notcurses

cleanroom TUI library for modern terminal emulators. definitely not curses.

• Introduction
• Requirements
• Use
  • Input
  • Planes
  • Cells
  • Multimedia
  • Panelreels
  • Perf
• Included tools
• Differences from NCURSES
  • Features missing relative to NCURSES
  • Adapting NCURSES programs
• Useful links

Introduction

• What it is: a library facilitating complex TUIs on modern terminal emulators, supporting vivid colors and Unicode to the maximum degree possible. Many tasks delegated to Curses can be achieved using notcurses (and vice versa).

• What it is not: a source-compatible X/Open Curses implementation, nor a replacement for NCURSES on existing systems, nor a widely-ported and -tested bedrock of Open Source, nor a battle-proven, veteran library.

notcurses abandons the X/Open Curses API bundled as part of the Single UNIX Specification. The latter shows its age, and seems not capable of making use of terminal functionality such as unindexed 24-bit color ("DirectColor", not to be confused with 8-bit indexed 24-bit color, aka "TrueColor" or (by NCURSES) as "extended color"). For some necessary background, consult Thomas E. Dickey's superb and authoritative NCURSES FAQ. As such, notcurses is not a drop-in Curses replacement. It is almost certainly less portable, and definitely tested on less hardware. Sorry about that. Ultimately, I hope to properly support all terminals supporting the features necessary for complex TUIs. I would argue that teletypes etc. are fundamentally unsuitable. Most operating systems seem reasonable targets, but I only have Linux and FreeBSD available for testing.

Whenever possible, notcurses makes use of the Terminfo library shipped with NCURSES, benefiting greatly from its portability and thoroughness.

notcurses opens up advanced functionality for the interactive user on workstations, phones, laptops, and tablets, at the expense of e.g. industrial and retail terminals (or even the Linux virtual console, which offers only eight colors and limited glyphs).

Why use this non-standard library?

• A svelter design than that codified in X/Open. All exported identifiers are prefixed to avoid namespace collisions. Far fewer identifiers are exported overall. All APIs natively suport UTF-8, and the cell API is based around Unicode's Extended Grapheme Cluster concept.

• Visual features not directly available via NCURSES, including images, fonts, video, high-contrast text, and transparent regions. All APIs natively support 24-bit color, quantized down as necessary for the terminal.

• Thread safety, and use in parallel programs, has been a design consideration from the beginning.

• It's Apache2-licensed in its entirety, as opposed to the drama in several acts that is the NCURSES license (the latter is summarized as "a restatement of MIT-X11").

On the other hand, if you're targeting industrial or critical applications, or wish to benefit from the time-tested reliability and portability of Curses, you should by all means use that fine library.

Requirements

• A C11 and a C++14 compiler
• CMake 3.13.0+
• From NCURSES: terminfo 6.1+
• From FFMpeg: libswscale 5.0+, libavformat 57.0+, libavutil 56.0+

Use

A program wishing to use notcurses will need to link it, ideally using the output of pkg-config --libs notcurses. It is advised to compile with the output of pkg-config --cflags notcurses. If using CMake, a support file is provided, and can be accessed as notcurses.

Before calling into notcurses—and usually as one of the first calls of the program—be sure to call setlocale(3) with an appropriate UTF-8 LC_ALL locale. It is usually appropriate to pass NULL to setlocale(), relying on the user to properly set the LANG environment variable.

notcurses requires an available terminfo(5) definition appropriate for the terminal. It is usually appropriate to pass NULL in the termtype field of a notcurses_options struct, relying on the user to properly set the TERM environment variable. This variable is usually set by the terminal itself. It might be necessary to manually select a higher-quality definition for your terminal, i.e. xterm-direct as opposed to xterm or xterm-256color.

Each terminal can be prepared via a call to notcurses_init(), which is supplied a struct of type notcurses_options:

// Get a human-readable string describing the running notcurses version.
const char* notcurses_version(void);

struct cell;      // a coordinate on an ncplane: an EGC plus styling
struct ncplane;   // a drawable notcurses surface, composed of cells
struct notcurses; // notcurses state for a given terminal, composed of ncplanes

// Configuration for notcurses_init().
typedef struct notcurses_options {
  // The name of the terminfo database entry describing this terminal. If NULL,
  // the environment variable TERM is used. Failure to open the terminal
  // definition will result in failure to initialize notcurses.
  const char* termtype;
  // An open FILE* for this terminal, on which we will generate output. If
  // not attached to a sufficiently capable terminal, notcurses will refuse
  // to start. You'll usually want stdout.
  FILE* outfp;
  // If smcup/rmcup capabilities are indicated, notcurses defaults to making
  // use of the "alternate screen". This flag inhibits use of smcup/rmcup.
  bool inhibit_alternate_screen;
  // By default, we hide the cursor if possible. This flag inhibits use of
  // the civis capability, retaining the cursor.
  bool retain_cursor;
  // We typically install a signal handler for SIGINT and SIGQUIT that restores
  // the screen, and then calls the old signal handler. Set this to inhibit
  // registration of any signal handlers.
  bool no_quit_sighandlers;
  // We typically install a signal handler for SIGWINCH that generates a resize
  // event in the notcurses_getc() queue. Set this to inhibit the handler.
  bool no_winch_sighandler;
  // If non-NULL, notcurses_render() will write each rendered frame to this
  // FILE* in addition to outfp. This is used primarily for debugging.
  FILE* renderfp;
} notcurses_options;

// Initialize a notcurses context, corresponding to a connected terminal.
// Returns NULL on error, including any failure to initialize terminfo.
struct notcurses* notcurses_init(const notcurses_options* opts);

// Destroy a notcurses context.
int notcurses_stop(struct notcurses* nc);

notcurses_stop should be called before exiting your program to restore the terminal settings and free resources.

