About the Tutorial

C is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative computer programming language

developed in 1972 by Dennis M. Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories to
develop the Unix operating system.
C is the most widely used computer language that keeps fluctuating at number
one scale of popularity along with Java programming language which is also
equally popular and most widely used among modern software programmers.
The C Standard Library is a set of C built-in functions, constants and header files
like <assert.h>, <ctype.h>, etc. This library will work as a reference manual for C
programmers.

Audience
The C Standard Library is a reference for C programmers to help them in their
projects related to system programming. All the C functions have been explained
in a user-friendly way and they can be copied and pasted in your C projects.

Prerequisites
A basic understanding of the C Programming language will help you in
understanding the C built-in functions covered in this library.

Copyright & Disclaimer

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If you discover any errors on our website or in this tutorial, please notify us at
contact@tutorialspoint.com

Table of Contents
The C Standard Library Reference .............................................................................................................. i
Audience .................................................................................................................................................... i
Prerequisites .............................................................................................................................................. i
Copyright & Disclaimer .............................................................................................................................. i
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................... ii

1. <ASSERT.H> ............................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1
Library Macros .......................................................................................................................................... 1
void assert(int expression) ......................................................................................................................... 1

2. <CTYPE.H>............................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Library Functions ...................................................................................................................................... 3
int isalnum(int c) ........................................................................................................................................ 4
int isalpha(int c).......................................................................................................................................... 6
int iscntrl(int c) ........................................................................................................................................... 8
int isdigit(int c) ........................................................................................................................................... 9
int isgraph(int c) ....................................................................................................................................... 11
int islower(int c) ....................................................................................................................................... 12
int isprint(int c) ......................................................................................................................................... 14
int ispunct(int c) ....................................................................................................................................... 16
int isspace(int c) ....................................................................................................................................... 18
int isupper(int c) ....................................................................................................................................... 20
int isxdigit(int c) ........................................................................................................................................ 21
int tolower(int c) ...................................................................................................................................... 23
int toupper(int c) ...................................................................................................................................... 24
Character Classes .................................................................................................................................... 25

3. <ERRNO.H> ........................................................................................................................... 27
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 27
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 27
extern int errno ........................................................................................................................................ 28
EDOM Domain Error ................................................................................................................................ 29
ERANGE Range Error ................................................................................................................................ 30

4. <FLOAT.H> ............................................................................................................................ 33
ii

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 33
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 33

5. <LIMITS.H> ............................................................................................................................ 36
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 36
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 36

6. <LOCALE.H> .......................................................................................................................... 39
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 39
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 39
Library Functions .................................................................................................................................... 39
char *setlocale(int category, const char *locale) ..................................................................................... 40
struct lconv *localeconv(void) ................................................................................................................. 41
Library Structure ..................................................................................................................................... 44

7. <MATH.H>............................................................................................................................. 48
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 48
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 48
Library Functions .................................................................................................................................... 48
double acos(double x) .............................................................................................................................. 50
double asin(double x) ............................................................................................................................... 51
double atan(double x) .............................................................................................................................. 52
double atan2(doubly y, double x) ............................................................................................................ 53
double cos(double x) ................................................................................................................................ 54
double cosh(double x) .............................................................................................................................. 56
double sin(double x) ................................................................................................................................ 57
double sinh(double x) .............................................................................................................................. 58
double tanh(double x) .............................................................................................................................. 59
double exp(double x) ............................................................................................................................... 59
double frexp(double x, int *exponent) .................................................................................................... 60
double ldexp(double x, int exponent) ...................................................................................................... 62
double log(double x) ................................................................................................................................ 63
double log10(double x) ............................................................................................................................ 63
double modf(double x, double *integer) ................................................................................................. 64
double pow(double x, double y) .............................................................................................................. 66
double sqrt(double x) ............................................................................................................................... 66
double ceil(double x) ................................................................................................................................ 67
double fabs(double x) .............................................................................................................................. 68
double floor(double x) ............................................................................................................................. 69
double fmod(double x, double y) ............................................................................................................. 71

iii

8. <SETJMP.H> .......................................................................................................................... 73
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 73
Library Variables ..................................................................................................................................... 73
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 73
int setjmp(jmp_buf environment) ........................................................................................................... 73
Library Functions .................................................................................................................................... 75
void longjmp(jmp_buf environment, int value) ....................................................................................... 75

9. <SIGNAL.H> ........................................................................................................................... 77
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 77
Library Variables ..................................................................................................................................... 77
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 77
Library Functions .................................................................................................................................... 78
void (*signal(int sig, void (*func)(int)))(int) ............................................................................................. 78
int raise(int sig)......................................................................................................................................... 81

10. <STDARG.H>........................................................................................................................ 84
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 84
Library Variables ..................................................................................................................................... 84
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 84
void va_start(va_list ap, last_arg) ............................................................................................................ 85
type va_arg(va_list ap, type) .................................................................................................................... 86
void va_end(va_list ap) ............................................................................................................................ 88

11. <STDDEF.H> ........................................................................................................................ 90

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 90
Library Variables ..................................................................................................................................... 90
Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 90
NULL ......................................................................................................................................................... 91
offsetof(type, member-designator) ......................................................................................................... 92

12. <STDIO.H> ........................................................................................................................... 95

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 95
Library Variables ..................................................................................................................................... 95

iv

Library Macros ........................................................................................................................................ 95

Library Functions .................................................................................................................................... 96
int fclose(FILE *stream) .......................................................................................................................... 101
void clearerr(FILE *stream) .................................................................................................................... 102
int feof(FILE *stream) ............................................................................................................................. 103
int ferror(FILE *stream) .......................................................................................................................... 104
int fflush(FILE *stream) .......................................................................................................................... 106
int fgetpos(FILE *stream, fpos_t *pos) .................................................................................................. 107
FILE *fopen(const char *filename, const char *mode) .......................................................................... 109
size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream) .......................................................... 111
FILE *freopen(const char *filename, const char *mode, FILE *stream) ................................................ 113
int fseek(FILE *stream, long int offset, int whence) ............................................................................... 115
int fsetpos(FILE *stream, const fpos_t *pos) ......................................................................................... 117
long int ftell(FILE *stream) ..................................................................................................................... 119
size_t fwrite(const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream) ................................................ 120
int remove(const char *filename) .......................................................................................................... 122
int rename(const char *old_filename, const char *new_filename) ...................................................... 123
void rewind(FILE *stream) ..................................................................................................................... 125
void setbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer) ................................................................................................. 126
int setvbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer, int mode, size_t size) ............................................................... 127
FILE *tmpfile(void) ................................................................................................................................. 129
char *tmpnam(char *str) ....................................................................................................................... 130
int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...) .................................................................................... 131
int printf(const char *format, ...) ........................................................................................................... 136
int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...) .......................................................................................... 140
int vfprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, va_list arg) .................................................................... 144
int vprintf(const char *format, va_list arg) ............................................................................................ 148
int vsprintf(char *str, const char *format, va_list arg) .......................................................................... 152
int fscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...) .................................................................................... 156
int scanf(const char *format, ...) ............................................................................................................ 158
int sscanf(const char *str, const char *format, ...) ................................................................................. 161
int fgetc(FILE *stream) ........................................................................................................................... 164
char *fgets(char *str, int n, FILE *stream) ............................................................................................. 165
int fputc(int char, FILE *stream) ............................................................................................................. 167
int fputs(const char *str, FILE *stream) ................................................................................................. 168
int getc(FILE *stream) ............................................................................................................................ 170
int getchar(void) ..................................................................................................................................... 171
char *gets(char *str) .............................................................................................................................. 172
int putc(int char, FILE *stream) .............................................................................................................. 173
int putchar(int char) ............................................................................................................................... 175
int puts(const char *str) ......................................................................................................................... 176
int ungetc(int char, FILE *stream) .......................................................................................................... 177
void perror(const char *str) ................................................................................................................... 179

13. <STDLIB.H>........................................................................................................................ 181

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 181
Library Variables ................................................................................................................................... 181
Library Macros ...................................................................................................................................... 181

Library Functions .................................................................................................................................. 182

double atof(const char *str)................................................................................................................... 185
int atoi(const char *str) .......................................................................................................................... 186
long int atol(const char *str) .................................................................................................................. 187
double strtod(const char *str, char **endptr) ....................................................................................... 188
long int strtol(const char *str, char **endptr, int base) ........................................................................ 189
unsigned long int strtoul(const char *str, char **endptr, int base) ....................................................... 191
void *calloc(size_t nitems, size_t size) ................................................................................................... 192
void free(void *ptr) ................................................................................................................................ 193
void *malloc(size_t size) ........................................................................................................................ 194
void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size) ........................................................................................................ 196
void abort(void)...................................................................................................................................... 197
int atexit(void (*func)(void)) .................................................................................................................. 198
void exit(int status) ................................................................................................................................ 199
char *getenv(const char *name) ........................................................................................................... 200
int system(const char *string) ................................................................................................................ 201
void *bsearch(const void *key, const void *base, size_t nitems, size_t size, int (*compar)(const void *,
const void *)) .......................................................................................................................................... 203
void qsort(void *base, size_t nitems, size_t size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void*)) ................ 205
int abs(int x) ........................................................................................................................................... 207
div_t div(int numer, int denom) ............................................................................................................. 208
long int labs(long int x) ........................................................................................................................... 209
ldiv_t ldiv(long int numer, long int denom) ........................................................................................... 210
int rand(void) ......................................................................................................................................... 211
void srand(unsigned int seed) ................................................................................................................ 212
int mblen(const char *str, size_t n)........................................................................................................ 213
size_t mbstowcs(schar_t *pwcs, const char *str, size_t n) .................................................................... 215
int mbtowc(whcar_t *pwc, const char *str, size_t n) ............................................................................ 216
size_t wcstombs(char *str, const wchar_t *pwcs, size_t n) .................................................................. 218
int wctomb(char *str, wchar_t wchar)................................................................................................... 219

14. <STRING.H>....................................................................................................................... 221

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 221
Library Variables ................................................................................................................................... 221
Library Macros ...................................................................................................................................... 221
Library Functions .................................................................................................................................. 221
void *memchr(const void *str, int c, size_t n) ....................................................................................... 224
int memcmp(const void *str1, const void *str2, size_t n) ..................................................................... 225
void *memmove(void *dest, const void *src, size_t n) ......................................................................... 227
void *memset(void *str, int c, size_t n) ................................................................................................. 228
char *strcat(char *dest, const char *src) ............................................................................................... 229
char *strncat(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n) ............................................................................... 231
char *strchr(const char *str, int c) ......................................................................................................... 232
int strcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2) ....................................................................................... 233
int strncmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t n) ....................................................................... 234
int strcoll(const char *str1, const char *str2) ........................................................................................ 236
char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src) .............................................................................................. 237
char *strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n) .............................................................................. 238

vi

size_t strcspn(const char *str1, const char *str2) .................................................................................. 240

char *strerror(int errnum) ..................................................................................................................... 241
size_t strlen(const char *str) .................................................................................................................. 242
char *strpbrk(const char *str1, const char *str2) .................................................................................. 243
char *strrchr(const char *str, int c) ........................................................................................................ 244
size_t strspn(const char *str1, const char *str2) ................................................................................... 245
char *strstr(const char *haystack, const char *needle)......................................................................... 246
char *strtok(char *str, const char *delim) ............................................................................................. 247
size_t strxfrm(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n) .............................................................................. 248

15. <TIME.H> .......................................................................................................................... 250

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 250
Library Variables ................................................................................................................................... 250
Library Macros ...................................................................................................................................... 251
Library Functions .................................................................................................................................. 251
char *asctime(const struct tm *timeptr) ............................................................................................... 252
clock_t clock(void) .................................................................................................................................. 254
char *ctime(const time_t *timer) .......................................................................................................... 255
double difftime(time_t time1, time_t time2) ........................................................................................ 256
struct tm *gmtime(const time_t *timer) ............................................................................................... 257
struct tm *localtime(const time_t *timer)............................................................................................. 259
time_t mktime(struct tm *timeptr) ....................................................................................................... 260
size_t strftime(char *str, size_t maxsize, const char *format, const struct tm *timeptr) ..................... 262
time_t time(time_t *timer) .................................................................................................................... 265

vii

1. <ASSERT.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The assert.h header file of the C Standard Library provides a macro
called assert which can be used to verify assumptions made by the program and
print a diagnostic message if this assumption is false.
The defined macro assert refers to another macro NDEBUG which is not a part
of <assert.h>. If NDEBUG is defined as a macro name in the source file, at the
point where <assert.h> is included, the assert macro is defined as follows:
#define assert(ignore) ((void)0)

Library Macros
Following is the only function defined in the header assert.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

void assert(int expression)

This is actually a macro and not a function, which can be used to add
diagnostics in your C program.

void assert(int expression)

Description
The C library macro void assert(int expression) allows diagnostic information
to be written to the standard error file. In other words, it can be used to add
diagnostics in your C program.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for assert() Macro.
void assert(int expression);

Parameters

expression -- This can be a variable or any C expression.

If expression evaluates
to
TRUE,
assert()
does
nothing.
If expression evaluates to FALSE, assert() displays an error message on

C Standard Library

stderr (standard error stream to display error messages and diagnostics)

and aborts program execution.

Return Value
This macro does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of assert() macro:
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int a;
char str[50];

printf("Enter an integer value: ");

scanf("%d\n", &a);
assert(a >= 10);
printf("Integer entered is %d\n", a);

printf("Enter string: ");

scanf("%s\n", &str);
assert(str != NULL);
printf("String entered is: %s\n", str);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program in the interactive mode as shown
below:
Enter an integer value: 11
Integer entered is 11
Enter string: tutorialspoint
String entered is: tutorialspoint

2. <CTYPE.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The ctype.h header file of the C Standard Library declares several functions that
are useful for testing and mapping characters.
All the functions accepts int as a parameter, whose value must be EOF or
representable as an unsigned char.
All the functions return non-zero (true) if the argument c satisfies the condition
described, and zero (false) if not.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header ctype.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

int isalnum(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is alphanumeric.

int isalpha(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is alphabetic.

int iscntrl(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is control character.

int isdigit(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is decimal digit.

int isgraph(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character has graphical
representation using locale.

int islower(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is lowercase letter.

C Standard Library

int isprint(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is printable.

int ispunct(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is a punctuation
character.

int isspace(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is white-space.

10

int isupper(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is an uppercase
letter.

11

int isxdigit(int c)
This function checks whether the passed character is a hexadecimal
digit.

int isalnum(int c)
Description
The C library function void isalnum(int c) checks if the passed character is
alphanumeric.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isalnum() function.
int isalnum(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns non-zero value if c is a digit or a letter, else it returns 0.

Example
The following example shows the usage of isalnum() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>
4

C Standard Library

int main()
{
int var1 = 'd';
int var2 = '2';
int var3 = '\t';
int var4 = ' ';

if( isalnum(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is alphanumeric\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not alphanumeric\n", var1 );
}
if( isalnum(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is alphanumeric\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not alphanumeric\n", var2 );
}
if( isalnum(var3) )
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is alphanumeric\n", var3 );
}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is not alphanumeric\n", var3 );
}
if( isalnum(var4) )
{
printf("var4 = |%c| is alphanumeric\n", var4 );
}
5

C Standard Library

else
{
printf("var4 = |%c| is not alphanumeric\n", var4 );
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
var1 = |d| is alphanumeric
var2 = |2| is alphanumeric
var3 = | | is not alphanumeric
var4 = | | is not alphanumeric

int isalpha(int c)
Description
The C library function void isalpha(int c) checks if the passed character is
alphabetic.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isalpha() function.
int isalpha(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns non-zero value if c is an alphabet, else it returns 0.

Example
The following example shows the usage of isalpha() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int var1 = 'd';
6

C Standard Library

int var2 = '2';

int var3 = '\t';
int var4 = ' ';

if( isalpha(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is an alphabet\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not an alphabet\n", var1 );
}
if( isalpha(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is an alphabet\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not an alphabet\n", var2 );
}
if( isalpha(var3) )
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is an alphabet\n", var3 );
}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is not an alphabet\n", var3 );
}
if( isalpha(var4) )
{
printf("var4 = |%c| is an alphabet\n", var4 );
}
else
{
printf("var4 = |%c| is not an alphabet\n", var4 );
7

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
var1 = |d| is an alphabet
var2 = |2| is not an alphabet
var3 = | | is not an alphabet
var4 = | | is not an alphabet

int iscntrl(int c)
Description
The C library function void iscntrl(int c) checks if the passed character is a
control character.
According to standard ASCII character set, control characters are between ASCII
codes 0x00 (NUL), 0x1f (US), and 0x7f (DEL). Specific compiler implementations
for certain platforms may define additional control characters in the extended
character set (above 0x7f).

Declaration
Following is the declaration for iscntrl() function.
int iscntrl(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns non-zero value if c is a control character, else it returns 0.

Example
The following example shows the usage of iscntrl() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main ()
{
int i = 0, j = 0;
8

C Standard Library

char str1[] = "all \a about \t programming";

char str2[] = "tutorials \n point";

/* Prints string till control character \a */

while( !iscntrl(str1[i]) )
{
putchar(str1[i]);
i++;
}

/* Prints string till control character \n */

while( !iscntrl(str2[j]) )
{
putchar(str2[j]);
j++;
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
all tutorials

int isdigit(int c)
Description
The C library function void isdigit(int c) checks if the passed character is a
decimal digit character.
Decimal digits are (numbers): 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isdigit() function.
int isdigit(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

9

C Standard Library

Return Value
This function returns non-zero value if c is a digit, else it returns 0.

