color(3NCURSES) Library calls color(3NCURSES)
NAME
start_color, has_colors, can_change_color, init_pair, init_color,
init_extended_pair, init_extended_color, color_content, pair_content,
extended_color_content, extended_pair_content, reset_color_pairs,
COLOR_PAIR, PAIR_NUMBER, COLORS, COLOR_PAIRS, COLOR_BLACK, COLOR_RED,
COLOR_GREEN, COLOR_YELLOW, COLOR_BLUE, COLOR_MAGENTA, COLOR_CYAN,
COLOR_WHITE, A_COLOR - manipulate terminal colors with curses
SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
/* variables */
int COLOR_PAIRS;
int COLORS;
int start_color(void);
bool has_colors(void);
bool can_change_color(void);
int init_pair(short pair, short f, short b);
int init_color(short color, short r, short g, short b);
/* extensions */
int init_extended_pair(int pair, int f, int b);
int init_extended_color(int color, int r, int g, int b);
int color_content(short color, short *r, short *g, short *b);
int pair_content(short pair, short *f, short *b);
/* extensions */
int extended_color_content(int color, int *r, int *g, int *b);
int extended_pair_content(int pair, int *f, int *b);
/* extension */
void reset_color_pairs(void);
/* macros */
int COLOR_PAIR(int n);
PAIR_NUMBER(int attr);
COLOR_BLACK
COLOR_RED
COLOR_GREEN
COLOR_YELLOW
COLOR_BLUE
COLOR_MAGENTA
COLOR_CYAN
COLOR_WHITE
A_COLOR
DESCRIPTION
Overview
curses supports color attributes on terminals with that capability.
Call start_color (typically right after initscr(3NCURSES)) to enable
this feature. Colors are always used in pairs. A color pair couples a
foreground color for characters with a background color for the blank
field on which characters are rendered. init_pair initializes a color
pair. The macro COLOR_PAIR(n) can then convert the pair to a video at-
tribute.
If a terminal has the relevant capability, init_color permits (re)defin-
ition of a color. has_colors and can_change_color return TRUE or FALSE,
depending on whether the terminal has color capability and whether the
programmer can change the colors. color_content permits extraction of
the red, green, and blue components of an initialized color.
pair_content permits discovery of a color pair's current definition.
Rendering
curses combines the following data to render a character cell. Any of
them can include color information.
• curses character attributes, as from waddch(3NCURSES) or
wadd_wch(3NCURSES)
• window attributes, as from wattrset(3NCURSES) or wattr_set(3NCURSES)
• window background character attributes, as from wbkgdset(3NCURSES)
or wbkgrndset(3NCURSES)
Per-character and window attributes are usually set through a function
parameter containing attributes including a color pair value. Some
functions, such as wattr_set, use a separate color pair number parame-
ter.
The background character is a special case: it includes a character
code, just as if it were passed to waddch.
The curses library does the actual work of combining these color pairs
in an internal function called from waddch:
• If the parameter passed to waddch is blank, and it uses the special
color pair 0,
• curses next checks the window attribute.
• If the window attribute does not use color pair 0, curses uses
the color pair from the window attribute.
• Otherwise, curses uses the background character.
• If the parameter passed to waddch is not blank, or it does not use
the special color pair 0, curses prefers the color pair from the pa-
rameter, if it is nonzero. Otherwise, it tries the window attribute
next, and finally the background character.
Some curses functions such as wprintw call waddch. Those do not combine
its parameter with a color pair. Consequently those calls use only the
window attribute or the background character.
CONSTANTS
In <curses.h> the following macros are defined. These are the standard
colors (ISO-6429). curses also assumes that COLOR_BLACK is the default
background color for all terminals.
COLOR_BLACK
COLOR_RED
COLOR_GREEN
COLOR_YELLOW
COLOR_BLUE
COLOR_MAGENTA
COLOR_CYAN
COLOR_WHITE
Some terminals support more than the eight (8) “ANSI” colors. There are
no standard names for those additional colors.
A_COLOR is a bit mask that extracts a color pair identifier from a
chtype.
VARIABLES
COLORS
is initialized by start_color to the maximum number of colors the termi-
nal can support.
