
-
- <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
- characters 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 separate
- fields of the structure.
-
- Each cell (row and column) in a <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> is stored as a
- <STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG>.
-
- The <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getcchar.3x.html">setcchar(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getcchar.3x.html">getcchar(3x)</A></STRONG> functions store and
- retrieve the data from a <STRONG>cchar_t</STRONG> structure.
-
- <STRONG>wchar_t</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, though both may
- have the same size.
-
- The "wide" library provides new functions which are analogous
- to functions in the "normal" library. There is a naming
- convention which relates many of the normal/wide variants: a
- "_w" is inserted into the name. For example, <STRONG>waddch</STRONG> becomes
- <STRONG>wadd_wch</STRONG>.
-
-
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Routine-Name-Index">Routine Name Index</a></H3><PRE>
- The following table lists the <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines provided in the "normal"
- and "wide" libraries and the names of the manual pages on which they
- are described. Routines flagged with "*" are ncurses-specific, not
- described by XPG4 or present in SVr4.
-
- <STRONG>curses</STRONG> Routine Name Manual Page Name
+ that are not constrained to the size of the terminal screen and whose
+ contents need not be completely displayed. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+
+ In addition to drawing characters on the screen, rendering attributes
+ and colors may be supported, causing the characters to show up in such
+ modes as underlined, in reverse video, or in color on terminals that
+ support such display enhancements. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+
+ <EM>curses</EM> predefines constants for a small set of line-drawing and other
+ graphics corresponding to the DEC Alternate Character Set (ACS), a
+ feature of VT100 and other terminals. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">waddch(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="curs_add_wch.3x.html">wadd_wch(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+
+ <EM>curses</EM> is implemented using the operating system's terminal driver;
+ keystroke events are received not as scan codes but as byte sequences.
+ Graphical keycaps (alphanumeric and punctuation keys, and the space)
+ appear as-is. Everything else, including the tab, enter/return,
+ keypad, arrow, and function keys, appears as a control character or a
+ multibyte <EM>escape</EM> <EM>sequence.</EM> <EM>curses</EM> translates these into unique <EM>key</EM>
+ <EM>codes.</EM> See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">getch(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Effects-of-GUIs-and-Environment-Variables">Effects of GUIs and Environment Variables</a></H3><PRE>
+ The selection of an appropriate value of <EM>TERM</EM> in the process
+ environment is essential to correct <EM>curses</EM> and <EM>terminfo</EM> library
+ operation. A well-configured system selects a correct <EM>TERM</EM> value
+ automatically; <STRONG><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></STRONG> may assist with troubleshooting exotic
+ situations.
+
+ If the environment variables <EM>LINES</EM> and <EM>COLUMNS</EM> are set, or if the
+ <EM>curses</EM> program is executing in a graphical windowing environment, the
+ information obtained thence overrides that obtained by <EM>terminfo</EM>. An
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> extension supports resizable terminals; see <STRONG><A HREF="wresize.3x.html">wresize(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+
+ If the environment variable <EM>TERMINFO</EM> is defined, a <EM>curses</EM> program
+ checks first for a terminal type description in the location it
+ identifies. <EM>TERMINFO</EM> is useful for developing experimental type
+ descriptions or when write permission to <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM> is not
+ available.
+
+ See section "ENVIRONMENT" below.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Naming-Conventions">Naming Conventions</a></H3><PRE>
+ Many <EM>curses</EM> functions have two or more versions. Those prefixed with
+ "w" require a window argument. Four functions prefixed with "p"
+ require a pad argument. Those without a prefix generally operate on
+ <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.
+
+ In function synopses, <EM>ncurses</EM> man pages apply the following names to
+ parameters.
+
+ <EM>bf</EM> <EM>bool</EM> (<STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> or <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>)
+ <EM>win</EM> pointer to <EM>WINDOW</EM>
+ <EM>pad</EM> pointer to <EM>WINDOW</EM> that is a pad
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Wide-and-Non-wide-Character-Configurations">Wide and Non-wide Character Configurations</a></H3><PRE>
+ This manual page describes functions that appear in any configuration
+ of the library. There are two common configurations; see section
+ "ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS" below.
+
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> is the library in its "non-wide" configuration, handling only
+ eight-bit characters. It stores a character combined with
+ attributes in a <EM>chtype</EM> datum, which is often an alias of <EM>int.</EM>
+
+ Attributes alone (with no corresponding character) can be
+ stored in variables of <EM>chtype</EM> or <EM>attr</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM> type. In either
+ case, they are represented as an integral bit mask.
+
+ Each cell of a <EM>WINDOW</EM> is stored as a <EM>chtype.</EM>
+
+ <EM>ncursesw</EM> is the library in its "wide" configuration, which handles
+ character encodings requiring a larger data type than <EM>char</EM> (a
+ byte-sized type) can represent. It adds about one third more
+ calls using additional data types that can store such
+ <EM>multibyte</EM> characters.
+
+ <EM>cchar</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM> corresponds to the non-wide configuration's <EM>chtype.</EM>
+ It always a structure type, because it stores more
+ data than fits into an integral type. A character
+ code may not be representable as a <EM>char,</EM> and
+ moreover more than one character may occupy a cell
+ (as with accent marks and other diacritics). Each
+ character is of type <EM>wchar</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t;</EM> a complex character
+ contains one spacing character and zero or more non-
+ spacing characters (see below). Attributes and
+ color data are stored in separate fields of the
+ structure, not combined as in <EM>chtype.</EM>
+
+ Each cell of a <EM>WINDOW</EM> is stored as a <EM>cchar</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t.</EM>
+
+ The <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getcchar.3x.html">setcchar(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getcchar.3x.html">getcchar(3x)</A></STRONG> functions store and
+ retrieve the data from a <EM>cchar</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM> structure. The wide library
+ API of <EM>ncurses</EM> depends on two data types standardized by ISO
+ C95.
