'\" t .\"*************************************************************************** .\" Copyright 2019-2024,2025 Thomas E. Dickey * .\" Copyright 2001-2015,2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. * .\" * .\" Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a * .\" copy of this software and associated documentation files (the * .\" "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including * .\" without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, * .\" distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell * .\" copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is * .\" furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: * .\" * .\" The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included * .\" in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. * .\" * .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS * .\" OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF * .\" MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. * .\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, * .\" DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR * .\" OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR * .\" THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. * .\" * .\" Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright * .\" holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the * .\" sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written * .\" authorization. * .\"*************************************************************************** .\" .\" $Id: curs_add_wch.3x,v 1.117 2025/07/05 12:43:18 tom Exp $ .TH curs_add_wch 3X 2025-07-05 "ncurses 6.5" "Library calls" .ie \n(.g \{\ .ds `` \(lq .ds '' \(rq .\} .el \{\ .ie t .ds `` `` .el .ds `` "" .ie t .ds '' '' .el .ds '' "" .\} . .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, possibly advancing the cursor .SH SYNOPSIS .nf \fB#include .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); .PP \fI/* (integer) constants */\fP /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_BLOCK;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_BOARD;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_BTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_BULLET;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_CKBOARD;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_DARROW;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_DEGREE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_DIAMOND;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_HLINE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_LANTERN;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_LARROW;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_LLCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_LRCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_LTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_PLMINUS;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_PLUS;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_RARROW;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_RTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_S1;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_S9;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_TTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_UARROW;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_ULCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_URCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_VLINE;\fR \fI/* extensions */\fP /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_GEQUAL;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_LEQUAL;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_NEQUAL;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_PI;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_S3;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_S7;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_STERLING;\fR \fI/* extensions for thick lines */\fP /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_BTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_HLINE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_LLCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_LRCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_LTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_PLUS;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_RTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_TTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_ULCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_URCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_T_VLINE;\fR \fI/* extensions for double lines */\fP /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_BTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_HLINE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_LLCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_LRCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_LTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_PLUS;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_RTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_TTEE;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_ULCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_URCORNER;\fR /*\fI .