libtecla(3)                Library Functions Manual                libtecla(3)

NAME
       libtecla - An interactive command-line input library.

SYNOPSIS
       gcc ... -ltecla -lcurses


DESCRIPTION
       The tecla library provides programs with interactive command line
       editing facilities, similar to those of the unix tcsh shell. In
       addition to simple command-line editing, it supports recall of
       previously entered command lines, TAB completion of file names or other
       tokens, and in-line wild-card expansion of filenames. The internal
       functions which perform file-name completion and wild-card expansion
       are also available externally for optional use by the calling program.

       The various parts of the library are documented in the following man
       pages:

         tecla(7)              -  Use level documentation of the
                               command-line editing facilities
                               provided by gl_get_line().
         gl_get_line(3)        -  The interactive line-input module.
         gl_io_mode(3)         -  How to use gl_get_line() in an
                               incremental, non-blocking fashion.
         cpl_complete_word(3)  -  The word completion module.
         ef_expand_file(3)     -  The filename expansion module.
         pca_lookup_file(3)    -  A directory-list based filename
                               lookup and completion module.

       In addition there is one optional application distributed with the
       library:

         enhance(1)            -  Add command-line editing to third
                                  party applications.


THREAD SAFETY
       If the library is compiled with -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=199506L, reentrant
       versions of as many functions as possible are used. This includes using
       getpwuid_r() and getpwnam_r() instead of getpwuid() and getpwnam() when
       looking up the home directories of specific users in the password file
       (for ~user/ expansion), and readdir_r() instead of readdir() for
       reading directory entries when doing filename completion. The reentrant
       version of the library is usually called libtecla_r.a instead of
       libtecla.a, so if only the latter is available, it probably isn't the
       correct version to link with threaded programs.

       Reentrant functions for iterating through the password file aren't
       available, so when the library is compiled to be reentrant, TAB
       completion of incomplete usernames in ~username/ expressions is
       disabled. This doesn't disable expansion of complete ~username
       expressions, which can be done reentrantly, or expansion of the parts
       of filenames that follow them, so this doesn't remove much
       functionality.

       The terminfo functions setupterm(), tigetstr(), tigetnum() and tputs()
       also aren't reentrant, but very few programs will want to interact with
       multiple terminals, so this shouldn't prevent this library from being
       used in threaded programs.


LIBRARY VERSION NUMBER
       The version number of the library can be queried using the following
       function.

        void libtecla_version(int *major, int *minor, int *micro);


       On return, this function records the three components of the libtecla
       version number in *major, *minor, *micro. The formal meaning of the
       three components is as follows.


        major - Incrementing this number implies that a change has
                been made to the library's public interface, which
                makes it binary incompatible  with programs that
                were linked with previous shared versions of the
                tecla library.

        minor - This number is incremented by one whenever
                additional functionality, such as new functions or
                modules, are added to the library.

        micro - This is incremented whenever modifications to the
                library are made which make no changes to the
                public interface, but which fix bugs and/or improve
                the behind-the-scenes implementation.



TRIVIA
       In Spanish, a "tecla" is the key of a keyboard. Since this library
       centers on keyboard input, and given that I wrote much of the library
       while working in Chile, this seemed like a suitable name.


FILES
       libtecla.a    -   The tecla library.
       libtecla.h    -   The tecla header file.
       ~/.teclarc    -   The tecla personal customization file.


SEE ALSO
       gl_get_line(3), tecla(7), gl_io_mode(3), ef_expand_file(3),
       cpl_complete_word(3), pca_lookup_file(3), enhance(1)


AUTHOR
       Martin Shepherd  (mcs@astro.caltech.edu)


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
       Markus Gyger  - Lots of assistance, including help with
                       shared libraries, configuration information,
                       particularly for Solaris; modifications to
                       support C++ compilers, improvements for ksh
                       users, faster cursor motion, output
                       buffering, and changes to make gl_get_line()
                       8-bit clean.
       Mike MacFaden - Suggestions, feedback and testing that led
                       to many of the major new functions that were
                       added in version 1.4.0.
       Tim Eliseo    - Many vi-mode bindings and fixes.

                                                                   libtecla(3)