Example
The following example shows the usage of isdigit() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int var1 = 'h';
int var2 = '2';

if( isdigit(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is a digit\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not a digit\n", var1 );
}
if( isdigit(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is a digit\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not a digit\n", var2 );
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
var1 = |h| is not a digit
10

C Standard Library

var2 = |2| is a digit

int isgraph(int c)
Description
The C library function void isgraph(int c) checks if the character has graphical
representation.
The characters with graphical representations are all those characters that can
be printed except for whitespace characters (like ' '), which is not considered as
isgraph characters.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isgraph() function.
int isgraph(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns non-zero value if c has a graphical representation as
character, else it returns 0.

Example
The following example shows the usage of isgraph() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int var1 = '3';
int var2 = 'm';
int var3 = ' ';

if( isgraph(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| can be printed\n", var1 );
}
else
{
11

C Standard Library

printf("var1 = |%c| can't be printed\n", var1 );

}
if( isgraph(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| can be printed\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| can't be printed\n", var2 );
}
if( isgraph(var3) )
{
printf("var3 = |%c| can be printed\n", var3 );
}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| can't be printed\n", var3 );
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
var1 = |3| can be printed
var2 = |m| can be printed
var3 = | | can't be printed

int islower(int c)
Description
The C library function int islower(int c) checks whether the passed character is
a lowercase letter.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for islower() function.
int islower(int c);
12

C Standard Library

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns a non-zero value(true) if c is a lowercase alphabetic letter
else, zero (false).

Example
The following example shows the usage of islower() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int var1 = 'Q';
int var2 = 'q';
int var3 = '3';

if( islower(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is lowercase character\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not lowercase character\n", var1 );
}
if( islower(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is lowercase character\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not lowercase character\n", var2 );
}
if( islower(var3) )
{
13

C Standard Library

printf("var3 = |%c| is lowercase character\n", var3 );

}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is not lowercase character\n", var3 );
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
var1 = |Q| is not lowercase character
var2 = |q| is lowercase character
var3 = |3| is not lowercase character

int isprint(int c)
Description
The C library function int isprint(int c) checks whether the passed character is
printable. A printable character is a character that is not a control character.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isprint() function.
int isprint(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns a non-zero value(true) if c is a printable character else,
zero (false).

Example
The following example shows the usage of isprint() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
14

C Standard Library

{
int var1 = 'k';
int var2 = '8';
int var3 = '\t';
int var4 = ' ';

if( isprint(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| can be printed\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| can't be printed\n", var1 );
}
if( isprint(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| can be printed\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| can't be printed\n", var2 );
}
if( isprint(var3) )
{
printf("var3 = |%c| can be printed\n", var3 );
}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| can't be printed\n", var3 );
}
if( isprint(var4) )
{
printf("var4 = |%c| can be printed\n", var4 );
}
else
15

C Standard Library

{
printf("var4 = |%c| can't be printed\n", var4 );
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
var1 = |k| can be printed
var2 = |8| can be printed
var3 = |

| can't be printed

var4 = | | can be printed

int ispunct(int c)
Description
The C library function int ispunct(int c) checks whether the passed character is
a punctuation character. A punctuation character is any graphic character (as in
isgraph) that is not alphanumeric (as in isalnum).

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ispunct() function.
int ispunct(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns a non-zero value(true) if c is a punctuation character else,
zero (false).

Example
The following example shows the usage of ispunct() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int var1 = 't';
16

C Standard Library

int var2 = '1';

int var3 = '/';
int var4 = ' ';

if( ispunct(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is a punctuation character\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not a punctuation character\n", var1 );
}
if( ispunct(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is a punctuation character\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not a punctuation character\n", var2 );
}
if( ispunct(var3) )
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is a punctuation character\n", var3 );
}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is not a punctuation character\n", var3 );
}
if( ispunct(var4) )
{
printf("var4 = |%c| is a punctuation character\n", var4 );
}
else
{
printf("var4 = |%c| is not a punctuation character\n", var4 );
17

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
var1 = |t| is not a punctuation character
var2 = |1| is not a punctuation character
var3 = |/| is a punctuation character
var4 = | | is not a punctuation character

int isspace(int c)
Description
The C library function int isspace(int c) checks whether the passed character is
white-space.
Standard white-space characters are:
' '

(0x20)

space (SPC)

'\t' (0x09)

horizontal tab (TAB)

'\n' (0x0a)

newline (LF)

'\v' (0x0b)

vertical tab (VT)

'\f' (0x0c)

feed (FF)

'\r' (0x0d)

carriage return (CR)

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isspace() function.
int isspace(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns a non-zero value(true) if c is a white-space character else,
zero (false).

Example
The following example shows the usage of isspace() function.
#include <stdio.h>
18

C Standard Library

#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int var1 = 't';
int var2 = '1';
int var3 = ' ';

if( isspace(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is a white-space character\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not a white-space character\n", var1 );
}
if( isspace(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is a white-space character\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not a white-space character\n", var2 );
}
if( isspace(var3) )
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is a white-space character\n", var3 );
}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is not a white-space character\n", var3 );
}

return(0);
19

C Standard Library

}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
var1 = |t| is not a white-space character
var2 = |1| is not a white-space character
var3 = | | is a white-space character

int isupper(int c)
Description
The C library function int isupper(int c) checks whether the passed character is
uppercase letter.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isupper() function.
int isupper(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns a non-zero value(true) if c is an uppercase alphabetic letter
else, zero (false).

Example
The following example shows the usage of isupper() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int var1 = 'M';
int var2 = 'm';
int var3 = '3';

if( isupper(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is uppercase character\n", var1 );
20

C Standard Library

}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not uppercase character\n", var1 );
}
if( isupper(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is uppercase character\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not uppercase character\n", var2 );
}
if( isupper(var3) )
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is uppercase character\n", var3 );
}
else
{
printf("var3 = |%c| is not uppercase character\n", var3 );
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
var1 = |M| is uppercase character
var2 = |m| is not uppercase character
var3 = |3| is not uppercase character

int isxdigit(int c)
Description
The C library function int isxdigit(int c) checks whether the passed character is
a hexadecimal digit.

21

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for isxdigit() function.
int isxdigit(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the character to be checked.

Return Value
This function returns a non-zero value(true) if c is a hexadecimal digit else, zero
(false).

Example
The following example shows the usage of isxdigit() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
char var1[] = "tuts";
char var2[] = "0xE";

if( isxdigit(var1[0]) )
{
printf("var1 = |%s| is hexadecimal character\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%s| is not hexadecimal character\n", var1 );
}

if( isxdigit(var2[0] ))
{
printf("var2 = |%s| is hexadecimal character\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%s| is not hexadecimal character\n", var2 );
22

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
var1 = |tuts| is not hexadecimal character
var2 = |0xE| is hexadecimal character
The library also contains two conversion functions that accepts and returns an
"int".
S.N.

Function & Description

int tolower(int c)
This function converts uppercase letters to lowercase.

int toupper(int c)
This function converts lowercase letters to uppercase.

int tolower(int c)
Description
The C library function int tolower(int c) converts a given letter to lowercase.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for tolower() function.
int tolower(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the letter to be converted to lowercase.

Return Value
This function returns lowercase equivalent to c, if such value exists, else c
remains unchanged. The value is returned as an int value that can be implicitly
casted to char.

Example
The following example shows the usage of tolower() function.
#include <stdio.h>
23

C Standard Library

#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int i = 0;
char c;
char str[] = "TUTORIALS POINT";

while( str[i] )
{
putchar(tolower(str[i]));
i++;
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
tutorials point

int toupper(int c)
Description
The C library
uppercase.

function int

toupper(int

c) converts

lowercase

letter

to

Declaration
Following is the declaration for toupper() function.
int toupper(int c);

Parameters

c -- This is the letter to be converted to uppercase.

Return Value
This function returns uppercase equivalent to c, if such value exists, else c
remains unchanged. The value is returned as an int value that can be implicitly
casted to char.

Example
24

C Standard Library

The following example shows the usage of toupper() function.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main()
{
int i = 0;
char c;
char str[] = "Tutorials Point";

while(str[i])
{
putchar (toupper(str[i]));
i++;
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
TUTORIALS POINT

Character Classes
S.N.

Character Class & Description

Digits
This is a set of whole numbers { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 }.

Hexadecimal digits
This is the set of - { 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F a b c d e f }.

Lowercase letters
This is a set of lowercase letters { a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u
v w x y z }.
25

C Standard Library

Uppercase letters
This is a set of uppercase letters {A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S
T U V W X Y Z }.

Letters
This is a set of lowercase and uppercase letters.

Alphanumeric characters
This is a set of Digits, Lowercase letters and Uppercase letters.

Punctuation characters
This is a set of ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | }
~

Graphical characters
This is a set of Alphanumeric characters and Punctuation characters.

Space characters
This is a set of tab, newline, vertical tab, form feed, carriage return, and
space.

10

Printable characters
This is a set of Alphanumeric characters, Punctuation characters and
Space characters.

11

Control characters
In ASCII, these characters have octal codes 000 through 037, and 177
(DEL).

12

Blank characters
These are spaces and tabs.

13

Alphabetic characters
This is a set of Lowercase letters and Uppercase letters.

26

3. <ERRNO.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The errno.h header file of the C Standard Library defines the integer
variable errno, which is set by system calls and some library functions in the
event of an error to indicate what went wrong. This macro expands to a
modifiable lvalue of type int, therefore it can be both read and modified by a
program.
The errno is set to zero at program startup. Certain functions of the standard C
library modify its value to other than zero to signal some types of error. You can
also modify its value or reset to zero at your convenience.
The errno.h header file also defines a list of macros indicating different error
codes, which will expand to integer constant expressions with type int.

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header errno.h:
S.N.

Macro & Description

extern int errno

This is the macro set by system calls and some library functions in the
event of an error to indicate what went wrong.

EDOM Domain Error

This macro represents a domain error, which occurs if an input
argument is outside the domain, over which the mathematical function
is defined and errno is set to EDOM.

ERANGE Range Error

This macro represents a range error, which occurs if an input argument
is outside the range, over which the mathematical function is defined
and errno is set to ERANGE.

27

C Standard Library

extern int errno

Description
The C library macro extern int errno is set by system calls and some library
functions in the event of an error to indicate if anything went wrong.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for errno macro.
extern int errno

Parameters

NA

Return Value

NA

Example
The following example shows the usage of errno Macro.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <string.h>

extern int errno ;

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if( fp == NULL )
{
fprintf(stderr, "Value of errno: %d\n", errno);
fprintf(stderr, "Error opening file: %s\n", strerror(errno));
}
else
{
fclose(fp);
}
28

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
in case file file.txt does not exist:
Value of errno: 2
Error opening file: No such file or directory

EDOM Domain Error

Description
As mentioned above, the C library macro EDOM represents a domain error,
which occurs if an input argument is outside the domain, over which the
mathematical function is defined and errno is set to EDOM.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for EDOM Macro.
#define EDOM some_value

Parameters

NA

Return Value

NA

Example
The following example shows the usage of EDOM Macro.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <math.h>

int main()
{
double val;

errno = 0;
val = sqrt(-10);
if(errno == EDOM)
29

C Standard Library

{
printf("Invalid value \n");
}
else
{
printf("Valid value\n");
}

errno = 0;
val = sqrt(10);
if(errno == EDOM)
{
printf("Invalid value\n");
}
else
{
printf("Valid value\n");
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Invalid value
Valid value

ERANGE Range Error

Description
As mentioned above, the C library macro ERANGE represents a range error,
which occurs if an input argument is outside the range, over which the
mathematical function is defined and errno is set to ERANGE.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ERANGE Macro.
#define ERANGE some_value
30

C Standard Library

Parameters

NA

Return Value

NA

Example
The following example shows the usage of ERANGE Macro.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <math.h>

int main()
{
double x;
double value;

x = 1.000000;
value = log(x);
if( errno == ERANGE )
{
printf("Log(%f) is out of range\n", x);
}
else
{
printf("Log(%f) = %f\n", x, value);
}

x = 0.000000;
value = log(x);
if( errno == ERANGE )
{
printf("Log(%f) is out of range\n" x);
}
else
{
31

C Standard Library

printf("Log(%f) = %f\n", x, value);

}

return 0;
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Log(1.000000) = 1.609438
Log(0.000000) is out of range

32

4. <FLOAT.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The float.h header file of the C Standard Library contains a set of various
platform-dependent constants related to floating point values. These constants
are proposed by ANSI C. They allow making more portable programs. Before
checking all the constants, it is good to understand that floating-point number is
composed of following four elements:
Component Component Description
S

sign ( +/- )

base or radix of the exponent representation, 2 for binary, 10 for

decimal, 16 for hexadecimal, and so on...

exponent, an
maximum emax.

precision, the number of base-b digits in the significand

integer

between

minimum emin and

Based on the above 4 components, a floating point will have its value as follows:
floating-point = ( S ) p x be

or

floating-point = (+/-) precision x baseexponent

Library Macros
The following values are implementation-specific and defined with the #define
directive, but these values may not be any lower than what is given here. Note
that in all instances FLT refers to type float, DBL refers to double, and LDBL
refers to long double.
Macro

Description

33

C Standard Library

FLT_ROUNDS

Defines the rounding mode for floating point

addition and it can have any of the following values:
-1 - indeterminable
0 - towards zero
1 - to nearest
2 - towards positive infinity
3 - towards negative infinity

FLT_RADIX 2

This defines the base radix representation of the

exponent. A base-2 is binary, base-10 is the normal
decimal representation, base-16 is Hex.

FLT_MANT_DIG

These macros define the number of digits in the

number (in the FLT_RADIX base).

DBL_MANT_DIG
LDBL_MANT_DIG
FLT_DIG 6
DBL_DIG 10

These macros define the maximum number decimal

digits (base-10) that can be represented without
change after rounding.

LDBL_DIG 10
FLT_MIN_EXP
DBL_MIN_EXP

These macros define the minimum negative integer

value for an exponent in base FLT_RADIX.

LDBL_MIN_EXP
FLT_MIN_10_EXP -37
DBL_MIN_10_EXP -37

These macros define the minimum negative integer

value for an exponent in base 10.

LDBL_MIN_10_EXP -37
FLT_MAX_EXP
DBL_MAX_EXP

These macros define the maximum integer value for

an exponent in base FLT_RADIX.

LDBL_MAX_EXP
FLT_MAX_10_EXP +37
DBL_MAX_10_EXP +37

These macros define the maximum integer value for

an exponent in base 10.

34

C Standard Library

LDBL_MAX_10_EXP +37
FLT_MAX 1E+37
DBL_MAX 1E+37

These macros define the maximum finite floatingpoint value.

LDBL_MAX 1E+37
FLT_EPSILON 1E-5
DBL_EPSILON 1E-9

These macros define the least significant digit

representable.

LDBL_EPSILON 1E-9
FLT_MIN 1E-37
DBL_MIN 1E-37

These macros define the minimum floating-point

values.

LDBL_MIN 1E-37

Example
The following example shows the usage of few of the constants defined in float.h
file.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <float.h>

int main()
{
printf("The maximum value of float = %.10e\n", FLT_MAX);
printf("The minimum value of float = %.10e\n", FLT_MIN);

printf("The number of digits in the number = %.10e\n", FLT_MANT_DIG);

}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The maximum value of float = 3.4028234664e+38
The minimum value of float = 1.1754943508e-38
The number of digits in the number = 7.2996655210e-312

35

5. <LIMITS.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The limits.h header determines various properties of the various variable types.
The macros defined in this header, limits the values of various variable types like
char, int and long.
These limits specify that a variable cannot store any value beyond these limits,
for example an unsigned character can store up to a maximum value of 255.

Library Macros
The following values are implementation-specific and defined with the #define
directive, but these values may not be any lower than what is given here.
Macro

Value

Description

CHAR_BIT

Defines the number of bits in a byte.

SCHAR_MIN

-128

Defines the minimum value for a

signed char.

SCHAR_MAX

127

Defines the maximum value for a

signed char.

UCHAR_MAX

255

Defines the maximum value for an

unsigned char.

CHAR_MIN

Defines the minimum value for type

char and its value will be equal to
SCHAR_MIN
if
char
represents
negative values, otherwise zero.

CHAR_MAX

127

Defines the value for type char and its

value will be equal to SCHAR_MAX if
char represents negative values,
otherwise UCHAR_MAX.

MB_LEN_MAX

Defines

the

maximum

number

of
36

C Standard Library

bytes in a multi-byte character.

SHRT_MIN

-32768

Defines the minimum value for a short

int.

SHRT_MAX

+32767

Defines the maximum value for a

short int.

USHRT_MAX

65535

Defines the maximum value for an

unsigned short int.

INT_MIN

-32768

Defines the minimum value for an int.

INT_MAX

+32767

Defines the maximum value for an int.

UINT_MAX

65535

Defines the maximum value for an

unsigned int.

LONG_MIN

-2147483648

Defines the minimum value for a long

int.

LONG_MAX

+2147483647

Defines the maximum value for a long

int.

ULONG_MAX

4294967295

Defines the maximum value for an

unsigned long int.

