X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fncurses.3x.html;h=504ac48a0ade730a1258eedca75405e013f77ca0;hp=e7c39f3e7007af47f24c69d357803cabe6b137e1;hb=ce4803687b821efbc5fb2c5a5f06d69cd4dc2656;hpb=aa70bf3c762c5b6407bf34812d63c20f7ac8ffdd
diff --git a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
index e7c39f3e..504ac48a 100644
--- a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
+++ b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
sonable optimization. This implementation is "new curses"
(ncurses) and is the approved replacement for 4.4BSD clas-
sic curses, which has been discontinued. This describes
- ncurses version 6.0 (patch 20160730).
+ ncurses version 6.0 (patch 20170218).
The ncurses library emulates the curses library of System
V Release 4 UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide)
@@ -98,37 +98,34 @@
The library uses the locale which the calling program has
initialized. That is normally done with setlocale:
- setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
-
- 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.
+ setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
+ If the locale is not initialized, the library assumes that
+ characters are printable as in ISO-8859-1, to work with cer-
+ tain legacy programs. You should initialize the locale and
+ not rely on specific details of the library when the locale
+ has not been setup.
The function initscr or newterm must be called to initial-
ize the library before any of the other routines that deal
- with windows and screens are used. The routine endwin
+ with windows and screens are used. The routine endwin(3x)
must be called before exiting.
To get character-at-a-time input without echoing (most
interactive, screen oriented programs want this), the fol-
lowing sequence should be used:
- initscr(); cbreak(); noecho();
-
- Most programs would additionally use the sequence:
+ initscr(); cbreak(); noecho();
+ Most programs would additionally use the sequence:
nonl();
intrflush(stdscr, FALSE);
keypad(stdscr, TRUE);
-
- Before a curses program is run, the tab stops of the ter-
- minal should be set and its initialization strings, if
- defined, must be output. This can be done by executing
- the tput init command after the shell environment variable
- TERM has been exported. tset(1) is usually responsible
- for doing this. [See terminfo(5) for further details.]
+ Before a curses 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 tput init com-
+ mand after the shell environment variable TERM has been
+ exported. tset(1) is usually responsible for doing this.
+ [See terminfo(5) for further details.]
@@ -153,12 +150,12 @@
names beginning with w, allowing the user to specify a
window. The routines not beginning with w affect stdscr.
- After using routines to manipulate a window, refresh is
- called, telling curses to make the user's CRT screen look
- like stdscr. The characters in a window are actually of
- type chtype, (character and attribute data) so that other
- information about the character may also be stored with
- each character.
+ After using routines to manipulate a window, refresh(3x)
+ is called, telling curses to make the user's CRT screen
+ look like stdscr. The characters in a window are actually
+ of type chtype, (character and attribute data) so that
+ other information about the character may also be stored
+ with each character.
Special windows called pads may also be manipulated.
These are windows which are not constrained to the size of
@@ -191,96 +188,92 @@
TERM is set to att4424, then the compiled terminal defini-
tion is found in
- /usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.
-
- (The a is copied from the first letter of att4424 to avoid
- creation of huge directories.) However, if TERMINFO is
- set to $HOME/myterms, curses first checks
+ /usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.
+ (The a is copied from the first letter of att4424 to avoid
+ creation of huge directories.) However, if TERMINFO is set
+ to $HOME/myterms, curses first checks
$HOME/myterms/a/att4424,
+ and if that fails, it then checks
- and if that fails, it then checks
-
- /usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.
+ /usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.
+ This is useful for developing experimental definitions or when
+ write permission in /usr/share/terminfo is not available.
- This is useful for developing experimental definitions or
- when write permission in /usr/share/terminfo is not avail-
- able.
-
- The integer variables LINES and COLS are defined in
- <curses.h> and will be filled in by initscr with the size
+ The integer variables LINES and COLS are defined in
+ <curses.h> and will be filled in by initscr with the size
of the screen. The constants TRUE and FALSE have the val-
ues 1 and 0, respectively.
- The curses routines also define the WINDOW * variable
+ The curses routines also define the WINDOW * variable
curscr which is used for certain low-level operations like
- clearing and redrawing a screen containing garbage. The
+ clearing and redrawing a screen containing garbage. The
curscr can be used in only a few routines.
