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# notcurses
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cleanroom TUI library for modern terminal emulators. definitely not curses.
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[](https://drone.dsscaw.com:4443/dankamongmen/notcurses)
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* **What it is**: a library facilitating complex TUIs on modern terminal
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emulators, supporting vivid colors and wide characters to the
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maximum degree possible. Many tasks delegated to Curses can be
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achieved using notcurses (and vice versa).
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* **What it is not**: a source-compatible X/Open Curses implementation, nor a
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replacement for NCURSES on existing systems, nor a widely-ported and -tested
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bedrock of Open Source, nor a battle-proven, veteran library.
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notcurses abandons the X/Open Curses API bundled as part of the Single UNIX
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Specification. The latter shows its age, seems not capable of making use of
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terminal functionality such as unindexed 24-bit color ("DirectColor", not to be
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confused with 8-bit indexed 24-bit color, aka "TrueColor"). For some necessary
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background, consult Thomas E. Dickey's superb and authoritative [NCURSES
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FAQ](https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#xterm_16MegaColors).
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As such, it is not a drop-in Curses replacement. notcurses furthermore makes
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use of the Terminfo library shipped with NCURSES. It is almost certainly less
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portable, and definitely tested on less hardware.
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notcurses opens up advanced functionality for the interactive user on
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workstations, phones, laptops, and tablets, at the expense of e.g.
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industrial and retail terminals (or even the Linux virtual console,
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which offers only 8+8 colors and limited glyphs).
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Why use this non-standard library?
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* A svelter design than that codified in X/Open. All exported identifiers
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are prefixed with `notcurses_` to avoid namespace pollution. Fewer
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identifiers overall. All APIs natively suport wide characters and
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24-bit RGB color.
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* Visual features not directly available via NCURSES, including images,
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fonts, and video.
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On the other hand, if you're targeting industrial or critical applications,
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or wish to benefit from the time-tested reliability and portability of Curses,
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you should by all means use that fine library.
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