1default_colors(3X) default_colors(3X)
2
6 use_default_colors, assume_default_colors - use terminal's default col‐
7 ors
8
10 #include <curses.h>
11 int use_default_colors(void);
13 int assume_default_colors(int fg, int bg);
14
16 The use_default_colors() and assume_default_colors() functions are
17 extensions to the curses library. They are used with terminals that
18 support ISO 6429 color, or equivalent. These terminals allow the
19 application to reset color to an unspecified default value (e.g., with
20 SGR 39 or SGR 49).
21 Applications that paint a colored background over the whole screen do
23 not take advantage of SGR 39 and SGR 49. Some applications are
24 designed to work with the default background, using colors only for
25 text. For example, there are several implementations of the ls program
26 which use colors to denote different file types or permissions. These
27 "color ls" programs do not necessarily modify the background color,
28 typically using only the setaf terminfo capability to set the fore‐
29 ground color. Full-screen applications that use default colors can
30 achieve similar visual effects.
31 The first function, use_default_colors() tells the curses library to
33 assign terminal default foreground/background colors to color number
34 -1. So init_pair(x,COLOR_RED,-1) will initialize pair x as red on
35 default background and init_pair(x,-1,COLOR_BLUE) will initialize pair
36 x as default foreground on blue.
37 The other, assume_default_colors() is a refinement which tells which
39 colors to paint for color pair 0. This function recognizes a special
40 color number -1, which denotes the default terminal color.
41 The following are equivalent:
43 use_default_colors();
44 assume_default_colors(-1,-1);
45 These are ncurses extensions. For other curses implementations, color
47 number -1 does not mean anything, just as for ncurses before a success‐
48 ful call of use_default_colors() or assume_default_colors().
49 Other curses implementations do not allow an application to modify
51 color pair 0. They assume that the background is COLOR_BLACK, but do
52 not ensure that the color pair 0 is painted to match the assumption.
53 If your application does not use either use_default_colors() or
54 assume_default_colors() ncurses will paint a white foreground (text)
55 with black background for color pair 0.
56
58 These functions return the integer ERR upon failure and OK on success.
59 They will fail if either the terminal does not support the orig_pair or
60 orig_colors capability. If the initialize_pair capability is found,
61 this causes an error as well.
62
64 Associated with this extension, the init_pair function accepts negative
65 arguments to specify default foreground or background colors.
66 The use_default_colors() function was added to support ded. This is a
68 full-screen application which uses curses to manage only part of the
69 screen. The bottom portion of the screen, which is of adjustable size,
70 is left uncolored to display the results from shell commands. The top
71 portion of the screen colors filenames using a scheme like the "color
72 ls" programs. Attempting to manage the background color of the screen
73 for this application would give unsatisfactory results for a variety of
74 reasons. This extension was devised after noting that color xterm (and
75 similar programs) provides a background color which does not necessar‐
76 ily correspond to any of the ANSI colors. While a special terminfo
77 entry could be constructed using nine colors, there was no mechanism
78 provided within curses to account for the related orig_pair and
79 back_color_erase capabilities.
80 The assume_default_colors() function was added to solve a different
82 problem: support for applications which would use environment variables
83 and other configuration to bypass curses' notion of the terminal's
84 default colors, setting specific values.
85
87 These routines are specific to ncurses. They were not supported on
88 Version 7, BSD or System V implementations. It is recommended that any
89 code depending on them be conditioned using NCURSES_VERSION.
90
92 curs_color(3X), ded(1).
93
95 Thomas Dickey (from an analysis of the requirements for color xterm for
96 XFree86 3.1.2C, February 1996).
97 default_colors(3X)