curs_inopts(3CURSES) Curses Library Functions curs_inopts(3CURSES)NAME
curs_inopts, cbreak, nocbreak, echo, noecho, halfdelay, intrflush, key‐
pad, meta, nodelay, notimeout, raw, noraw, noqiflush, qiflush, timeout,
wtimeout, typeahead - curses terminal input option control routines
SYNOPSIS
cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lcurses [ library ... ]
#include <curses.h>
int cbreak(void);
int nocbreak(void);
int echo(void);
int noecho(void);
int halfdelay(int tenths);
int intrflush(WINDOW *win, bool bf);
int keypad(WINDOW *win, bool bf);
int meta(WINDOW *win, bool bf);
int nodelay(WINDOW *win, bool bf);
int notimeout(WINDOW *win, bool bf);
int raw(void);
int noraw(void);
void noqiflush(void);
void qiflush(void);
void timeout(int delay);
void wtimeout(WINDOW *win, int delay);
int typeahead(int fildes);
DESCRIPTION
The cbreak() and nocbreak() routines put the terminal into and out of
cbreak() mode, respectively. In this mode, characters typed by the user
are immediately available to the program, and erase/kill character-pro‐
cessing is not performed. When out of this mode, the tty driver buffers
the typed characters until a newline or carriage return is typed.
Interrupt and flow control characters are unaffected by this mode. Ini‐
tially the terminal may or may not be in cbreak() mode, as the mode is
inherited; therefore, a program should call cbreak() or nocbreak()
explicitly. Most interactive programs using curses set the cbreak()
mode.
Note that cbreak() overrides raw(). (See curs_getch(3CURSES) for a dis‐
cussion of how these routines interact with echo() and noecho().)
The echo() and noecho() routines control whether characters typed by
the user are echoed by getch() as they are typed. Echoing by the tty
driver is always disabled, but initially getch() is in echo mode, so
characters typed are echoed. Authors of most interactive programs pre‐
fer to do their own echoing in a controlled area of the screen, or not
to echo at all, so they disable echoing by calling noecho(). (See
curs_getch(3CURSES) for a discussion of how these routines interact
with cbreak() and nocbreak().)
The halfdelay() routine is used for half-delay mode, which is similar
to cbreak() mode in that characters typed by the user are immediately
available to the program. However, after blocking for tenths tenths of
seconds, ERR is returned if nothing has been typed. The value of tenths
must be a number between 1 and 255. Use nocbreak() to leave half-delay
mode.
If the intrflush() option is enabled, (bf is TRUE), when an interrupt
key is pressed on the keyboard (interrupt, break, quit) all output in
the tty driver queue will be flushed, giving the effect of faster
response to the interrupt, but causing curses to have the wrong idea of
what is on the screen. Disabling (bf is FALSE), the option prevents the
flush. The default for the option is inherited from the tty driver set‐
tings. The window argument is ignored.
The keypad() option enables the keypad of the user's terminal. If
enabled (bf is TRUE), the user can press a function key (such as an
arrow key) and wgetch() returns a single value representing the func‐
tion key, as in KEY_LEFT. If disabled (bf is FALSE), curses does not
treat function keys specially and the program has to interpret the
escape sequences itself. If the keypad in the terminal can be turned on
(made to transmit) and off (made to work locally), turning on this
option causes the terminal keypad to be turned on when wgetch() is
called. The default value for keypad is false.
Initially, whether the terminal returns 7 or 8 significant bits on
input depends on the control mode of the tty driver (see termio(7I)).
To force 8 bits to be returned, invoke meta(win, TRUE). To force 7
bits to be returned, invoke meta(win, FALSE). The window argument,
win, is always ignored. If the terminfo capabilities smm (meta_on) and
rmm (meta_off) are defined for the terminal, smm is sent to the termi‐
nal when meta( win, TRUE) is called and rmm is sent when meta(win,
FALSE) is called.
The nodelay() option causes getch() to be a non-blocking call. If no
input is ready, getch() returns ERR. If disabled (bf is FALSE), getch()
waits until a key is pressed.
While interpreting an input escape sequence, wgetch() sets a timer
while waiting for the next character. If notimeout(win, TRUE) is
called, then wgetch() does not set a timer. The purpose of the timeout
is to differentiate between sequences received from a function key and
those typed by a user.
With the raw() and noraw() routines, the terminal is placed into or out
of raw mode. Raw mode is similar to cbreak() mode, in that characters
typed are immediately passed through to the user program. The differ‐
ences are that in raw mode, the interrupt, quit, suspend, and flow con‐
trol characters are all passed through uninterpreted, instead of gener‐
ating a signal. The behavior of the BREAK key depends on other bits in
the tty driver that are not set by curses.
When the noqiflush() routine is used, normal flush of input and output
queues associated with the INTR, QUIT and SUSP characters will not be
done (see termio(7I)). When qiflush() is called, the queues will be
flushed when these control characters are read.
The timeout() and wtimeout() routines set blocking or non-blocking read
for a given window. If delay is negative, blocking read is used (that
is, waits indefinitely for input). If delay is zero, then non-blocking
read is used (that is, read returns ERR if no input is waiting). If
delay is positive, then read blocks for delay milliseconds, and returns
ERR if there is still no input. Hence, these routines provide the same
functionality as nodelay(), plus the additional capability of being
able to block for only delay milliseconds (where delay is positive).
curses does ``line-breakout optimization'' by looking for typeahead
periodically while updating the screen. If input is found, and it is
coming from a tty, the current update is postponed until refresh() or
doupdate() is called again. This allows faster response to commands
typed in advance. Normally, the input FILE pointer passed to newterm(),
or stdin in the case that initscr() was used, will be used to do this
typeahead checking. The typeahead() routine specifies that the file
descriptor fildes is to be used to check for typeahead instead. If
fildes is −1, then no typeahead checking is done.
RETURN VALUES
All routines that return an integer return ERR upon failure and an
integer value other than ERR upon successful completion, unless other‐
wise noted in the preceding routine descriptions.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│MT-Level │Unsafe │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOcurs_getch(3CURSES), curs_initscr(3CURSES), curses(3CURSES),
attributes(5), termio(7I)NOTES
The header <curses.h> automatically includes the headers <stdio.h> and
<unctrl.h>.
Note that echo(), noecho(), halfdelay(), intrflush(), meta(), node‐
lay(), notimeout(), noqiflush(), qiflush(), timeout(), and wtimeout()
may be macros.
SunOS 5.11 31 Dec 1996 curs_inopts(3CURSES)