The vast majority of the notcurses API draws into virtual buffers. Only upon a call to notcurses_render will the visible terminal display be updated to reflect the changes:

// Make the physical screen match the virtual screen. Changes made to the
// virtual screen (i.e. most other calls) will not be visible until after a
// successful call to notcurses_render().
int notcurses_render(struct notcurses* nc);

Input

Input can currently be taken only from stdin, but on the plus side, stdin needn't be a terminal device (unlike the ttyfp FILE* passed in a notcurses_options). Generalized input ought happen soon. There is only one input queue per struct notcurses.

Like NCURSES, notcurses will watch for escape sequences, check them against the terminfo database, and return them as special keys (we hijack the Private Use Area, specifically Supplementary Private Use Area B (u100000 through u10ffffd), for special keys). Unlike NCURSES, the fundamental unit of input is the UTF8-encoded Unicode codepoint. Note, however, that only one codepoint is returned at a time (as opposed to an entire EGC).

// All input is currently taken from stdin, though this will likely change. We
// attempt to read a single UTF8-encoded Unicode codepoint, *not* an entire
// Extended Grapheme Cluster (despite use of the cell object, which encodes an
// entire EGC). It is also possible that we will read a special keypress, i.e.
// anything that doesn't correspond to a Unicode codepoint (e.g. arrow keys,
// function keys, screen resize events, etc.). These are mapped into Unicode's
// Supplementary Private Use Area-B, starting at U+100000.
//
// notcurses_getc() and notcurses_getc_nblock() are both nonblocking.
// notcurses_getc_blocking() blocks until a codepoint or special key is read,
// or until interrupted by a signal.
//
// In the case of a valid read, a positive value is returned corresponding to
// the number of bytes in the UTF-8 character, or '1' for all special keys.
// 0 is returned to indicate that no input was available, but only by
// notcurses_getc(). Otherwise (including on EOF) -1 is returned.

// is this wide character a Supplementary Private Use Area-B codepoint?
static inline bool
wchar_supppuab_p(wchar_t w){
  return w >= 0x100000 && w <= 0x10fffd;
}

#define suppuabize(w) ((w) + 0x100000)

// Special composed key defintions. These values are added to 0x100000.
#define NCKEY_INVALID suppuabize(0)
#define NCKEY_RESIZE  suppuabize(1) // generated interally in response to SIGWINCH
#define NCKEY_UP      suppuabize(2)
#define NCKEY_RIGHT   suppuabize(3)
#define NCKEY_DOWN    suppuabize(4)
#define NCKEY_LEFT    suppuabize(5)
#define NCKEY_INS     suppuabize(6)
#define NCKEY_DEL     suppuabize(7)
#define NCKEY_BS      suppuabize(8) // backspace (sometimes)
#define NCKEY_PGDOWN  suppuabize(9)
#define NCKEY_PGUP    suppuabize(10)
#define NCKEY_HOME    suppuabize(11)
#define NCKEY_END     suppuabize(12)
#define NCKEY_F00     suppuabize(20)
#define NCKEY_F01     suppuabize(21)
#define NCKEY_F02     suppuabize(22)
#define NCKEY_F03     suppuabize(23)
#define NCKEY_F04     suppuabize(24)
#define NCKEY_F05     suppuabize(25)
#define NCKEY_F06     suppuabize(26)
#define NCKEY_F07     suppuabize(27)
#define NCKEY_F08     suppuabize(28)
#define NCKEY_F09     suppuabize(29)
#define NCKEY_F10     suppuabize(30)
#define NCKEY_F11     suppuabize(31)
#define NCKEY_F12     suppuabize(32)
#define NCKEY_F13     suppuabize(33)
#define NCKEY_F14     suppuabize(34)
#define NCKEY_F15     suppuabize(35)
#define NCKEY_F16     suppuabize(36)
#define NCKEY_F17     suppuabize(37)
#define NCKEY_F18     suppuabize(38)
#define NCKEY_F19     suppuabize(39)
#define NCKEY_F20     suppuabize(40)

// See ppoll(2) for more detail. Provide a NULL 'ts' to block at lenghth, a 'ts'
// of 0 for non-blocking operation, and otherwise a timespec to bound blocking.
// Signals in sigmask (less several we handle internally) will be atomically
// masked and unmasked per ppoll(2). It should generally contain all signals.
// Returns a single Unicode code point, or (wchar_t)-1 on error.
API int notcurses_getc(struct notcurses* n, const struct timespec* ts, sigset_t* sigmask);

static inline int
notcurses_getc_nblock(struct notcurses* n){
  sigset_t sigmask;
  sigfillset(&sigmask);
  struct timespec ts = { .tv_sec = 0, .tv_nsec = 0 };
  return notcurses_getc(n, &ts, &sigmask);
}

static inline wchar_t
notcurses_getc_blocking(struct notcurses* n){
  sigset_t sigmask;
  sigemptyset(&sigmask);
  return notcurses_getc(n, NULL, &sigmask);
}

Planes

Fundamental to notcurses is a z-buffer of rectilinear virtual screens, known as ncplanes. An ncplane can be larger than the physical screen, or smaller, or the same size; it can be entirely contained within the physical screen, or overlap in part, or lie wholly beyond the boundaries, never to be rendered. Each ncplane has a current writing state (cursor position, foreground and background color, etc.), a backing array of UTF-8 EGCs, and a z-index. If opaque, a cell on a higher ncplane completely obstructs a corresponding cell from a lower ncplane from being seen. An ncplane corresponds loosely to an NCURSES Panel, but is the primary drawing surface of notcurses—there is no object corresponding to a bare NCURSES WINDOW.

