# curs_terminfo 3x

    curs_terminfo(3x)                                     curs_terminfo(3x)

## NAME

           del_curterm, mvcur, putp, restartterm, set_curterm,
           setterm, setupterm, tigetflag, tigetnum, tigetstr, tiparm,
           tparm, tputs, vid_attr, vid_puts, vidattr, vidputs -
           curses interfaces to terminfo database

## SYNOPSIS

           #include <curses.h>
           #include <term.h>

           int setupterm(char *term, int fildes, int *errret);
           int setterm(char *term);
           TERMINAL *set_curterm(TERMINAL *nterm);
           int del_curterm(TERMINAL *oterm);
           int restartterm(char *term, int fildes, int *errret);
           char *tparm(char *str, ...);
           int tputs(const char *str, int affcnt, int (*putc)(int));
           int putp(const char *str);
           int vidputs(chtype attrs, int (*putc)(int));
           int vidattr(chtype attrs);
           int vid_puts(attr_t attrs, short pair, void *opts, int (*putc)(int));
           int vid_attr(attr_t attrs, short pair, void *opts);
           int mvcur(int oldrow, int oldcol, int newrow, int newcol);
           int tigetflag(char *capname);
           int tigetnum(char *capname);
           char *tigetstr(char *capname);
           char *tiparm(const char *str, ...);

## DESCRIPTION

           These low-level routines must be called by  programs  that
           have to deal directly with the terminfo database to handle
           certain terminal capabilities, such as  programming  func-
           tion  keys.   For all other functionality, curses routines
           are more suitable and their use is recommended.

### Initialization

           Initially, setupterm should  be  called.   Note  that  se-
           tupterm  is  automatically  called by initscr and newterm.
           This  defines  the  set  of  terminal-dependent  variables
           [listed in terminfo(5)].

           Each initialization routine provides applications with the
           terminal capabilities either directly (via header  defini-
           tions),  or  by special functions.  The header files curs-
           es.h and term.h should be included (in this order) to  get
           the definitions for these strings, numbers, and flags.

           The  terminfo  variables lines and columns are initialized
           by setupterm as follows:

           o   If use_env(FALSE) has been called,  values  for  lines
               and columns specified in terminfo are used.

           o   Otherwise, if the environment variables LINES and COL-
               UMNS exist, their values are used.  If these  environ-
               ment variables do not exist and the program is running
               in a window, the current window size is used.   Other-
               wise,  if  the environment variables do not exist, the
               values for lines and columns specified in the terminfo
               database are used.

           Parameterized  strings  should  be passed through tparm to
           instantiate them.  All  terminfo  strings  [including  the
           output  of  tparm]  should  be printed with tputs or putp.
           Call reset_shell_mode to restore the tty modes before  ex-
           iting [see curs_kernel(3x)].

           Programs which use cursor addressing should

           o   output enter_ca_mode upon startup and

           o   output exit_ca_mode before exiting.

           Programs which execute shell subprocesses should

           o   call  reset_shell_mode  and output exit_ca_mode before
               the shell is called and

           o   output enter_ca_mode and  call  reset_prog_mode  after
               returning from the shell.

           The setupterm routine reads in the terminfo database, ini-
           tializing the terminfo structures, but does not set up the
           output virtualization structures used by curses.  The ter-
           minal type is the character string term; if term is  null,
           the  environment  variable TERM is used.  All output is to
           file descriptor fildes which is  initialized  for  output.
           If  errret  is  not null, then setupterm returns OK or ERR
           and stores a status value in the integer pointed to by er-
           rret.   A  return value of OK combined with status of 1 in
           errret is normal.  If ERR is returned, examine errret:

           1    means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot  be  used
                for curses applications.

                setupterm  determines if the entry is a hardcopy type
                by checking the hc (hardcopy) capability.

           0    means that the terminal could not be found,  or  that
                it  is  a generic type, having too little information
                for curses applications to run.

                setupterm determines if the entry is a  generic  type
                by checking the gn (generic) capability.

           -1   means that the terminfo database could not be found.

           If  errret is null, setupterm prints an error message upon
           finding an error and exits.  Thus, the simplest call is:

                 setupterm((char *)0, 1, (int *)0);,

           which uses all the defaults and sends the output  to  std-
           out.