- Many curses routines have two or more versions. The rou-
+ Many curses routines have two or more versions. The rou-
tines prefixed with w require a window argument. The rou-
tines prefixed with p require a pad argument. Those with-
out a prefix generally use stdscr.
The routines prefixed with mv require a y and x coordinate
- to move to before performing the appropriate action. The
- mv routines imply a call to move before the call to the
- other routine. The coordinate y always refers to the row
- (of the window), and x always refers to the column. The
+ to move to before performing the appropriate action. The
+ mv routines imply a call to move before the call to the
+ other routine. The coordinate y always refers to the row
+ (of the window), and x always refers to the column. The
upper left-hand corner is always (0,0), not (1,1).
The routines prefixed with mvw take both a window argument
- and x and y coordinates. The window argument is always
+ and x and y coordinates. The window argument is always
specified before the coordinates.
- In each case, win is the window affected, and pad is the
+ In each case, win is the window affected, and pad is the
pad affected; win and pad are always pointers to type WIN-
DOW.
Option setting routines require a Boolean flag bf with the
- value TRUE or FALSE; bf is always of type bool. Most of
- the data types used in the library routines, such as WIN-
- DOW, SCREEN, bool, and chtype are defined in <curses.h>.
- Types used for the terminfo routines such as TERMINAL are
+ value TRUE or FALSE; bf is always of type bool. Most of
+ the data types used in the library routines, such as WIN-
+ DOW, SCREEN, bool, and chtype are defined in <curses.h>.
+ Types used for the terminfo routines such as TERMINAL are
defined in <term.h>.
- This manual page describes functions which may appear in
- any configuration of the library. There are two common
+ This manual page describes functions which may appear in
+ any configuration of the library. There are two common
configurations of the library:
ncurses
- the "normal" library, which handles 8-bit charac-
- ters. The normal (8-bit) library stores charac-
+ the "normal" library, which handles 8-bit charac-
+ ters. The normal (8-bit) library stores charac-
ters combined with attributes in chtype data.
- Attributes alone (no corresponding character) may
+ Attributes alone (no corresponding character) may
be stored in chtype or the equivalent attr_t data.
- In either case, the data is stored in something
+ In either case, the data is stored in something
like an integer.
- Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is stored
+ Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is stored
as a chtype.
ncursesw
the so-called "wide" library, which handles multi-
byte characters (see the section on ALTERNATE CON-
- FIGURATIONS). The "wide" library includes all of
- the calls from the "normal" library. It adds
- about one third more calls using data types which
+ FIGURATIONS). 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:
cchar_t
corresponds to chtype. 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
+ 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 WINDOW is
+ Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
stored as a cchar_t.
wchar_t
@@ -288,21 +281,21 @@
may be an integer.
wint_t
- stores a wchar_t or WEOF - not the same,
+ stores a wchar_t or WEOF - not the same,
though both may have the same size.
- The "wide" library provides new functions which
- are analogous to functions in the "normal"
+ 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, waddch
+ relates many of the normal/wide variants: a "_w"
+ is inserted into the name. For example, waddch
becomes wadd_wch.
The following table lists each curses routine and the name
- of the manual page on which it is described. Routines
- flagged with `*' are ncurses-specific, not described by
+ of the manual page on which it is described. Routines
+ flagged with "*" are ncurses-specific, not described by
XPG4 or present in SVr4.
