+
#include <curses.h>
-DESCRIPTION
+
The ncurses library routines give the user a terminal-
independent method of updating character screens with rea-
- sonable 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 5.8 (patch 20110226).
+ 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 5.9 (patch 20150215).
The ncurses library emulates the curses library of System
V Release 4 UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide)
@@ -150,48 +151,48 @@
Among those, the most basic routines are move and addch.
More general versions of these routines are included with
names beginning with w, allowing the user to specify a
- window. The routines not beginning with w affect stdscr.
+ 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
+ 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.
- Special windows called pads may also be manipulated.
+ Special windows called pads may also be manipulated.
These are windows which are not constrained to the size of
- the screen and whose contents need not be completely dis-
+ the screen and whose contents need not be completely dis-
played. See curs_pad(3x) for more information.
- In addition to drawing characters on the screen, video
- attributes and colors may be supported, causing the char-
- acters to show up in such modes as underlined, in reverse
- video, or in color on terminals that support such display
+ In addition to drawing characters on the screen, video
+ attributes and colors may be supported, causing the char-
+ acters to show up in such modes as underlined, in reverse
+ video, or in color on terminals that support such display
enhancements. Line drawing characters may be specified to
- be output. On input, curses is also able to translate
- arrow and function keys that transmit escape sequences
- into single values. The video attributes, line drawing
- characters, and input values use names, defined in
+ be output. On input, curses is also able to translate
+ arrow and function keys that transmit escape sequences
+ into single values. The video attributes, line drawing
+ characters, and input values use names, defined in
<curses.h>, such as A_REVERSE, ACS_HLINE, and KEY_LEFT.
If the environment variables LINES and COLUMNS are set, or
- if the program is executing in a window environment, line
- and column information in the environment will override
+ if the program is executing in a window environment, line
+ and column information in the environment will override
information read by terminfo. This would affect a program
- running in an AT&T 630 layer, for example, where the size
+ running in an AT&T 630 layer, for example, where the size
of a screen is changeable (see ENVIRONMENT).
- If the environment variable TERMINFO is defined, any pro-
- gram using curses checks for a local terminal definition
- before checking in the standard place. For example, if
+ If the environment variable TERMINFO is defined, any pro-
+ gram using curses checks for a local terminal definition
+ before checking in the standard place. For example, if
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
+ creation of huge directories.) However, if TERMINFO is
set to $HOME/myterms, curses first checks
$HOME/myterms/a/att4424,
@@ -200,119 +201,121 @@
/usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.
- This is useful for developing experimental definitions or
+ 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.
- Routine and Argument Names
- 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
characters. The normal (8-bit) library stores
- characters combined with attributes in chtype
+ characters combined with attributes in chtype
data.
- Attributes alone (no corresponding character)
- may be stored in chtype or the equivalent
- attr_t data. In either case, the data is
+ 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 like an integer.
- Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
+ Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
stored as a chtype.
ncursesw
- the so-called "wide" library, which handles
- multibyte characters (see the section on
+ the so-called "wide" library, which handles
+ multibyte characters (see the section on
ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS). The "wide" library
- includes all of the calls from the "normal"
- library. It adds about one third more calls
+ includes all of the calls from the "normal"
+ library. It adds about one third more calls
using data types which store multibyte charac-
ters:
cchar_t
- corresponds to chtype. However it is a
- structure, because more data is stored
- than can fit into an integer. The char-
+ corresponds to chtype. However it is a
+ structure, because more data is stored
+ than can fit into an integer. The char-
acters 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 sepa-
+ integer value - and there may be more
+ than one character per cell. The video
+ attributes and color are stored in sepa-
rate fields of the structure.
Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is
stored as a cchar_t.
wchar_t
- stores a "wide" character. Like chtype,
+ stores a "wide" character. Like chtype,
this 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 "nor-
- mal" library. There is a naming convention
- which relates many of the normal/wide vari-
- ants: a "_w" is inserted into the name. For
+ which are analogous to functions in the "nor-
+ mal" library. There is a naming convention
+ which relates many of the normal/wide vari-
+ ants: a "_w" is inserted into the name. For
example, waddch becomes wadd_wch.