Example
The following example shows the usage of few of the constants defined in limit.h
file.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <limits.h>

int main()
{

printf("The number of bits in a byte %d\n", CHAR_BIT);

printf("The minimum value of SIGNED CHAR = %d\n", SCHAR_MIN);

37

C Standard Library

printf("The maximum value of SIGNED CHAR = %d\n", SCHAR_MAX);

printf("The maximum value of UNSIGNED CHAR = %d\n", UCHAR_MAX);

printf("The minimum value of SHORT INT = %d\n", SHRT_MIN);

printf("The maximum value of SHORT INT = %d\n", SHRT_MAX);

printf("The minimum value of INT = %d\n", INT_MIN);

printf("The maximum value of INT = %d\n", INT_MAX);

printf("The minimum value of CHAR = %d\n", CHAR_MIN);

printf("The maximum value of CHAR = %d\n", CHAR_MAX);

printf("The minimum value of LONG = %ld\n", LONG_MIN);

printf("The maximum value of LONG = %ld\n", LONG_MAX);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The number of bits in a byte 8
The minimum value of SIGNED CHAR = -128
The maximum value of SIGNED CHAR = 127
The maximum value of UNSIGNED CHAR = 255
The minimum value of SHORT INT = -32768
The maximum value of SHORT INT = 32767
The minimum value of INT = -32768
The maximum value of INT = 32767
The minimum value of CHAR = -128
The maximum value of CHAR = 127
The minimum value of LONG = -2147483648
The maximum value of LONG = 2147483647

38

6. <LOCALE.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The locale.h header defines the location specific settings, such as date formats
and currency symbols. You will find several macros defined along with an
important structure struct lconv and two important functions listed below.

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header and these macros will be used in
two functions listed below:
S.N.

Macro & Description

LC_ALL
Sets everything.

LC_COLLATE
Affects strcoll and strxfrm functions.

LC_CTYPE
Affects all character functions.

LC_MONETARY
Affects the monetary information provided by localeconv function.

LC_NUMERIC
Affects decimal-point formatting and the information provided by
localeconv function.

LC_TIME
Affects the strftime function.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header locale.h:
39

C Standard Library

S.N.

Function & Description

char *setlocale(int category, const char *locale)

Sets or reads location dependent information.

struct lconv *localeconv(void)

Sets or reads location dependent information.

char *setlocale(int category, const char *locale)

Description
The C library function char *setlocale(int category, const char *locale) sets
or reads location dependent information.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for setlocale() function.
char *setlocale(int category, const char *locale)

Parameters

category -- This is a named constant specifying the category of the

functions affected by the locale setting.
o

LC_ALL for all of the below.

LC_COLLATE for string comparison. See strcoll().

LC_CTYPE for character classification and conversion. For example:

strtoupper().

LC_MONETARY for monetary formatting for localeconv().

LC_NUMERIC for decimal separator for localeconv().

LC_TIME for date and time formatting with strftime().

LC_MESSAGES for system responses.

locale -- If locale is NULL or the empty string "", the locale names will be
set from the values of environment variables with the same names as the
above categories.

Return Value
A successful call to setlocale() returns an opaque string that corresponds to the
locale set. The return value is NULL if the request cannot be honored.

Example
40

C Standard Library

The following example shows the usage of setlocale() function.

#include <locale.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
time_t currtime;
struct tm *timer;
char buffer[80];

time( &currtime );
timer = localtime( &currtime );

printf("Locale is: %s\n", setlocale(LC_ALL, "en_GB"));

strftime(buffer,80,"%c", timer );
printf("Date is: %s\n", buffer);

printf("Locale is: %s\n", setlocale(LC_ALL, "de_DE"));

strftime(buffer,80,"%c", timer );
printf("Date is: %s\n", buffer);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Locale is: en_GB
Date is: Thu 23 Aug 2012 06:39:32 MST
Locale is: de_DE
Date is: Do 23 Aug 2012 06:39:32 MST

struct lconv *localeconv(void)

Description
41

C Standard Library

The C library function struct lconv *localeconv(void) sets or reads location

dependent information. These are returned in an object of the lconv structure
type.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for localeconv() function.
struct lconv *localeconv(void)

Parameters

NA

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to a struct lconv for the current locale, which
has the following structure:
typedef struct {
char *decimal_point;
char *thousands_sep;
char *grouping;
char *int_curr_symbol;
char *currency_symbol;
char *mon_decimal_point;
char *mon_thousands_sep;
char *mon_grouping;
char *positive_sign;
char *negative_sign;
char int_frac_digits;
char frac_digits;
char p_cs_precedes;
char p_sep_by_space;
char n_cs_precedes;
char n_sep_by_space;
char p_sign_posn;
char n_sign_posn;
} lconv

Example
The following example shows the usage of localeconv() function.
42

C Standard Library

#include <locale.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
struct lconv * lc;

setlocale(LC_MONETARY, "it_IT");
lc = localeconv();
printf("Local Currency Symbol: %s\n",lc->currency_symbol);
printf("International Currency Symbol: %s\n",lc->int_curr_symbol);

setlocale(LC_MONETARY, "en_US");
lc = localeconv();
printf("Local Currency Symbol: %s\n",lc->currency_symbol);
printf("International Currency Symbol: %s\n",lc->int_curr_symbol);

setlocale(LC_MONETARY, "en_GB");
lc = localeconv();
printf ("Local Currency Symbol: %s\n",lc->currency_symbol);
printf ("International Currency Symbol: %s\n",lc->int_curr_symbol);

printf("Decimal Point = %s\n", lc->decimal_point);

return 0;
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Local Currency Symbol: EUR
International Currency Symbol: EUR
Local Currency Symbol: $
International Currency Symbol: USD
Local Currency Symbol:
International Currency Symbol: GBP
43

C Standard Library

Decimal Point = .

Library Structure
typedef struct {
char *decimal_point;
char *thousands_sep;
char *grouping;
char *int_curr_symbol;
char *currency_symbol;
char *mon_decimal_point;
char *mon_thousands_sep;
char *mon_grouping;
char *positive_sign;
char *negative_sign;
char int_frac_digits;
char frac_digits;
char p_cs_precedes;
char p_sep_by_space;
char n_cs_precedes;
char n_sep_by_space;
char p_sign_posn;
char n_sign_posn;
} lconv
Following is the description of each of the fields:
S.N.

Field & Description

decimal_point
Decimal point character used for non-monetary values.

thousands_sep
Thousands place separator character used for non-monetary values.

grouping
44

C Standard Library

A string that indicates the size of each group of digits in non-monetary

quantities. Each character represents an integer value, which
designates the number of digits in the current group. A value of 0
means that the previous value is to be used for the rest of the groups.
4

int_curr_symbol
It is a string of the international currency symbols used. The first three
characters are those specified by ISO 4217:1987 and the fourth is the
character, which separates the currency symbol from the monetary
quantity.

currency_symbol
The local symbol used for currency.

mon_decimal_point
The decimal point character used for monetary values.

mon_thousands_sep
The thousands place grouping character used for monetary values.

mon_grouping
A string whose elements defines the size of the grouping of digits in
monetary values. Each character represents an integer value which
designates the number of digits in the current group. A value of 0
means that the previous value is to be used for the rest of the groups.

positive_sign
The character used for positive monetary values.

10

negative_sign
The character used for negative monetary values.

11

int_frac_digits
Number of digits to show after the decimal point in international
monetary values.

12

frac_digits

45

C Standard Library

Number of digits to show after the decimal point in monetary values.

13

p_cs_precedes
If equals to 1, then the currency_symbol appears before a positive
monetary value. If equals to 0, then the currency_symbol appears
after a positive monetary value.

14

p_sep_by_space
If equals to 1, then the currency_symbol is separated by a space from
a positive monetary value. If equals to 0, then there is no space
between the currency_symbol and a positive monetary value.

15

n_cs_precedes
If equals to 1, then the currency_symbol precedes a negative
monetary value. If equals to 0, then the currency_symbol succeeds a
negative monetary value.

16

n_sep_by_space
If equals to 1, then the currency_symbol is separated by a space from
a negative monetary value. If equals to 0, then there is no space
between the currency_symbol and a negative monetary value.

17

p_sign_posn
Represents the position of the positive_sign in a positive monetary
value.

18

n_sign_posn
Represents the position of the negative_sign in a negative monetary
value.

The following values are used for p_sign_posn and n_sign_posn:

Value

Description

Parentheses encapsulates the value and the currency_symbol.

The sign precedes the value and currency_symbol.

46

C Standard Library

The sign succeeds the value and currency_symbol.

The sign immediately precedes the value and currency_symbol.

The sign immediately succeeds the value and currency_symbol.

47

7. <MATH.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The math.h header defines various mathematical functions and one macro. All
the functions available in this library take double as an argument and
return double as the result.

Library Macros
There is only one macro defined in this library:
S.N.

Macro & Description

HUGE_VAL
This macro is used when the result of a function may not be
representable as a floating point number. If magnitude of the correct
result is too large to be represented, the function sets errno to
ERANGE to indicate a range error, and returns a particular, very large
value named by the macro HUGE_VAL or its negation (- HUGE_VAL).
If the magnitude of the result is too small, a value of zero is returned
instead. In this case, errno might or might not be set to ERANGE.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header math.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

double acos(double x)
Returns the arc cosine of x in radians.

double asin(double x)
Returns the arc sine of x in radians.

double atan(double x)
Returns the arc tangent of x in radians.
48

C Standard Library

double atan2(doubly y, double x)

Returns the arc tangent in radians of y/x based on the signs of both
values to determine the correct quadrant.

double cos(double x)
Returns the cosine of a radian angle x.

double cosh(double x)
Returns the hyperbolic cosine of x.

double sin(double x)
Returns the sine of a radian angle x.

double sinh(double x)
Returns the hyperbolic sine of x.

double tanh(double x)
Returns the hyperbolic tangent of x.

10

double exp(double x)
Returns the value of e raised to the xth power.

11

double frexp(double x, int *exponent)

The returned value is the mantissa and the integer pointed to by
exponent is the exponent. The resultant value is x = mantissa * 2 ^
exponent.

12

double ldexp(double x, int exponent)

Returns x multiplied by 2 raised to the power of exponent.

13

double log(double x)
Returns the natural logarithm (base-e logarithm) of x.

14

double log10(double x)
Returns the common logarithm (base-10 logarithm) of x.

49

C Standard Library

15

double modf(double x, double *integer)

The returned value is the fraction component (part after the decimal),
and sets integer to the integer component.

16

double pow(double x, double y)

Returns x raised to the power of y.

17

double sqrt(double x)
Returns the square root of x.

18

double ceil(double x)
Returns the smallest integer value greater than or equal to x.

19

double fabs(double x)
Returns the absolute value of x.

20

double floor(double x)
Returns the largest integer value less than or equal to x.

21

double fmod(double x, double y)

Returns the remainder of x divided by y.

double acos(double x)
Description
The C library function double acos(double x) returns the arc cosine of x in
radians.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for acos() function.
double acos(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value in the interval [-1, +1].

Return Value
This function returns principal arc cosine of x, in the interval [0, pi] radians.

50

C Standard Library

Example
The following example shows the usage of acos() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#define PI 3.14159265

int main ()
{
double x, ret, val;

x = 0.9;
val = 180.0 / PI;

ret = acos(x) * val;

printf("The arc cosine of %lf is %lf degrees", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The arc cosine of 0.900000 is 25.855040 degrees

double asin(double x)
Description
The C library function double asin(double x) returns the arc sine of x in
radians.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for asin() function.
double asin(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value in the interval [-1,+1].

Return Value
This function returns the arc sine of x, in the interval [-pi/2,+pi/2] radians.
51

C Standard Library

Example
The following example shows the usage of asin() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#define PI 3.14159265

int main ()
{
double x, ret, val;
x = 0.9;
val = 180.0 / PI;

ret = asin(x) * val;

printf("The arc sine of %lf is %lf degrees", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The arc sine of 0.900000 is 64.190609 degrees

double atan(double x)
Description
The C library function double atan(double x) returns the arc tangent of x in
radians.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for atan() function.
double atan(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns the principal arc tangent of x, in the interval [-pi/2,+pi/2]
radians.
52

C Standard Library

Example
The following example shows the usage of atan() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#define PI 3.14159265

int main ()
{
double x, ret, val;
x = 1.0;
val = 180.0 / PI;

ret = atan (x) * val;

printf("The arc tangent of %lf is %lf degrees", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The arc tangent of 1.000000 is 45.000000 degrees

double atan2(doubly y, double x)

Description
The C library function double atan2(doubly y, double x) returns the arc
tangent in radians of y/x based on the signs of both values to determine the
correct quadrant.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for atan2() function.
double atan2(doubly y, double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value representing an x-coordinate.

y -- This is the floating point value representing a y-coordinate.

Return Value
53

C Standard Library

This function returns the principal arc tangent of y/x, in the interval [-pi,+pi]
radians.

Example
The following example shows the usage of atan2() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#define PI 3.14159265

int main ()
{
double x, y, ret, val;

x = -7.0;
y = 7.0;
val = 180.0 / PI;

ret = atan2 (y,x) * val;

printf("The arc tangent of x = %lf, y = %lf ", x, y);
printf("is %lf degrees\n", ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The arc tangent of x = -7.000000, y = 7.000000 is 135.000000 degrees

double cos(double x)
Description
The C library function double cos(double x) returns the cosine of a radian
angle x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for cos() function.
double cos(double x)
54

C Standard Library

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value representing an angle expressed in

radians.

Return Value
This function returns the cosine of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of cos() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#define PI 3.14159265

int main ()
{
double x, ret, val;

x = 60.0;
val = PI / 180.0;
ret = cos( x*val );
printf("The cosine of %lf is %lf degrees\n", x, ret);

x = 90.0;
val = PI / 180.0;
ret = cos( x*val );
printf("The cosine of %lf is %lf degrees\n", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The cosine of 60.000000 is 0.500000 degrees
The cosine of 90.000000 is 0.000000 degrees

55

C Standard Library

double cosh(double x)
Description
The C library function double cosh(double x) returns the hyperbolic cosine
of x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for cosh() function.
double cosh(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns hyperbolic cosine of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of cosh() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x;

x = 0.5;
printf("The hyperbolic cosine of %lf is %lf\n", x, cosh(x));

x = 1.0;
printf("The hyperbolic cosine of %lf is %lf\n", x, cosh(x));

x = 1.5;
printf("The hyperbolic cosine of %lf is %lf\n", x, cosh(x));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:

56

C Standard Library

The hyperbolic cosine of 0.500000 is 1.127626

The hyperbolic cosine of 1.000000 is 1.543081
The hyperbolic cosine of 1.500000 is 2.352410

double sin(double x)
Description
The C library function double sin(double x) returns the sine of a radian
angle x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for sin() function.
double sin(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value representing an angle expressed in

radians.

Return Value
This function returns sine of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of sin() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#define PI 3.14159265

int main ()
{
double x, ret, val;

x = 45.0;
val = PI / 180;
ret = sin(x*val);
printf("The sine of %lf is %lf degrees", x, ret);

return(0);
57

C Standard Library

}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
The sine of 45.000000 is 0.707107 degrees

double sinh(double x)
Description
The C library function double sinh(double x) returns the hyperbolic sine of x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for sinh() function.
double sinh(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns hyperbolic sine of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of sinh() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x, ret;
x = 0.5;

ret = sinh(x);
printf("The hyperbolic sine of %lf is %lf degrees", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:
The hyperbolic sine of 0.500000 is 0.521095 degrees
58

C Standard Library

double tanh(double x)
Description
The C library function double tanh(double x) returns the hyperbolic tangent
of x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for tanh() function.
double tanh(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns hyperbolic tangent of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of tanh() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x, ret;
x = 0.5;

ret = tanh(x);
printf("The hyperbolic tangent of %lf is %lf degrees", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The hyperbolic tangent of 0.500000 is 0.462117 degrees

double exp(double x)
Description

59

C Standard Library

The C library function double exp(double x) returns the value of e raised to

the xth power.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for exp() function.
double exp(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns the exponential value of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of exp() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x = 0;

printf("The exponential value of %lf is %lf\n", x, exp(x));

printf("The exponential value of %lf is %lf\n", x+1, exp(x+1));
printf("The exponential value of %lf is %lf\n", x+2, exp(x+2));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The exponential value of 0.000000 is 1.000000
The exponential value of 1.000000 is 2.718282
The exponential value of 2.000000 is 7.389056

double frexp(double x, int *exponent)

Description

60

C Standard Library

The C library function double frexp(double x, int *exponent) return value is

the mantissa, and the integer pointed to by exponent is the exponent. The
resultant value is x = mantissa * 2 ^ exponent.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for frexp() function.
double frexp(double x, int *exponent)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value to be computed.

exponent -- This is the pointer to an int object where the value of the
exponent is to be stored.

Return Value
This function returns the normalized fraction. If the argument x is not zero, the
normalized fraction is x times a power of two, and its absolute value is always in
the range 1/2 (inclusive) to 1 (exclusive). If x is zero, then the normalized
fraction is zero and zero is stored in exp.

Example
The following example shows the usage of frexp() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x = 1024, fraction;
int e;

fraction = frexp(x, &e);

printf("x = %.2lf = %.2lf * 2^%d\n", x, fraction, e);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
x = 1024.00 = 0.50 * 2^11

61

C Standard Library

double ldexp(double x, int exponent)

Description
The
C
library
function double
ldexp(double
x,
exponent) returns x multiplied by 2 raised to the power of exponent.

int

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ldexp() function.
double ldexp(double x, int exponent)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value representing the significand.

exponent -- This is the value of the exponent.

Return Value
This function returns x * 2 exp

Example
The following example shows the usage of ldexp() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x, ret;
int n;

x = 0.65;
n = 3;
ret = ldexp(x ,n);
printf("%f * 2^%d = %f\n", x, n, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
0.650000 * 2^3 = 5.200000

62

C Standard Library

double log(double x)
Description
The C library function double log(double x) returns the natural logarithm
(base-e logarithm) of x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for log() function.
double log(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns natural logarithm of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of log() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x, ret;
x = 2.7;

/* finding log(2.7) */
ret = log(x);
printf("log(%lf) = %lf", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
log(2.700000) = 0.993252

double log10(double x)
Description
63

C Standard Library

The C library function double log10(double x) returns the common logarithm

(base-10 logarithm) of x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for log10() function.
double log10(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns the common logarithm of x, for values of x greater than
zero.