// Resize the specified ncplane. The four parameters 'keepy', 'keepx',
// 'keepleny', and 'keeplenx' define a subset of the ncplane to keep,
// unchanged. This may be a section of size 0, though none of these four
// parameters may be negative. 'keepx' and 'keepy' are relative to the ncplane.
// They must specify a coordinate within the ncplane's totality. 'yoff' and
// 'xoff' are relative to 'keepy' and 'keepx', and place the upper-left corner
// of the resized ncplane. Finally, 'ylen' and 'xlen' are the dimensions of the
// ncplane after resizing. 'ylen' must be greater than or equal to 'keepleny',
// and 'xlen' must be greater than or equal to 'keeplenx'. It is an error to
// attempt to resize the standard plane. If either of 'keepy' or 'keepx' is
// non-zero, both must be non-zero.
//
// Essentially, the kept material does not move. It serves to anchor the
// resized plane. If there is no kept material, the plane can move freely:
// it is possible to implement ncplane_move() in terms of ncplane_resize().
int ncplane_resize(struct ncplane* n, int keepy, int keepx, int keepleny,
                       int keeplenx, int yoff, int xoff, int ylen, int xlen);

// Destroy the specified ncplane. None of its contents will be visible after
// the next call to notcurses_render(). It is an error to attempt to destroy
// the standard plane.
int ncplane_destroy(struct ncplane* ncp);

// Set the ncplane's background cell to this cell. It will be rendered anywhere
// that the ncplane's gcluster is 0. The default background is all zeroes.
// Erasing the ncplane does not eliminate the background.
int ncplane_set_background(struct ncplane* ncp, const cell* c);

// Extract the ncplane's background cell into 'c'.
int ncplane_background(struct ncplane* ncp, cell* c);

// Move this plane relative to the standard plane. It is an error to attempt to
// move the standard plane.
int ncplane_move_yx(struct ncplane* n, int y, int x);

// Get the origin of this plane relative to the standard plane.
void ncplane_yx(const struct ncplane* n, int* RESTRICT y, int* RESTRICT x);

// Splice ncplane 'n' out of the z-buffer, and reinsert it at the top or bottom.
int ncplane_move_top(struct ncplane* n);
int ncplane_move_bottom(struct ncplane* n);

// Splice ncplane 'n' out of the z-buffer, and reinsert it below 'below'.
int ncplane_move_below(struct ncplane* RESTRICT n, struct ncplane* RESTRICT below);

// Splice ncplane 'n' out of the z-buffer, and reinsert it above 'above'.
int ncplane_move_above(struct ncplane* RESTRICT n, struct ncplane* RESTRICT above);

// Retrieve the cell at the cursor location on the specified plane, returning
// it in 'c'. This copy is safe to use until the ncplane is destroyed/erased.
int ncplane_at_cursor(struct ncplane* n, cell* c);

// Manipulate the opaque user pointer associated with this plane.
// ncplane_set_userptr() returns the previous userptr after replacing
// it with 'opaque'. the others simply return the userptr.
void* ncplane_set_userptr(struct ncplane* n, void* opaque);
void* ncplane_userptr(struct ncplane* n);
const void* ncplane_userptr_const(const struct ncplane* n);

// Returns the dimensions of this ncplane.
void ncplane_dim_yx(const struct ncplane* n, int* RESTRICT rows,
                        int* RESTRICT cols);

// Return our current idea of the terminal dimensions in rows and cols.
static inline void
notcurses_term_dim_yx(const struct notcurses* n, int* RESTRICT rows,
                      int* RESTRICT cols){
  ncplane_dim_yx(notcurses_stdplane_const(n), rows, cols);
}

// Move the cursor to the specified position (the cursor needn't be visible).
// Returns -1 on error, including negative parameters, or ones exceeding the
// plane's dimensions.
int ncplane_cursor_move_yx(struct ncplane* n, int y, int x);

// Get the current position of the cursor within n. y and/or x may be NULL.
void ncplane_cursor_yx(const struct ncplane* n, int* RESTRICT y,
                           int* RESTRICT x);

// Replace the cell underneath the cursor with the provided cell 'c', and
// advance the cursor by the width of the cell (but not past the end of the
// plane). On success, returns the number of columns the cursor was advanced.
// On failure, -1 is returned.
int ncplane_putc(struct ncplane* n, const cell* c);

// Replace the cell underneath the cursor with the provided 7-bit char 'c',
// using the specified 'attr' and 'channels' for styling. Advance the cursor by
// 1. On success, returns 1. On failure, returns -1.
int ncplane_putsimple(struct ncplane* n, char c, uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels);

// Replace the cell underneath the cursor with the provided EGC, using the
// specified 'attr' and 'channels' for styling, and advance the cursor by the
// width of the cluster (but not past the end of the plane). On success, returns
// the number of columns the cursor was advanced. On failure, -1 is returned.
// The number of bytes converted from gclust is written to 'sbytes' if non-NULL.
int ncplane_putegc(struct ncplane* n, const char* gclust, uint32_t attr,
                       uint64_t channels, int* sbytes);

// Write a series of cells to the current location, using the current style.
// They will be interpreted as a series of columns (according to the definition
// of ncplane_putc()). Advances the cursor by some positive number of cells
// (though not beyond the end of the plane); this number is returned on success.
// On error, a non-positive number is returned, indicating the number of cells
// which were written before the error.
int ncplane_putstr(struct ncplane* n, const char* gclustarr);

// The ncplane equivalents of printf(3) and vprintf(3).
int ncplane_printf(struct ncplane* n, const char* format, ...);
int ncplane_vprintf(struct ncplane* n, const char* format, va_list ap);

