Initialization and termination¶

curses.initscr()¶

Initialize the library. Return a window object which represents the whole screen.

See setupterm() for a caveat about calling it before this function.

Note

If there is an error opening the terminal, the underlying curses library may cause the interpreter to exit.

curses.endwin()¶

De-initialize the library, and return terminal to normal status.

curses.isendwin()¶

Return True if endwin() has been called (that is, the curses library has been deinitialized).

curses.newterm(type=None, fd=None, infd=None, /)¶

Initialize a new terminal in addition to the one initialized by initscr(), and return a screen for it. This allows a program to drive more than one terminal.

type is the terminal name, as in setupterm(); if None, the value of the TERM environment variable is used. fd and infd are the output and input files for the terminal: either a file object or a file descriptor. They default to sys.stdout and sys.stdin.

The new screen becomes the current one. Use set_term() to switch between screens.

See setupterm() for a caveat about calling it before this function.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.new_prescr()¶

Return a new screen that can be used to call functions that affect global state before initscr() or newterm() is called.

Availability: if the underlying curses library provides new_prescr().

Added in version 3.16.

curses.set_term(screen, /)¶

Make screen, a screen returned by newterm(), the current terminal, and return the previously current screen. Returns None if the previous screen was the one created by initscr(). Raises error if screen has no terminal, as is the case for a screen returned by new_prescr().

Added in version 3.16.

curses.wrapper(func, /, *args, **kwargs)¶

Initialize curses and call another callable object, func, which should be the rest of your curses-using application. If the application raises an exception, this function will restore the terminal to a sane state before re-raising the exception and generating a traceback. The callable object func is then passed the main window ‘stdscr’ as its first argument, followed by any other arguments passed to wrapper(). Before calling func, wrapper() turns on cbreak mode, turns off echo, enables the terminal keypad, and initializes colors if the terminal has color support. On exit (whether normally or by exception) it restores cooked mode, turns on echo, and disables the terminal keypad.

Terminal mode control¶

curses.def_prog_mode()¶

Save the current terminal mode as the “program” mode, the mode when the running program is using curses. (Its counterpart is the “shell” mode, for when the program is not in curses.) Subsequent calls to reset_prog_mode() will restore this mode.

curses.def_shell_mode()¶

Save the current terminal mode as the “shell” mode, the mode when the running program is not using curses. (Its counterpart is the “program” mode, when the program is using curses capabilities.) Subsequent calls to reset_shell_mode() will restore this mode.

curses.reset_prog_mode()¶

Restore the terminal to “program” mode, as previously saved by def_prog_mode().

curses.reset_shell_mode()¶

Restore the terminal to “shell” mode, as previously saved by def_shell_mode().

curses.savetty()¶

Save the current state of the terminal modes in a buffer, usable by resetty().

curses.resetty()¶

Restore the state of the terminal modes to what it was at the last call to savetty().

curses.curs_set(visibility)¶

Set the cursor state. visibility can be set to 0, 1, or 2, for invisible, normal, or very visible. If the terminal supports the visibility requested, return the previous cursor state; otherwise raise an exception. On many terminals, the “visible” mode is an underline cursor and the “very visible” mode is a block cursor.

curses.getsyx()¶

Return the current coordinates of the virtual screen cursor as a tuple (y, x). If leaveok is currently True, then return (-1, -1).

curses.setsyx(y, x)¶

Set the virtual screen cursor to y, x. If y and x are both -1, then leaveok is set True.

curses.doupdate()¶

Update the physical screen. The curses library keeps two data structures, one representing the current physical screen contents and a virtual screen representing the desired next state. The doupdate() function updates the physical screen to match the virtual screen.

The virtual screen may be updated by a noutrefresh() call after write operations such as addstr() have been performed on a window. The normal refresh() call is simply noutrefresh() followed by doupdate(); if you have to update multiple windows, you can speed performance and perhaps reduce screen flicker by issuing noutrefresh() calls on all windows, followed by a single doupdate().

Input options¶

curses.cbreak()¶

Enter cbreak mode. In cbreak mode (sometimes called “rare” mode) normal tty line buffering is turned off and characters are available to be read one by one. However, unlike raw mode, special characters (interrupt, quit, suspend, and flow control) retain their effects on the tty driver and calling program. Calling first raw() then cbreak() leaves the terminal in cbreak mode.

curses.nocbreak()¶

Leave cbreak mode. Return to normal “cooked” mode with line buffering.

curses.echo()¶

Enter echo mode. In echo mode, each character input is echoed to the screen as it is entered.

curses.noecho()¶

Leave echo mode. Echoing of input characters is turned off.

curses.raw()¶

Enter raw mode. In raw mode, normal line buffering and processing of interrupt, quit, suspend, and flow control keys are turned off; characters are presented to curses input functions one by one.

curses.noraw()¶

Leave raw mode. Return to normal “cooked” mode with line buffering.

curses.halfdelay(tenths)¶

Used for half-delay mode, which is similar to cbreak mode in that characters typed by the user are immediately available to the program. However, after blocking for tenths tenths of seconds, if nothing has been typed, getch() returns -1, while getkey() and get_wch() raise curses.error. The value of tenths must be a number between 1 and 255. Use nocbreak() to leave half-delay mode.

curses.meta(flag)¶

If flag is True, allow 8-bit characters to be input. If flag is False, allow only 7-bit chars.

curses.nl(flag=True)¶

Enter newline mode. This mode translates the return key into newline on input, and translates newline into return and line-feed on output. Newline mode is initially on.

If flag is False, the effect is the same as calling nonl().

curses.nonl()¶

Leave newline mode. Disable translation of return into newline on input, and disable low-level translation of newline into newline/return on output (but this does not change the behavior of addch('\n'), which always does the equivalent of return and line feed on the virtual screen). With translation off, curses can sometimes speed up vertical motion a little; also, it will be able to detect the return key on input.

curses.intrflush(flag)¶

If flag is True, pressing an interrupt key (interrupt, break, or quit) will flush all output in the terminal driver queue. If flag is False, no flushing is done.

curses.qiflush([flag])¶

If flag is False, the effect is the same as calling noqiflush(). If flag is True, or no argument is provided, the queues will be flushed when these control characters are read.

curses.noqiflush()¶

When the noqiflush() routine is used, normal flush of input and output queues associated with the INTR, QUIT and SUSP characters will not be done. You may want to call noqiflush() in a signal handler if you want output to continue as though the interrupt had not occurred, after the handler exits.

curses.typeahead(fd)¶

Specify that the file descriptor fd be used for typeahead checking. If fd is -1, then no typeahead checking is done.