- Routine Name Index
+
+
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
--------------------------------------------
COLOR_PAIR curs_color(3x)
PAIR_NUMBER curs_attr(3x)
_nc_free_and_exit curs_memleaks(3x)*
-
_nc_freeall curs_memleaks(3x)*
_nc_tracebits curs_trace(3x)*
+
_traceattr curs_trace(3x)*
_traceattr2 curs_trace(3x)*
_tracechar curs_trace(3x)*
@@ -376,9 +379,9 @@
echo curs_inopts(3x)
echo_wchar curs_add_wch(3x)
echochar curs_addch(3x)
-
endwin curs_initscr(3x)
erase curs_clear(3x)
+
erasechar curs_termattrs(3x)
erasewchar curs_termattrs(3x)
filter curs_util(3x)
@@ -442,9 +445,9 @@
intrflush curs_inopts(3x)
inwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
is_cleared curs_opaque(3x)*
-
is_idcok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_idlok curs_opaque(3x)*
+
is_immedok curs_opaque(3x)*
is_keypad curs_opaque(3x)*
is_leaveok curs_opaque(3x)*
@@ -508,9 +511,9 @@
mvinsch curs_insch(3x)
mvinsnstr curs_insstr(3x)
mvinsstr curs_insstr(3x)
-
mvinstr curs_instr(3x)
mvinwstr curs_inwstr(3x)
+
mvprintw curs_printw(3x)
mvscanw curs_scanw(3x)
mvvline curs_border(3x)
@@ -574,9 +577,9 @@
pair_content curs_color(3x)
pechochar curs_pad(3x)
pnoutrefresh curs_pad(3x)
-
prefresh curs_pad(3x)
printw curs_printw(3x)
+
putp curs_terminfo(3x)
putwin curs_util(3x)
qiflush curs_inopts(3x)
@@ -640,9 +643,9 @@
tigetstr curs_terminfo(3x)
timeout curs_inopts(3x)
touchline curs_touch(3x)
-
touchwin curs_touch(3x)
tparm curs_terminfo(3x)
+
tputs curs_termcap(3x)
tputs curs_terminfo(3x)
trace curs_trace(3x)*
@@ -656,6 +659,7 @@
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)
@@ -706,8 +710,8 @@
wgetbkgrnd curs_bkgrnd(3x)
wgetch curs_getch(3x)
wgetn_wstr curs_get_wstr(3x)
-
wgetnstr curs_getstr(3x)
+
wgetstr curs_getstr(3x)
whline curs_border(3x)
whline_set curs_border_set(3x)
@@ -751,12 +755,15 @@
-RETURN VALUE
- 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
setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx, and getmaxyx. The
return values of setscrreg, wsetscrreg, getyx, getbegyx,
@@ -767,58 +774,62 @@
-ENVIRONMENT
+
The following environment symbols are useful for customiz-
ing the runtime behavior of the ncurses library. The most
important ones have been already discussed in detail.
- BAUDRATE
- The debugging library checks this environment symbol
- when the application has redirected output to a file.
- The symbol'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.
-
CC When set, change occurrences of the command_character
- (i.e., the cmdch capability) of the loaded terminfo
- entries to the value of this symbol. Very few ter-
+ (i.e., the cmdch capability) of the loaded terminfo
+ entries to the value of this variable. Very few ter-
minfo entries provide this feature.
- Because this name is also used in development envi-
- ronments to represent the C compiler's name, ncurses
+ Because this name is also used in development envi-
+ ronments to represent the C compiler's name, ncurses
ignores it if it does not happen to be a single char-
acter.
+ BAUDRATE
+ The debugging library checks this environment vari-
+ able when the application 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.
+
COLUMNS
Specify the width of the screen in characters.
- Applications running in a windowing environment usu-
- ally 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
+ Applications running in a windowing environment usu-
+ ally 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. However, setting COLUMNS and/or LINES
+ 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
- independently. This is mainly useful to circumvent
- legacy misfeatures of terminal descriptions, e.g.,
+ Either COLUMNS or LINES symbols may be specified
+ independently. This is mainly useful to circumvent
+ legacy misfeatures of terminal descriptions, e.g.,
xterm which commonly specifies a 65 line screen. For
- best results, lines and cols should not be specified
+ 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 exter-
- nal environment (including system calls) to determine
- the screen size.
+ nal environment (but not including system calls) to
+ determine the screen size. Use the use_tioctl func-
+ tion to update COLUMNS or LINES to match the screen
+ size obtained from system calls or the terminal data-
+ base.
ESCDELAY
Specifies the total time, in milliseconds, for which
@@ -858,234 +869,305 @@
LINES
Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in
- characters. See COLUMNS for a detailed description.