           The setterm routine was replaced by setupterm.  The call:

                 setupterm(term, 1, (int *)0)

           provides  the  same  functionality  as setterm(term).  The
           setterm routine is provided for BSD compatibility, and  is
           not recommended for new programs.

### The Terminal State

           The  setupterm  routine  stores  its information about the
           terminal in a TERMINAL structure pointed to by the  global
           variable  cur_term.   If  it  detects an error, or decides
           that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy or generic),  it
           discards  this information, making it not available to ap-
           plications.

           If setupterm is called repeatedly for  the  same  terminal
           type,  it  will  reuse the information.  It maintains only
           one copy of a given terminal's capabilities in memory.  If
           it is called for different terminal types, setupterm allo-
           cates new storage for each set of terminal capabilities.

           The set_curterm routine sets cur_term to nterm, and  makes
           all of the terminfo boolean, numeric, and string variables
           use the values from nterm.  It returns the  old  value  of
           cur_term.

           The  del_curterm  routine  frees  the  space pointed to by
           oterm and makes it available for further use.  If oterm is
           the  same  as  cur_term, references to any of the terminfo
           boolean, numeric, and string variables thereafter may  re-
           fer  to  invalid  memory locations until another setupterm
           has been called.

           The  restartterm  routine  is  similar  to  setupterm  and
           initscr,  except  that it is called after restoring memory
           to a previous state (for example, when  reloading  a  game
           saved as a core image dump).  restartterm assumes that the
           windows and the input and output options are the  same  as
           when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud rate
           may be different.  Accordingly, restartterm saves  various
           tty  state  bits,  calls  setupterm, and then restores the
           bits.

### Formatting Output

           The tparm routine instantiates the string str with parame-
           ters  pi.  A pointer is returned to the result of str with
           the parameters applied.

           tiparm is a newer form  of  tparm  which  uses  <stdarg.h>
           rather  than  a fixed-parameter list.  Its numeric parame-
           ters are integers (int) rather than longs.

### Output Functions

           The tputs  routine  applies  padding  information  to  the
           string  str  and  outputs  it.  The str must be a terminfo
           string variable or the return value from  tparm,  tgetstr,
           or tgoto.  affcnt is the number of lines affected, or 1 if
           not applicable.  putc is a putchar-like routine  to  which
           the characters are passed, one at a time.

           The  putp routine calls tputs(str, 1, putchar).  Note that
           the output of putp always  goes  to  stdout,  not  to  the
           fildes specified in setupterm.

           The vidputs routine displays the string on the terminal in
           the video attribute mode attrs, which is  any  combination
           of  the  attributes  listed in curses(3x).  The characters
           are passed to the putchar-like routine putc.

           The vidattr routine is like the  vidputs  routine,  except
           that it outputs through putchar.

           The  vid_attr  and vid_puts routines correspond to vidattr
           and vidputs, respectively.  They use a  set  of  arguments
           for  representing  the  video attributes plus color, i.e.,
           one of type attr_t for the attributes and one of short for
           the color_pair number.  The vid_attr and vid_puts routines
           are designed to use the attribute constants with  the  WA_
           prefix.   The  opts  argument  is reserved for future use.
           Currently, applications must provide a  null  pointer  for
           that argument.

           The  mvcur  routine  provides low-level cursor motion.  It
           takes effect immediately (rather  than  at  the  next  re-
           fresh).

### Terminal Capability Functions

           The  tigetflag,  tigetnum and tigetstr routines return the
           value of the capability corresponding to the terminfo cap-
           name  passed  to them, such as xenl.  The capname for each
           capability is given in the table column  entitled  capname
           code in the capabilities section of terminfo(5).

           These routines return special values to denote errors.

           The tigetflag routine returns

           -1     if capname is not a boolean capability, or

           0      if  it  is canceled or absent from the terminal de-
                  scription.

           The tigetnum routine returns

           -2     if capname is not a numeric capability, or

           -1     if it is canceled or absent from the  terminal  de-
                  scription.

           The tigetstr routine returns

           (char *)-1
                  if capname is not a string capability, or

           0      if  it  is canceled or absent from the terminal de-
                  scription.

