NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | NOTES | PORTABILITY | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

curs_getstr(3X)                                              curs_getstr(3X)

NAME         top

       getstr, getnstr, wgetstr, wgetnstr, mvgetstr, mvgetnstr, mvwgetstr,
       mvwgetnstr - accept character strings from curses terminal keyboard

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <curses.h>
       int getstr(char *str);
       int getnstr(char *str, int n);
       int wgetstr(WINDOW *win, char *str);
       int wgetnstr(WINDOW *win, char *str, int n);
       int mvgetstr(int y, int x, char *str);
       int mvwgetstr(WINDOW *win, int y, int x, char *str);
       int mvgetnstr(int y, int x, char *str, int n);
       int mvwgetnstr(WINDOW *, int y, int x, char *str, int n);

DESCRIPTION         top

       The function getstr is equivalent to a series of calls to getch,
       until a newline or carriage return is received (the terminating
       character is not included in the returned string).  The resulting
       value is placed in the area pointed to by the character pointer str.
       wgetnstr reads at most n characters, thus preventing a possible
       overflow of the input buffer.  Any attempt to enter more characters
       (other than the terminating newline or carriage return) causes a
       beep.  Function keys also cause a beep and are ignored.  The getnstr
       function reads from the stdscr default window.
       The user's erase and kill characters are interpreted.  If keypad mode
       is on for the window, KEY_LEFT and KEY_BACKSPACE are both considered
       equivalent to the user's kill character.
       Characters input are echoed only if echo is currently on.  In that
       case, backspace is echoed as deletion of the previous character
       (typically a left motion).

RETURN VALUE         top

       All routines return the integer ERR upon failure and an OK (SVr4
       specifies only “an integer value other than ERR”) upon successful
       completion.
       X/Open defines no error conditions.
       In this implementation, these functions return an error if the window
       pointer is null, or if its timeout expires without having any data.
       This implementation provides an extension as well.  If a SIGWINCH
       interrupts the function, it will return KEY_RESIZE rather than OK or
       ERR.
       Functions with a “mv” prefix first perform a cursor movement using
       wmove, and return an error if the position is outside the window, or
       if the window pointer is null.

NOTES         top

       Note that getstr, mvgetstr, and mvwgetstr may be macros.

PORTABILITY         top

       These functions are described in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4.
       They read single-byte characters only.  The standard does not define
       any error conditions.  This implementation returns ERR if the window
       pointer is null, or if the lower-level wgetch(3X) call returns an
       ERR.
       SVr3 and early SVr4 curses implementations did not reject function
       keys; the SVr4.0 documentation claimed that “special keys” (such as
       function keys, “home” key, “clear” key, etc.) are “interpreted”,
       without giving details.  It lied.  In fact, the “character” value
       appended to the string by those implementations was predictable but
       not useful (being, in fact, the low-order eight bits of the key's
       KEY_ value).
       The functions getnstr, mvgetnstr, and mvwgetnstr were present but not
       documented in SVr4.

SEE ALSO         top

       curses(3X), curs_getch(3X), curs_variables(3X).

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the ncurses (new curses) project.  Information
       about the project can be found at 
       ⟨https://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/ncurses.html⟩.  If you have a
       bug report for this manual page, send it to
       bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org.  This page was obtained from the
       project's upstream Git mirror of the CVS repository 
       ⟨git://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/ncurses.git⟩ on 2017-07-05.  If you
       discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or
       you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page,
       or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
       COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail
       to man-pages@man7.org
                                                             curs_getstr(3X)