X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fncurses.3x.html;h=bda5c0ccd28e723041dc734a06c8b08fdb972581;hp=8ec662d675abf8f7d612579f987162e69c6169ee;hb=c0f109a299a82a33c16bd7af942a12ce9aefaaf0;hpb=0de8912c1c0746eb37b733e9e6fdf852aab9506a
diff --git a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
index 8ec662d6..bda5c0cc 100644
--- a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
+++ b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@
method of updating character screens with reasonable optimization.
This implementation is "new curses" (ncurses) and is the approved
replacement for 4.4BSD classic curses, which has been discontinued.
- This describes ncurses version 6.1 (patch 20190323).
+ This describes ncurses version 6.2 (patch 20200314).
The ncurses library emulates the curses library of System V Release 4
UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide) curses (also known as XSI
@@ -258,24 +259,27 @@
Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is stored as a
cchar_t.
+ The setcchar(3x) and getcchar(3x) functions store and
+ retrieve the data from a cchar_t structure.
+
wchar_t
- stores a "wide" character. Like chtype, this may be an
+ stores a "wide" character. Like chtype, this may be an
integer.
wint_t
- stores a wchar_t or WEOF - not the same, though both may
+ 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" library. There is a naming con-
- vention which relates many of the normal/wide variants: a "_w"
+ The "wide" library provides new functions which are analogous
+ to functions in the "normal" library. There is a naming con-
+ vention which 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 man-
- ual page on which it is described. Routines flagged with "*" are
+ The following table lists each curses routine and the name of the man-
+ ual 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
@@ -309,10 +313,10 @@
attr_off curs_attr(3x)
attr_on curs_attr(3x)
attr_set curs_attr(3x)
+
attroff curs_attr(3x)
attron curs_attr(3x)
attrset curs_attr(3x)
-
baudrate curs_termattrs(3x)
beep curs_beep(3x)
bkgd curs_bkgd(3x)
@@ -375,10 +379,10 @@
getcurx curs_legacy(3x)*
getcury curs_legacy(3x)*
getmaxx curs_legacy(3x)*
+
getmaxy curs_legacy(3x)*
getmaxyx curs_getyx(3x)
getmouse curs_mouse(3x)*
-
getn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
getnstr curs_getstr(3x)
getparx curs_legacy(3x)*
@@ -441,10 +445,10 @@
key_defined key_defined(3x)*
key_name curs_util(3x)
keybound keybound(3x)*
+
keyname curs_util(3x)
keyok keyok(3x)*
keypad curs_inopts(3x)
-
killchar curs_termattrs(3x)
killwchar curs_termattrs(3x)
leaveok curs_outopts(3x)
@@ -507,10 +511,10 @@
mvwaddnwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
mvwaddstr curs_addstr(3x)
mvwaddwstr curs_addwstr(3x)
+
mvwchgat curs_attr(3x)
mvwdelch curs_delch(3x)
mvwget_wch curs_get_wch(3x)
-
mvwget_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
mvwgetch curs_getch(3x)
mvwgetn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
@@ -573,10 +577,10 @@
restartterm curs_terminfo(3x)
ripoffline curs_kernel(3x)
savetty curs_kernel(3x)
+
scanw curs_scanw(3x)
scr_dump curs_scr_dump(3x)
scr_init curs_scr_dump(3x)
-
scr_restore curs_scr_dump(3x)
scr_set curs_scr_dump(3x)
scrl curs_scroll(3x)
@@ -639,10 +643,10 @@
use_default_colors default_colors(3x)*
use_env curs_util(3x)
use_extended_names curs_extend(3x)*
+
use_legacy_coding legacy_coding(3x)*
use_tioctl curs_util(3x)*
vid_attr curs_terminfo(3x)
-
vid_puts curs_terminfo(3x)
vidattr curs_terminfo(3x)
vidputs curs_terminfo(3x)
@@ -705,10 +709,10 @@
winch curs_inch(3x)
winchnstr curs_inchstr(3x)
winchstr curs_inchstr(3x)
+
winnstr curs_instr(3x)
winnwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
wins_nwstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
-
wins_wch curs_ins_wch(3x)
wins_wstr curs_ins_wstr(3x)
winsch curs_insch(3x)
@@ -740,31 +744,31 @@
- Routines that return an integer return ERR upon failure and an integer
+ Routines that return an integer return ERR upon failure and an integer
value other than ERR upon successful completion, unless otherwise noted
in the routine descriptions.
- As a general rule, routines check for null pointers passed as parame-
+ As a general rule, routines check for null pointers passed as parame-
ters, and handle this as an error.
- All macros return the value of the w version, except setscrreg,
- wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx, and getmaxyx. The 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
+ All macros return the value of the w version, except setscrreg,
+ wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx, and getmaxyx. The 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).
Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.
- The following environment symbols are useful for customizing the run-
- time behavior of the ncurses library. The most important ones have
+ The following environment symbols are useful for customizing the run-
+ time behavior of the ncurses library. The most important ones have
been already discussed in detail.
- When set, change occurrences of the command_character (i.e., the cmdch
- capability) of the loaded terminfo entries to the value of this vari-
+ When set, change occurrences of the command_character (i.e., the cmdch
+ capability) of the loaded terminfo entries to the value of this vari-
able. Very few terminfo entries provide this feature.
Because this name is also used in development environments to represent
@@ -773,34 +777,34 @@
- The debugging library checks this environment variable when the appli-
- cation has redirected output to a file. The 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
+ The debugging library checks this environment variable when the appli-
+ cation has redirected output to a file. The 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 costs that depend on baudrate.
Specify the width of the screen in characters. Applications running in
- a windowing environment usually are able to obtain the width of the
- window in which they are executing. If neither the COLUMNS value nor
- the terminal's screen size is available, ncurses uses the size which
+ a windowing environment usually are able to obtain the width of the
+ window in which they are executing. 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. How-
- ever, 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. How-
+ ever, 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 independently. This
- is mainly useful to circumvent legacy misfeatures of terminal descrip-
+ Either COLUMNS or LINES symbols may be specified independently. This
+ is mainly useful to circumvent legacy misfeatures of terminal descrip-
tions, e.g., xterm which commonly specifies a 65 line screen. For best
- results, lines and cols should not be specified in a terminal descrip-
+ results, lines and cols should not be specified in a terminal descrip-
tion for terminals which are run as emulations.
- Use the use_env function to disable all use of external environment
+ 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.
@@ -808,31 +812,31 @@
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
+ 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 network. 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
+ The most common instance where you may wish to change this value is to
+ work with slow hosts, e.g., running on a network. 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
+ Note that xterm mouse events are built up from character sequences
received from the xterm. If your application makes heavy use of multi-
- ple-clicking, you may wish to lengthen this default value because the
- timeout applies to the composed multi-click event as well as the indi-
+ ple-clicking, you may wish to lengthen this default value because the
+ timeout applies to the composed multi-click event as well as the indi-
vidual clicks.
In addition to the environment variable, this implementation provides a
- global variable with the same name. Portable applications should not
- rely upon the presence of ESCDELAY in either form, but setting the
- environment variable rather than the global variable does not create
+ global variable with the same name. Portable applications should not
+ rely upon the presence of ESCDELAY in either form, but setting the
+ environment variable rather than the global variable does not create
problems when compiling an application.
- Tells ncurses where your home directory is. That is where it may read
+ Tells ncurses where your home directory is. That is where it may read
and write auxiliary terminal descriptions:
$HOME/.termcap
@@ -846,7 +850,7 @@
This applies only to the OS/2 EMX port. It specifies the order of but-
- tons on the mouse. OS/2 numbers a 3-button mouse inconsistently from
+ tons on the mouse. OS/2 numbers a 3-button mouse inconsistently from
other platforms:
1 = left
@@ -859,32 +863,32 @@
- Override the compiled-in assumption that the terminal's default colors
- are white-on-black (see default_colors(3x)). You may set the fore-
- ground and background color values with this environment variable by
- proving a 2-element 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
+ Override the compiled-in assumption that the terminal's default colors
+ are white-on-black (see default_colors(3x)). You may set the fore-
+ ground and background color values with this environment variable by
+ proving a 2-element 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 API call Cre-
- ateConsoleScreenBuffer is defective. Applications which use this will
- hang. However, it is possible to simulate the action of this call by
- mapping coordinates, explicitly saving and restoring the original
- screen contents. Setting the environment variable NCGDB has the same
+ The Console2 program's handling of the Microsoft Console API call Cre-
+ ateConsoleScreenBuffer is defective. Applications which use this will
+ hang. However, it is possible to simulate the action of this call by
+ mapping coordinates, explicitly saving and restoring the original
+ screen contents. Setting the environment variable NCGDB has the same
effect.