curses Routine Name Manual Page Name
@@ -315,11 +308,11 @@
_traceattr curs_trace(3x)*
_traceattr2 curs_trace(3x)*
_tracechar curs_trace(3x)*
-
_tracechtype curs_trace(3x)*
_tracechtype2 curs_trace(3x)*
_tracedump curs_trace(3x)*
_tracef curs_trace(3x)*
+
_tracemouse curs_trace(3x)*
add_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
add_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
@@ -382,10 +375,10 @@
erasewchar curs_termattrs(3x)
filter curs_util(3x)
flash curs_beep(3x)
-
flushinp curs_util(3x)
get_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
get_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
+
getattrs curs_attr(3x)
getbegx curs_legacy(3x)*
getbegy curs_legacy(3x)*
@@ -449,9 +442,9 @@
is_leaveok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_linetouched curs_touch(3x)
is_nodelay curs_opaque(3x)*
-
is_notimeout curs_opaque(3x)*
is_pad curs_opaque(3x)*
+
is_scrollok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_subwin curs_opaque(3x)*
is_syncok curs_opaque(3x)*
@@ -516,8 +509,8 @@
mvscanw curs_scanw(3x)
mvvline curs_border(3x)
mvvline_set curs_border_set(3x)
-
mvwadd_wch curs_add_wch(3x)
+
mvwadd_wchnstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvwadd_wchstr curs_add_wchstr(3x)
mvwaddch curs_addch(3x)
@@ -649,8 +642,8 @@
tputs curs_termcap(3x)
tputs curs_terminfo(3x)
trace curs_trace(3x)*
- typeahead curs_inopts(3x)
+ typeahead curs_inopts(3x)
unctrl curs_util(3x)
unget_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
ungetch curs_getch(3x)
@@ -715,9 +708,9 @@
wgetnstr curs_getstr(3x)
wgetparent curs_opaque(3x)*
wgetscrreg curs_opaque(3x)*
+
wgetstr curs_getstr(3x)
whline curs_border(3x)
-
whline_set curs_border_set(3x)
win_wch curs_in_wch(3x)
win_wchnstr curs_in_wchstr(3x)
@@ -759,17 +752,17 @@
- Routines that return an integer return ERR upon failure
- and an integer value other than ERR upon successful com-
- pletion, unless otherwise noted in the routine descrip-
+ Routines that return an integer return ERR upon failure
+ and an integer value other than ERR upon successful com-
+ pletion, unless otherwise noted in the routine descrip-
tions.
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 w version, except
+ All macros return the value of the w version, except
setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx, and getmaxyx. The
- return values of setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx,
+ return values of setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx,
and getmaxyx are undefined (i.e., these should not be used
as the right-hand side of assignment statements).
@@ -782,80 +775,80 @@
important ones have been already discussed in detail.
CC
- When set, change occurrences of the command_character
+ When set, change occurrences of the command_character
(i.e., the cmdch capability) of the loaded terminfo
- entries to the value of this variable. Very few terminfo
+ entries to the value of this variable. Very few terminfo
entries provide this feature.
Because this name is also used in development environments
- to represent the C compiler's name, ncurses ignores it if
+ to represent the C compiler's name, ncurses ignores it if
it does not happen to be a single character.
- The debugging library checks this environment variable
+ 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
+ variable's numeric value is used for the baudrate. If no
value is found, ncurses uses 9600. This allows testers to
- construct repeatable test-cases that take into account
+ construct repeatable test-cases that take into account
costs that depend on baudrate.
- Specify the width of the screen in characters. Applica-
- tions running in a windowing environment usually are able
- to obtain the width of the window in which they are exe-
- cuting. If neither the COLUMNS value nor the terminal's
- screen size is available, ncurses uses the size which may
- be specified in the terminfo database (i.e., the cols
+ Specify the width of the screen in characters. Applica-
+ tions running in a windowing environment usually are able
+ to obtain the width of the window in which they are exe-
+ cuting. If neither the COLUMNS value nor the terminal's
+ screen size is available, ncurses uses the size which may
+ be specified in the terminfo database (i.e., the cols
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
- COLUMNS and/or LINES overrides the library's use of the
+ 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
+ COLUMNS and/or LINES overrides the library's use of the
screen size obtained from the operating system.
- Either COLUMNS or LINES symbols may be specified indepen-
- dently. This is mainly useful to circumvent legacy mis-
- features of terminal descriptions, e.g., xterm which com-
+ Either COLUMNS or LINES symbols may be specified indepen-
+ dently. This is mainly useful to circumvent legacy mis-
+ features of terminal descriptions, e.g., xterm which com-
monly specifies a 65 line screen. For best results, lines
and cols should not be specified in a terminal description
for terminals which are run as emulations.
- Use the use_env function to disable all use of external
- environment (but not including system calls) to determine
- the screen size. Use the use_tioctl function to update
- COLUMNS or LINES to match the screen size obtained from
+ Use the use_env function to disable all use of external
+ environment (but not including system calls) to determine
+ the screen size. Use the use_tioctl function to update
+ COLUMNS or LINES to match the screen size obtained from
system calls or the terminal database.
- Specifies the total time, in milliseconds, for which
- ncurses 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
+ Specifies the total time, in milliseconds, for which
+ ncurses 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.
