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legacy_coding - override curses locale encoding checks

NAME  SYNOPSIS  DESCRIPTION  RETURN VALUE  EXTENSIONS  PORTABILITY  HISTORY  AUTHORS  SEE ALSO 

NAME

use_legacy_coding − override curses locale encoding checks

SYNOPSIS

#include <curses.h>

int use_legacy_coding(int level);

DESCRIPTION

use_legacy_coding, an ncurses extension to the curses library, permits customiztion of unctrl(3X) behavior, suppressing isprint(3)-based checks within the library that would normally cause nonprinting characters to be rendered in visible form. The alteration affects only byte-wide characters with the most significant bit set.

The level parameter controls the result.

0

The library functions normally, rendering nonprinting characters as described in unctrl(3X),

1

the library ignores isprint for codes in the range 160-255.

2

the library ignores isprint for codes in the range 128-255. It also modifies the output of unctrl(3X), showing codes in the range 128-159 as is.

RETURN VALUE

If the curses screen has not been initialized, or the level parameter is out of range, use_legacy_coding returns ERR. Otherwise, it returns the previous level.

EXTENSIONS

use_legacy_coding is an ncurses extension.

PORTABILITY

Applications employing ncurses extensions should condition their use on the visibility of the NCURSES_VERSION preprocessor macro.

HISTORY

ncurses 5.6 (2006) introduced use_legacy_coding to support lynx(1)’s font-switching feature.

AUTHORS

Thomas Dickey

SEE ALSO

unctrl(3X)


Updated 2026-06-01 - jenkler.se | uex.se