# ncurses 3x

    ncurses(3x)                                                 ncurses(3x)

## NAME

           ncurses - CRT screen handling and optimization package

## SYNOPSIS

           #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 clas-
           sic  curses,  which has been discontinued.  This describes
           ncurses version 5.9 (patch 20131221).

           The ncurses library emulates the curses 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.   Differences  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.,  features  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 direc-
           tory)  that describe curses actions.  See also the section
           on ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS.

           The ncurses package supports: overall screen,  window  and
           pad manipulation; output to windows and pads; reading ter-
           minal input; control over terminal and  curses  input  and
           output  options; environment query routines; color manipu-
           lation; use of soft label keys; terminfo capabilities; 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 initial-
           ize 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 fol-
           lowing sequence should be used:

                 initscr(); cbreak(); noecho();

           Most programs would additionally use the sequence:

                 nonl();
                 intrflush(stdscr, FALSE);
                 keypad(stdscr, TRUE);

           Before  a curses program is run, the tab stops of the ter-
           minal should be set and  its  initialization  strings,  if
           defined,  must  be  output.  This can be done by executing
           the tput init command after the shell environment variable
           TERM  has  been  exported.  tset(1) is usually responsible
           for doing this.  [See terminfo(5) for further details.]

           The ncurses library permits manipulation  of  data  struc-
           tures,  called  windows,  which  can be thought of as two-
           dimensional arrays of characters 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(3x) library.  This means that you
           can either use stdscr or divide the screen into tiled win-
           dows 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  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
           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
           <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
           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 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
           set to $HOME/myterms, curses first checks

                 $HOME/myterms/a/att4424,

           and if that fails, it then checks

                 /usr/share/terminfo/a/att4424.

           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
           of the screen.  The constants TRUE and FALSE have the val-
           ues 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 routines.

       Routine and Argument Names
           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
           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 coordinates.

           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
           defined in <term.h>.

