SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
int getch(void);
int wgetch(WINDOW *win);
int mvgetch(int y, int x);
int mvwgetch(WINDOW *win, int y, int x);
int ungetch(int ch);
DESCRIPTION
The getch, wgetch, mvgetch and mvwgetch, routines read a character from the window. In no-delay mode, if no input is waiting, the value ERR is returned. In delay mode, the program waits until the system passes text through to the program. Depending on the setting of cbreak, this is after one character (cbreak mode), or after the first newline (nocbreak mode). In half-delay mode, the program waits until a character is typed or the specified timeout has been reached.
If noecho has been set, then the character will also be echoed into the designated window according to the following rules: If the character is the current erase character, left arrow, or backspace, the cursor is moved one space to the left and that screen position is erased as if delch had been called. If the character value is any other KEY_ define, the user is alerted with a beep call. Otherwise the character is simply output to the screen.
If the window is not a pad, and it has been moved or modified since the last call to wrefresh, wrefresh will be called before another character is read.
If keypad is TRUE, and a function key is pressed, the token for that function key is returned instead of the raw characters. Possible function keys are defined in <curses.h> as macros with values outside the range of 8-bit characters whose names begin with KEY_. Thus, a variable intended to hold the return value of a function key must be of short size or larger.
When a character that could be the beginning of a function key is received (which, on modern terminals, means an escape character), curses sets a timer. If the remainder of the sequence does not come in within the designated time, the character is passed through; otherwise, the function key value is returned. For this reason, many terminals experience a delay between the time a user presses the escape key and the escape is returned to the program.
The ungetch routine places ch back onto the input queue to be returned by the next call to wgetch. Note that there is, in effect, just one input queue for all windows.
Function Keys
The following function keys, defined in <curses.h>, might be returned by getch if keypad has been enabled. Note that not all of these are necessarily supported on any particular terminal.
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NOTES
Use of the escape key by a programmer for a single character function is discouraged, as it will cause a delay of up to one second while the keypad code looks for a following function-key sequence.
When using getch, wgetch, mvgetch, or mvwgetch, nocbreak mode (nocbreak) and echo mode (echo) should not be used at the same time. Depending on the state of the tty driver when each character is typed, the program may produce undesirable results.
Note that getch, mvgetch, and mvwgetch may be macros.
Historically, the set of keypad macros was largely defined by the extremely function-key-rich keyboard of the AT&T 7300, aka 3B1, aka Safari 4. Modern personal computers usually have only a small subset of these. IBM PC-style consoles typically support little more than KEY_UP, KEY_DOWN, KEY_LEFT, KEY_RIGHT, KEY_HOME, KEY_END, KEY_NPAGE, KEY_PPAGE, and function keys 1 through 12. The Ins key is usually mapped to KEY_IC.
PORTABILITY
These functions are described in the XSI Curses standard, Issue 4. They read single-byte characters only. The standard specifies that they return ERR on failure, but specifies no error conditions.
The echo behavior of these functions on input of KEY_ or backspace characters was not specified. This description is adopted from the XSI Curses standard.
SEE ALSO
curses(3X), curs_inopts(3X), curs_move(3X), curs_refresh(3X).