\|.\|. */ \fBWACS_D_VLINE;\fR .fi .SH DESCRIPTION .SS wadd_wch .B \%wadd_wch writes the .I curses complex character .I wch to the window .IR win "," then may advance the cursor position, analogously to the standard C library's \fI\%putwchar\fP(3). \fB\%ncurses\fP(3X) describes the variants of this function. .PP Construct a .I curses complex character from a .I wchar_t with \fB\%setcchar\fP(3X). A .I \%cchar_t can be copied from place to place using \fB\%win_wch\fP(3X) and .BR \%wadd_wch "." See \fB\%curs_attr\fP(3X) for values of predefined constants that can be usefully \*(``or\*(''ed with characters. A complex character whose only character component is a wide space, and whose only attribute is .BR \%WA_NORMAL , is a .IR "blank character" "," and therefore combines with the window's background character; see \fB\%curs_bkgrnd\fP(3X). .PP Much behavior depends on whether the wide characters in .I wch are spacing or non-spacing; see subsection \*(``Complex Characters\*('' below. .bP If .I wch contains a spacing character, then any character at the cursor is first removed. The complex character .IR wch "," with its attributes and color pair identifier, becomes the .I base of the .IR "active complex character" "." .bP If .I wch contains only non-spacing characters, .\" XXX: see wadd_wch_literal (the beginning of the array may be .\" nonspacing) they are combined with the active complex character. .I curses ignores its attributes and color pair identifier, and does not advance the cursor. .PP Further non-spacing characters added with .B \%wadd_wch are not written at the new cursor position but combine with the active complex character until another spacing character is written to the window or the cursor is moved. .PP If .I wch is a backspace, carriage return, line feed, or tab, the cursor moves appropriately within the window. .bP Backspace moves the cursor one character left; at the left margin of a window, it does nothing. .bP Carriage return moves the cursor to the left margin on the same line of the window. .bP Line feed does a \fB\%clrtoeol\fP(3X), then advances as if from the right margin. .bP Tab advances the cursor to the next tab stop (possibly on the next line); these are placed at every eighth column by default. .IP Alter the tab interval with the .B \%TABSIZE extension; see \fB\%curs_variables\fP(3X). .PP If .I wch is any other nonprintable character, .I curses draws it in printable form using the same convention as \fB\%wunctrl\fP(3X). Calling \fB\%win_wch\fP(3X) on the location of a nonprintable character does not return the character itself, but its \fB\%wunctrl\fP(3X) representation. .PP Adding spacing characters with \fB\%wadd_wch\fP causes it to wrap at the right margin of the window: .bP If the cursor is not at the bottom of the scrolling region and advancement occurs at the right margin, the cursor automatically wraps to the beginning of the next line. .bP If the cursor is at the bottom of the scrolling region when advancement occurs at the right margin, and \fB\%scrollok\fP(3X) is enabled for .IR win , the scrolling region scrolls up one line and the cursor wraps as above. Otherwise, advancement and scrolling do not occur, and .B \%wadd_wch returns .BR ERR "." .PP A window's margins may coincide with the screen boundaries. This may be a problem when .I \%ncurses updates the screen to match the curses window. When their right and bottom margins coincide, .I \%ncurses uses different strategies to handle the variations of scrolling and wrapping at the lower-right corner by depending on the terminal capabilities: .bP If the terminal does not automatically wrap as characters are added at the right margin (i.e., auto right margins), .I \%ncurses writes the character directly. .bP If the terminal has auto right margins, but also has capabilities for turning auto margins off and on, .I \%ncurses turns the auto margin feature off temporarily when writing to the lower-right corner. .bP If the terminal has an insertion mode which can be turned off and on, .I \%ncurses writes the character just before the lower-right corner, and then inserts a character to push the update into the corner. .SS wecho_wchar .B \%echo_wchar and .B \%wecho_wchar are equivalent to calling .RB \%( w ) add_wch followed by .RB \%( w ) refresh on .B \%stdscr or the specified window. .I curses interprets these functions as a hint that only a single (complex) character is being output; for non-control characters, a considerable performance gain may be enjoyed by employing them. .