COLOR_PAIRS
is initialized by start_color to the maximum number of color pairs the
terminal can support. Often, its value is the product COLORS × COLORS,
but this is not always true.
• A few terminals use the HLS color space (see start_color below), ig-
noring this rule; and
• terminals supporting a large number of colors are limited to the
number of color pairs that a signed short value can represent.
FUNCTIONS
start_color
The start_color routine requires no arguments. It must be called if the
programmer wants to use colors, and before any other color manipulation
routine is called. It is good practice to call this routine right after
initscr. start_color does this:
• It initializes two global variables, COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS (respec-
tively defining the maximum number of colors and color pairs the
terminal can support).
• It initializes the special color pair 0 to the default foreground
and background colors. No other color pairs are initialized.
• It restores the colors on the terminal to the values they had when
the terminal was just turned on.
• If the terminal supports the initc (initialize_color) capability,
start_color initializes its internal table representing the red,
green, and blue components of the color palette.
The components depend on whether the terminal uses CGA (aka “ANSI”)
or HLS (i.e., the hls (hue_lightness_saturation) capability is set).
The table is initialized first for eight basic colors (black, red,
green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white), using weights that
depend upon the CGA/HLS choice. For “ANSI” colors the weights are
680 or 0 depending on whether the corresponding red, green, or blue
component is used or not. That permits using 1000 to represent
bold/bright colors. After the initial eight colors (if the terminal
supports more than eight colors) the components are initialized us-
ing the same pattern, but with weights of 1000. SVr4 uses a similar
scheme, but uses 1000 for the components of the initial eight col-
ors.
start_color does not attempt to set the terminal's color palette to
match its built-in table. An application may use init_color to al-
ter the internal table along with the terminal's color.
These limits apply to color values and color pairs. Values outside
these limits are not valid, and may result in a runtime error:
• COLORS corresponds to the terminal database's max_colors capability,
(see terminfo(5)).
• color values are expected to be in the range 0 to COLORS-1, inclu-
sive (including 0 and COLORS-1).
• a special color value -1 is used in certain extended functions to
denote the default color (see use_default_colors(3NCURSES)).
• COLOR_PAIRS corresponds to the terminal database's max_pairs capa-
bility, (see terminfo(5)).
• valid color pair values are in the range 1 to COLOR_PAIRS-1, inclu-
sive.
• color pair 0 is special; it denotes “no color”.
Color pair 0 is assumed to be white on black, but is actually what-
ever the terminal implements before color is initialized. It cannot
be modified by the application.
has_colors
The has_colors routine requires no arguments. It returns TRUE if the
terminal can manipulate colors; otherwise, it returns FALSE. This rou-
tine facilitates writing terminal-independent programs. For example, a
programmer can use it to decide whether to use color or some other video
attribute.
can_change_color
The can_change_color routine requires no arguments. It returns TRUE if
the terminal supports colors and can change their definitions; other, it
returns FALSE. This routine facilitates writing terminal-independent
programs.
init_pair
The init_pair routine changes the definition of a color pair. It takes
three arguments: the number of the color pair to be changed, the fore-
ground color number, and the background color number. For portable ap-
plications:
• The first argument must be a valid color pair value. If default
colors are used (see use_default_colors(3NCURSES)) the upper limit
is adjusted to allow for extra pairs which use a default color in
foreground and/or background.
• The second and third arguments must be valid color values.
If the color pair was previously initialized, the screen is refreshed
and all occurrences of that color pair are changed to the new defini-
tion.
As an extension, ncurses allows you to set color pair 0 via the
assume_default_colors(3NCURSES) routine, or to specify the use of de-
fault colors (color number -1) if you first invoke the
use_default_colors(3NCURSES) routine.
init_extended_pair
Because init_pair uses signed shorts for its parameters, that limits
color pairs and color-values to 32767 on modern hardware. The extension
init_extended_pair uses ints for the color pair and color-value, allow-
ing a larger number of colors to be supported.
init_color
The init_color routine changes the definition of a color. It takes four
arguments: the number of the color to be changed followed by three RGB
values (for the amounts of red, green, and blue components).
