# curs_attr 3x

    curs_attr(3x)                                             curs_attr(3x)

## NAME

           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

## SYNOPSIS

           #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)

## DESCRIPTION

           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 wadd-
           ch, waddstr and wprintw.  Attributes are a property of the
           character,   and  move  with  the  character  through  any
           scrolling and insert/delete line/character operations.  To
           the  extent  possible,  they  are displayed as appropriate
           modifications to the graphic rendition of  characters  put
           on the screen.

           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 affecting 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  at-
           tributes  used  when  erasing portions of the window.  See
           curs_bkgd(3x) 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 cur-
           rent 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 per-
           form 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  func-
           tion 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 ar-
           gument of init_pair, see curs_color(3x)).  The opts  argu-
           ment is not presently used, but is reserved for the future
           (leave it NULL).

       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
            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  mean-
           ingful (they are implemented as macro-expanded assignments
           and simply return their argument).  The SVr4  manual  page
           claims (falsely) that these routines always return 1.

## NOTES

           Note  that  attroff,  wattroff,  attron, wattron, attrset,
           wattrset, 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 alternate functions.  You must use ncurses  ABI  6  to
           support more than 256 color pairs.

## PORTABILITY

           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 tradition-
           al functions  attron/attroff/attrset  can  manipulate  at-
           tributes  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,  wat-
           tr_set.   These  are intended to work with a new series of
           highlight macros prefixed with WA_.

           Older versions of this library did not force an update  of
           the  screen when changing the attributes.  Use touchwin to
           force the screen to match the updated attributes.

            WA_NORMAL       Normal display (no highlight)
            WA_STANDOUT     Best highlighting mode of the terminal.
            WA_UNDERLINE    Underlining
            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 corre-
           sponding  A_  and WA_-using functions operates on the same
           current-highlight information.

           The XSI standard extended conformance level adds new high-
           lights A_HORIZONTAL, A_LEFT, A_LOW, A_RIGHT, A_TOP, A_VER-
           TICAL (and corresponding WA_ macros for each)  which  this
           implementation does not yet support.

## RETURN VALUE

           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..COL-
           OR_PAIRS-1.   This  implementation  also provides getattrs
           for compatibility with older versions of curses.

           Functions with a "mv" prefix first perform a cursor  move-
           ment  using  wmove, and return an error if the position is
           outside the window, or if the window pointer is null.

## SEE ALSO

           curses(3x),        curs_addch(3x),        curs_addstr(3x),
           curs_bkgd(3x), curs_printw(3x), curs_variables(3x)

                                                              curs_attr(3x)