The most common instance where you may wish to change this
- value is to work with slow hosts, e.g., running on a net-
- work. If the host cannot read characters rapidly enough,
- it will have the same effect as if the terminal did not
- send characters rapidly enough. The library will still
+ value is to work with slow hosts, e.g., running on a net-
+ work. If the host cannot read characters rapidly enough,
+ it will have the same effect as if the terminal did not
+ send characters rapidly enough. The library will still
see a timeout.
- Note that xterm mouse events are built up from character
- sequences received from the xterm. If your application
- makes heavy use of multiple-clicking, you may wish to
+ Note that xterm mouse events are built up from character
+ sequences received from the xterm. If your application
+ makes heavy use of multiple-clicking, you may wish to
lengthen this default value because the timeout applies to
- the composed multi-click event as well as the individual
+ the composed multi-click event as well as the individual
clicks.
- In addition to the environment variable, this implementa-
- tion provides a global variable with the same name. Por-
- table applications should not rely upon the presence of
+ In addition to the environment variable, this implementa-
+ tion provides a global variable with the same name. Por-
+ table applications should not rely upon the presence of
ESCDELAY in either form, but setting the environment vari-
able rather than the global variable does not create prob-
lems when compiling an application.
@@ -870,95 +863,95 @@
- Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in charac-
+ Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in charac-
ters. See COLUMNS for a detailed description.
- This applies only to the OS/2 EMX port. It specifies the
- order of buttons on the mouse. OS/2 numbers a 3-button
+ 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:
1 = left
2 = right
3 = middle.
- This variable lets you customize the mouse. The variable
- must be three numeric digits 1-3 in any order, e.g., 123
+ 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, ncurses uses 132.
- Override the compiled-in assumption that the terminal's
- default colors are white-on-black (see default_col-
+ Override the compiled-in assumption that the terminal's
+ default colors are white-on-black (see default_col-
ors(3x)). You may set the foreground and background color
- values with this environment variable by proving a 2-ele-
- ment list: foreground,background. For example, to tell
- ncurses 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 max_colors
+ values with this environment variable by proving a 2-ele-
+ ment list: foreground,background. For example, to tell
+ ncurses 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 max_colors
value is allowed.
This applies only to the MinGW port of ncurses.
- The Console2 program's handling of the Microsoft Console
+ The Console2 program's handling of the Microsoft Console
API call CreateConsoleScreenBuffer is defective. Applica-
- tions which use this will hang. However, it is possible
- to simulate the action of this call by mapping coordi-
+ tions which use this will hang. However, it is possible
+ to simulate the action of this call by mapping coordi-
nates, explicitly saving and restoring the original screen
- contents. Setting the environment variable NCGDB has the
+ contents. Setting the environment variable NCGDB has the
same effect.
- This applies only to ncurses configured to use the GPM
+ This applies only to ncurses configured to use the GPM
interface.
- If present, the environment variable is a list of one or
- more terminal names against which the TERM environment
- variable is matched. Setting it to an empty value dis-
- ables the GPM interface; using the built-in support for
+ If present, the environment variable is a list of one or
+ more terminal names against which the TERM environment
+ variable is matched. Setting it to an empty value dis-
+ ables the GPM interface; using the built-in support for
xterm, etc.
If the environment variable is absent, ncurses will
- attempt to open GPM if TERM contains "linux".
+ attempt to open GPM if TERM contains "linux".
- Ncurses may use tabs as part of the cursor movement opti-
- mization. In some cases, your terminal driver may not
- handle these properly. Set this environment variable to
- disable the feature. You can also adjust your stty set-
- tings to avoid the problem. NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE Some
- terminals use a magic-cookie feature which requires spe-
- cial handling to make highlighting and other video
- attributes display properly. You can suppress the high-
- lighting entirely for these terminals by setting this
+ Ncurses may use tabs as part of the cursor movement opti-
+ mization. In some cases, your terminal driver may not
+ handle these properly. Set this environment variable to
+ disable the feature. You can also adjust your stty set-
+ tings to avoid the problem. NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE Some
+ terminals use a magic-cookie feature which requires spe-
+ cial handling to make highlighting and other video
+ attributes display properly. You can suppress the high-
+ lighting entirely for these terminals by setting this
environment variable.
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 environ-
- ment and use curses-based applications. Terminal emula-
+ are written for real "hardware" terminals. Many people
+ use terminal emulators which run in a windowing environ-
+ ment and use curses-based applications. Terminal emula-
tors can duplicate all of the important aspects of a hard-
- ware terminal, but they do not have the same limitations.