+
+ <EM>wchar</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM> stores a wide character. Like <EM>chtype,</EM> it may be an
+ alias of <EM>int.</EM> Depending on the character encoding,
+ a wide character may be <EM>spacing,</EM> meaning that it
+ occupies a character cell by itself and typically
+ accompanies cursor advancement, or <EM>non-spacing,</EM>
+ meaning that it occupies the same cell as a spacing
+ character, is often regarded as a "modifier" of the
+ base glyph with which it combines, and typically
+ does not advance the cursor.
+
+ <EM>wint</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM> can store a <EM>wchar</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>t</EM> or the constant <STRONG>WEOF</STRONG>,
+ analogously to the <EM>int</EM>-sized character manipulation
+ functions of ISO C and its constant <STRONG>EOF</STRONG>.
+
+ The wide library provides additional functions that
+ complement those in the non-wide library where the size of
+ the underlying character type is significant. A somewhat
+ regular naming convention relates many of the wide variants
+ to their non-wide counterparts; where a non-wide function
+ name contains "ch" or "str", prefix it with "_w" to obtain
+ the wide counterpart. For example, <STRONG>waddch</STRONG> becomes <STRONG>wadd_wch</STRONG>.
+
+ This convention is inapplicable to some non-wide function
+ names, so other transformations are used for the wide
+ configuration: in the window background management functions,
+ "bkgd" becomes "bkgrnd"; the window border-drawing and
+ -clearing functions are suffixed with "_set".
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-Name-Index">Function Name Index</a></H3><PRE>
+ The following table lists the <EM>curses</EM> functions provided in the non-wide
+ and wide APIs and the corresponding man pages that describe them.
+ Those flagged with "*" are <EM>ncurses</EM>-specific, neither described by
+ X/Open Curses nor present in SVr4.
+
+ <STRONG><EM>curses</EM></STRONG> Function Name Man Page
---------------------------------------------
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>
+ PAIR_NUMBER <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
add_wch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_add_wch.3x.html">curs_add_wch(3x)</A></STRONG>
add_wchnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_add_wchstr.3x.html">curs_add_wchstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
add_wchstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_add_wchstr.3x.html">curs_add_wchstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
bkgrnd <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgrnd.3x.html">curs_bkgrnd(3x)</A></STRONG>
bkgrndset <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgrnd.3x.html">curs_bkgrnd(3x)</A></STRONG>
border <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border.3x.html">curs_border(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
border_set <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border_set.3x.html">curs_border_set(3x)</A></STRONG>
box <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border.3x.html">curs_border(3x)</A></STRONG>
box_set <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border_set.3x.html">curs_border_set(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>
exit_curses <STRONG><A HREF="curs_memleaks.3x.html">curs_memleaks(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+
exit_terminfo <STRONG><A HREF="curs_memleaks.3x.html">curs_memleaks(3x)</A></STRONG>*
extended_color_content <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>*
extended_pair_content <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>*
getnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getstr.3x.html">curs_getstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
getparx <STRONG><A HREF="curs_legacy.3x.html">curs_legacy(3x)</A></STRONG>*
getpary <STRONG><A HREF="curs_legacy.3x.html">curs_legacy(3x)</A></STRONG>*
-
getparyx <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getyx.3x.html">curs_getyx(3x)</A></STRONG>
getstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getstr.3x.html">curs_getstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
getsyx <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>
insdelln <STRONG><A HREF="curs_deleteln.3x.html">curs_deleteln(3x)</A></STRONG>
insertln <STRONG><A HREF="curs_deleteln.3x.html">curs_deleteln(3x)</A></STRONG>
insnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_insstr.3x.html">curs_insstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
insstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_insstr.3x.html">curs_insstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
instr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_instr.3x.html">curs_instr(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_cbreak <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_cleared <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+ is_echo <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(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>*
is_linetouched <STRONG><A HREF="curs_touch.3x.html">curs_touch(3x)</A></STRONG>
+ is_nl <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_nodelay <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_notimeout <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_pad <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+ is_raw <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_scrollok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_subwin <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
is_syncok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">curs_opaque(3x)</A></STRONG>*
killchar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG>
killwchar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG>
leaveok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_outopts.3x.html">curs_outopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
longname <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG>
mcprint <STRONG><A HREF="curs_print.3x.html">curs_print(3x)</A></STRONG>*
meta <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvin_wch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_in_wch.3x.html">curs_in_wch(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvin_wchnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_in_wchstr.3x.html">curs_in_wchstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvin_wchstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_in_wchstr.3x.html">curs_in_wchstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
mvinch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inch.3x.html">curs_inch(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvinchnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inchstr.3x.html">curs_inchstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvinchstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inchstr.3x.html">curs_inchstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvwget_wstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_get_wstr.3x.html">curs_get_wstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvwgetch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvwgetn_wstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_get_wstr.3x.html">curs_get_wstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
mvwgetnstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getstr.3x.html">curs_getstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvwgetstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getstr.3x.html">curs_getstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
mvwhline <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border.3x.html">curs_border(3x)</A></STRONG>
nl <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
nocbreak <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
nodelay <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
noecho <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
nofilter <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>*
nonl <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG>
overlay <STRONG><A HREF="curs_overlay.3x.html">curs_overlay(3x)</A></STRONG>
overwrite <STRONG><A HREF="curs_overlay.3x.html">curs_overlay(3x)</A></STRONG>
pair_content <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
- pecho_wchar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+ pecho_wchar <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(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>
scr_dump <STRONG><A HREF="curs_scr_dump.3x.html">curs_scr_dump(3x)</A></STRONG>
