int addch(chtype ch);
int waddch(WINDOW *win, chtype ch);
int mvaddch(int y, int x, chtype ch);
int mvwaddch(WINDOW *win, int y, int x, chtype ch);
int echochar(chtype ch);
int wechochar(WINDOW *win, chtype ch);
If ch is a tab, newline, or backspace, the cursor is moved appropriately within the window. Backspace moves the cursor one character left; at the left edge of a window it does nothing. Newline does a clrtoeol, then moves the cursor to the window left margin on the next line, scrolling the window if on the last line). Tabs are considered to be at every eighth column.
If ch is any control character other than tab, newline, or backspace, it is drawn in ^X notation. Calling winch after adding a control character does not return the character itself, but instead returns the ^-representation of the control character. (To emit control characters literally, use echochar.)
Video attributes can be combined with a character argument passed to addch or related functions by logical-ORing them into the character. (Thus, text, including attributes, can be copied from one place to another using inch and addch.). See the curs_attr(3X) page for values of predefined video attribute constants that can be usefully ORed into characters.
The echochar and wechochar routines are equivalent to a call to addch followed by a call to refresh, or a call to waddch followed by a call to wrefresh. The knowledge that only a single character is being output is used and, for non-control characters, a considerable performance gain may be seen by using these routines instead of their equivalents.
| Name | Default | Description |
| ACS_LLCORNER | + | lower left-hand corner |
| ACS_URCORNER | + | upper right-hand corner |
| ACS_LRCORNER | + | lower right-hand corner |
| ACS_RTEE | + | right tee |
| ACS_LTEE | + | left tee |
| ACS_BTEE | + | bottom tee |
| ACS_TTEE | + | top tee |
| ACS_HLINE | - | horizontal line |
| ACS_VLINE | | | vertical line |
| ACS_PLUS | + | plus |
| ACS_S1 | - | scan line 1 |
| ACS_S9 | _ | scan line 9 |
| ACS_DIAMOND | + | diamond |
| ACS_CKBOARD | : | checker board (stipple) |
| ACS_DEGREE | ' | degree symbol |
| ACS_PLMINUS | # | plus/minus |
| ACS_BULLET | o | bullet |
| ACS_LARROW | < | arrow pointing left |
| ACS_RARROW | > | arrow pointing right |
| ACS_DARROW | v | arrow pointing down |
| ACS_UARROW | ^ | arrow pointing up |
| ACS_BOARD | # | board of squares |
| ACS_LANTERN | # | lantern symbol |
| ACS_BLOCK | # | solid square block |
| ACS_S3 | - | scan line 3 |
| ACS_S7 | - | scan line 7 |
| ACS_LEQUAL | < | less-than-or-equal-to |
| ACS_GEQUAL | > | greater-than-or-equal-to |
| ACS_PI | * | greek pi |
| ACS_NEQUAL | ! | not-equal |
| ACS_STERLING | f | pound-sterling symbol |
The attribute A_ALTCHARSET actually forces literal display of PC ROM characters including the high-half graphics. Your console driver may still capture or translate a few (such as ESC) but this feature should give you access to the card-suit characters, up and down-arrow, and most others in the range 0-32. (In a terminfo entry designed for use with ncurses, the high-half characters are obtained using this attribute with an acsc string in which the second of each pair is a high-half character.)
Giving wechochar an argument with its high bit set will produce the corresponding high-half ASCII graphic (SVr4 curses also has this feature but does not document it). A control-character argument, however, will not typically produce the corresponding graphic; characters such as CR, NL, FF and TAB are typically interpreted by the console driver itself, and ESC will be interpreted as the leader of a control sequence.
The seven ACS symbols starting with ACS_S3 were not documented in any publicly released System V. However, many publicly available terminfos include acsc strings in which their key characters (pryz{|}) are embedded, and a second-hand list of their character descriptions has come to light. The ACS-prefixed names for them were invented for ncurses(3X).