• The first argument must be a valid color value; default colors are
not allowed here. (See the section Colors for the default color in-
dex.)
• Each of the last three arguments must be a value in the range 0
through 1000.
When init_color is used, all occurrences of that color on the screen im-
mediately change to the new definition.
init_extended_color
Because init_color uses signed shorts for its parameters, that limits
color-values and their red, green, and blue components to 32767 on mod-
ern hardware. The extension init_extended_color uses ints for the color
value and for setting the red, green, and blue components, allowing a
larger number of colors to be supported.
color_content
The color_content routine gives programmers a way to find the intensity
of the red, green, and blue (RGB) components in a color. It requires
four arguments: the color number, and three addresses of shorts for
storing the information about the amounts of red, green, and blue compo-
nents in the given color.
• The first argument must be a valid color value, i.e., 0 through
COLORS-1, inclusive.
• The values that are stored at the addresses pointed to by the last
three arguments are in the range 0 (no component) through 1000 (max-
imum amount of component), inclusive.
extended_color_content
Because color_content uses signed shorts for its parameters, that limits
color-values and their red, green, and blue components to 32767 on mod-
ern hardware. The extension extended_color_content uses ints for the
color value and for returning the red, green, and blue components, al-
lowing a larger number of colors to be supported.
pair_content
The pair_content routine allows programmers to find out what colors a
given color pair consists of. It requires three arguments: the color
pair number, and two addresses of shorts for storing the foreground and
the background color numbers.
• The first argument must be a valid color value, i.e., in the range 1
through COLOR_PAIRS-1, inclusive.
• The values that are stored at the addresses pointed to by the second
and third arguments are in the range 0 through COLORS, inclusive.
extended_pair_content
Because pair_content uses signed shorts for its parameters, that limits
color pair and color-values to 32767 on modern hardware. The extension
extended_pair_content uses ints for the color pair and for returning the
foreground and background colors, allowing a larger number of colors to
be supported.
reset_color_pairs
The extension reset_color_pairs tells ncurses to discard all of the
color pair information which was set with init_pair. It also touches
the current- and standard-screens, allowing an application to switch
color palettes rapidly.
COLOR_PAIR
COLOR_PAIR(n) converts a color pair number to an attribute. Attributes
can hold color pairs in the range 0 to 255. If you need a color pair
larger than that, you must use functions such as attr_set (which pass
the color pair as a separate parameter) rather than the legacy functions
such as attrset.
PAIR_NUMBER
PAIR_NUMBER(attr) extracts the color information from its attr parameter
and returns it as a color pair number; it is the inverse operation of
COLOR_PAIR.
RETURN VALUE
can_change_color and has_colors return TRUE or FALSE. The other func-
tions return OK on success and ERR on failure.
In ncurses, functions returning an int recognize several error condi-
tions.
• All return ERR if the screen has not been initialized; see
initscr(3NCURSES) or newterm(3NCURSES).
• All except start_color return ERR if start_color has not been
called, or itself returned ERR.
• start_color returns ERR if it cannot allocate memory for its color
pair table.
• init_color returns ERR if the terminal type does not support assign-
able color values; that is, if the initialize_color (initc) capabil-
ity is absent from its description.
• init_color returns ERR if any of its r, g, b arguments is outside
the range 0-1000 inclusive.
• init_pair, init_color, init_extended_pair, init_extended_color,
color_content, pair_content, extended_color_content, and
extended_pair_content return ERR on attempts to use
• color identifiers outside the range 0-COLORS-1 inclusive, the
default colors extension notwithstanding, or
• color pairs identifiers outside the range 0-COLOR_PAIRS-1 inclu-
sive.
NOTES
In ncurses, init_pair accepts negative foreground and background color
arguments to support its use_default_colors(3NCURSES) extension, but
only after the latter function has been called.
The assumption that COLOR_BLACK is the terminal's default background
color can be overridden using ncurses's assume_default_colors(3NCURSES)
extension.
In ncurses, each pointer passed to color_content and pair_content can be
null, in which case the library ignores it, permitting the application
to disregard unnecessary information.