scr_init <STRONG><A HREF="curs_scr_dump.3x.html">curs_scr_dump(3x)</A></STRONG>
scr_restore <STRONG><A HREF="curs_scr_dump.3x.html">curs_scr_dump(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
scr_set <STRONG><A HREF="curs_scr_dump.3x.html">curs_scr_dump(3x)</A></STRONG>
scrl <STRONG><A HREF="curs_scroll.3x.html">curs_scroll(3x)</A></STRONG>
scroll <STRONG><A HREF="curs_scroll.3x.html">curs_scroll(3x)</A></STRONG>
slk_restore <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>
slk_set <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>
slk_touch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>
- slk_wset <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+ slk_wset <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>
standend <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>
standout <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>
start_color <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">curs_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
subpad <STRONG><A HREF="curs_pad.3x.html">curs_pad(3x)</A></STRONG>
subwin <STRONG><A HREF="curs_window.3x.html">curs_window(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
syncok <STRONG><A HREF="curs_window.3x.html">curs_window(3x)</A></STRONG>
term_attrs <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG>
termattrs <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG>
tigetnum <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(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>
- tiparm <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+ tiparm <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
+ tiparm_s <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>*
+ tiscan_s <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(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>
use_tioctl <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>*
vid_attr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
vid_puts <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
vidattr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
vidputs <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
vline <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border.3x.html">curs_border(3x)</A></STRONG>
wbkgrnd <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgrnd.3x.html">curs_bkgrnd(3x)</A></STRONG>
wbkgrndset <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgrnd.3x.html">curs_bkgrnd(3x)</A></STRONG>
wborder <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border.3x.html">curs_border(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
wborder_set <STRONG><A HREF="curs_border_set.3x.html">curs_border_set(3x)</A></STRONG>
wchgat <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>
wclear <STRONG><A HREF="curs_clear.3x.html">curs_clear(3x)</A></STRONG>
winnwstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inwstr.3x.html">curs_inwstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
wins_nwstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_ins_wstr.3x.html">curs_ins_wstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
wins_wch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_ins_wch.3x.html">curs_ins_wch(3x)</A></STRONG>
-
wins_wstr <STRONG><A HREF="curs_ins_wstr.3x.html">curs_ins_wstr(3x)</A></STRONG>
winsch <STRONG><A HREF="curs_insch.3x.html">curs_insch(3x)</A></STRONG>
winsdelln <STRONG><A HREF="curs_deleteln.3x.html">curs_deleteln(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
- Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and an integer
- value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon successful completion, unless otherwise noted
- in the routine descriptions.
-
- 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 <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>, and <STRONG>getmaxyx</STRONG> are undefined
- (i.e., these should not be used as the right-hand side of assignment
- statements).
+ Unless otherwise noted, functions that return an integer return <STRONG>OK</STRONG> on
+ success and <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> on failure. Functions that return pointers return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>
+ on failure. Typically, <EM>ncurses</EM> treats a null pointer passed as a
+ function parameter as a failure.
- Functions with a "mv" prefix first perform a cursor movement using
- <STRONG>wmove</STRONG>, and return an error if the position is outside the window, or if
- the window pointer is null. Most "mv"-prefixed functions (except
- variadic functions such as <STRONG>mvprintw</STRONG>) are provided both as macros and
- functions.
-
- Routines that return pointers return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
+ Functions with a "mv" prefix first perform cursor movement using <STRONG>wmove</STRONG>
+ and fail if the position is outside the window, or (for "mvw"
+ functions) if the <EM>WINDOW</EM> pointer is null.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-ENVIRONMENT">ENVIRONMENT</a></H2><PRE>
The following environment symbols are useful for customizing the
- runtime behavior of the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library. The most important ones have
+ runtime behavior of the <EM>ncurses</EM> library. The most important ones have
been already discussed in detail.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-CC-
command-character">CC command-character</a></H3><PRE>
- 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
- variable. Very few terminfo entries provide this feature.
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-CC-
_command-character_"><EM>CC</EM> (command character)</a></H3><PRE>
+ When set, change the <STRONG>command_character</STRONG> (<STRONG>cmdch</STRONG>) capability value of
+ loaded <EM>terminfo</EM> entries to the value of this variable. Very few <EM>term-</EM>
+ <EM>info</EM> entries provide this feature.
Because this name is also used in development environments to represent
- the C compiler's name, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> ignores it if it does not happen to be a
+ the C compiler's name, <EM>ncurses</EM> ignores it if it does not happen to be a
single character.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-BAUDRATE">
BAUDRATE</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-BAUDRATE">
<EM>BAUDRATE</EM></a></H3><PRE>
The debugging library checks this environment variable when the
application has redirected output to a file. The variable's numeric
- value is used for the baudrate. If no value is found, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses
+ value is used for the baud rate. If no value is found, <EM>ncurses</EM> uses
9600. This allows testers to construct repeatable test-cases that take
- into account costs that depend on baudrate.
+ into account costs that depend on baud rate.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-COLUMNS">
COLUMNS</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-COLUMNS">
<EM>COLUMNS</EM></a></H3><PRE>
Specify the width of the screen in characters. Applications running in
a windowing environment usually 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
+ window in which they are executing. If neither the <EM>COLUMNS</EM> value nor
+ the terminal's screen size is available, <EM>ncurses</EM> 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> overrides the library's use of
+ However, setting <EM>COLUMNS</EM> and/or <EM>LINES</EM> 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
+ Either <EM>COLUMNS</EM> or <EM>LINES</EM> 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 in a terminal
Use the <STRONG>use_env</STRONG> function to disable all use of external environment
(but not including system calls) to determine the screen size. Use the
- <STRONG>use_tioctl</STRONG> function to update <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> or <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> to match the screen size
+ <STRONG>use_tioctl</STRONG> function to update <EM>COLUMNS</EM> or <EM>LINES</EM> to match the screen size
obtained from system calls or the terminal database.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-ESCDELAY">
ESCDELAY</a></H3><PRE>
- Specifies the total time, in milliseconds, for which ncurses will await
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-ESCDELAY">
<EM>ESCDELAY</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ Specifies the total time, in milliseconds, for which <EM>ncurses</EM> 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 variable
to accommodate unusual applications.