Example
The following example shows the usage of log10() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
double x, ret;
x = 10000;

/* finding value of log1010000 */

ret = log10(x);
printf("log10(%lf) = %lf\n", x, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
log10(10000.000000) = 4.000000

double modf(double x, double *integer)

Description

64

C Standard Library

The C library function double modf(double x, double *integer) returns the

fraction component (part after the decimal), and sets integer to the integer
component.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for modf() function.
double modf(double x, double *integer)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

integer -- This is the pointer to an object where the integral part is to be

stored.

Return Value
This function returns the fractional part of x, with the same sign.

Example
The following example shows the usage of modf() function.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>

int main ()
{
double x, fractpart, intpart;

x = 8.123456;
fractpart = modf(x, &intpart);

printf("Integral part = %lf\n", intpart);

printf("Fraction Part = %lf \n", fractpart);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Integral part = 8.000000
Fraction Part = 0.123456

65

C Standard Library

double pow(double x, double y)

Description
The C library function double pow(double x, double y) returns x raised to the
power of y i.e. xy.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for pow() function.
double pow(double x, double y)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point base value.

y -- This is the floating point power value.

Return Value
This function returns the result of raising x to the power y.

Example
The following example shows the usage of pow() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
printf("Value 8.0 ^ 3 = %lf\n", pow(8.0, 3));

printf("Value 3.05 ^ 1.98 = %lf", pow(3.05, 1.98));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Value 8.0 ^ 3 = 512.000000
Value 3.05 ^ 1.98 = 9.097324

double sqrt(double x)
Description
The C library function double sqrt(double x) returns the square root of x.
66

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for sqrt() function.
double sqrt(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns the square root of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of sqrt() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{

printf("Square root of %lf is %lf\n", 4.0, sqrt(4.0) );

printf("Square root of %lf is %lf\n", 5.0, sqrt(5.0) );

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Square root of 4.000000 is 2.000000
Square root of 5.000000 is 2.236068

double ceil(double x)
Description
The C library function double ceil(double x) returns the smallest integer value
greater than or equal to x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ceil() function.
double ceil(double x)

67

C Standard Library

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns the smallest integral value not less than x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of ceil() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
float val1, val2, val3, val4;

val1 = 1.6;
val2 = 1.2;
val3 = 2.8;
val4 = 2.3;

printf ("value1 = %.1lf\n", ceil(val1));

printf ("value2 = %.1lf\n", ceil(val2));
printf ("value3 = %.1lf\n", ceil(val3));
printf ("value4 = %.1lf\n", ceil(val4));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
value1 = 2.0
value2 = 2.0
value3 = 3.0
value4 = 3.0

double fabs(double x)
Description
68

C Standard Library

The C library function double fabs(double x) returns the absolute value of x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fabs() function.
double fabs(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns the absolute value of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fabs() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
int a, b;
a = 1234;
b = -344;

printf("The absolute value of %d is %lf\n", a, fabs(a));

printf("The absolute value of %d is %lf\n", b, fabs(b));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The absolute value of 1234 is 1234.000000
The absolute value of -344 is 344.000000

double floor(double x)
Description
The C library function double floor(double x) returns the largest integer value
less than or equal to x.
69

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for floor() function.
double floor(double x)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value.

Return Value
This function returns the largest integral value not greater than x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of floor() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
float val1, val2, val3, val4;

val1 = 1.6;
val2 = 1.2;
val3 = 2.8;
val4 = 2.3;

printf("Value1 = %.1lf\n", floor(val1));

printf("Value2 = %.1lf\n", floor(val2));
printf("Value3 = %.1lf\n", floor(val3));
printf("Value4 = %.1lf\n", floor(val4));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Value1 = 1.0
Value2 = 1.0
Value3 = 2.0
70

C Standard Library

Value4 = 2.0

double fmod(double x, double y)

Description
The C library function double fmod(double x, double y) returns the remainder
of x divided by y.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fmod() function.
double fmod(double x, double y)

Parameters

x -- This is the floating point value with the division numerator i.e. x.

y -- This is the floating point value with the division denominator i.e. y.

Return Value
This function returns the remainder of dividing x/y.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fmod() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main ()
{
float a, b;
int c;
a = 9.2;
b = 3.7;
c = 2;
printf("Remainder of %f / %d is %lf\n", a, c, fmod(a,c));
printf("Remainder of %f / %f is %lf\n", a, b, fmod(a,b));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
71

C Standard Library

Remainder of 9.200000 / 2 is 1.200000

Remainder of 9.200000 / 3.700000 is 1.800000

72

8. <SETJMP.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The setjmp.h header defines the macro setjmp(), one function longjmp(), and
one variable type jmp_buf, for bypassing the normal function call and return
discipline.

Library Variables
Following is the variable type defined in the header setjmp.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

jmp_buf
This is an array type used for
macro setjmp() and function longjmp().

holding

information

for

Library Macros
There is only one macro defined in this library:
S.N.

Macro & Description

int setjmp(jmp_buf environment)

This
macro
saves
the
current environment into
the
variable environment for later use by the function longjmp(). If this
macro returns directly from the macro invocation, it returns zero but if
it returns from a longjmp() function call, then a non-zero value is
returned.

int setjmp(jmp_buf environment)

Description
The C library macro int setjmp(jmp_buf environment), saves the
current environment into the variable environment for later use by the
function longjmp(). If this macro returns directly from the macro invocation, it
73

C Standard Library

returns zero but if it returns from a longjmp() function call, then it returns the
value passed to longjmp as a second argument.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for setjmp() macro.
int setjmp(jmp_buf environment)

Parameters

environment -- This is the object

environment information is stored.

of

type

jmp_buf

where

the

Return Value
This macro may return more than once. First time, on its direct invocation, it
always returns zero. When longjmp is called with the information set to the
environment, the macro returns again; now it returns the value passed to
longjmp as second argument.

Example
The following example shows the usage of setjmp() macro.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <setjmp.h>

int main()
{
int val;
jmp_buf env_buffer;

/* save calling environment for longjmp */

val = setjmp( env_buffer );
if( val != 0 )
{
printf("Returned from a longjmp() with value = %s\n", val);
exit(0);
}
printf("Jump function call\n");
jmpfunction( env_buffer );

return(0);
74

C Standard Library

void jmpfunction(jmp_buf env_buf)

{
longjmp(env_buf, "tutorialspoint.com");
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:
Jump function call
Returned from a longjmp() with value = tutorialspoint.com

Library Functions
Following is the only one function defined in the header setjmp.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

void longjmp(jmp_buf environment, int value)

This function restores the environment saved by the most recent call
to setjmp() macro in the same invocation of the program with the
corresponding jmp_buf argument.

void longjmp(jmp_buf environment, int value)

Description
The
C
library
function void
longjmp(jmp_buf
environment,
value) restores the environment saved by the most recent
to setjmp() macro in the same invocation of the program with
corresponding jmp_buf argument.

int
call
the

Declaration
Following is the declaration for longjmp() function.
void longjmp(jmp_buf environment, int value)

Parameters

environment -- This is the object of type jmp_buf containing information

to restore the environment at the setjmp's calling point.

value -- This is the value to which the setjmp expression evaluates.

Return Value
75

C Standard Library

This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of longjmp() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <setjmp.h>

int main()
{
int val;
jmp_buf env_buffer;

/* save calling environment for longjmp */

val = setjmp( env_buffer );
if( val != 0 )
{
printf("Returned from a longjmp() with value = %s\n", val);
exit(0);
}
printf("Jump function call\n");
jmpfunction( env_buffer );

return(0);
}

void jmpfunction(jmp_buf env_buf)

{
longjmp(env_buf, "tutorialspoint.com");
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Jump function call
Returned from a longjmp() with value = tutorialspoint.com

76

9. <SIGNAL.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The signal.h header defines a variable type sig_atomic_t, two function calls,
and several macros to handle different signals reported during a program's
execution.

Library Variables
Following is the variable type defined in the header signal.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

sig_atomic_t
This is of int type and is used as a variable in a signal handler. This is
an integral type of an object that can be accessed as an atomic entity,
even in the presence of asynchronous signals.

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header signal.h and these macros will be
used in two functions listed below. The SIG_ macros are used with the signal
function to define signal functions.
S.N.

Macro & Description

SIG_DFL
Default signal handler.

SIG_ERR
Represents a signal error.

SIG_IGN
Signal ignore.

The SIG macros are used to represent a signal number in the following
conditions:
77

C Standard Library

S.N.

Macro & Description

SIGABRT
Abnormal program termination.

SIGFPE
Floating-point error like division by zero.

SIGILL
Illegal operation.

SIGINT
Interrupt signal such as ctrl-C.

SIGSEGV
Invalid access to storage like segment violation.

SIGTERM
Termination request.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header signal.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

void (*signal(int sig, void (*func)(int)))(int)

This function sets a function to handle signal i.e. a signal handler.

int raise(int sig)

This function causes signal sig to be generated. The sig argument is
compatible with the SIG macros.

void (*signal(int sig, void (*func)(int)))(int)

Description
78

C Standard Library

The C library function void (*signal(int sig, void (*func)(int)))(int) sets a

function to handle signal i.e. a signal handler with signal number sig.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for signal() function.
void (*signal(int sig, void (*func)(int)))(int)

Parameters

sig -- This is the signal number to which a handling function is set. The
following are few important standard signal numbers:

macro

signal

SIGABRT

(Signal Abort) Abnormal termination, such as is initiated by the

function.

SIGFPE

(Signal Floating-Point Exception) Erroneous arithmetic operation,

such as zero divide or an operation resulting in overflow (not
necessarily with a floating-point operation).

SIGILL

(Signal Illegal Instruction) Invalid function image, such as an illegal

instruction. This is generally due to a corruption in the code or to
an attempt to execute data.

SIGINT

(Signal Interrupt) Interactive attention signal. Generally generated

by the application user.

SIGSEGV

(Signal Segmentation Violation) Invalid access to storage: When a

program tries to read or write outside the memory it is allocated for
it.

SIGTERM

(Signal Terminate) Termination request sent to program.

func -- This is a pointer to a function. This can be a function defined by

the programmer or one of the following predefined functions:

SIG_DFL

Default handling: The signal is handled by the default action for that
particular signal.

SIG_IGN

Ignore Signal: The signal is ignored.

Return Value
79

C Standard Library

This function returns the previous value of the signal handler, or SIG_ERR on
error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of signal() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <signal.h>

void sighandler(int);

int main()
{
signal(SIGINT, sighandler);

while(1)
{
printf("Going to sleep for a second...\n");
sleep(1);
}

return(0);
}

void sighandler(int signum)

{
printf("Caught signal %d, coming out...\n", signum);
exit(1);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
and program will go in infinite loop. To come out of the program we used CTRL
+ C keys.
Going to sleep for a second...
Going to sleep for a second...
80

C Standard Library

Going to sleep for a second...

Going to sleep for a second...
Going to sleep for a second...
Caught signal 2, coming out...

int raise(int sig)

Description
The C library function int raise(int sig) causes signal sig to be generated.
The sig argument is compatible with the SIG macros.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for signal() function.
int raise(int sig)

Parameters

sig -- This is the signal number to send. Following are few important
standard signal constants:

macro

signal

SIGABRT

(Signal Abort) Abnormal termination, such as is initiated by

the abort function.

SIGFPE

(Signal Floating-Point Exception) Erroneous arithmetic operation,

such as zero divide or an operation resulting in overflow (not
necessarily with a floating-point operation).

SIGILL

(Signal Illegal Instruction) Invalid function image, such as an illegal

instruction. This is generally due to a corruption in the code or to
an attempt to execute data.

SIGINT

(Signal Interrupt) Interactive attention signal. Generally generated

by the application user.

SIGSEGV

(Signal Segmentation Violation) Invalid access to storage: When a

program tries to read or write outside the memory it is allocated for
it.

SIGTERM

(Signal Terminate) Termination request sent to program.

81

C Standard Library

Return Value
This function returns zero if successful, and non-zero otherwise.

Example
The following example shows the usage of signal() function.
#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>

void signal_catchfunc(int);

int main()
{
int ret;

ret = signal(SIGINT, signal_catchfunc);

if( ret == SIG_ERR)

{
printf("Error: unable to set signal handler.\n");
exit(0);
}
printf("Going to raise a signal\n");
ret = raise(SIGINT);
if( ret !=0 )
{
printf("Error: unable to raise SIGINT signal.\n");
exit(0);
}

printf("Exiting...\n");
return(0);
}

void signal_catchfunc(int signal)

{
82

C Standard Library

printf("!! signal caught !!\n");

}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
Going to raise a signal
!! signal caught !!
Exiting...

83

C Standard Library

10. <STDARG.H>
Introduction

The stdarg.h header defines a variable type va_list and three macros which can
be used to get the arguments in a function when the number of arguments are
not known i.e. variable number of arguments.
A function of variable arguments is defined with the ellipsis (,...) at the end of
the parameter list.

Library Variables
Following is the variable type defined in the header stdarg.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

va_list
This is a type suitable for holding information needed by the three
macros va_start(), va_arg() and va_end().

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header stdarg.h:
S.N.

Macro & Description

void va_start(va_list ap, last_arg)

This
macro
initializes ap variable
to
be
used
with
the va_arg and va_end macros. The last_arg is the last known fixed
argument being passed to the function i.e. the argument before the
ellipsis.

type va_arg(va_list ap, type)

This macro retrieves the next argument in the parameter list of the
function with type type.

void va_end(va_list ap)

This macro allows a function with variable arguments which used
84

C Standard Library

the va_start macro to return. If va_end is not called before returning

from the function, the result is undefined.

void va_start(va_list ap, last_arg)

Description
The C library macro void va_start(va_list ap, last_arg) initializes ap variable
to be used with the va_arg and va_end macros. The last_arg is the last known
fixed argument being passed to the function i.e. the argument before the
ellipsis.
This macro must be called before using va_arg and va_end.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for va_start() macro.
void va_start(va_list ap, last_arg);

Parameters

ap -- This is the object of va_list and it will hold the information needed
to retrieve the additional arguments with va_arg.

last_arg -- This is the last known fixed argument being passed to the
function.

Return Value
NA

Example
The following example shows the usage of va_start() macro.
#include<stdarg.h>
#include<stdio.h>

int sum(int, ...);

int main(void)
{
printf("Sum of 10, 20 and 30 = %d\n",

sum(3, 10, 20, 30) );

printf("Sum of 4, 20, 25 and 30 = %d\n",

sum(4, 4, 20, 25, 30) );

return 0;
}
85

C Standard Library

int sum(int num_args, ...)

{
int val = 0;
va_list ap;
int i;

va_start(ap, num_args);
for(i = 0; i < num_args; i++)
{
val += va_arg(ap, int);
}
va_end(ap);

return val;
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
Sum of 10, 20 and 30 = 60
Sum of 4, 20, 25 and 30 = 79

type va_arg(va_list ap, type)

Description
The C library macro type va_arg(va_list ap, type) retrieves the next
argument in the parameter list of the function with type. This does not
determine whether the retrieved argument is the last argument passed to the
function.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for va_arg() macro.
type va_arg(va_list ap, type)

Parameters

ap -- This is the object of type va_list with information about the

additional arguments and their retrieval state. This object should be
initialized by an initial call to va_start before the first call to va_arg.

86

C Standard Library

type -- This is a type name. This type name is used as the type of the
expression, this macro expands to.

Return Value
This macro returns the next additional argument as an expression of type type.

Example
The following example shows the usage of va_arg() macro.
#include <stdarg.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int sum(int, ...);

int main()
{
printf("Sum of 15 and 56 = %d\n",

sum(2, 15, 56) );

return 0;
}

int sum(int num_args, ...)

{
int val = 0;
va_list ap;
int i;

va_start(ap, num_args);
for(i = 0; i < num_args; i++)
{
val += va_arg(ap, int);
}
va_end(ap);

return val;
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:

87

C Standard Library

Sum of 15 and 56 = 71

void va_end(va_list ap)

Description
The C library macro void va_end(va_list ap) allows a function with variable
arguments which used the va_start macro to return. If va_end is not called
before returning from the function, the result is undefined.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for va_end() macro.
void va_end(va_list ap)

Parameters

ap -- This is the va_list object previously initialized by va_start in the

same function.

Return Value
This macro does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of va_end() macro.
#include <stdarg.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int mul(int, ...);

int main()
{
printf("15 * 12 = %d\n",

mul(2, 15, 12) );

return 0;
}

int mul(int num_args, ...)

{
int val = 1;
va_list ap;
88

C Standard Library

int i;

va_start(ap, num_args);
for(i = 0; i < num_args; i++)
{
val *= va_arg(ap, int);
}
va_end(ap);

return val;
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
15 * 12 =

180

89

11. <STDDEF.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The stddef.h header defines various variable types and macros. Many of these
definitions also appear in other headers.

Library Variables
Following are the variable types defined in the header stddef.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

ptrdiff_t
This is the signed integral type and is the result of subtracting two
pointers.

size_t
This is the unsigned
the sizeof keyword.

integral

type

and

is

the

result

of

wchar_t
This is an integral type of the size of a wide character constant.

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header stddef.h:
S.N.

Macro & Description

NULL
This macro is the value of a null pointer constant.

offsetof(type, member-designator)
This results in a constant integer of type size_t which is the offset in
bytes of a structure member from the beginning of the structure. The
member is given by member-designator, and the name of the
90

C Standard Library

structure is given in type.

NULL
Description
The C library Macro NULL is the value of a null pointer constant. It may be
defined as ((void*)0), 0 or 0L depending on the compiler vendor.