- The chief limitation of a hardware terminal from the
+ ware terminal, but they do not have the same limitations.
+ The chief limitation of a hardware terminal from the
standpoint of your application is the management of
- dataflow, i.e., timing. Unless a hardware terminal is
- interfaced into a terminal concentrator (which does flow
- control), it (or your application) must manage dataflow,
- preventing overruns. The cheapest solution (no hardware
- cost) is for your program to do this by pausing after
+ dataflow, i.e., timing. Unless a hardware terminal is
+ interfaced into a terminal concentrator (which does flow
+ control), it (or your application) must manage dataflow,
+ preventing overruns. The cheapest solution (no hardware
+ cost) is for your program to do this by pausing after
operations that the terminal does slowly, such as clearing
the display.
- As a result, many terminal descriptions (including the
- vt100) have delay times embedded. You may wish to use
- these descriptions, but not want to pay the performance
+ As a result, many terminal descriptions (including the
+ vt100) have 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
@@ -973,49 +966,49 @@
o continued though 5.9 patch 20130126
- ncurses enabled buffered output during terminal initial-
- ization. This was done (as in SVr4 curses) for perfor-
- mance reasons. For testing purposes, both of ncurses and
- certain applications, this feature was made optional.
- Setting the NCURSES_NO_SETBUF variable disabled output
- buffering, leaving the output in the original (usually
+ ncurses enabled buffered output during terminal initial-
+ ization. This was done (as in SVr4 curses) for perfor-
+ mance reasons. For testing purposes, both of ncurses and
+ certain applications, this feature was made optional.
+ Setting the NCURSES_NO_SETBUF variable disabled output
+ buffering, leaving the output in the original (usually
line buffered) mode.
- In the current implementation, ncurses performs its own
- buffering and does not require this workaround. It does
+ In the current implementation, ncurses 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
+ 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 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 putp still use the standard output. But high-
+ that certain nonconventional programs would mix ordinary
+ stdio calls with ncurses calls and (usually) work. This
+ is no longer possible since ncurses 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 putp still use the standard output. But high-
level curses calls do not.
During initialization, the ncurses library checks for spe-
cial cases where VT100 line-drawing (and the corresponding
- alternate character set capabilities) described in the
+ alternate character set capabilities) described in the
terminfo are known to be missing. Specifically, when run-
ning in a UTF-8 locale, the Linux console emulator and the
- GNU screen program ignore these. Ncurses checks the TERM
- 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
+ GNU screen program ignore these. Ncurses checks the TERM
+ 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.
When setting this variable, you should set it to a nonzero
- value. Setting it to zero (or to a nonnumber) disables
+ 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 extended terminfo capability U8. This is a
- numeric capability which can be compiled using tic -x.
+ As an alternative to the environment variable, ncurses
+ checks for an extended terminfo capability U8. This is a
+ numeric capability which can be compiled using tic -x.
For example
# linux console, if patched to provide working
@@ -1028,18 +1021,18 @@
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
+ to be used by applications that use ncurses' termcap
interface.
- During initialization, the ncurses debugging library
- checks the NCURSES_TRACE environment variable. If it is
+ During initialization, the ncurses debugging library
+ checks the NCURSES_TRACE environment variable. If it is
defined, to a numeric value, ncurses calls the trace func-
tion, using that value as the argument.
- The argument values, which are defined in curses.h, pro-
- vide several types of information. When running with
+ The argument values, which are defined in curses.h, pro-
+ vide several types of information. When running with
traces enabled, your application will write the file trace
to the current directory.
@@ -1047,57 +1040,101 @@
- Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is dis-
+ Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is dis-
tinct, though many are similar.
- TERM is commonly set by terminal emulators to help appli-
- cations find a workable terminal description. Some of
- those choose a popular approximation, e.g., "ansi",
- "vt100", "xterm" rather than an exact fit. Not infre-
- quently, your application will have problems with that
+ TERM is commonly set by terminal emulators to help appli-
+ cations find a workable terminal description. Some of
+ those choose a popular approximation, e.g., "ansi",
+ "vt100", "xterm" rather than an exact fit. Not infre-
+ quently, your application will have problems with that
approach, e.g., incorrect function-key definitions.
- If you set TERM 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,
+ If you set TERM 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 (xterm being a rare exception), terminal
- emulators which allow you to specify TERM as a parameter
- or configuration value do not change their behavior to
+ emulators which allow you to specify TERM as a parameter
+ or configuration value do not change their behavior to
match that setting.
