ncurses
SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
DESCRIPTION
The ncurses library routines give the user a terminal-independent
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 5.7 (patch 20090803).
The ncurses library emulates the ncurses(3NCURSES) library of System V
Release 4 UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide) curses (also known
as XSI curses). XSI stands for X/Open System Interfaces Extension.
The ncurses library is freely redistributable in source form. Differ-
ences from the SVr4 curses are summarized under the EXTENSIONS and
PORTABILITY sections below and described in detail in the respective
EXTENSIONS, PORTABILITY and BUGS sections of individual man pages.
The ncurses library also provides many useful extensions, i.e., fea-
tures which cannot be implemented by a simple add-on library but which
require access to the internals of the library.
A program using these routines must be linked with the -lncurses
option, or (if it has been generated) with the debugging library
-lncurses_g. (Your system integrator may also have installed these
libraries under the names -lcurses and -lcurses_g.) The ncurses_g
library generates trace logs (in a file called 'trace' in the current
directory) that describe curses actions. See also the section on
ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS.
The ncurses package supports: overall screen, window and pad manipula-
tion; output to windows and pads; reading terminal input; control over
terminal and curses input and output options; environment query rou-
tines; color manipulation; use of soft label keys; terminfo capabili-
ties; and access to low-level terminal-manipulation routines.
The library uses the locale which the calling program has initialized.
That is normally done with setlocale:
setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
If the locale is not initialized, the library assumes that characters
are printable as in ISO-8859-1, to work with certain legacy programs.
You should initialize the locale and not rely on specific details of
the library when the locale has not been setup.
The function initscr or newterm must be called to initialize the
library before any of the other routines that deal with windows and
screens are used. The routine endwin must be called before exiting.
To get character-at-a-time input without echoing (most interactive,
screen oriented programs want this), the following sequence should be
used:
ment variable TERM has been exported. tset(1) is usually responsible
for doing this. [See terminfo(5) for further details.]
The ncurses library permits manipulation of data structures, called
windows, which can be thought of as two-dimensional arrays of charac-
ters representing all or part of a CRT screen. A default window called
stdscr, which is the size of the terminal screen, is supplied. Others
may be created with newwin.
Note that curses does not handle overlapping windows, that's done by
the panel(3CURSES) library. This means that you can either use stdscr
or divide the screen into tiled windows and not using stdscr at all.
Mixing the two will result in unpredictable, and undesired, effects.
Windows are referred to by variables declared as WINDOW *. These data
structures are manipulated with routines described here and elsewhere
in the ncurses manual pages. 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.
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. These are windows
which are not constrained to the size of the screen and whose contents
need not be completely displayed. See pad(3NCURSES) for more informa-
tion.
In addition to drawing characters on the screen, video attributes and
colors may be supported, causing the characters 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 val-
ues. 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 pro-
gram 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 of a screen is changeable (see ENVIRONMENT).
If the environment variable TERMINFO is defined, any program using
curses checks for a local terminal definition before checking in the
standard place. For example, if TERM is set to att4424, then the com-
piled terminal definition is found in
/etc/terminfo/a/att4424.
permission in /etc/terminfo is not available.
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 values 1 and 0, respectively.
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 curscr can be used in only a few rou-
tines.
Routine and Argument Names
Many curses routines have two or more versions. The routines prefixed
with w require a window argument. The routines prefixed with p require
a pad argument. Those without 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 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 specified before the coor-
dinates.
In each case, win is the window affected, and pad is the pad affected;
win and pad are always pointers to type WINDOW.
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 WINDOW, 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 configura-
tion 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 data.
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 stored as a
chtype.
ncursesw
the so-called "wide" library, which handles multibyte char-
acters (See the section on ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS). The
Each cell (row and column) in a WINDOW is stored as a
cchar_t.
wchar_t
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 have the same size.
The "wide" library provides new functions which are analo-
gous to functions in the "normal" library. There is a nam-
ing convention which relates many of the normal/wide vari-
ants: a "_w" is inserted into the name. For example, wad-
dch becomes wadd_wch.