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 disables the GPM interface; using the built-in
+ 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 disables the GPM interface; using the built-in
support for xterm, etc.
If the environment variable is absent, ncurses will attempt to open GPM
@@ -892,38 +896,38 @@
- Ncurses may use tabs as part of the cursor movement optimization. In
- some cases, your terminal driver may not handle these properly. Set
- this environment variable to disable the feature. You can also adjust
+ Ncurses may use tabs as part of the cursor movement optimization. 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 settings to avoid the problem.
- Some terminals use a magic-cookie feature which requires special han-
+ Some terminals use a magic-cookie feature which requires special han-
dling to make highlighting and other video attributes display properly.
- You can suppress the highlighting entirely for these terminals by set-
+ You can suppress the highlighting entirely for these terminals by set-
ting this environment variable.
- Most of the terminal descriptions in the terminfo database are written
- for real "hardware" terminals. Many people use terminal emulators
+ 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 environment and use curses-based applications.
- Terminal emulators can duplicate all of the important aspects of a
- hardware 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
+ Terminal emulators can duplicate all of the important aspects of a
+ hardware 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, pre-
venting overruns. The cheapest solution (no hardware cost) is for your
- program to do this by pausing after operations that the terminal does
+ 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
+ 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 all but
+ Set the NCURSES_NO_PADDING environment variable to disable all but
mandatory padding. Mandatory padding is used as a part of special con-
trol sequences such as flash.
@@ -935,44 +939,44 @@
o continued though 5.9 patch 20130126
- ncurses enabled buffered output during terminal initialization. This
+ ncurses enabled buffered output during terminal initialization. This
was done (as in SVr4 curses) for performance reasons. For testing pur-
- poses, both of ncurses and certain applications, this feature was made
+ poses, 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)
+ 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 not modify the buffering of
+ 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 interrupts and
- other signals more robust. One drawback is that certain nonconven-
- tional 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
+ The reason for the change was to make the behavior for interrupts and
+ other signals more robust. One drawback is that certain nonconven-
+ tional 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 special cases
+ During initialization, the ncurses library checks for special cases
where VT100 line-drawing (and the corresponding alternate character set
- capabilities) described in the terminfo are known to be missing.
- Specifically, when running in a UTF-8 locale, the Linux console emula-
- tor and the GNU screen program ignore these. Ncurses checks the TERM
- environment variable for these. For other special cases, you should
+ capabilities) described in the terminfo are known to be missing.
+ Specifically, when running in a UTF-8 locale, the Linux console emula-
+ tor 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 the VT100 line-drawing glyphs. That works
- for the special cases cited, and is likely to work for terminal emula-
+ values which correspond to the VT100 line-drawing glyphs. That works
+ for the special cases cited, and is likely to work for terminal emula-
tors.
When setting this variable, you should set it to a nonzero value. Set-
- ting it to zero (or to a nonnumber) disables the special check for
+ ting 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
+ 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
@@ -984,67 +988,67 @@
xterm-utf8|xterm relying on UTF-8 line-graphics,
U8#1, use=xterm,
- The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters, to permit it to be used
+ The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters, to permit it 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 defined, to a numeric
- value, ncurses calls the trace function, using that value as the argu-
+ During initialization, the ncurses debugging library checks the
+ NCURSES_TRACE environment variable. If it is defined, to a numeric
+ value, ncurses calls the trace function, using that value as the argu-
ment.
- The argument values, which are defined in curses.h, provide several
- types of information. When running with traces enabled, your applica-
+ The argument values, which are defined in curses.h, provide several
+ types of information. When running with traces enabled, your applica-
tion will write the file trace to the current directory.
See curs_trace(3x) for more information.
- Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is distinct, though
+ Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is distinct, though
many are similar.
- TERM is commonly set by terminal emulators to help applications find a
+ TERM is commonly set by terminal emulators to help applications find a
workable terminal description. Some of those choose a popular approxi-
- mation, e.g., "ansi", "vt100", "xterm" rather than an exact fit. Not
- infrequently, your application will have problems with that approach,
+ mation, e.g., "ansi", "vt100", "xterm" rather than an exact fit. Not
+ infrequently, 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, 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 match
+ 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 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
+ 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 terminal description
(with newlines stripped out), or a file name telling where the informa-
- tion denoted by the TERM environment variable exists. In either case,
- setting it directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this informa-
+ tion denoted by the TERM environment variable exists. In either case,
+ setting it directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this informa-
tion, e.g., /etc/termcap.
