'\" 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 *
.\" authorization. *
.\"***************************************************************************
.\"
-.\" $Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.97 2010/09/11 20:54:13 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.106 2011/12/17 23:19:59 tom Exp $
.hy 0
.TH ncurses 3X ""
+.de bP
+.IP \(bu 4
+..
.ds n 5
.ds d @TERMINFO@
.SH NAME
.sp
Before a \fBcurses\fR 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 \fBtput init\fR command
+This can be done by executing the \fB@TPUT@ init\fR command
after the shell environment variable \fBTERM\fR has been exported.
-\fBtset(1)\fR is usually responsible for doing this.
+\fB@TSET@(1)\fR is usually responsible for doing this.
[See \fBterminfo\fR(\*n) for further details.]
.PP
The \fBncurses\fR library permits manipulation of data structures,
integer value other than \fBERR\fR upon successful completion, unless
otherwise noted in the routine descriptions.
.PP
+As a general rule, routines check for null pointers passed as parameters,
+and handle this as an error.
+.PP
All macros return the value of the \fBw\fR version, except \fBsetscrreg\fR,
\fBwsetscrreg\fR, \fBgetyx\fR, \fBgetbegyx\fR, and \fBgetmaxyx\fR.
The return values of \fBsetscrreg\fR, \fBwsetscrreg\fR, \fBgetyx\fR, \fBgetbegyx\fR, and
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".
+.IP
+As an alternative to the environment variable,
+ncurses checks for an extended terminfo capability \fBU8\fP.
+This is a numeric capability which can be compiled using \fB@TIC@\ \-x\fP.
+For example
+.RS 5
+.sp
+.nf
+# 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,
+.sp
+# uxterm with vt100Graphics resource set to false
+xterm-utf8|xterm relying on UTF-8 line-graphics,
+ U8#1, use=xterm,
+.fi
+.RE
+.IP
+The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters,
+to permit it to be used by applications that use ncurses'
+termcap interface.
.TP 5
NCURSES_TRACE
During initialization, the \fBncurses\fR debugging library
This is the simplest, but not the only way to change the list of directories.
The complete list of directories in order follows:
.RS
-.TP 3
-\-
+.bP
the last directory to which \fBncurses\fR wrote, if any, is searched first
-.TP 3
-\-
+.bP
the directory specified by the TERMINFO symbol
-.TP 3
-\-
+.bP
$HOME/.terminfo
-.TP 3
-\-
+.bP
directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS symbol
-.TP 3
-\-
+.bP
one or more directories whose names are configured and compiled into the
ncurses library, e.g.,
@TERMINFO@
The list is separated by colons (i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX.
All of the terminal descriptions are in terminfo form, which makes
a subdirectory named for the first letter of the terminal names therein.
+.IP
+If \fBncurses\fP is built with a hashed database,
+then each entry in this list can also be the path of the corresponding
+database file.
+.IP
+If \fBncurses\fP is built with a support for reading termcap files
+directly, then an entry in this list may be the path of a termcap file.
.TP 5
TERMPATH
If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then \fBncurses\fR checks
.SH SEE ALSO
\fBterminfo\fR(\*n) and related pages whose names begin "curs_" for detailed routine
descriptions.
+.br
+\fBcurs_variables\fR(3X)
.SH EXTENSIONS
The \fBncurses\fR library can be compiled with an option (\fB\-DUSE_GETCAP\fR)
that falls back to the old-style /etc/termcap file if the terminal setup code
the XSI Curses and \fBncurses\fR calls) are described in \fBPORTABILITY\fR
sections of the library man pages.
.PP
-This implementation also contains several extensions:
-.RS 5
+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.
.PP
+This implementation also contains several extensions:
+.bP
The routine \fBhas_key\fR is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.
See the \fBcurs_getch\fR(3X) manual page for details.
-.PP
+.bP
The routine \fBslk_attr\fR is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.
See the \fBcurs_slk\fR(3X) manual page for details.
-.PP
+.bP
The routines \fBgetmouse\fR, \fBmousemask\fR, \fBungetmouse\fR,
\fBmouseinterval\fR, and \fBwenclose\fR relating to mouse interfacing are not
part of XPG4, nor are they present in SVr4.
See the \fBcurs_mouse\fR(3X) manual page for details.
-.PP
+.bP
The routine \fBmcprint\fR was not present in any previous curses implementation.
See the \fBcurs_print\fR(3X) manual page for details.
-.PP
+.bP
The routine \fBwresize\fR is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.
See the \fBwresize\fR(3X) manual page for details.
-.PP
+.bP
The WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden from application
programs.
See \fBcurs_opaque\fR(3X) for the discussion of \fBis_scrollok\fR, etc.
-.RE
+.bP
+This implementation can be configured to provide rudimentary support
+for multi-threaded applications.
+See \fBcurs_threads\fR(3X) for details.
+.bP
+This implementation can also be configured to provide a set of functions which
+improve the ability to manage multiple screens.
+See \fBcurs_sp_funcs\fR(3X) for details.
.PP
In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capabilities \fBcr\fR,
\fBind\fR, \fBcub1\fR, \fBff\fR and \fBtab\fR activated corresponding delay
.SH AUTHORS
Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
-.\"#
-.\"# The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
-.\"# Local Variables:
-.\"# mode:nroff
-.\"# fill-column:79
-.\"# End:
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