- If the ncurses library has been configured with termcap
- support, ncurses will check for a terminal's description
- in termcap form if it is not available in the terminfo
+ If the ncurses library has been configured with termcap
+ support, ncurses will check for a terminal's description
+ in termcap form if it is not available in the terminfo
database.
- The TERMCAP environment variable contains either a termi-
- nal description (with newlines stripped out), or a file
- name telling where the information denoted by the TERM
- environment variable exists. In either case, setting it
- directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this infor-
+ The TERMCAP environment variable contains either a termi-
+ nal description (with newlines stripped out), or a file
+ name telling where the information denoted by the TERM
+ environment variable exists. In either case, setting it
+ directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this infor-
mation, e.g., /etc/termcap.
- Overrides the directory in which ncurses searches for your
- terminal description. This is the simplest, but not the
- only way to change the list of directories. The complete
- list of directories in order follows:
+ ncurses can be configured to read from multiple terminal
+ databases. The TERMINFO variable overrides the location
+ for the default terminal database. Terminal descriptions
+ (in terminal format) are stored in terminal databases:
- o the last directory to which ncurses wrote, if any,
- is searched first
+ o Normally these are stored in a directory tree, using
+ subdirectories named by the first letter of the termi-
+ nal names therein.
- o the directory specified by the TERMINFO environment
+ This is the scheme used in System V, which legacy Unix
+ systems use, and the TERMINFO variable is used by
+ curses applications on those systems to override the
+ default location of the terminal database.
+
+ o If ncurses is built to use hashed databases, then each
+ entry in this list may be the path of a hashed data-
+ base file, e.g.,
+
+ /usr/share/terminfo.db
+
+ rather than
+
+ /usr/share/terminfo/
+
+ The hashed database uses less disk-space and is a lit-
+ tle faster than the directory tree. However, some
+ applications assume the existence of the directory
+ tree, reading it directly rather than using the ter-
+ minfo library calls.
+
+ o If ncurses is built with a support for reading termcap
+ files directly, then an entry in this list may be the
+ path of a termcap file.
+
+ o If the TERMINFO variable begins with "hex:" or "b64:",
+ ncurses uses the remainder of that variable as a com-
+ piled terminal description. You might produce the
+ base64 format using infocmp(1m):
+
+ TERMINFO="$(infocmp -0 -Q2 -q)"
+ export TERMINFO
+
+ The compiled description is used if it corresponds to
+ the terminal identified by the TERM variable.
+
+ Setting TERMINFO is the simplest, but not the only way to
+ set location of the default terminal database. The com-
+ plete list of database locations in order follows:
+
+ o the last terminal database to which ncurses wrote,
+ if any, is searched first
+
+ o the location specified by the TERMINFO environment
variable
o $HOME/.terminfo
- o directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment
+ o locations listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment
variable
- o one or more directories whose names are configured
+ o one or more locations whose names are configured
and compiled into the ncurses library, i.e.,
o /usr/local/ncurses/share/ter-
@@ -1109,69 +1146,64 @@
- 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.
- Normally these are stored in a directory tree, using sub-
- directories named by the first letter of the terminal
- names therein.
-
- If ncurses is built with a hashed database, then each
- entry in this list can also be the path of the correspond-
- ing database file.
+ 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 TERMINFO vari-
+ able. The list is separated by colons (i.e., ":") on
+ Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX.
- If ncurses is built with a support for reading termcap
- files directly, then an entry in this list may be the path
- of a termcap file.
+ There is no corresponding feature in System V terminfo; it
+ is an extension developed for ncurses.
- If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses checks
- the TERMPATH environment variable. This is a list of
+ If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses checks
+ the TERMPATH environment variable. This is a list of
filenames separated by spaces or colons (i.e., ":") on
Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX.
- If the TERMPATH environment variable is not set, ncurses
- looks in the files /etc/termcap, /usr/share/misc/termcap
- and $HOME/.termcap, in that order.
+ If the TERMPATH environment variable is not set, ncurses
+ looks in the files
+
+ /etc/termcap, /usr/share/misc/termcap and $HOME/.termcap,
+
+ in that order.