// Draw horizontal or vertical lines using the specified cell, starting at the
// current cursor position. The cursor will end at the cell following the last
// cell output (even, perhaps counter-intuitively, when drawing vertical
// lines), just as if ncplane_putc() was called at that spot. Return the
// number of cells drawn on success. On error, return the negative number of
// cells drawn.
int ncplane_hline_interp(struct ncplane* n, const cell* c, int len,
                             uint64_t c1, uint64_t c2);

static inline int
ncplane_hline(struct ncplane* n, const cell* c, int len){
  return ncplane_hline_interp(n, c, len, c->channels, c->channels);
}

int ncplane_vline_interp(struct ncplane* n, const cell* c, int len,
                             uint64_t c1, uint64_t c2);

static inline int
ncplane_vline(struct ncplane* n, const cell* c, int len){
  return ncplane_vline_interp(n, c, len, c->channels, c->channels);
}

// Draw a box with its upper-left corner at the current cursor position, and its
// lower-right corner at 'ystop'x'xstop'. The 6 cells provided are used to draw the
// upper-left, ur, ll, and lr corners, then the horizontal and vertical lines.
// 'ctlword' is defined in the least significant byte, where bits [7, 4] are a
// gradient mask, and [3, 0] are a border mask:
//  * 7, 3: top
//  * 6, 2: right
//  * 5, 1: bottom
//  * 4, 0: left
// if the gradient bit is not set, the styling from the hl/vl cells is used for
// the horizontal and vertical lines, respectively. if the gradient bit is set,
// the color is linearly interpolated between the two relevant corner cells. if
// the bordermask bit is set, that side of the box is not drawn. iff either edge
// connecting to a corner is drawn, the corner is drawn.

#define NCBOXMASK_TOP    0x01
#define NCBOXMASK_RIGHT  0x02
#define NCBOXMASK_BOTTOM 0x04
#define NCBOXMASK_LEFT   0x08
#define NCBOXGRAD_TOP    0x10
#define NCBOXGRAD_RIGHT  0x20
#define NCBOXGRAD_BOTTOM 0x40
#define NCBOXGRAD_LEFT   0x80

int ncplane_box(struct ncplane* n, const cell* ul, const cell* ur,
                    const cell* ll, const cell* lr, const cell* hline,
                    const cell* vline, int ystop, int xstop,
                    unsigned ctlword);

// Draw a box with its upper-left corner at the current cursor position, having
// dimensions 'ylen'x'xlen'. See ncplane_box() for more information. The
// minimum box size is 2x2, and it cannot be drawn off-screen.
static inline int
ncplane_box_sized(struct ncplane* n, const cell* ul, const cell* ur,
                  const cell* ll, const cell* lr, const cell* hline,
                  const cell* vline, int ylen, int xlen, unsigned ctlword){
  int y, x;
  ncplane_cursor_yx(n, &y, &x);
  return ncplane_box(n, ul, ur, ll, lr, hline, vline, y + ylen - 1,
                     x + xlen - 1, ctlword);
}

static inline int
ncplane_rounded_box(struct ncplane* n, uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels,
                    int ystop, int xstop, unsigned ctlword){
  int ret = 0;
  cell ul = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER, ur = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
  cell ll = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER, lr = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
  cell hl = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER, vl = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
  if((ret = cells_rounded_box(n, attr, channels, &ul, &ur, &ll, &lr, &hl, &vl)) == 0){
    ret = ncplane_box(n, &ul, &ur, &ll, &lr, &hl, &vl, ystop, xstop, ctlword);
  }
  cell_release(n, &ul);
  cell_release(n, &ur);
  cell_release(n, &ll);
  cell_release(n, &lr);
  cell_release(n, &hl);
  cell_release(n, &vl);
  return ret;
}

static inline int
ncplane_rounded_box_sized(struct ncplane* n, uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels,
                          int ylen, int xlen, unsigned ctlword){
  int y, x;
  ncplane_cursor_yx(n, &y, &x);
  return ncplane_rounded_box(n, attr, channels, y + ylen - 1,
                             x + xlen - 1, ctlword);
}

static inline int
ncplane_double_box(struct ncplane* n, uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels,
                   int ystop, int xstop, unsigned ctlword){
  int ret = 0;
  cell ul = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER, ur = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
  cell ll = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER, lr = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
  cell hl = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER, vl = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
  if((ret = cells_double_box(n, attr, channels, &ul, &ur, &ll, &lr, &hl, &vl)) == 0){
    ret = ncplane_box(n, &ul, &ur, &ll, &lr, &hl, &vl, ystop, xstop, ctlword);
  }
  cell_release(n, &ul);
  cell_release(n, &ur);
  cell_release(n, &ll);
  cell_release(n, &lr);
  cell_release(n, &hl);
  cell_release(n, &vl);
  return ret;
}

static inline int
ncplane_double_box_sized(struct ncplane* n, uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels,
                         int ylen, int xlen, unsigned ctlword){
  int y, x;
  ncplane_cursor_yx(n, &y, &x);
  return ncplane_double_box(n, attr, channels, y + ylen - 1,
                            x + xlen - 1, ctlword);
}

// Erase every cell in the ncplane, resetting all attributes to normal, all
// colors to the default color, and all cells to undrawn. All cells associated
// with this ncplane are invalidated, and must not be used after the call.
void ncplane_erase(struct ncplane* n);

// Set the current fore/background color using RGB specifications. If the
// terminal does not support directly-specified 3x8b cells (24-bit "Direct
// Color", indicated by the "RGB" terminfo capability), the provided values
// will be interpreted in some lossy fashion. None of r, g, or b may exceed 255.
// "HP-like" terminals require setting foreground and background at the same
// time using "color pairs"; notcurses will manage color pairs transparently.
int ncplane_set_fg(struct ncplane* n, int r, int g, int b);
int ncplane_set_bg(struct ncplane* n, int r, int g, int b);

// use the default color for the foreground/background
void ncplane_fg_default(struct ncplane* n);
void ncplane_bg_default(struct ncplane* n);

// Set the specified style bits for the ncplane 'n', whether they're actively
// supported or not.
void ncplane_styles_set(struct ncplane* n, unsigned stylebits);

