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 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  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 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  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 provide compati-
       bility 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 applica-
       tions.  However, termcap applications' use of those variables is poorly
       documented, e.g., not distinguishing between input and output.  In par-
       ticular, some  applications  are  reported  to  declare  and/or  modify
       ospeed.

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

                                                              curs_termcap(3X)