This is libc.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.2 from libc.texinfo.

INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU libraries
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Libc: (libc).                 C library.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents the GNU C library.

   This is Edition 0.10, last updated 2001-07-06, of `The GNU C Library
Reference Manual', for Version 2.3.x.

   Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being "Free Software Needs Free Documentation" and
"GNU Lesser General Public License", the Front-Cover texts being (a)
(see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts being (b) (see below).  A
copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
Documentation License".

   (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:

   A GNU Manual

   (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:

   You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
software.  Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
funds for GNU development.


File: libc.info,  Node: Table of Output Conversions,  Next: Integer Conversions,  Prev: Output Conversion Syntax,  Up: Formatted Output

Table of Output Conversions
---------------------------

   Here is a table summarizing what all the different conversions do:

`%d', `%i'
     Print an integer as a signed decimal number.  *Note Integer
     Conversions::, for details.  `%d' and `%i' are synonymous for
     output, but are different when used with `scanf' for input (*note
     Table of Input Conversions::).

`%o'
     Print an integer as an unsigned octal number.  *Note Integer
     Conversions::, for details.

`%u'
     Print an integer as an unsigned decimal number.  *Note Integer
     Conversions::, for details.

`%x', `%X'
     Print an integer as an unsigned hexadecimal number.  `%x' uses
     lower-case letters and `%X' uses upper-case.  *Note Integer
     Conversions::, for details.

`%f'
     Print a floating-point number in normal (fixed-point) notation.
     *Note Floating-Point Conversions::, for details.

`%e', `%E'
     Print a floating-point number in exponential notation.  `%e' uses
     lower-case letters and `%E' uses upper-case.  *Note Floating-Point
     Conversions::, for details.

`%g', `%G'
     Print a floating-point number in either normal or exponential
     notation, whichever is more appropriate for its magnitude.  `%g'
     uses lower-case letters and `%G' uses upper-case.  *Note
     Floating-Point Conversions::, for details.

`%a', `%A'
     Print a floating-point number in a hexadecimal fractional notation
     which the exponent to base 2 represented in decimal digits.  `%a'
     uses lower-case letters and `%A' uses upper-case.  *Note
     Floating-Point Conversions::, for details.

`%c'
     Print a single character.  *Note Other Output Conversions::.

`%C'
     This is an alias for `%lc' which is supported for compatibility
     with the Unix standard.

`%s'
     Print a string.  *Note Other Output Conversions::.

`%S'
     This is an alias for `%ls' which is supported for compatibility
     with the Unix standard.

`%p'
     Print the value of a pointer.  *Note Other Output Conversions::.

`%n'
     Get the number of characters printed so far.  *Note Other Output
     Conversions::.  Note that this conversion specification never
     produces any output.

`%m'
     Print the string corresponding to the value of `errno'.  (This is
     a GNU extension.)  *Note Other Output Conversions::.

`%%'
     Print a literal `%' character.  *Note Other Output Conversions::.

   If the syntax of a conversion specification is invalid, unpredictable
things will happen, so don't do this.  If there aren't enough function
arguments provided to supply values for all the conversion
specifications in the template string, or if the arguments are not of
the correct types, the results are unpredictable.  If you supply more
arguments than conversion specifications, the extra argument values are
simply ignored; this is sometimes useful.


File: libc.info,  Node: Integer Conversions,  Next: Floating-Point Conversions,  Prev: Table of Output Conversions,  Up: Formatted Output

Integer Conversions
-------------------

   This section describes the options for the `%d', `%i', `%o', `%u',
`%x', and `%X' conversion specifications.  These conversions print
integers in various formats.

   The `%d' and `%i' conversion specifications both print an `int'
argument as a signed decimal number; while `%o', `%u', and `%x' print
the argument as an unsigned octal, decimal, or hexadecimal number
(respectively).  The `%X' conversion specification is just like `%x'
except that it uses the characters `ABCDEF' as digits instead of
`abcdef'.

   The following flags are meaningful:

`-'
     Left-justify the result in the field (instead of the normal
     right-justification).

`+'
     For the signed `%d' and `%i' conversions, print a plus sign if the
     value is positive.

` '
     For the signed `%d' and `%i' conversions, if the result doesn't
     start with a plus or minus sign, prefix it with a space character
     instead.  Since the `+' flag ensures that the result includes a
     sign, this flag is ignored if you supply both of them.

`#'
     For the `%o' conversion, this forces the leading digit to be `0',
     as if by increasing the precision.  For `%x' or `%X', this
     prefixes a leading `0x' or `0X' (respectively) to the result.
     This doesn't do anything useful for the `%d', `%i', or `%u'
     conversions.  Using this flag produces output which can be parsed
     by the `strtoul' function (*note Parsing of Integers::) and
     `scanf' with the `%i' conversion (*note Numeric Input
     Conversions::).

`''
     Separate the digits into groups as specified by the locale
     specified for the `LC_NUMERIC' category; *note General Numeric::.
     This flag is a GNU extension.

`0'
     Pad the field with zeros instead of spaces.  The zeros are placed
     after any indication of sign or base.  This flag is ignored if the
     `-' flag is also specified, or if a precision is specified.