// Add the specified styles to the ncplane's existing spec.
void ncplane_styles_on(struct ncplane* n, unsigned stylebits);

// Remove the specified styles from the ncplane's existing spec.
void ncplane_styles_off(struct ncplane* n, unsigned stylebits);

// Return the current styling for this ncplane.
unsigned ncplane_styles(const struct ncplane* n);

// Fade the ncplane out over the provided time, calling the specified function
// when done. Requires a terminal which supports direct color, or at least
// palette modification (if the terminal uses a palette, our ability to fade
// planes is limited, and affected by the complexity of the rest of the screen).
// It is not safe to resize or destroy the plane during the fadeout FIXME.
int ncplane_fadeout(struct ncplane* n, const struct timespec* ts);

// Fade the ncplane in over the specified time. Load the ncplane with the
// target cells without rendering, then call this function. When it's done, the
// ncplane will have reached the target levels, starting from zeroes.
int ncplane_fadein(struct ncplane* n, const struct timespec* ts);

Cells

Unlike the notcurses or ncplane objects, the definition of cell is available to the user:

// A cell corresponds to a single character cell on some plane, which can be
// occupied by a single grapheme cluster (some root spacing glyph, along with
// possible combining characters, which might span multiple columns). At any
// cell, we can have a theoretically arbitrarily long UTF-8 string, a foreground
// color, a background color, and an attribute set. Valid grapheme cluster
// contents include:
//
//  * A NUL terminator,
//  * A single control character, followed by a NUL terminator,
//  * At most one spacing character, followed by zero or more nonspacing
//    characters, followed by a NUL terminator.
//
// Multi-column characters can only have a single style/color throughout.
//
// Each cell occupies 16 static bytes (128 bits). The surface is thus ~1.6MB
// for a (pretty large) 500x200 terminal. At 80x43, it's less than 64KB.
// Dynamic requirements can add up to 16MB to an ncplane, but such large pools
// are unlikely in common use.
typedef struct cell {
  // These 32 bits are either a single-byte, single-character grapheme cluster
  // (values 0--0x7f), or an offset into a per-ncplane attached pool of
  // varying-length UTF-8 grapheme clusters. This pool may thus be up to 32MB.
  uint32_t gcluster;          // 1 * 4b -> 4b
  // CELL_STYLE_* attributes (16 bits) + 16 reserved bits
  uint32_t attrword;          // + 4b -> 8b
  // (channels & 0x8000000000000000ull): wide character (left or right side)
  // (channels & 0x4000000000000000ull): foreground is *not* "default color"
  // (channels & 0x3000000000000000ull): foreground alpha (2 bits)
  // (channels & 0x0f00000000000000ull): reserved, must be 0
  // (channels & 0x00ffffff00000000ull): foreground in 3x8 RGB (rrggbb)
  // (channels & 0x0000000080000000ull): reserved, must be 0
  // (channels & 0x0000000040000000ull): background is *not* "default color"
  // (channels & 0x0000000030000000ull): background alpha (2 bits)
  // (channels & 0x000000000f000000ull): reserved, must be 0
  // (channels & 0x0000000000ffffffull): background in 3x8 RGB (rrggbb)
  // At render time, these 24-bit values are quantized down to terminal
  // capabilities, if necessary. There's a clear path to 10-bit support should
  // we one day need it, but keep things cagey for now. "default color" is
  // best explained by color(3NCURSES). ours is the same concept. until the
  // "not default color" bit is set, any color you load will be ignored.
  uint64_t channels;          // + 8b == 16b
} cell;

A cell ought be initialized with CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER or the cell_init() function before it is further used. These just zero out the cell. A cell has three fundamental elements:

• The EGC displayed at this coordinate, encoded in UTF-8. If the EGC is a single ASCII character (value less than 0x80), it is stored inline in the cell's gcluster field. Otherwise, gcluster's top 24 bits are a 128-biased offset into the associated ncplane's egcpool. This implies that cells are associated with ncplanes once prepared.
• The Curses-style attributes of the text, and a 16-bit alpha channel.
• The 48 bits of foreground and background RGB, plus a few flags.

The EGC should be loaded using cell_load(). Either a single NUL-terminated EGC can be provided, or a string composed of multiple EGCs. In the latter case, the first EGC from the string is loaded. Remember, backing storage for the EGC is provided by the ncplane passed to cell_load(); if this ncplane is destroyed (or even erased), the cell cannot safely be used. If you're done using the cell before being done with the ncplane, call cell_release() to free up the EGC resources.

#define CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER { .gcluster = '\0', .attrword = 0, .channels = 0, }

static inline void
cell_init(cell* c){
  memset(c, 0, sizeof(*c));
}

// Breaks the UTF-8 string in 'gcluster' down, setting up the cell 'c'. Returns
// the number of bytes copied out of 'gcluster', or -1 on failure. The styling
// of the cell is left untouched, but any resources are released.
int cell_load(struct ncplane* n, cell* c, const char* gcluster);

// cell_load(), plus blast the styling with 'attr' and 'channels'.
static inline int
cell_prime(struct ncplane* n, cell* c, const char *gcluster,
           uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels){
  c->attrword = attr;
  c->channels = channels;
  int ret = cell_load(n, c, gcluster);
  return ret;
}

// Duplicate 'c' into 'targ'. Not intended for external use; exposed for the
// benefit of unit tests.
int cell_duplicate(struct ncplane* n, cell* targ, const cell* c);

// Release resources held by the cell 'c'.
void cell_release(struct ncplane* n, cell* c);