- 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
+ 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 Normally these are stored in a directory tree, using subdirectories
named by the first letter of the terminal names therein.
This is the scheme used in System V, which legacy Unix systems use,
- and the TERMINFO variable is used by curses applications on those
+ 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
+ o If ncurses is built to use hashed databases, then each entry in
this list may be the path of a hashed database file, e.g.,
/usr/share/terminfo.db
@@ -1053,30 +1057,30 @@
/usr/share/terminfo/
- The hashed database uses less disk-space and is a little faster
- than the directory tree. However, some applications assume the
- existence of the directory tree, reading it directly rather than
+ The hashed database uses less disk-space and is a little faster
+ than the directory tree. However, some applications assume the
+ existence of the directory tree, reading it directly rather than
using the terminfo 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
+ 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 compiled terminal description.
+ the remainder of that variable as a compiled 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
+ 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 complete list of database loca-
+ Setting TERMINFO is the simplest, but not the only way to set location
+ of the default terminal database. The complete list of database loca-
tions in order follows:
- o the last terminal database to which ncurses wrote, if any, is
+ o the last terminal database to which ncurses wrote, if any, is
searched first
o the location specified by the TERMINFO environment variable
@@ -1085,7 +1089,7 @@
o locations listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment variable
- o one or more locations whose names are configured and compiled
+ o one or more locations whose names are configured and compiled
into the ncurses library, i.e.,
o /usr/local/ncurses/share/terminfo:/usr/share/terminfo (corre-
@@ -1095,9 +1099,9 @@
- 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 variable. The list is separated by colons
+ 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 variable. The list is separated by colons
(i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX.
There is no corresponding feature in System V terminfo; it is an exten-
@@ -1105,11 +1109,11 @@
- If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses checks the TERMPATH
- environment variable. This is a list of filenames separated by spaces
+ 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
+ If the TERMPATH environment variable is not set, ncurses looks in the
files
/etc/termcap, /usr/share/misc/termcap and $HOME/.termcap,
@@ -1117,7 +1121,7 @@
in that order.
The library may be configured to disregard the following variables when
- the current user is the superuser (root), or if the application uses
+ the current user is the superuser (root), or if the application uses
setuid or setgid permissions:
$TERMINFO, $TERMINFO_DIRS, $TERMPATH, as well as $HOME.
@@ -1125,8 +1129,8 @@
Several different configurations are possible, depending on the config-
- ure script options used when building ncurses. There are a few main
- options whose effects are visible to the applications developer using
+ ure script options used when building ncurses. There are a few main
+ options whose effects are visible to the applications developer using
ncurses:
--disable-overwrite
@@ -1134,19 +1138,19 @@
#include <curses.h>
- This option is used to avoid filename conflicts when ncurses is
+ 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 subdi-
+ is installed disabling overwrite, it puts its headers in a subdi-
rectory, e.g.,
#include <ncurses/curses.h>
- It also omits a symbolic link which would allow you to use
+ 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 --dis-
- able-overwrite option is used) puts the header files in a differ-
+ The configure script renames the library and (if the --dis-
+ able-overwrite option is used) puts the header files in a differ-
ent subdirectory. All of the library names have a "w" appended to
them, i.e., instead of
@@ -1156,45 +1160,45 @@
-lncursesw
- You must also enable the wide-character features in the header
- file when compiling for the wide-character library to use the
- extended (wide-character) functions. The symbol which enables
+ You must also enable the wide-character features in the header
+ file when compiling for the wide-character library to use the
+ extended (wide-character) functions. The symbol which enables
these features has changed since XSI Curses, Issue 4:
- o Originally, the wide-character feature required the symbol
+ o Originally, the wide-character feature required the symbol
_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED but that was only valid for XPG4
(1996).
- o Later, that was deemed conflicting with _XOPEN_SOURCE defined
+ o Later, that was deemed conflicting with _XOPEN_SOURCE defined
to 500.
- o As of mid-2018, none of the features in this implementation
- require a _XOPEN_SOURCE feature greater than 600. However,
+ o As of mid-2018, none of the features in this implementation
+ require a _XOPEN_SOURCE feature greater than 600. However,
X/Open Curses, Issue 7 (2009) recommends defining it to 700.
