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<H1 class="no-header">term_variables 3x 2025-11-11 ncurses 6.6 Library calls</H1>
<PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG> Library calls <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG>SP</STRONG>, <STRONG>acs_map</STRONG>, <STRONG>boolcodes</STRONG>, <STRONG>boolfnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>, <STRONG>numcodes</STRONG>,
<STRONG>numfnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>numnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>strcodes</STRONG>, <STRONG>strfnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>strnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG> - <EM>terminfo</EM>
global variables
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
<STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
<STRONG>chtype</STRONG> <STRONG>acs_map[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>SP;</STRONG>
<STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>cur_term;</STRONG>
<STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>ttytype[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
<STRONG>NCURSES_CONST</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
This page summarizes variables provided by the <EM>curses</EM> library's lower-
level <EM>terminfo</EM> interface. Locate a more complete description in the
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> manual page.
Depending on <EM>ncurses</EM>'s build-time configuration, these may be actual
variables, or macros (see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_threads.3x.html">curs_threads(3x)</A></STRONG>) that provide read-only
access to <EM>curses</EM>'s state. In either case, applications should treat
them as read-only to avoid confusing the library.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Alternate-Character-Set-Mapping">Alternate Character Set Mapping</a></H3><PRE>
After initializing the <EM>curses</EM> or <EM>terminfo</EM> interfaces, the <STRONG>acs_map</STRONG> array
holds information used to translate cells with the <STRONG>A_ALTCHARSET</STRONG> video
attribute into line-drawing characters.
The encoding of the information in this array has changed periodically.
Application developers need only know that it is used for the "ACS_"
constants in <EM>curses.h</EM>.
The comparable data for the wide-character library are not exposed as
symbols in the API.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Current-Terminal-Data">Current Terminal Data</a></H3><PRE>
After initializing the <EM>curses</EM> or <EM>terminfo</EM> interfaces, <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> contains
data describing the current terminal. It is also updated as a side
effect of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">set_term(3x)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG>.
It is possible to save a value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> for subsequent use as a
parameter to <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">set_term(3x)</A></STRONG> for switching between screens.
Alternatively, one can save the return value from <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> or
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">setupterm(3x)</A></STRONG> to reuse in <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">set_term(3x)</A></STRONG>.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-terminfo-Lookup-Tables"><EM>terminfo</EM> Lookup Tables</a></H3><PRE>
The <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1)</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1)</A></STRONG> programs use lookup tables for the long and
short names of <EM>terminfo</EM> capabilities, as well as the corresponding
names for <EM>termcap</EM> capabilities. These are available to other
applications, though the hash tables used by the <EM>terminfo</EM> and <EM>termcap</EM>
functions are not.
<EM>terminfo</EM> stores capability names in arrays with an "f" (eff) in their
names: <STRONG>boolfnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>numfnames</STRONG>, and <STRONG>strfnames</STRONG>. It stores the briefer
capability codes in arrays without the "f": <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG>, <STRONG>numnames</STRONG>, and
<STRONG>strnames</STRONG>. The corresponding <EM>termcap</EM> capability codes are stored in
<STRONG>boolcodes</STRONG>, <STRONG>numcodes</STRONG>, and <STRONG>strcodes</STRONG>. <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> catalogs these.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Type">Terminal Type</a></H3><PRE>
A terminal description begins with one or more terminal names separated
by "|" (vertical bars). On initialization of the <EM>curses</EM> or <EM>terminfo</EM>
interfaces, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">setupterm(3x)</A></STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array
<STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-terminfo-Names"><EM>terminfo</EM> Names</a></H3><PRE>
In addition to the variables, <EM>term.h</EM> also defines a symbol for each
<EM>terminfo</EM> capability name. These are in terms of the symbol <STRONG>CUR</STRONG>, which
is defined
#define CUR ((TERMTYPE *)(cur_term))->
These symbols provide a faster method of accessing <EM>terminfo</EM>
capabilities than using, for example, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">tigetstr(3x)</A></STRONG>.
The definition of <STRONG>CUR</STRONG> is implementation-dependent, but each <EM>terminfo</EM>
library defines these names to point into the in-memory description of
the current terminal. For example, in <EM>ncurses</EM>, the expressions
<STRONG>tigetstr("key_dc")</STRONG> and "<STRONG>CUR</STRONG> <STRONG>Strings[59]</STRONG>" are equivalent.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-terminfo-and-curses"><EM>terminfo</EM> and curses</a></H3><PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">setupterm(3x)</A></STRONG> initializes the lower-level <EM>terminfo</EM> interface. The
higher-level <EM>curses</EM> interface uses the <EM>terminfo</EM> interface internally;
the symbol <STRONG>SP</STRONG> bridges the <EM>curses</EM> <EM>SCREEN</EM> type with the <EM>terminfo</EM> <EM>TERMINAL</EM>
type.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
X/Open Curses does not describe any of these symbols except for
<EM>cur</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>term</EM>. (The inclusion of <EM>cur</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>term</EM> appears to be an oversight, since
other comparable low-level information is omitted by X/Open.)
Other implementations may have comparable variables. Some
implementations provide the variables in their libraries, but omit them
from the header files.
All implementations that provide <EM>terminfo</EM> interfaces add definitions as
described in the "<EM>terminfo</EM> Names" section above. Most, but not all,
base the definition upon the <EM>cur</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>term</EM> variable.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_threads.3x.html">curs_threads(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
ncurses 6.6 2025-11-11 <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(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-Alternate-Character-Set-Mapping">Alternate Character Set Mapping</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Current-Terminal-Data">Current Terminal Data</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-terminfo-Lookup-Tables">terminfo Lookup Tables</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Type">Terminal Type</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-terminfo-Names">terminfo Names</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-terminfo-and-curses">terminfo and curses</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
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