Every menu has a pattern buffer to match entered data with menu items. set_menu_pattern() sets the pattern buffer to pat and tries to find the first item that matches the pattern. If it does, the matching item becomes the current item. If not, the current item does not change. menu_pattern() returns the string in the pattern buffer of menu.

menu_pattern() returns NULL on error. set_menu_pattern() returns one of the following:

E_OK

The routine returned successfully.

E_SYSTEM_ERROR

System error.

E_BAD_ARGUMENT

An incorrect argument was passed to the routine.

E_NO_MATCH

The character failed to match.

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

curses(3CURSES), menus(3CURSES), attributes(5)

The header <menu.h> automatically includes the headers <eti.h> and <curses.h>.