   If a precision is supplied, it specifies the minimum number of
digits to appear; leading zeros are produced if necessary.  If you
don't specify a precision, the number is printed with as many digits as
it needs.  If you convert a value of zero with an explicit precision of
zero, then no characters at all are produced.

   Without a type modifier, the corresponding argument is treated as an
`int' (for the signed conversions `%i' and `%d') or `unsigned int' (for
the unsigned conversions `%o', `%u', `%x', and `%X').  Recall that
since `printf' and friends are variadic, any `char' and `short'
arguments are automatically converted to `int' by the default argument
promotions.  For arguments of other integer types, you can use these
modifiers:

`hh'
     Specifies that the argument is a `signed char' or `unsigned char',
     as appropriate.  A `char' argument is converted to an `int' or
     `unsigned int' by the default argument promotions anyway, but the
     `h' modifier says to convert it back to a `char' again.

     This modifier was introduced in ISO C99.

`h'
     Specifies that the argument is a `short int' or `unsigned short
     int', as appropriate.  A `short' argument is converted to an `int'
     or `unsigned int' by the default argument promotions anyway, but
     the `h' modifier says to convert it back to a `short' again.

`j'
     Specifies that the argument is a `intmax_t' or `uintmax_t', as
     appropriate.

     This modifier was introduced in ISO C99.

`l'
     Specifies that the argument is a `long int' or `unsigned long
     int', as appropriate.  Two `l' characters is like the `L'
     modifier, below.

     If used with `%c' or `%s' the corresponding parameter is
     considered as a wide character or wide character string
     respectively.  This use of `l' was introduced in Amendment 1 to
     ISO C90.

`L'
`ll'
`q'
     Specifies that the argument is a `long long int'.  (This type is
     an extension supported by the GNU C compiler.  On systems that
     don't support extra-long integers, this is the same as `long int'.)

     The `q' modifier is another name for the same thing, which comes
     from 4.4 BSD; a `long long int' is sometimes called a "quad" `int'.

`t'
     Specifies that the argument is a `ptrdiff_t'.

     This modifier was introduced in ISO C99.

`z'
`Z'
     Specifies that the argument is a `size_t'.

     `z' was introduced in ISO C99.  `Z' is a GNU extension predating
     this addition and should not be used in new code.

   Here is an example.  Using the template string:

     "|%5d|%-5d|%+5d|%+-5d|% 5d|%05d|%5.0d|%5.2d|%d|\n"

to print numbers using the different options for the `%d' conversion
gives results like:

     |    0|0    |   +0|+0   |    0|00000|     |   00|0|
     |    1|1    |   +1|+1   |    1|00001|    1|   01|1|
     |   -1|-1   |   -1|-1   |   -1|-0001|   -1|  -01|-1|
     |100000|100000|+100000|+100000| 100000|100000|100000|100000|100000|

   In particular, notice what happens in the last case where the number
is too large to fit in the minimum field width specified.

   Here are some more examples showing how unsigned integers print under
various format options, using the template string:

     "|%5u|%5o|%5x|%5X|%#5o|%#5x|%#5X|%#10.8x|\n"

     |    0|    0|    0|    0|    0|    0|    0|  00000000|
     |    1|    1|    1|    1|   01|  0x1|  0X1|0x00000001|
     |100000|303240|186a0|186A0|0303240|0x186a0|0X186A0|0x000186a0|


File: libc.info,  Node: Floating-Point Conversions,  Next: Other Output Conversions,  Prev: Integer Conversions,  Up: Formatted Output

Floating-Point Conversions
--------------------------

   This section discusses the conversion specifications for
floating-point numbers: the `%f', `%e', `%E', `%g', and `%G'
conversions.

   The `%f' conversion prints its argument in fixed-point notation,
producing output of the form [`-']DDD`.'DDD, where the number of digits
following the decimal point is controlled by the precision you specify.

   The `%e' conversion prints its argument in exponential notation,
producing output of the form [`-']D`.'DDD`e'[`+'|`-']DD.  Again, the
number of digits following the decimal point is controlled by the
precision.  The exponent always contains at least two digits.  The `%E'
conversion is similar but the exponent is marked with the letter `E'
instead of `e'.

   The `%g' and `%G' conversions print the argument in the style of
`%e' or `%E' (respectively) if the exponent would be less than -4 or
greater than or equal to the precision; otherwise they use the `%f'
style.  A precision of `0', is taken as 1. is Trailing zeros are
removed from the fractional portion of the result and a decimal-point
character appears only if it is followed by a digit.

   The `%a' and `%A' conversions are meant for representing
floating-point numbers exactly in textual form so that they can be
exchanged as texts between different programs and/or machines.  The
numbers are represented is the form [`-']`0x'H`.'HHH`p'[`+'|`-']DD.  At
the left of the decimal-point character exactly one digit is print.
This character is only `0' if the number is denormalized.  Otherwise
the value is unspecified; it is implementation dependent how many bits
are used.  The number of hexadecimal digits on the right side of the
decimal-point character is equal to the precision.  If the precision is
zero it is determined to be large enough to provide an exact
representation of the number (or it is large enough to distinguish two
adjacent values if the `FLT_RADIX' is not a power of 2, *note Floating
Point Parameters::).  For the `%a' conversion lower-case characters are
used to represent the hexadecimal number and the prefix and exponent
sign are printed as `0x' and `p' respectively.  Otherwise upper-case
characters are used and `0X' and `P' are used for the representation of
prefix and exponent string.  The exponent to the base of two is printed
as a decimal number using at least one digit but at most as many digits
as necessary to represent the value exactly.

