man7.org > Linux > man-pages

Linux/UNIX system programming training

menu_win(3x) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | PORTABILITY | AUTHORS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON 

menu_win(3X)                  Library calls                  menu_win(3X)

NAME         top

       menu_win - make and break menu window and subwindow associations

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <menu.h>

       int set_menu_win(MENU *menu, WINDOW *win);
       WINDOW *menu_win(const MENU *menu);

       int set_menu_sub(MENU *menu, WINDOW *sub);
       WINDOW *menu_sub(const MENU *menu);

       int scale_menu(const MENU *menu, int *rows, int *columns);

DESCRIPTION         top

       Every menu has an associated pair of curses windows.  The menu
       window displays any title and border associated with the window;
       the menu subwindow displays the items of the menu that are
       currently available for selection.

       The first four functions get and set those windows.  It is not
       necessary to set either window; by default, the driver code uses
       stdscr for both.

       In the set_ functions, window argument of NULL is treated as
       though it were stsdcr.  A menu argument of NULL is treated as a
       request to change the system default menu window or subwindow.

       The function scale_menu returns the minimum size required for the
       subwindow of menu.

RETURN VALUE         top

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

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

       E_POSTED
            The menu has already been posted.

       E_NOT_CONNECTED
            No items are connected to the menu.

PORTABILITY         top

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

AUTHORS         top

       Juergen Pfeifer.  Manual pages and adaptation for new curses by
       Eric S. Raymond.

SEE ALSO         top

       curses(3X), curs_variables(3X), menu(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
       page, or you have corrections or improvements to the information
       in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page),
       send a mail to man-pages@man7.org

ncurses @NCURSES_MAJOR@.@NCU... 2024-12-28                   menu_win(3X)

HTML rendering created 2026-01-16 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface.

For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here.

Hosting by jambit GmbH.

Cover of TLPI