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# XCIV. Ncurses Terminal Screen Control Functions

# Introduction

ncurses (new curses) is a free software emulation of curses in System V Rel 4.0 (and above). It uses terminfo format, supports pads, colors, multiple highlights, form characters and function key mapping. Because of the interactive nature of this library, it will be of little use for writing Web applications, but may be useful when writing scripts meant using PHP from the command line.

Warning
This extension is EXPERIMENTAL. The behaviour of this extension -- including the names of its functions and anything else documented about this extension -- may change without notice in a future release of PHP. Use this extension at your own risk.

Ncurses is available for the following platforms:

- AIX

- BeOS

- Cygwin

- Digital Unix (aka OSF1)

- FreeBSD

- GNU/Linux

- HPUX

- IRIX

- OS/2

- SCO OpenServer

- Solaris

- SunOS

> Note: This extension has been moved to the PECL repository and is no longer bundled with PHP as of PHP 6.0.0

# Requirements

You need the ncurses libraries and headerfiles. Download the latest version from the ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/ or from an other GNU-Mirror.

# Installation

To get these functions to work, you have to compile the CGI or CLI version of PHP with --with-ncurses[=DIR].

# Runtime Configuration

The behaviour of these functions is affected by settings in `php.ini`.

Table 1. Ncurses configuration options

Name | Default | Changeable | Changelog
--- | --- | --- | ---
ncurses.value | "42" | PHP_INI_ALL |
ncurses.string | "foobar" | PHP_INI_ALL |

For further details and definitions of the PHP_INI_* constants, see the Appendix G.

# Resource Types

This extension has no resource types defined.

# Predefined Constants

The constants below are defined by this extension, and will only be available when the extension has either been compiled into PHP or dynamically loaded at runtime.

## Error codes

On error ncurses functions return NCURSES_ERR.

## Colors

Table 2. ncurses color constants

constant | meaning
--- | ---
NCURSES_COLOR_BLACK | no color (black)
NCURSES_COLOR_WHITE | white
NCURSES_COLOR_RED | red - supported when terminal is in color mode
NCURSES_COLOR_GREEN | green - supported when terminal is in color mode
NCURSES_COLOR_YELLOW | yellow - supported when terminal is in color mode
NCURSES_COLOR_BLUE | blue - supported when terminal is in color mode
NCURSES_COLOR_CYAN | cyan - supported when terminal is in color mode
NCURSES_COLOR_MAGENTA | magenta - supported when terminal is in color mode