#define CELL_STYLE_SHIFT     16u
#define CELL_STYLE_MASK      0xffff0000ul
#define CELL_ALPHA_MASK      0x0000fffful
// these are used for the style bitfield *after* it is shifted
#define CELL_STYLE_STANDOUT  0x0001u
#define CELL_STYLE_UNDERLINE 0x0002u
#define CELL_STYLE_REVERSE   0x0004u
#define CELL_STYLE_BLINK     0x0008u
#define CELL_STYLE_DIM       0x0010u
#define CELL_STYLE_BOLD      0x0020u
#define CELL_STYLE_INVIS     0x0040u
#define CELL_STYLE_PROTECT   0x0080u
#define CELL_STYLE_ITALIC    0x0100u

// Set the specified style bits for the cell 'c', whether they're actively
// supported or not.
static inline void
cell_styles_set(cell* c, unsigned stylebits){
  c->attrword = (c->attrword & ~CELL_STYLE_MASK) |
                ((stylebits & 0xffff) << 16u);
}

// Get the style bits, shifted over into the LSBs.
static inline unsigned
cell_styles(const cell* c){
  return (c->attrword & CELL_STYLE_MASK) >> 16u;
}

// Add the specified styles (in the LSBs) to the cell's existing spec, whether
// they're actively supported or not.
static inline void
cell_styles_on(cell* c, unsigned stylebits){
  c->attrword |= ((stylebits & 0xffff) << 16u);
}

// Remove the specified styles (in the LSBs) from the cell's existing spec.
static inline void
cell_styles_off(cell* c, unsigned stylebits){
  c->attrword &= ~((stylebits & 0xffff) << 16u);
}

static inline unsigned
cell_rgb_red(uint32_t rgb){
  return (rgb & 0xff0000ull) >> 16u;
}

static inline unsigned
cell_rgb_green(uint32_t rgb){
  return (rgb & 0xff00ull) >> 8u;
}

static inline unsigned
cell_rgb_blue(uint32_t rgb){
  return (rgb & 0xffull);
}

#define CELL_INHERITSTYLE_MASK 0x8000000000000000ull
#define CELL_FGDEFAULT_MASK    0x4000000000000000ull
#define CELL_WIDEASIAN_MASK    0x2000000000000000ull
#define CELL_FG_MASK           0x00ffffff00000000ull
#define CELL_BGDEFAULT_MASK    0x0000000040000000ull
#define CELL_BG_MASK           0x0000000000ffffffull

static inline uint32_t
cell_fg_rgb(uint64_t channel){
  return (channel & CELL_FG_MASK) >> 32u;
}

static inline uint32_t
cell_bg_rgb(uint64_t channel){
  return (channel & CELL_BG_MASK);
}

static inline void
cell_rgb_get_fg(uint64_t channels, unsigned* r, unsigned* g, unsigned* b){
  uint32_t fg = cell_fg_rgb(channels);
  *r = cell_rgb_red(fg);
  *g = cell_rgb_green(fg);
  *b = cell_rgb_blue(fg);
}

static inline void
cell_rgb_get_bg(uint64_t channels, unsigned* r, unsigned* g, unsigned* b){
  uint32_t bg = cell_bg_rgb(channels);
  *r = cell_rgb_red(bg);
  *g = cell_rgb_green(bg);
  *b = cell_rgb_blue(bg);
}

// set the r, g, and b channels for either the foreground or background
// component of this 64-bit 'channels' variable. 'shift' is the base number
// of bits to shift r/g/b by; it ought either be 0 (bg) or 32 (fg). each of
// r, g, and b must be in [0, 256), or -1 is returned. 'mask' is the
// appropriate r/g/b mask, and 'nodefbit' is the appropriate nodefault bit.
static inline int
notcurses_channel_prep(uint64_t* channels, uint64_t mask, unsigned shift,
                       int r, int g, int b, uint64_t nodefbit){
  if(r >= 256 || g >= 256 || b >= 256){
    return -1;
  }
  if(r < 0 || g < 0 || b < 0){
    return -1;
  }
  uint64_t rgb = (r & 0xffull) << (shift + 16);
  rgb |= (g & 0xffull) << (shift + 8);
  rgb |= (b & 0xffull) << shift;
  rgb |= nodefbit;
  *channels = (*channels & ~(mask | nodefbit)) | rgb;
  return 0;
}

static inline int
notcurses_fg_prep(uint64_t* channels, int r, int g, int b){
  return notcurses_channel_prep(channels, CELL_FG_MASK, 32, r, g, b, CELL_FGDEFAULT_MASK);
}

static inline int
notcurses_bg_prep(uint64_t* channels, int r, int g, int b){
  return notcurses_channel_prep(channels, CELL_BG_MASK, 0, r, g, b, CELL_BGDEFAULT_MASK);
}

static inline void
cell_set_fg(cell* c, unsigned r, unsigned g, unsigned b){
  notcurses_fg_prep(&c->channels, r, g, b);
}

static inline void
cell_set_bg(cell* c, unsigned r, unsigned g, unsigned b){
  notcurses_bg_prep(&c->channels, r, g, b);
}

static inline void
cell_get_fg(const cell* c, unsigned* r, unsigned* g, unsigned* b){
  *r = cell_rgb_red(cell_fg_rgb(c->channels));
  *g = cell_rgb_green(cell_fg_rgb(c->channels));
  *b = cell_rgb_blue(cell_fg_rgb(c->channels));
}

static inline void
cell_get_bg(const cell* c, unsigned* r, unsigned* g, unsigned* b){
  *r = cell_rgb_red(cell_bg_rgb(c->channels));
  *g = cell_rgb_green(cell_bg_rgb(c->channels));
  *b = cell_rgb_blue(cell_bg_rgb(c->channels));
}

// does the cell passively retain the styling of the previously-rendered cell?
static inline bool
cell_inherits_style(const cell* c){
  return (c->channels & CELL_INHERITSTYLE_MASK);
}

// use the default color for the foreground
static inline void
cell_fg_default(cell* c){
  c->channels &= ~CELL_FGDEFAULT_MASK;
}

