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.\" $Id: curs_inchstr.3x,v 1.65 2025/10/21 00:05:02 tom Exp $
.TH curs_inchstr 3X 2025-10-20 "ncurses 6.6" "Library calls"
.ie \n(.g \{\
.ds `` \(lq
.ds '' \(rq
.\}
.el \{\
.ie t .ds `` ``
.el   .ds `` ""
.ie t .ds '' ''
.el   .ds '' ""
.\}
.
.de bP
.ie n  .IP \(bu 4
.el    .IP \(bu 2
..
.SH NAME
\fB\%inchstr\fP,
\fB\%inchnstr\fP,
\fB\%winchstr\fP,
\fB\%winchnstr\fP,
\fB\%mvinchstr\fP,
\fB\%mvinchnstr\fP,
\fB\%mvwinchstr\fP,
\fB\%mvwinchnstr\fP \-
get a \fIcurses\fR character string from a window
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
\fB#include <curses.h>
.PP
\fBint inchstr(chtype * \fIchstr\fP);
\fBint inchnstr(chtype * \fIchstr\fP, int \fIn\fP);
\fBint winchstr(WINDOW * \fIwin\fP, chtype * \fIchstr\fP);
\fBint winchnstr(WINDOW * \fIwin\fP, chtype * \fIchstr\fP, int \fIn\fP);
.PP
\fBint mvinchstr(int \fIy\fP, int \fIx\fP, chtype * \fIchstr\fP);
\fBint mvinchnstr(int \fIy\fP, int \fIx\fP, chtype * \fIchstr\fP, int \fIn\fP);
\fBint mvwinchstr(WINDOW * \fIwin\fP, int \fIy\fP, int \fIx\fP, chtype * \fIchstr\fP);
\fBint mvwinchnstr(WINDOW * \fIwin\fP, int \fIy\fP, int \fIx\fP, chtype * \fIchstr\fP, int \fIn\fP);
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B \%winchstr
extracts a
.I curses
character string from a
.I curses
window
.IR win ","
starting at the cursor and stopping at the end of the line,
and stores it in
.IR chstr ","
terminating it with a null
.I curses
character.
.B \%winchnstr
does the same,
but copies at most
.I n
.I curses
characters from
.IR win "."
A negative
.I n
implies no limit;
.B \%winchnstr
then works like
.BR \%winchstr "."
\fB\%ncurses\fP(3X) describes the variants of these functions.
.SH RETURN VALUE
These functions return
.B OK
on success and
.B ERR
on failure.
.PP
In
.IR \%ncurses ","
these functions fail if
.bP
the
.I curses
screen has not been initialized,
.bP
(for functions taking a
.I \%WINDOW
pointer argument)
.I win
is a null pointer,
or
.bP
.I chstr
is a null pointer.
.PP
Functions prefixed with \*(``mv\*('' first perform cursor movement and
fail if the position
.RI ( y ,
.IR x )
is outside the window boundaries.
.SH NOTES
All of these functions except
.B \%winchnstr
may be implemented as macros.
.PP
Reading a line that overflows the array pointed to by
.I chstr
and its variants causes undefined results.
Instead,
use the
.IR n -infixed
functions with a positive
.I n
argument no larger than the size of the buffer backing
.IR chstr "."
.SH EXTENSIONS
.BR \%inchnstr ","
.BR \%winchnstr ","
.BR \%mvinchnstr ","
and
.BR \%mvwinchnstr "'s"
acceptance of negative
.I n
values is an
.I \%ncurses
extension.
.SH PORTABILITY
Applications employing
.I \%ncurses
extensions should condition their use on the visibility of the
.B \%NCURSES_VERSION
preprocessor macro.
.PP
X/Open Curses Issue\ 4 describes these functions.
It specifies no error conditions for them.
It characterizes the strings stored by these functions as containing
\*(``at most
.I n
elements\*('' from a window,
.\" X/Open Issue 4, Version 2, p. 113, PDF p. 133
.\" Issue 7 doesn't change this wording at all.
but does not specify whether the string stored by these functions is
null-terminated.
.PP
SVr4 does not document whether it null-terminates the
.I curses
character string it stores
in
.IR chstr ","
and does not document whether a trailing null
.I curses
character counts
toward the length limit
.IR n "."
.PP
SVr4 describes a successful return value only as
\*(``an integer value other than
.IR ERR \*(''. \" Courier roman in source; SVID 4, vol. 3, p. 503
.SH HISTORY
SVr3.1 (1987)
introduced these functions.
.SH SEE ALSO
\fB\%curs_in_wchstr\fP(3X) describes comparable functions of the
.I \%ncurses
library in its wide-character configuration
.RI \%( ncursesw ).
.PP
\fB\%curses\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_inch\fP(3X),
\fB\%curs_inwstr\fP(3X)