term.h

Single-header C library for simple terminal UIs with colored cell rendering and keyboard input.

Features

• Single-header distribution in term.h
• Colored cell-based rendering with diffed screen updates
• Keyboard input helpers for arrows, home/end, insert/delete, page keys, function keys, and modifier-aware input
• Terminal resize event support via TKEY_RESIZE
• Works on Win32 consoles and Unix-like terminals

Files

• term.h: library interface and implementation
• term_example.c: small demo program
• build.bat: builds the Windows example with gcc
• build_wsl.bat: builds the example inside WSL (testing unix backend)

Quick Start

In exactly one .c file:

#define TIMPLEMENTATION
#include "term.h"

In other translation units:

#include "term.h"

Notes

• Text APIs use wchar_t and wide string literals like L"text".
• Colors are packed with TRGBA(r, g, b, a) as 0xRRGGBBAA. Alpha is preserved in the color value and currently ignored by terminal rendering.
• Use tdefaultfg() and tdefaultbg() when you want to render with the terminal's current default colors.
• The terminal backend expects a real console/TTY, not redirected stdin/stdout.
• twait() and tpoll() return the base key code. Call tkeymods() after each returned key to inspect TKEY_MOD_SHIFT, TKEY_MOD_ALT, and TKEY_MOD_CTRL.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.