+ characters. See COLUMNS for a detailed description.
MOUSE_BUTTONS_123
This applies only to the OS/2 EMX port. It specifies
- the order of buttons on the mouse. OS/2 numbers a
+ 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 symbol lets you customize the mouse. The symbol
- must be three numeric digits 1-3 in any order, e.g.,
- 123 or 321. If it is not specified, ncurses uses
- 132.
+ 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.
NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS
- Override the compiled-in assumption that the termi-
- nal's default colors are white-on-black (see
- default_colors(3x)). You may set the foreground and
- background color values with this environment vari-
- able by proving a 2-element list: foreground,back-
- ground. 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 posi-
+ Override the compiled-in assumption that the termi-
+ nal's default colors are white-on-black (see
+ default_colors(3x)). You may set the foreground and
+ background color values with this environment vari-
+ able by proving a 2-element list: foreground,back-
+ ground. 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 posi-
tive value from zero to the terminfo max_colors value
is allowed.
+ NCURSES_CONSOLE2
+ This applies only to the MinGW port of ncurses.
+
+ The Console2 program's handling of the Microsoft Con-
+ sole API call CreateConsoleScreenBuffer 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 environ-
+ ment variable NCGDB has the same effect.
+
NCURSES_GPM_TERMS
- This applies only to ncurses configured to use the
+ 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 envi-
- ronment variable is matched. Setting it to an empty
- value disables the GPM interface; using the built-in
+ or more terminal names against which the TERM envi-
+ ronment 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
+ If the environment variable is absent, ncurses will
attempt to open GPM if TERM contains "linux".
NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS
- 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
+ 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.
- NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIES
+ NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE
Some terminals use a magic-cookie feature which
- requires special handling to make highlighting and
- other video attributes display properly. You can
- suppress the highlighting entirely for these termi-
+ requires special handling to make highlighting and
+ other video attributes display properly. You can
+ suppress the highlighting entirely for these termi-
nals by setting this environment variable.
NCURSES_NO_PADDING
- 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 applica-
- tions. Terminal emulators can duplicate all of the
+ 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 applica-
+ tions. 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
+ 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., tim-
ing. Unless a hardware terminal is interfaced into a
- terminal concentrator (which does flow control), it
- (or your application) must manage dataflow, prevent-
- ing overruns. The cheapest solution (no hardware
+ terminal concentrator (which does flow control), it
+ (or your application) must manage dataflow, prevent-
+ ing 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
+ 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
+ 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 symbol to disable all but
- mandatory padding. Mandatory padding is used as a
- part of special control sequences such as flash.
+ Set the NCURSES_NO_PADDING environment variable to
+ disable all but mandatory padding. Mandatory padding
+ is used as a part of special control sequences such
+ as flash.
NCURSES_NO_SETBUF
- Normally ncurses enables buffered output during ter-
- minal initialization. This is done (as in SVr4
- curses) for performance reasons. For testing pur-
- poses, both of ncurses and certain applications, this
- feature is made optional. Setting the
- NCURSES_NO_SETBUF variable disables output buffering,
- leaving the output in the original (usually line
- buffered) mode.
+ This setting is obsolete. Before changes
+
+ o started with 5.9 patch 20120825 and
+
+ o continued though 5.9 patch 20130126
+
+ ncurses enabled buffered output during terminal ini-
+ tialization. This was done (as in SVr4 curses) for
+ performance reasons. For testing purposes, both of
+ ncurses and certain applications, this feature was
+ made optional. Setting the NCURSES_NO_SETBUF vari-
+ able 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 not modify the buffering of the standard out-
+ put.
+
+ 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-level curses calls
+ do not.
NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS
During initialization, the ncurses library checks for
- special cases where VT100 line-drawing (and the cor-
- responding alternate character set capabilities)
- described in the terminfo are known to be missing.
- Specifically, when running 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
+ special cases where VT100 line-drawing (and the cor-
+ responding alternate character set capabilities)
+ described in the terminfo are known to be missing.
+ Specifically, when running 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 the VT100 line-drawing glyphs. That works for the
special cases cited, and is likely to work for termi-
nal emulators.