   If the value to be printed represents infinity or a NaN, the output
is [`-']`inf' or `nan' respectively if the conversion specifier is
`%a', `%e', `%f', or `%g' and it is [`-']`INF' or `NAN' respectively if
the conversion is `%A', `%E', or `%G'.

   The following flags can be used to modify the behavior:

`-'
     Left-justify the result in the field.  Normally the result is
     right-justified.

`+'
     Always include a plus or minus sign in the result.

` '
     If the result doesn't start with a plus or minus sign, prefix it
     with a space instead.  Since the `+' flag ensures that the result
     includes a sign, this flag is ignored if you supply both of them.

`#'
     Specifies that the result should always include a decimal point,
     even if no digits follow it.  For the `%g' and `%G' conversions,
     this also forces trailing zeros after the decimal point to be left
     in place where they would otherwise be removed.

`''
     Separate the digits of the integer part of the result into groups
     as specified by the locale specified for the `LC_NUMERIC' category;
     *note General Numeric::.  This flag is a GNU extension.

`0'
     Pad the field with zeros instead of spaces; the zeros are placed
     after any sign.  This flag is ignored if the `-' flag is also
     specified.

   The precision specifies how many digits follow the decimal-point
character for the `%f', `%e', and `%E' conversions.  For these
conversions, the default precision is `6'.  If the precision is
explicitly `0', this suppresses the decimal point character entirely.
For the `%g' and `%G' conversions, the precision specifies how many
significant digits to print.  Significant digits are the first digit
before the decimal point, and all the digits after it.  If the
precision is `0' or not specified for `%g' or `%G', it is treated like
a value of `1'.  If the value being printed cannot be expressed
accurately in the specified number of digits, the value is rounded to
the nearest number that fits.

   Without a type modifier, the floating-point conversions use an
argument of type `double'.  (By the default argument promotions, any
`float' arguments are automatically converted to `double'.)  The
following type modifier is supported:

`L'
     An uppercase `L' specifies that the argument is a `long double'.

   Here are some examples showing how numbers print using the various
floating-point conversions.  All of the numbers were printed using this
template string:

     "|%13.4a|%13.4f|%13.4e|%13.4g|\n"

   Here is the output:

     |  0x0.0000p+0|       0.0000|   0.0000e+00|            0|
     |  0x1.0000p-1|       0.5000|   5.0000e-01|          0.5|
     |  0x1.0000p+0|       1.0000|   1.0000e+00|            1|
     | -0x1.0000p+0|      -1.0000|  -1.0000e+00|           -1|
     |  0x1.9000p+6|     100.0000|   1.0000e+02|          100|
     |  0x1.f400p+9|    1000.0000|   1.0000e+03|         1000|
     | 0x1.3880p+13|   10000.0000|   1.0000e+04|        1e+04|
     | 0x1.81c8p+13|   12345.0000|   1.2345e+04|    1.234e+04|
     | 0x1.86a0p+16|  100000.0000|   1.0000e+05|        1e+05|
     | 0x1.e240p+16|  123456.0000|   1.2346e+05|    1.235e+05|

   Notice how the `%g' conversion drops trailing zeros.


File: libc.info,  Node: Other Output Conversions,  Next: Formatted Output Functions,  Prev: Floating-Point Conversions,  Up: Formatted Output

Other Output Conversions
------------------------

   This section describes miscellaneous conversions for `printf'.

   The `%c' conversion prints a single character.  In case there is no
`l' modifier the `int' argument is first converted to an `unsigned
char'.  Then, if used in a wide stream function, the character is
converted into the corresponding wide character.  The `-' flag can be
used to specify left-justification in the field, but no other flags are
defined, and no precision or type modifier can be given.  For example:

     printf ("%c%c%c%c%c", 'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o');

prints `hello'.

   If there is a `l' modifier present the argument is expected to be of
type `wint_t'.  If used in a multibyte function the wide character is
converted into a multibyte character before being added to the output.
In this case more than one output byte can be produced.

   The `%s' conversion prints a string.  If no `l' modifier is present
the corresponding argument must be of type `char *' (or `const char
*').  If used in a wide stream function the string is first converted
in a wide character string.  A precision can be specified to indicate
the maximum number of characters to write; otherwise characters in the
string up to but not including the terminating null character are
written to the output stream.  The `-' flag can be used to specify
left-justification in the field, but no other flags or type modifiers
are defined for this conversion.  For example:

     printf ("%3s%-6s", "no", "where");

prints ` nowhere '.

   If there is a `l' modifier present the argument is expected to be of
type `wchar_t' (or `const wchar_t *').

   If you accidentally pass a null pointer as the argument for a `%s'
conversion, the GNU library prints it as `(null)'.  We think this is
more useful than crashing.  But it's not good practice to pass a null
argument intentionally.

   The `%m' conversion prints the string corresponding to the error
code in `errno'.  *Note Error Messages::.  Thus:

     fprintf (stderr, "can't open `%s': %m\n", filename);

is equivalent to:

     fprintf (stderr, "can't open `%s': %s\n", filename, strerror (errno));

The `%m' conversion is a GNU C library extension.

