     libtecla(3)                                                     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 available externally for optional use by the
          calling program.

          The various parts of the library are documented in the following man
          pages:

            gl_get_line(3)        -  The interactive line-input module.
            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.

     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
          completion 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.

                                        - 1 -           Formatted:  May 23, 2001

     libtecla(3)                                                     libtecla(3)

     TRIVIA
          In Spanish, "teclas" are the keys of a keyboard. Since this library
          centers on keyboard input, and given that I wrote 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), ef_expand_file(3), cpl_complete_word(3),
          pca_lookup_file(3)

     AUTHOR
          Martin Shepherd  (mcs@astro.caltech.edu)

                                        - 2 -           Formatted:  May 23, 2001