menu(3X)			  Library calls				menu(3X)

NAME
     menu - present menus in curses windows

SYNOPSIS
     #include <menu.h>

DESCRIPTION
     The  menu	library	 provides  terminal-independent facilities for composing
     menu systems on character-cell terminals.	The library includes: item  rou-
     tines,  which  create and modify menu items; and menu routines, which group
     items into menus, display menus on the screen, and handle interaction  with
     the user.

     The  menu	library	 uses  the curses libraries, and a curses initialization
     routine such as initscr must be called before using any of these functions.
     To use the menu library, link with the options -lmenu -lcurses.

   Current Default Values for Item Attributes
     The menu library maintains a default value for item  attributes.	You  can
     get  or  set  this	 default by calling the appropriate get_ or set_ routine
     with a NULL item pointer.	Changing this default with a set_  function  af-
     fects future item creations, but does not change the rendering of items al-
     ready created.

   Routine Name Index
     The following table lists each menu routine and the name of the manual page
     on which it is described.

     L	L.   curses  Routine  Name Manual  Page Name _ current_item   mitem_cur-
     rent(3X)		free_item mitem_new(3X)		  free_menu menu_new(3X)
     item_count	    menu_items(3X)  item_description	mitem_name(3X)	item_in-
     dex     mitem_current(3X) item_init menu_hook(3X)	item_name mitem_name(3X)
     item_opts mitem_opts(3X)			   item_opts_off  mitem_opts(3X)
     item_opts_on   mitem_opts(3X)			 item_term menu_hook(3X)
     item_userptr   mitem_userptr(3X)  item_value     mitem_value(3X) item_visi-
     ble   mitem_visible(3X)	   menu_back menu_attributes(3X)       menu_dri-
     ver    menu_driver(3X)	   menu_fore menu_attributes(3X)       menu_for-
     mat    menu_format(3X)			   menu_grey menu_attributes(3X)
     menu_init menu_hook(3X)			   menu_items	  menu_items(3X)
     menu_mark menu_mark(3X)				 menu_opts menu_opts(3X)
     menu_opts_off  menu_opts(3X)		    menu_opts_on   menu_opts(3X)
     menu_pad  menu_attributes(3X)   menu_pattern   menu_pattern(3X)	menu_re-
     quest_by_name     menu_requestname(3X)    menu_request_name   menu_request-
     name(3X)	    menu_spacing   menu_spacing(3X)	  menu_sub  menu_win(3X)
     menu_term menu_hook(3X)			 menu_userptr	menu_userptr(3X)
     menu_win  menu_win(3X)    new_item	 mitem_new(3X)	  new_menu  menu_new(3X)
     pos_menu_cursor	 menu_cursor(3X)		 post_menu menu_post(3X)
     scale_menu	    menu_win(3X)	   set_current_item    mitem_current(3X)
     set_item_init  menu_hook(3X)		   set_item_opts  mitem_opts(3X)
     set_item_term  menu_hook(3X)	   set_item_userptr    mitem_userptr(3X)
     set_item_value mitem_value(3X)	      set_menu_back  menu_attributes(3X)
     set_menu_fore  menu_attributes(3X)	     set_menu_format	 menu_format(3X)
     set_menu_grey  menu_attributes(3X)		    set_menu_init  menu_hook(3X)
     set_menu_items menu_items(3X)		    set_menu_mark  menu_mark(3X)
     set_menu_opts  mitem_opts(3X)	      set_menu_pad   menu_attributes(3X)
     set_menu_pattern	 menu_pattern(3X)   set_menu_spacing	menu_spacing(3X)
     set_menu_sub   menu_win(3X)		    set_menu_term  menu_hook(3X)
     set_menu_userptr	 menu_userptr(3X)	     set_menu_win   menu_win(3X)
     set_top_row    mitem_current(3X)	    top_row   mitem_current(3X)	     un-
     post_menu	  menu_post(3X)

RETURN VALUE
     Routines that return pointers return NULL on error.  Routines  that  return
     an integer return one of the following error codes:

     E_OK
	  The routine succeeded.

     E_BAD_ARGUMENT
	  Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.

     E_BAD_STATE
	  Routine was called from an initialization or termination function.

     E_NO_MATCH
	  Character failed to match.

     E_NO_ROOM
	  Menu is too large for its window.

     E_NOT_CONNECTED
	  No items are connected to the menu.

     E_NOT_POSTED
	  The menu has not been posted.

     E_NOT_SELECTABLE
	  The designated item cannot be selected.

     E_POSTED
	  The menu is already posted.

     E_REQUEST_DENIED
	  The menu driver could not process the request.

     E_SYSTEM_ERROR
	  System error occurred (see errno(3)).

     E_UNKNOWN_COMMAND
	  The menu driver code saw an unknown request code.

NOTES
     The header file menu.h itself includes the header file curses.h.

PORTABILITY
     These  routines emulate the System V menu library.	 They were not supported
     on Version 7 or BSD versions.

     A menu facility was documented in SVr4.2's Character  User	 Interface  Pro-
     gramming document.

     It is not part of X/Open Curses.

     Aside from ncurses, there are few implementations:

     *	 systems based on SVr4 source code, e.g., Solaris.

     *	 NetBSD curses.

AUTHORS
     Juergen  Pfeifer.	 Manual pages and adaptation for ncurses by Eric S. Ray-
     mond.

SEE ALSO
     curses(3X) and related pages whose names begin  "menu_"  for  detailed  de-
     scriptions of the entry points.

ncurses 6.6			   2025-11-11				menu(3X)