Declaration
Following may be the declaration for NULL Macro depending on the compiler.
#define NULL ((char *)0)

or

#define NULL 0L

or

#define NULL 0

Parameters

NA

Return Value

NA

Example
The following example shows the usage of NULL Macro.
#include <stddef.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if( fp != NULL )
91

C Standard Library

{
printf("Opend file file.txt successfully\n");
fclose(fp);
}

fp = fopen("nofile.txt", "r");
if( fp == NULL )
{
printf("Could not open file nofile.txt\n");
}

return(0);
}
Assuming we have an existing file file.txt but nofile.txt does not exist. Let us
compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Opend file file.txt successfully
Could not open file nofile.txt

offsetof(type, member-designator)
Description
The C library macro offsetof(type, member-designator) results in a constant
integer of type size_t which is the offset in bytes of a structure member from
the beginning of the structure. The member is given by member-designator, and
the name of the structure is given in type.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for offsetof() Macro.
offsetof(type, member-designator)

Parameters

type -- This is the class type in which member-designator is a valid

member designator.

member-designator -- This is the member designator of class type.

Return Value
This macro returns the value of type size_t which is the offset value of member
in type.
92

C Standard Library

Example
The following example shows the usage of offsetof() Macro.
#include <stddef.h>
#include <stdio.h>

struct address {
char name[50];
char street[50];
int phone;
};

int main()
{
printf("name offset = %d byte in address structure.\n",
offsetof(struct address, name));

printf("street offset = %d byte in address structure.\n",

offsetof(struct address, street));

printf("phone offset = %d byte in address structure.\n",

offsetof(struct address, phone));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:
name offset = 0 byte in address structure.
street offset = 50 byte in address structure.
phone offset = 100 byte in address structure.

93

C Standard Library

94

12. <STDIO.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The stdio.h header defines three variable types, several macros, and various
functions for performing input and output.

Library Variables
Following are the variable types defined in the header stdio.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

size_t
This is the unsigned
the sizeof keyword.

integral

type

and

is

the

result

of

FILE
This is an object type suitable for storing information for a file stream.

fpos_t
This is an object type suitable for storing any position in a file.

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header stdio.h:
S.N.

Macro & Description

NULL
This macro is the value of a null pointer constant.

_IOFBF, _IOLBF and _IONBF

These are the macros which expand to integral constant expressions
with distinct values and suitable for the use as third argument to
the setvbuf function.

95

C Standard Library

BUFSIZ
This macro is an integer, which represents the size of the buffer used
by the setbuf function.

EOFM
This macro is a negative integer, which indicates that the end-of-file
has been reached.

FOPEN_MAX
This macro is an integer, which represents the maximum number of
files that the system can guarantee to be opened simultaneously.

FILENAME_MAX
This macro is an integer, which represents the longest length of a char
array suitable for holding the longest possible filename. If the
implementation imposes no limit, then this value should be the
recommended maximum value.

L_tmpnam
This macro is an integer, which represents the longest length of a char
array suitable for holding the longest possible temporary filename
created by the tmpnam function.

SEEK_CUR, SEEK_END, and SEEK_SET

These macros are used in the fseek function to locate different
positions in a file.

TMP_MAX
This macro is the maximum number of unique filenames that the
function tmpnam can generate.

10

stderr, stdin, and stdout

These macros are pointers to FILE types which correspond to the
standard error, standard input, and standard output streams.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header stdio.h:
96

C Standard Library

Follow the same sequence of functions for better understanding and to make use
of Try it (online compiler) option, because file created in the first function will be
used in subsequent functions.
S.N.

Function & Description

int fclose(FILE *stream)

Closes the stream. All buffers are flushed.

void clearerr(FILE *stream)

Clears the end-of-file and error indicators for the given stream.

int feof(FILE *stream)

Tests the end-of-file indicator for the given stream.

int ferror(FILE *stream)

Tests the error indicator for the given stream.

int fflush(FILE *stream)

Flushes the output buffer of a stream.

int fgetpos(FILE *stream, fpos_t *pos)

Gets the current file position of the stream and writes it to pos.

FILE *fopen(const char *filename, const char *mode)

Opens the filename pointed to by filename using the given mode.

size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream)

Reads data from the given stream into the array pointed to by ptr.

FILE *freopen(const char *filename, const char *mode, FILE *stream)

Associates a new filename with the given open stream and same time
closing the old file in stream.

10

int fseek(FILE *stream, long int offset, int whence)

Sets the file position of the stream to the given offset. The
argument offset signifies the number of bytes to seek from the
97

C Standard Library

given whence position.

11

int fsetpos(FILE *stream, const fpos_t *pos)

Sets the file position of the given stream to the given position. The
argument pos is a position given by the function fgetpos.

12

long int ftell(FILE *stream)

Returns the current file position of the given stream.

13

size_t fwrite(const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream)
Writes data from the array pointed to by ptr to the given stream.

14

int remove(const char *filename)

Deletes the given filename so that it is no longer accessible.

15

int rename(const char *old_filename, const char *new_filename)

Causes the filename referred to, by old_filename to be changed to
new_filename.

16

void rewind(FILE *stream)

Sets the file position to the beginning of the file of the given stream.

17

void setbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer)

Defines how a stream should be buffered.

18

int setvbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer, int mode, size_t size)

Another function to define how a stream should be buffered.

19

FILE *tmpfile(void)
Creates a temporary file in binary update mode (wb+).

20

char *tmpnam(char *str)

Generates and returns a valid temporary filename which does not
exist.

21

int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...)

98

C Standard Library

Sends formatted output to a stream.

22

int printf(const char *format, ...)

Sends formatted output to stdout.

23

int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...)

Sends formatted output to a string.

24

int vfprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, va_list arg)

Sends formatted output to a stream using an argument list.

25

int vprintf(const char *format, va_list arg)

Sends formatted output to stdout using an argument list.

26

int vsprintf(char *str, const char *format, va_list arg)

Sends formatted output to a string using an argument list.

27

int fscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...)

Reads formatted input from a stream.

28

int scanf(const char *format, ...)

Reads formatted input from stdin.

29

int sscanf(const char *str, const char *format, ...)

Reads formatted input from a string.

30

int fgetc(FILE *stream)

Gets the next character (an unsigned char) from the specified stream
and advances the position indicator for the stream.

31

char *fgets(char *str, int n, FILE *stream)

Reads a line from the specified stream and stores it into the string
pointed to by str. It stops when either (n-1) characters are read, the
newline character is read, or the end-of-file is reached, whichever
comes first.

99

C Standard Library

32

int fputc(int char, FILE *stream)

Writes a character (an unsigned char) specified by the argument char
to the specified stream and advances the position indicator for the
stream.

33

int fputs(const char *str, FILE *stream)

Writes a string to the specified stream up to but not including the null
character.

34

int getc(FILE *stream)

Gets the next character (an unsigned char) from the specified stream
and advances the position indicator for the stream.

35

int getchar(void)
Gets a character (an unsigned char) from stdin.

36

char *gets(char *str)

Reads a line from stdin and stores it into the string pointed to, by str.
It stops when either the newline character is read or when the end-offile is reached, whichever comes first.

37

int putc(int char, FILE *stream)

Writes a character (an unsigned char) specified by the argument char
to the specified stream and advances the position indicator for the
stream.

38

int putchar(int char)

Writes a character (an unsigned char) specified by the argument char
to stdout.

39

int puts(const char *str)

Writes a string to stdout up to but not including the null character. A
newline character is appended to the output.

40

int ungetc(int char, FILE *stream)

Pushes the character char (an unsigned char) onto the specified
stream so that the next character is read.

100

C Standard Library

41

void perror(const char *str)

Prints a descriptive error message to stderr. First the string str is
printed followed by a colon and then a space.

int fclose(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int fclose(FILE *stream) closes the stream. All buffers
are flushed.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fclose() function.
int fclose(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that specifies the stream to
be closed.

Return Value
This method returns zero if the stream is successfully closed. On failure, EOF is
returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fclose() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "w");

fprintf(fp, "%s", "This is tutorialspoint.com");

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}

101

C Standard Library

Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt, and
then it will write following text line and finally it will close the file
using fclose() function.
This is tutorialspoint.com

void clearerr(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function void clearerr(FILE *stream) clears the end-of-file and
error indicators for the given stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for clearerr() function.
void clearerr(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

Return Value
This should not fail and do not set the external variable errno but in case it
detects that its argument is not a valid stream, it must return -1 and set errno
to EBADF.

Example
The following example shows the usage of clearerr() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;
char c;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "w");

c = fgetc(fp);
if( ferror(fp) )
{
printf("Error in reading from file : file.txt\n");
}
102

C Standard Library

clearerr(fp);
if( ferror(fp) )
{
printf("Error in reading from file : file.txt\n");
}
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Assuming we have a text file file.txt, which is an empty file, let us compile and
run the above program, this will produce the following result because we try to
read a file which we opened in write only mode.
Error reading from file "file.txt"

int feof(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int feof(FILE *stream) tests the end-of-file indicator for
the given stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for feof() function.
int feof(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

Return Value
This function returns a non-zero value when End-of-File indicator associated with
the stream is set, else zero is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of feof() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
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int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
if(fp == NULL)
{
perror("Error in opening file");
return(-1);
}
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}
Assuming we have a text file file.txt, which has the following content. This file
will be used as an input for our example program:
This is tutorialspoint.com
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:
This is tutorialspoint.com

int ferror(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int ferror(FILE *stream) tests the error indicator for the
given stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ferror() function.

104

C Standard Library

int ferror(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

Return Value
If the error indicator associated with the stream was set, the function returns a
non-zero value else, it returns a zero value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of ferror() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;
char c;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "w");

c = fgetc(fp);
if( ferror(fp) )
{
printf("Error in reading from file : file.txt\n");
}
clearerr(fp);
if( ferror(fp) )
{
printf("Error in reading from file : file.txt\n");
}
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Assuming we have a text file file.txt, which is an empty file. Let us compile and
run the above program that will produce the following result because we try to
read a file which we opened in write only mode.
105

C Standard Library

Error reading from file "file.txt"

int fflush(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int fflush(FILE *stream) flushes the output buffer of a
stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fflush() function.
int fflush(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that specifies a buffered

stream.

Return Value
This function returns a zero value on success. If an error occurs, EOF is returned
and the error indicator is set (i.e. feof).

Example
The following example shows the usage of fflush() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{

char buff[1024];

memset( buff, '\0', sizeof( buff ));

fprintf(stdout, "Going to set full buffering on\n");

setvbuf(stdout, buff, _IOFBF, 1024);

fprintf(stdout, "This is tutorialspoint.com\n");

fprintf(stdout, "This output will go into buff\n");
fflush( stdout );
106

C Standard Library

fprintf(stdout, "and this will appear when programm\n");

fprintf(stdout, "will come after sleeping 5 seconds\n");

sleep(5);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result.
Here program keeps buffering the output into buff until it faces first call
to fflush(), after which it again starts buffering the output and finally sleeps for
5 seconds. It sends remaining output to the STDOUT before program comes out.
Going to set full buffering on
This is tutorialspoint.com
This output will go into buff
and this will appear when programm
will come after sleeping 5 seconds

int fgetpos(FILE *stream, fpos_t *pos)

Description
The C library function int fgetpos(FILE *stream, fpos_t *pos) gets the
current file position of the stream and writes it to pos.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fgetpos() function.
int fgetpos(FILE *stream, fpos_t *pos)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

pos -- This is the pointer to a fpos_t object.

Return Value
This function returns zero on success, else non-zero value in case of an error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fgetpos() function.
#include <stdio.h>
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C Standard Library

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
fpos_t position;

fp = fopen("file.txt","w+");
fgetpos(fp, &position);
fputs("Hello, World!", fp);

fsetpos(fp, &position);
fputs("This is going to override previous content", fp);
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to create a file file.txt which will
have the following content. First of all we get the initial position of the file
using fgetpos() function and then we write Hello, World! in the file, but later we
have used fsetpos() function to reset the write pointer at the beginning of the
file and then over-write the file with the following content:
This is going to override previous content
Now let us see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;
int n = 0;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
108

C Standard Library

c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}

FILE *fopen(const char *filename, const char *mode)

Description
The C library function FILE *fopen(const char *filename, const char
*mode) opens the filename pointed to, by filename using the given mode.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fopen() function.
FILE *fopen(const char *filename, const char *mode)

Parameters

filename -- This is the C string containing the name of the file to be

opened.

mode -- This is the C string containing a file access mode. It includes:

mode

Description

"r"

Opens a file for reading. The file must exist.

"w"

Creates an empty file for writing. If a file with the same name already
exists, its content is erased and the file is considered as a new empty
file.

"a"

Appends to a file. Writing operations, append data at the end of the

file. The file is created if it does not exist.

109

C Standard Library

"r+"

Opens a file to update both reading and writing. The file must exist.

"w+"

Creates an empty file for both reading and writing.

"a+"

Opens a file for reading and appending.

Return Value
This function returns a FILE pointer. Otherwise, NULL is returned and the global
variable errno is set to indicate the error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fopen() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
FILE * fp;

fp = fopen ("file.txt", "w+");

fprintf(fp, "%s %s %s %d", "We", "are", "in", 2012);

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt with the
following content:
We are in 2012
Now let us see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
110

C Standard Library

int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb,
FILE *stream) reads data from the given stream into the array pointed to,
by ptr.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fread() function.
size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream)

Parameters

ptr -- This is the pointer to a block of memory with a minimum size

of size*nmemb bytes.

size -- This is the size in bytes of each element to be read.

nmemb -- This is the number of elements, each one with a size of size
bytes.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that specifies an input

stream.

Return Value

111

C Standard Library

The total number of elements successfully read are returned as a size_t object,
which is an integral data type. If this number differs from the nmemb
parameter, then either an error had occurred or the End Of File was reached.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fread() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;
char c[] = "this is tutorialspoint";
char buffer[20];

/* Open file for both reading and writing */

fp = fopen("file.txt", "w+");

/* Write data to the file */

fwrite(c, strlen(c) + 1, 1, fp);

/* Seek to the beginning of the file */

fseek(fp, SEEK_SET, 0);

/* Read and display data */

fread(buffer, strlen(c)+1, 1, fp);
printf("%s\n", buffer);
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt and
write a content this is tutorialspoint. After that, we use fseek() function to reset
writing pointer to the beginning of the file and prepare the file content which is
as follows:
this is tutorialspoint
112

C Standard Library

FILE *freopen(const char *filename, const char *mode, FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function FILE *freopen(const char *filename, const char
*mode, FILE *stream) associates a new filename with the given open stream
and at the same time closes the old file in the stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for freopen() function.
FILE *freopen(const char *filename, const char *mode, FILE *stream)

Parameters

filename -- This is the C string containing the name of the file to be

opened.

mode -- This is the C string containing a file access mode. It includes:

mode

Description

"r"

Opens a file for reading. The file must exist.

"w"

Creates an empty file for writing. If a file with the same name already
exists then its content is erased and the file is considered as a new
empty file.

"a"

Appends to a file. Writing operations appends data at the end of the

file. The file is created if it does not exist.

"r+"

Opens a file to update both reading and writing. The file must exist.

"w+"

Creates an empty file for both reading and writing.

"a+"

Opens a file for reading and appending.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream to
be re-opened.

Return Value
If the file was re-opened successfully, the function returns a pointer to an object
identifying the stream or else, null pointer is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of freopen() function.

113

C Standard Library

#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

printf("This text is redirected to stdout\n");

fp = freopen("file.txt", "w+", stdout);

printf("This text is redirected to file.txt\n");

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will send the following line at
STDOUT because initially we did not open stdout:
This text is redirected to stdout
After a call to freopen(), it associates STDOUT to file file.txt, so whatever we
write at STDOUT, goes inside file.txt. So, the file file.txt will have the following
content.
This text is redirected to file.txt
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
114

C Standard Library

{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int fseek(FILE *stream, long int offset, int whence)

Description
The C library function int fseek(FILE *stream, long int
whence) sets the file position of the stream to the given offset.

offset,

int

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fseek() function.
int fseek(FILE *stream, long int offset, int whence)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

offset -- This is the number of bytes to offset from whence.

whence -- This is the position from where offset is added. It is specified

by one of the following constants:

Constant

Description

SEEK_SET

Beginning of file

SEEK_CUR

Current position of the file pointer

SEEK_END

End of file

Return ValueThis function returns zero if successful, or else it returns a non-zero

value.
115

C Standard Library

Example
The following example shows the usage of fseek() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("file.txt","w+");
fputs("This is tutorialspoint.com", fp);

fseek( fp, 7, SEEK_SET );

fputs(" C Programming Langauge", fp);
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt with the
following content. Initially program creates the file and writes This is
tutorialspoint.com, but later we had reset the write pointer at 7th position from
the beginning and used puts() statement which over-write the file with the
following content:
This is C Programming Langauge
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
116

C Standard Library

c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int fsetpos(FILE *stream, const fpos_t *pos)

Description
The C library function int fsetpos(FILE *stream, const fpos_t *pos) sets the
file position of the given stream to the given position. The argument pos is a
position given by the function fgetpos.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fsetpos() function.
int fsetpos(FILE *stream, const fpos_t *pos)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

pos -- This is the pointer to a fpos_t object containing a position

previously obtained with fgetpos.