// is the cell using the terminal's default foreground color for its foreground?
static inline bool
cell_fg_default_p(const cell* c){
  return !(c->channels & CELL_FGDEFAULT_MASK);
}

// use the default color for the background
static inline void
cell_bg_default(cell* c){
  c->channels &= ~CELL_BGDEFAULT_MASK;
}

// is the cell using the terminal's default background color for its background?
static inline bool
cell_bg_default_p(const cell* c){
  return !(c->channels & CELL_BGDEFAULT_MASK);
}

// does the cell contain an East Asian Wide codepoint?
static inline bool
cell_double_wide_p(const cell* c){
  return (c->channels & CELL_WIDEASIAN_MASK);
}

// is the cell simple (a lone ASCII character, encoded as such)?
static inline bool
cell_simple_p(const cell* c){
  return c->gcluster < 0x80;
}

// get the offset into the egcpool for this cell's EGC. returns meaningless and
// unsafe results if called on a simple cell.
static inline uint32_t
cell_egc_idx(const cell* c){
  return c->gcluster - 0x80;
}

// return a pointer to the NUL-terminated EGC referenced by 'c'. this pointer
// is invalidated by any further operation on the plane 'n', so...watch out!
const char* cell_extended_gcluster(const struct ncplane* n, const cell* c);

// load up six cells with the EGCs necessary to draw a box. returns 0 on
// success, -1 on error. on error, any cells this function might
// have loaded before the error are cell_release()d. There must be at least
// six EGCs in gcluster.
static inline int
cells_load_box(struct ncplane* n, uint32_t attrs, uint64_t channels,
               cell* ul, cell* ur, cell* ll, cell* lr,
               cell* hl, cell* vl, const char* gclusters){
  int ulen;
  if((ulen = cell_prime(n, ul, gclusters, attrs, channels)) > 0){
    if((ulen = cell_prime(n, ur, gclusters += ulen, attrs, channels)) > 0){
      if((ulen = cell_prime(n, ll, gclusters += ulen, attrs, channels)) > 0){
        if((ulen = cell_prime(n, lr, gclusters += ulen, attrs, channels)) > 0){
          if((ulen = cell_prime(n, hl, gclusters += ulen, attrs, channels)) > 0){
            if((ulen = cell_prime(n, vl, gclusters += ulen, attrs, channels)) > 0){
              return 0;
            }
            cell_release(n, hl);
          }
          cell_release(n, lr);
        }
        cell_release(n, ll);
      }
      cell_release(n, ur);
    }
    cell_release(n, ul);
  }
  return -1;
}


static inline int
cells_rounded_box(struct ncplane* n, uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels,
                  cell* ul, cell* ur, cell* ll, cell* lr, cell* hl, cell* vl){
  return cells_load_box(n, attr, channels, ul, ur, ll, lr, hl, vl, "╭╮╰╯─│");
}

static inline int
cells_double_box(struct ncplane* n, uint32_t attr, uint64_t channels,
                 cell* ul, cell* ur, cell* ll, cell* lr, cell* hl, cell* vl){
  return cells_load_box(n, attr, channels, ul, ur, ll, lr, hl, vl, "╔╗╚╝═║");
}

Multimedia

Media decoding and scaling is handled by libAV from FFmpeg, resulting in a notcurses_visual object. This object generates frames, each one corresponding to a renderable scene on the associated ncplane.

// open a visual (image or video), associating it with the specified ncplane.
// returns NULL on any error, writing the AVError to 'averr'.
struct ncvisual* ncplane_visual_open(struct ncplane* nc, const char* file,
                                         int* averr);

// destroy an ncvisual. rendered elements will not be disrupted, but the visual
// can be neither decoded nor rendered any further.
void ncvisual_destroy(struct ncvisual* ncv);

// extract the next frame from an ncvisual. returns NULL on end of file,
// writing AVERROR_EOF to 'averr'. returns NULL on a decoding or allocation
// error, placing the AVError in 'averr'. this frame is invalidated by a
// subsequent call to ncvisual_decode(), and should not be freed by the caller.
struct AVFrame* ncvisual_decode(struct ncvisual* nc, int* averr);

// render the decoded frame to the associated ncplane. the frame will be scaled
// to the size of the ncplane at ncplane_visual_open() time.
int ncvisual_render(const struct ncvisual* ncv);

// stream the entirety of the media, according to its own timing.
// blocking, obviously. pretty raw; beware.
int ncvisual_stream(struct notcurses* nc, struct ncvisual* ncv, int* averr);

Panelreels

Panelreels are a complex UI abstraction offered by notcurses, derived from my similar work in outcurses.

Perf

notcurses tracks statistics across its operation, and a snapshot can be acquired using the notcurses_stats() function. This function cannot fail.

typedef struct ncstats {
  uint64_t renders;          // number of notcurses_render() runs
  uint64_t render_bytes;     // bytes emitted to ttyfp
  uint64_t render_max_bytes; // max bytes emitted for a frame
  uint64_t render_min_bytes; // min bytes emitted for a frame
  uint64_t render_ns;        // nanoseconds spent in notcurses_render()
  int64_t render_max_ns;     // max ns spent in notcurses_render()
  int64_t render_min_ns;     // min ns spent in successful notcurses_render()
  uint64_t fgelisions;       // RGB fg elision count
  uint64_t fgemissions;      // RGB fg emissions
  uint64_t bgelisions;       // RGB bg elision count
  uint64_t bgemissions;      // RGB bg emissions
  uint64_t defaultelisions;  // default color was emitted
  uint64_t defaultemissions; // default color was elided
} ncstats;

// Acquire a snapshot of the notcurses object's stats.
void notcurses_stats(const struct notcurses* nc, ncstats* stats);

Timings for renderings are across the breadth of notcurses_render(): they include all per-render preprocessing, output generation, and dumping of the output (including any sleeping while waiting on the terminal).

