print(3NCURSES) Library calls print(3NCURSES)
NAME
mcprint - write binary data to printer using terminfo capabilities
SYNOPSIS
#include <curses.h>
int mcprint(char * data, int len);
DESCRIPTION
mcprint, an ncurses extension to the curses library, uses the terminal's
prtr_non (mc5p) or prtr_on (mc5) and prtr_off (mc4) media copy capabili-
ties, if defined, to send len bytes of the given string data to a
printer attached to the terminal.
mcprint has no means of flow control to the printer nor of knowing how
much buffering it has. Your application is responsible for keeping the
rate of writes to the printer below its continuous throughput rate, typ-
ically about half of its nominal characters-per-second (cps) rating.
Dot-matrix printers and 6-page-per-minute laser printers can typically
handle 80 cps, so a conservative rule of thumb is to sleep for one sec-
ond after sending an 80-character line.
RETURN VALUE
On success, mcprint returns the number of characters sent to the
printer.
mcprint returns ERR if the write operation fails for any reason. In
that event, errno contains either a value set by write(2), or one of the
following.
ENODEV
The terminal lacks relevant media copy capabilities.
ENOMEM
ncurses could not allocate sufficient memory to buffer the write
operation.
EXTENSIONS
mcprint is an ncurses(3NCURSES) extension, and is not found in SVr4
curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous curses implementation.
PORTABILITY
Applications employing this ncurses extension should condition its use
on the visibility of the NCURSES_VERSION preprocessor macro.
HISTORY
ncurses introduced mcprint prior to version 1.9.9g (1996).
BUGS
Padding in the prtr_non (mc5p), prtr_on (mc5), and prtr_off (mc4) capa-
bilities is not interpreted.
SEE ALSO
ncurses(3NCURSES)
ncurses 6.5 2025-02-15 print(3NCURSES)
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