ncurses 5.9 - patch 20120428

[ncurses.git] / man / curs_inopts.3x

diff --git a/man/curs_inopts.3x b/man/curs_inopts.3x
index aecb2e3714f8177c8a8d9c7514bad6c7ab9cee39..372010bc337385d1ed27fbaf7a0529c19860051e 100644 (file)
--- a/man/curs_inopts.3x
+++ b/man/curs_inopts.3x
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .\"***************************************************************************
-.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2005,2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.              *
+.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2010,2012 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            *
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 .\" authorization.                                                           *
 .\"***************************************************************************
 .\"
-.\" $Id: curs_inopts.3x,v 1.15 2010/12/04 18:40:45 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: curs_inopts.3x,v 1.17 2012/04/28 19:09:15 tom Exp $
 .TH curs_inopts 3X ""
 .na
 .hy 0
@@ -223,6 +223,42 @@ initializes the terminal state.  BSD curses differed from this slightly; it
 left the echo bit on at initialization, but the BSD \fBraw\fR call turned it
 off as a side-effect.  For best portability, set echo or noecho explicitly
 just after initialization, even if your program remains in cooked mode.
+.PP
+When \fBkeypad\fP is first enabled,
+ncurses loads the key-definitions for the current terminal description.
+If the terminal description includes extended string capabilities,
+e.g., from using the \fB\-x\fP option of @TIC@,
+then ncurses also defines keys for the capabilities whose names
+begin with "k".
+The corresponding keycodes are generated and (depending on previous
+loads of terminal descriptions) may differ from one execution of a
+program to the next.
+The generated keycodes are recognized by the \fBkeyname\fP function
+(which will then return a name beginning with "k" denoting the
+terminfo capability name rather than "K", used for curses key-names).
+On the other hand, an application can use \fBdefine_key\fP to establish
+a specific keycode for a given string.
+This makes it possible for an application to check for an extended
+capability's presence with \fItigetstr\fP,
+and reassign the keycode to match its own needs.
+.PP
+Low-level applications can use \fBtigetstr\fP to obtain the definition
+of any particular string capability.
+Higher-level applications which use the curses \fBwgetch\fP
+and similar functions to return keycodes rely upon the order in which
+the strings are loaded.
+If more than one key definition has the same string value,
+then \fBwgetch\fP can return only one keycode.
+Most curses implementations (including ncurses)
+load key definitions in the order
+defined by the array of string capability names.
+The last key to be loaded determines the keycode which will be returned.
+In ncurses, you may also have extended capabilities interpreted as
+key definitions.
+These are loaded after the predefined keys,
+and if a capability's value is the same as a previously-loaded
+key definition,
+the later definition is the one used.
 .SH NOTES
 Note that \fBecho\fR, \fBnoecho\fR, \fBhalfdelay\fR, \fBintrflush\fR,
 \fBmeta\fR, \fBnodelay\fR, \fBnotimeout\fR, \fBnoqiflush\fR,
@@ -233,4 +269,9 @@ they attempt to restore to normal (`cooked') mode from raw and cbreak modes
 respectively.  Mixing raw/noraw and cbreak/nocbreak calls leads to tty driver
 control states that are hard to predict or understand; it is not recommended.
 .SH SEE ALSO
-\fBcurses\fR(3X), \fBcurs_getch\fR(3X), \fBcurs_initscr\fR(3X), \fBtermio\fR(7)
+\fBcurses\fR(3X),
+\fBcurs_getch\fR(3X),
+\fBcurs_initscr\fR(3X),
+\fBcurs_util\fR(3X),
+\fBdefine_key\fR(3X),
+\fBtermio\fR(7)