man/curs_add_wch.3x

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.\" $Id: curs_add_wch.3x,v 1.62 2024/04/20 21:20:07 tom Exp $
.TH curs_add_wch 3X 2024-04-20 "ncurses @NCURSES_MAJOR@.@NCURSES_MINOR@" "Library calls"
.ie \n(.g \{\
.ds `` \(lq
.ds '' \(rq
.\}
.el \{\
.ie t .ds `` ``
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.ie t .ds '' ''
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.\}
.
.de bP
.ie n  .IP \(bu 4
.el    .IP \(bu 2
..
.SH NAME
\fB\%add_wch\fP,
\fB\%wadd_wch\fP,
\fB\%mvadd_wch\fP,
\fB\%mvwadd_wch\fP,
\fB\%echo_wchar\fP,
\fB\%wecho_wchar\fP \-
add a \fIcurses\fR complex character to a window and advance the cursor
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
\fB#include <curses.h>
.PP
\fBint add_wch(const cchar_t *\fIwch\fP);
\fBint wadd_wch(WINDOW *\fIwin\fP, const cchar_t *\fIwch\fP);
\fBint mvadd_wch(int \fIy\fP, int \fIx\fP, const cchar_t *\fIwch\fP);
\fBint mvwadd_wch(WINDOW *\fIwin\fP, int \fIy\fP, int \fIx\fP, const cchar_t *\fIwch\fP);
.PP
\fBint echo_wchar(const cchar_t *\fIwch\fP);
\fBint wecho_wchar(WINDOW *\fIwin\fP, const cchar_t *\fIwch\fP);
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.SS add_wch
The
\fBadd_wch\fP,
\fBwadd_wch\fP,
\fBmvadd_wch\fP, and
\fBmvwadd_wch\fP
functions put the complex character \fIwch\fP into the given
window at its current position,
which is then advanced.
These functions perform
wrapping and special-character processing as follows:
.bP
If \fIwch\fP refers to a spacing character,
then any previous character at that location is removed.
A new character specified by \fIwch\fP is
placed at that location with rendition specified by \fIwch\fP.
The cursor then advances after this spacing character,
to prepare for writing the next character on the screen.
.IP
The newly added spacing character is the base of the active complex character.
Subsequent non-spacing characters can be combined with this base
until another spacing character is written to the screen,
or the cursor is moved, e.g., using \fBwmove\fP.
.bP
If \fIwch\fP refers to a non-spacing character,
it is appended to the active complex character,
retaining the previous characters at that location.
The rendition specified by \fIwch\fP is ignored.
.IP
The cursor is not advanced after adding a non-spacing character.
Subsequent calls to add non-spacing characters will update the same position.
.bP
If the character part of \fIwch\fP is
a tab, newline, backspace or other control character,
the window is updated and the cursor moves as if \fBaddch\fP were called.
.SS echo_wchar
The \fBecho_wchar\fP
function is functionally equivalent to a call to
\fBadd_wch\fP
followed by a call to
\fB\%refresh\fP(3X).
Similarly, the
\fBwecho_wchar\fP
is functionally equivalent to a call to
\fBwadd_wch\fP
followed by a call to
\fBwrefresh\fP.
The knowledge
that only a single character is being output is taken into consideration and,
for non-control characters, a considerable performance gain might be seen
by using the *\fBecho\fP* functions instead of their equivalents.
.SS "Line Graphics"
Like \fB\%addch\fP(3X),
\fBaddch_wch\fP accepts symbols which make it simple to draw lines and other
frequently used special characters.
These symbols correspond to the same VT100 line-drawing set as
\fB\%addch\fP(3X).
.PP
.TS
Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb
Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb
Lb L  L  L  Lx.
