curs_touch(3X)                   Library calls                  curs_touch(3X)

NAME

     touchwin, touchline, untouchwin, wtouchln, is_linetouched, is_wintouched
     - control terminal output refresh in a curses window

SYNOPSIS

     #include <curses.h>

     int touchline(WINDOW *win, int start, int count);

     int touchwin(WINDOW *win);
     int wtouchln(WINDOW *win, int y, int n, int changed);

     int untouchwin(WINDOW *win);

     bool is_linetouched(WINDOW *win, int line);
     bool is_wintouched(WINDOW *win);

DESCRIPTION

     The touchwin and touchline routines throw away all optimization
     information about which parts of the window have been touched, by
     pretending that the entire window has been drawn on.  This is sometimes
     necessary when using overlapping windows, since a change to one window
     affects the other window, but the records of which lines have been
     changed in the other window do not reflect the change.  The routine
     touchline only pretends that count lines have been changed, beginning
     with line start.

     The untouchwin routine marks all lines in the window as unchanged since
     the last call to wrefresh.

     The wtouchln routine makes n lines in the window, starting at line y,
     look as if they have (changed=1) or have not (changed=0) been changed
     since the last call to wrefresh.

     The is_linetouched and is_wintouched routines return TRUE if the
     specified line/window was modified since the last call to wrefresh;
     otherwise they return FALSE.  In addition, is_linetouched returns ERR if
     line is not valid for the given window.

RETURN VALUE

     Functions returning integers return ERR upon failure and OK upon success.

     In ncurses,

        is_linetouched
             returns ERR if the window pointer is null, or if the line number
             is outside the window boundaries.

             The constant ERR is distinct from TRUE and FALSE, which are the
             normal return values of this function.  Because the function
             returns a bool, returning ERR (which is neither TRUE nor FALSE)
             may not be supported by the compiler.

             To provide error-checking and also match the X/Open function
             prototype, the ERR is provided by a macro named is_linetouched.
             The actual function returns FALSE when it detects an error.

        wtouchln
             returns ERR if the window pointer is null, or if the line number
             is outside the window boundaries.

NOTES

     All of these functions except wtouchln may be implemented as macros.

PORTABILITY

     X/Open Curses Issue 4 describes these functions.  It specifies no error
     conditions for them.

     SVr4 describes a successful return value except where "otherwise noted"
     as "an integer value other than ERR".

     SVr4 does not check win to ensure that it is not a null pointer.

HISTORY

     SVr2 (1984) introduced touchwin,

     SVr3 (1987) added touchline.  SVr3.1 later that year supplied
     is_linetouched, is_wintouched, untouchwin, and wtouchln.

SEE ALSO

     curses(3X), curs_refresh(3X), curs_variables(3X)

ncurses 6.6                       2025-01-18                    curs_touch(3X)