Routine Name Index
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
--------------------------------------------------
COLOR_PAIR color(3NCURSES)
PAIR_NUMBER attr(3NCURSES)
_nc_free_and_exit memleaks(3NCURSES)*
_nc_freeall memleaks(3NCURSES)*
_nc_tracebits trace(3NCURSES)*
_traceattr trace(3NCURSES)*
_traceattr2 trace(3NCURSES)*
_tracechar trace(3NCURSES)*
_tracechtype trace(3NCURSES)*
_tracechtype2 trace(3NCURSES)*
_tracedump trace(3NCURSES)*
_tracef trace(3NCURSES)*
_tracemouse trace(3NCURSES)*
add_wch add_wch(3NCURSES)
add_wchnstr add_wchstr(3NCURSES)
add_wchstr add_wchstr(3NCURSES)
addch addch(3NCURSES)
addchnstr addchstr(3NCURSES)
addchstr addchstr(3NCURSES)
addnstr addstr(3NCURSES)
addnwstr addwstr(3NCURSES)
addstr addstr(3NCURSES)
addwstr addwstr(3NCURSES)
assume_default_colors default_colors(3NCURSES)*
attr_get attr(3NCURSES)
attr_off attr(3NCURSES)
attr_on attr(3NCURSES)
attr_set attr(3NCURSES)
attroff attr(3NCURSES)
attron attr(3NCURSES)
can_change_color color(3NCURSES)
cbreak inopts(3NCURSES)
chgat attr(3NCURSES)
clear clear(3NCURSES)
clearok outopts(3NCURSES)
clrtobot clear(3NCURSES)
clrtoeol clear(3NCURSES)
color_content color(3NCURSES)
color_set attr(3NCURSES)
copywin overlay(3NCURSES)
curs_set kernel(3NCURSES)
curses_version extensions(3NCURSES)*
def_prog_mode kernel(3NCURSES)
def_shell_mode kernel(3NCURSES)
define_key define_key(3NCURSES)*
del_curterm terminfo(3NCURSES)
delay_output util(3NCURSES)
delch delch(3NCURSES)
deleteln deleteln(3NCURSES)
delscreen initscr(3NCURSES)
delwin window(3NCURSES)
derwin window(3NCURSES)
doupdate refresh(3NCURSES)
dupwin window(3NCURSES)
echo inopts(3NCURSES)
echo_wchar add_wch(3NCURSES)
echochar addch(3NCURSES)
endwin initscr(3NCURSES)
erase clear(3NCURSES)
erasechar termattrs(3NCURSES)
erasewchar termattrs(3NCURSES)
filter util(3NCURSES)
flash beep(3NCURSES)
flushinp util(3NCURSES)
get_wch get_wch(3NCURSES)
get_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
getattrs attr(3NCURSES)
getbegx legacy(3NCURSES)*
getbegy legacy(3NCURSES)*
getbegyx getyx(3NCURSES)
getbkgd bkgd(3NCURSES)
getbkgrnd bkgrnd(3NCURSES)
getcchar getcchar(3NCURSES)
getch getch(3NCURSES)
getcurx legacy(3NCURSES)*
getcury legacy(3NCURSES)*
getmaxx legacy(3NCURSES)*
getmaxy legacy(3NCURSES)*
getmaxyx getyx(3NCURSES)
getmouse mouse(3NCURSES)*
getn_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
getnstr getstr(3NCURSES)
getparx legacy(3NCURSES)*
getpary legacy(3NCURSES)*
hline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
idcok outopts(3NCURSES)
idlok outopts(3NCURSES)
immedok outopts(3NCURSES)
in_wch in_wch(3NCURSES)
in_wchnstr in_wchstr(3NCURSES)
in_wchstr in_wchstr(3NCURSES)
inch inch(3NCURSES)
inchnstr inchstr(3NCURSES)
inchstr inchstr(3NCURSES)
init_color color(3NCURSES)
init_pair color(3NCURSES)
initscr initscr(3NCURSES)
innstr instr(3NCURSES)
innwstr inwstr(3NCURSES)
ins_nwstr ins_wstr(3NCURSES)
ins_wch ins_wch(3NCURSES)
ins_wstr ins_wstr(3NCURSES)
insch insch(3NCURSES)
insdelln deleteln(3NCURSES)
insertln deleteln(3NCURSES)
insnstr insstr(3NCURSES)
insstr insstr(3NCURSES)
instr instr(3NCURSES)
intrflush inopts(3NCURSES)
inwstr inwstr(3NCURSES)