In ncurses, each screen has a color activation flag, color palette,
color pair table, and associated COLORS and COLOR_PAIRS values for each
screen; start_color affects only the current screen. The SVr4 and
X/Open Curses interface was not really designed with this in mind; his-
torical implementations may use a single shared color palette.
Setting an implicit background color via a color pair affects only char-
acter cells that a character write operation explicitly touches. To
change the background color used when parts of a window are blanked by
erasing or scrolling operations, see bkgd(3NCURSES).
Several caveats apply to IBM PC-compatible machines of the 80486 era and
earlier with CGA/EGA/VGA video.
• COLOR_YELLOW is actually brown. To get yellow, combine COLOR_YELLOW
with the A_BOLD attribute.
• The A_BLINK attribute should in theory make the background bright.
This often fails to work, and even VGA controllers for which it
mostly works, such as those from Paradise and compatibles, do the
wrong thing when you try to set a bright “yellow” background — you
get a blinking yellow foreground instead.
• Color RGB values are not configurable on these devices (in text
mode).
EXTENSIONS
The functions marked as extensions originated in ncurses, and are not
found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous curses imple-
mentation.
PORTABILITY
Applications employing ncurses extensions should condition their use on
the visibility of the NCURSES_VERSION preprocessor macro.
X/Open Curses Issue 4 describes these functions. It specifies no error
conditions for them.
ncurses satisfies X/Open Curses's minimum maximums for COLORS and
COLOR_PAIRS.
X/Open Curses does not specify a limit for the number of colors and
color pairs which a terminal can support. However, in its use of short
for the parameters, it carries over SVr4's implementation detail for the
compiled terminfo database, which uses signed 16-bit numbers. ncurses
provides extended versions of the functions using short parameters, al-
lowing applications to use larger color and pair identifiers.
SVr4 curses returns ERR from pair_content if its pair argument was not
initialized using init_pairs, and from color_content if the terminal
does not support changing colors. ncurses does neither.
HISTORY
SVr3.2 (1987) introduced color support with all of the symbols in the
synopsis above except those marked as extensions. It reserved color
pair 0 as the terminal's initial, “uncolored” state, and limited the
number of possible color pairs to 64, because the color pair datum was
encoded in six bits of a chtype.
SVr4 made only internal changes, such as moving the storage of color
state from the SCREEN structure (pointed to by SP) to the TERMINAL
structure (pointed to by cur_term).
Other curses implementations impose different limits on the number of
colors and color pairs.
• PCCurses (1987-1990) provided for only 8 colors (and therefore re-
quired at most 8×8 = 64 color pairs).
• PDCurses (1992-present) inherited the 8-color limitation from
PCCurses, but changed this to 256 in version 2.5 (2001), and widened
its chtype from 16 to 32 bits.
• X/Open Curses (1992-present) specified a new structure type,
cchar_t, to store the character code, attribute flags, and color
pair identifier, allowing an increased range of color pairs. It
specifies a short as storing identifiers for colors and color pairs,
limiting portable values to 15 bits; negative values are invalid in
System V.
• ncurses (1992-present), in its non-wide configuration, uses 8 bits
of chtype for the color pair identifier.
Version 5.3 (2002) offered a wide-character interface, but encoded
the color pair identifier with attributes in the character type.
Since version 6 (2015), ncurses uses a separate int for the color
pair identifier in a cchar_t, introducing extension functions to
manage the wider type. When a color pair value fits in 8 bits,
ncurses permits color pair data to be manipulated via the functions
taking chtype arguments, even when a curses window uses wide-charac-
ter cells.
• NetBSD curses used 6 bits for the color pair identifier from 2000
(when it first added color support) until 2004. At that point,
NetBSD widened the color pair identifier to use 9 bits. As of 2025,
that size is unchanged. Like ncurses before version 6, the NetBSD
color pair datum is stored in the attributes field of cchar_t, lim-
iting the number of color pairs.
SEE ALSO
ncurses(3NCURSES), attr(3NCURSES), initscr(3NCURSES),
curses_variables(3NCURSES), default_colors(3NCURSES)
ncurses 6.5 2025-01-18 color(3NCURSES)
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