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curs_termcap(3X)                                                                            curs_termcap(3X)



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

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

       extern char PC;
       extern char * UP;
       extern char * BC;
       extern short 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 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 tgetflag, tgetnum and tgetstr are compared in
       lookups.

       The tgoto routine instantiates the parameters into the given capability.  The output from  this  rou-tine routine
       tine 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-spe-cific system-specific
       cific 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 will not 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.

       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 term-cap's termcap's
       cap'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 cor-rectly, correctly,
       rectly, 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 provide 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 applications.  However, termcap appli-cations' applications'
       cations' use of those variables is poorly documented, e.g., not distinguishing between input and out-put. output.
       put.  In particular, some applications are reported to declare and/or modify ospeed.

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



                                                                                            curs_termcap(3X)