curses_tty.3

.\"	$NetBSD: curses_tty.3,v 1.8 2004/03/16 19:27:35 snj Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2002
.\"	Brett Lymn (blymn@NetBSD.org, brett_lymn@yahoo.com.au)
.\"
.\" This code is donated to the NetBSD Foundation by the Author.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. The name of the Author may not be used to endorse or promote
.\"    products derived from this software without specific prior written
.\"    permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"
.Dd June 13, 2003
.Dt CURSES_TTY 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm curses_tty ,
.Nm beep ,
.Nm flash ,
.Nm curs_set ,
.Nm def_prog_mode ,
.Nm reset_prog_mode ,
.Nm def_shell_mode ,
.Nm reset_shell_mode ,
.Nm echo ,
.Nm noecho ,
.Nm delay_output ,
.Nm erasechar ,
.Nm flushinp ,
.Nm gettmode ,
.Nm halfdelay ,
.Nm has_ic ,
.Nm has_il ,
.Nm idcok ,
.Nm idlok ,
.Nm intrflush ,
.Nm noqiflush ,
.Nm qiflush ,
.Nm killchar ,
.Nm meta ,
.Nm napms ,
.Nm nl ,
.Nm nonl ,
.Nm cbreak ,
.Nm nocbreak ,
.Nm raw ,
.Nm noraw ,
.Nm savetty ,
.Nm resetty
.Nd curses terminal manipulation routines
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libcurses
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In curses.h
.Ft int
.Fn beep "void"
.Ft int
.Fn flash "void"
.Ft int
.Fn curs_set "int visibility"
.Ft int
.Fn def_prog_mode "void"
.Ft int
.Fn reset_prog_mode "void"
.Ft int
.Fn def_shell_mode "void"
.Ft int
.Fn reset_shell_mode "void"
.Ft int
.Fn echo "void"
.Ft int
.Fn noecho "void"
.Ft int
.Fn delay_output "int ms"
.Ft char
.Fn erasechar "void"
.Ft int
.Fn flushinp "void"
.Ft int
.Fn gettmode "void"
.Ft int
.Fn has_ic "void"
.Ft int
.Fn has_il "void"
.Ft int
.Fn idcok "WINDOW *win" "boolf flag"
.Ft int
.Fn idlok "WINDOW *win" "boolf flag"
.Ft int
.Fn intrflush "WINDOW *win" "boolf flag"
.Ft void
.Fn noqiflush "void"
.Ft void
.Fn qiflush "void"
.Ft char
.Fn killchar "void"
.Ft int
.Fn meta "WINDOW *win" "boolf flag"
.Ft int
.Fn napms "int ms"
.Ft int
.Fn nl "void"
.Ft int
.Fn nonl "void"
.Ft int
.Fn cbreak "void"
.Ft int
.Fn nocbreak "void"
.Ft int
.Fn halfdelay "int"
.Ft int
.Fn raw "void"
.Ft int
.Fn noraw "void"
.Ft int
.Fn savetty "void"
.Ft int
.Fn resetty "void"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
These functions manipulate curses terminal settings.
.Pp
The
.Fn beep
function rings the terminal bell, if this is possible.
Failing that, the terminal screen will be flashed.
If neither of these are possible, then no action will be taken.
.Fn flash
will flash the terminal screen if possible.
Failing that, the terminal bell will be rung.
If neither of these are possible then no action will be taken.
.Pp
The cursor
visibility can be set by calling
.Fn curs_set .
The following visibility settings are valid for
.Fn curs_set :
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width visibility -compact -offset indent
.It Visibility
Effect
.It 0
cursor is invisible.
.It 1
cursor is normal visibility
.It 2
cursor is high visibility
.El
.Pp
A successful call to
.Fn curs_set
will return the previous visibility setting for the cursor.
.Pp
The
.Fn delay_output
function pauses the output to the terminal by sending the appropriate
number of terminal pad characters such that the transmission time of
the pad characters will take
.Fa ms
milliseconds.
.Pp
Calling
.Fn def_prog_mode
will cause the current terminal curses setting to be saved.
