print(3NCURSES)

💖 print(3NCURSES) 💖

okay bestie, so this one is print(3NCURSES) from the library calls girlies — it's the manual page for mcprint, and yes it's as niche as it sounds but we're gonna slay it anyway. printer-core. let's go 🎀

---

✨ NAME ✨

mcprint — write binary data to printer using terminfo capabilities 🖨️✨

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <curses.h>

int mcprint(char * data, int len);

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one function, two args, no drama 💅

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like. mcprint is an ncurses extension to the curses library, and what it does is it takes the terminal's media copy capabilities — either prtr_non (mc5p) or prtr_on (mc5), plus prtr_off (mc4) — if those are actually defined, bestie, that's a big if — and uses them to send len bytes of the given string data to a printer attached to the terminal. that's the whole mission. iconic honestly 🫶

⚠️ and now the part where we all hold hands: mcprint has no means of flow control to the printer and no way of knowing how much buffering it has. none. zero. it's flying blind, babe 😭

so your application is the one responsible for keeping the rate of writes to the printer below its continuous throughput rate — typically about half of its nominal characters-per-second (cps) rating. that's the safe zone. that's the vibe check that keeps your printer from having a meltdown 💀

for reference: dot-matrix printers and 6-page-per-minute laser printers can typically handle 80 cps, so a conservative rule of thumb is to sleep for one second after sending an 80-character line. yes really. go take a lil nap between lines. self care 💜

---

🌈 RETURN VALUE 🌈

• on success — mcprint returns the number of characters sent to the printer. yay, a count! it's giving accountability ✨
• ERR — returned if the write operation fails for any reason. any. at all. no explanation beyond what's below.

and in that ERR event, errno contains either a value set by write(2), or one of these two lil guys:

• ENODEV — the terminal lacks the relevant media copy capabilities. no printer capabilities, no printer service, sorry bestie 🙈
• ENOMEM — ncurses could not allocate sufficient memory to buffer the write operation. it tried, it really did, the memory just wasn't there 😭

---

👑 EXTENSIONS 👑

mcprint is an ncurses(3NCURSES) extension, and is not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous curses implementation. it's an ncurses exclusive, a limited edition, one of one 🎀

---

💜 PORTABILITY 💜

applications employing this ncurses extension should condition its use on the visibility of the NCURSES_VERSION preprocessor macro. like, peek before you leap, girl. check that the macro exists before you go calling mcprint and embarrassing yourself on a system that has never heard of it 💅

---

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

ncurses introduced mcprint prior to version 1.9.9g (1996). so this function is literally older than most of us and it's still out here doing printer things. respect the elders 🫶

---

💀 BUGS 💀

padding in the prtr_non (mc5p), prtr_on (mc5), and prtr_off (mc4) capabilities is not interpreted. like, it's just... there. unread. ignored. the padding is being ghosted fr fr 👻

---

🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

• ncurses(3NCURSES)

---

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this manual came to you courtesy of ncurses 6.6, dated 2025-02-15 — yeah it's a fresh one, we stay current ✨ go forth and print responsibly, sleep your 80-char lines, check your NCURSES_VERSION macro, and remember: no flow control, no buffering knowledge, no cap 💖🎀🦋