The curses library does “line-breakout optimization” by looking for typeahead periodically while updating the screen. If input is found, and it is coming from a tty, the current update is postponed until refresh() or doupdate() is called again, allowing faster response to commands typed in advance. This function allows specifying a different file descriptor for typeahead checking.

curses.is_cbreak()¶

Return True if cbreak mode (see cbreak()) is enabled, False otherwise. Availability: ncurses 6.5 or later.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.is_echo()¶

Return True if echo mode (see echo()) is enabled, False otherwise. Availability: ncurses 6.5 or later.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.is_nl()¶

Return True if nl mode (see nl()) is enabled, False otherwise. Availability: ncurses 6.5 or later.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.is_raw()¶

Return True if raw mode (see raw()) is enabled, False otherwise. Availability: ncurses 6.5 or later.

Added in version 3.16.

Keyboard input¶

curses.ungetch(ch)¶

Push ch so the next getch() or get_wch() will return it.

ch may be an integer (a key code or the code of an encoded byte), a byte, or a string of length 1. A one-character string is pushed like unget_wch(); on a narrow build it must encode to a single byte.

Note

Only one ch can be pushed before getch() is called.

Changed in version 3.16: A one-character string argument is no longer required to encode to a single byte, except on a narrow build.

curses.unget_wch(ch)¶

Push ch so the next get_wch() will return it.

ch may be an integer (a character code, not a key code) or a string of length 1.

Note

Only one ch can be pushed before get_wch() is called.

Added in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.16: Also available on a narrow build, where ch must encode to a single byte (an 8-bit locale).

curses.flushinp()¶

Flush all input buffers. This throws away any typeahead that has been typed by the user and has not yet been processed by the program.

curses.has_key(ch)¶

Take a key value ch, and return True if the current terminal type recognizes a key with that value.

curses.keyname(k)¶

Return the name of the key numbered k as a bytes object. The name of a key generating printable ASCII character is the key’s character. The name of a control-key combination is a two-byte bytes object consisting of a caret (b'^') followed by the corresponding printable ASCII character. The name of an alt-key combination (128–255) is a bytes object consisting of the prefix b'M-' followed by the name of the corresponding ASCII character.

Raise a ValueError if k is negative.

curses.define_key(definition, keycode)¶

Define an escape sequence definition, a string, as a key that generates the key code keycode, so that curses interprets it like one of the keys predefined in the terminal database.

If definition is None, any existing binding for keycode is removed. If keycode is zero or negative, any existing binding for definition is removed.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.key_defined(definition)¶

Return the key code bound to the escape sequence definition, a string, 0 if no key code is bound to it, or -1 if definition is a prefix of a longer bound sequence (and so is ambiguous).

Added in version 3.16.

curses.keyok(keycode, enable)¶

Enable (if enable is true) or disable (otherwise) interpretation of the key code keycode. Unlike window.keypad(), this affects a single key code rather than all of them.

Added in version 3.16.

Mouse¶

curses.getmouse()¶

After getch() returns KEY_MOUSE to signal a mouse event, this method should be called to retrieve the queued mouse event, represented as a 5-tuple (id, x, y, z, bstate). id is an ID value used to distinguish multiple devices, and x, y, z are the event’s coordinates. (z is currently unused.) bstate is an integer value whose bits will be set to indicate the type of event, and will be the bitwise OR of one or more of the following constants, where n is the button number from 1 to 5: BUTTONn_PRESSED, BUTTONn_RELEASED, BUTTONn_CLICKED, BUTTONn_DOUBLE_CLICKED, BUTTONn_TRIPLE_CLICKED, BUTTON_SHIFT, BUTTON_CTRL, BUTTON_ALT.

Changed in version 3.10: The BUTTON5_* constants are now exposed if they are provided by the underlying curses library.

curses.ungetmouse(id, x, y, z, bstate)¶

Push a KEY_MOUSE event onto the input queue, associating the given state data with it.

curses.mousemask(mousemask)¶

Set the mouse events to be reported, and return a tuple (availmask, oldmask). availmask indicates which of the specified mouse events can be reported; on complete failure it returns 0. oldmask is the previous value of the mouse event mask. If this function is never called, no mouse events are ever reported.

curses.mouseinterval(interval)¶

Set the maximum time in milliseconds that can elapse between press and release events in order for them to be recognized as a click, and return the previous interval value. The default value is 166 milliseconds, or one sixth of a second. Use a negative interval to obtain the interval value without changing it.

curses.has_mouse()¶

Return True if the mouse driver has been successfully initialized.

Availability: if the underlying curses library provides has_mouse().

Added in version 3.16.

Color¶

curses.start_color()¶

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 global variables in the curses module, COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS, containing 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.

curses.has_colors()¶

Return True if the terminal can display colors; otherwise, return False.

curses.has_extended_color_support()¶

Return True if the module supports extended colors; otherwise, return False. Extended color support allows more than 256 color pairs for terminals that support more than 16 colors (for example, xterm-256color).

Extended color support requires ncurses version 6.1 or later.

Added in version 3.10.

curses.can_change_color()¶

Return True or False, depending on whether the programmer can change the colors displayed by the terminal.

curses.init_color(color_number, r, g, b)¶

Change the definition of a color, taking 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 color_number must be between 0 and COLORS - 1. Each of r, g, b, must be a value between 0 and 1000. When init_color() is used, all occurrences of that color on the screen immediately change to the new definition. This function is a no-op on most terminals; it is active only if can_change_color() returns True.

curses.color_content(color_number)¶

Return the intensity of the red, green, and blue (RGB) components in the color color_number, which must be between 0 and COLORS - 1. Return a 3-tuple, containing the R,G,B values for the given color, which will be between 0 (no component) and 1000 (maximum amount of component). Raise an exception if the color is not supported.

curses.init_pair(pair_number, fg, bg)¶

Change 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. The value of pair_number must be between 1 and COLOR_PAIRS - 1 (the 0 color pair can only be changed by use_default_colors() and assume_default_colors()). The value of fg and bg arguments must be between 0 and COLORS - 1, or, after calling use_default_colors() or assume_default_colors(), -1. If the color-pair was previously initialized, the screen is refreshed and all occurrences of that color-pair are changed to the new definition.

curses.pair_content(pair_number)¶

Return a tuple (fg, bg) containing the colors for the requested color pair. The value of pair_number must be between 0 and COLOR_PAIRS - 1.

curses.color_pair(pair_number)¶

Return the attribute value for displaying text in the specified color pair. Only color pairs that fit in the color-pair field of the returned value can be represented (usually the first 256); a larger pair_number raises OverflowError rather than being silently masked to a different pair. Use color_set() or attr_set() to display higher pairs. This attribute value can be combined with A_STANDOUT, A_REVERSE, and the other A_* attributes. pair_number() is the counterpart to this function.

curses.pair_number(attr)¶

Return the number of the color-pair set by the attribute value attr. color_pair() is the counterpart to this function.

curses.use_default_colors()¶

Equivalent to assume_default_colors(-1, -1).

curses.assume_default_colors(fg, bg, /)¶

Allow use of default values for colors on terminals supporting this feature. Use this to support transparency in your application.