is_cleared opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_idcok opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_idlok opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_immedok opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_keypad opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_leaveok opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_linetouched touch(3NCURSES)
is_nodelay opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_notimeout opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_scrollok opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_syncok opaque(3NCURSES)*
is_term_resized resizeterm(3NCURSES)*
is_wintouched touch(3NCURSES)
isendwin initscr(3NCURSES)
key_defined key_defined(3NCURSES)*
key_name util(3NCURSES)
keybound keybound(3NCURSES)*
keyname util(3NCURSES)
keyok keyok(3NCURSES)*
keypad inopts(3NCURSES)
killchar termattrs(3NCURSES)
killwchar termattrs(3NCURSES)
leaveok outopts(3NCURSES)
longname termattrs(3NCURSES)
mcprint print(3NCURSES)*
meta inopts(3NCURSES)
mouse_trafo mouse(3NCURSES)*
mouseinterval mouse(3NCURSES)*
mvaddwstr addwstr(3NCURSES)
mvchgat attr(3NCURSES)
mvcur terminfo(3NCURSES)
mvdelch delch(3NCURSES)
mvderwin window(3NCURSES)
mvget_wch get_wch(3NCURSES)
mvget_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
mvgetch getch(3NCURSES)
mvgetn_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
mvgetnstr getstr(3NCURSES)
mvgetstr getstr(3NCURSES)
mvhline border(3NCURSES)
mvhline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
mvin_wch in_wch(3NCURSES)
mvin_wchnstr in_wchstr(3NCURSES)
mvin_wchstr in_wchstr(3NCURSES)
mvinch inch(3NCURSES)
mvinchnstr inchstr(3NCURSES)
mvinchstr inchstr(3NCURSES)
mvinnstr instr(3NCURSES)
mvinnwstr inwstr(3NCURSES)
mvins_nwstr ins_wstr(3NCURSES)
mvins_wch ins_wch(3NCURSES)
mvins_wstr ins_wstr(3NCURSES)
mvinsch insch(3NCURSES)
mvinsnstr insstr(3NCURSES)
mvinsstr insstr(3NCURSES)
mvinstr instr(3NCURSES)
mvinwstr inwstr(3NCURSES)
mvprintw printw(3NCURSES)
mvscanw scanw(3NCURSES)
mvvline border(3NCURSES)
mvvline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
mvwadd_wch add_wch(3NCURSES)
mvwadd_wchnstr add_wchstr(3NCURSES)
mvwadd_wchstr add_wchstr(3NCURSES)
mvwaddch addch(3NCURSES)
mvwaddchnstr addchstr(3NCURSES)
mvwaddchstr addchstr(3NCURSES)
mvwaddnstr addstr(3NCURSES)
mvwaddnwstr addwstr(3NCURSES)
mvwaddstr addstr(3NCURSES)
mvwaddwstr addwstr(3NCURSES)
mvwchgat attr(3NCURSES)
mvwdelch delch(3NCURSES)
mvwget_wch get_wch(3NCURSES)
mvwget_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
mvwgetch getch(3NCURSES)
mvwgetn_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
mvwgetnstr getstr(3NCURSES)
mvwgetstr getstr(3NCURSES)
mvwhline border(3NCURSES)
mvwhline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
mvwin window(3NCURSES)
mvwinsch insch(3NCURSES)
mvwinsnstr insstr(3NCURSES)
mvwinsstr insstr(3NCURSES)
mvwinstr instr(3NCURSES)
mvwinwstr inwstr(3NCURSES)
mvwprintw printw(3NCURSES)
mvwscanw scanw(3NCURSES)
mvwvline border(3NCURSES)
mvwvline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
napms kernel(3NCURSES)
newpad pad(3NCURSES)
newterm initscr(3NCURSES)
newwin window(3NCURSES)
nl outopts(3NCURSES)