In addition to the environment variable, this implementation provides a
global variable with the same name. Portable applications should not
- rely upon the presence of ESCDELAY in either form, but setting the
+ rely upon the presence of <STRONG>ESCDELAY</STRONG> in either form, but setting the
environment variable rather than the global variable does not create
problems when compiling an application.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-HOME">
HOME</a></H3><PRE>
- Tells <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> where your home directory is. That is where it may read
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-HOME">
<EM>HOME</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ Tells <EM>ncurses</EM> where your home directory is. That is where it may read
and write auxiliary terminal descriptions:
$HOME/.termcap
$HOME/.terminfo
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-LINES">
LINES</a></H3><PRE>
- Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in characters. See
- COLUMNS for a detailed description.
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-LINES">
<EM>LINES</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ Like <EM>COLUMNS</EM>, specify the height of the screen in characters. See
+ <EM>COLUMNS</EM> for a detailed description.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-MOUSE_BUTTONS_123">
MOUSE_BUTTONS_123</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-MOUSE_BUTTONS_123">
<EM>MOUSE_BUTTONS_123</EM></a></H3><PRE>
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:
This variable lets you customize the mouse. The variable 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.
+ specified, <EM>ncurses</EM> uses 132.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS">
NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS">
<EM>NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS</EM></a></H3><PRE>
Override the compiled-in assumption that the terminal'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 variable
by proving a 2-element list: foreground,background. For example, to
- tell ncurses to not assume anything about the colors, set this to
+ tell <EM>ncurses</EM> to not assume anything about the colors, set this to
"-1,-1". To make it green-on-black, set it to "2,0". Any positive
value from zero to the terminfo <STRONG>max_colors</STRONG> value is allowed.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_CONSOLE2">
NCURSES_CONSOLE2</a></H3><PRE>
- This applies only to the MinGW port of ncurses.
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_CONSOLE2">
<EM>NCURSES_CONSOLE2</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ This applies only to the MinGW port of <EM>ncurses</EM>.
The <STRONG>Console2</STRONG> program's handling of the Microsoft Console API call
<STRONG>CreateConsoleScreenBuffer</STRONG> is defective. Applications which use this
effect.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_GPM_TERMS">
NCURSES_GPM_TERMS</a></H3><PRE>
- This applies only to ncurses configured to use the GPM interface.
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_GPM_TERMS">
<EM>NCURSES_GPM_TERMS</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ This applies only to <EM>ncurses</EM> configured to use the GPM interface.
If present, the environment variable is a list of one or more terminal
- names against which the <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> environment variable is matched. Setting
+ names against which the <EM>TERM</EM> environment 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 <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> contains "linux".
+ If the environment variable is absent, <EM>ncurses</EM> will attempt to open GPM
+ if <EM>TERM</EM> contains "linux".
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS">
NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS</a></H3><PRE>
- <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.
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS">
<EM>NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> may use tabs as part of cursor movement optimization. In some
+ cases, your terminal driver may not handle these properly. Set this
+ environment variable to any value to disable the feature. You can also
+ adjust your <STRONG>stty(1)</STRONG> settings to avoid the problem.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE">
NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE">
<EM>NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE</EM></a></H3><PRE>
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.
+ terminals by setting this environment variable to any value.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_PADDING">
NCURSES_NO_PADDING</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_PADDING">
<EM>NCURSES_NO_PADDING</EM></a></H3><PRE>
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.
delay times embedded. You may wish to use these descriptions, but not
want to pay the performance penalty.
- Set the NCURSES_NO_PADDING environment variable to disable all but
+ Set the <EM>NCURSES</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>NO</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>PADDING</EM> environment variable to disable all but
mandatory padding. Mandatory padding is used as a part of special
- control sequences such as <EM>flash</EM>.
+ control sequences such as <STRONG>flash</STRONG>.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_SETBUF">
NCURSES_NO_SETBUF</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_SETBUF">
<EM>NCURSES_NO_SETBUF</EM></a></H3><PRE>
This setting is obsolete. Before changes
<STRONG>o</STRONG> started with 5.9 patch 20120825 and
<STRONG>o</STRONG> continued though 5.9 patch 20130126
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> enabled buffered output during terminal initialization. This
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> enabled buffered output during terminal initialization. This
was done (as in SVr4 curses) for performance reasons. For testing
- purposes, both of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> and certain applications, this feature was
- made optional. Setting the NCURSES_NO_SETBUF variable disabled output
+ purposes, both of <EM>ncurses</EM> and certain applications, this feature was
+ made optional. Setting the <EM>NCURSES</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>NO</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>SETBUF</EM> variable disabled output
buffering, leaving the output in the original (usually line buffered)
mode.
- In the current implementation, ncurses performs its own buffering and
+ In the current implementation, <EM>ncurses</EM> performs its own buffering and
does not require this workaround. It does not modify the buffering of
the standard output.
