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<H1 class="no-header">curs_addch 3x 2025-11-11 ncurses 6.6 Library calls</H1>
<PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">curs_addch(3x)</A></STRONG>                   Library calls                  <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">curs_addch(3x)</A></STRONG>


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>addch</STRONG>,  <STRONG>waddch</STRONG>,  <STRONG>mvaddch</STRONG>,  <STRONG>mvwaddch</STRONG>, <STRONG>echochar</STRONG>, <STRONG>wechochar</STRONG> - add a <EM>curses</EM>
       character to a window and advance the cursor


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG>&lt;curses.h&gt;</STRONG>

       <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>addch(const</STRONG> <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> <EM>ch</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>waddch(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> <EM>ch</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvaddch(int</STRONG> <EM>y</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>x</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> <EM>ch</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvwaddch(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>y</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>x</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> <EM>ch</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>

       <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>echochar(const</STRONG> <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> <EM>ch</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
       <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>wechochar(WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <EM>win</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>chtype</STRONG> <EM>ch</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>

       <EM>/*</EM> <EM>(integer)</EM> <EM>constants</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_BLOCK;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_BOARD;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_BTEE;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_BULLET;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_CKBOARD;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_DARROW;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_DEGREE;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_DIAMOND;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_HLINE;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_LANTERN;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_LARROW;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_LLCORNER;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_LRCORNER;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_LTEE;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_PLMINUS;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_PLUS;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_RARROW;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_RTEE;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_S1;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_S9;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_TTEE;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_UARROW;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_ULCORNER;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_URCORNER;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_VLINE;</STRONG>
       <EM>/*</EM> <EM>extensions</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_GEQUAL;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_LEQUAL;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_NEQUAL;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_PI;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_S3;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_S7;</STRONG>
       /* <EM>...</EM> <EM>*/</EM> <STRONG>ACS_STERLING;</STRONG>


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>

</PRE><H3><a name="h3-waddch">waddch</a></H3><PRE>
       <STRONG>waddch</STRONG> writes the <EM>curses</EM> character <EM>ch</EM> to the window <EM>win</EM>, then  advances
       the   cursor   position,   analogously  to  the  standard  C  library's
       <STRONG>putchar(3)</STRONG>.  <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG> describes the variants of this function.

       Construct a <EM>curses</EM> character from a <EM>char</EM>  by  assignment  or  typecast.
       Subsection "Video Attributes" of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">attron(3x)</A></STRONG> describes how to manipulate
       its  attributes and color pair.  (A color pair selection is not honored
       unless initialized; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_color.3x.html">start_color(3x)</A></STRONG>.)

       The object or expression <EM>ch</EM> may contain attributes and/or a color  pair
       identifier.   (A  <EM>chtype</EM>  can  be  copied  from  place  to  place using
       <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inch.3x.html">winch(3x)</A></STRONG>  and  <STRONG>waddch</STRONG>.)   <EM>curses</EM>  defines   constants   to   aid   the
       manipulation  of  character  attributes; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>.  A <EM>ch</EM> whose
       character component is a space, and whose only attribute  is  <STRONG>A_NORMAL</STRONG>,
       is  a  <EM>blank</EM>  <EM>character</EM>,  and  therefore  combines  with  the  window's
       background character; see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd(3x)</A></STRONG>.

       If <EM>ch</EM> is a backspace, carriage return, line feed, or  tab,  the  cursor
       moves appropriately within the window.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Backspace  moves  the cursor one character left; at the left margin
           of a window, it does nothing.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Carriage return moves the cursor to the left  margin  on  the  same
           line of the window.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Line  feed  does a <STRONG><A HREF="curs_clear.3x.html">clrtoeol(3x)</A></STRONG>, then advances as if from the right
           margin.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Tab advances the cursor to the next tab stop (possibly on the  next
           line); these are placed at every eighth column by default.

           Alter   the   tab   interval   with   the  <STRONG>TABSIZE</STRONG>  extension;  see
           <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>.

