libtecla(3) Library Functions Manual libtecla(3)
NAME
libtecla - An interactive command-line input library.
SYNOPSIS
gcc ... -ltecla -lcurses
DESCRIPTION
The tecla library provides programs with interactive command line editing facilities, similar to those of the unix tcsh shell. In addition
to simple command-line editing, it supports recall of previously entered command lines, TAB completion of file names or other tokens, and
in-line wild-card expansion of filenames. The internal functions which perform file-name completion and wild-card expansion are also avail-
able externally for optional use by the calling program.
The various parts of the library are documented in the following man pages:
tecla(7) - Use level documentation of the
command-line editing facilities
provided by gl_get_line().
gl_get_line(3) - The interactive line-input module.
gl_io_mode(3) - How to use gl_get_line() in an
incremental, non-blocking fashion.
cpl_complete_word(3) - The word completion module.
ef_expand_file(3) - The filename expansion module.
pca_lookup_file(3) - A directory-list based filename
lookup and completion module.
In addition there is one optional application distributed with the library:
enhance(1) - Add command-line editing to third
party applications.
THREAD SAFETY
If the library is compiled with -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=199506L, reentrant versions of as many functions as possible are used. This includes
using getpwuid_r() and getpwnam_r() instead of getpwuid() and getpwnam() when looking up the home directories of specific users in the
password file (for ~user/ expansion), and readdir_r() instead of readdir() for reading directory entries when doing filename completion.
The reentrant version of the library is usually called libtecla_r.a instead of libtecla.a, so if only the latter is available, it probably
isn't the correct version to link with threaded programs.
Reentrant functions for iterating through the password file aren't available, so when the library is compiled to be reentrant, TAB comple-
tion of incomplete usernames in ~username/ expressions is disabled. This doesn't disable expansion of complete ~username expressions, which
can be done reentrantly, or expansion of the parts of filenames that follow them, so this doesn't remove much functionality.
The terminfo functions setupterm(), tigetstr(), tigetnum() and tputs() also aren't reentrant, but very few programs will want to interact
with multiple terminals, so this shouldn't prevent this library from being used in threaded programs.
LIBRARY VERSION NUMBER
The version number of the library can be queried using the following function.
void libtecla_version(int *major, int *minor, int *micro);
On return, this function records the three components of the libtecla version number in *major, *minor, *micro. The formal meaning of the
three components is as follows.
major - Incrementing this number implies that a change has
been made to the library's public interface, which
makes it binary incompatible with programs that
were linked with previous shared versions of the
tecla library.
minor - This number is incremented by one whenever
additional functionality, such as new functions or
modules, are added to the library.
micro - This is incremented whenever modifications to the
library are made which make no changes to the
public interface, but which fix bugs and/or improve
the behind-the-scenes implementation.
TRIVIA
In Spanish, a "tecla" is the key of a keyboard. Since this library centers on keyboard input, and given that I wrote much of the library
while working in Chile, this seemed like a suitable name.
FILES
libtecla.a - The tecla library.
libtecla.h - The tecla header file.
~/.teclarc - The tecla personal customization file.
SEE ALSO
gl_get_line(3), tecla(7), gl_io_mode(3), ef_expand_file(3),
cpl_complete_word(3), pca_lookup_file(3), enhance(1)
AUTHOR
Martin Shepherd (mcs@astro.caltech.edu)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Markus Gyger - Lots of assistance, including help with
shared libraries, configuration information,
particularly for Solaris; modifications to
support C++ compilers, improvements for ksh
users, faster cursor motion, output
buffering, and changes to make gl_get_line()
8-bit clean.
Mike MacFaden - Suggestions, feedback and testing that led
to many of the major new functions that were
added in version 1.4.0.
Tim Eliseo - Many vi-mode bindings and fixes.
libtecla(3)