The reason for the change was to make the behavior for interrupts and
other signals more robust. One drawback is that certain
- nonconventional programs would mix ordinary stdio calls with ncurses
- calls and (usually) work. This is no longer possible since ncurses is
+ nonconventional programs would mix ordinary <STRONG>stdio(3)</STRONG> calls with <EM>ncurses</EM>
+ calls and (usually) work. This is no longer possible since <EM>ncurses</EM> is
not using the buffered standard output but its own output (to the same
file descriptor). As a special case, the low-level calls such as <STRONG>putp</STRONG>
still use the standard output. But high-level curses calls do not.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS">
NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS</a></H3><PRE>
- During initialization, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library checks for special cases
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS">
<EM>NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ During initialization, the <EM>ncurses</EM> library checks for special cases
where VT100 line-drawing (and the corresponding 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
- <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> 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 terminal
- emulators.
+ emulator and the GNU screen program ignore these. <EM>ncurses</EM> <EM>checks</EM> <EM>the</EM>
+ <EM>TERM</EM> <EM>environment</EM> <EM>variable</EM> <EM>for</EM> <EM>these.</EM> <EM>For</EM> <EM>other</EM> <EM>special</EM> <EM>cases,</EM> <EM>you</EM>
+ <EM>should</EM> <EM>set</EM> <EM>this</EM> <EM>environment</EM> <EM>variable.</EM> <EM>Doing</EM> <EM>this</EM> <EM>tells</EM> <EM>ncurses</EM> <EM>to</EM> <EM>use</EM>
+ <EM>Unicode</EM> <EM>values</EM> <EM>which</EM> <EM>correspond</EM> <EM>to</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>VT100</EM> <EM>line-drawing</EM> <EM>glyphs.</EM> <EM>That</EM>
+ <EM>works</EM> <EM>for</EM> <EM>the</EM> <EM>special</EM> <EM>cases</EM> <EM>cited,</EM> <EM>and</EM> <EM>is</EM> <EM>likely</EM> <EM>to</EM> <EM>work</EM> <EM>for</EM> <EM>terminal</EM>
+ <EM>emulators.</EM>
When setting this variable, you should set it to a nonzero value.
Setting it to zero (or to a nonnumber) disables the special check for
"linux" and "screen".
- As an alternative to the environment variable, ncurses checks for an
+ As an alternative to the environment variable, <EM>ncurses</EM> checks for an
extended terminfo capability <STRONG>U8</STRONG>. This is a numeric capability which
can be compiled using <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>. For example
U8#1, use=xterm,
The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters, to permit it to be used
- by applications that use ncurses' termcap interface.
+ by applications that use <EM>ncurses</EM>' termcap interface.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_TRACE">
NCURSES_TRACE</a></H3><PRE>
- During initialization, the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> debugging library checks the
- NCURSES_TRACE environment variable. If it is defined, to a numeric
- value, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> calls the <STRONG>trace</STRONG> function, using that value as the
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-NCURSES_TRACE">
<EM>NCURSES_TRACE</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ During initialization, the <EM>ncurses</EM> debugging library checks the
+ <EM>NCURSES</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>TRACE</EM> environment variable. If it is defined, to a numeric
+ value, <EM>ncurses</EM> 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
See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_trace.3x.html">curs_trace(3x)</A></STRONG> for more information.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERM">
TERM</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERM">
<EM>TERM</EM></a></H3><PRE>
Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is distinct, though
many are similar.
- <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is commonly set by terminal emulators to help applications find a
+ <EM>TERM</EM> is commonly set by terminal emulators to help applications find a
workable terminal description. Some of those choose a popular
approximation, e.g., "ansi", "vt100", "xterm" rather than an exact fit.
Not infrequently, your application will have problems with that
approach, e.g., incorrect function-key definitions.
- If you set <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> in your environment, it has no effect on the operation
+ If you set <EM>TERM</EM> in your environment, it has no effect on the operation
of the terminal emulator. It only affects the way applications work
- within the terminal. Likewise, as a general rule (<STRONG>xterm</STRONG> being a rare
- exception), terminal emulators which allow you to specify <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> as a
- parameter or configuration value do not change their behavior to match
- that setting.
+ within the terminal. Likewise, as a general rule (<STRONG>xterm(1)</STRONG> being a
+ rare exception), terminal emulators which allow you to specify <EM>TERM</EM> as
+ a parameter or configuration value do not change their behavior to
+ match that setting.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMCAP">
TERMCAP</a></H3><PRE>
- If the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library has been configured with <EM>termcap</EM> support,
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> will check for a terminal's description in termcap form if it
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMCAP">
<EM>TERMCAP</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ If the <EM>ncurses</EM> library has been configured with <EM>termcap</EM> support,
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> will check for a terminal's description in termcap form if it
is not available in the terminfo database.
- The <STRONG>TERMCAP</STRONG> environment variable contains either a terminal description
+ The <EM>TERMCAP</EM> environment variable contains either a terminal description
(with newlines stripped out), or a file name telling where the
- information denoted by the <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> environment variable exists. In either
- case, setting it directs <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> to ignore the usual place for this
+ information denoted by the <EM>TERM</EM> environment variable exists. In either
+ case, setting it directs <EM>ncurses</EM> to ignore the usual place for this
information, e.g., /etc/termcap.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMINFO">
TERMINFO</a></H3><PRE>
- <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> can be configured to read from multiple terminal databases.
- The <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> variable overrides the location for the default terminal
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMINFO">
<EM>TERMINFO</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> can be configured to read from multiple terminal databases.
+ The <EM>TERMINFO</EM> variable overrides the location for the default terminal
database. Terminal descriptions (in terminal format) are stored in
terminal databases:
named by the first letter of the terminal names therein.