   The `%p' conversion prints a pointer value.  The corresponding
argument must be of type `void *'.  In practice, you can use any type
of pointer.

   In the GNU system, non-null pointers are printed as unsigned
integers, as if a `%#x' conversion were used.  Null pointers print as
`(nil)'.  (Pointers might print differently in other systems.)

   For example:

     printf ("%p", "testing");

prints `0x' followed by a hexadecimal number--the address of the string
constant `"testing"'.  It does not print the word `testing'.

   You can supply the `-' flag with the `%p' conversion to specify
left-justification, but no other flags, precision, or type modifiers
are defined.

   The `%n' conversion is unlike any of the other output conversions.
It uses an argument which must be a pointer to an `int', but instead of
printing anything it stores the number of characters printed so far by
this call at that location.  The `h' and `l' type modifiers are
permitted to specify that the argument is of type `short int *' or
`long int *' instead of `int *', but no flags, field width, or
precision are permitted.

   For example,

     int nchar;
     printf ("%d %s%n\n", 3, "bears", &nchar);

prints:

     3 bears

and sets `nchar' to `7', because `3 bears' is seven characters.

   The `%%' conversion prints a literal `%' character.  This conversion
doesn't use an argument, and no flags, field width, precision, or type
modifiers are permitted.


File: libc.info,  Node: Formatted Output Functions,  Next: Dynamic Output,  Prev: Other Output Conversions,  Up: Formatted Output

Formatted Output Functions
--------------------------

   This section describes how to call `printf' and related functions.
Prototypes for these functions are in the header file `stdio.h'.
Because these functions take a variable number of arguments, you _must_
declare prototypes for them before using them.  Of course, the easiest
way to make sure you have all the right prototypes is to just include
`stdio.h'.

 - Function: int printf (const char *TEMPLATE, ...)
     The `printf' function prints the optional arguments under the
     control of the template string TEMPLATE to the stream `stdout'.
     It returns the number of characters printed, or a negative value
     if there was an output error.

 - Function: int wprintf (const wchar_t *TEMPLATE, ...)
     The `wprintf' function prints the optional arguments under the
     control of the wide template string TEMPLATE to the stream
     `stdout'.  It returns the number of wide characters printed, or a
     negative value if there was an output error.

 - Function: int fprintf (FILE *STREAM, const char *TEMPLATE, ...)
     This function is just like `printf', except that the output is
     written to the stream STREAM instead of `stdout'.

 - Function: int fwprintf (FILE *STREAM, const wchar_t *TEMPLATE, ...)
     This function is just like `wprintf', except that the output is
     written to the stream STREAM instead of `stdout'.

 - Function: int sprintf (char *S, const char *TEMPLATE, ...)
     This is like `printf', except that the output is stored in the
     character array S instead of written to a stream.  A null
     character is written to mark the end of the string.

     The `sprintf' function returns the number of characters stored in
     the array S, not including the terminating null character.

     The behavior of this function is undefined if copying takes place
     between objects that overlap--for example, if S is also given as
     an argument to be printed under control of the `%s' conversion.
     *Note Copying and Concatenation::.

     *Warning:* The `sprintf' function can be *dangerous* because it
     can potentially output more characters than can fit in the
     allocation size of the string S.  Remember that the field width
     given in a conversion specification is only a _minimum_ value.

     To avoid this problem, you can use `snprintf' or `asprintf',
     described below.

 - Function: int swprintf (wchar_t *S, size_t SIZE, const wchar_t
          *TEMPLATE, ...)
     This is like `wprintf', except that the output is stored in the
     wide character array WS instead of written to a stream.  A null
     wide character is written to mark the end of the string.  The SIZE
     argument specifies the maximum number of characters to produce.
     The trailing null character is counted towards this limit, so you
     should allocate at least SIZE wide characters for the string WS.

     The return value is the number of characters generated for the
     given input, excluding the trailing null.  If not all output fits
     into the provided buffer a negative value is returned.  You should
     try again with a bigger output string.  _Note:_ this is different
     from how `snprintf' handles this situation.

     Note that the corresponding narrow stream function takes fewer
     parameters.  `swprintf' in fact corresponds to the `snprintf'
     function.  Since the `sprintf' function can be dangerous and should
     be avoided the ISO C committee refused to make the same mistake
     again and decided to not define an function exactly corresponding
     to `sprintf'.

 - Function: int snprintf (char *S, size_t SIZE, const char *TEMPLATE,
          ...)
     The `snprintf' function is similar to `sprintf', except that the
     SIZE argument specifies the maximum number of characters to
     produce.  The trailing null character is counted towards this
     limit, so you should allocate at least SIZE characters for the
     string S.