The notcurses rendering algorithm starts by moving the physical cursor to the upper left corner of the visible screen (it does not clear the screen beforehand). At each coordinate, it finds the topmost visible ncplane. There will always be at least one ncplane visible at each coordinate, due to the default plane. Once the plane is determined, the damage map is consulted to see whether the cell need be redrawn. If so, it will be redrawn, and the virtual cursor is updated based on the width of the output. Along the way, notcurses attempts to minimize total amount of data written by eliding unnecessary color and style specifications, and moving the cursor over large unchanged areas.

The worst case input frame (in terms of output size) is one whose colors change from coordinate to coordinate, uses multiple combining characters within each grapheme cluster, and has a large geometry. Peculiarities of the terminal make it impossible to comment more meaningfully regarding delay.

Using the "default color" as only one of the foreground or background requires emitting the op escape followed by the appropriate escape for changing the fore- or background (since op changes both at once). If you're printing full block characters, it's for this reason better to give them all the same meaningless background color than to leave the background on the default. If you're printing spaces, you likewise want a meaningless foreground color. For a long string of such cells, eliding these ops can be a nice savings.

Included tools

Four binaries are built as part of notcurses:

• notcurses-demo: some demonstration code
• notcurses-view: renders visual media (images/videos)
• notcurses-tester: unit testing
• notcurses-input: decode and print keypresses

Differences from NCURSES

The biggest difference, of course, is that notcurses is not an implementation of X/Open (aka XSI) Curses, nor part of SUS4-2018.

The detailed differences between notcurses and NCURSES probably can't be fully enumerated, and if they could, no one would want to read it. With that said, some design decisions might surprise NCURSES programmers:

• The screen is not cleared on entry.
• There is no distinct PANEL type. The z-buffer is a fundamental property, and all drawable surfaces are ordered along the z axis. There is no equivalent to update_panels().
• Scrolling is disabled by default, and cannot be globally enabled.
• The Curses cchar_t has a fixed-size array of wchar_t. The notcurses cell instead supports a UTF-8 encoded extended grapheme cluster of arbitrary length. The only supported charsets are C and UTF-8. notcurses does not generally make use of wchar_t.
• The hardware cursor is disabled by default, when supported (civis capability).
• Echoing of input is disabled by default, and cbreak mode is used by default.
• Colors are always specified as 24 bits in 3 components (RGB). If necessary, these will be quantized for the actual terminal. There are no "color pairs".
• There is no distinct "pad" concept (these are NCURSES WINDOWs created with the newpad() function). All drawable surfaces can exceed the display size.
• Multiple threads can freely call into notcurses, so long as they're not accessing the same data. In particular, it is always safe to concurrently mutate different ncplanes in different threads.
• NCURSES has thread-ignorant and thread-semi-safe versions, trace-enabled and traceless versions, and versions with and without support for wide characters. notcurses is one library: no tracing, UTF-8, thread safety.
• There is no ESCDELAY concept; notcurses expects that all bytes of a keyboard escape sequence to arrive at the same time. This improves latency and simplifies the API.

Features missing relative to NCURSES

This isn't "features currently missing", but rather "features I do not intend to implement".

• There is no immediate-output mode (immedok(), echochar() etc.). ncplane_putc() followed by notcurses_render() ought be just as fast as echochar().
• There is no support for soft labels (slk_init(), etc.).
• There is no concept of subwindows which share memory with their parents.
• There is no tracing functionality ala trace(3NCURSES). Superior external tracing solutions exist, such as bpftrace.

Adapting NCURSES programs

First off, ask whether you really want to do such a thing. NCURSES and the Curses API it implements are far more portable and better-tested than notcurses is ever likely to be. Will the program really benefit from notcurses's advanced features? If not, it's probably best left as it is.

Otherwise, most NCURSES concepts have clear partners in notcurses. Any functions making implicit use of stdscr ought be replaced with their explicit equivalents. stdscr ought then be replaced with the result of notcurses_stdplane() (the standard plane). PANELs become ncplanes; the Panels API is otherwise pretty close. Anything writing a bare character will become a simple cell; multibyte or wide characters become complex cells. Color no longer uses "color pairs". You can either hack together a simple table mapping your colors to RGB values and color pairs to foreground and background indices into said table.

I have adapted two large (~5k lines of C UI code each) from NCURSES to notcurses, and found it a fairly painless process. It was helpful to introduce a shim layer, e.g. compat_mvwprintw for NCURSES's mvwprintw:

static int
compat_mvwprintw(struct ncplane* nc, int y, int x, const char* fmt, ...){
  if(ncplane_cursor_move_yx(nc, y, x)){
    return ERR;
  }
  va_list va;
  va_start(va, fmt);
  if(ncplane_vprintf(nc, fmt, va) < 0){
    va_end(va);
    return ERR;
  }
  va_end(va);
  return OK;
}

Environment notes

• If your terminal has an option about default interpretation of "ambiguous-width characters" (this is actually a technical term from Unicode), ensure it is set to Wide, not narrow.

• If you can disable BiDi in your terminal, do so while running notcurses applications, until I have that handled better. notcurses doesn't recognize the BiDi state machine transitions, and thus merrily continues writing left-to-right. ﷽

Useful links

• BiDi in Terminal Emulators
• The Xterm FAQ
• The NCURSES FAQ
• ECMA-35 Character Code Structure and Extension Techniques (ISO/IEC 2022)
• ECMA-43 8-bit Coded Character Set Structure and Rules
• ECMA-48 Control Functions for Coded Character Sets (ISO/IEC 6429)
• Unicode 12.1 Full Emoji List
• Unicode Standard Annex #29 Text Segmentation
• Unicode Standard Annex #15 Normalization Forms
• The TTY demystified