This is the scheme used in System V, which legacy Unix systems use,
- and the <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> variable is used by <EM>curses</EM> applications on those
+ and the <EM>TERMINFO</EM> variable is used by <EM>curses</EM> applications on those
systems to override the default location of the terminal database.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is built to use hashed databases, then each entry in
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <EM>ncurses</EM> is built to use hashed databases, then each entry in
this list may be the path of a hashed database file, e.g.,
/usr/share/terminfo.db
existence of the directory tree, reading it directly rather than
using the terminfo library calls.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is built with a support for reading termcap files
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <EM>ncurses</EM> is built with a support for reading termcap files
directly, then an entry in this list may be the path of a termcap
file.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> variable begins with "hex:" or "b64:", <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> If the <EM>TERMINFO</EM> variable begins with "hex:" or "b64:", <EM>ncurses</EM> uses
the remainder of that variable as a compiled terminal description.
You might produce the base64 format using <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG>:
export TERMINFO
The compiled description is used if it corresponds to the terminal
- identified by the <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> variable.
+ identified by the <EM>TERM</EM> variable.
- Setting <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> is the simplest, but not the only way to set location
+ Setting <EM>TERMINFO</EM> is the simplest, but not the only way to set location
of the default terminal database. The complete list of database
locations in order follows:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> the last terminal database to which <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> wrote, if any, is
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the last terminal database to which <EM>ncurses</EM> wrote, if any, is
searched first
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> the location specified by the TERMINFO environment variable
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the location specified by the <EM>TERMINFO</EM> environment variable
<STRONG>o</STRONG> $HOME/.terminfo
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> locations listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment variable
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> locations listed in the <EM>TERMINFO</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>DIRS</EM> environment variable
<STRONG>o</STRONG> one or more locations whose names are configured and compiled
- into the ncurses library, i.e.,
+ into the <EM>ncurses</EM> library, i.e.,
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> no default value (corresponding to the TERMINFO_DIRS
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> /usr/share/terminfo (corresponding to the <EM>TERMINFO</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>DIRS</EM>
variable)
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> /usr/share/terminfo (corresponding to the TERMINFO variable)
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> /usr/share/terminfo (corresponding to the <EM>TERMINFO</EM> variable)
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMINFO_DIRS">
TERMINFO_DIRS</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMINFO_DIRS">
<EM>TERMINFO_DIRS</EM></a></H3><PRE>
Specifies a list of locations to search for terminal descriptions.
Each location in the list is a terminal database as described in the
- section on the <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> variable. The list is separated by colons
+ section on the <EM>TERMINFO</EM> variable. The list is separated by colons
(i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX.
There is no corresponding feature in System V terminfo; it is an
- extension developed for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>.
+ extension developed for <EM>ncurses</EM>.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMPATH">
TERMPATH</a></H3><PRE>
- If <STRONG>TERMCAP</STRONG> does not hold a file name then <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> checks the <STRONG>TERMPATH</STRONG>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-TERMPATH">
<EM>TERMPATH</EM></a></H3><PRE>
+ If <EM>TERMCAP</EM> does not hold a file name then <EM>ncurses</EM> checks the <EM>TERMPATH</EM>
environment variable. This is a list of filenames separated by spaces
or colons (i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX.
- If the <STRONG>TERMPATH</STRONG> environment variable is not set, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> looks in the
+ If the <EM>TERMPATH</EM> environment variable is not set, <EM>ncurses</EM> looks in the
files
/etc/termcap, /usr/share/misc/termcap and $HOME/.termcap,
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-ALTERNATE-CONFIGURATIONS">ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS</a></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 visible to the applications developer
- using <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>:
+ Many different <EM>ncurses</EM> configurations are possible, determined by the
+ options given to the <EM>configure</EM> script when building the library. Run
+ the script with the <STRONG>--help</STRONG> option to peruse them all. A few are of
+ particular significance to the application developer employing <EM>ncurses.</EM>
--disable-overwrite
- The standard include for <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is as noted in <STRONG>SYNOPSIS</STRONG>:
+ The standard include for <EM>ncurses</EM> is as noted in <STRONG>SYNOPSIS</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>
+ This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when <EM>ncurses</EM> is
+ not the main implementation of curses of the computer. If <EM>ncurses</EM>
is installed disabling overwrite, it puts its headers in a
subdirectory, e.g.,
than <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG> may require a specific value for <STRONG>_XOPEN_SOURCE</STRONG>
(or a system-specific symbol).
- 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> structure differs, and very
- few applications require more than a pointer to <STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG>s.
+ The <EM>curses.h</EM> header file installed for the wide-character library
+ is designed to be compatible with the non-wide library's header.
+ Only the size of the <EM>WINDOW</EM> structure differs; few applications
+ require more than pointers to <EM>WINDOW</EM>s.
If the headers are installed allowing overwrite, the wide-
character library's headers should be installed last, to allow
Those functions are described in these pages:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_extend.3x.html">curs_extend(3x)</A></STRONG> - miscellaneous curses extensions
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_extend.3x.html">curs_extend(3x)</A></STRONG> - miscellaneous <EM>curses</EM> extensions
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> input options
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inopts.3x.html">curs_inopts(3x)</A></STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> input options
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG> - low-level <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG> - low-level <EM>curses</EM> routines
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> environment query routines
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termattrs.3x.html">curs_termattrs(3x)</A></STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> environment query routines
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> emulation of termcap
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> emulation of <EM>termcap</EM>
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interfaces to terminfo database
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> interface to <EM>terminfo</EM> database
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG> - miscellaneous <STRONG>curses</STRONG> utility routines
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG> - miscellaneous <EM>curses</EM> utility routines
--with-trace
The <STRONG>trace</STRONG> function normally resides in the debug library, but it
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
- /usr/share/tabset
- directory containing initialization files for the terminal
- capability database /usr/share/terminfo terminal capability
- database
+ <EM>/usr/share/tabset</EM>
+ tab stop initialization database
+ <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>
+ compiled terminal capability database
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
- <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>
- <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG> for user-defined capabilities
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
+ X/Open Curses permits most functions it specifies to be made available
+ as macros as well. <EM>ncurses</EM> does so
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> for functions that return values via their parameters,
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> to support obsolete features,
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> to reuse functions (for example, those that move the cursor before
+ another operation), and
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> a few special cases.