### Terminal Capability Names

           These null-terminated arrays contain  the  short  terminfo
           names  ("codes"), the termcap names, and the long terminfo
           names ("fnames") for each of the predefined terminfo vari-
           ables:
                  char *boolnames[], *boolcodes[], *boolfnames[]

                  char *numnames[], *numcodes[], *numfnames[]

                  char *strnames[], *strcodes[], *strfnames[]

## RETURN VALUE

           Routines  that  return  an integer return ERR upon failure
           and OK (SVr4 only specifies "an integer value  other  than
           ERR")  upon  successful completion, unless otherwise noted
           in the preceding routine descriptions.

           Routines that return pointers always return NULL on error.

           X/Open defines no error conditions.  In  this  implementa-
           tion

                del_curterm
                     returns  an  error  if its terminal parameter is
                     null.

                putp calls tputs, returning the same error-codes.

                restartterm
                     returns an error if the associated call  to  se-
                     tupterm returns an error.

                setupterm
                     returns  an  error  if it cannot allocate enough
                     memory, or create the initial  windows  (stdscr,
                     curscr,  newscr).   Other  error  conditions are
                     documented above.

                tputs
                     returns an error  if  the  string  parameter  is
                     null.   It  does  not  detect I/O errors: X/Open
                     states that tputs ignores the  return  value  of
                     the output function putc.

## PORTABILITY

           X/Open notes that vidattr and vidputs may be macros.

           The  function  setterm is not described by X/Open and must
           be considered non-portable.  All other  functions  are  as
           described by X/Open.

           setupterm  copies  the terminal name to the array ttytype.
           This is not part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by  some
           applications.

           If  configured  to  use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the
           MinGW port,

           o   setupterm interprets a missing/empty TERM variable  as
               the special value "unknown".

           o   setupterm  allows explicit use of the the windows con-
               sole driver by checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con"
               or an abbreviation of that string.

           Older versions of ncurses assumed that the file descriptor
           passed to setupterm from initscr or newterm uses  buffered
           I/O,  and would write to the corresponding stream.  In ad-
           dition to the limitation that the  terminal  was  left  in
           block-buffered  mode on exit (like SystemV curses), it was
           problematic because ncurses did not allow a  reliable  way
           to cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.  The current version uses
           output buffers managed directly by ncurses.  Some  of  the
           low-level functions described in this manual page write to
           the standard output.  They are not signal-safe.  The high-
           level functions in ncurses use alternate versions of these
           functions using the more reliable buffering scheme.

           In System V Release 4, set_curterm has an int return  type
           and  returns  OK  or ERR.  We have chosen to implement the
           X/Open Curses semantics.

           In System V Release 4, the third argument of tputs has the
           type int (*putc)(char).

           At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) re-
           turns a value other than OK/ERR from tputs.  That  returns
           the length of the string, and does no error-checking.

           X/Open  Curses prototypes tparm with a fixed number of pa-
           rameters, rather than a variable argument list.  This  im-
           plementation  uses  a  variable  argument list, but can be
           configured to use the fixed-parameter list.  Portable  ap-
           plications  should  provide 9 parameters after the format;
           zeroes are fine for this purpose.

           In response to comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
           Issue 7 proposed the tiparm function in mid-2009.

           X/Open  notes  that  after calling mvcur, the curses state
           may not match the actual terminal state, and that  an  ap-
           plication  should  touch and refresh the window before re-
           suming normal curses calls.  Both ncurses and System V Re-
           lease 4 curses implement mvcur using the SCREEN data allo-
           cated in either initscr or newterm.  So though it is docu-
           mented  as  a  terminfo function, mvcur is really a curses
           function which is not well specified.

           X/Open states that the old  location  must  be  given  for
           mvcur.   This implementation allows the caller to use -1's
           for the old ordinates.  In that case, the old location  is
           unknown.

           Other  implementions  may  not declare the capability name
           arrays.  Some provide them without declaring them.  X/Open
           does not specify them.

           Extended  terminal  capability  names, e.g., as defined by
           tic -x, are not stored in the arrays described here.

## SEE ALSO

           curses(3x), curs_initscr(3x), curs_kernel(3x),  curs_term-
           cap(3x),  curs_variables(3x), term_variables(3x), putc(3),
           terminfo(5)

                                                          curs_terminfo(3x)