Miscellaneous Library Functions curs_color(3X)
NAME
start_color, init_pair, init_color, has_colors,
can_change_color, color_content, pair_content, COLOR_PAIR -
curses color manipulation routinesSYNOPSIS
# include
int start_color(void);
int init_pair(short pair, short f, short b);
int init_color(short color, short r, short g, short b);
bool has_colors(void);
bool can_change_color(void);
int color_content(short color, short *r, short *g, short
*b);int pair_content(short pair, short *f, short *b);
DESCRIPTION
Overviewcurses support color attributes on terminals with that capa-
bility. To use these routines start_color must be called,
usually right after initscr. Colors are always used inpairs (referred to as color-pairs). A color-pair consists
of a foreground color (for characters) and a background color (for the blank field on which the characters aredisplayed). A programmer initializes a color-pair with the
routine init_pair. After it has been initialized,
COLOR_PAIR(n), a macro defined in
a new video attribute., can be used as If a terminal is capable of redefining colors, the program-
mer can use the routine init_color to change the definition
of a color. The routines has_colors and can_change_color
return TRUE or FALSE, depending on whether the terminal has color capabilities and whether the programmer can change thecolors. The routine color_content allows a programmer to
extract the amounts of red, green, and blue components in aninitialized color. The routine pair_content allows a pro-
grammer to find out how a given color-pair is currently de-
fined. Routine DescriptionsThe start_color routine requires no arguments. It must be
called if the programmer wants to use colors, and before any other color manipulation routine is called. It is good practice to call this routine right after initscr.start_color initializes eight basic colors (black, red,
green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white), and two glo-
bal variables, COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS (respectively defining
the maximum number of colors and color-pairs the terminal
can support). It also restores the colors on the terminal to the values they had when the terminal was just turned on. SunOS 5.10 Last change: 1Miscellaneous Library Functions curs_color(3X)
The init_pair routine changes the definition of a color-
pair. It takes three arguments: the number of the color-
pair to be changed, the foreground color number, and the background color number. For portable applications:- The value of the first argument must be between 1 and
COLOR_PAIRS-1.
- The value of the second and third arguments must be
between 0 and COLORS. Color pair 0 is assumed to be white on black, but is actually whatever the terminal implements before color is initialized. It cannot be modified by the application.If the color-pair was previously initialized, the screen is
refreshed and all occurrences of that color-pair are changed
to the new definition. As an extension, ncurses allows you to set color pair 0 viathe assume_default_colors routine, or to specify the use of
default colors (color number -1) if you first invoke the
use_default_colors routine.
The init_color routine changes the definition of a color.
It takes four arguments: the number of the color to be changed followed by three RGB values (for the amounts of red, green, and blue components). The value of the first argument must be between 0 and COLORS. (See the section Colors for the default color index.) Each of the last three arguments must be a value between 0 and 1000. Wheninit_color is used, all occurrences of that color on the
screen immediately change to the new definition.The has_colors routine requires no arguments. It returns
TRUE if the terminal can manipulate colors; otherwise, itreturns FALSE. This routine facilitates writing terminal-
independent programs. For example, a programmer can use itto decide whether to use color or some other video attri-
bute.The can_change_color routine requires no arguments. It re-
turns TRUE if the terminal supports colors and can change their definitions; other, it returns FALSE. This routinefacilitates writing terminal-independent programs.
The color_content routine gives programmers a way to find
the intensity of the red, green, and blue (RGB) components in a color. It requires four arguments: the color number, and three addresses of shorts for storing the information about the amounts of red, green, and blue components in the given color. The value of the first argument must bebetween 0 and COLORS. The values that are stored at the ad-
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 2Miscellaneous Library Functions curs_color(3X)
dresses pointed to by the last three arguments are between 0 (no component) and 1000 (maximum amount of component).The pair_content routine allows programmers to find out what
colors a given color-pair consists of. It requires three
arguments: the color-pair number, and two addresses of
shorts for storing the foreground and the background color numbers. The value of the first argument must be between 1and COLOR_PAIRS-1. The values that are stored at the ad-
dresses pointed to by the second and third arguments are between 0 and COLORS. Colors Inthe following macros are defined. These are the default colors. curses also assumes that COLOR_BLACK is
the default background color for all terminals.COLOR_BLACK
COLOR_RED
COLOR_GREEN
COLOR_YELLOW
COLOR_BLUE
COLOR_MAGENTA
COLOR_CYAN
COLOR_WHITE
RETURN VALUEThe routines can_change_color() and has_colors() return TRUE
or FALSE. All other routines return the integer ERR upon failure and an OK (SVr4 specifies only "an integer value other than ERR") upon successful completion.X/Open defines no error conditions. This implementation will return ERR on attempts to use color values outside the
range 0 to COLORS-1 (except for the default colors exten-
sion), or use color pairs outside the range 0 toCOLOR_PAIR-1. Color values used in init_color must be in
the range 0 to 1000. An error is returned from all func-
tions if the terminal has not been initialized. An error isreturned from secondary functions such as init_pair if
start_color was not called.
init_color
returns an error if the terminal does not supportthis feature, e.g., if the initialize_color capa-
bility is absent from the terminal description.start_color
returns an error If the color table cannot be al-
located. SunOS 5.10 Last change: 3Miscellaneous Library Functions curs_color(3X)
NOTESIn the ncurses implementation, there is a separate color ac-
tivation flag, color palette, color pairs table, and associ-
ated COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS counts for each screen; the
start_color function only affects the current screen. The
SVr4/XSI interface is not really designed with this in mind, and historical implementations may use a single shared color palette. Note that setting an implicit background color via a color pair affects only character cells that a character write operation explicitly touches. To change the background color used when parts of a window are blanked by erasing or
scrolling operations, see curs_bkgd(3X).
Several caveats apply on 386 and 486 machines with VGA-
compatible graphics:- COLOR_YELLOW is actually brown. To get yellow, use
COLOR_YELLOW combined with the A_BOLD attribute.
- The A_BLINK attribute should in theory cause the back-
ground to go bright. This often fails to work, and even some cards for which it mostly works (such as the Paradise and compatibles) do the wrong thing when you try to set a bright "yellow" background (you get a blinking yellow foreground instead).- Color RGB values are not settable.
PORTABILITY This implementation satisfies XSI Curses's minimum maximumsfor COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS.
The init_pair routine accepts negative values of foreground
and background color to support the use_default_colors ex-
tension, but only if that routine has been first invoked.The assumption that COLOR_BLACK is the default background
color for all terminals can be modified using theassume_default_colors extension.
This implementation checks the pointers, e.g., for thevalues returned by color_content and pair_content, and will
treat those as optional parameters when null.SEE ALSO
curses(3X), curs_initscr(3X), curs_attr(3X),
default_colors(3X)
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 4