nocbreak inopts(3NCURSES)
nodelay inopts(3NCURSES)
noecho inopts(3NCURSES)
nofilter util(3NCURSES)*
nonl outopts(3NCURSES)
noqiflush inopts(3NCURSES)
noraw inopts(3NCURSES)
notimeout inopts(3NCURSES)
overlay overlay(3NCURSES)
overwrite overlay(3NCURSES)
pair_content color(3NCURSES)
pechochar pad(3NCURSES)
pnoutrefresh pad(3NCURSES)
prefresh pad(3NCURSES)
printw printw(3NCURSES)
putp terminfo(3NCURSES)
putwin util(3NCURSES)
qiflush inopts(3NCURSES)
raw inopts(3NCURSES)
redrawwin refresh(3NCURSES)
refresh refresh(3NCURSES)
reset_prog_mode kernel(3NCURSES)
reset_shell_mode kernel(3NCURSES)
resetty kernel(3NCURSES)
resizeterm resizeterm(3NCURSES)*
restartterm terminfo(3NCURSES)
ripoffline kernel(3NCURSES)
savetty kernel(3NCURSES)
scanw scanw(3NCURSES)
scr_dump scr_dump(3NCURSES)
scr_init scr_dump(3NCURSES)
scr_restore scr_dump(3NCURSES)
scr_set scr_dump(3NCURSES)
scrl scroll(3NCURSES)
scroll scroll(3NCURSES)
scrollok outopts(3NCURSES)
set_curterm terminfo(3NCURSES)
set_term initscr(3NCURSES)
setcchar getcchar(3NCURSES)
setscrreg outopts(3NCURSES)
slk_color slk(3NCURSES)
slk_init slk(3NCURSES)
slk_label slk(3NCURSES)
slk_noutrefresh slk(3NCURSES)
slk_refresh slk(3NCURSES)
slk_restore slk(3NCURSES)
slk_set slk(3NCURSES)
slk_touch slk(3NCURSES)
standend attr(3NCURSES)
standout attr(3NCURSES)
start_color color(3NCURSES)
subpad pad(3NCURSES)
subwin window(3NCURSES)
syncok window(3NCURSES)
term_attrs termattrs(3NCURSES)
termattrs termattrs(3NCURSES)
termname termattrs(3NCURSES)
tgetent termcap(3NCURSES)
tgetflag termcap(3NCURSES)
tgetnum termcap(3NCURSES)
tgetstr termcap(3NCURSES)
tgoto termcap(3NCURSES)
tigetflag terminfo(3NCURSES)
tigetnum terminfo(3NCURSES)
tigetstr terminfo(3NCURSES)
timeout inopts(3NCURSES)
touchline touch(3NCURSES)
touchwin touch(3NCURSES)
tparm terminfo(3NCURSES)
tputs termcap(3NCURSES)
tputs terminfo(3NCURSES)
trace trace(3NCURSES)*
typeahead inopts(3NCURSES)
unctrl util(3NCURSES)
unget_wch get_wch(3NCURSES)
ungetch getch(3NCURSES)
ungetmouse mouse(3NCURSES)*
untouchwin touch(3NCURSES)
use_default_colors default_colors(3NCURSES)*
use_env util(3NCURSES)
use_extended_names extensions(3NCURSES)*
use_legacy_coding legacy_coding(3NCURSES)*
vid_attr terminfo(3NCURSES)
vid_puts terminfo(3NCURSES)
vidattr terminfo(3NCURSES)
vidputs terminfo(3NCURSES)
vline border(3NCURSES)
vline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
vw_printw printw(3NCURSES)
vw_scanw scanw(3NCURSES)
vwprintw printw(3NCURSES)
vwscanw scanw(3NCURSES)
wadd_wch add_wch(3NCURSES)
wadd_wchnstr add_wchstr(3NCURSES)
wattroff attr(3NCURSES)
wattron attr(3NCURSES)
wattrset attr(3NCURSES)
wbkgd bkgd(3NCURSES)
wbkgdset bkgd(3NCURSES)
wbkgrnd bkgrnd(3NCURSES)
wbkgrndset bkgrnd(3NCURSES)
wborder border(3NCURSES)
wborder_set border_set(3NCURSES)
wchgat attr(3NCURSES)
wclear clear(3NCURSES)
wclrtobot clear(3NCURSES)
wclrtoeol clear(3NCURSES)
wcolor_set attr(3NCURSES)
wcursyncup window(3NCURSES)
wdelch delch(3NCURSES)
wdeleteln deleteln(3NCURSES)
wecho_wchar add_wch(3NCURSES)
wechochar addch(3NCURSES)
wenclose mouse(3NCURSES)*
werase clear(3NCURSES)
wget_wch get_wch(3NCURSES)
wget_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
wgetbkgrnd bkgrnd(3NCURSES)
