NAME
curses —
screen functions with
“optimal” cursor motion
LIBRARY
library “libcurses”
SYNOPSIS
cc |
[flags] files
-lcurses [libraries] |
DESCRIPTION
These routines give the user a method of updating screens with reasonable optimization. They keep an image of the current screen, and the user sets up an image of a new one. Then therefresh()
tells the routines to make the current screen look like the new one. In order
to initialize the routines, the routine
initscr()
must be called before any of the other routines that deal with windows and
screens are used. The routine
endwin()
should be called before exiting. The routine
start_color()
must be called before any of the other routines that deal with color are used.
FUNCTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
COLUMNS- The number of columns in the terminal if set. This is usually automatically configured by querying the kernel.
CURSES_TRACE_MASK- An integer mask that enables specific debugging traces. Enabled only in the debug build of curses.
CURSES_TRACE_FILE- A file where to output debugging information. Enabled only in the debug build of curses.
ESCDELAY- The maximum delay in milliseconds between characters in multi-character keystrokes (such are arrow keys) where the adjacent characters are considered part of the same multi-character sequence. The default is 300 milliseconds.
LINES- The number of lines in the terminal if set. is usually automatically configured by querying the kernel.
TABSIZE- The number of spaces making up a tab. The default is 8 if not specified by the terminal description.
TERM- The terminal type of the current terminal.
SEE ALSO
ioctl(2), getenv(3), tty(4), terminfo(5)
Ken Arnold, Screen Updating and Cursor Movement Optimization: A Library Package.
STANDARDS
The NetBSD Curses library complies with the X/Open Curses specification, part of the Single Unix Specification.
HISTORY
The Curses package appeared in 4.0BSD.
AUTHORS
Ken Arnold
Julian Coleman
Brett Lymn
Roy Marples