The unctrl routine returns a character string which is a printable
- representation of the character c:
+ representation of the character ch:
o Printable characters are displayed as themselves, e.g., a one-
character string containing the key.
@@ -99,13 +99,13 @@
this follows the X/Open specification.
The corresponding wunctrl returns a printable representation of a
- complex character c.
+ complex character wch.
In both unctrl and wunctrl the attributes and color associated with the
character parameter are ignored.
-
The keyname routine returns a character string corresponding to the key
c. Key codes are different from character codes.
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@
okey_name does not return the name of a function key.
-
The filter routine, if used, must be called before initscr or newterm
are called. Calling filter causes these changes in initialization:
@@ -192,158 +192,157 @@
use_envuse_tioctlSummary
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- TRUEFALSE This is the default behavior. ncurses
- uses operating system calls unless
- overridden by LINES or COLUMNS
+ TRUEFALSEncurses uses operating system calls
+ unless overridden by LINES or COLUMNS
environment variables; default.
- TRUETRUEncurses updates LINES and COLUMNS based
+ TRUETRUEncurses updates LINES and COLUMNS based
on operating system calls.
- FALSETRUEncurses ignores LINES and COLUMNS, using
+ FALSETRUEncurses ignores LINES and COLUMNS, using
operating system calls to obtain size.
-
+ The putwin routine writes all data associated with window (or pad) win
+ into the file to which filep points. This information can be later
retrieved using the getwin function.
- The getwin routine reads window related data stored in the file by
- putwin. The routine then creates and initializes a new window using
- that data. It returns a pointer to the new window. There are a few
+ The getwin routine reads window related data stored in the file by
+ putwin. The routine then creates and initializes a new window using
+ that data. It returns a pointer to the new window. There are a few
caveats:
- o the data written is a copy of the WINDOW structure, and its
- associated character cells. The format differs between the wide-
- character (ncursesw) and non-wide (ncurses) libraries. You can
+ o the data written is a copy of the WINDOW structure, and its
+ associated character cells. The format differs between the wide-
+ character (ncursesw) and non-wide (ncurses) libraries. You can
transfer data between the two, however.
- o the retrieved window is always created as a top-level window (or
+ o the retrieved window is always created as a top-level window (or
pad), rather than a subwindow.
- o the window's character cells contain the color pair value, but not
- the actual color numbers. If cells in the retrieved window use
- color pairs which have not been created in the application using
+ o the window's character cells contain the color pair value, but not
+ the actual color numbers. If cells in the retrieved window use
+ color pairs which have not been created in the application using
init_pair, they will not be colored when the window is refreshed.
- The delay_output routine inserts an ms millisecond pause in output.
- Employ this function judiciously when terminal output uses padding,
- because ncurses transmits null characters (consuming CPU and I/O
- resources) instead of sleeping and requesting resumption from the
+ The delay_output routine inserts an ms millisecond pause in output.
+ Employ this function judiciously when terminal output uses padding,
+ because ncurses transmits null characters (consuming CPU and I/O
+ resources) instead of sleeping and requesting resumption from the
operating system. Padding is used unless:
o the terminal description has npc (no_pad_char) capability, or
o the environment variable NCURSES_NO_PADDING is set.
- If padding is not in use, ncurses uses napms to perform the delay. If
- the value of ms exceeds 30,000 (thirty seconds), it is capped at that
+ If padding is not in use, ncurses uses napms to perform the delay. If
+ the value of ms exceeds 30,000 (thirty seconds), it is capped at that
value.
- The flushinp routine throws away any typeahead that has been typed by
+ The flushinp routine throws away any typeahead that has been typed by
the user and has not yet been read by the program.
- Except for flushinp, routines that return an integer return ERR upon
- failure and OK (SVr4 specifies only "an integer value other than ERR")
+ Except for flushinp, routines that return an integer return ERR upon
+ failure and OK (SVr4 specifies only "an integer value other than ERR")
upon successful completion.
Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.
- X/Open does not define any error conditions. In this implementation
+ X/Open Curses does not specify any error conditions. In this
+ implementation
flushinp
- returns an error if the terminal was not initialized.
+ returns ERR if the terminal was not initialized.
putwin
- returns an error if the associated fwrite calls return an
- error.
+ returns ERR if the associated fwrite calls return ERR.
- The SVr4 documentation describes the action of filter only in the
- vaguest terms. The description here is adapted from the XSI Curses
- standard (which erroneously fails to describe the disabling of cuu).
+ The SVr4 documentation describes the action of filter only in the
+ vaguest terms. The description here is adapted from X/Open Curses
+ (which erroneously fails to describe the disabling of cuu).
- The limitation to 30 seconds and the use of napms differ from other
+ The limitation to 30 seconds and the use of napms differ from other
implementations.
o SVr4 curses does not delay if no padding character is available.
- o NetBSD curses uses napms when no padding character is available,
- but does not take timing into account when using the padding
+ o NetBSD curses uses napms when no padding character is available,
+ but does not take timing into account when using the padding
character.
Neither limits the delay.
- The keyname function may return the names of user-defined string
- capabilities which are defined in the terminfo entry via the -x option
+ The keyname function may return the names of user-defined string
+ capabilities which are defined in the terminfo entry via the -x option
of tic. This implementation automatically assigns at run-time keycodes
- to user-defined strings which begin with "k". The keycodes start at
+ to user-defined strings which begin with "k". The keycodes start at
KEY_MAX, but are not guaranteed to be the same value for different runs
- because user-defined codes are merged from all terminal descriptions
- which have been loaded. The use_extended_names(3x) function controls
- whether this data is loaded when the terminal description is read by
+ because user-defined codes are merged from all terminal descriptions
+ which have been loaded. The use_extended_names(3x) function controls
+ whether this data is loaded when the terminal description is read by
the library.
-
- The nofilter and use_tioctl routines are specific to ncurses. They
- were not supported on Version 7, BSD or System V implementations. It
- is recommended that any code depending on ncurses extensions be
+
+ The nofilter and use_tioctl routines are specific to ncurses. They
+ were not supported on Version 7, BSD or System V implementations. It
+ is recommended that any code depending on ncurses extensions be
conditioned using NCURSES_VERSION.
The putwin and getwin functions have several issues with portability:
- o The files written and read by these functions use an
- implementation-specific format. Although the format is an obvious
+ o The files written and read by these functions use an
+ implementation-specific format. Although the format is an obvious
target for standardization, it has been overlooked.
- Interestingly enough, according to the copyright dates in Solaris
- source, the functions (along with scr_init, etc.) originated with
+ Interestingly enough, according to the copyright dates in Solaris
+ source, the functions (along with scr_init, etc.) originated with
the University of California, Berkeley (in 1982) and were later (in
- 1988) incorporated into SVr4. Oddly, there are no such functions
+ 1988) incorporated into SVr4. Oddly, there are no such functions
in the 4.3BSD curses sources.
- o Most implementations simply dump the binary WINDOW structure to the
- file. These include SVr4 curses, NetBSD and PDCurses, as well as
+ o Most implementations simply dump the binary WINDOW structure to the
+ file. These include SVr4 curses, NetBSD and PDCurses, as well as
older ncurses versions. This implementation (as well as the X/Open
variant of Solaris curses, dated 1995) uses textual dumps.
- The implementations which use binary dumps use block-I/O (the
- fwrite and fread functions). Those that use textual dumps use
+ The implementations which use binary dumps use block-I/O (the
+ fwrite and fread functions). Those that use textual dumps use
buffered-I/O. A few applications may happen to write extra data in
- the file using these functions. Doing that can run into problems
- mixing block- and buffered-I/O. This implementation reduces the
- problem on writes by flushing the output. However, reading from a
+ the file using these functions. Doing that can run into problems
+ mixing block- and buffered-I/O. This implementation reduces the
+ problem on writes by flushing the output. However, reading from a
file written using mixed schemes may not be successful.