• Assign terminal default foreground/background colors to color number -1. So init_pair(x, COLOR_RED, -1) will initialize pair x as red on default background and init_pair(x, -1, COLOR_BLUE) will initialize pair x as default foreground on blue.

• Change the definition of the color-pair 0 to (fg, bg).

This is an ncurses extension.

Added in version 3.14.

curses.alloc_pair(fg, bg)¶

Allocate a color pair for foreground color fg and background color bg, and return its number. If a color pair for the same combination of colors already exists, return its number. Otherwise allocate a new color pair and return its number.

This function is only available if Python was built against a wide-character version of the underlying curses library with extended-color support (see has_extended_color_support()).

Added in version 3.16.

curses.free_pair(pair_number)¶

Free the color pair pair_number, which must have been allocated by alloc_pair(). The pair must not be in use.

This function is only available if Python was built against a wide-character version of the underlying curses library with extended-color support (see has_extended_color_support()).

Added in version 3.16.

curses.find_pair(fg, bg)¶

Return the number of a color pair for foreground color fg and background color bg, or -1 if no color pair for this combination of colors has been allocated.

This function is only available if Python was built against a wide-character version of the underlying curses library with extended-color support (see has_extended_color_support()).

Added in version 3.16.

curses.reset_color_pairs()¶

Discard all color-pair definitions, releasing the color pairs allocated by init_pair() and alloc_pair().

This function is only available if Python was built against a wide-character version of the underlying curses library with extended-color support (see has_extended_color_support()).

Added in version 3.16.

Windows and pads¶

curses.newwin(nlines, ncols)¶

curses.newwin(nlines, ncols, begin_y, begin_x)

Return a new window, whose left-upper corner is at (begin_y, begin_x), and whose height/width is nlines/ncols.

By default, the window will extend from the specified position to the lower right corner of the screen.

curses.newpad(nlines, ncols)¶

Create and return a pointer to a new pad data structure with the given number of lines and columns. Return a pad as a window object.

A pad is like a window, except that it is not restricted by the screen size, and is not necessarily associated with a particular part of the screen. Pads can be used when a large window is needed, and only a part of the window will be on the screen at one time. Automatic refreshes of pads (such as from scrolling or echoing of input) do not occur. The refresh() and noutrefresh() methods of a pad require 6 arguments to specify the part of the pad to be displayed and the location on the screen to be used for the display. The arguments are pminrow, pmincol, sminrow, smincol, smaxrow, smaxcol; the p arguments refer to the upper-left corner of the pad region to be displayed and the s arguments define a clipping box on the screen within which the pad region is to be displayed.

Soft labels¶

The following functions manage soft-label keys, a row of labels displayed along the bottom line of the screen, typically used to label a row of function keys. slk_init() must be called before initscr() or newterm(); it takes one screen line away from the standard window for the labels.

curses.slk_init(fmt=0)¶

Reserve a screen line for the soft labels and choose their layout. fmt selects the arrangement: 0 for 3-2-3 (eight labels), 1 for 4-4 (eight labels). Where the underlying curses library supports them, 2 gives 4-4-4 (twelve labels) and 3 gives 4-4-4 with an index line.

Must be called before initscr() or newterm(), and affects only the screen created next.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_set(labnum, label, justify)¶

Set the text of soft label number labnum, in the range 1 through 8 (or 12 in a twelve-label layout). justify controls how label is placed within the label: 0 for left, 1 for centered, 2 for right.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_label(labnum)¶

Return the current text of soft label number labnum, justified as it was set, or an empty string if it has no label.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_refresh()¶

Update the soft labels on the physical screen, like refresh() for a window.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_noutrefresh()¶

Update the soft labels on the virtual screen, like window.noutrefresh(). Use it together with doupdate() to batch screen updates.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_clear()¶

Remove the soft labels from the screen.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_restore()¶

Restore the soft labels to the screen after a slk_clear().

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_touch()¶

Force all the soft labels to be redrawn by the next slk_refresh() or slk_noutrefresh().

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_attron(attr)¶

curses.slk_attroff(attr)¶

curses.slk_attrset(attr)¶

Add, remove, or set the attributes used to display the soft labels, given as packed A_* attributes.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_attr()¶

Return the current attributes of the soft labels as packed A_* attributes. Availability depends on the underlying curses library.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_attr_on(attr)¶

curses.slk_attr_off(attr)¶

Turn the given attributes on or off without affecting any others. Like the attr_* window methods, these work with the WA_* attributes rather than packed A_* attributes.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_attr_set(attr, pair=0)¶

Set the attributes and color pair of the soft labels. attr is given as WA_* attributes and pair as a color pair number.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.slk_color(pair)¶

Set the color pair of the soft labels to color pair number pair.

Added in version 3.16.

Saving and restoring¶

curses.getwin(file)¶

Read window-related data stored in the file by an earlier window.putwin() call. The routine then creates and initializes a new window using that data, returning the new window object. The file argument must be a file object opened for reading in binary mode.

curses.scr_dump(filename)¶

Write the current contents of the virtual screen to filename, which may be a string or a path-like object. The file can later be read by scr_restore(), scr_init() or scr_set(). This is the whole-screen counterpart of window.putwin().

Added in version 3.16.

curses.scr_restore(filename)¶

Set the virtual screen to the contents of filename, which must have been written by scr_dump(). The next call to doupdate() or window.refresh() restores the screen to those contents.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.scr_init(filename)¶

Initialize the assumed contents of the terminal from filename, which must have been written by scr_dump(). Use it when the terminal already displays those contents, for example after another program has drawn the screen, so that curses does not redraw what is already there.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.scr_set(filename)¶

Use filename, which must have been written by scr_dump(), as both the virtual screen and the assumed terminal contents. This combines the effects of scr_restore() and scr_init().

Added in version 3.16.