\&	Unicode	ASCII	acsc	\&
ACS Name	Default	Default	Char	Glyph Name
_
WACS_BLOCK	0x25ae	#	0	T{
solid square block
T}
WACS_BOARD	0x2592	#	h	board of squares
WACS_BTEE	0x2534	+	v	bottom tee
WACS_BULLET	0x00b7	o	~	bullet
WACS_CKBOARD	0x2592	:	a	T{
checker board (stipple)
T}
WACS_DARROW	0x2193	v	.	T{
arrow pointing down
T}
WACS_DEGREE	0x00b0	'	f	degree symbol
WACS_DIAMOND	0x25c6	+	\(ga	diamond
WACS_GEQUAL	0x2265	>	>	T{
greater-than-or-equal-to
T}
WACS_HLINE	0x2500	\-	q	horizontal line
WACS_LANTERN	0x2603	#	i	lantern symbol
WACS_LARROW	0x2190	<	,	T{
arrow pointing left
T}
WACS_LEQUAL	0x2264	<	y	T{
less-than-or-equal-to
T}
WACS_LLCORNER	0x2514	+	m	T{
lower left-hand corner
T}
WACS_LRCORNER	0x2518	+	j	T{
lower right-hand corner
T}
WACS_LTEE	0x2524	+	t	left tee
WACS_NEQUAL	0x2260	!	|	not-equal
WACS_PI	0x03c0	*	{	greek pi
WACS_PLMINUS	0x00b1	#	g	plus/minus
WACS_PLUS	0x253c	+	n	plus
WACS_RARROW	0x2192	>	+	T{
arrow pointing right
T}
WACS_RTEE	0x251c	+	u	right tee
WACS_S1	0x23ba	\-	o	scan line 1
WACS_S3	0x23bb	\-	p	scan line 3
WACS_S7	0x23bc	\-	r	scan line 7
WACS_S9	0x23bd	\&_	s	scan line 9
WACS_STERLING	0x00a3	f	}	T{
pound-sterling symbol
T}
WACS_TTEE	0x252c	+	w	top tee
WACS_UARROW	0x2191 	^	\-	T{
arrow pointing up
T}
WACS_ULCORNER	0x250c	+	l	T{
upper left-hand corner
T}
WACS_URCORNER	0x2510	+	k	T{
upper right-hand corner
T}
WACS_VLINE	0x2502	|	x	vertical line
.TE
.PP
The wide-character configuration of \fI\%ncurses\fP also defines symbols
for thick lines (\fBacsc\fP \*(``J\*('' to \*(``V\*(''):
.PP
.TS
Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb
Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb
Lb L  L  L  Lx.
\&	Unicode	ASCII	acsc	\&
ACS Name	Default	Default	Char	Glyph Name
_
WACS_T_BTEE	0x253b	+	V	T{
thick tee pointing up
T}
WACS_T_HLINE	0x2501	-	Q	T{
thick horizontal line
T}
WACS_T_LLCORNER	0x2517	+	M	T{
thick lower left corner
T}
WACS_T_LRCORNER	0x251b	+	J	T{
thick lower right corner
T}
WACS_T_LTEE	0x252b	+	T	T{
thick tee pointing right
T}
WACS_T_PLUS	0x254b	+	N	T{
thick large plus
T}
WACS_T_RTEE	0x2523	+	U	T{
thick tee pointing left
T}
WACS_T_TTEE	0x2533	+	W	T{
thick tee pointing down
T}
WACS_T_ULCORNER	0x250f	+	L	T{
thick upper left corner
T}
WACS_T_URCORNER	0x2513	+	K	T{
thick upper right corner
T}
WACS_T_VLINE	0x2503	|	X	T{
thick vertical line
T}
.TE
.PP
and for double-lines (\fBacsc\fP \*(``A\*('' to \*(``I\*(''):
.PP
.TS
Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb
Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb
Lb L  L  L  Lx.
\&	Unicode	ASCII	acsc	\&
ACS Name	Default	Default	Char	Glyph Name
_
WACS_D_BTEE	0x2569	+	H	T{
double tee pointing up
T}
WACS_D_HLINE	0x2550	-	R	T{
double horizontal line
T}
WACS_D_LLCORNER	0x255a	+	D	T{
double lower left corner
T}
WACS_D_LRCORNER	0x255d	+	A	T{
double lower right corner
T}
WACS_D_LTEE	0x2560	+	F	T{
double tee pointing right
T}
WACS_D_PLUS	0x256c	+	E	T{
double large plus
T}
WACS_D_RTEE	0x2563	+	G	T{
double tee pointing left
T}
WACS_D_TTEE	0x2566	+	I	T{
double tee pointing down
T}
WACS_D_ULCORNER	0x2554	+	C	T{
double upper left corner
T}
WACS_D_URCORNER	0x2557	+	B	T{
double upper right corner
T}
WACS_D_VLINE	0x2551	|	Y	T{
double vertical line
T}
.TE
.PP
Unicode's descriptions for these characters differs slightly from
\fI\%ncurses\fP,
by introducing the term \*(``light\*('' (along with less important details).
Here are its descriptions for the normal, thick, and double horizontal lines:
.bP
U+2500 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT HORIZONTAL
.bP
U+2501 BOX DRAWINGS HEAVY HORIZONTAL
.bP
U+2550 BOX DRAWINGS DOUBLE HORIZONTAL
.SH RETURN VALUE
All routines return the integer \fBERR\fP upon failure and \fBOK\fP on success.
.PP
X/Open Curses does not specify any error conditions.
This implementation returns an error
.bP
if the window pointer is null or
.bP
if it is not possible to add a complete character in the window.
.PP
The latter may be due to different causes:
.bP
If \fB\%scrollok\fP(3X) is not enabled,
writing a character at the lower right margin succeeds.
However,
an error is returned because it is not possible to wrap to a new line.
.bP
If an error is detected when converting a multibyte character to a sequence
of bytes,
or if it is not possible to add all of the resulting bytes in the window,
an error is returned.
.PP
Functions prefixed with \*(``mv\*('' first perform cursor movement and
fail if the position
.RI ( y ,
.IR x )
is outside the window boundaries.
