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)