     The return value is the number of characters which would be
     generated for the given input, excluding the trailing null.  If
     this value is greater or equal to SIZE, not all characters from
     the result have been stored in S.  You should try again with a
     bigger output string.  Here is an example of doing this:

          /* Construct a message describing the value of a variable
             whose name is NAME and whose value is VALUE. */
          char *
          make_message (char *name, char *value)
          {
            /* Guess we need no more than 100 chars of space. */
            int size = 100;
            char *buffer = (char *) xmalloc (size);
            int nchars;
            if (buffer == NULL)
              return NULL;
          
           /* Try to print in the allocated space. */
            nchars = snprintf (buffer, size, "value of %s is %s",
                               name, value);
            if (nchars >= size)
              {
                /* Reallocate buffer now that we know
                   how much space is needed. */
                buffer = (char *) xrealloc (buffer, nchars + 1);
          
                if (buffer != NULL)
                  /* Try again. */
                  snprintf (buffer, size, "value of %s is %s",
                            name, value);
              }
            /* The last call worked, return the string. */
            return buffer;
          }

     In practice, it is often easier just to use `asprintf', below.

     *Attention:* In versions of the GNU C library prior to 2.1 the
     return value is the number of characters stored, not including the
     terminating null; unless there was not enough space in S to store
     the result in which case `-1' is returned.  This was changed in
     order to comply with the ISO C99 standard.


File: libc.info,  Node: Dynamic Output,  Next: Variable Arguments Output,  Prev: Formatted Output Functions,  Up: Formatted Output

Dynamically Allocating Formatted Output
---------------------------------------

   The functions in this section do formatted output and place the
results in dynamically allocated memory.

 - Function: int asprintf (char **PTR, const char *TEMPLATE, ...)
     This function is similar to `sprintf', except that it dynamically
     allocates a string (as with `malloc'; *note Unconstrained
     Allocation::) to hold the output, instead of putting the output in
     a buffer you allocate in advance.  The PTR argument should be the
     address of a `char *' object, and `asprintf' stores a pointer to
     the newly allocated string at that location.

     The return value is the number of characters allocated for the
     buffer, or less than zero if an error occurred. Usually this means
     that the buffer could not be allocated.

     Here is how to use `asprintf' to get the same result as the
     `snprintf' example, but more easily:

          /* Construct a message describing the value of a variable
             whose name is NAME and whose value is VALUE. */
          char *
          make_message (char *name, char *value)
          {
            char *result;
            if (asprintf (&result, "value of %s is %s", name, value) < 0)
              return NULL;
            return result;
          }

 - Function: int obstack_printf (struct obstack *OBSTACK, const char
          *TEMPLATE, ...)
     This function is similar to `asprintf', except that it uses the
     obstack OBSTACK to allocate the space.  *Note Obstacks::.

     The characters are written onto the end of the current object.  To
     get at them, you must finish the object with `obstack_finish'
     (*note Growing Objects::).


File: libc.info,  Node: Variable Arguments Output,  Next: Parsing a Template String,  Prev: Dynamic Output,  Up: Formatted Output

Variable Arguments Output Functions
-----------------------------------

   The functions `vprintf' and friends are provided so that you can
define your own variadic `printf'-like functions that make use of the
same internals as the built-in formatted output functions.

   The most natural way to define such functions would be to use a
language construct to say, "Call `printf' and pass this template plus
all of my arguments after the first five."  But there is no way to do
this in C, and it would be hard to provide a way, since at the C
language level there is no way to tell how many arguments your function
received.

   Since that method is impossible, we provide alternative functions,
the `vprintf' series, which lets you pass a `va_list' to describe "all
of my arguments after the first five."

   When it is sufficient to define a macro rather than a real function,
the GNU C compiler provides a way to do this much more easily with
macros.  For example:

     #define myprintf(a, b, c, d, e, rest...) \
                 printf (mytemplate , ## rest)

*Note Macros with Variable Numbers of Arguments: (gcc.info)Macro
Varargs, for details.  But this is limited to macros, and does not
apply to real functions at all.

   Before calling `vprintf' or the other functions listed in this
section, you _must_ call `va_start' (*note Variadic Functions::) to
initialize a pointer to the variable arguments.  Then you can call
`va_arg' to fetch the arguments that you want to handle yourself.  This
advances the pointer past those arguments.

   Once your `va_list' pointer is pointing at the argument of your
choice, you are ready to call `vprintf'.  That argument and all
subsequent arguments that were passed to your function are used by
`vprintf' along with the template that you specified separately.

   In some other systems, the `va_list' pointer may become invalid
after the call to `vprintf', so you must not use `va_arg' after you
call `vprintf'.  Instead, you should call `va_end' to retire the
pointer from service.  However, you can safely call `va_start' on
another pointer variable and begin fetching the arguments again through
that pointer.  Calling `vprintf' does not destroy the argument list of
your function, merely the particular pointer that you passed to it.

   GNU C does not have such restrictions.  You can safely continue to
fetch arguments from a `va_list' pointer after passing it to `vprintf',
and `va_end' is a no-op.  (Note, however, that subsequent `va_arg'
calls will fetch the same arguments which `vprintf' previously used.)

   Prototypes for these functions are declared in `stdio.h'.

 - Function: int vprintf (const char *TEMPLATE, va_list AP)
     This function is similar to `printf' except that, instead of taking
     a variable number of arguments directly, it takes an argument list
     pointer AP.

 - Function: int vwprintf (const wchar_t *TEMPLATE, va_list AP)
     This function is similar to `wprintf' except that, instead of
     taking a variable number of arguments directly, it takes an
     argument list pointer AP.

 - Function: int vfprintf (FILE *STREAM, const char *TEMPLATE, va_list
          AP)
     This is the equivalent of `fprintf' with the variable argument list
     specified directly as for `vprintf'.