- The library may be configured to disregard the following
- variables when the current user is the superuser (root),
+ The library may be configured to disregard the following
+ variables when the current user is the superuser (root),
or if the application uses setuid or setgid permissions:
- $TERMINFO, $TERMINFO_DIRS, $TERMPATH, as well as $HOME.
+ $TERMINFO, $TERMINFO_DIRS, $TERMPATH, as well as $HOME.
- Several different configurations are possible, depending
- on the configure script options used when building
- ncurses. There are a few main options whose effects are
+ Several different configurations are possible, depending
+ on the configure script options used when building
+ ncurses. There are a few main options whose effects are
visible to the applications developer using ncurses:
--disable-overwrite
- The standard include for ncurses is as noted in SYN-
+ The standard include for ncurses is as noted in SYN-
OPSIS:
#include <curses.h>
- This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when
- ncurses is not the main implementation of curses of
- the computer. If ncurses is installed disabling
- overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdirectory,
+ This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when
+ ncurses is not the main implementation of curses of
+ the computer. If ncurses is installed disabling
+ overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdirectory,
e.g.,
#include <ncurses/curses.h>
- It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you
+ It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you
to use -lcurses to build executables.
--enable-widec
- The configure script renames the library and (if the
- --disable-overwrite option is used) puts the header
+ The configure script renames the library and (if the
+ --disable-overwrite option is used) puts the header
files in a different subdirectory. All of the
- library names have a "w" appended to them, i.e.,
+ library names have a "w" appended to them, i.e.,
instead of
-lncurses
@@ -1181,16 +1213,16 @@
-lncursesw
You must also define _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED when com-
- piling for the wide-character library to use the
- extended (wide-character) functions. The curses.h
- file which is installed for the wide-character
- library is designed to be compatible with the normal
+ piling for the wide-character library to use the
+ extended (wide-character) functions. The curses.h
+ 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 WINDOW struc-
- ture differs, and very few applications require more
- than a pointer to WINDOWs. If the headers are
- installed allowing overwrite, the wide-character
- library's headers should be installed last, to allow
- applications to be built using either library from
+ ture differs, and very few applications require more
+ than a pointer to WINDOWs. If the headers are
+ installed allowing overwrite, the wide-character
+ library's headers should be installed last, to allow
+ applications to be built using either library from
the same set of headers.
--with-pthread
@@ -1198,10 +1230,10 @@
library names have a "t" appended to them (before any
"w" added by --enable-widec).
- The global variables such as LINES are replaced by
- macros to allow read-only access. At the same time,
- setter-functions are provided to set these values.
- Some applications (very few) may require changes to
+ The global variables such as LINES are replaced by
+ macros to allow read-only access. At the same time,
+ setter-functions are provided to set these values.
+ Some applications (very few) may require changes to
work with this convention.
--with-shared
@@ -1211,29 +1243,29 @@
--with-debug
--with-profile
- The shared and normal (static) library names differ
- by their suffixes, e.g., libncurses.so and libn-
- curses.a. The debug and profiling libraries add a
+ The shared and normal (static) library names differ
+ by their suffixes, e.g., libncurses.so and libn-
+ curses.a. The debug and profiling libraries add a
"_g" and a "_p" to the root names respectively, e.g.,
libncurses_g.a and libncurses_p.a.
--with-trace
- The trace function normally resides in the debug
+ The trace function normally resides in the debug
library, but it is sometimes useful to configure this
- in the shared library. Configure scripts should
+ in the shared library. Configure scripts should
check for the function's existence rather than assum-
ing it is always in the debug library.
/usr/share/tabset
- directory containing initialization files for the
+ directory containing initialization files for the
terminal capability database /usr/share/terminfo ter-
minal capability database
- terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_"
+ terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_"
for detailed routine descriptions.
curs_variables(3x)
@@ -1242,116 +1274,116 @@
The ncurses library can be compiled with an option
(-DUSE_GETCAP) that falls back to the old-style /etc/term-
cap file if the terminal setup code cannot find a terminfo
- entry corresponding to TERM. Use of this feature is not
- recommended, as it essentially includes an entire termcap
- compiler in the ncurses startup code, at significant cost
+ entry corresponding to TERM. Use of this feature is not
+ recommended, as it essentially includes an entire termcap
+ compiler in the ncurses startup code, at significant cost
in core and startup cycles.
- The ncurses library includes facilities for capturing
- mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm). See
+ The ncurses library includes facilities for capturing
+ mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm). See
the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.