Return Value
This function returns zero value if successful, or else it returns a non-zero value
and sets the global variable errno to a positive value, which can be interpreted
with perror.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fsetpos() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
117

C Standard Library

fpos_t position;

fp = fopen("file.txt","w+");
fgetpos(fp, &position);
fputs("Hello, World!", fp);

fsetpos(fp, &position);
fputs("This is going to override previous content", fp);
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to create a file file.txt which will
have the following content. First of all we get the initial position of the file
using fgetpos() function, and then we write Hello, World! in the file but later we
used fsetpos() function to reset the write pointer at the beginning of the file
and then over-write the file with the following content:
This is going to override previous content
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
118

C Standard Library

printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

long int ftell(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function long int ftell(FILE *stream) returns the current file
position of the given stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ftell() function.
long int ftell(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

Return Value
This function returns the current value of the position indicator. If an error
occurs, -1L is returned, and the global variable errno is set to a positive value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of ftell() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int len;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if( fp == NULL )
{
perror ("Error opening file");
return(-1);
}
119

C Standard Library

fseek(fp, 0, SEEK_END);

len = ftell(fp);
fclose(fp);

printf("Total size of file.txt = %d bytes\n", len);

return(0);
}
Let us assume we have a text file file.txt, which has the following content:
This is tutorialspoint.com
Now let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following
result if file has above mentioned content otherwise it will give different result
based on the file content:
Total size of file.txt = 27 bytes

size_t fwrite(const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream)
Description
The C library function size_t fwrite(const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t
nmemb, FILE *stream) writes data from the array pointed to, by ptr to the
given stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fwrite() function.
size_t fwrite(const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream)

Parameters

ptr -- This is the pointer to the array of elements to be written.

size -- This is the size in bytes of each element to be written.

nmemb -- This is the number of elements, each one with a size of size
bytes.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that specifies an output

stream.

Return Value
120

C Standard Library

This function returns the total number of elements successfully returned as a

size_t object, which is an integral data type. If this number differs from the
nmemb parameter, it will show an error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fwrite() function.
#include<stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
char str[] = "This is tutorialspoint.com";

fp = fopen( "file.txt" , "w" );

fwrite(str , 1 , sizeof(str) , fp );

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt which
will have following content:
This is tutorialspoint.com
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
121

C Standard Library

if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int remove(const char *filename)

Description
The C library function int remove(const char
given filename so that it is no longer accessible.

*filename) deletes

the

Declaration
Following is the declaration for remove() function.
int remove(const char *filename)

Parameters

filename -- This is the C string containing the name of the file to be

deleted.

Return Value
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set
appropriately.

Example
The following example shows the usage of remove() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
int ret;
FILE *fp;
char filename[] = "file.txt";
122

C Standard Library

fp = fopen(filename, "w");

fprintf(fp, "%s", "This is tutorialspoint.com");

fclose(fp);

ret = remove(filename);

if(ret == 0)
{
printf("File deleted successfully");
}
else
{
printf("Error: unable to delete the file");
}

return(0);
}
Let us assume we have a text file file.txt having some content. So we are going
to delete this file, using the above program. Let us compile and run the above
program to produce the following message and the file will be deleted
permanently.
File deleted successfully

int rename(const char *old_filename, const char *new_filename)

Description
The C library function int rename(const char *old_filename, const char
*new_filename) causes the filename referred to by old_filename to be changed
to new_filename.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for rename() function.
int rename(const char *old_filename, const char *new_filename)

Parameters
123

C Standard Library

old_filename -- This is the C string containing the name of the file to be

renamed and/or moved.

new_filename -- This is the C string containing the new name for the
file.

Return Value
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set
appropriately.

Example
The following example shows the usage of rename() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
int ret;
char oldname[] = "file.txt";
char newname[] = "newfile.txt";

ret = rename(oldname, newname);

if(ret == 0)
{
printf("File renamed successfully");
}
else
{
printf("Error: unable to rename the file");
}

return(0);
}
Let us assume we have a text file file.txt, having some content. So, we are
going to rename this file, using the above program. Let us compile and run the
above program to produce the following message and the file will be renamed
to newfile.txt file.
File renamed successfully
124

C Standard Library

void rewind(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function void rewind(FILE *stream) sets the file position to the
beginning of the file of the given stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for rewind() function.
void rewind(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of rewind() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char str[] = "This is tutorialspoint.com";
FILE *fp;
int ch;

/* First let's write some content in the file */

fp = fopen( "file.txt" , "w" );
fwrite(str , 1 , sizeof(str) , fp );
fclose(fp);

fp = fopen( "file.txt" , "r" );

while(1)
{
ch = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
125

C Standard Library

}
printf("%c", ch);
}
rewind(fp);
printf("\n");
while(1)
{
ch = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", ch);

}
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us assume we have a text file file.txt that have the following content:
This is tutorialspoint.com
Now let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
This is tutorialspoint.com
This is tutorialspoint.com

void setbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer)

Description
The C library function void setbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer) defines how a
stream should be buffered. This function should be called once the file
associated with the stream has already been opened, but before any input or
output operation has taken place.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for setbuf() function.
126

C Standard Library

void setbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies an open

stream.

buffer -- This is the user allocated buffer. This should have a length of at
least BUFSIZ bytes, which is a macro constant to be used as the length of
this array.

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of setbuf() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char buf[BUFSIZ];

setbuf(stdout, buf);
puts("This is tutorialspoint");

fflush(stdout);
return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result. Here
program sends output to the STDOUT just before it comes out, otherwise it
keeps buffering the output. You can also use fflush() function to flush the
output.
This is tutorialspoint

int setvbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer, int mode, size_t size)

Description
The C library function int setvbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer, int mode,
size_t size)defines how a stream should be buffered.

Declaration
127

C Standard Library

Following is the declaration for setvbuf() function.

int setvbuf(FILE *stream, char *buffer, int mode, size_t size)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies an open

stream.

buffer -- This is the user allocated buffer. If set to NULL, the function
automatically allocates a buffer of the specified size.

mode -- This specifies a mode for file buffering:

mode

Description

_IOFBF

Full buffering: On output, data is written once the buffer is full. On

Input the buffer is filled when an input operation is requested and
the buffer is empty.

_IOLBF

Line buffering: On output, data is written when a newline character

is inserted into the stream or when the buffer is full, whatsoever
happens first. On Input, the buffer is filled till the next newline
character when an input operation is requested and buffer is empty.

_IONBF

No buffering: No buffer is used. Each I/O operation is written as

soon as possible. The buffer and size parameters are ignored.

size -- This is the buffer size in bytes

Return Value
This function returns zero on success else, non-zero value is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of setvbuf() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{

char buff[1024];

memset( buff, '\0', sizeof( buff ));

128

C Standard Library

fprintf(stdout, "Going to set full buffering on\n");

setvbuf(stdout, buff, _IOFBF, 1024);

fprintf(stdout, "This is tutorialspoint.com\n");

fprintf(stdout, "This output will go into buff\n");
fflush( stdout );

fprintf(stdout, "and this will appear when programm\n");

fprintf(stdout, "will come after sleeping 5 seconds\n");

sleep(5);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result. Here
program keeps buffering the output into buff until it faces first call to fflush(),
after which it again starts buffering the output and finally sleeps for 5 seconds.
It sends remaining output to the STDOUT before the program comes out.
Going to set full buffering on
This is tutorialspoint.com
This output will go into buff
and this will appear when programm
will come after sleeping 5 seconds

FILE *tmpfile(void)
Description
The C library function FILE *tmpfile(void) creates a temporary file in binary
update mode (wb+). The temporary file created is automatically deleted when
the stream is closed (fclose) or when the program terminates.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for tmpfile() function.
FILE *tmpfile(void)

Parameters

NA
129

C Standard Library

Return Value
If successful, the function returns a stream pointer to the temporary file created.
If the file cannot be created, then NULL is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of tmpfile() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = tmpfile();
printf("Temporary file created\n");

/* you can use tmp file here */

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to create a temporary file in /tmp
folder but once your program is out, it will be deleted automatically and the
program will produce the following result:
Temporary file created

char *tmpnam(char *str)

Description
The C library function char *tmpnam(char *str) generates and returns a valid
temporary filename which does not exist. If str is null then it simply returns the
tmp file name.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for tmpnam() function.
char *tmpnam(char *str)

130

C Standard Library

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to an array of chars where the proposed temp
name will be stored as a C string.

Return Value

Return value is a pointer to the C string containing the proposed name for
a temporary file. If str was a null pointer, this points to an internal buffer
that will be overwritten the next time this function is called.

If str was not a null pointer, str is returned. If the function fails to create a
suitable filename, it returns a null pointer.

Example
The following example shows the usage of tmpnam() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char buffer[L_tmpnam];
char *ptr;

tmpnam(buffer);
printf("Temporary name 1: %s\n", buffer);

ptr = tmpnam(NULL);
printf("Temporary name 2: %s\n", ptr);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
Temporary name 1: /tmp/filebaalTb
Temporary name 2: /tmp/filedCIbb0

int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...)

Description
131

C Standard Library

The C library function int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format,

...) sends formatted output to a stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fprintf() function.
int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

format -- This is the C string that contains the text to be written to the
stream. It can optionally contain embedded format tags that are replaced
by the values specified in subsequent additional arguments and formatted
as
requested.
Format
tags
prototype
is %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier, which is explained
below:

specifier

Output

Character

d or i

Signed decimal integer

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using e character

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using E character

Decimal floating point

Uses the shorter of %e or %f

Uses the shorter of %E or %f

Signed octal

String of characters

Unsigned decimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer

132

C Standard Library

Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)

Pointer address

Nothing printed

Character

flags

Description

Left-justifies within the given field width; Right justification is the

default (see width sub-specifier).

Forces to precede the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -)

even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are
preceded with a -ve sign.

(space)

If no sign is written, a blank space is inserted before the value.

Used with o, x or X specifiers. The value is preceded with 0, 0x or

0X respectively for values different than zero. Used with e, E and f,
it forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no
digits would follow. By default, if no digits follow then no decimal
point is written. Used with g or G the result is the same as with e
or E but trailing zeros are not removed.

Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where

padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).

width

Description

(number)

Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be

printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with
blank spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is
larger.

The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional

integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
formatted.

133

C Standard Library

.precision

Description

.number

For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the

minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written
is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading
zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A
precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0.
For e, E and f specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed
after the decimal point. For g and G specifiers: This is the
maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s: this is
the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all
characters are printed until the ending null character is
encountered. For c type: it has no effect. When no precision is
specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an
explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.

.*

The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an

additional integer value argument preceding the argument that
has to be formatted.

length

Description

The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int

(only applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).

The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for

integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or
wide character string for specifiers c and s.

The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to

floating point specifiers: e, E, f, g and G).

additional arguments -- Depending on the format string, the function

may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing one
value to be inserted instead of each %-tag specified in the format
parameter, if any. There should be the same number of these arguments
as the number of %-tags that expect a value.

Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned otherwise, a
negative number is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fprintf() function.
134

C Standard Library

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
FILE * fp;

fp = fopen ("file.txt", "w+");

fprintf(fp, "%s %s %s %d", "We", "are", "in", 2012);

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt with the
following content:
We are in 2012
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
135

C Standard Library

printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int printf(const char *format, ...)

Description
The C library function int printf(const char *format, ...) sends formatted
output to stdout.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for printf() function.
int printf(const char *format, ...)

Parameters

format -- This is the string that contains the text to be written to stdout.
It can optionally contain embedded format tags that are replaced by the
values specified in subsequent additional arguments and formatted as
requested.
Format
tags
prototype
is %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier, which is explained
below:

specifier

Output

Character

d or i

Signed decimal integer

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using e character

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using E character

Decimal floating point

Uses the shorter of %e or %f.

Uses the shorter of %E or %f

136

C Standard Library

Signed octal

String of characters

Unsigned decimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)

Pointer address

Nothing printed

Character

flags

Description

Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the

default (see width sub-specifier).

Forces to precede the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -) even

for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are
preceded with a -ve sign.

(space)

If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before the

value.

Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceded with 0,

respectively for values different than zero. Used with e, E
forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if
would follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal
written. Used with g or G the result is the same as with e
trailing zeros are not removed.

Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where

padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).

width

0x or 0X
and f, it
no digits
point is
or E but

Description

137

C Standard Library

(number)

Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be

printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with blank
spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is larger.

The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional

integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
formatted.

.precision

Description

.number

For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the

minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written
is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading
zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A
precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0.
For e, E and f specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed
after the decimal point. For g and G specifiers: This is the
maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s: this is
the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all
characters are printed until the ending null character is
encountered. For c type: it has no effect. When no precision is
specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an
explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.

.*

The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an

additional integer value argument preceding the argument that
has to be formatted.

length

Description

The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int (only

applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).

The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for

integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or
wide character string for specifiers c and s.

The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to floating

point specifiers: e, E, f, g and G).

additional arguments -- Depending on the format string, the function

may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing one
value to be inserted instead of each %-tag specified in the format
138

C Standard Library

parameter (if any). There should be the same number of these arguments
as the number of %-tags that expect a value.

Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned. On failure, a
negative number is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of printf() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
int ch;

for( ch = 75 ; ch <= 100; ch++ ) {

printf("ASCII value = %d, Character = %c\n", ch , ch );
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
ASCII value = 75, Character = K
ASCII value = 76, Character = L
ASCII value = 77, Character = M
ASCII value = 78, Character = N
ASCII value = 79, Character = O
ASCII value = 80, Character = P
ASCII value = 81, Character = Q
ASCII value = 82, Character = R
ASCII value = 83, Character = S
ASCII value = 84, Character = T
ASCII value = 85, Character = U
ASCII value = 86, Character = V
ASCII value = 87, Character = W
ASCII value = 88, Character = X
139

C Standard Library

ASCII value = 89, Character = Y

ASCII value = 90, Character = Z
ASCII value = 91, Character = [
ASCII value = 92, Character = \
ASCII value = 93, Character = ]
ASCII value = 94, Character = ^
ASCII value = 95, Character = _
ASCII value = 96, Character = `
ASCII value = 97, Character = a
ASCII value = 98, Character = b
ASCII value = 99, Character = c
ASCII value = 100, Character = d

int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...)

Description
The C library function int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...) sends
formatted output to a string pointed to, by str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for sprintf() function.
int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...)

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to an array of char elements where the resulting
C string is stored.

format -- This is the String that contains the text to be written to buffer.
It can optionally contain embedded format tags that are replaced by the
values specified in subsequent additional arguments and formatted as
requested.
Format
tags
prototype: %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier,
as
explained below:

specifier

Output

Character

d or i

Signed decimal integer

140

C Standard Library

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using e character

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using E character

Decimal floating point

Uses the shorter of %e or %f.

Uses the shorter of %E or %f

Signed octal

String of characters

Unsigned decimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)

Pointer address

Nothing printed

Character

flags

Description

Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the

default (see width sub-specifier).

Forces to precede the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -)

even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are
preceded with a -ve sign.

(space)

If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before

the value.

Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceded with 0, 0x or

141

C Standard Library

0X respectively for values different than zero. Used with e, E and f,

it forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no
digits would follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal point
is written. Used with g or G the result is the same as with e or E
but trailing zeros are not removed.
0

Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where

padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).

width

Description

(number)

Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be

printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with
blank spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is
larger.

The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional

integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
formatted.

.precision

Description

.number

For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the

minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written
is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading
zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A
precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0.
For e, E and f specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed
after the decimal point. For g and G specifiers: This is the
maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s: this is
the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all
characters are printed until the ending null character is
encountered. For c type: it has no effect. When no precision is
specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an
explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.

.*

The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an

additional integer value argument preceding the argument that
has to be formatted.

length

Description

142

C Standard Library

The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int

(only applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).

The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for

integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or
wide character string for specifiers c and s.

The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to

floating point specifiers: e, E, f, g and G).

additional arguments -- Depending on the format string, the function

may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing one
value to be inserted instead of each %-tag specified in the format
parameter (if any). There should be the same number of these arguments
as the number of %-tags that expect a value.

Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned excluding the
null-character appended at the end of the string, otherwise a negative number is
returned in case of failure.

Example
The following example shows the usage of sprintf() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main()
{
char str[80];

sprintf(str, "Value of Pi = %f", M_PI);

puts(str);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:
Value of Pi = 3.141593

143

C Standard Library

int vfprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, va_list arg)

Description
The C library function int vfprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format,
va_list arg) sends formatted output to a stream using an argument list passed
to it.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for vfprintf() function.
int vfprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, va_list arg)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

format -- This is the C string that contains the text to be written to the
stream. It can optionally contain embedded format tags that are replaced
by the values specified in subsequent additional arguments and formatted
as
requested.
Format
tags
prototype: %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier,
as
explained below:

specifier

Output

Character

d or i

Signed decimal integer

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using e character

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using E character

Decimal floating point

Uses the shorter of %e or %f

Uses the shorter of %E or %f

Signed octal

String of characters

Unsigned decimal integer

144

C Standard Library

Unsigned hexadecimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)

Pointer address

Nothing printed

Character

flags

Description

Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the

default (see width sub-specifier).

Forces to precede the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -)

even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are
preceded with a -ve sign.

(space)

If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before

the value.

Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceded with 0, 0x or

0X respectively for values different than zero. Used with e, E and f,
it forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no
digits would follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal point
is written. Used with g or G the result is the same as with e or E
but trailing zeros are not removed.

Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where

padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).

width

Description

(number)

Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be

printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with
blank spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is
larger.

The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional

integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
145

C Standard Library

formatted.
.precision

Description

.number

For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the

minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written
is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading
zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A
precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0.
For e, E and f specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed
after the decimal point. For g and G specifiers: This is the
maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s: this is
the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all
characters are printed until the ending null character is
encountered. For c type: it has no effect. When no precision is
specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an
explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.

.*

The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an

additional integer value argument preceding the argument that
has to be formatted.

length

Description

The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int

(only applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).

The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for

integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or
wide character string for specifiers c and s.

The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to

floating point specifiers: e, E, f, g and G).

arg -- An object representing the variable arguments list. This should be

initialized by the va_start macro defined in <stdarg>.

Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned otherwise, a
negative number is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of vfprintf() function.
146

C Standard Library

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdarg.h>

void WriteFrmtd(FILE *stream, char *format, ...)

{
va_list args;

va_start(args, format);
vfprintf(stream, format, args);
va_end(args);
}

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("file.txt","w");

WriteFrmtd(fp, "This is just one argument %d \n", 10);

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will open a file file.txt for writing
in the current directory and will write the following content:
This is just one argument 10
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
147

C Standard Library

int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int vprintf(const char *format, va_list arg)

Description
The C library function int vprintf(const char *format, va_list arg) sends
formatted output to stdout using an argument list passed to it.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for vprintf() function.
int vprintf(const char *format, va_list arg)

Parameters

format -- This is the String that contains the text to be written to buffer.
It can optionally contain embedded format tags that are replaced by the
values specified in subsequent additional arguments and formatted as
requested.
Format
tags
prototype
would
be: %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier,
as
explained
below:

specifier

Output

Character

148

C Standard Library

d or i

Signed decimal integer

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using e character

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using E character

Decimal floating point

Uses the shorter of %e or %f

Uses the shorter of %E or %f

Signed octal

String of characters

Unsigned decimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)

Pointer address

Nothing printed

Character

flags

Description

Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the

default (see width sub-specifier).

Forces to precede the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -)

even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are
preceded with a -ve sign.

(space)

If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before

the value.
149

C Standard Library

Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceded with 0, 0x or

0X respectively for values different than zero. Used with e, E and f,
it forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no
digits would follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal point
is written. Used with g or G the result is the same as with e or E
but trailing zeros are not removed.

Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where

padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).

width

Description

(number)

Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be

printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with
blank spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is
larger.

The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional

integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
formatted.

.precision

Description

.number

For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the

minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written
is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading
zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A
precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0.
For e, E and f specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed
after the decimal point. For g and G specifiers: This is the
maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s: this is
the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all
characters are printed until the ending null character is
encountered. For c type: it has no effect. When no precision is
specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an
explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.

.*

The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an

additional integer value argument preceding the argument that
has to be formatted.

length

Description

150

C Standard Library

The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int

(only applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).

The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for

integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or
wide character string for specifiers c and s.

The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to

floating point specifiers: e, E, f, g and G).

arg -- An object representing the variable arguments list. This should be

initialized by the va_start macro defined in <stdarg>.

Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned otherwise a
negative number is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of vprintf() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdarg.h>

void WriteFrmtd(char *format, ...)

{
va_list args;

va_start(args, format);
vprintf(format, args);
va_end(args);
}

int main ()
{
WriteFrmtd("%d variable argument\n", 1);
WriteFrmtd("%d variable %s\n", 2, "arguments");

return(0);
}
151

C Standard Library

Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
1 variable argument
2 variable arguments

int vsprintf(char *str, const char *format, va_list arg)

Description
The C library function int vsprintf(char *str, const char *format, va_list
arg) sends formatted output to a string using an argument list passed to it.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for vsprintf() function.
int vsprintf(char *str, const char *format, va_list arg)

Parameters

str -- This is the array of char elements where the resulting string is to be
stored.

format -- This is the C string that contains the text to be written to the
str. It can optionally contain embedded format tags that are replaced by
the values specified in subsequent additional arguments and are
formatted
as
requested.
Format
tags
prototype: %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier,
as
explained below:

specifier

Output

Character

d or i

Signed decimal integer

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using e character

Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using E character

Decimal floating point

Uses the shorter of %e or %f

Uses the shorter of %E or %f

152

C Standard Library

Signed octal

String of characters

Unsigned decimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer

Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)

Pointer address

Nothing printed

Character

flags

Description

Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the

default (see width sub-specifier).

Forces to precede the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -)

even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are
preceded with a -ve sign.

(space)

If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before

the value.

Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceded with 0, 0x or

0X respectively for values different than zero. Used with e, E and f,
it forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no
digits would follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal point
is written. Used with g or G the result is the same as with e or E
but trailing zeros are not removed.

Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where

padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).

width

Description

153

C Standard Library

(number)

Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be

printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with
blank spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is
larger.

The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional

integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
formatted.

.precision

Description

.number

For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the

minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written
is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading
zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A
precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0.
For e, E and f specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed
after the decimal point. For g and G specifiers: This is the
maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s: this is
the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all
characters are printed until the ending null character is
encountered. For c type: it has no effect. When no precision is
specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an
explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.

.*

The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an

additional integer value argument preceding the argument that
has to be formatted.

length

Description

The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int

(only applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).

The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for

integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or
wide character string for specifiers c and s.

The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to

floating point specifiers: e, E, f, g and G).

arg -- An object representing the variable arguments list. This should be

initialized by the va_start macro defined in <stdarg>.
154

C Standard Library

Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned, otherwise a
negative number is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of vsprintf() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdarg.h>

char buffer[80];
int vspfunc(char *format, ...)
{
va_list aptr;
int ret;

va_start(aptr, format);
ret = vsprintf(buffer, format, aptr);
va_end(aptr);

return(ret);
}

int main()
{
int i = 5;
float f = 27.0;
char str[50] = "tutoriaspoint.com";

vspfunc("%d %f %s", i, f, str);

printf("%s\n", buffer);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:

155

C Standard Library

5 27.000000 tutoriaspoint.com

int fscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...)

Description
The C library function int fscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format,
...) reads formatted input from a stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fscanf() function.
int fscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream.

format -- This is the C string that contains one or more of the following
items: Whitespace character, Non-whitespace character and Format
specifiers.
A
format
specifier
will
be
as [=%[*][width][modifiers]type=], which is explained below:

argument

Description

This is an optional starting asterisk indicates that the data is to be

read from the stream but ignored, i.e. it is not stored in the
corresponding argument.

width

This specifies the maximum number of characters to be read in

the current reading operation.

modifiers

Specifies a size different from int (in the case of d, i and n),
unsigned int (in the case of o, u and x) or float (in the case of e, f
and g) for the data pointed by the corresponding additional
argument: h : short int (for d, i and n), or unsigned short int (for
o, u and x) l : long int (for d, i and n), or unsigned long int (for o,
u and x), or double (for e, f and g) L : long double (for e, f and g)

type

A character specifying the type of data to be read and how it is

expected to be read. See next table.

fscanf type specifiers:

type

Qualifying Input

Type
of
argument
156

C Standard Library

Single character: Reads the next character. If a

width different from 1 is specified, the function
reads width characters and stores them in the
successive locations of the array passed as
argument. No null character is appended at the
end.

char *

Decimal integer: Number optionally preceded with

a + or - sign

int *

e, E, f, g, G

Floating point: Decimal number containing a

decimal point, optionally preceded by a + or - sign
and optionally followed by the e or E character and
a decimal number. Two examples of valid entries
are -732.103 and 7.12e4

float *

Octal Integer:

int *

String of characters. This will read subsequent

characters until a whitespace is found (whitespace
characters are considered to be blank, newline and
tab).

char *

Unsigned decimal integer.

unsigned
int *

x, X

Hexadecimal Integer

int *

additional arguments -- Depending on the format string, the function

may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing one
value to be inserted instead of each %-tag specified in the format
parameter(if any). There should be the same number of these arguments
as the number of %-tags that expect a value.

Return Value
This function returns the number of input items successfully matched and
assigned, which can be fewer than provided for, or even zero in the event of an
early matching failure.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fscanf() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
157

C Standard Library

int main()
{
char str1[10], str2[10], str3[10];
int year;
FILE * fp;

fp = fopen ("file.txt", "w+");

fputs("We are in 2012", fp);

rewind(fp);
fscanf(fp, "%s %s %s %d", str1, str2, str3, &year);

printf("Read String1 |%s|\n", str1 );

printf("Read String2 |%s|\n", str2 );
printf("Read String3 |%s|\n", str3 );
printf("Read Integer |%d|\n", year );

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Read String1 |We|
Read String2 |are|
Read String3 |in|
Read Integer |2012|

int scanf(const char *format, ...)

Description
The C library function int scanf(const char *format, ...) reads formatted input
from stdin.

158

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for scanf() function.
int scanf(const char *format, ...)

Parameters

format -- This is the C string that contains one or more of the following
items:
Whitespace character, Non-whitespace character and Format specifiers. A
format specifier will be like [=%[*][width][modifiers]type=] as
explained below:

argument

Description

This is an optional starting asterisk indicates that the data is to be

read from the stream but ignored, i.e. it is not stored in the
corresponding argument.

width

This specifies the maximum number of characters to be read in

the current reading operation.

modifiers

Specifies a size different from int (in the case of d, i and n),
unsigned int (in the case of o, u and x) or float (in the case of e, f
and g) for the data pointed by the corresponding additional
argument: h : short int (for d, i and n), or unsigned short int (for
o, u and x) l : long int (for d, i and n), or unsigned long int (for o,
u and x), or double (for e, f and g) L : long double (for e, f and g)

type

A character specifying the type of data to be read and how it is

expected to be read. See next table.

fscanf type specifiers:

type

Qualifying Input

Type
of
argument

Single character: Reads the next character. If a

width different from 1 is specified, the function
reads width characters and stores them in the
successive locations of the array passed as
argument. No null character is appended at the
end.

char *

159

C Standard Library

Decimal integer: Number optionally preceded with

a + or - sign

int *

e, E, f, g, G

Floating point: Decimal number containing a

decimal point, optionally preceded by a + or - sign
and optionally followed by the e or E character and
a decimal number. Two examples of valid entries
are -732.103 and 7.12e4

float *

Octal Integer:

int *

String of characters. This will read subsequent

characters until a whitespace is found (whitespace
characters are considered to be blank, newline and
tab).

char *

Unsigned decimal integer.

unsigned
int *

x, X

Hexadecimal Integer

int *

additional arguments -- Depending on the format string, the function

may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing one
value to be inserted instead of each %-tag specified in the format
parameter, if any. There should be the same number of these arguments
as the number of %-tags that expect a value.

Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned, otherwise a
negative number is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of scanf() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char str1[20], str2[30];

printf("Enter name: ");

scanf("%s", &str1);
160

C Standard Library

printf("Enter your website name: ");

scanf("%s", &str2);

printf("Entered Name: %s\n", str1);

printf("Entered Website:%s", str2);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
in interactive mode:
Enter name: admin
Enter your website name: www.tutorialspoint.com

Entered Name: admin

Entered Website: www.tutorialspoint.com

int sscanf(const char *str, const char *format, ...)

Description
The C library function int sscanf(const char *str, const char *format,
...) reads formatted input from a string.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for sscanf() function.
int sscanf(const char *str, const char *format, ...)

Parameters

str -- This is the C string that the function processes as its source to
retrieve the data.

format -- This is the C string that contains one or more of the following
items: Whitespace character, Non-whitespace character and Format
specifiers
A format specifier follows this prototype: [=%[*][width][modifiers]type=]

argument

Description

161

C Standard Library

This is an optional starting asterisk, which indicates that the data

is to be read from the stream but ignored, i.e. it is not stored in
the corresponding argument.

width

This specifies the maximum number of characters to be read in

the current reading operation.

modifiers

Specifies a size different from int (in the case of d, i and n),
unsigned int (in the case of o, u and x) or float (in the case of e, f
and g) for the data pointed by the corresponding additional
argument: h : short int (for d, i and n), or unsigned short int (for
o, u and x) l : long int (for d, i and n), or unsigned long int (for o,
u and x), or double (for e, f and g) L : long double (for e, f and g)

type

A character specifying the type of data to be read and how it is

expected to be read. See next table.

fscanf type specifiers:

type

Qualifying Input

Type
of
argument

Single character: Reads the next character. If a

width different from 1 is specified, the function
reads width characters and stores them in the
successive locations of the array passed as
argument. No null character is appended at the
end.

char *

Decimal integer: Number optionally preceded with

a + or - sign

int *

e, E, f, g, G

Floating point: Decimal number containing a

decimal point, optionally preceded by a + or - sign
and optionally followed by the e or E character and
a decimal number. Two examples of valid entries
are -732.103 and 7.12e4

float *

Octal Integer:

int *

String of characters. This will read subsequent

characters until a whitespace is found (whitespace
characters are considered to be blank, newline and

char *

162

C Standard Library

tab).
u

Unsigned decimal integer.

unsigned
int *

x, X

Hexadecimal Integer

int *

other arguments -- This function expects a sequence of pointers as

additional arguments, each one pointing to an object of the type specified
by their corresponding %-tag within the format string, in the same order.
For each format specifier in the format string that retrieves data, an
additional argument should be specified. If you want to store the result of
a sscanf operation on a regular variable you should precede its identifier
with the reference operator, i.e. an ampersand sign (&), like: int n; sscanf
(str,"%d",&n);

Return Value
On success, the function returns the number of variables filled. In the case of an
input failure before any data could be successfully read, EOF is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of sscanf() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
int day, year;
char weekday[20], month[20], dtm[100];

strcpy( dtm, "Saturday March 25 1989" );

sscanf( dtm, "%s %s %d

%d", weekday, month, &day, &year );

printf("%s %d, %d = %s\n", month, day, year, weekday );

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
163

C Standard Library

March 25, 1989 = Saturday

int fgetc(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int fgetc(FILE *stream) gets the next character (an
unsigned char) from the specified stream and advances the position indicator for
the stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fgetc() function.
int fgetc(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream on
which the operation is to be performed.

Return Value
This function returns the character read as an unsigned char cast to an int or
EOF on end of file or error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fgetc() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;
int n = 0;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
if(fp == NULL)
{
perror("Error in opening file");
return(-1);
}
do
{
164

C Standard Library

c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}while(1);

fclose(fp);
return(0);
}
Let us assume, we have a text file file.txt, which has the following content. This
file will be used as an input for our example program:
We are in 2012
Now, let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following
result:
We are in 2012

char *fgets(char *str, int n, FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function char *fgets(char *str, int n, FILE *stream) reads a
line from the specified stream and stores it into the string pointed to by str. It
stops when either (n-1) characters are read, the newline character is read, or
the end-of-file is reached, whichever comes first.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fgets() function.
char *fgets(char *str, int n, FILE *stream)

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to an array of chars where the string read is
stored.

n -- This is the maximum number of characters to be read (including the

final null-character). Usually, the length of the array passed as str is used.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream
where characters are read from.
165

C Standard Library

Return Value
On success, the function returns the same str parameter. If the End-of-File is
encountered and no characters have been read, the contents of str remain
unchanged and a null pointer is returned.
If an error occurs, a null pointer is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fgets() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;
char str[60];

/* opening file for reading */

fp = fopen("file.txt" , "r");
if(fp == NULL) {
perror("Error opening file");
return(-1);
}
if( fgets (str, 60, fp)!=NULL ) {
/* writing content to stdout */
puts(str);
}
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us assume, we have a text file file.txt, which has the following content. This
file will be used as an input for our example program:
We are in 2012
Now, let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following
result:

166

C Standard Library

We are in 2012

int fputc(int char, FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int fputc(int char, FILE *stream) writes a character (an
unsigned char) specified by the argument char to the specified stream and
advances the position indicator for the stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fputc() function.
int fputc(int char, FILE *stream)

Parameters

char -- This is the character to be written. This is passed as its int

promotion.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream
where the character is to be written.

Return Value
If there are no errors, the same character that has been written is returned. If
an error occurs, EOF is returned and the error indicator is set.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fputc() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int ch;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "w+");
for( ch = 33 ; ch <= 100; ch++ )
{
fputc(ch, fp);
}
fclose(fp);

167

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt in the
current directory, which will have following content:
!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcd
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int fputs(const char *str, FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int fputs(const char *str, FILE *stream) writes a
string to the specified stream up to but not including the null character.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for fputs() function.
168

C Standard Library

int fputs(const char *str, FILE *stream)

Parameters

str -- This is an array containing the null-terminated sequence of

characters to be written.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream
where the string is to be written.

Return Value
This function returns a non-negative value, or else on error it returns EOF.

Example
The following example shows the usage of fputs() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "w+");

fputs("This is c programming.", fp);

fputs("This is a system programming language.", fp);

fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will create a file file.txt with the
following content:
This is c programming.This is a system programming language.
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
169

C Standard Library

FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int getc(FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int getc(FILE *stream) gets the next character (an
unsigned char) from the specified stream and advances the position indicator for
the stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for getc() function.
int getc(FILE *stream)

Parameters

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream on
which the operation is to be performed.

Return Value
This function returns the character read as an unsigned char cast to an int or
EOF on end of file or error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of getc() function.
#include<stdio.h>
170

C Standard Library

int main()
{
char c;

printf("Enter character: ");

c = getc(stdin);
printf("Character entered: ");
putc(c, stdout);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Enter character: a
Character entered: a

int getchar(void)
Description
The C library function int getchar(void) gets a character (an unsigned char)
from stdin. This is equivalent to getc with stdin as its argument.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for getchar() function.
int getchar(void)

Parameters

NA

Return Value
This function returns the character read as an unsigned char cast to an int or
EOF on end of file or error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of getchar() function.
#include <stdio.h>

171

C Standard Library

int main ()
{
char c;

printf("Enter character: ");

c = getchar();

printf("Character entered: ");

putchar(c);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Enter character: a
Character entered: a

char *gets(char *str)

Description
The C library function char *gets(char *str) reads a line from stdin and stores
it into the string pointed to by str. It stops when either the newline character is
read or when the end-of-file is reached, whichever comes first.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for gets() function.
char *gets(char *str)

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to an array of chars where the C string is stored.

Return Value
This function returns str on success, and NULL on error or when end of file
occurs, while no characters have been read.