Querying the terminal¶

curses.baudrate()¶

Return the output speed of the terminal in bits per second. On software terminal emulators it will have a fixed high value. Included for historical reasons; in former times, it was used to write output loops for time delays and occasionally to change interfaces depending on the line speed.

curses.erasechar()¶

Return the user’s current erase character as a raw byte, a bytes object of length 1. See also erasewchar().

curses.erasewchar()¶

Return the user’s current erase character as a one-character str. Under Unix operating systems this is a property of the controlling tty of the curses program, and is not set by the curses library itself.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.killchar()¶

Return the user’s current line kill character as a raw byte, a bytes object of length 1. See also killwchar().

curses.killwchar()¶

Return the user’s current line kill character as a one-character str. Under Unix operating systems this is a property of the controlling tty of the curses program, and is not set by the curses library itself.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.termname()¶

Return the name of the terminal in use, as a bytes object. This is the name passed to newterm() or setupterm(), or the value of the TERM environment variable if none was given. Some curses libraries truncate it to 14 characters.

curses.longname()¶

Return a bytes object containing the terminfo long name field describing the current terminal. The maximum length of a verbose description is 128 characters. It is defined only after the call to initscr().

curses.termattrs()¶

Return a logical OR of all video attributes supported by the terminal. This information is useful when a curses program needs complete control over the appearance of the screen.

curses.term_attrs()¶

Like termattrs(), but return the attributes as WA_* values rather than A_* values.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.has_ic()¶

Return True if the terminal has insert- and delete-character capabilities. This function is included for historical reasons only, as all modern software terminal emulators have such capabilities.

curses.has_il()¶

Return True if the terminal has insert- and delete-line capabilities, or can simulate them using scrolling regions. This function is included for historical reasons only, as all modern software terminal emulators have such capabilities.

Bell and screen flash¶

curses.beep()¶

Emit a short attention sound.

curses.flash()¶

Flash the screen. That is, change it to reverse-video and then change it back in a short interval. Some people prefer such as ‘visible bell’ to the audible attention signal produced by beep().

Terminal resizing¶

curses.resizeterm(nlines, ncols)¶

Resize the standard and current windows to the specified dimensions, and adjusts other bookkeeping data used by the curses library that record the window dimensions (in particular the SIGWINCH handler).

curses.resize_term(nlines, ncols)¶

Backend function used by resizeterm(), performing most of the work; when resizing the windows, resize_term() blank-fills the areas that are extended. The calling application should fill in these areas with appropriate data. The resize_term() function attempts to resize all windows. However, due to the calling convention of pads, it is not possible to resize these without additional interaction with the application.

curses.is_term_resized(nlines, ncols)¶

Return True if resize_term() would modify the window structure, False otherwise.

curses.update_lines_cols()¶

Update the LINES and COLS module variables. Useful for detecting manual screen resize.

Added in version 3.5.

Terminfo database¶

curses.setupterm(term=None, fd=-1)¶

Initialize the terminal. term is a string giving the terminal name, or None; if omitted or None, the value of the TERM environment variable will be used. fd is the file descriptor to which any initialization sequences will be sent; if not supplied or -1, the file descriptor for sys.stdout will be used.

Raise a curses.error if the terminal could not be found or its terminfo database entry could not be read. If the terminal has already been initialized, this function has no effect.

Note

Calling initscr() or newterm() after setupterm() leaks the terminal that setupterm() allocated: the curses library keeps only a single current terminal and does not free the previously allocated one.

curses.tigetflag(capname)¶

Return the value of the Boolean capability corresponding to the terminfo capability name capname as an integer. Return the value -1 if capname is not a Boolean capability, or 0 if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.

setupterm() (or initscr()) must be called first.

curses.tigetnum(capname)¶

Return the value of the numeric capability corresponding to the terminfo capability name capname as an integer. Return the value -2 if capname is not a numeric capability, or -1 if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.

setupterm() (or initscr()) must be called first.

curses.tigetstr(capname)¶

Return the value of the string capability corresponding to the terminfo capability name capname as a bytes object. Return None if capname is not a terminfo “string capability”, or is canceled or absent from the terminal description.

setupterm() (or initscr()) must be called first.

curses.tparm(str[, ...])¶

Instantiate the bytes object str with the supplied parameters, where str should be a parameterized byte string obtained from the terminfo database. For example, tparm(tigetstr("cup"), 5, 3) could result in b'\033[6;4H', the exact result depending on terminal type. Up to nine integer parameters may be supplied.

setupterm() (or initscr()) must be called first.

curses.putp(str)¶

Equivalent to tputs(str, 1, putchar); emit the value of a specified terminfo capability, a bytes object, for the current terminal. Note that the output of putp() always goes to standard output.

setupterm() (or initscr()) must be called first.

Utilities¶

curses.unctrl(ch)¶

Return a bytes object which is a printable representation of the character ch; any attributes and color pair are ignored. Control characters are represented as a caret followed by a character, for example as b'^C'. Printing characters are left as they are. The representation of other characters is defined by the underlying curses library.

ch must fit in a single byte; use wunctrl() for other characters.

curses.wunctrl(ch)¶

Return a string which is a printable representation of the character ch; any attributes and color pair are ignored. ASCII control characters are represented as a caret followed by a character, for example as '^C'. Printing characters, including non-ASCII characters printable in the locale, are left as they are. The representation of other characters is defined by the underlying curses library.

Added in version 3.16.

curses.filter()¶

The filter() routine, if used, must be called before initscr() or newterm() is called, and affects every screen created afterwards. The effect is that, during the initialization, LINES is set to 1; the capabilities clear, cup, cud, cud1, cuu1, cuu, vpa are disabled; and the home string is set to the value of cr. The effect is that the cursor is confined to the current line, and so are screen updates. This may be used for enabling character-at-a-time line editing without touching the rest of the screen.

curses.nofilter()¶

Undo the effect of a previous filter() call. Like filter(), it must be called before initscr() (or newterm()) so that the next initialization uses the full screen again.

Availability: if the underlying curses library provides nofilter().

Added in version 3.16.

curses.use_env(flag)¶

If used, this function should be called before initscr() or newterm() are called, and affects every screen created afterwards. When flag is False, the values of lines and columns specified in the terminfo database will be used, even if environment variables LINES and COLUMNS (used by default) are set, or if curses is running in a window (in which case default behavior would be to use the window size if LINES and COLUMNS are not set).

curses.get_escdelay()¶

Retrieves the value set by set_escdelay().

Added in version 3.9.

curses.set_escdelay(ms)¶

Sets the number of milliseconds to wait after reading an escape character, to distinguish between an individual escape character entered on the keyboard from escape sequences sent by cursor and function keys.

Depending on the curses library, the setting may apply to all screens, not only to the current one.