wgetch getch(3NCURSES)
wgetn_wstr get_wstr(3NCURSES)
wgetnstr getstr(3NCURSES)
wgetstr getstr(3NCURSES)
whline border(3NCURSES)
whline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
win_wch in_wch(3NCURSES)
win_wchnstr in_wchstr(3NCURSES)
win_wchstr in_wchstr(3NCURSES)
winch inch(3NCURSES)
winchnstr inchstr(3NCURSES)
winchstr inchstr(3NCURSES)
winnstr instr(3NCURSES)
winnwstr inwstr(3NCURSES)
wins_nwstr ins_wstr(3NCURSES)
wins_wch ins_wch(3NCURSES)
wins_wstr ins_wstr(3NCURSES)
winsch insch(3NCURSES)
winsdelln deleteln(3NCURSES)
winsertln deleteln(3NCURSES)
winsnstr insstr(3NCURSES)
winsstr insstr(3NCURSES)
winstr instr(3NCURSES)
winwstr inwstr(3NCURSES)
wmouse_trafo mouse(3NCURSES)*
wmove move(3NCURSES)
wnoutrefresh refresh(3NCURSES)
wprintw printw(3NCURSES)
wredrawln refresh(3NCURSES)
wvline border(3NCURSES)
wvline_set border_set(3NCURSES)
RETURN VALUE
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.
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.
ENVIRONMENT
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.
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 terminfo entries provide this feature.
COLUMNS
Specify the width of the screen in characters. Applications run-
ning 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 may be specified in the terminfo database
(i.e., the cols capability).
It is important that your application use a correct size for the
screen. This is not always possible because your application may
be running on a host which does not honor NAWS (Negotiations About
Window Size), or because you are temporarily running as another
user. However, setting COLUMNS and/or LINES overrides the
library's use of the screen size obtained from the operating sys-
tem.
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
in a terminal description for terminals which are run as emula-
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
received from the xterm. If your application makes heavy use of
multiple-clicking, you may wish to lengthen this default value
because the timeout applies to the composed multi-click event as
well as the individual clicks.
In addition to the environment variable, this implementation pro-
vides 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 problems when compiling an application.
HOME Tells ncurses where your home directory is. That is where it may
read and write auxiliary terminal descriptions:
$HOME/.termcap
$HOME/.terminfo
LINES
Like COLUMNS, specify the height of the screen in 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 3-button mouse inconsis-
tently 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.
NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS
Override the compiled-in assumption that the terminal's default
colors are white-on-black (see default_colors(3NCURSES)). You may
set the foreground and background color values with this environ-
ment variable by proving a 2-element list: foreground,background.
For example, to tell ncurses to not assume anything about the col-
ors, 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.
NCURSES_GPM_TERMS
This applies only to ncurses configured to use the GPM interface.