       If <EM>ch</EM> is any other nonprintable character, <EM>curses</EM> draws it in printable
       form using the same convention as <STRONG><A HREF="unctrl.3x.html">unctrl(3x)</A></STRONG>.  Calling <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inch.3x.html">winch(3x)</A></STRONG> on the
       location of a nonprintable character  does  not  return  the  character
       itself, but its <STRONG><A HREF="unctrl.3x.html">unctrl(3x)</A></STRONG> representation.

       Adding  printable characters with <STRONG>waddch</STRONG> causes it to wrap at the right
       margin of the window:

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   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.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   If the cursor is  at  the  bottom  of  the  scrolling  region  when
           advancement occurs at the right margin, and <STRONG><A HREF="scrollok.3x.html">scrollok(3x)</A></STRONG> is enabled
           for  <EM>win</EM>,  the  scrolling region scrolls up one line and the cursor
           wraps as above.  Otherwise, advancement and scrolling do not occur,
           and <STRONG>waddch</STRONG> returns <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>.

       A window's margins may coincide with the screen boundaries.   This  may
       be  a  problem  when  <EM>ncurses</EM>  updates  the  screen to match the curses
       window.  When their right and bottom  margins  coincide,  <EM>ncurses</EM>  uses
       different strategies to handle the variations of scrolling and wrapping
       at the lower-right corner by depending on the terminal capabilities:

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   If the terminal does not automatically wrap as characters are added
           at  the right margin (i.e., auto right margins), <EM>ncurses</EM> writes the
           character directly.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   If the terminal has auto right margins, but also  has  capabilities
           for  turning auto margins off and on, <EM>ncurses</EM> turns the auto margin
           feature off temporarily when writing to the lower-right corner.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   If the terminal has an insertion mode which can be turned  off  and
           on,  <EM>ncurses</EM>  writes  the  character  just  before  the lower-right
           corner, and then inserts a character to push the  update  into  the
           corner.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-wechochar">wechochar</a></H3><PRE>
       <STRONG>echochar</STRONG>  and  <STRONG>wechochar</STRONG> are equivalent to calling (<STRONG>w</STRONG>)<STRONG>addch</STRONG> followed by
       (<STRONG>w</STRONG>)<STRONG>refresh</STRONG> on <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG> or the specified window.  <EM>curses</EM> interprets  these
       functions  as a hint to its optimizer that only a single character cell
       in the window is  being  altered  between  refreshes;  for  non-control
       characters, a considerable performance gain may be enjoyed by employing
       them.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Forms-Drawing-Characters">Forms-Drawing Characters</a></H3><PRE>
       <EM>curses</EM>  defines  macros starting with <STRONG>ACS_</STRONG> that can be used with <STRONG>waddch</STRONG>
       to write line-drawing and other symbols to the screen.   <EM>ncurses</EM>  terms
       these  <EM>forms-drawing</EM>  <EM>characters.</EM>   <EM>curses</EM>  uses the ACS default listed
       below if the terminal type lacks the <STRONG>acs_chars</STRONG> (<STRONG>acsc</STRONG>) 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 <STRONG>acs_chars</STRONG>
       (<STRONG>acsc</STRONG>) 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.

