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curs_refresh(3X) curs_refresh(3X)
NAME
doupdate, redrawwin, refresh, wnoutrefresh, wredrawln, wrefresh -
refresh curses windows and lines
SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
int refresh(void);
int wrefresh(WINDOW *win);
int wnoutrefresh(WINDOW *win);
int doupdate(void);
int redrawwin(WINDOW *win);
int wredrawln(WINDOW *win, int beg_line, int num_lines);
DESCRIPTION
refresh/wrefresh
The refresh and wrefresh routines (or wnoutrefresh and doupdate) must
be called to get actual output to the terminal, as other routines
merely manipulate data structures. The routine wrefresh copies the
named window to the physical screen, taking into account what is
already there to do optimizations. The refresh routine is the same,
using stdscr as the default window. Unless leaveok has been enabled,
the physical cursor of the terminal is left at the location of the
cursor for that window.
wnoutrefresh/doupdate
The wnoutrefresh and doupdate routines allow multiple updates with more
efficiency than wrefresh alone. In addition to all the window
structures, curses keeps two data structures representing the terminal
screen:
o a physical screen, describing what is actually on the screen, and
o a virtual screen, describing what the programmer wants to have on
the screen.
The routine wrefresh works by
o first calling wnoutrefresh, which copies the named window to the
virtual screen, and
o then calling doupdate, which compares the virtual screen to the
physical screen and does the actual update.
If the programmer wishes to output several windows at once, a series of
calls to wrefresh results in alternating calls to wnoutrefresh and
doupdate, causing several bursts of output to the screen. By first
calling wnoutrefresh for each window, it is then possible to call
doupdate once, resulting in only one burst of output, with fewer total
characters transmitted and less CPU time used.
If the win argument to wrefresh is the physical screen (i.e., the
global variable curscr), the screen is immediately cleared and
repainted from scratch.
The phrase "copies the named window to the virtual screen" above is
wredrawln/redrawwin
The wredrawln routine indicates to curses that some screen lines are
corrupted and should be thrown away before anything is written over
them. It touches the indicated lines (marking them changed). The
routine redrawwin touches the entire window.
RETURN VALUE
Routines that return an integer return ERR upon failure, and OK (SVr4
only specifies "an integer value other than ERR") upon successful
completion.
X/Open does not define any error conditions. In this implementation
wnoutrefresh
returns an error if the window pointer is null, or if the
window is really a pad.
wredrawln
returns an error if the associated call to touchln returns an
error.
NOTES
Note that refresh and redrawwin may be macros.
PORTABILITY
The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 describes these functions.
Whether wnoutrefresh copies to the virtual screen the entire contents
of a window or just its changed portions has never been well-documented
in historic curses versions (including SVr4). It might be unwise to
rely on either behavior in programs that might have to be linked with
other curses implementations. Instead, you can do an explicit touchwin
before the wnoutrefresh call to guarantee an entire-contents copy
anywhere.
SEE ALSO
curses(3X), curs_outopts(3X) curs_variables(3X).
curs_refresh(3X)