If present, the environment variable is a list of one or more ter-
NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIES
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
terminals 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 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 does flow control), it (or
your application) must manage dataflow, preventing overruns. The
cheapest solution (no hardware cost) is for your program to do
this by pausing after operations that the terminal does slowly,
such as clearing the display.
As a result, many terminal descriptions (including the vt100) have
delay times embedded. You may wish to use these descriptions, but
not want to pay the performance 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.
NCURSES_NO_SETBUF
Normally ncurses enables buffered output during terminal initial-
ization. This is done (as in SVr4 curses) for performance rea-
sons. For testing purposes, both of ncurses and certain applica-
tions, this feature is made optional. Setting the NCURSES_NO_SET-
BUF variable disables output buffering, leaving the output in the
original (usually line buffered) mode.
NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS
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 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 terminal emulators.
When setting this variable, you should set it to a nonzero value.
Setting it to zero (or to a nonnumber) disables the special check
for Linux and screen.
TERMCAP
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 symbol contains either a terminal description (with
newlines stripped out), or a file name telling where the informa-
tion 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.
TERMINFO
Overrides the directory in which ncurses searches for your termi-
nal description. This is the simplest, but not the only way to
change the list of directories. The complete list of directories
in order follows:
- the last directory to which ncurses wrote, if any, is searched
first
- the directory specified by the TERMINFO symbol
- $HOME/.terminfo
- directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS symbol
- one or more directories whose names are configured and compiled
into the ncurses library, e.g., /etc/terminfo
TERMINFO_DIRS
Specifies a list of directories to search for terminal descrip-
tions. The list is separated by colons (i.e., ":") on Unix, semi-
colons on OS/2 EMX. All of the terminal descriptions are in ter-
minfo form, which makes a subdirectory named for the first letter
of the terminal names therein.
TERMPATH
If TERMCAP does not hold a file name then ncurses checks the
TERMPATH symbol. This is a list of filenames 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/term-
cap, /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.
ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS
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
ncurses:
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 files in a different
subdirectory. All of the library names have a "w" appended to
them, i.e., instead of
-lncurses
you link with
-lncursesw
You must also define _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED when compiling for the
wide-character library to use the extended (wide-character) func-
tions. The curses.h file which is installed for the wide-charac-
ter 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-character
library's headers should be installed last, to allow applications
to be built using either library from the same set of headers.
--with-shared
--with-normal
--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-
tively, e.g., libncurses_g.a and libncurses_p.a.
--with-trace
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
than assuming it is always in the debug library.
FILES
/usr/share/tabset
directory containing initialization files for the terminal capa-
bility database /etc/terminfo terminal capability database
SEE ALSO
terminfo(5) and related pages whose names begin "curs_" for detailed
routine descriptions.
EXTENSIONS
ing events, e.g., when running in an xterm. See the
resizeterm(3NCURSES) and wresize(3NCURSES) 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(3NCURSES)
key_defined(3NCURSES), and keyok(3NCURSES) 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-
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-
ors(3NCURSES) 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
print(3NCURSES) manual page for details.
PORTABILITY
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
sections of the library man pages.
This implementation also contains several extensions:
The routine has_key is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in
SVr4. See the getch(3NCURSES) manual page for details.
The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in
SVr4. See the slk(3NCURSES) manual page for details.
The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mouseinterval, and
wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are not part of XPG4, nor
are they present in SVr4. See the mouse(3NCURSES) manual page for
details.
The routine mcprint was not present in any previous curses imple-
mentation. See the print(3NCURSES) manual page for details.
The routine wresize is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in
SVr4. See the wresize(3NCURSES) manual page for details.
The WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden from appli-
cation programs. See opaque(3NCURSES) for the discussion of
is_scrollok, etc.
In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capabilities cr,
This was an undocumented feature of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
AUTHORS
Zeyd M. Ben-Halim, Eric S. Raymond, Thomas E. Dickey. Based on pcurses
by Pavel Curtis.
ncurses(3NCURSES)
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