-
- The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 describes these functions. It states
- that unctrl and wunctrl will return a null pointer if unsuccessful, but
- does not define any error conditions. This implementation checks for
- three cases:
+
+ X/Open Curses, Issue 4 describes these functions. It states that
+ unctrl and wunctrl will return a null pointer if unsuccessful, but does
+ not define any error conditions. This implementation checks for three
+ cases:
- o the parameter is a 7-bit US-ASCII code. This is the case that
+ o the parameter is a 7-bit US-ASCII code. This is the case that
X/Open Curses documented.
o the parameter is in the range 128-159, i.e., a C1 control code. If
- use_legacy_coding(3x) has been called with a 2 parameter, unctrl
- returns the parameter, i.e., a one-character string with the
- parameter as the first character. Otherwise, it returns "~@",
+ use_legacy_coding(3x) has been called with a 2 parameter, unctrl
+ returns the parameter, i.e., a one-character string with the
+ parameter as the first character. Otherwise, it returns "~@",
"~A", etc., analogous to "^@", "^A", C0 controls.
X/Open Curses does not document whether unctrl can be called before
@@ -354,44 +353,44 @@
pointer.
The strings returned by unctrl in this implementation are determined at
- compile time, showing C1 controls from the upper-128 codes with a "~"
- prefix rather than "^". Other implementations have different
- conventions. For example, they may show both sets of control
- characters with "^", and strip the parameter to 7 bits. Or they may
- ignore C1 controls and treat all of the upper-128 codes as printable.
- This implementation uses 8 bits but does not modify the string to
- reflect locale. The use_legacy_coding(3x) function allows the caller
+ compile time, showing C1 controls from the upper-128 codes with a "~"
+ prefix rather than "^". Other implementations have different
+ conventions. For example, they may show both sets of control
+ characters with "^", and strip the parameter to 7 bits. Or they may
+ ignore C1 controls and treat all of the upper-128 codes as printable.
+ This implementation uses 8 bits but does not modify the string to
+ reflect locale. The use_legacy_coding(3x) function allows the caller
to change the output of unctrl.
- Likewise, the meta(3x) function allows the caller to change the output
- of keyname, i.e., it determines whether to use the "M-" prefix for
- "meta" keys (codes in the range 128 to 255). Both
- use_legacy_coding(3x) and meta(3x) succeed only after curses is
- initialized. X/Open Curses does not document the treatment of codes
+ Likewise, the meta(3x) function allows the caller to change the output
+ of keyname, i.e., it determines whether to use the "M-" prefix for
+ "meta" keys (codes in the range 128 to 255). Both
+ use_legacy_coding(3x) and meta(3x) succeed only after curses is
+ initialized. X/Open Curses does not document the treatment of codes
128 to 159. When treating them as "meta" keys (or if keyname is called
- before initializing curses), this implementation returns strings
+ before initializing curses), this implementation returns strings
"M-^@", "M-^A", etc.
X/Open Curses documents unctrl as declared in <unctrl.h>, which ncurses
- does. However, ncurses' <curses.h> includes <unctrl.h>, matching the
+ does. However, ncurses' <curses.h> includes <unctrl.h>, matching the
behavior of SVr4 curses. Other implementations may not do that.
-
- If ncurses is configured to provide the sp-functions extension, the
- state of use_env and use_tioctl may be updated before creating each
- screen rather than once only (curs_sp_funcs(3x)). This feature of
+
+ If ncurses is configured to provide the sp-functions extension, the
+ state of use_env and use_tioctl may be updated before creating each
+ screen rather than once only (curs_sp_funcs(3x)). This feature of
use_env is not provided by other implementations of curses.