           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
                       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  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
                       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-
                            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-
                            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,
                            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 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
           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)*
                  _tracechtype            curs_trace(3x)*
                  _tracechtype2           curs_trace(3x)*
                  _tracedump              curs_trace(3x)*
                  _tracef                 curs_trace(3x)*
                  _tracemouse             curs_trace(3x)*
                  add_wch                 curs_add_wch(3x)
                  add_wchnstr             curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  add_wchstr              curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  addch                   curs_addch(3x)
                  addchnstr               curs_addchstr(3x)
                  addchstr                curs_addchstr(3x)
                  addnstr                 curs_addstr(3x)
                  addnwstr                curs_addwstr(3x)
                  addstr                  curs_addstr(3x)
                  addwstr                 curs_addwstr(3x)
                  assume_default_colors   default_colors(3x)*
                  attr_get                curs_attr(3x)
                  attr_off                curs_attr(3x)
                  attr_on                 curs_attr(3x)
                  attr_set                curs_attr(3x)
                  attroff                 curs_attr(3x)
                  attron                  curs_attr(3x)
                  attrset                 curs_attr(3x)
                  baudrate                curs_termattrs(3x)
                  beep                    curs_beep(3x)
                  bkgd                    curs_bkgd(3x)
                  bkgdset                 curs_bkgd(3x)
                  bkgrnd                  curs_bkgrnd(3x)
                  bkgrndset               curs_bkgrnd(3x)
                  border                  curs_border(3x)
                  border_set              curs_border_set(3x)
                  box                     curs_border(3x)
                  box_set                 curs_border_set(3x)
                  can_change_color        curs_color(3x)
                  cbreak                  curs_inopts(3x)
                  chgat                   curs_attr(3x)
                  clear                   curs_clear(3x)
                  clearok                 curs_outopts(3x)
                  clrtobot                curs_clear(3x)
                  clrtoeol                curs_clear(3x)
                  color_content           curs_color(3x)
                  color_set               curs_attr(3x)
                  copywin                 curs_overlay(3x)
                  curs_set                curs_kernel(3x)
                  curses_version          curs_extend(3x)*
                  def_prog_mode           curs_kernel(3x)
                  def_shell_mode          curs_kernel(3x)
                  define_key              define_key(3x)*
                  del_curterm             curs_terminfo(3x)
                  delay_output            curs_util(3x)
                  delch                   curs_delch(3x)
                  deleteln                curs_deleteln(3x)
                  delscreen               curs_initscr(3x)
                  delwin                  curs_window(3x)
                  derwin                  curs_window(3x)
                  doupdate                curs_refresh(3x)
                  dupwin                  curs_window(3x)
                  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)
                  flash                   curs_beep(3x)
                  flushinp                curs_util(3x)
                  get_wch                 curs_get_wch(3x)
                  get_wstr                curs_get_wstr(3x)
                  getattrs                curs_attr(3x)
                  getbegx                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getbegy                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getbegyx                curs_getyx(3x)
                  getbkgd                 curs_bkgd(3x)
                  getbkgrnd               curs_bkgrnd(3x)
                  getcchar                curs_getcchar(3x)
                  getch                   curs_getch(3x)
                  getcurx                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getcury                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getmaxx                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getmaxy                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getmaxyx                curs_getyx(3x)
                  getmouse                curs_mouse(3x)*
                  getn_wstr               curs_get_wstr(3x)
                  getnstr                 curs_getstr(3x)
                  getparx                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getpary                 curs_legacy(3x)*
                  getparyx                curs_getyx(3x)
                  getstr                  curs_getstr(3x)
                  getsyx                  curs_kernel(3x)
                  getwin                  curs_util(3x)
                  getyx                   curs_getyx(3x)
                  halfdelay               curs_inopts(3x)
                  has_colors              curs_color(3x)
                  has_ic                  curs_termattrs(3x)
                  has_il                  curs_termattrs(3x)