Added in version 3.9.

curses.get_tabsize()¶

Retrieves the value set by set_tabsize().

Added in version 3.9.

curses.set_tabsize(size)¶

Sets the number of columns used by the curses library when converting a tab character to spaces as it adds the tab to a window.

Depending on the curses library, the setting may apply to all screens, not only to the current one, and creating a screen may reset it.

Added in version 3.9.

curses.napms(ms)¶

Sleep for ms milliseconds.

curses.delay_output(ms)¶

Insert an ms millisecond pause in output.

Adding and inserting text¶

window.addch(ch[, attr])¶

window.addch(y, x, ch[, attr])

Paint character ch at (y, x) with attributes attr, overwriting any character previously painted at that location. By default, the character position and attributes are the current settings for the window object.

ch may be a single character, optionally followed by combining characters, that together occupy one character cell.

Note

Writing outside the window, subwindow, or pad raises a curses.error. Attempting to write to the lower-right corner of a window, subwindow, or pad will cause an exception to be raised after the character is printed.

Changed in version 3.16: A character may now be given as a string of a base character followed by combining characters, instead of only a single character, or as a complexchar cell.

window.addstr(str[, attr])¶

window.addstr(y, x, str[, attr])

Paint the character string str at (y, x) with attributes attr, overwriting anything previously on the display.

str may also be a complexstr, in which case each cell carries its own attributes and color pair, so attr must not be given. A complexstr obtained from in_wchstr() is written back unchanged.

Note

• Writing outside the window, subwindow, or pad raises curses.error. Attempting to write to the lower-right corner of a window, subwindow, or pad will cause an exception to be raised after the string is printed.

• A bug in ncurses, the backend for this Python module, could cause segfaults when resizing windows. This was fixed in ncurses-6.1-20190511. If you are stuck with an earlier ncurses, you can avoid triggering it by not calling addstr() with a str that has embedded newlines; instead, call addstr() separately for each line.

Changed in version 3.16: str may now also be a complexstr, as described above.

window.addnstr(str, n[, attr])¶

window.addnstr(y, x, str, n[, attr])

Paint at most n characters of the character string str at (y, x) with attributes attr, overwriting anything previously on the display.

Changed in version 3.16: str may now also be a complexstr; see addstr().

window.echochar(ch[, attr])¶

Add character ch with attribute attr, and immediately call refresh() on the window.

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted.

window.insch(ch[, attr])¶

window.insch(y, x, ch[, attr])

Insert character ch with attributes attr before the character under the cursor, or at (y, x) if specified. All characters to the right of the cursor are shifted one position right, with the rightmost character on the line being lost. The cursor position does not change (after moving to y, x, if specified).

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted.

window.insstr(str[, attr])¶

window.insstr(y, x, str[, attr])

Insert a character string (as many characters as will fit on the line) before the character under the cursor. All characters to the right of the cursor are shifted right, with the rightmost characters on the line being lost. The cursor position does not change (after moving to y, x, if specified).

str may also be a complexstr, in which case each cell carries its own attributes and color pair, so attr must not be given.

Changed in version 3.16: str may now also be a complexstr, as described above.

window.insnstr(str, n[, attr])¶

window.insnstr(y, x, str, n[, attr])

Insert a character string (as many characters as will fit on the line) before the character under the cursor, up to n characters. If n is negative, the entire string is inserted. All characters to the right of the cursor are shifted right, with the rightmost characters on the line being lost. The cursor position does not change (after moving to y, x, if specified).

Changed in version 3.16: str may now also be a complexstr; see insstr().

Deleting and inserting lines¶

window.delch([y, x])¶

Delete the character under the cursor, or at (y, x) if specified. All characters to the right on the same line are shifted one position left.

window.deleteln()¶

Delete the line under the cursor. All following lines are moved up by one line.

window.insertln()¶

Insert a blank line under the cursor. All following lines are moved down by one line.

window.insdelln(nlines)¶

Insert nlines lines into the specified window above the current line. The nlines bottom lines are lost. For negative nlines, delete nlines lines starting with the one under the cursor, and move the remaining lines up. The bottom nlines lines are cleared. The current cursor position remains the same.

Reading input¶

window.getch([y, x])¶

Read a key press, after moving the cursor to y, x if specified, and return it as an integer. The window is refreshed first if it is not a pad and was modified since the last refresh. Wait until a key is pressed, or return -1 if the read is non-blocking or times out (see nodelay() and timeout()).

An ordinary key is returned as the code of a single byte of its encoding in the current locale, so a character encoded with several bytes takes several calls. For example, in a UTF-8 locale 'é' is read as 195, then 169. Use get_wch() to read it as a single character.

In keypad mode (see keypad()) function keys and other special keys are returned as one of the KEY_* constants, which cannot be mistaken for an ordinary key. Otherwise, or if their escape sequence does not arrive in time (see notimeout() and set_escdelay()), their bytes are returned one at a time.

In echo mode (see echo()) the key is added to the window as by addch(); special keys are not echoed.

window.get_wch([y, x])¶

Read a key press, after moving the cursor to y, x if specified, and return it as a one-character str. The window is refreshed first if it is not a pad and was modified since the last refresh. Wait until a key is pressed, or raise error if the read is non-blocking or times out (see nodelay() and timeout()).

In keypad mode (see keypad()) function keys and other special keys are returned as one of the KEY_* constants, an integer. Otherwise, or if their escape sequence does not arrive in time (see notimeout() and set_escdelay()), their characters are returned one at a time.

In echo mode (see echo()) the key is added to the window as by addch(); special keys are not echoed.

Added in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.16: Also available on a narrow build, where only a character representable as a single byte (an 8-bit locale) can be returned.

window.getkey([y, x])¶

Read a key press as getch() does, but return it as a str: an ordinary key as a one-character string, the byte decoded as Latin-1, and a special key as its name, such as 'KEY_UP' (see keyname()). Raise error instead of returning -1 if there is no input.

window.getstr()¶

window.getstr(n)

window.getstr(y, x)

window.getstr(y, x, n)

Read a line of input from the user, with primitive line editing capacity, after moving the cursor to y, x if specified. Return it as a bytes object, in the encoding of the current locale and without the terminating newline. At most n bytes are read; n defaults to and cannot exceed 2047.

Use get_wstr() to read the input as a str.

Changed in version 3.14: The maximum value for n was increased from 1023 to 2047.

window.get_wstr()¶

window.get_wstr(n)

window.get_wstr(y, x)

window.get_wstr(y, x, n)

Read a line of input from the user, with primitive line editing capacity, after moving the cursor to y, x if specified. Return it as a str, without the terminating newline. At most n characters are read; n defaults to and cannot exceed 2047.

