carta
wvline_set(3x)

wvline_set3x

Draw borders and lines in a curses window of wide characters

Part of curs_border_set(3x).

Usage

int border_set(const cchar_t *ls, const cchar_t *rs,

const cchar_t *ts, const cchar_t *bs,

const cchar_t *tl, const cchar_t *tr,

const cchar_t *bl, const cchar_t *br);

int wborder_set(WINDOW *win,

const cchar_t *ls, const cchar_t *rs,

const cchar_t *ts, const cchar_t *bs,

const cchar_t *tl, const cchar_t *tr,

const cchar_t *bl, const cchar_t *br);

int box_set(WINDOW *win, const cchar_t *verch,

const cchar_t *horch);

int hline_set(const cchar_t *wch, int n); int whline_set(WINDOW *win, const cchar_t *wch, int n); int mvhline_set(int y, int x, const cchar_t *wch, int n); int mvwhline_set(WINDOW *win, int y, int x,

const cchar_t *wch, int n);

int vline_set(const cchar_t *wch, int n); int wvline_set(WINDOW *win, const cchar_t *wch, int n); int mvvline_set(int y, int x, const cchar_t *wch, int n); int mvwvline_set(WINDOW *win, int y, int x,

const cchar_t *wch, int n);

Overview

The border_set and wborder_set functions draw a border around the edges of the current or specified window. These functions do not change the cursor position, and do not wrap.

Other than the window, each argument is a complex character with attributes:

ls - left side,
rs - right side,
ts - top side,
bs - bottom side,
tl - top left-hand corner,
tr - top right-hand corner,
bl - bottom left-hand corner, and
br - bottom right-hand corner.

If any of these arguments is zero, then the corresponding default values (defined in curses.h) are used instead:

WACS_VLINE,
WACS_VLINE,
WACS_HLINE,
WACS_HLINE,
WACS_ULCORNER,
WACS_URCORNER,
WACS_LLCORNER, and
WACS_LRCORNER.

box_set(win, verch, horch); is a shorthand for the following call:

wborder_set(win, verch, verch,
horch, horch, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);

The *line_set functions use wch to draw a line starting at the current cursor position in the window. The line is at most n characters long or as many as fit into the window. The current cursor position is not changed.

The hline_set, mvhline_set, mvwhline_set, and whline_set functions draw a line proceeding toward the last column of the same line.

The vline_set, mvvline_set, mvwvline_set, and wvline_set functions draw a line proceeding toward the last line of the window.

Return value

Upon successful completion, these functions return OK. Otherwise, they return ERR.

Functions using a window parameter return ERR if it is null.

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

Notes

border_set, hline_set, mvhline_set, mvvline_set, mvwhline_set, mvwvline_set, and vline_set may be implemented as macros.

Portability

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

History

X/Open Curses Issue 4 (1995) initially specified these functions.

From ncurses 6.6-2 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.