- When setting this variable, you should set it to a
- nonzero value. Setting it to zero (or to a nonnum-
- ber) disables the special check for "linux" and
+ When setting this variable, you should set it to a
+ nonzero value. Setting it to zero (or to a nonnum-
+ ber) 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 com-
+ As an alternative to the environment variable,
+ ncurses checks for an extended terminfo capability
+ U8. This is a numeric capability which can be com-
piled using tic -x. For example
# linux console, if patched to provide working
# VT100 shift-in/shift-out, with corresponding font.
linux-vt100|linux console with VT100 line-graphics,
- U8#0, use=linux,
+ U8#0, use=linux,
# uxterm with vt100Graphics resource set to false
xterm-utf8|xterm relying on UTF-8 line-graphics,
- U8#1, use=xterm,
+ U8#1, use=xterm,
The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters, to per-
- mit it to be used by applications that use ncurses'
+ mit it to be used by applications that use ncurses'
termcap interface.
NCURSES_TRACE
- During initialization, the ncurses debugging library
- checks the NCURSES_TRACE symbol. If it is defined,
- to a numeric value, ncurses calls the trace function,
- using that value as the argument.
-
- The argument values, which are defined in curses.h,
- provide several types of information. When running
- with traces enabled, your application will write the
+ 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 argument.
+
+ The argument values, which are defined in curses.h,
+ provide several types of information. When running
+ with traces enabled, your application will write the
file trace to the current directory.
- TERM Denotes your terminal type. Each terminal type is
+ TERM 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 workable terminal description.
+ Some of those choose a popular approximation, 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 def-
+ initions.
+
+ 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 termi-
+ nal. 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.
+
TERMCAP
If the ncurses library has been configured with term-
- cap support, ncurses will check for a terminal's
+ cap support, ncurses will check for a terminal's
description in termcap form if it is not available in
the terminfo database.
- The TERMCAP symbol contains either a terminal
- description (with newlines stripped out), or a file
- name telling where the information denoted by the
- TERM symbol exists. In either case, setting it
- directs ncurses to ignore the usual place for this
- information, e.g., /etc/termcap.
+ The TERMCAP environment variable contains either a
+ terminal 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 information, e.g., /etc/termcap.
TERMINFO
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.
+ not the only way to change the list of directories.
The complete list of directories in order follows:
- o the last directory to which ncurses wrote, if
+ o the last directory to which ncurses wrote, if
any, is searched first
- o the directory specified by the TERMINFO symbol
+ o the directory specified by the TERMINFO environ-
+ ment variable
o $HOME/.terminfo
- o directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS symbol
+ o directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environ-
+ ment variable
+
+ o one or more directories whose names are config-
+ ured and compiled into the ncurses library, i.e.,
- o one or more directories whose names are config-
- ured and compiled into the ncurses library, e.g.,
- /usr/share/terminfo
+ o /usr/local/ncurses/share/ter-
+ minfo:/usr/share/terminfo (corresponding to
+ the TERMINFO_DIRS variable)
+
+ o /usr/share/terminfo (corresponding to the
+ TERMINFO variable)
TERMINFO_DIRS
- Specifies a list of directories to search for termi-
- nal descriptions. The list is separated by colons
- (i.e., ":") on Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. All of
- the terminal descriptions are in terminfo form, which
- makes a subdirectory named for the first letter of
- the terminal names therein.
+ Specifies a list of directories to search for termi-
+ nal 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 subdirectories 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 corre-
+ sponding database file.
+
+ If ncurses is built with a support for reading term-
+ cap files directly, then an entry in this list may be
+ the path of a termcap file.
TERMPATH
- If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses
- checks the TERMPATH symbol. This is a list of file-
- names separated by spaces or colons (i.e., ":") on
- Unix, semicolons on OS/2 EMX. If the TERMPATH symbol
- is not set, ncurses looks in the files /etc/termcap,
- /usr/share/misc/termcap and $HOME/.termcap, in that
+ 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.
- 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.
+ 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.
-ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS
- 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
@@ -1095,18 +1177,29 @@
-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
+ 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 changes to
+ work with this convention.
+
--with-shared
--with-normal
@@ -1114,86 +1207,95 @@
--with-debug
--with-profile
- The shared and normal (static) library names differ
- by their suffixes, e.g., libncurses.so and
- libncurses.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.
+ 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.
-FILES
+
/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
-SEE ALSO
- 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)
-EXTENSIONS
+
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.
-PORTABILITY
- 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
+ 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
+ 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
@@ -1227,41 +1329,57 @@
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.
+ 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.
-NOTES
- 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.
-AUTHORS
- 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.
ncurses(3x)
-
-
-Man(1) output converted with
-man2html
-
+