 - Function: int vfwprintf (FILE *STREAM, const wchar_t *TEMPLATE,
          va_list AP)
     This is the equivalent of `fwprintf' with the variable argument
     list specified directly as for `vwprintf'.

 - Function: int vsprintf (char *S, const char *TEMPLATE, va_list AP)
     This is the equivalent of `sprintf' with the variable argument list
     specified directly as for `vprintf'.

 - Function: int vswprintf (wchar_t *S, size_t SIZE, const wchar_t
          *TEMPLATE, va_list AP)
     This is the equivalent of `swprintf' with the variable argument
     list specified directly as for `vwprintf'.

 - Function: int vsnprintf (char *S, size_t SIZE, const char *TEMPLATE,
          va_list AP)
     This is the equivalent of `snprintf' with the variable argument
     list specified directly as for `vprintf'.

 - Function: int vasprintf (char **PTR, const char *TEMPLATE, va_list
          AP)
     The `vasprintf' function is the equivalent of `asprintf' with the
     variable argument list specified directly as for `vprintf'.

 - Function: int obstack_vprintf (struct obstack *OBSTACK, const char
          *TEMPLATE, va_list AP)
     The `obstack_vprintf' function is the equivalent of
     `obstack_printf' with the variable argument list specified directly
     as for `vprintf'.

   Here's an example showing how you might use `vfprintf'.  This is a
function that prints error messages to the stream `stderr', along with
a prefix indicating the name of the program (*note Error Messages::,
for a description of `program_invocation_short_name').

     #include <stdio.h>
     #include <stdarg.h>
     
     void
     eprintf (const char *template, ...)
     {
       va_list ap;
       extern char *program_invocation_short_name;
     
       fprintf (stderr, "%s: ", program_invocation_short_name);
       va_start (ap, template);
       vfprintf (stderr, template, ap);
       va_end (ap);
     }

You could call `eprintf' like this:

     eprintf ("file `%s' does not exist\n", filename);

   In GNU C, there is a special construct you can use to let the
compiler know that a function uses a `printf'-style format string.
Then it can check the number and types of arguments in each call to the
function, and warn you when they do not match the format string.  For
example, take this declaration of `eprintf':

     void eprintf (const char *template, ...)
             __attribute__ ((format (printf, 1, 2)));

This tells the compiler that `eprintf' uses a format string like
`printf' (as opposed to `scanf'; *note Formatted Input::); the format
string appears as the first argument; and the arguments to satisfy the
format begin with the second.  *Note Declaring Attributes of Functions:
(gcc.info)Function Attributes, for more information.


File: libc.info,  Node: Parsing a Template String,  Next: Example of Parsing,  Prev: Variable Arguments Output,  Up: Formatted Output

Parsing a Template String
-------------------------

   You can use the function `parse_printf_format' to obtain information
about the number and types of arguments that are expected by a given
template string.  This function permits interpreters that provide
interfaces to `printf' to avoid passing along invalid arguments from
the user's program, which could cause a crash.

   All the symbols described in this section are declared in the header
file `printf.h'.

 - Function: size_t parse_printf_format (const char *TEMPLATE, size_t
          N, int *ARGTYPES)
     This function returns information about the number and types of
     arguments expected by the `printf' template string TEMPLATE.  The
     information is stored in the array ARGTYPES; each element of this
     array describes one argument.  This information is encoded using
     the various `PA_' macros, listed below.

     The argument N specifies the number of elements in the array
     ARGTYPES.  This is the maximum number of elements that
     `parse_printf_format' will try to write.

     `parse_printf_format' returns the total number of arguments
     required by TEMPLATE.  If this number is greater than N, then the
     information returned describes only the first N arguments.  If you
     want information about additional arguments, allocate a bigger
     array and call `parse_printf_format' again.

   The argument types are encoded as a combination of a basic type and
modifier flag bits.

 - Macro: int PA_FLAG_MASK
     This macro is a bitmask for the type modifier flag bits.  You can
     write the expression `(argtypes[i] & PA_FLAG_MASK)' to extract
     just the flag bits for an argument, or `(argtypes[i] &
     ~PA_FLAG_MASK)' to extract just the basic type code.

   Here are symbolic constants that represent the basic types; they
stand for integer values.

`PA_INT'
     This specifies that the base type is `int'.

`PA_CHAR'
     This specifies that the base type is `int', cast to `char'.

`PA_STRING'
     This specifies that the base type is `char *', a null-terminated
     string.

`PA_POINTER'
     This specifies that the base type is `void *', an arbitrary
     pointer.

`PA_FLOAT'
     This specifies that the base type is `float'.

`PA_DOUBLE'
     This specifies that the base type is `double'.

`PA_LAST'
     You can define additional base types for your own programs as
     offsets from `PA_LAST'.  For example, if you have data types `foo'
     and `bar' with their own specialized `printf' conversions, you
     could define encodings for these types as:

          #define PA_FOO  PA_LAST
          #define PA_BAR  (PA_LAST + 1)

   Here are the flag bits that modify a basic type.  They are combined
with the code for the basic type using inclusive-or.