- The ncurses library includes facilities for responding to
- window resizing events, e.g., when running in an xterm.
- See the resizeterm(3x) and wresize(3x) manual pages for
- details. In addition, the library may be configured with
+ The ncurses library includes facilities for responding to
+ window resizing events, e.g., when running in an xterm.
+ See the resizeterm(3x) and wresize(3x) manual pages for
+ details. In addition, the library may be configured with
a SIGWINCH handler.
- The ncurses library extends the fixed set of function key
- capabilities of terminals by allowing the application
- designer to define additional key sequences at runtime.
+ The ncurses 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 define_key(3x) key_defined(3x), and keyok(3x) man-
ual pages for details.
The ncurses library can exploit the capabilities of termi-
- nals which implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 con-
+ nals which implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 con-
trols, 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 col-
- ored text on a background whose color is set indepen-
- dently, providing better control over color contrasts.
+ its original foreground and background colors. From the
+ users' perspective, the application is able to draw col-
+ ored text on a background whose color is set indepen-
+ dently, providing better control over color contrasts.
See the default_colors(3x) manual page for details.
- The ncurses library includes a function for directing
- application output to a printer attached to the terminal
+ The ncurses library includes a function for directing
+ application output to a printer attached to the terminal
device. See the curs_print(3x) manual page for details.
- The ncurses library is intended to be BASE-level confor-
+ The ncurses library is intended to be BASE-level confor-
mant with XSI Curses. The EXTENDED XSI Curses functional-
ity (including color support) is supported.
- A small number of local differences (that is, individual
- differences between the XSI Curses and ncurses calls) are
- described in PORTABILITY sections of the library man
+ A small number of local differences (that is, individual
+ differences between the XSI Curses and ncurses calls) are
+ described in PORTABILITY sections of the library man
pages.
- 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
+ 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 applica-
- tion which of several possible errors were detected.
- Relying on this (or some other) extension will adversely
+ tion which of several possible errors were detected.
+ Relying on this (or some other) extension will adversely
affect the portability of curses applications.
This implementation also contains several extensions:
- o The routine has_key is not part of XPG4, nor is it
- present in SVr4. See the curs_getch(3x) manual page
+ o The routine has_key is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ present in SVr4. See the curs_getch(3x) manual page
for details.
- o The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ o The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it
present in SVr4. See the curs_slk(3x) manual page for
details.
o The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mousein-
terval, and wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are
- not part of XPG4, nor are they present in SVr4. See
+ not part of XPG4, nor are they present in SVr4. See
the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.
- o The routine mcprint was not present in any previous
- curses implementation. See the curs_print(3x) manual
+ o The routine mcprint was not present in any previous
+ curses implementation. See the curs_print(3x) manual
page for details.
- o The routine wresize is not part of XPG4, nor is it
- present in SVr4. See the wresize(3x) manual page for
+ o The routine wresize is not part of XPG4, nor is it
+ present in SVr4. See the wresize(3x) manual page for
details.
- o The WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden
- from application programs. See curs_opaque(3x) for
+ o The WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden
+ from application programs. See curs_opaque(3x) for
the discussion of is_scrollok, etc.
o This implementation can be configured to provide rudi-
- mentary support for multi-threaded applications. See
+ mentary support for multi-threaded applications. See
curs_threads(3x) for details.
- o This implementation can also be configured to provide
+ o This implementation can also be configured to provide
a set of functions which improve the ability to manage
multiple screens. See curs_sp_funcs(3x) for details.
- In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
+ In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
bilities cr, ind, cub1, ff and tab activated corresponding
- delay bits in the UNIX tty driver. In this implementa-
- tion, all padding is done by sending NUL bytes. This
- method is slightly more expensive, but narrows the inter-
- face to the UNIX kernel significantly and increases the
+ delay bits in the UNIX tty driver. In this implementa-
+ tion, all padding is done by sending NUL bytes. This
+ method is slightly more expensive, but narrows the inter-
+ face to the UNIX kernel significantly and increases the
package's portability correspondingly.
- The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the
+ The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the
header files <stdio.h> and <unctrl.h>.
- If standard output from a ncurses program is re-directed
- to something which is not a tty, screen updates will be
+ If standard output from a ncurses program is re-directed
+ to something which is not a tty, screen updates will be
directed to standard error. This was an undocumented fea-
ture of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
- Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
+ Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey.
Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.