                      <STRONG>ACS</STRONG>       <STRONG>acsc</STRONG>
       <STRONG>Symbol</STRONG>         <STRONG>Default</STRONG>   <STRONG>char</STRONG>   <STRONG>Glyph</STRONG> <STRONG>Name</STRONG>
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------
       <STRONG>ACS_BLOCK</STRONG>      #         0      solid square block
       <STRONG>ACS_BOARD</STRONG>      #         h      board of squares
       <STRONG>ACS_BTEE</STRONG>       +         v      bottom tee
       <STRONG>ACS_BULLET</STRONG>     o         ~      bullet
       <STRONG>ACS_CKBOARD</STRONG>    :         a      checker board (stipple)
       <STRONG>ACS_DARROW</STRONG>     v         .      arrow pointing down
       <STRONG>ACS_DEGREE</STRONG>     '         f      degree symbol
       <STRONG>ACS_DIAMOND</STRONG>    +         `      diamond
       <STRONG>ACS_GEQUAL</STRONG>     &gt;         &gt;      greater-than-or-equal-to
       <STRONG>ACS_HLINE</STRONG>      -         q      horizontal line
       <STRONG>ACS_LANTERN</STRONG>    #         i      lantern symbol
       <STRONG>ACS_LARROW</STRONG>     &lt;         ,      arrow pointing left
       <STRONG>ACS_LEQUAL</STRONG>     &lt;         y      less-than-or-equal-to
       <STRONG>ACS_LLCORNER</STRONG>   +         m      lower left-hand corner
       <STRONG>ACS_LRCORNER</STRONG>   +         j      lower right-hand corner
       <STRONG>ACS_LTEE</STRONG>       +         t      left tee
       <STRONG>ACS_NEQUAL</STRONG>     !         |      not-equal
       <STRONG>ACS_PI</STRONG>         *         {      greek pi
       <STRONG>ACS_PLMINUS</STRONG>    #         g      plus/minus
       <STRONG>ACS_PLUS</STRONG>       +         n      plus
       <STRONG>ACS_RARROW</STRONG>     &gt;         +      arrow pointing right
       <STRONG>ACS_RTEE</STRONG>       +         u      right tee
       <STRONG>ACS_S1</STRONG>         -         o      scan line 1
       <STRONG>ACS_S3</STRONG>         -         p      scan line 3
       <STRONG>ACS_S7</STRONG>         -         r      scan line 7
       <STRONG>ACS_S9</STRONG>         _         s      scan line 9
       <STRONG>ACS_STERLING</STRONG>   f         }      pound-sterling symbol
       <STRONG>ACS_TTEE</STRONG>       +         w      top tee
       <STRONG>ACS_UARROW</STRONG>     ^         -      arrow pointing up
       <STRONG>ACS_ULCORNER</STRONG>   +         l      upper left-hand corner
       <STRONG>ACS_URCORNER</STRONG>   +         k      upper right-hand corner
       <STRONG>ACS_VLINE</STRONG>      |         x      vertical line


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
       These functions return <STRONG>OK</STRONG> on success and <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> on failure.

       In <EM>ncurses</EM>, these functions fail if

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   the <EM>curses</EM> screen has not been initialized,

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   (for functions taking a <EM>WINDOW</EM> pointer  argument)  <EM>win</EM>  is  a  null
           pointer,

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   wrapping  to  a new line is impossible because <STRONG><A HREF="scrollok.3x.html">scrollok(3x)</A></STRONG> has not
           been called on <EM>win</EM> (or <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>, as applicable) when a write  to  its
           bottom right location is attempted, or

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   it  is  not  possible  to  add  a  complete character at the cursor
           position.

       The last may be due to different causes:

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   conversion of a wide character to a  multibyte  character  sequence
           can fail, or

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   at  least one of the bytes resulting from wide character conversion
           to a multibyte character sequence cannot be added  to  the  window.
           See  section  "PORTABILITY"  below regarding the use of <STRONG>waddch</STRONG> with
           wide characters.

       Functions prefixed with "mv" first perform cursor movement and fail  if
       the position (<EM>y</EM>, <EM>x</EM>) is outside the window boundaries.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>addch</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvaddch</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvwaddch</STRONG>, and <STRONG>echochar</STRONG> may be implemented as macros.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
       The symbols <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>S3</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>S7</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>LEQUAL</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>GEQUAL</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>PI</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>NEQUAL</EM>,
       and  <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>STERLING</EM> were not documented in any publicly released System V
       and are  not  standard.   However,  many  publicly  available  <EM>terminfo</EM>
       entries  include  <STRONG>acs_chars</STRONG>  (<STRONG>acsc</STRONG>)  capabilities  in  which  their key
       characters (<STRONG>pryz{|}</STRONG>) are embedded, and  a  second-hand  list  of  their
       character  descriptions  has  come  to  light, which identifies them as
       VT100 special characters.

       The DEC Special Character and Line Drawing Set (VT100) is indexed by an
       ASCII character in the range 96 (`) to 126 (~).  That  index  character
       is  part  of  the  definition  for  the curses <STRONG>ACS_</STRONG> symbols.  The VT100
       special characters can be categorized in three groups:

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   useful graphic symbols with a  standard  <STRONG>ACS_</STRONG>  symbol,  (e.g.,  the
           line-drawing symbols),

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   possibly useful characters (these non-standard symbols),

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   representations  of  control characters (e.g., newline and vertical
           tabulation).