+
+ If the standard output file descriptor of an <EM>ncurses</EM> program is
+ redirected to something that is not a terminal device, the library
+ writes screen updates to the standard error file descriptor. This was
+ an undocumented feature of SVr3.
+
+ See subsection "Header files" below regarding symbols exposed by
+ inclusion of <EM>curses.h</EM>.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library can be compiled with an option (<STRONG>-DUSE_GETCAP</STRONG>) that
- falls back to the old-style /etc/termcap 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 in
- core and startup cycles.
-
- 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 a <STRONG>SIGWINCH</STRONG> 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. 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> manual pages for details.
-
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library can exploit the capabilities of terminals which
- implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 controls, 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 colored text on a background whose color is set
- independently, 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 device. See the
- <STRONG><A HREF="curs_print.3x.html">curs_print(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page for details.
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> enables an application to capture mouse events on certain
+ terminals, including <EM>xterm;</EM> see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_mouse.3x.html">curs_mouse(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> provides a means of responding to window resizing events, as
+ when running in a GUI terminal emulator application such as <EM>xterm;</EM> see
+ <STRONG><A HREF="resizeterm.3x.html">resizeterm(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="wresize.3x.html">wresize(3x)</A></STRONG>.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
- The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> library is intended to be BASE-level conformant with XSI
- Curses. The EXTENDED XSI Curses functionality (including color
- support) is supported.
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> allows an application to query the terminal for the presence of
+ a wide variety of special keys; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_getch.3x.html">has_key(3x)</A></STRONG>.
- 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.
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> extends the fixed set of function key capabilities specified by
+ X/Open Curses by allowing the application programmer to define
+ additional key sequences at runtime; see <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>.
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> can exploit the capabilities of terminals implementing
+ ISO 6429/ECMA-48 SGR 39 and SGR 49 sequences, which allow an
+ application to reset the terminal to its original foreground and
+ background colors. From a user's perspective, the application is able
+ to draw colored text on a background whose color is set independently,
+ providing better control over color contrasts. See <STRONG><A HREF="default_colors.3x.html">default_colors(3x)</A></STRONG>.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Error-checking">Error checking</a></H3><PRE>
- In many cases, X/Open Curses is vague about error conditions, omitting
- some of the SVr4 documentation.
+ An <EM>ncurses</EM> application can choose to hide the internal details of
+ <EM>WINDOW</EM> structures, instead using accessor functions such as
+ <STRONG><A HREF="curs_opaque.3x.html">is_scrollok(3x)</A></STRONG>.
- 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 application which of several possible errors were detected.
- Relying on this (or some other) extension will adversely affect the
- portability of curses applications.
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> enables an application to direct application output to a
+ printer attached to the terminal device; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_print.3x.html">curs_print(3x)</A></STRONG>.
+ <EM>ncurses</EM> offers <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">slk_attr(3x)</A></STRONG> as a counterpart of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">attr_get(3x)</A></STRONG> for soft-
+ label key lines, and <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">extended_slk_color(3x)</A></STRONG> as a form of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">slk_color(3x)</A></STRONG>
+ that can gather color information from them when many colors are
+ supported.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Extensions-versus-portability">Extensions versus portability</a></H3><PRE>
- Most of the extensions provided by ncurses have not been standardized.
- Some have been incorporated into other implementations, such as
- PDCurses or NetBSD curses. Here are a few to consider:
+ Some extensions are only available if <EM>ncurses</EM> is compiled to support
+ them; see section "ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS" above.
- <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> Rudimentary support for multi-threaded applications may be
+ available; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_threads.3x.html">curs_threads(3x)</A></STRONG>.
- <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> Functions that ease the management of multiple screens can be
+ exposed; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_sp_funcs.3x.html">curs_sp_funcs(3x)</A></STRONG>.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> The routines <STRONG>getmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mousemask</STRONG>, <STRONG>ungetmouse</STRONG>, <STRONG>mouseinterval</STRONG>, and
- <STRONG>wenclose</STRONG> relating to mouse interfacing 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.
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The compiler option <STRONG>-DUSE_GETCAP</STRONG> causes the library to fall back to
+ reading <EM>/etc/termcap</EM> if the terminal setup code cannot find a <EM>term-</EM>
+ <EM>info</EM> entry corresponding to <EM>TERM.</EM> Use of this feature is not
+ recommended, as it essentially includes an entire <EM>termcap</EM> compiler
+ in the <EM>ncurses</EM> startup code, at a cost in memory usage and
+ application launch latency.
- <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.
+ <EM>PDCurses</EM> and NetBSD <EM>curses</EM> incorporate some <EM>ncurses</EM> extensions.
+ Individual man pages indicate where this is the case.
- <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 the discussion of
- <STRONG>is_scrollok</STRONG>, etc.
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
+ X/Open Curses defines two levels of conformance, "base" and "enhanced".
+ The latter includes several additional features, such as wide-character
+ and color support. <EM>ncurses</EM> intends base-level conformance with X/Open
+ Curses, and supports nearly all its enhanced features.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> This implementation can be configured to provide rudimentary
- support for multi-threaded applications. See <STRONG><A HREF="curs_threads.3x.html">curs_threads(3x)</A></STRONG> for
- details.
