Objects

The <curses.h> header provides a declaration for COLOR_PAIRS, COLORS, COLS, curscr, LINES and stdscr.

Constants

The following constants are defined: EOFFunction return value for end-of-file ERRFunction return value for failure FALSEBoolean false value OKFunction return value for success TRUEBoolean true value WEOFWide-character function return value for end-of-file, as defined in <wchar.h>.

The following constant is defined if the implementation supports the indicated revision of the X/Open Curses specification: _XOPEN_CURSESX/Open Curses, Issue 4, Version 2, July 1996, (ISBN: 1-85912-171-3, C610) (this document).

Data Types

The following data types are defined through typedef: attr_tAn OR-ed set of attributes boolBoolean data type chtypeA character, attributes and a colour-pair SCREENAn opaque terminal representation wchar_tAs described in <stddef.h> wint_tAs described in <wchar.h> cchar_tReferences a string of wide characters WINDOWAn opaque window representation

These data types are described in more detail in Data Types.

The inclusion of <curses.h> may make visible all symbols from the headers <stdio.h>, <term.h>, <termios.h> and <wchar.h>.

Attribute Bits

The following symbolic constants are used to manipulate objects of type attr_t: WA_ALTCHARSET Alternate character set WA_BLINK Blinking WA_BOLD Extra bright or bold WA_DIM Half bright WA_HORIZONTAL Horizontal highlight WA_INVIS Invisible WA_LEFT Left highlight WA_LOW Low highlight WA_PROTECT Protected WA_REVERSE Reverse video WA_RIGHT Right highlight WA_STANDOUT Best highlighting mode of the terminal WA_TOP Top highlight WA_UNDERLINE Underlining WA_VERTICAL Vertical highlight These attribute flags shall be distinct.

The following symbolic constants are used to manipulate attribute bits in objects of type chtype: A_ALTCHARSET Alternate character set A_BLINK Blinking A_BOLD Extra bright or bold A_DIM Half bright A_INVIS Invisible A_PROTECT Protected A_REVERSE Reverse video A_STANDOUT Best highlighting mode of the terminal A_UNDERLINE Underlining These attribute flags need not be distinct except when _XOPEN_CURSES is defined and the application sets _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED to 1.

The following symbolic constants can be used as bit-masks to extract the components of a chtype: A_ATTRIBUTES Bit-mask to extract attributes A_CHARTEXT Bit-mask to extract a character A_COLOR Bit-mask to extract colour-pair information

Line-drawing Constants

The <curses.h> header defines the symbolic constants shown in the leftmost two columns of the following table for use in drawing lines. The symbolic constants that begin with ACS_ are char constants. The symbolic constants that begin with WACS_ are cchar_t constants for use with the wide-character interfaces that take a pointer to a cchar_t.

In the POSIX locale, the characters shown in the POSIX Locale Default column are used when the terminal database does not specify a value using the acsc capability.

char Constant	cchar_t Constant	POSIX Locale Default	Glyph Description
ACS_ULCORNER	WACS_ULCORNER	+	upper left-hand corner
ACS_LLCORNER	WACS_LLCORNER	+	lower left-hand corner
ACS_URCORNER	WACS_URCORNER	+	upper right-hand corner
ACS_LRCORNER	WACS_LRCORNER	+	lower right-hand corner
ACS_RTEE	WACS_RTEE	+	right tee
ACS_LTEE	WACS_LTEE	+	left tee
ACS_BTEE	WACS_BTEE	+	bottom tee
ACS_TTEE	WACS_TTEE	+	top tee
ACS_HLINE	WACS_HLINE	-	horizontal line
ACS_VLINE	WACS_VLINE	|	vertical line
ACS_PLUS	WACS_PLUS	+	plus
ACS_S1	WACS_S1	-	scan line 1
ACS_S9	WACS_S9	_	scan line 9
ACS_DIAMOND	WACS_DIAMOND	+	diamond
ACS_CKBOARD	WACS_CKBOARD	:	checker board (stipple)
ACS_DEGREE	WACS_DEGREE	'	degree symbol
ACS_PLMINUS	WACS_PLMINUS	#	plus/minus
ACS_BULLET	WACS_BULLET	o	bullet
ACS_LARROW	WACS_LARROW	<	arrow pointing left
ACS_RARROW	WACS_RARROW	>	arrow pointing right
ACS_DARROW	WACS_DARROW	v	arrow pointing down
ACS_UARROW	WACS_UARROW	^	arrow pointing up
ACS_BOARD	WACS_BOARD	#	board of squares
ACS_LANTERN	WACS_LANTERN	#	lantern symbol
ACS_BLOCK	WACS_BLOCK	#	solid square block

Colour-related Macros

The following colour-related macros are defined: