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  sup-
     ports  recall  of previously entered command lines, TAB com-
     pletion 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  fol-
     lowing 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  ~user-
     name/  expressions  is disabled. This doesn't disable expan-
     sion 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.


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 suit-
     able 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)