                  has_key                 curs_getch(3x)*
                  hline                   curs_border(3x)
                  hline_set               curs_border_set(3x)
                  idcok                   curs_outopts(3x)
                  idlok                   curs_outopts(3x)
                  immedok                 curs_outopts(3x)
                  in_wch                  curs_in_wch(3x)
                  in_wchnstr              curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  in_wchstr               curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  inch                    curs_inch(3x)
                  inchnstr                curs_inchstr(3x)
                  inchstr                 curs_inchstr(3x)
                  init_color              curs_color(3x)
                  init_pair               curs_color(3x)
                  initscr                 curs_initscr(3x)
                  innstr                  curs_instr(3x)
                  innwstr                 curs_inwstr(3x)
                  ins_nwstr               curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  ins_wch                 curs_ins_wch(3x)
                  ins_wstr                curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  insch                   curs_insch(3x)
                  insdelln                curs_deleteln(3x)
                  insertln                curs_deleteln(3x)
                  insnstr                 curs_insstr(3x)
                  insstr                  curs_insstr(3x)
                  instr                   curs_instr(3x)
                  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)*
                  is_linetouched          curs_touch(3x)
                  is_nodelay              curs_opaque(3x)*
                  is_notimeout            curs_opaque(3x)*
                  is_scrollok             curs_opaque(3x)*
                  is_syncok               curs_opaque(3x)*
                  is_term_resized         resizeterm(3x)*
                  is_wintouched           curs_touch(3x)
                  isendwin                curs_initscr(3x)
                  key_defined             key_defined(3x)*
                  key_name                curs_util(3x)
                  keybound                keybound(3x)*
                  keyname                 curs_util(3x)
                  keyok                   keyok(3x)*
                  keypad                  curs_inopts(3x)
                  killchar                curs_termattrs(3x)
                  killwchar               curs_termattrs(3x)
                  leaveok                 curs_outopts(3x)
                  longname                curs_termattrs(3x)
                  mcprint                 curs_print(3x)*
                  meta                    curs_inopts(3x)
                  mouse_trafo             curs_mouse(3x)*
                  mouseinterval           curs_mouse(3x)*
                  mousemask               curs_mouse(3x)*
                  move                    curs_move(3x)
                  mvadd_wch               curs_add_wch(3x)
                  mvadd_wchnstr           curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  mvadd_wchstr            curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  mvaddch                 curs_addch(3x)
                  mvaddchnstr             curs_addchstr(3x)
                  mvaddchstr              curs_addchstr(3x)
                  mvaddnstr               curs_addstr(3x)
                  mvaddnwstr              curs_addwstr(3x)
                  mvaddstr                curs_addstr(3x)
                  mvaddwstr               curs_addwstr(3x)
                  mvchgat                 curs_attr(3x)
                  mvcur                   curs_terminfo(3x)
                  mvdelch                 curs_delch(3x)
                  mvderwin                curs_window(3x)
                  mvget_wch               curs_get_wch(3x)
                  mvget_wstr              curs_get_wstr(3x)
                  mvgetch                 curs_getch(3x)
                  mvgetn_wstr             curs_get_wstr(3x)
                  mvgetnstr               curs_getstr(3x)
                  mvgetstr                curs_getstr(3x)
                  mvhline                 curs_border(3x)
                  mvhline_set             curs_border_set(3x)
                  mvin_wch                curs_in_wch(3x)
                  mvin_wchnstr            curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  mvin_wchstr             curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  mvinch                  curs_inch(3x)
                  mvinchnstr              curs_inchstr(3x)
                  mvinchstr               curs_inchstr(3x)
                  mvinnstr                curs_instr(3x)
                  mvinnwstr               curs_inwstr(3x)
                  mvins_nwstr             curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  mvins_wch               curs_ins_wch(3x)
                  mvins_wstr              curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  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)
                  mvvline_set             curs_border_set(3x)
                  mvwadd_wch              curs_add_wch(3x)
                  mvwadd_wchnstr          curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  mvwadd_wchstr           curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  mvwaddch                curs_addch(3x)
                  mvwaddchnstr            curs_addchstr(3x)
                  mvwaddchstr             curs_addchstr(3x)
                  mvwaddnstr              curs_addstr(3x)
                  mvwaddnwstr             curs_addwstr(3x)
                  mvwaddstr               curs_addstr(3x)
                  mvwaddwstr              curs_addwstr(3x)
                  mvwchgat                curs_attr(3x)
                  mvwdelch                curs_delch(3x)