+ Differences between X/Open Curses and <EM>ncurses</EM> are documented in the
+ "PORTABILITY" sections of applicable man pages.
- <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.
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Error-Checking">Error Checking</a></H3><PRE>
+ In many cases, X/Open Curses is vague about error conditions, omitting
+ some of the SVr4 documentation.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Padding-differences">Padding differences</a></H3><PRE>
+ Unlike other implementations, this one checks parameters such as
+ pointers to <EM>WINDOW</EM> 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 application which of several possible errors were detected.
+ Relying on this (or some other) extension will adversely affect the
+ portability of curses applications.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Padding-Differences">Padding Differences</a></H3><PRE>
In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capabilities <STRONG>cr</STRONG>,
- <STRONG>ind</STRONG>, <STRONG>cub1</STRONG>, <STRONG>ff</STRONG> and <STRONG>tab</STRONG> activated corresponding delay bits in the UNIX
+ <STRONG>ind</STRONG>, <STRONG>cub1</STRONG>, <STRONG>ff</STRONG> and <STRONG>tab</STRONG> activated corresponding delay bits in the Unix
tty driver. In this implementation, all padding is done by sending NUL
bytes. This method is slightly more expensive, but narrows the
- interface to the UNIX kernel significantly and increases the package's
+ interface to the Unix kernel significantly and increases the package's
portability correspondingly.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Header-
files">Header files</a></H3><PRE>
- The header file <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> automatically includes the header files
- <STRONG><stdio.h></STRONG> and <STRONG><unctrl.h></STRONG>.
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Header-
Files">Header Files</a></H3><PRE>
+ The header file <EM>curses.h</EM> itself includes the header files <EM>stdio.h</EM> and
+ <EM>unctrl.h</EM>.
X/Open Curses has more to say, but does not finish the story:
<stdio.h>.
BSD curses included <curses.h> and <unctrl.h> from an internal
- header "curses.ext" ("ext" was a short name for <EM>externs</EM>).
+ header file <EM>curses.ext</EM> ("ext" abbreviated "externs").
BSD curses used <stdio.h> internally (for <STRONG>printw</STRONG> and <STRONG>scanw</STRONG>), but
nothing in <curses.h> itself relied upon <stdio.h>.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses is inconsistent with respect to SVr4 regarding
<unctrl.h>.
- As noted in <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>, ncurses includes <unctrl.h> from
+ As noted in <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>, <EM>ncurses</EM> includes <unctrl.h> from
<curses.h> (like SVr4).
<STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open's comments about <term.h> and <termios.h> may refer to HP-UX
and AIX:
HP-UX curses includes <term.h> from <curses.h> to declare <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
- in curses.h, but ncurses (and Solaris curses) do not.
+ in curses.h, but <EM>ncurses</EM> (and Solaris curses) do not.
- AIX curses includes <term.h> and <termios.h>. Again, ncurses (and
+ AIX curses includes <term.h> and <termios.h>. Again, <EM>ncurses</EM> (and
Solaris curses) do not.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open says that <curses.h> <EM>may</EM> include <term.h>, but there is no
old versions of AIX curses required including <curses.h> before
including <term.h>.
- Because ncurses header files include the headers needed to define
- datatypes used in the headers, ncurses header files can be included
+ Because <EM>ncurses</EM> header files include the headers needed to define
+ datatypes used in the headers, <EM>ncurses</EM> header files can be included
in any order. But for portability, you should include <curses.h>
before <term.h>.
file does not necessarily make all symbols in it visible (there are
ifdef's to consider).
- For instance, in ncurses <wchar.h> <EM>may</EM> be included if the proper
- symbol is defined, and if ncurses is configured for wide-character
+ For instance, in <EM>ncurses</EM> <wchar.h> <EM>may</EM> be included if the proper
+ symbol is defined, and if <EM>ncurses</EM> is configured for wide-character
support. If the header is included, its symbols may be made
visible. That depends on the value used for <STRONG>_XOPEN_SOURCE</STRONG> feature
test macro.
None of the X/Open Curses implementations require an application to
include <stdarg.h> before <curses.h> because they either have
- allowed for a special type, or (like ncurses) include <stdarg.h>
+ allowed for a special type, or (like <EM>ncurses</EM>) include <stdarg.h>
directly to provide a portable interface.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
- 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 feature of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
-
-
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></H2><PRE>
- Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. Based on pcurses
+ Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. Based on <EM>pcurses</EM>
by Pavel Curtis.
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
+ <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG>
+
+
-
<STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>
+
ncurses 6.4 2024-02-24 <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-Datatypes">Datatypes</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-Environment-variables">Environment variables</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-Routine-and-Argument-Names">Routine and Argument Names</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-Routine-Name-Index">Routine Name Index</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Overview">Overview</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Effects-of-GUIs-and-Environment-Variables">Effects of GUIs and Environment Variables</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Naming-Conventions">Naming Conventions</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Wide-and-Non-wide-Character-Configurations">Wide and Non-wide Character Configurations</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Function-Name-Index">Function Name Index</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-ENVIRONMENT">ENVIRONMENT</a>
<ul>
-<li><a href="#h3-CC-command-character">CC command-character</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-CC-_command-character_">CC (command character)</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-BAUDRATE">BAUDRATE</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-COLUMNS">COLUMNS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-ESCDELAY">ESCDELAY</a></li>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-ALTERNATE-CONFIGURATIONS">ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
<ul>
-<li><a href="#h3-Error-checking">Error checking</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-Extensions-versus-portability">Extensions versus portability</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-Padding-differences">Padding differences</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-Header-files">Header files</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Error-Checking">Error Checking</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Padding-Differences">Padding Differences</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Header-Files">Header Files</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
-<li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</BODY>
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