## Keys

Table 3. ncurses key constants

constant | meaning
--- | ---
NCURSES_KEY_F0 - NCURSES_KEY_F64 | function keys F1 - F64
NCURSES_KEY_DOWN | down arrow
NCURSES_KEY_UP | up arrow
NCURSES_KEY_LEFT | left arrow
NCURSES_KEY_RIGHT | right arrow
NCURSES_KEY_HOME | home key (upward+left arrow)
NCURSES_KEY_BACKSPACE | backspace
NCURSES_KEY_DL | delete line
NCURSES_KEY_IL | insert line
NCURSES_KEY_DC | delete character
NCURSES_KEY_IC | insert char or enter insert mode
NCURSES_KEY_EIC | exit insert char mode
NCURSES_KEY_CLEAR | clear screen
NCURSES_KEY_EOS | clear to end of screen
NCURSES_KEY_EOL | clear to end of line
NCURSES_KEY_SF | scroll one line forward
NCURSES_KEY_SR | scroll one line backward
NCURSES_KEY_NPAGE | next page
NCURSES_KEY_PPAGE | previous page
NCURSES_KEY_STAB | set tab
NCURSES_KEY_CTAB | clear tab
NCURSES_KEY_CATAB | clear all tabs
NCURSES_KEY_SRESET | soft (partial) reset
NCURSES_KEY_RESET | reset or hard reset
NCURSES_KEY_PRINT | print
NCURSES_KEY_LL | lower left
NCURSES_KEY_A1 | upper left of keypad
NCURSES_KEY_A3 | upper right of keypad
NCURSES_KEY_B2 | center of keypad
NCURSES_KEY_C1 | lower left of keypad
NCURSES_KEY_C3 | lower right of keypad
NCURSES_KEY_BTAB | back tab
NCURSES_KEY_BEG | beginning
NCURSES_KEY_CANCEL | cancel
NCURSES_KEY_CLOSE | close
NCURSES_KEY_COMMAND | cmd (command)
NCURSES_KEY_COPY | copy
NCURSES_KEY_CREATE | create
NCURSES_KEY_END | end
NCURSES_KEY_EXIT | exit
NCURSES_KEY_FIND | find
NCURSES_KEY_HELP | help
NCURSES_KEY_MARK | mark
NCURSES_KEY_MESSAGE | message
NCURSES_KEY_MOVE | move
NCURSES_KEY_NEXT | next
NCURSES_KEY_OPEN | open
NCURSES_KEY_OPTIONS | options
NCURSES_KEY_PREVIOUS | previous
NCURSES_KEY_REDO | redo
NCURSES_KEY_REFERENCE | ref (reference)
NCURSES_KEY_REFRESH | refresh
NCURSES_KEY_REPLACE | replace
NCURSES_KEY_RESTART | restart
NCURSES_KEY_RESUME | resume
NCURSES_KEY_SAVE | save
NCURSES_KEY_SBEG | shiftet beg (beginning)
NCURSES_KEY_SCANCEL | shifted cancel
NCURSES_KEY_SCOMMAND | shifted command
NCURSES_KEY_SCOPY | shifted copy
NCURSES_KEY_SCREATE | shifted create
NCURSES_KEY_SDC | shifted delete char
NCURSES_KEY_SDL | shifted delete line
NCURSES_KEY_SELECT | select
NCURSES_KEY_SEND | shifted end
NCURSES_KEY_SEOL | shifted end of line
NCURSES_KEY_SEXIT | shifted exit
NCURSES_KEY_SFIND | shifted find
NCURSES_KEY_SHELP | shifted help
NCURSES_KEY_SHOME | shifted home
NCURSES_KEY_SIC | shifted input
NCURSES_KEY_SLEFT | shifted left arrow
NCURSES_KEY_SMESSAGE | shifted message
NCURSES_KEY_SMOVE | shifted move
NCURSES_KEY_SNEXT | shifted next
NCURSES_KEY_SOPTIONS | shifted options
NCURSES_KEY_SPREVIOUS | shifted previous
NCURSES_KEY_SPRINT | shifted print
NCURSES_KEY_SREDO | shifted redo
NCURSES_KEY_SREPLACE | shifted replace
NCURSES_KEY_SRIGHT | shifted right arrow
NCURSES_KEY_SRSUME | shifted resume
NCURSES_KEY_SSAVE | shifted save
NCURSES_KEY_SSUSPEND | shifted suspend
NCURSES_KEY_UNDO | undo
NCURSES_KEY_MOUSE | mouse event has occurred
NCURSES_KEY_MAX | maximum key value

## Mouse

Table 4. mouse constants

Constant | meaning
--- | ---
NCURSES_BUTTON1_RELEASED - NCURSES_BUTTON4_RELEASED | button (1-4) released
NCURSES_BUTTON1_PRESSED - NCURSES_BUTTON4_PRESSED | button (1-4) pressed
NCURSES_BUTTON1_CLICKED - NCURSES_BUTTON4_CLICKED | button (1-4) clicked
NCURSES_BUTTON1_DOUBLE_CLICKED - NCURSES_BUTTON4_DOUBLE_CLICKED | button (1-4) double clicked
NCURSES_BUTTON1_TRIPLE_CLICKED - NCURSES_BUTTON4_TRIPLE_CLICKED | button (1-4) triple clicked
NCURSES_BUTTON_CTRL | ctrl pressed during click
NCURSES_BUTTON_SHIFT | shift pressed during click
NCURSES_BUTTON_ALT | alt pressed during click
NCURSES_ALL_MOUSE_EVENTS | report all mouse events
NCURSES_REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION | report mouse position

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