       A few <STRONG>ACS_</STRONG> symbols do not  fit  into  DEC's  VT100  scheme.   The  AT&amp;T
       Teletype  5410v1  arrow  symbols  and <STRONG>ACS_BLOCK</STRONG> use indices outside the
       range 96 to 126.  Two of the  Teletype  symbols  use  indices  in  that
       range, with different meaning versus the VT100:

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>ACS_BOARD</STRONG> corresponds to the VT100 symbol for newline

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>ACS_LANTERN</STRONG> corresponds to the VT100 symbol for vertical tabulation

       AT&amp;T defined <STRONG>ACS_</STRONG> names for the most useful graphic symbols, as well as
       for its own.  Its header file commented:

       /*
        * Standard alternate character set.  The current ACS world is
        * evolving, so we support only a widely available subset: the
        * line drawing characters from the VT100, plus a few from the
        * Teletype 5410v1.  Eventually there may be support of more
        * sophisticated ACS line drawing, such as that in the Teletype
        * 5410, the HP line drawing set, and the like.  There may be
        * support for some non line oriented characters as well.
        *
        * Line drawing ACS names are of the form ACS_trbl, where t is
        * the top, r is the right, b is the bottom, and l is the left.
        * t, r, b, and l might be B (blank), S (single), D (double), or
        * T (thick).  The subset defined here only uses B and S.
        */

       Although  these  less-useful graphic symbols were not given names, they
       were used in <EM>terminfo</EM> entries.  The <EM>ncurses</EM>  developers  invented  ACS-
       prefixed names for them.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
       Applications employing <EM>ncurses</EM> extensions should condition their use on
       the visibility of the <STRONG>NCURSES_VERSION</STRONG> preprocessor macro.

       X/Open Curses Issue 4 describes these functions.  It specifies no error
       conditions for them.

       SVr4  describes  a  successful  return  value only as "an integer value
       other than <EM>ERR</EM>".

       The defaults specified for forms-drawing characters apply in the  POSIX
       locale.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-ACS-Symbols">ACS Symbols</a></H3><PRE>
       X/Open  Curses  states  that  the  <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> definitions are <EM>char</EM> constants.
       Some implementations are problematic.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Solaris <EM>curses</EM>, for example, defines the ACS symbols as  constants;
           others define them as elements of an array.

           SVr4  used  an array, <EM>acs</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>map</EM>, as does <EM>ncurses</EM>.  NetBSD <EM>curses</EM> also
           uses an array, actually  named  <STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>acs</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>char</EM>,  with  a  "#define"  for
           compatibility.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   HP-UX  <EM>curses</EM>  equates  some  of  the <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> symbols to the analogous
           <EM>WACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> symbols as if the <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG>  symbols  were  wide  characters  (see
           <STRONG><A HREF="curs_add_wch.3x.html">curs_add_wch(3x)</A></STRONG>).   The  misdefined  symbols  are  the  arrows and
           others that are not used for line drawing.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   X/Open Curses (Issues 2 through 7) has a  typographical  error  for
           the  <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>LANTERN</EM>  symbol,  equating  its  "VT100+ Character" to "I"
           (capital I), while the header  files  for  SVr4  <EM>curses</EM>  and  other
           implementations use "i" (small i).

           None  of  the terminal descriptions on Unix platforms use uppercase
           I, except  for  Solaris  (in  its  <EM>terminfo</EM>  entry  for  <STRONG>screen(1)</STRONG>,
           apparently  based on the X/Open documentation around 1995).  On the
           other hand, its <STRONG>gs6300</STRONG> (AT&amp;T PC6300 with EMOTS  Terminal  Emulator)
           description uses lowercase i.

       The <EM>displayed</EM> values of <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> constants depend on

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   the  <EM>ncurses</EM>  ABI  --  for example, wide-character versus non-wide-
           character configurations  (the  former  is  capable  of  displaying
           Unicode while the latter is not), and

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   whether the locale uses UTF-8 encoding.