- o Alternatively, you can enable the feature by defining
- NCURSES_WIDECHAR with the caveat that some other header file
- than curses.h may require a specific value for _XOPEN_SOURCE
+ o Alternatively, you can enable the feature by defining
+ NCURSES_WIDECHAR with the caveat that some other header file
+ than curses.h may require a specific value for _XOPEN_SOURCE
(or a system-specific symbol).
- 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 structure differs, and very
+ 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 structure differs, and very
few applications require more than a pointer to WINDOWs.
- If the headers are installed allowing overwrite, the wide-charac-
- ter library's headers should be installed last, to allow applica-
- tions to be built using either library from the same set of head-
+ If the headers are installed allowing overwrite, the wide-charac-
+ ter library's headers should be installed last, to allow applica-
+ tions to be built using either library from the same set of head-
ers.
--with-pthread
- The configure script renames the library. All of the library
- names have a "t" appended to them (before any "w" added by
+ The configure script renames the library. All of the 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
+ to set these values. Some applications (very few) may require
changes to work with this convention.
--with-shared
@@ -1204,75 +1208,80 @@
--with-debug
--with-profile
- The shared and normal (static) library names differ by their suf-
- fixes, e.g., libncurses.so and libncurses.a. The debug and pro-
- filing libraries add a "_g" and a "_p" to the root names respec-
+ The shared and normal (static) library names differ by their suf-
+ fixes, e.g., libncurses.so and libncurses.a. The debug and pro-
+ filing libraries add a "_g" and a "_p" to the root names respec-
tively, e.g., libncurses_g.a and libncurses_p.a.
--with-trace
- The trace function normally resides in the debug library, but it
+ The trace function normally resides in the debug library, but it
is sometimes useful to configure this in the shared library. Con-
- figure scripts should check for the function's existence rather
+ figure scripts should check for the function's existence rather
than assuming it is always in the debug library.
/usr/share/tabset
- directory containing initialization files for the terminal capa-
+ directory containing initialization files for the terminal capa-
bility database /usr/share/terminfo terminal capability database
- terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_" for detailed
+ terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_" for detailed
routine descriptions.
curs_variables(3x)
user_caps(5) for user-defined capabilities
- The ncurses library can be compiled with an option (-DUSE_GETCAP) that
- falls back to the old-style /etc/termcap 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 term-
- cap compiler in the ncurses startup code, at significant cost in core
+ The ncurses library can be compiled with an option (-DUSE_GETCAP) that
+ falls back to the old-style /etc/termcap 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 term-
+ cap 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 curs_mouse(3x) manual
+ 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 resiz-
ing 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
+ 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. See the define_key(3x) key_defined(3x), and
+ 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) manual pages for details.
- The ncurses library can exploit the capabilities of terminals which
- implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 controls, which allow an
- application to reset the terminal to its original foreground and back-
+ The ncurses library can exploit the capabilities of terminals which
+ implement the ISO-6429 SGR 39 and SGR 49 controls, which allow an
+ application to reset the terminal to its original foreground and back-
ground colors. From the users' perspective, the application is able to
- draw colored text on a background whose color is set independently,
- providing better control over color contrasts. See the default_col-
+ draw colored text on a background whose color is set independently,
+ providing better control over color contrasts. See the default_col-
ors(3x) manual page for details.
- The ncurses library includes a function for directing application out-
- put to a printer attached to the terminal device. See the
+ The ncurses library includes a function for directing application out-
+ put 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 conformant with XSI
- Curses. The EXTENDED XSI Curses functionality (including color sup-
+ The ncurses library is intended to be BASE-level conformant with XSI
+ Curses. The EXTENDED XSI Curses functionality (including color sup-
port) is supported.
- A small number of local differences (that is, individual differences
- between the XSI Curses and ncurses calls) are described in PORTABILITY
+ 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.
+
+
+ In many cases, X/Open Curses is vague about error conditions, omitting
+ some of the SVr4 documentation.
+
Unlike other implementations, this one checks parameters such as point-
ers to WINDOW structures to ensure they are not null. The main reason
for providing this behavior is to guard against programmer error. The
@@ -1281,7 +1290,11 @@
this (or some other) extension will adversely affect the portability of
curses applications.
- This implementation also contains several extensions:
+
+
+ Most of the extensions provided by ncurses have not been standardized.