`PA_FLAG_PTR'
     If this bit is set, it indicates that the encoded type is a
     pointer to the base type, rather than an immediate value.  For
     example, `PA_INT|PA_FLAG_PTR' represents the type `int *'.

`PA_FLAG_SHORT'
     If this bit is set, it indicates that the base type is modified
     with `short'.  (This corresponds to the `h' type modifier.)

`PA_FLAG_LONG'
     If this bit is set, it indicates that the base type is modified
     with `long'.  (This corresponds to the `l' type modifier.)

`PA_FLAG_LONG_LONG'
     If this bit is set, it indicates that the base type is modified
     with `long long'.  (This corresponds to the `L' type modifier.)

`PA_FLAG_LONG_DOUBLE'
     This is a synonym for `PA_FLAG_LONG_LONG', used by convention with
     a base type of `PA_DOUBLE' to indicate a type of `long double'.

   For an example of using these facilities, see *Note Example of
Parsing::.


File: libc.info,  Node: Example of Parsing,  Prev: Parsing a Template String,  Up: Formatted Output

Example of Parsing a Template String
------------------------------------

   Here is an example of decoding argument types for a format string.
We assume this is part of an interpreter which contains arguments of
type `NUMBER', `CHAR', `STRING' and `STRUCTURE' (and perhaps others
which are not valid here).

     /* Test whether the NARGS specified objects
        in the vector ARGS are valid
        for the format string FORMAT:
        if so, return 1.
        If not, return 0 after printing an error message.  */
     
     int
     validate_args (char *format, int nargs, OBJECT *args)
     {
       int *argtypes;
       int nwanted;
     
       /* Get the information about the arguments.
          Each conversion specification must be at least two characters
          long, so there cannot be more specifications than half the
          length of the string.  */
     
       argtypes = (int *) alloca (strlen (format) / 2 * sizeof (int));
       nwanted = parse_printf_format (string, nelts, argtypes);
     
       /* Check the number of arguments.  */
       if (nwanted > nargs)
         {
           error ("too few arguments (at least %d required)", nwanted);
           return 0;
         }
     
       /* Check the C type wanted for each argument
          and see if the object given is suitable.  */
       for (i = 0; i < nwanted; i++)
         {
           int wanted;
     
           if (argtypes[i] & PA_FLAG_PTR)
             wanted = STRUCTURE;
           else
             switch (argtypes[i] & ~PA_FLAG_MASK)
               {
               case PA_INT:
               case PA_FLOAT:
               case PA_DOUBLE:
                 wanted = NUMBER;
                 break;
               case PA_CHAR:
                 wanted = CHAR;
                 break;
               case PA_STRING:
                 wanted = STRING;
                 break;
               case PA_POINTER:
                 wanted = STRUCTURE;
                 break;
               }
           if (TYPE (args[i]) != wanted)
             {
               error ("type mismatch for arg number %d", i);
               return 0;
             }
         }
       return 1;
     }


File: libc.info,  Node: Customizing Printf,  Next: Formatted Input,  Prev: Formatted Output,  Up: I/O on Streams

Customizing `printf'
====================

   The GNU C library lets you define your own custom conversion
specifiers for `printf' template strings, to teach `printf' clever ways
to print the important data structures of your program.

   The way you do this is by registering the conversion with the
function `register_printf_function'; see *Note Registering New
Conversions::.  One of the arguments you pass to this function is a
pointer to a handler function that produces the actual output; see
*Note Defining the Output Handler::, for information on how to write
this function.

   You can also install a function that just returns information about
the number and type of arguments expected by the conversion specifier.
*Note Parsing a Template String::, for information about this.

   The facilities of this section are declared in the header file
`printf.h'.

* Menu:

* Registering New Conversions::         Using `register_printf_function'
                                         to register a new output conversion.
* Conversion Specifier Options::        The handler must be able to get
                                         the options specified in the
                                         template when it is called.
* Defining the Output Handler::         Defining the handler and arginfo
                                         functions that are passed as arguments
                                         to `register_printf_function'.
* Printf Extension Example::            How to define a `printf'
                                         handler function.
* Predefined Printf Handlers::          Predefined `printf' handlers.

   *Portability Note:* The ability to extend the syntax of `printf'
template strings is a GNU extension.  ISO standard C has nothing
similar.


File: libc.info,  Node: Registering New Conversions,  Next: Conversion Specifier Options,  Up: Customizing Printf

Registering New Conversions
---------------------------

   The function to register a new output conversion is
`register_printf_function', declared in `printf.h'.

 - Function: int register_printf_function (int SPEC, printf_function
          HANDLER-FUNCTION, printf_arginfo_function ARGINFO-FUNCTION)
     This function defines the conversion specifier character SPEC.
     Thus, if SPEC is `'Y'', it defines the conversion `%Y'.  You can
     redefine the built-in conversions like `%s', but flag characters
     like `#' and type modifiers like `l' can never be used as
     conversions; calling `register_printf_function' for those
     characters has no effect.  It is advisable not to use lowercase
     letters, since the ISO C standard warns that additional lowercase
     letters may be standardized in future editions of the standard.

     The HANDLER-FUNCTION is the function called by `printf' and
     friends when this conversion appears in a template string.  *Note
     Defining the Output Handler::, for information about how to define
     a function to pass as this argument.  If you specify a null
     pointer, any existing handler function for SPEC is removed.