                  mvwget_wch              curs_get_wch(3x)
                  mvwget_wstr             curs_get_wstr(3x)
                  mvwgetch                curs_getch(3x)
                  mvwgetn_wstr            curs_get_wstr(3x)
                  mvwgetnstr              curs_getstr(3x)
                  mvwgetstr               curs_getstr(3x)
                  mvwhline                curs_border(3x)
                  mvwhline_set            curs_border_set(3x)
                  mvwin                   curs_window(3x)
                  mvwin_wch               curs_in_wch(3x)
                  mvwin_wchnstr           curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  mvwin_wchstr            curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  mvwinch                 curs_inch(3x)
                  mvwinchnstr             curs_inchstr(3x)
                  mvwinchstr              curs_inchstr(3x)
                  mvwinnstr               curs_instr(3x)
                  mvwinnwstr              curs_inwstr(3x)
                  mvwins_nwstr            curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  mvwins_wch              curs_ins_wch(3x)
                  mvwins_wstr             curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  mvwinsch                curs_insch(3x)
                  mvwinsnstr              curs_insstr(3x)
                  mvwinsstr               curs_insstr(3x)
                  mvwinstr                curs_instr(3x)
                  mvwinwstr               curs_inwstr(3x)
                  mvwprintw               curs_printw(3x)
                  mvwscanw                curs_scanw(3x)
                  mvwvline                curs_border(3x)
                  mvwvline_set            curs_border_set(3x)
                  napms                   curs_kernel(3x)
                  newpad                  curs_pad(3x)
                  newterm                 curs_initscr(3x)
                  newwin                  curs_window(3x)
                  nl                      curs_outopts(3x)
                  nocbreak                curs_inopts(3x)
                  nodelay                 curs_inopts(3x)
                  noecho                  curs_inopts(3x)
                  nofilter                curs_util(3x)*
                  nonl                    curs_outopts(3x)
                  noqiflush               curs_inopts(3x)
                  noraw                   curs_inopts(3x)
                  notimeout               curs_inopts(3x)
                  overlay                 curs_overlay(3x)
                  overwrite               curs_overlay(3x)
                  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)
                  raw                     curs_inopts(3x)
                  redrawwin               curs_refresh(3x)
                  refresh                 curs_refresh(3x)
                  reset_prog_mode         curs_kernel(3x)
                  reset_shell_mode        curs_kernel(3x)
                  resetty                 curs_kernel(3x)
                  resizeterm              resizeterm(3x)*
                  restartterm             curs_terminfo(3x)
                  ripoffline              curs_kernel(3x)
                  savetty                 curs_kernel(3x)
                  scanw                   curs_scanw(3x)
                  scr_dump                curs_scr_dump(3x)
                  scr_init                curs_scr_dump(3x)
                  scr_restore             curs_scr_dump(3x)
                  scr_set                 curs_scr_dump(3x)
                  scrl                    curs_scroll(3x)
                  scroll                  curs_scroll(3x)
                  scrollok                curs_outopts(3x)
                  set_curterm             curs_terminfo(3x)
                  set_term                curs_initscr(3x)
                  setcchar                curs_getcchar(3x)
                  setscrreg               curs_outopts(3x)
                  setsyx                  curs_kernel(3x)
                  setterm                 curs_terminfo(3x)
                  setupterm               curs_terminfo(3x)
                  slk_attr                curs_slk(3x)*
                  slk_attr_off            curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_attr_on             curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_attr_set            curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_attroff             curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_attron              curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_attrset             curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_clear               curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_color               curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_init                curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_label               curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_noutrefresh         curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_refresh             curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_restore             curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_set                 curs_slk(3x)
                  slk_touch               curs_slk(3x)
                  standend                curs_attr(3x)
                  standout                curs_attr(3x)
                  start_color             curs_color(3x)
                  subpad                  curs_pad(3x)
                  subwin                  curs_window(3x)
                  syncok                  curs_window(3x)
                  term_attrs              curs_termattrs(3x)
                  termattrs               curs_termattrs(3x)
                  termname                curs_termattrs(3x)
                  tgetent                 curs_termcap(3x)
                  tgetflag                curs_termcap(3x)
