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curs_addstr(3x) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | NOTES | PORTABILITY | HISTORY | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON 

curs_addstr(3X)               Library calls               curs_addstr(3X)

NAME         top

       addstr, waddstr, mvaddstr, mvwaddstr, addnstr, waddnstr,
       mvaddnstr, mvwaddnstr - add a string to a curses window and
       advance the cursor

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <curses.h>

       int addstr(const char * str);
       int waddstr(WINDOW * win, const char * str);
       int mvaddstr(int y, int x, const char * str);
       int mvwaddstr(WINDOW * win, int y, int x, const char * str);

       int addnstr(const char * str, int n);
       int waddnstr(WINDOW * win, const char * str, int n);
       int mvaddnstr(int y, int x, const char * str, int n);
       int mvwaddnstr(WINDOW * win, int y, int x, const char * str, int n);

DESCRIPTION         top

       waddstr writes the characters of the (null-terminated) string str
       to the window win, as if by calling waddch(3X) for each char in
       str.  waddnstr is similar, but writes at most n characters.  If n
       is -1, waddnstr writes the entire string.  ncurses(3X) describes
       the variants of these functions.

RETURN VALUE         top

       These functions return OK on success and ERR on failure.

       In ncurses, these functions fail if

       •   the curses screen has not been initialized,

       •   str is a null pointer,

       •   (for functions taking a WINDOW pointer argument) win is a null
           pointer, or

       •   an internal waddch(3X) call returns ERR.

       Functions prefixed with “mv” first perform cursor movement and
       fail if the position (y, x) is outside the window boundaries.

NOTES         top

       All of these functions except waddnstr may be implemented as
       macros.

PORTABILITY         top

       X/Open Curses Issue 4 describes these functions.  It specifies no
       error conditions for them.

       SVr4 describes a successful return value only as “an integer value
       other than ERR”.

HISTORY         top

       4BSD (1980) introduced waddstr along with its variants, the latter
       defined as macros.

       SVr3.1 (1987) added waddnstr (and its variants) redefining waddstr
       as a macro wrapping it.

SEE ALSO         top

       curs_addwstr(3X) describes comparable functions of the ncurses
       library in its wide-character configuration (ncursesw).

       curses(3X), curs_addch(3X), curs_addchstr(3X)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the ncurses (new curses) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html⟩.  If you have a
       bug report for this manual page, send it to bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
       This page was obtained from the tarball ncurses-6.6.tar.gz fetched
       from ⟨https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/⟩ on 2026-01-16.  If you
       discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page,
       or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the
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       send a mail to man-pages@man7.org

ncurses @NCURSES_MAJOR@.@NCU... 2025-10-20                curs_addstr(3X)

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