     The ARGINFO-FUNCTION is the function called by
     `parse_printf_format' when this conversion appears in a template
     string.  *Note Parsing a Template String::, for information about
     this.

     *Attention:* In the GNU C library versions before 2.0 the
     ARGINFO-FUNCTION function did not need to be installed unless the
     user used the `parse_printf_format' function.  This has changed.
     Now a call to any of the `printf' functions will call this
     function when this format specifier appears in the format string.

     The return value is `0' on success, and `-1' on failure (which
     occurs if SPEC is out of range).

     You can redefine the standard output conversions, but this is
     probably not a good idea because of the potential for confusion.
     Library routines written by other people could break if you do
     this.


File: libc.info,  Node: Conversion Specifier Options,  Next: Defining the Output Handler,  Prev: Registering New Conversions,  Up: Customizing Printf

Conversion Specifier Options
----------------------------

   If you define a meaning for `%A', what if the template contains
`%+23A' or `%-#A'?  To implement a sensible meaning for these, the
handler when called needs to be able to get the options specified in
the template.

   Both the HANDLER-FUNCTION and ARGINFO-FUNCTION accept an argument
that points to a `struct printf_info', which contains information about
the options appearing in an instance of the conversion specifier.  This
data type is declared in the header file `printf.h'.

 - Type: struct printf_info
     This structure is used to pass information about the options
     appearing in an instance of a conversion specifier in a `printf'
     template string to the handler and arginfo functions for that
     specifier.  It contains the following members:

    `int prec'
          This is the precision specified.  The value is `-1' if no
          precision was specified.  If the precision was given as `*',
          the `printf_info' structure passed to the handler function
          contains the actual value retrieved from the argument list.
          But the structure passed to the arginfo function contains a
          value of `INT_MIN', since the actual value is not known.

    `int width'
          This is the minimum field width specified.  The value is `0'
          if no width was specified.  If the field width was given as
          `*', the `printf_info' structure passed to the handler
          function contains the actual value retrieved from the
          argument list.  But the structure passed to the arginfo
          function contains a value of `INT_MIN', since the actual
          value is not known.

    `wchar_t spec'
          This is the conversion specifier character specified.  It's
          stored in the structure so that you can register the same
          handler function for multiple characters, but still have a
          way to tell them apart when the handler function is called.

    `unsigned int is_long_double'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `L', `ll', or `q' type
          modifier was specified.  For integer conversions, this
          indicates `long long int', as opposed to `long double' for
          floating point conversions.

    `unsigned int is_char'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `hh' type modifier was
          specified.

    `unsigned int is_short'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `h' type modifier was
          specified.

    `unsigned int is_long'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `l' type modifier was
          specified.

    `unsigned int alt'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `#' flag was specified.

    `unsigned int space'
          This is a boolean that is true if the ` ' flag was specified.

    `unsigned int left'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `-' flag was specified.

    `unsigned int showsign'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `+' flag was specified.

    `unsigned int group'
          This is a boolean that is true if the `'' flag was specified.

    `unsigned int extra'
          This flag has a special meaning depending on the context.  It
          could be used freely by the user-defined handlers but when
          called from the `printf' function this variable always
          contains the value `0'.

    `unsigned int wide'
          This flag is set if the stream is wide oriented.

    `wchar_t pad'
          This is the character to use for padding the output to the
          minimum field width.  The value is `'0'' if the `0' flag was
          specified, and `' '' otherwise.


File: libc.info,  Node: Defining the Output Handler,  Next: Printf Extension Example,  Prev: Conversion Specifier Options,  Up: Customizing Printf

Defining the Output Handler
---------------------------

   Now let's look at how to define the handler and arginfo functions
which are passed as arguments to `register_printf_function'.

   *Compatibility Note:* The interface changed in GNU libc version 2.0.
Previously the third argument was of type `va_list *'.

   You should define your handler functions with a prototype like:

     int FUNCTION (FILE *stream, const struct printf_info *info,
                         const void *const *args)

   The STREAM argument passed to the handler function is the stream to
which it should write output.

   The INFO argument is a pointer to a structure that contains
information about the various options that were included with the
conversion in the template string.  You should not modify this structure
inside your handler function.  *Note Conversion Specifier Options::, for
a description of this data structure.

   The ARGS is a vector of pointers to the arguments data.  The number
of arguments was determined by calling the argument information
function provided by the user.

   Your handler function should return a value just like `printf' does:
it should return the number of characters it has written, or a negative
value to indicate an error.

 - Data Type: printf_function
     This is the data type that a handler function should have.

   If you are going to use `parse_printf_format' in your application,
you must also define a function to pass as the ARGINFO-FUNCTION
argument for each new conversion you install with
`register_printf_function'.

   You have to define these functions with a prototype like:

     int FUNCTION (const struct printf_info *info,
                         size_t n, int *argtypes)

   The return value from the function should be the number of arguments
the conversion expects.  The function should also fill in no more than
N elements of the ARGTYPES array with information about the types of
each of these arguments.  This information is encoded using the various
`PA_' macros.  (You will notice that this is the same calling
convention `parse_printf_format' itself uses.)

 - Data Type: printf_arginfo_function
     This type is used to describe functions that return information
     about the number and type of arguments used by a conversion
     specifier.

