addstr(3NCURSES)

💅 addstr — bestie's guide to yeeting a string into a window ✨

okay so this is from the ncurses manual, section 3, and it's literally all about the addstr girlies. library calls, no cap. 🎀

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🌸 NAME 🌸

addstr, waddstr, mvaddstr, mvwaddstr, addnstr, waddnstr, mvaddnstr, mvwaddnstr — they add a string to a curses window and then the cursor moves on with its life, main character behavior honestly 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <curses.h>

int addstr(const char * str);
int waddstr(WINDOW * win, const char * str);
int mvaddstr(int y, int x, const char * str);
int mvwaddstr(WINDOW * win, int y, int x, const char * str);

int addnstr(const char * str, int n);
int waddnstr(WINDOW * win, const char * str, int n);
int mvaddnstr(int y, int x, const char * str, int n);
int mvwaddnstr(WINDOW * win, int y, int x, const char * str, int n);

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🫶 DESCRIPTION 🫶

so waddstr writes the characters of the (null-terminated) string str into the window win, and it does it as if it were calling waddch(3NCURSES) for every single char in str. one by one. devoted. 💖

waddnstr is the same vibe but it writes at most n characters. and if n is -1? then waddnstr just writes the whole entire string, no restraint, iconic. 👑

and if you wanna know about the variants of these functions, that's ncurses(3NCURSES)'s whole job, she explains it. ✨

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💀 RETURN VALUE 💀

these functions hand you back OK when it works and ERR when it does not. that's it, that's the whole range. 😭

in ncurses, these functions fail if:

• the curses screen has not been initialized 🙈
• str is a null pointer
• (for the functions that take a WINDOW pointer argument) win is a null pointer
• an internal waddch(3NCURSES) call returns ERR

and the ones prefixed with “mv” do a cursor movement first, and they fail if the position (y, x) is outside the window boundaries. like bestie you cannot be somewhere you cannot be. 💅

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👀 NOTES 👀

all of these functions except waddnstr may be implemented as macros. iykyk. 🧚

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🌈 PORTABILITY 🌈

X/Open Curses Issue 4 describes these functions. and it specifies no error conditions for them. none. zero. wild.

SVr4 describes a successful return value only as “an integer value other than ERR”. that's the whole description. so unserious of them. 🍓

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⭐ HISTORY ⭐

4BSD (1980) introduced waddstr along with its variants, and the variants were defined as macros.

SVr3.1 (1987) added waddnstr (and its variants) and redefined waddstr as a macro wrapping it. glow-up era fr fr. ✨

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🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

• addwstr(3NCURSES) — describes comparable functions of the ncurses library in its wide-character configuration (ncursesw). 💜
• ncurses(3NCURSES)
• addch(3NCURSES)
• addchstr(3NCURSES)

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ok that's the whole page bestie, go forth and addstr responsibly 🫶

ncurses 6.6 🌸 2025-10-20 🌸 addstr(3NCURSES) — mwah, take care of her 💖