1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
|
<!--
****************************************************************************
* Copyright 2018-2020,2021 Thomas E. Dickey *
* Copyright 1998-2016,2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
* *
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
* copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
* "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
* without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
* distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
* copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
* furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
* *
* The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
* in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
* *
* THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
* OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
* MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
* IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
* DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
* OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
* THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
* *
* Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
* holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
* authorization. *
****************************************************************************
* @Id: curs_terminfo.3x,v 1.76 2021/09/04 19:58:03 tom Exp @
* ***************************************************************************
* ***************************************************************************
* ***************************************************************************
* ***************************************************************************
* ***************************************************************************
* ***************************************************************************
* ***************************************************************************
-->
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="generator" content="Manpage converted by man2html - see https://invisible-island.net/scripts/readme.html#others_scripts">
<TITLE>curs_terminfo 3x</TITLE>
<link rel="author" href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x</H1>
<PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
<STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>,
<STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <STRONG>curses</STRONG> interfaces to terminfo database
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
<STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
<STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>restartterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tputs(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_puts(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_attr(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvcur(int</STRONG> <EM>oldrow</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>oldcol</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>newrow</EM>, int <EM>newcol</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
<STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
directly with the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database to handle certain terminal capabil-
ities, such as programming function keys. For all other functionality,
<STRONG>curses</STRONG> routines are more suitable and their use is recommended.
None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
strings such as UTF-8:
<STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
<STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
strings of 8-bit characters.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
<STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
header definitions), or by special functions. The header files <STRONG>curs-</STRONG>
<STRONG>es.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the defini-
tions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
as follows:
<STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
used.
Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
Programs which use cursor addressing should
<STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
<STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
<STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
called and
<STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
the shell.
The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
<EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
<EM>filedes</EM>
is the file descriptor used for all output.
<EM>errret</EM>
points to an optional location where an error status can be re-
turned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with sta-
tus of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
<STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
curses applications.
<STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
<STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
a generic type, having too little information for curses
applications to run.
<STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic</STRONG>) capability.
<STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database could not be found.
If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon find-
ing an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
<STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
<STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
applications.
If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given termi-
nal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different terminal
types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of terminal capa-
bilities.
The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
<EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, refer-
ences to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables
thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until another <STRONG>se-</STRONG>
<STRONG>tupterm</STRONG> has been called.
The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for exam-
ple, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump). <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
assumes that the windows and the input and output options are the same
as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate may be
different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty state bits,
calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the inter-
face:
<STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal capa-
bilities require no more than one or two parameters.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
<STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
<STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
than longs.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information (i.e., by interpreting
marker embedded in the terminfo capability such as "$<5>" as 5 mil-
liseconds) to the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it:
<STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM> inter-
face.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
one at a time.
The <STRONG>putp</STRONG> routine calls <STRONG>tputs(</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>putchar)</STRONG>. The output of <STRONG>putp</STRONG> al-
ways goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
<EM>putc</EM>.
The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
attributes plus color, i.e.,
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
constants with the <EM>WA</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> prefix.
X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an ex-
tension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
<STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
immediately (rather than at the next refresh).
While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because SystemV did
this (see <STRONG>HISTORY</STRONG>).
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
These routines return special values to denote errors.
The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
<STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
<STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
<STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
<STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
<STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
<STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
These null-terminated arrays contain
<STRONG>o</STRONG> the short terminfo names ("codes"),
<STRONG>o</STRONG> the <STRONG>termcap</STRONG> names ("names"), and
<STRONG>o</STRONG> the long terminfo names ("fnames")
for each of the predefined <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables:
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
<STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful com-
pletion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine descriptions.
Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
<STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
<STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
<STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
error.
<STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error con-
ditions are documented above.
<STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with sys-
tems before SVr4 (see <STRONG>HISTORY</STRONG>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
<STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
<STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call:
<STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not recommend-
ed for new programs. This implementation provides each of those sym-
bols as macros for BSD compatibility,
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
these low-level functions:
<STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
------------------------------------------------------------
fixterm restore tty to "in curses" state
gettmode establish current tty modes
mvcur low level cursor motion
putp utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send char-
acters via <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
resetterm set tty modes to "out of curses" state
resetty reset tty flags to stored value
saveterm save current modes as "in curses" state
savetty store current tty flags
setterm establish terminal with given type
setupterm establish terminal with given type
tparm instantiate a string expression with parameters
tputs apply padding information to a string
vidattr like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
vidputs output a string to put terminal in a specified
video attribute mode
The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for termcap
compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date"):
<STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
------------------------------------------------
tgetent look up termcap entry for given <EM>name</EM>
tgetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
tgetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
tgetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
tgoto apply parameters to given capability
tputs apply padding to capability, calling
a function to put characters
Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability val-
ues (like the termcap interface), and reusing tgoto and tputs:
<STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
-------------------------------------------
tigetflag get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
tigetnum get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
tigetstr get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 terminfo functions which had no
counterpart in the termcap interface, documenting them as obsolete:
<STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
-----------------------------
crmode cbreak
fixterm reset_prog_mode
gettmode N/A
nocrmode nocbreak
resetterm reset_shell_mode
saveterm def_prog_mode
setterm setupterm
SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
<STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and han-
dling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two parame-
ters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal descrip-
tions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental improvements to
the SVr2 library:
<STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
<STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
provided in SVr2.
SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
There are other low-level functions declared in the curses header files
on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked "obso-
lete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi</STRONG> editor.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
<STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
stored in the arrays described here.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
<STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the ter-
minal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V curses),
it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable way to
cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
<STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-lev-
el functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions using
the more reliable buffering scheme.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header decla-
rations, which were defined at the same time the C language was first
standardized in the late 1980s.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The ncurses ABI
6 enables this feature by default.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
rather than a variable argument list.
This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be con-
figured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
this purpose.
In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
value "unknown".
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
string.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
<STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
<STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
and does no error-checking.
X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and re-
fresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> and
System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data allo-
cated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as a
terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not well
specified.
X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This im-
plementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
that case, the old location is unknown.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG>,
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>putc(3)</STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</BODY>
</HTML>
|
