VMS Help CC, Run-time functions, [w]scanw  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  Curses Screen Management function and macro that perform a scanf on
  the window.  The scanw macro acts on the stdscr window.

  Syntax:

       #include <curses.h>

       int scanw(char *format_string,...);
       int wscanw(WINDOW *win, char *format_string,...);

  where the ...  represents optional expressions that are pointers to
  objects whose resultant types correspond to conversion
  specifications given in the format specification.  If no conversion
  specifications are given, you may omit these input pointers.
  Otherwise, the function call must have at least as many input
  pointers as there are conversion specifications, and the conversion
  specifications must match the types of the input pointers.
  Conversion specifications are matched to input sources in
  left-to-right order.  Excess input pointers, if any, are ignored.

  The format string for the input of information can include three
  kinds of items:

   o  White-space characters (spaces, tabs, and new-line characters),
      which match optional white-space characters in the input field.

   o  Ordinary characters (not %), which must match the next
      nonwhite-space character in the input.

   o  Conversion specifications, which govern the conversion of the
      characters in an input field and their assignment to an object
      indicated by a corresponding input pointer.

 Each input pointer is an address expression indicating an object
 whose type matches that of a corresponding conversion specification.
 Conversion specifications form part of the format string.  The
 indicated object is the target that receives the input value.  There
 must be as many input pointers as there are conversion
 specifications, and the addressed objects must match the types of
 the conversion specifications.

 A conversion specification consists of the following characters, in
 the order listed:

       o  A percent character (%) or the sequence %n$ (where n is an
          integer).

          The sequence %n$ denotes that the conversion is applied to
          the nth input pointer listed, where n is a decimal integer
          between [1, NL_ARGMAX] (see the <limits.h> header file).
          For example, a conversion specification beginning %5$ means
          that the conversion will be applied to the 5th input
          pointer listed after the format specification.  The
          sequence %$ is invalid.  If the conversion specification
          does not begin with the sequence %n$ the conversion
          specification is matched to its input pointer in
          left-to-right order.  You should only use one type of
          conversion specification (% or %n$) in a format
          specification.

       o  One or more optional characters

       o  A conversion specifier.

  Additional Information (explode) :

• Optional character
• Conversion Specifier