ncurses 5.9 - patch 20111217

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

diff --git a/man/ncurses.3x b/man/ncurses.3x
index 7136d42294cc744f127ead4c130cd65270d026c5..14900d94efd73868e5e5cef17d5e0e6ea0d1ba10 100644 (file)
--- a/man/ncurses.3x
+++ b/man/ncurses.3x
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 '\" t
 .\"***************************************************************************
 '\" 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            *
 .\"                                                                          *
 .\" Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a  *
 .\" copy of this software and associated documentation files (the            *


@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 .\" authorization.                                                           *
 .\"***************************************************************************
 .\"
 .\" authorization.                                                           *
 .\"***************************************************************************
 .\"

-.\" $Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.100 2010/10/02 23:30:31 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.106 2011/12/17 23:19:59 tom Exp $

 .hy 0
 .TH ncurses 3X ""
 .de bP
 .hy 0
 .TH ncurses 3X ""
 .de bP


@@ -108,9 +108,9 @@ Most programs would additionally use the sequence:
 .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.
 .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.
 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,
 [See \fBterminfo\fR(\*n) for further details.]
 .PP
 The \fBncurses\fR library permits manipulation of data structures,


@@ -734,6 +734,9 @@ Routines that return an integer return \fBERR\fR upon failure and an
 integer value other than \fBERR\fR upon successful completion, unless
 otherwise noted in the routine descriptions.
 .PP
 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
 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


@@ -930,6 +933,28 @@ and is likely to work for terminal emulators.
 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".
 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
 .TP 5
 NCURSES_TRACE
 During initialization, the \fBncurses\fR debugging library


@@ -982,6 +1007,13 @@ Specifies a list of directories to search for terminal descriptions.
 The list is separated by colons (i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX.
 All of the terminal descriptions are in terminfo form, which makes
 a subdirectory named for the first letter of the terminal names therein.
 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
 .TP 5
 TERMPATH
 If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then \fBncurses\fR checks


@@ -1122,6 +1154,15 @@ A small number of local differences (that is, individual differences between
 the XSI Curses and \fBncurses\fR calls) are described in \fBPORTABILITY\fR
 sections of the library man pages.
 .PP
 the XSI Curses and \fBncurses\fR calls) are described in \fBPORTABILITY\fR
 sections of the library man pages.
 .PP

+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.
 This implementation also contains several extensions:
 .bP
 The routine \fBhas_key\fR is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.


@@ -1170,9 +1211,3 @@ This was an undocumented feature of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
 .SH AUTHORS
 Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
 Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.
 .SH AUTHORS
 Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
 Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.

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