A subsequent call to
.Fn reset_prog_mode ,
will restore the saved settings.
This is useful when calls to external programs are made that may
reset the terminal characteristics.
.Pp
The
.Fn def_shell_mode
function saves the current terminal line settings.
These settings are the ones that will be restored when the curses
application exits.
Conversely,
.Fn reset_shell_mode
will save the current terminal curses settings for later restoration and
restores the previously saved terminal line settings.
.Pp
The
.Fn echo
function turns on curses echo mode, characters entered will be echoed
to the terminal by curses.
The
.Fn noecho
function disables this feature.
.Pp
The current erase character for the terminal can be determined by
calling the
.Fn erasechar
function.
.Pp
The
.Fn flushinp
function discards any pending input for the current screen.
.Pp
The modes
for the current terminal can be reset by calling
.Fn gettmode ,
this will perform the initialisation on the terminal that is normally
done by curses at start up.
.Pp
The
.Fn has_ic
function returns either
.Dv TRUE
or
.Dv FALSE
depending on whether or not the terminal has a insert character
capability or not.
Similarly the
.Fn has_il
function does the same test but for a insert line capability.
.Pp
The use of the insert character capability in curses operations can be
enabled or disabled by calling
.Fn idcok
on the desired window.
Similarly, the use of the insert line capability can be controlled using the
.Fn idlok
function.
.Pp
The
.Fn intrflush
function controls whether or not a flush of the input buffer is
performed when an interrupt key (kill, suspend or quit) is pressed.
The
.Fa win
parameter is ignored.
The
.Fn noqiflush
function is equivalent to
.Fn intrflush stdscr FALSE .
The
.Fn qiflush
function is equivalent to
.Fn intrflush stdscr TRUE .
.Pp
The character that performs the line kill function can be determined
by calling the
.Fn killchar
function.
.Pp
The
.Fn meta
function turns on and off the generation of 8 bit characters by the
terminal, if
.Fa flag
is
.Dv FALSE
then only 7 bit characters will be returned, if
.Fa flag
is
.Dv TRUE
then 8 bit characters will be returned by the terminal.
.Pp
The
.Fn napms
causes the application to sleep for the number of milliseconds
specified by
.Fa ms .
.Pp
Calling
.Fn nl
will cause curses to map all carriage returns to newlines on input,
this functionality is enabled by default.
The
.Fn nonl
function disables this behaviour.
.Pp
The
.Fn cbreak
function will put the terminal into cbreak mode, which means that
characters will be returned one at a time instead of waiting for a
newline character, line discipline processing will be performed.
The
.Fn nocbreak
function disables this mode.
.Pp
Calling
.Fn halfdelay
puts the terminal into the same mode as
.Fn cbreak
with the exception that if no character is received within the specified
number of tenths of a second then the input routine will return
.Er ERR .
This mode can be cancelled by calling
.Fn nocbreak .
The valid range for the timeout is from 1 to 255 tenths of a second.
.Pp
The
.Fn noraw
function sets the input mode for the current terminal into Cooked mode,
that is input character translation and signal character processing is
performed.
The
.Fn raw
function puts the terminal into Raw mode, no input character
translation is done nor is signal character processing.
.Pp
The terminal
tty flags can be saved by calling
.Fn savetty
and may be restored by calling
.Fn resetty ,
the use of these functions is discouraged as they may cause the
terminal to be put into a state that is incompatible with curses
operation.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
Functions returning pointers will return
.Dv NULL
if an error is detected.
The functions that return an int will return one of the following
values:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width ERR -compact
.It Er OK
The function completed successfully.
.It Er ERR
An error occurred in the function.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr getch 3 ,
.Xr termios 4
.Sh NOTES
The
.Fn idcok
and
.Fn idlok
currently have no effect on the curses code at all, currently curses
will always use the terminal insert character and insert line
capabilities if available.
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nx
Curses library complies with the X/Open Curses specification, part of the
Single Unix Specification.
.Sh HISTORY
The Curses package appeared in
.Bx 4.0 .