tgetstr

curs_termcap(3X)					     curs_termcap(3X)



NAME
       tgetent,	 tgetflag,  tgetnum,  tgetstr,	tgoto,	tputs - direct curses
       interface to the terminfo capability database

SYNOPSIS
       #include <curses.h>
       #include <term.h>
       extern char PC; extern char * UP; extern char *	BC;  extern  unsigned
       ospeed;
       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));

DESCRIPTION
       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 suc-
       cess, 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 tgetflag, tgetnum
       and tgetstr are compared in lookups.

       The  tgoto routine instantiates the parameters into the given capabil-
       ity.  The output from this routine is to be passed to tputs.

       The tputs routine is described on the curs_terminfo(3X)	manual	page.
       It can retrieve capabilities by either termcap or terminfo name.

       The variables PC, UP and BC are set by tgetent to the terminfo entry’s
       data for pad_char, cursor_up  and  backspace_if_not_bs,	respectively.
       UP  is not used by ncurses.  PC is used in the tdelay_output function.
       BC is used in the tgoto emulation.  The	variable  ospeed  is  set  by
       ncurses in a system-specific coding to reflect the terminal speed.


RETURN VALUE
       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.

BUGS
       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 sup-
       port 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	capa-
       bilities	 differ	 from  termcap’s, tputs("50"); will put out a literal
       "50" rather than busy-waiting for 50 milliseconds.  Cope with it.

       Note that termcap has nothing analogous to terminfo’s sgr string.  One
       consequence  of	this is that termcap applications assume me (terminfo
       sgr0) does not reset the alternate character set.  This implementation
       checks  for,  and  modifies the data shown to the termcap interface to
       accommodate termcap’s limitation in this respect.

PORTABILITY
       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.  In  particular,  an  omission	 in  the  XSI
       Curses  documentation  has  been	 misinterpreted	 to mean that tgetent
       returns OK or ERR.  Because the purpose of these functions is to	 pro-
       vide  compatibility  with  the  termcap	library,  that is a defect in
       XCurses, Issue 4, Version 2 rather than in ncurses.

       External variables are provided for support of certain termcap  appli-
       cations.	  However,  termcap  applications’  use of those variables is
       poorly documented, e.g., not distinguishing between input and  output.
       In particular, some applications are reported to declare and/or modify
       ospeed.

SEE ALSO
       curses(3X), terminfo(5), putc(3S).



							     curs_termcap(3X)