menu_mark(3X)

📦
version 6.6_p20260516 · 6 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, fedora 44

okay bestie, pull up a chair because we're talking about the menu library's literal Library calls today and honestly? it's giving underrated icon behavior 💅

🎀 NAME 🎀

set_menu_mark, menu_mark — get and set the menu mark string, no cap ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <menu.h>

int set_menu_mark(MENU *menu, const char *mark);
const char *menu_mark(const MENU *menu);

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the vibe: back in the day, older terminals didn't have highlighting or color capability 😭 and like, how is anyone supposed to see which menu item is selected?? so the menu library marks selected items in a menu with a prefix string. that's it. that's the whole girlboss strategy. 🫶

the function set_menu_mark sets the mark string for the given menu. and listen — calling set_menu_mark with a null menu item will abolish the mark string entirely. gone. bye. 🦋

⚠️ note that changing the length of the mark string for a menu while the menu is posted is likely to produce unhelpful behavior. not me warning you about undefined-ish chaos 👀 just don't do it bestie.

the default string is "-" (a dash). iconic, minimal, classic. calling set_menu_mark with a non-NULL menu argument will change this default. ✨

the function menu_mark returns the menu's mark string (or NULL if there is none). simple as that, fr fr. 💜

🌈 RETURN VALUE 🌈

the function menu_mark returns a pointer (which may be NULL). it does not set errno. 🧚

the function set_menu_mark may return the following error codes:

  • E_OK — the routine succeeded. slay! 👑
  • E_BAD_ARGUMENT — routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument. 😭
  • E_SYSTEM_ERROR — system error occurred (see errno(3)). 💀

🦋 PORTABILITY 🦋

these routines emulate the System V menu library. they were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions. so like, if you're on ancient BSD... it's giving nothing, sorry babe 🙈

💜 AUTHORS 💜

Juergen Pfeifer. manual pages and adaptation for new curses by Eric S. Raymond. legends, honestly. ✨

🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

  • curses(3X)
  • menu(3X)

and that's the whole page bestie, mwah 💖 this was the ncurses 6.6 era of these docs, dated 2024-12-28, so go forth and mark your menus with main character energy 🌸✨

📦 where this page comes from