+ Some have been incorporated into other implementations, such as
+ PDCurses or NetBSD curses. Here are a few to consider:
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.
@@ -1312,6 +1325,8 @@
functions which improve the ability to manage multiple screens.
See curs_sp_funcs(3x) for details.
+
+
In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capabilities cr,
ind, cub1, ff and tab activated corresponding delay bits in the UNIX
tty driver. In this implementation, all padding is done by sending NUL
@@ -1320,10 +1335,98 @@
portability correspondingly.
-
+
The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the header files
<stdio.h> and <unctrl.h>.
+ X/Open Curses has more to say, but does not finish the story:
+
+ The inclusion of <curses.h> may make visible all symbols from the
+ headers <stdio.h>, <term.h>, <termios.h>, and <wchar.h>.
+
+ Here is a more complete story:
+
+ o Starting with BSD curses, all implementations have included
+ <stdio.h>.
+
+ BSD curses included <curses.h> and <unctrl.h> from an internal
+ header "curses.ext" ("ext" was a short name for externs).
+
+ BSD curses used <stdio.h> internally (for printw and scanw), but
+ nothing in <curses.h> itself relied upon <stdio.h>.
+
+ o SVr2 curses added newterm(3x), which relies upon <stdio.h>. That
+ is, the function prototype uses FILE.
+
+ SVr4 curses added putwin and getwin, which also use <stdio.h>.
+
+ X/Open Curses documents all three of these functions.
+
+ SVr4 curses and X/Open Curses do not require the developer to
+ include <stdio.h> before including <curses.h>. Both document
+ curses showing <curses.h> as the only required header.
+
+ As a result, standard <curses.h> will always include <stdio.h>.
+
+ o X/Open Curses is inconsistent with respect to SVr4 regarding <unc-
+ trl.h>.
+
+ As noted in curs_util(3x), ncurses includes <unctrl.h> from
+ <curses.h> (like SVr4).
+
+ o X/Open's comments about <term.h> and <termios.h> may refer to HP-UX
+ and AIX:
+
+ HP-UX curses includes <term.h> from <curses.h> to declare setupterm
+ in curses.h, but ncurses (and Solaris curses) do not.
+
+ AIX curses includes <term.h> and <termios.h>. Again, ncurses (and
+ Solaris curses) do not.
+
+ o X/Open says that <curses.h> may include <term.h>, but there is no
+ requirement that it do that.
+
+ Some programs use functions declared in both <curses.h> and
+ <term.h>, and must include both headers in the same module. Very
+ old versions of AIX curses required including <curses.h> before
+ including <term.h>.
+
+ Because ncurses header files include the headers needed to define
+ datatypes used in the headers, ncurses header files can be included
+ in any order. But for portability, you should include <curses.h>
+ before <term.h>.
+
+ o X/Open Curses says "may make visible" because including a header
+ file does not necessarily make all symbols in it visible (there are
+ ifdef's to consider).
+
+ For instance, in ncurses <wchar.h> may be included if the proper
+ symbol is defined, and if ncurses is configured for wide-character
+ support. If the header is included, its symbols may be made visi-
+ ble. That depends on the value used for _XOPEN_SOURCE feature test
+ macro.
+
+ o X/Open Curses documents one required header, in a special case:
+ <stdarg.h> before <curses.h> to prototype the vw_printw and
+ vw_scanw functions (as well as the obsolete the vwprintw and vws-
+ canw functions). Each of those uses a va_list parameter.
+
+ The two obsolete functions were introduced in SVr3. The other
+ functions were introduced in X/Open Curses. In between, SVr4
+ curses provided for the possibility that an application might
+ include either <varargs.h> or <stdarg.h>. Initially, that was done
+ by using void* for the va_list parameter. Later, a special type
+ (defined in <stdio.h>) was introduced, to allow for compiler type-
+ checking. That special type is always available, because <stdio.h>
+ is always included by <curses.h>.
+
+ None of the X/Open Curses implementations require an application to
+ include <stdarg.h> before <curses.h> because they either have
+ allowed for a special type, or (like ncurses) include <stdarg.h>
+ directly to provide a portable interface.
+
+
+
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 feature of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
@@ -1380,7 +1483,14 @@
FILES
SEE ALSO
EXTENSIONS
-PORTABILITY
+PORTABILITY
+
+
NOTES
AUTHORS