       In  certain  cases,  the  terminal  is  unable to display forms-drawing
       characters  <EM>except</EM>  by  using  UTF-8;  see  the   discussion   of   the
       <EM>NCURSES</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>NO</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>UTF8</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>ACS</EM> environment variable in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Character-Set">Character Set</a></H3><PRE>
       X/Open  Curses  assumes  that the parameter passed to <EM>waddch</EM> contains a
       single character.  That character may have been more  than  eight  bits
       wide  in  an  SVr3 or SVr4 implementation, but X/Open Curses leaves the
       width of a non-wide character code unspecified.  The  standard  further
       does  not specify the internal structure of a <EM>chtype</EM>, though the use of
       bitwise operators to combine the character code with attributes  and  a
       color pair identifier into a <EM>chtype</EM> for passage to <EM>waddch</EM> is common.  A
       portable application uses only the macros discussed in <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG> to
       manipulate a <EM>chtype</EM>.

       In <EM>ncurses</EM>, <EM>chtype</EM> holds an eight-bit character, but the library allows
       a  multibyte  character sequence to be passed via a succession of calls
       to <EM>waddch</EM>.  Other implementations  do  not;  a  <EM>waddch</EM>  call  transmits
       exactly  one  character,  which  may  be rendered in one or more screen
       locations depending  on  whether  it  is  printable  (see  <STRONG><A HREF="unctrl.3x.html">unctrl(3x)</A></STRONG>).
       Depending  on  the  locale,  <EM>ncurses</EM>  inspects  the byte passed in each
       <EM>waddch</EM> call and checks whether the latest call  continues  a  multibyte
       character.    When  a  character  is  <EM>complete</EM>,  <EM>ncurses</EM>  displays  the
       character  and  advances  the  cursor.   If  the  calling   application
       interrupts the succession of bytes in a multibyte character sequence by
       changing the current location -- for example, with <STRONG><A HREF="curs_move.3x.html">wmove(3x)</A></STRONG> -- <EM>ncurses</EM>
       discards the incomplete character.

       For  portability  to  other  implementations,  do  not  rely  upon  the
       foregoing behavior.  Check whether a character can be represented as  a
       single byte in the current locale.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   If it can, call either <EM>waddch</EM> or <EM>wadd</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>wch</EM>.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   If it cannot, use only <EM>wadd</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>wch</EM>.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
       4BSD (1980) introduced <EM>waddch</EM> and its variants.

       SVr3  (1987) added the <EM>echochar</EM> and <EM>wechochar</EM> functions and most of the
       <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> constants, except for <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>GEQUAL</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>LEQUAL</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>NEQUAL</EM>,  <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>PI</EM>,
       <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>S3</EM>, <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>S7</EM>, and <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>STERLING</EM>.

       <EM>ncurses</EM> 1.9.6 (1995) furnished the remaining <EM>ACS</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG> constants.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG><A HREF="curs_add_wch.3x.html">curs_add_wch(3x)</A></STRONG>  describes comparable functions of the <EM>ncurses</EM> library
       in its wide-character configuration (<EM>ncursesw</EM>).

       <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>,    <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addchstr.3x.html">curs_addchstr(3x)</A></STRONG>,    <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addstr.3x.html">curs_addstr(3x)</A></STRONG>,    <STRONG><A HREF="curs_attr.3x.html">curs_attr(3x)</A></STRONG>,
       <STRONG><A HREF="curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd(3x)</A></STRONG>,    <STRONG><A HREF="curs_clear.3x.html">curs_clear(3x)</A></STRONG>,    <STRONG><A HREF="curs_inch.3x.html">curs_inch(3x)</A></STRONG>,   <STRONG><A HREF="curs_outopts.3x.html">curs_outopts(3x)</A></STRONG>,
       <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">curs_refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>putchar(3)</STRONG>

ncurses 6.6                       2025-11-11                    <STRONG><A HREF="curs_addch.3x.html">curs_addch(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-waddch">waddch</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-wechochar">wechochar</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Forms-Drawing-Characters">Forms-Drawing Characters</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-ACS-Symbols">ACS Symbols</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Character-Set">Character Set</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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