                  tgetnum                 curs_termcap(3x)
                  tgetstr                 curs_termcap(3x)
                  tgoto                   curs_termcap(3x)
                  tigetflag               curs_terminfo(3x)
                  tigetnum                curs_terminfo(3x)
                  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)*
                  typeahead               curs_inopts(3x)
                  unctrl                  curs_util(3x)
                  unget_wch               curs_get_wch(3x)
                  ungetch                 curs_getch(3x)
                  ungetmouse              curs_mouse(3x)*
                  untouchwin              curs_touch(3x)
                  use_default_colors      default_colors(3x)*
                  use_env                 curs_util(3x)
                  use_extended_names      curs_extend(3x)*
                  use_legacy_coding       legacy_coding(3x)*
                  use_tioctl              curs_util(3x)
                  vid_attr                curs_terminfo(3x)
                  vid_puts                curs_terminfo(3x)
                  vidattr                 curs_terminfo(3x)
                  vidputs                 curs_terminfo(3x)
                  vline                   curs_border(3x)
                  vline_set               curs_border_set(3x)
                  vw_printw               curs_printw(3x)
                  vw_scanw                curs_scanw(3x)
                  vwprintw                curs_printw(3x)
                  vwscanw                 curs_scanw(3x)
                  wadd_wch                curs_add_wch(3x)
                  wadd_wchnstr            curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  wadd_wchstr             curs_add_wchstr(3x)
                  waddch                  curs_addch(3x)
                  waddchnstr              curs_addchstr(3x)
                  waddchstr               curs_addchstr(3x)
                  waddnstr                curs_addstr(3x)
                  waddnwstr               curs_addwstr(3x)
                  waddstr                 curs_addstr(3x)
                  waddwstr                curs_addwstr(3x)
                  wattr_get               curs_attr(3x)
                  wattr_off               curs_attr(3x)
                  wattr_on                curs_attr(3x)
                  wattr_set               curs_attr(3x)
                  wattroff                curs_attr(3x)
                  wattron                 curs_attr(3x)
                  wattrset                curs_attr(3x)
                  wbkgd                   curs_bkgd(3x)
                  wbkgdset                curs_bkgd(3x)
                  wbkgrnd                 curs_bkgrnd(3x)
                  wbkgrndset              curs_bkgrnd(3x)
                  wborder                 curs_border(3x)
                  wborder_set             curs_border_set(3x)
                  wchgat                  curs_attr(3x)
                  wclear                  curs_clear(3x)
                  wclrtobot               curs_clear(3x)
                  wclrtoeol               curs_clear(3x)
                  wcolor_set              curs_attr(3x)
                  wcursyncup              curs_window(3x)
                  wdelch                  curs_delch(3x)
                  wdeleteln               curs_deleteln(3x)
                  wecho_wchar             curs_add_wch(3x)
                  wechochar               curs_addch(3x)
                  wenclose                curs_mouse(3x)*
                  werase                  curs_clear(3x)
                  wget_wch                curs_get_wch(3x)
                  wget_wstr               curs_get_wstr(3x)
                  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)
                  win_wch                 curs_in_wch(3x)
                  win_wchnstr             curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  win_wchstr              curs_in_wchstr(3x)
                  winch                   curs_inch(3x)
                  winchnstr               curs_inchstr(3x)
                  winchstr                curs_inchstr(3x)
                  winnstr                 curs_instr(3x)
                  winnwstr                curs_inwstr(3x)
                  wins_nwstr              curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  wins_wch                curs_ins_wch(3x)
                  wins_wstr               curs_ins_wstr(3x)
                  winsch                  curs_insch(3x)
                  winsdelln               curs_deleteln(3x)
                  winsertln               curs_deleteln(3x)
                  winsnstr                curs_insstr(3x)
                  winsstr                 curs_insstr(3x)
                  winstr                  curs_instr(3x)
                  winwstr                 curs_inwstr(3x)
                  wmouse_trafo            curs_mouse(3x)*
                  wmove                   curs_move(3x)
                  wnoutrefresh            curs_refresh(3x)
                  wprintw                 curs_printw(3x)
                  wredrawln               curs_refresh(3x)
                  wrefresh                curs_refresh(3x)
                  wresize                 wresize(3x)*
                  wscanw                  curs_scanw(3x)
                  wscrl                   curs_scroll(3x)
                  wsetscrreg              curs_outopts(3x)
                  wstandend               curs_attr(3x)
                  wstandout               curs_attr(3x)
                  wsyncdown               curs_window(3x)
                  wsyncup                 curs_window(3x)
                  wtimeout                curs_inopts(3x)
                  wtouchln                curs_touch(3x)
                  wunctrl                 curs_util(3x)
                  wvline                  curs_border(3x)
                  wvline_set              curs_border_set(3x)

