curs_attr(3) UNIX Programmer's Manual curs_attr(3)
attroff, wattroff, attron, wattron, attrset, wattrset,
color_set, wcolor_set, standend, wstandend, standout,
wstandout, attr_get, wattr_get, attr_off, wattr_off,
attr_on, wattr_on, attr_set, wattr_set, chgat, wchgat,
mvchgat, mvwchgat, PAIR_NUMBER - curses character and window
attribute control routines
#include <curses.h>
int attroff(int attrs);
int wattroff(WINDOW *win, int attrs);
int attron(int attrs);
int wattron(WINDOW *win, int attrs);
int attrset(int attrs);
int wattrset(WINDOW *win, int attrs);
int color_set(short color_pair_number, void* opts);
int wcolor_set(WINDOW *win, short color_pair_number,
void* opts);
int standend(void);
int wstandend(WINDOW *win);
int standout(void);
int wstandout(WINDOW *win);
int attr_get(attr_t *attrs, short *pair, void *opts);
int wattr_get(WINDOW *win, attr_t *attrs, short *pair,
void *opts);
int attr_off(attr_t attrs, void *opts);
int wattr_off(WINDOW *win, attr_t attrs, void *opts);
int attr_on(attr_t attrs, void *opts);
int wattr_on(WINDOW *win, attr_t attrs, void *opts);
int attr_set(attr_t attrs, short pair, void *opts);
int wattr_set(WINDOW *win, attr_t attrs, short pair, void
*opts);
int chgat(int n, attr_t attr, short color,
const void *opts)
int wchgat(WINDOW *win, int n, attr_t attr,
short color, const void *opts)
int mvchgat(int y, int x, int n, attr_t attr,
short color, const void *opts)
int mvwchgat(WINDOW *win, int y, int x, int n,
attr_t attr, short color, const void *opts)
These routines manipulate the current attributes of the
named window. The current attributes of a window apply to
all characters that are written into the window with waddch,
waddstr and wprintw. Attributes are a property of the char-
acter, and move with the character through any scrolling and
insert/delete line/character operations. To the extent pos-
sible, they are displayed as appropriate modifications to
the graphic rendition of characters put on the screen.
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The routine attrset sets the current attributes of the given
window to attrs. The routine attroff turns off the named
attributes without turning any other attributes on or off.
The routine attron turns on the named attributes without af-
fecting any others. The routine standout is the same as
attron(A_STANDOUT). The routine standend is the same as
attrset(A_NORMAL) or attrset(0), that is, it turns off all
attributes.
The attrset and related routines do not affect the attri-
butes used when erasing portions of the window. See
curs_bkgd(3) for functions which modify the attributes used
for erasing and clearing.
The routine color_set sets the current color of the given
window to the foreground/background combination described by
the color_pair_number. The parameter opts is reserved for
future use, applications must supply a null pointer.
The routine wattr_get returns the current attribute and
color pair for the given window; attr_get returns the
current attribute and color pair for stdscr. The remaining
attr_* functions operate exactly like the corresponding
attr* functions, except that they take arguments of type
attr_t rather than int.
The routine chgat changes the attributes of a given number
of characters starting at the current cursor location of
stdscr. It does not update the cursor and does not perform
wrapping. A character count of -1 or greater than the
remaining window width means to change attributes all the
way to the end of the current line. The wchgat function
generalizes this to any window; the mvwchgat function does a
cursor move before acting. In these functions, the color
argument is a color-pair index (as in the first argument of
init_pair, see curs_color(3)). The opts argument is not
presently used, but is reserved for the future (leave it
NULL). Note that changing the attributes does not imply that
a subsequent refresh will update the screen to match, since
the character values are not modified. Use touchwin to force
the screen to match the updated attributes.
Attributes
The following video attributes, defined in <curses.h>, can
be passed to the routines attron, attroff, and attrset, or
OR'd with the characters passed to addch.
A_NORMAL Normal display (no highlight)
A_STANDOUT Best highlighting mode of the terminal.
A_UNDERLINE Underlining
A_REVERSE Reverse video
A_BLINK Blinking
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A_DIM Half bright
A_BOLD Extra bright or bold
A_PROTECT Protected mode
A_INVIS Invisible or blank mode
A_ALTCHARSET Alternate character set
A_CHARTEXT Bit-mask to extract a character
COLOR_PAIR(n) Color-pair number n
The following macro is the reverse of COLOR_PAIR(n):
PAIR_NUMBER(attrs) Returns the pair number associated
with the COLOR_PAIR(n) attribute.
The return values of many of these routines are not meaning-
ful (they are implemented as macro-expanded assignments and
simply return their argument). The SVr4 manual page claims
(falsely) that these routines always return 1.
Note that attroff, wattroff, attron, wattron, attrset, wat-
trset, standend and standout may be macros.
COLOR_PAIR values can only be OR'd with attributes if the
pair number is less than 256. The alternate functions such
as color_set can pass a color pair value directly. However,
ncurses ABI 4 and 5 simply OR this value within the alter-
nate functions. You must use ncurses ABI 6 to support more
than 256 color pairs.
These functions are supported in the XSI Curses standard,
Issue 4. The standard defined the dedicated type for
highlights, attr_t, which is not defined in SVr4 curses. The
functions taking attr_t arguments are not supported under
SVr4.
The XSI Curses standard states that whether the traditional
functions attron/attroff/attrset can manipulate attributes
other than A_BLINK, A_BOLD, A_DIM, A_REVERSE, A_STANDOUT, or
A_UNDERLINE is "unspecified". Under this implementation as
well as SVr4 curses, these functions correctly manipulate
all other highlights (specifically, A_ALTCHARSET, A_PROTECT,
and A_INVIS).
XSI Curses added the new entry points, attr_get, attr_on,
attr_off, attr_set, wattr_on, wattr_off, wattr_get,
wattr_set. These are intended to work with a new series of
highlight macros prefixed with WA_.
WA_NORMAL Normal display (no highlight)
WA_STANDOUT Best highlighting mode of the terminal.
WA_UNDERLINE Underlining
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WA_REVERSE Reverse video
WA_BLINK Blinking
WA_DIM Half bright
WA_BOLD Extra bright or bold
WA_ALTCHARSET Alternate character set
The XSI curses standard specifies that each pair of
corresponding A_ and WA_-using functions operates on the
same current-highlight information.
The XSI standard extended conformance level adds new
highlights A_HORIZONTAL, A_LEFT, A_LOW, A_RIGHT, A_TOP,
A_VERTICAL (and corresponding WA_ macros for each) which
this implementation does not yet support.
All routines return the integer OK on success, or ERR on
failure.
X/Open does not define any error conditions.
This implementation returns an error if the window pointer
is null. The wcolor_set function returns an error if the
color pair parameter is outside the range 0..COLOR_PAIRS-1.
curses(3), curs_addch(3), curs_addstr(3), curs_bkgd(3),
curs_printw(3)
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