tgetent, tgetflag, tgetnum, tgetstr, tgoto, tputs - direct
curses interface to the terminfo capability database
#include <curses.h>
#include <term.h>
int tgetent(char *bp, const char *name);
int tgetflag(char *id);
int tgetnum(char *id);
char *tgetstr(char *id, char **area);
char *tgoto(const char *cap, int col, int row);
int tputs(const char *str, int affcnt, int (*putc)(int));
These routines are included as a conversion aid for programs
that use the termcap library. Their parameters are
the same and the routines are emulated using the terminfo
database. Thus, they can only be used to query the capabilities
of entries for which a terminfo entry has been
compiled.
The tgetent routine loads the entry for name. It returns
1 on success, 0 if there is no such entry, and -1 if the
terminfo database could not be found. The emulation
ignores the buffer pointer bp.
The tgetflag routine gets the boolean entry for id, or
zero if it is not available.
The tgetnum routine gets the numeric entry for id, or -1
if it is not available.
The tgetstr routine returns the string entry for id, or
zero if it is not available. Use tputs to output the
returned string. The return value will also be copied to
the buffer pointed to by area, and the area value will be
updated to point past the null ending this value.
Only the first two characters of the id parameter of tget-
flag, tgetnum and tgetstr are compared in lookups.
The tgoto routine instantiates the parameters into the
given capability. The output from this routine is to be
passed to tputs.
The tputs routine is described in the terminfo(3) manual
page. It can retrieve capabilities by either termcap or
terminfo name.
Except where explicitly noted, routines that return an
integer return ERR upon failure and OK (SVr4 only
specifies "an integer value other than ERR") upon successful
completion.
Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.
If you call tgetstr to fetch ca or any other parameterized
string, be aware that it will be returned in terminfo
notation, not the older and not-quite-compatible termcap
notation. This won't cause problems if all you do with it
is call tgoto or tparm, which both expand terminfo-style
strings as terminfo. (The tgoto function, if configured
to support termcap, will check if the string is indeed
terminfo-style by looking for "%p" parameters or "$<..>"
delays, and invoke a termcap-style parser if the string
does not appear to be terminfo).
Because terminfo conventions for representing padding in
string capabilities differ from termcap's, tputs("50");
will put out a literal "50" rather than busy-waiting for
50 milliseconds. Cope with it.
The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 describes these functions.
However, they are marked TO BE WITHDRAWN and may
be removed in future versions.
Neither the XSI Curses standard nor the SVr4 man pages
documented the return values of tgetent correctly, though
all three were in fact returned ever since SVr1.
curses(3), terminfo(5), putc(3).
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