\" TODO: Combine the following with the "Line Drawing" subsection of .\" terminfo(5) and replace this with a cross reference there. .SS "Forms-Drawing Characters" .I curses defines macros starting with .B \%WACS_ that can be used with .B \%wadd_wch to write line-drawing and other symbols to the screen. .I \%ncurses terms these .I "forms-drawing characters." .I curses uses the ACS default listed below if the terminal type lacks the .B \%acs_chars .RB \%( acsc ) capability; that capability does not define a replacement for the character; or if the terminal type and locale configuration require Unicode to access these characters, but the library is unable to use Unicode. The \*(``acsc char\*('' column corresponds to how the characters are specified in the .B \%acs_chars .RB \%( acsc ) string capability, and the characters in it may appear on the screen if the terminal type's database entry incorrectly advertises ACS support. The name \*(``ACS\*('' originates in the Alternate Character Set feature of the DEC VT100 terminal. .PP .ie t .ne 4v .el .ne 5v .TS Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb Lb L L L Lx. \& Unicode ACS acsc \& Symbol Default Default char Glyph Name _ WACS_BLOCK U+25ae # 0 T{ solid square block T} WACS_BOARD U+2592 # h board of squares WACS_BTEE U+2534 + v bottom tee WACS_BULLET U+00b7 o ~ bullet WACS_CKBOARD U+2592 : a T{ checker board (stipple) T} WACS_DARROW U+2193 v . T{ arrow pointing down T} WACS_DEGREE U+00b0 ' f degree symbol WACS_DIAMOND U+25c6 + \(ga diamond WACS_GEQUAL U+2265 > > T{ .if n .na \" avoid adjustment warning from groff greater-than-or-equal-to T} WACS_HLINE U+2500 \- q horizontal line WACS_LANTERN U+2603 # i lantern symbol WACS_LARROW U+2190 < , T{ arrow pointing left T} WACS_LEQUAL U+2264 < y T{ .if n .na \" avoid adjustment warning from groff less-than-or-equal-to T} WACS_LLCORNER U+2514 + m T{ lower left-hand corner T} WACS_LRCORNER U+2518 + j T{ lower right-hand corner T} WACS_LTEE U+2524 + t left tee WACS_NEQUAL U+2260 ! | not-equal WACS_PI U+03c0 * { greek pi WACS_PLMINUS U+00b1 # g plus/minus WACS_PLUS U+253c + n plus WACS_RARROW U+2192 > + T{ arrow pointing right T} WACS_RTEE U+251c + u right tee WACS_S1 U+23ba \- o scan line 1 WACS_S3 U+23bb \- p scan line 3 WACS_S7 U+23bc \- r scan line 7 WACS_S9 U+23bd \&_ s scan line 9 WACS_STERLING U+00a3 f } T{ .if n .na \" avoid adjustment warning from groff pound-sterling symbol T} WACS_TTEE U+252c + w top tee WACS_UARROW U+2191 ^ \- T{ arrow pointing up T} WACS_ULCORNER U+250c + l T{ upper left-hand corner T} WACS_URCORNER U+2510 + k T{ upper right-hand corner T} WACS_VLINE U+2502 | x vertical line .TE .PP The .I \%ncurses wide API also defines symbols for thick lines .RB \%( acsc \*(``J\*('' through \*(``N\*('', \*(``T\*('' through \*(``X\*('', and \*(``Q\*(''): .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 U+253b + V T{ thick tee pointing up T} WACS_T_HLINE U+2501 - Q T{ thick horizontal line T} WACS_T_LLCORNER U+2517 + M T{ thick lower left corner T} WACS_T_LRCORNER U+251b + J T{ thick lower right corner T} WACS_T_LTEE U+252b + T T{ thick tee pointing right T} WACS_T_PLUS U+254b + N T{ thick large plus T} WACS_T_RTEE U+2523 + U T{ thick tee pointing left T} WACS_T_TTEE U+2533 + W T{ thick tee pointing down T} WACS_T_ULCORNER U+250f + L T{ thick upper left corner T} WACS_T_URCORNER U+2513 + K T{ thick upper right corner T} WACS_T_VLINE U+2503 | X T{ thick vertical line T} .TE .PP and for double lines .RB \%( acsc \*(``A\*('' through \*(``I\*('', plus \*(``R\*('' and \*(``Y\*(''): .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 U+2569 + H T{ double tee pointing up T} WACS_D_HLINE U+2550 - R T{ double horizontal line T} WACS_D_LLCORNER U+255a + D T{ double lower left corner T} WACS_D_LRCORNER U+255d + A T{ double lower right corner T} WACS_D_LTEE U+2560 + F T{ double tee pointing right T} WACS_D_PLUS U+256c + E T{ double large plus T} WACS_D_RTEE U+2563 + G T{ double tee pointing left T} WACS_D_TTEE U+2566 + I T{ double tee pointing down T} WACS_D_ULCORNER U+2554 + C T{ double upper left corner T} WACS_D_URCORNER U+2557 + B T{ double upper right corner T} WACS_D_VLINE U+2551 | 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 These functions return .B OK on success and .B ERR on failure. .PP In .IR \%ncurses , these functions fail if .bP the .I curses screen has not been initialized, .bP (for functions taking a .I \%WINDOW pointer argument) .I win is a null pointer, .bP wrapping to a new line is impossible because \fB\%scrollok\fP(3X) has not been called on .I win (or .BR \%stdscr "," as applicable) when writing to its bottom right location is attempted, or .bP it is not possible to add a complete character at the cursor position. .