.SH NOTES
Note that
\fBadd_wch\fP,
\fBmvadd_wch\fP,
\fBmvwadd_wch\fP, and
\fBecho_wchar\fP
may be macros.
.SH PORTABILITY
These functions are described in X/Open Curses, Issue 4.
The defaults specified for line-drawing characters apply in the POSIX locale.
.SS "WACS Symbols"
X/Open Curses makes it clear that the WACS_ symbols should be defined as
a pointer to \fBcchar_t\fP data, e.g., in the discussion of \fBborder_set\fP.
A few implementations are problematic:
.bP
NetBSD curses defines the symbols as a \fBwchar_t\fP within a \fBcchar_t\fP.
.bP
HP-UX curses equates some of the \fBACS_\fP symbols
to the analogous \fBWACS_\fP symbols as if the \fBACS_\fP symbols were
wide characters.
The misdefined symbols are the arrows
and other symbols which are not used for line-drawing.
.PP
X/Open Curses does not specify symbols for thick- or double-lines.
SVr4 curses implementations defined their line-drawing symbols in
terms of intermediate symbols.
This implementation extends those symbols, providing new definitions
which are not in the SVr4 implementations.
.PP
Not all Unicode-capable terminals provide support for VT100-style
alternate character sets (i.e., the \fBacsc\fP capability),
with their corresponding line-drawing characters.
X/Open Curses did not address the aspect of integrating Unicode with
line-drawing characters.
Existing implementations of Unix curses (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris)
use only the \fBacsc\fP character-mapping to provide this feature.
As a result, those implementations can only use single-byte line-drawing
characters.
\fI\%ncurses\fP 5.3 (2002) provided a table of Unicode values to solve
these problems.
NetBSD curses incorporated that table in 2010.
.PP
In this implementation, the Unicode values are used instead of the
terminal description's \fBacsc\fP mapping as discussed in
\fB\%ncurses\fP(3X) for the environment variable
\fINCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS\fP.
In contrast, for the same cases, the line-drawing characters
described in \fB\%addch\fP(3X) will use only the ASCII default values.
.PP
Having Unicode available does not solve all of the problems with
line-drawing for curses:
.bP
The closest Unicode equivalents to the
VT100 graphics \fIS1\fP, \fIS3\fP, \fIS7\fP and \fIS9\fP
frequently are not displayed at
the regular intervals which the terminal used.
.bP
The \fIlantern\fP is a special case.
It originated with the AT&T 4410 terminal in the early 1980s.
There is no accessible documentation depicting the lantern symbol
on the AT&T terminal.
.IP
Lacking documentation, most readers assume that a \fIstorm lantern\fP
was intended.
But there are several possibilities, all with problems.
.IP
Unicode 6.0 (2010) does provide two lantern symbols: U+1F383 and U+1F3EE.
Those were not available in 2002, and are irrelevant since
they lie outside the BMP and as a result are not generally available
in terminals.
They are not storm lanterns, in any case.
.IP
Most \fIstorm lanterns\fP have a tapering glass chimney
(to guard against tipping);
some have a wire grid protecting the chimney.
.IP
For the tapering appearance, \[u2603] U+2603 was adequate.
In use on a terminal, no one can tell what the image represents.
Unicode calls it a snowman.
.IP
Others have suggested these alternatives:
\[sc] U+00A7 (section mark),
\[u0398] U+0398 (theta),
\[u03A6] U+03A6 (phi),
\[u03B4] U+03B4 (delta),
\[u2327] U+2327 (x in a rectangle),
\[u256C] U+256C (forms double vertical and horizontal), and
\[u2612] U+2612 (ballot box with x).
.SS "Complex Characters"
The complex character type \fBcchar_t\fR
can store more than one wide character (\fBwchar_t\fR).
The X/Open Curses description does not mention this possibility,
describing only the cases where \fIwch\fP is a spacing character
or a non-spacing character.
.PP
This implementation assumes that \fIwch\fP is constructed using
\fB\%setcchar\fP(3X), and in turn that the result
.bP
contains at most one spacing character in the beginning of its list of wide
characters,
and zero or more non-spacing characters
or
.bP
may hold one non-spacing character.
.PP
In the latter case,
\fI\%ncurses\fP adds the non-spacing character to the active
(base) spacing character.
.SS TABSIZE
The
.B TABSIZE
variable is implemented in SVr4 and other versions of
.IR curses ,
but is not specified by X/Open Curses
(see \fBcurs_variables\fP(3X)).
.SH SEE ALSO
\fB\%curs_addch\fP(3X) describes comparable functions of the
.I \%ncurses
library in its non-wide-character configuration.
.PP
\fB\%curses\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_addwstr\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_add_wchstr\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_attr\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_clear\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_getcchar\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_outopts\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_refresh\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_variables\fP(3X),
\fB\%putwc\fP(3)