This is the wide-character variant of getstr().

Added in version 3.16.

window.getdelay()¶

Return the window’s read timeout in milliseconds, as set by nodelay() or timeout(): -1 for blocking, 0 for non-blocking, or a positive number of milliseconds.

Added in version 3.16.

Reading window contents¶

window.inch([y, x])¶

Return the character at the given position in the window. The bottom 8 bits are the character proper and the upper bits are the attributes; extract them with the A_CHARTEXT and A_ATTRIBUTES bit-masks, and the color pair with pair_number(). The character byte is the locale-encoded byte of the cell’s character, consistent with instr(). It cannot represent a cell holding combining characters, a character that does not fit in a single byte, or a color pair outside the color_pair() range; use in_wch() for those, which returns it as a complexchar.

window.in_wch([y, x])¶

Return the complex character at the given position in the window as a complexchar. Unlike inch(), the returned object carries the cell’s text (a spacing character optionally followed by combining characters) together with its attributes and color pair.

Added in version 3.16.

window.instr([n])¶

window.instr(y, x[, n])

Read the text of the window from the current cursor position, or from y, x if specified, to the end of the line or at most n bytes if n is specified, and return it as a bytes object, in the encoding of the current locale. Attributes and color pairs are stripped; use in_wchstr() to read them too. A character not representable in the encoding cannot be returned; use in_wstr() for those.

Changed in version 3.14: The maximum value for n was increased from 1023 to 2047.

Changed in version 3.16: n is no longer limited to 2047.

window.in_wstr([n])¶

window.in_wstr(y, x[, n])

Read the text of the window from the current cursor position, or from y, x if specified, to the end of the line or at most n characters if n is specified, and return it as a str. Attributes and color pairs are stripped; use in_wchstr() to read them too.

This is the wide-character variant of instr().

Added in version 3.16.

window.in_wchstr([n])¶

window.in_wchstr(y, x[, n])

Read the styled cells of the window from the current cursor position, or from y, x if specified, to the end of the line or at most n cells if n is specified, and return them as a complexstr. Unlike instr() and in_wstr(), each cell keeps its attributes and color pair, so the result can be written back unchanged with addstr().

Added in version 3.16.

Attributes¶

window.attroff(attr)¶

Remove attribute attr from the “background” set applied to all writes to the current window.

window.attron(attr)¶

Add attribute attr to the “background” set applied to all writes to the current window.

window.attrset(attr)¶

Set the “background” set of attributes to attr. This set is initially 0 (no attributes).

window.attr_get()¶

Return the window’s current rendition as a (attrs, pair) tuple, where attrs is the set of attributes and pair is the color pair number.

Unlike attron() and friends, which take packed A_* attributes, this method and the other attr_* methods work with the WA_* attributes and keep the color pair as a separate number, which lets them use color pairs that do not fit alongside the attributes in a single value.

Added in version 3.16.

window.attr_set(attr, pair=0)¶

Set the window’s rendition to the attributes attr and the color pair pair.

Added in version 3.16.

window.attr_on(attr)¶

Turn on the attributes attr without affecting any others.

Added in version 3.16.

window.attr_off(attr)¶

Turn off the attributes attr without affecting any others.

Added in version 3.16.

window.color_set(pair)¶

Set the window’s color pair to pair, leaving the other attributes unchanged.

Added in version 3.16.

window.getattrs()¶

Return the window’s current attributes.

Added in version 3.16.

window.standout()¶

Turn on attribute A_STANDOUT.

window.standend()¶

Turn off the standout attribute. On some terminals this has the side effect of turning off all attributes.

window.chgat(attr)¶

window.chgat(num, attr)

window.chgat(y, x, attr)

window.chgat(y, x, num, attr)

Set the attributes of num characters at the current cursor position, or at position (y, x) if supplied. If num is not given or is -1, the attribute will be set on all the characters to the end of the line. This function moves cursor to position (y, x) if supplied. The changed line will be touched using the touchline() method so that the contents will be redisplayed by the next window refresh.

Background¶

window.bkgd(ch[, attr])¶

Set the background property of the window to the character ch, with attributes attr. The change is then applied to every character position in that window:

• The attribute of every character in the window is changed to the new background attribute.

• Wherever the former background character appears, it is changed to the new background character.

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted.

window.bkgdset(ch[, attr])¶

Set the window’s background. A window’s background consists of a character and any combination of attributes. The attribute part of the background is combined (OR’ed) with all non-blank characters that are written into the window. Both the character and attribute parts of the background are combined with the blank characters. The background becomes a property of the character and moves with the character through any scrolling and insert/delete line/character operations.

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted.

window.getbkgd()¶

Return the given window’s current background character/attribute pair. Its components can be extracted like those of inch(). It cannot represent a background set with a wide character or with a color pair outside the color_pair() range; use getbkgrnd() for those.

window.getbkgrnd()¶

Return the given window’s current background as a complexchar. Unlike getbkgd(), the returned object carries the background character together with its attributes and color pair, and the color pair is not limited to the value that fits in a color_pair().

Added in version 3.16.

Clearing and erasing¶

window.erase()¶

Clear the window.

window.clear()¶

Like erase(), but also cause the whole window to be repainted upon next call to refresh().

window.clrtobot()¶

Erase from cursor to the end of the window: all lines below the cursor are deleted, and then the equivalent of clrtoeol() is performed.

window.clrtoeol()¶

Erase from cursor to the end of the line.

Borders and lines¶

window.border([ls[, rs[, ts[, bs[, tl[, tr[, bl[, br]]]]]]]])¶

Draw a border around the edges of the window. Each parameter specifies the character to use for a specific part of the border; see the table below for more details.

Note

A 0 value for any parameter will cause the default character to be used for that parameter. Keyword parameters can not be used. The defaults are listed in this table:

Parameter	Description	Default value	Wide default value
ls	Left side	ACS_VLINE	WACS_VLINE
rs	Right side	ACS_VLINE	WACS_VLINE
ts	Top	ACS_HLINE	WACS_HLINE
bs	Bottom	ACS_HLINE	WACS_HLINE
tl	Upper-left corner	ACS_ULCORNER	WACS_ULCORNER
tr	Upper-right corner	ACS_URCORNER	WACS_URCORNER
bl	Bottom-left corner	ACS_LLCORNER	WACS_LLCORNER
br	Bottom-right corner	ACS_LRCORNER	WACS_LRCORNER

The wide default value is used when the border is drawn from string characters or complexchar cells.

If any parameter is a byte character or an integer other than 0, the border is drawn from byte characters, and every string character must be encodable as a single byte.

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted. A single call cannot mix complexchar cells with integer or byte characters.

window.box([vertch, horch])¶

Similar to border(), but both ls and rs are vertch and both ts and bs are horch. The default corner characters are always used by this function.

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted. A single call cannot mix complexchar cells with integer or byte characters.

window.hline(ch, n[, attr])¶

window.hline(y, x, ch, n[, attr])

Display a horizontal line starting at (y, x) with length n consisting of the character ch with attributes attr. The line stops at the right edge of the window if fewer than n cells are available.

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted.

window.vline(ch, n[, attr])¶

window.vline(y, x, ch, n[, attr])

Display a vertical line starting at (y, x) with length n consisting of the character ch with attributes attr.

Changed in version 3.16: Wide and combining characters, and complexchar cells, are now accepted.

Cursor position and window geometry¶

window.move(new_y, new_x)¶

Move cursor to (new_y, new_x).

window.getyx()¶

Return a tuple (y, x) of current cursor position relative to the window’s upper-left corner.

window.getbegyx()¶

Return a tuple (y, x) of coordinates of upper-left corner.

window.getmaxyx()¶

Return a tuple (y, x) of the height and width of the window.

window.getparyx()¶

Return the beginning coordinates of this window relative to its parent window as a tuple (y, x). Return (-1, -1) if this window has no parent.

window.getparent()¶

Return the parent window of this subwindow, or None if this window is not a subwindow.

Added in version 3.16.

Creating and resizing windows¶

window.subwin(begin_y, begin_x)¶

window.subwin(nlines, ncols, begin_y, begin_x)

Return a sub-window, whose upper-left corner is at the screen-relative coordinates (begin_y, begin_x), and whose width/height is ncols/nlines.

By default, the sub-window will extend from the specified position to the lower right corner of the window.

window.derwin(begin_y, begin_x)¶

window.derwin(nlines, ncols, begin_y, begin_x)

An abbreviation for “derive window”, derwin() is the same as calling subwin(), except that begin_y and begin_x are relative to the origin of the window, rather than relative to the entire screen. Return a window object for the derived window.

window.subpad(begin_y, begin_x)¶

window.subpad(nlines, ncols, begin_y, begin_x)

Return a sub-pad, whose upper-left corner is at (begin_y, begin_x), and whose width/height is ncols/nlines. The coordinates are relative to the parent pad (unlike subwin(), which uses screen coordinates). This method is only available for pads created with newpad().

window.dupwin()¶

Return a new window that is an exact duplicate of the window: it has the same size, position, contents and attributes. Unlike a window created by subwin() or derwin(), the duplicate is independent of the original – it has its own cell buffer, so later changes to one do not affect the other.

Added in version 3.16.

window.mvwin(new_y, new_x)¶

Move the window so its upper-left corner is at (new_y, new_x).

Moving the window so that any part of it would be off the screen is an error: the window is not moved and curses.error is raised.

window.mvderwin(y, x)¶

Move the window inside its parent window. The screen-relative parameters of the window are not changed. This routine is used to display different parts of the parent window at the same physical position on the screen.

window.resize(nlines, ncols)¶

Reallocate storage for a curses window to adjust its dimensions to the specified values. If either dimension is larger than the current values, the window’s data is filled with blanks that have the current background rendition (as set by bkgdset()) merged into them.

Refreshing and redrawing¶

window.refresh([pminrow, pmincol, sminrow, smincol, smaxrow, smaxcol])¶

Update the display immediately (sync actual screen with previous drawing/deleting methods).

The 6 arguments can only be specified, and are then required, when the window is a pad created with newpad(). The additional parameters are needed to indicate what part of the pad and screen are involved. pminrow and pmincol specify the upper-left corner of the rectangle to be displayed in the pad. sminrow, smincol, smaxrow, and smaxcol specify the edges of the rectangle to be displayed on the screen. The lower-right corner of the rectangle to be displayed in the pad is calculated from the screen coordinates, since the rectangles must be the same size. Both rectangles must be entirely contained within their respective structures. Negative values of pminrow, pmincol, sminrow, or smincol are treated as if they were zero.

window.noutrefresh()¶

window.noutrefresh(pminrow, pmincol, sminrow, smincol, smaxrow, smaxcol)

Mark for refresh but wait. This function updates the data structure representing the desired state of the window, but does not force an update of the physical screen. To accomplish that, call doupdate().

The 6 arguments can only be specified, and are then required, when the window is a pad created with newpad(); they have the same meaning as for refresh().

window.redrawln(beg, num)¶

Indicate that the num screen lines, starting at line beg, are corrupted and should be completely redrawn on the next refresh() call.

window.redrawwin()¶

Touch the entire window, causing it to be completely redrawn on the next refresh() call.

Output options¶

window.clearok(flag)¶

If flag is True, the next call to refresh() will clear the window completely.

window.idlok(flag)¶

If flag is True, curses will try to use hardware line editing facilities. Otherwise, curses will not use them.

window.idcok(flag)¶

If flag is False, curses no longer considers using the hardware insert/delete character feature of the terminal; if flag is True, use of character insertion and deletion is enabled. When curses is first initialized, use of character insert/delete is enabled by default.

window.immedok(flag)¶

If flag is True, any change in the window image automatically causes the window to be refreshed; you no longer have to call refresh() yourself. However, it may degrade performance considerably, due to repeated calls to wrefresh. This option is disabled by default.

window.leaveok(flag)¶

If flag is True, cursor is left where it is on update, instead of being at “cursor position.” This reduces cursor movement where possible.

If flag is False, cursor will always be at “cursor position” after an update.

window.scrollok(flag)¶

Control what happens when the cursor of a window is moved off the edge of the window or scrolling region, either as a result of a newline action on the bottom line, or typing the last character of the last line. If flag is False, the cursor is left on the bottom line. If flag is True, the window is scrolled up one line. Note that in order to get the physical scrolling effect on the terminal, it is also necessary to call idlok().

window.scroll([lines=1])¶

Scroll the screen or scrolling region. Scroll upward by lines lines if lines is positive, or downward if it is negative. Raise curses.error unless scrolling has been enabled for the window with scrollok().

window.setscrreg(top, bottom)¶

Set the scrolling region from line top to line bottom. All scrolling actions will take place in this region.

window.getscrreg()¶

Return a tuple (top, bottom) of the window’s current scrolling region, as set by setscrreg().

Added in version 3.16.

window.syncok(flag)¶

If flag is True, then syncup() is called automatically whenever there is a change in the window.

