DOKK / manpages / debian 10 / ncurses-doc / new_item.3menu.en
menu_new(3MENU) menu_new(3MENU)

new_item, free_item - create and destroy menu items

#include <menu.h>
ITEM *new_item(const char *name, const char *description);
int free_item(ITEM *item);

The function new_item allocates a new item and initializes it from the name and description pointers. Please notice that the item stores only the pointers to the name and description. Those pointers must be valid during the lifetime of the item. So you should be very careful with names or descriptions allocated on the stack of some routines.
The function free_item de-allocates an item. Please notice that it is the responsibility of the application to release the memory for the name or the description of the item.

The function new_item returns NULL on error. It sets errno according to the function's failure:

Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.
System error occurred, e.g., malloc failure.

The function free_item returns one of the following:

The routine succeeded.
Routine detected an incorrect or out-of-range argument.
Item is connected to a menu.
System error occurred (see errno).

ncurses(3NCURSES), menu(3MENU).

The header file <menu.h> automatically includes the header file <curses.h>.

These routines emulate the System V menu library. They were not supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.

Juergen Pfeifer. Manual pages and adaptation for new curses by Eric S. Raymond.