## 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-
           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,
           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 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 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.

           CC   When set, change occurrences of the command_character
                (i.e., the cmdch capability) of the  loaded  terminfo
                entries to the value of this variable.  Very few ter-
                minfo entries provide this feature.

                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.

           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
                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 system.

                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 emulations.

                Use the use_env function to disable all use of exter-
                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
                ncurses will await  a  character  sequence,  e.g.,  a
                function  key.  The default value, 1000 milliseconds,
                is enough for most uses.  However, it is made a vari-
                able to accommodate unusual applications.

                The most common instance where you may wish to change
                this value is to work with slow hosts, e.g.,  running
                on  a  network.   If  the host cannot read characters
                rapidly enough, it will have the same  effect  as  if
                the  terminal did not send characters rapidly enough.
                The library will still see a timeout.

                Note that xterm mouse events are built up from  char-
                acter  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 imple-
                mentation provides a global variable  with  the  same
                name.  Portable applications should not rely upon the
                presence of ESCDELAY in either form, but setting  the
                environment  variable rather than the global variable
                does not create problems when compiling  an  applica-
                tion.

           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 inconsistently from other platforms:

                1 = left
                2 = right
                3 = middle.

                This variable lets  you  customize  the  mouse.   The
                variable  must  be  three  numeric  digits 1-3 in any
                order, e.g., 123 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-
                tive 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 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
                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
                variable to disable the feature.  You can also adjust
                your stty settings to avoid the problem.

           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 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
                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., 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
                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  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
                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
                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
                "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-
                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,

                # uxterm with vt100Graphics resource set to false
                xterm-utf8|xterm relying on UTF-8 line-graphics,
                        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'
                termcap interface.

           NCURSES_TRACE
                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
                distinct, though many are similar.

           TERMCAP
                If the ncurses library has been configured with term-
                cap  support,  ncurses  will  check  for a terminal's
                description in termcap form if it is not available in
                the terminfo database.

                The  TERMCAP  environment  variable contains either a
                terminal description (with newlines stripped out), or
                a  file name telling where the 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.
                The complete list of directories in order follows:

                o   the  last  directory  to  which ncurses wrote, if
                    any, is searched first

                o   the directory specified by the TERMINFO  environ-
                    ment variable

                o   $HOME/.terminfo

                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   /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.  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 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.

## 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
           visible to the applications developer using ncurses:

           --disable-overwrite
                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,
                e.g.,

                #include <ncurses/curses.h>

                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 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
                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
                the same set of headers.

           --with-shared

           --with-normal

           --with-debug

           --with-profile
                The shared and normal (static) library  names  differ
                by  their  suffixes,  e.g.,  libncurses.so  and libn-
                curses.a.  The debug and profiling  libraries  add  a
                "_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
                library, but it is sometimes useful to configure this
                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
                terminal capability database /usr/share/terminfo ter-
                minal capability database

## SEE ALSO

           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
           in core and startup cycles.

           The  ncurses  library  includes  facilities  for capturing
           mouse events on certain terminals (including xterm).   See
           the curs_mouse(3x) manual 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
           a SIGWINCH handler.

           The  ncurses library extends the fixed set of function key
           capabilities of  terminals  by  allowing  the  application
           designer  to  define  additional key sequences at runtime.
           See the define_key(3x) key_defined(3x), and 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-
           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.
           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
           device.  See the curs_print(3x) manual page for details.

## PORTABILITY

           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
           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
               present  in  SVr4.  See the curs_getch(3x) manual page
               for details.

           o   The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4,  nor  is  it
               present in SVr4.  See the curs_slk(3x) manual page for
               details.

           o   The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mousein-
               terval, and wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are
               not part of XPG4, nor are they present in  SVr4.   See
               the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for details.

           o   The  routine  mcprint  was not present in any previous
               curses implementation.  See the curs_print(3x)  manual
               page for details.

           o   The  routine  wresize  is  not part of XPG4, nor is it
               present in SVr4.  See the wresize(3x) manual page  for
               details.

           o   The  WINDOW structure's internal details can be hidden
               from application programs.   See  curs_opaque(3x)  for
               the discussion of is_scrollok, etc.

           o   This implementation can be configured to provide rudi-
               mentary support for multi-threaded applications.   See
               curs_threads(3x) for details.

           o   This  implementation can also be configured to provide
               a set of functions which improve the ability to manage
               multiple screens.  See curs_sp_funcs(3x) for details.

           In  historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capa-
           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
           package's portability correspondingly.

## NOTES

           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
           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.
           Based on pcurses by Pavel Curtis.

                                                                ncurses(3x)