Input options¶

window.keypad(flag)¶

If flag is True, escape sequences generated by some keys (keypad, function keys) will be interpreted by curses. If flag is False, escape sequences will be left as is in the input stream. Keypad mode is disabled by default, but wrapper() enables it for the main window.

window.nodelay(flag)¶

If flag is True, getch() will be non-blocking.

window.notimeout(flag)¶

If flag is True, escape sequences will not be timed out.

If flag is False, after a few milliseconds, an escape sequence will not be interpreted, and will be left in the input stream as is.

window.timeout(delay)¶

Set blocking or non-blocking read behavior for the window. If delay is negative, blocking read is used (which will wait indefinitely for input). If delay is zero, then non-blocking read is used, and getch() will return -1 if no input is waiting. If delay is positive, then getch() will block for delay milliseconds, and return -1 if there is still no input at the end of that time.

Overlapping and touch¶

window.overlay(destwin[, sminrow, smincol, dminrow, dmincol, dmaxrow, dmaxcol])¶

Overlay the window on top of destwin. The windows need not be the same size, only the overlapping region is copied. This copy is non-destructive, which means that the current background character does not overwrite the old contents of destwin.

To get fine-grained control over the copied region, the second form of overlay() can be used. sminrow and smincol are the upper-left coordinates of the source window, and the other variables mark a rectangle in the destination window.

window.overwrite(destwin[, sminrow, smincol, dminrow, dmincol, dmaxrow, dmaxcol])¶

Overwrite the window on top of destwin. The windows need not be the same size, in which case only the overlapping region is copied. This copy is destructive, which means that the current background character overwrites the old contents of destwin.

To get fine-grained control over the copied region, the second form of overwrite() can be used. sminrow and smincol are the upper-left coordinates of the source window, the other variables mark a rectangle in the destination window.

window.touchline(start, count[, changed])¶

Pretend count lines have been changed, starting with line start. If changed is supplied, it specifies whether the affected lines are marked as having been changed (changed=True) or unchanged (changed=False).

window.touchwin()¶

Pretend the whole window has been changed, for purposes of drawing optimizations.

window.untouchwin()¶

Mark all lines in the window as unchanged since the last call to refresh().

window.syncup()¶

Touch all locations in ancestors of the window that have been changed in the window.

window.syncdown()¶

Touch each location in the window that has been touched in any of its ancestor windows. This routine is called by refresh(), so it should almost never be necessary to call it manually.

window.cursyncup()¶

Update the current cursor position of all the ancestors of the window to reflect the current cursor position of the window.

Coordinate conversion¶

window.enclose(y, x)¶

Test whether the given pair of screen-relative character-cell coordinates are enclosed by the given window, returning True or False. It is useful for determining what subset of the screen windows enclose the location of a mouse event.

Changed in version 3.10: Previously it returned 1 or 0 instead of True or False.

window.mouse_trafo(y, x, to_screen)¶

Convert between window-relative and screen-relative (stdscr-relative) character-cell coordinates. If to_screen is true, convert the window-relative coordinates y, x to screen-relative coordinates; otherwise convert in the opposite direction. The two coordinate systems differ when lines are reserved on the screen, for example for soft labels.

Return the converted coordinates as a (y, x) tuple, or None if they lie outside the window.

Added in version 3.16.

Other¶

window.encoding¶

Encoding used to encode the string arguments of the methods and to decode their results on a build without wide-character support. The encoding attribute is inherited from the parent window when a subwindow is created, for example with window.subwin(). By default, current locale encoding is used (see locale.getencoding()).

Added in version 3.3.

window.putwin(file)¶

Write all data associated with the window into the provided file object. This information can be later retrieved using the getwin() function.

window.use(func, /, *args, **kwargs)¶

Call func(window, *args, **kwargs) with the lock of the window held, and return its result. This provides automatic protection for the window against concurrent access from another thread.

Availability: if the underlying curses library provides use_window().

Added in version 3.16.

State queries¶

window.is_cleared()¶

Return the current value set by clearok().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_idcok()¶

Return the current value set by idcok().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_idlok()¶

Return the current value set by idlok().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_immedok()¶

Return the current value set by immedok().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_keypad()¶

Return the current value set by keypad().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_leaveok()¶

Return the current value set by leaveok().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_linetouched(line)¶

Return True if the specified line was modified since the last call to refresh(); otherwise return False. Raise a curses.error exception if line is not valid for the given window.

window.is_nodelay()¶

Return the current value set by nodelay().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_notimeout()¶

Return the current value set by notimeout().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_pad()¶

Return True if the window is a pad created by newpad().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_scrollok()¶

Return the current value set by scrollok().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_subwin()¶

Return True if the window is a subwindow created by subwin() or derwin().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_syncok()¶

Return the current value set by syncok().

Added in version 3.16.

window.is_wintouched()¶

Return True if the specified window was modified since the last call to refresh(); otherwise return False.

General¶

The curses module defines the following data members:

curses.ERR¶

Some curses routines that return an integer, such as getch(), return ERR upon failure.

curses.OK¶

Some curses routines that return an integer, such as napms(), return OK upon success.

curses.version¶

A bytes object representing the current version of the module.

curses.ncurses_version¶

A named tuple containing the three components of the ncurses library version: major, minor, and patch. All values are integers. The components can also be accessed by name, so curses.ncurses_version[0] is equivalent to curses.ncurses_version.major and so on.

Availability: if the ncurses library is used.

Added in version 3.8.

curses.COLORS¶

The maximum number of colors the terminal can support. It is defined only after the call to start_color().

curses.COLOR_PAIRS¶

The maximum number of color pairs the terminal can support. It is defined only after the call to start_color().

curses.COLS¶

The width of the screen, that is, the number of columns. It is defined only after the call to initscr(). Updated by update_lines_cols(), resizeterm() and resize_term().

curses.LINES¶

The height of the screen, that is, the number of lines. It is defined only after the call to initscr(). Updated by update_lines_cols(), resizeterm() and resize_term().

Attributes¶

Some constants are available to specify character cell attributes. The exact constants available are system dependent.

The attr_get(), attr_set(), attr_on() and attr_off() methods use the parallel set of WA_* constants listed above. Each has the same meaning as the corresponding A_* attribute (WA_BOLD like A_BOLD, and so on), but belongs to the attr_t type rather than being packed into a character. In ncurses the two sets share the same values, but other curses implementations may give them different ones, so use the WA_* constants with the attr_* methods.

Several constants are available to extract corresponding attributes returned by some methods.

Keys¶

Keys are referred to by integer constants with names starting with KEY_. The exact keycaps available are system dependent.