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 .BR add_wch "," .BR mvadd_wch "," .BR mvwadd_wch "," and .B echo_wchar may be implemented as macros. .SH EXTENSIONS The symbols .IR \%WACS_S3 "," .IR \%WACS_S7 "," .IR \%WACS_LEQUAL "," .IR \%WACS_GEQUAL "," .IR \%WACS_PI "," .IR \%WACS_NEQUAL "," and .I \%WACS_STERLING are not standard. However, many publicly available .I \%term\%info entries include .B \%acs_chars .RB \%( acsc ) capabilities in which their key characters .RB ( pryz{|} ) are embedded, and a second-hand list of their character descriptions has come to light. The .I \%ncurses developers invented WACS-prefixed names for them. .\" in v5_2_20020209 .SH PORTABILITY Applications employing .I \%ncurses extensions should condition their use on the visibility of the .B \%NCURSES_VERSION preprocessor macro. .PP These functions are described in X/Open Curses Issue\ 4. It specifies no error conditions for them. .PP The defaults specified for forms-drawing characters apply in the POSIX locale. X/Open Curses makes it clear that the WACS_ symbols should be defined as a pointer to .I \%cchar_t data, e.g., in the discussion of .IR \%border_set "." A few implementations are problematic: .bP NetBSD .I curses defines the symbols as a .I \%wchar_t within a .IR \%cchar_t "." .bP HP-UX .I curses equates some of the .I \%ACS_ symbols to the analogous .I \%WACS_ symbols as if the .I \%ACS_ 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 .I curses implementations defined their line-drawing symbols in terms of intermediate symbols. .I \%ncurses extends those symbols, providing new definitions not found in SVr4 implementations. .PP Not all Unicode-capable terminals provide support for VT100-style alternate character sets (i.e., the .I \%acsc_chars .RB ( acsc ) 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 System\ V .I curses (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris) use only the .I \%acsc_chars .RB ( acsc ) character-mapping to provide this feature. As a result, those implementations can use only single-byte line-drawing characters. .I \%ncurses 5.3 (2002) provided a table of Unicode values to solve these problems. NetBSD .I curses incorporated that table in 2010. .PP .I \%ncurses uses the Unicode values instead of the terminal type description's .I \%acsc_chars .RB ( acsc ) mapping as discussed in \fB\%ncurses\fP(3X) for the environment variable .IR \%NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS "." 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 .IR curses ":" .bP The closest Unicode equivalents to the VT100 graphics .IR S1 "," .IR S3 "," .IR S7 "," and .I S9 frequently are not displayed at the regular intervals which the terminal used. .bP The .I lantern 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 .I "storm lantern" 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 Basic Multilingual Plane and as a result are unavailable on many terminals. They are not storm lanterns, in any case. .IP Most .I "storm lanterns" 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 .I \%cchar_t can store more than one wide character .RI \%( wchar_t ). X/Open Curses does not mention this possibility, specifying behavior only where .I wch is a single character, either spacing or non-spacing. .PP .I \%ncurses assumes that .I wch is constructed using \fB\%setcchar\fP(3X), and in turn that the result .bP contains at most one spacing character at the beginning of its list of wide characters, and zero or more non-spacing characters, or .bP holds one non-spacing character. .PP In the latter case, .I \%ncurses adds the non-spacing character to the active complex character. .SH HISTORY X/Open Curses Issue\ 4 (1995) initially specified these functions. The System\ V Interface Definition (SVID) Version\ 4 of the same year specified functions named .I \%waddwch (and the usual variants), .IR \%echowchar "," and .IR \%wechowchar "." .\" SVID 4, vol 3., p. 475 These were later additions to .RI SVr4. x , not appearing in the first SVr4 (1989). They differed from X/Open's later .I \%wadd_wch and .I \%wecho_wchar in that they each took an argument of type .I \%wchar_t instead of .IR \%cchar_t "." SVID defined no .I \% WACS_ symbols. .PP X/Open Curses Issue\ 4 also defined many of the .I WACS_ constants, excepting .IR \%WACS_GEQUAL "," .IR \%WACS_LEQUAL "," .IR \%WACS_NEQUAL "," .IR \%WACS_PI "," .IR \%WACS_S3 "," .IR \%WACS_S7 "," and .IR \%WACS_STERLING ";" and those for drawing thick and double lines. .PP .I \%ncurses 5.3 (2002) furnished the remaining .I WACS_ constants. .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_bkgrnd\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)