Example
The following example shows the usage of gets() function.
#include <stdio.h>
172

C Standard Library

int main()
{
char str[50];

printf("Enter a string : ");

gets(str);

printf("You entered: %s", str);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Enter a string : tutorialspoint.com
You entered: tutorialspoint.com

int putc(int char, FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int putc(int char, FILE *stream) writes a character (an
unsigned char) specified by the argument char to the specified stream and
advances the position indicator for the stream.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for putc() function.
int putc(int char, FILE *stream)

Parameters

char -- This is the character to be written. The character is passed as its

int promotion.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies the stream
where the character is to be written.

Return Value
This function returns the character written as an unsigned char cast to an int or
EOF on error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of putc() function.
173

C Standard Library

#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int ch;

fp = fopen("file.txt", "w");
for( ch = 33 ; ch <= 100; ch++ )
{
putc(ch, fp);
}
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will create a file file.txt in the
current directory which will have following content:
!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcd
Now let's see the content of the above file using the following program:
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
while(1)
{
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
{
174

C Standard Library

break ;
}
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
return(0);
}

int putchar(int char)

Description
The C library function int putchar(int char) writes a character (an unsigned
char) specified by the argument char to stdout.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for putchar() function.
int putchar(int char)

Parameters

char -- This is the character to be written. This is passed as its int

promotion.

Return Value
This function returns the character written as an unsigned char cast to an int or
EOF on error.

Example
The following example shows the usage of putchar() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
char ch;

for(ch = 'A' ; ch <= 'Z' ; ch++) {

putchar(ch);
}

175

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

int puts(const char *str)

Description
The C library function int puts(const char *str) writes a string to stdout up to
but not including the null character. A newline character is appended to the
output.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for puts() function.
int puts(const char *str)

Parameters

str -- This is the C string to be written.

Return Value
If successful, non-negative value is returned. On error, the function returns EOF.

Example
The following example shows the usage of puts() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
char str1[15];
char str2[15];

strcpy(str1, "tutorialspoint");
strcpy(str2, "compileonline");

puts(str1);
puts(str2);
176

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program to produce the following result:
tutorialspoint
compileonline

int ungetc(int char, FILE *stream)

Description
The C library function int ungetc(int char, FILE *stream) pushes the
character char (an unsigned char) onto the specified stream so that the this
is available for the next read operation.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ungetc() function.
int ungetc(int char, FILE *stream)

Parameters

char -- This is the character to be put back. This is passed as its int
promotion.

stream -- This is the pointer to a FILE object that identifies an input

stream.

Return Value
If successful, it returns the character that was pushed back otherwise, EOF is
returned and the stream remains unchanged.

Example
The following example shows the usage of ungetc() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;
char buffer [256];

177

C Standard Library

fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if( fp == NULL )
{
perror("Error in opening file");
return(-1);
}
while(!feof(fp))
{
c = getc (fp);
/* replace ! with + */
if( c == '!' )
{
ungetc ('+', fp);
}
else
{
ungetc(c, fp);
}
fgets(buffer, 255, fp);
fputs(buffer, stdout);
}
return(0);
}
Let us assume, we have a text file file.txt, which contains the following data.
This file will be used as an input for our example program:
this is tutorials point
!c standard library
!library functions and macros
Now let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following
result:
this is tutorials point
+c standard library
+library functions and macros
178

C Standard Library

void perror(const char *str)

Description
The C library function void perror(const char *str) prints a descriptive error
message to stderr. First the string str is printed, followed by a colon then a
space.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for perror() function.
void perror(const char *str)

Parameters

str -- This is the C string containing a custom message to be printed

before the error message itself.

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of perror() function.
#include <stdio.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

/* first rename if there is any file */

rename("file.txt", "newfile.txt");

/* now let's try to open same file */

fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if( fp == NULL ) {
perror("Error: ");
return(-1);
}
fclose(fp);

return(0);
179

C Standard Library

}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
because we are trying to open a file which does not exist:
Error: : No such file or directory

180

13. <STDLIB.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The stdlib.h header defines four variable types, several macros, and various
functions for performing general functions.

Library Variables
Following are the variable types defined in the header stdlib.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

size_t
This is the unsigned
the sizeof keyword.

integral

type

and

is

the

result

of

wchar_t
This is an integer type of the size of a wide character constant.

div_t
This is the structure returned by the div function.

ldiv_t
This is the structure returned by the ldiv function.

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header stdlib.h:
S.N.

Macro & Description

NULL
This macro is the value of a null pointer constant.

EXIT_FAILURE

181

C Standard Library

This is the value for the exit function to return in case of failure.
3

EXIT_SUCCESS
This is the value for the exit function to return in case of success.

RAND_MAX
This macro is the maximum value returned by the rand function.

MB_CUR_MAX
This macro is the maximum number of bytes in a multi-byte character
set which cannot be larger than MB_LEN_MAX.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header stdio.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

double atof(const char *str)

Converts the string pointed to, by the argument str to a floating-point
number (type double).

int atoi(const char *str)

Converts the string pointed to, by the argument str to an integer (type
int).

long int atol(const char *str)

Converts the string pointed to, by the argument str to a long integer
(type long int).

double strtod(const char *str, char **endptr)

Converts the string pointed to, by the argument str to a floating-point
number (type double).

long int strtol(const char *str, char **endptr, int base)

Converts the string pointed to, by the argument str to a long integer
(type long int).
182

C Standard Library

unsigned long int strtoul(const char *str, char **endptr, int base)
Converts the string pointed to, by the argument str to an unsigned
long integer (type unsigned long int).

void *calloc(size_t nitems, size_t size)

Allocates the requested memory and returns a pointer to it.

void free(void *ptr

Deallocates the memory previously allocated by a call to calloc,
malloc, orrealloc.

void *malloc(size_t size)

Allocates the requested memory and returns a pointer to it.

10

void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size)

Attempts to resize the memory block pointed to by ptr that was
previously allocated with a call to malloc or calloc.

11

void abort(void)
Causes an abnormal program termination.

12

int atexit(void (*func)(void))

Causes the specified function func to be called when the program
terminates normally.

13

void exit(int status)

Causes the program to terminate normally.

14

char *getenv(const char *name)

Searches for the environment string pointed to by name and returns
the associated value to the string.

15

int system(const char *string)

The command specified by string is passed to the host environment to
be executed by the command processor.

183

C Standard Library

16

void *bsearch(const void *key, const void *base, size_t nitems, size_t
size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *))
Performs a binary search.

17

void qsort(void *base, size_t nitems, size_t size, int (*compar)(const

void *, const void*))
Sorts an array.

18

int abs(int x)
Returns the absolute value of x.

19

div_t div(int numer, int denom)

Divides numer (numerator) by denom (denominator).

20

long int labs(long int x)

Returns the absolute value of x.

21

ldiv_t ldiv(long int numer, long int denom)

Divides numer (numerator) by denom (denominator).

22

int rand(void)
Returns a pseudo-random number in the range of 0 to RAND_MAX.

23

void srand(unsigned int seed)

This function seeds the random number generator used by the
function rand.

24

int mblen(const char *str, size_t n)

Returns the length of a multibyte character pointed to by the
argument str.

25

size_t mbstowcs(schar_t *pwcs, const char *str, size_t n)

Converts the string of multibyte characters pointed to by the
argument str to the array pointed to by pwcs.

26

int mbtowc(whcar_t *pwc, const char *str, size_t n)

184

C Standard Library

Examines the multibyte character pointed to by the argument str.

27

size_t wcstombs(char *str, const wchar_t *pwcs, size_t n)

Converts the codes stored in the array pwcs to multibyte characters
and stores them in the string str.

28

int wctomb(char *str, wchar_t wchar)

Examines the code which corresponds to a multibyte character given
by the argument wchar.

double atof(const char *str)

Description
The C library function double atof(const char *str) converts the string
argument str to a floating-point number (type double).

Declaration
Following is the declaration for atof() function.
double atof(const char *str)

Parameters

str -- This is the string having the representation of a floating-point

number.

Return Value
This function returns the converted floating point number as a double value. If
no valid conversion could be performed, it returns zero (0.0).

Example
The following example shows the usage of atof() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
float val;
char str[20];
185

C Standard Library

strcpy(str, "98993489");
val = atof(str);
printf("String value = %s, Float value = %f\n", str, val);

strcpy(str, "tutorialspoint.com");
val = atof(str);
printf("String value = %s, Float value = %f\n", str, val);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String value = 98993489, Float value = 98993488.000000
String value = tutorialspoint.com, Float value = 0.000000

int atoi(const char *str)

Description
The C library function int atoi(const
argument str to an integer (type int).

char

*str) converts

the

string

Declaration
Following is the declaration for atoi() function.
int atoi(const char *str)

Parameters

str -- This is the string representation of an integral number.

Return Value
This function returns the converted integral number as an int value. If no valid
conversion could be performed, it returns zero.

Example
The following example shows the usage of atoi() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

186

C Standard Library

int main()
{
int val;
char str[20];

strcpy(str, "98993489");
val = atoi(str);
printf("String value = %s, Int value = %d\n", str, val);

strcpy(str, "tutorialspoint.com");
val = atoi(str);
printf("String value = %s, Int value = %d\n", str, val);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String value = 98993489, Int value = 98993489
String value = tutorialspoint.com, Int value = 0

long int atol(const char *str)

Description
The C library function long int atol(const char *str) converts the string
argument str to a long integer (type long int).

Declaration
Following is the declaration for atol() function.
long int atol(const char *str)

Parameters

str -- This is the string containing the representation of an integral

number.

Return Value
This function returns the converted integral number as a long int. If no valid
conversion could be performed, it returns zero.

Example
187

C Standard Library

The following example shows the usage of atol() function.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
long val;
char str[20];

strcpy(str, "98993489");
val = atol(str);
printf("String value = %s, Long value = %ld\n", str, val);

strcpy(str, "tutorialspoint.com");
val = atol(str);
printf("String value = %s, Long value = %ld\n", str, val);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:
String value = 98993489, Long value = 98993489
String value = tutorialspoint.com, Long value = 0

double strtod(const char *str, char **endptr)

Description
The
C
library
function double
strtod(const
char
*str,
char
**endptr) converts the string pointed to by the argument str to a floating-point
number (type double). If endptr is not NULL, a pointer to the character after the
last character used in the conversion is stored in the location referenced by
endptr.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strtod() function.
double strtod(const char *str, char **endptr)
188

C Standard Library

Parameters

str -- This is the value to be converted to a string.

endptr -- This is the reference to an already allocated object of type

char*, whose value is set by the function to the next character in str after
the numerical value.

Return Value
This function returns the converted floating point number as a double value, else
zero value (0.0) is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strtod() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
char str[30] = "20.30300 This is test";
char *ptr;
double ret;

ret = strtod(str, &ptr);

printf("The number(double) is %lf\n", ret);
printf("String part is |%s|", ptr);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The number(double) is 20.303000
String part is | This is test|

long int strtol(const char *str, char **endptr, int base)

Description
The C library function long int strtol(const char *str, char **endptr, int
base) converts the initial part of the string in str to a long int value according
to the given base, which must be between 2 and 36 inclusive, or be the special
value 0.
189

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strtol() function.
long int strtol(const char *str, char **endptr, int base)

Parameters

str -- This is the string containing the representation of an integral

number.

endptr -- This is the reference to an object of type char*, whose value is

set by the function to the next character in str after the numerical value.

base -- This is the base, which must be between 2 and 36 inclusive, or be

the special value 0.

Return Value
This function returns the converted integral number as a long int value, else zero
value is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strtol() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
char str[30] = "2030300 This is test";
char *ptr;
long ret;

ret = strtol(str, &ptr, 10);

printf("The number(unsigned long integer) is %ld\n", ret);
printf("String part is |%s|", ptr);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The number(unsigned long integer) is 2030300
String part is | This is test|
190

C Standard Library

unsigned long int strtoul(const char *str, char **endptr, int base)
Description
The C library function unsigned long int strtoul(const char *str, char
**endptr, int base) function converts the initial part of the string in str to an
unsigned long int value according to the given base, which must be between 2
and 36 inclusive, or be the special value 0.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strtoul() function.
unsigned long int strtoul(const char *str, char **endptr, int base)

Parameters

str -- This is the string containing the representation of an unsigned

integral number.

endptr -- This is the reference to an object of type char*, whose value is

set by the function to the next character in str after the numerical value.

base -- This is the base, which must be between 2 and 36 inclusive, or be

the special value 0.

Return Value
This function returns the converted integral number as a long int value. If no
valid conversion could be performed, a zero value is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strtoul() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
char str[30] = "2030300 This is test";
char *ptr;
long ret;

ret = strtoul(str, &ptr, 10);

printf("The number(unsigned long integer) is %lu\n", ret);
printf("String part is |%s|", ptr);

return(0);
191

C Standard Library

}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The number(unsigned long integer) is 2030300
String part is | This is test|

void *calloc(size_t nitems, size_t size)

Description
The C library function void *calloc(size_t nitems, size_t size) allocates the
requested memory and returns a pointer to it. The difference
in malloc and calloc is that malloc does not set the memory to zero whereas
calloc sets allocated memory to zero.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for calloc() function.
void *calloc(size_t nitems, size_t size)

Parameters

nitems -- This is the number of elements to be allocated.

size -- This is the size of elements.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the allocated memory, or NULL if the request
fails.

Example
The following example shows the usage of calloc() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
int i, n;
int *a;

printf("Number of elements to be entered:");

scanf("%d",&n);

192

C Standard Library

a = (int*)calloc(n, sizeof(int));
printf("Enter %d numbers:\n",n);
for( i=0 ; i < n ; i++ )
{
scanf("%d",&a[i]);
}

printf("The numbers entered are: ");

for( i=0 ; i < n ; i++ ) {
printf("%d ",a[i]);
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Number of elements to be entered:3
Enter 3 numbers:
22
55
14
The numbers entered are: 22 55 14

void free(void *ptr)

Description
The C library function void free(void *ptr) deallocates the memory previously
allocated by a call to calloc, malloc, or realloc.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for free() function.
void free(void *ptr)

Parameters

ptr -- This is the pointer to a memory block previously allocated with

malloc, calloc or realloc to be deallocated. If a null pointer is passed as
argument, no action occurs.
193

C Standard Library

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of free() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
char *str;

/* Initial memory allocation */

str = (char *) malloc(15);
strcpy(str, "tutorialspoint");
printf("String = %s,

Address = %u\n", str, str);

/* Reallocating memory */
str = (char *) realloc(str, 25);
strcat(str, ".com");
printf("String = %s,

Address = %u\n", str, str);

/* Deallocate allocated memory */

free(str);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String = tutorialspoint, Address = 355090448
String = tutorialspoint.com, Address = 355090448

void *malloc(size_t size)

Description
194

C Standard Library

The C library function void *malloc(size_t size) allocates the requested

memory and returns a pointer to it.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for malloc() function.
void *malloc(size_t size)

Parameters

size -- This is the size of the memory block, in bytes.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the allocated memory, or NULL if the request
fails.

Example
The following example shows the usage of malloc() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
char *str;

/* Initial memory allocation */

str = (char *) malloc(15);
strcpy(str, "tutorialspoint");
printf("String = %s,

Address = %u\n", str, str);

/* Reallocating memory */
str = (char *) realloc(str, 25);
strcat(str, ".com");
printf("String = %s,

Address = %u\n", str, str);

free(str);

return(0);
}
195

C Standard Library

Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String = tutorialspoint, Address = 355090448
String = tutorialspoint.com, Address = 355090448

void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size)

Description
The C library function void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size) attempts to resize
the memory block pointed to by ptr that was previously allocated with a call
to malloc or calloc.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for realloc() function.
void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size)

Parameters

ptr -- This is the pointer to a memory block previously allocated with

malloc, calloc or realloc to be reallocated. If this is NULL, a new block is
allocated and a pointer to it is returned by the function.

size -- This is the new size for the memory block, in bytes. If it is 0 and
ptr points to an existing block of memory, the memory block pointed by
ptr is deallocated and a NULL pointer is returned.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the newly allocated memory, or NULL if the
request fails.

Example
The following example shows the usage of realloc() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
char *str;

/* Initial memory allocation */

str = (char *) malloc(15);
strcpy(str, "tutorialspoint");
196

C Standard Library

printf("String = %s,

Address = %u\n", str, str);

/* Reallocating memory */
str = (char *) realloc(str, 25);
strcat(str, ".com");
printf("String = %s,

Address = %u\n", str, str);

free(str);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String = tutorialspoint, Address = 355090448
String = tutorialspoint.com, Address = 355090448

void abort(void)
Description
The C library function void abort(void) aborts the program execution and
comes out directly from the place of the call.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for abort() function.
void abort(void)

Parameters

NA

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of abort() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main ()
197

C Standard Library

{
FILE *fp;

printf("Going to open nofile.txt\n");

fp = fopen( "nofile.txt","r" );
if(fp == NULL)
{
printf("Going to abort the program\n");
abort();
}
printf("Going to close nofile.txt\n");
fclose(fp);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
when it tries to open nofile.txt file, which does not exist:
Going to open nofile.txt
Going to abort the program
Aborted (core dumped)

int atexit(void (*func)(void))

Description
The C library function int atexit(void (*func)(void)) causes the specified
function func to be called when the program terminates. You can register your
termination function anywhere you like, but it will be called at the time of the
program termination.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for atexit() function.
int atexit(void (*func)(void))

Parameters

func -- This is the function to be called at the termination of the program.

Return Value
198

C Standard Library

This function returns a zero value if the function is registered successfully,

otherwise a non-zero value is returned if it is failed.

Example
The following example shows the usage of atexit() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

void functionA ()
{
printf("This is functionA\n");
}

int main ()
{
/* register the termination function */
atexit(functionA );

printf("Starting

main program...\n");

printf("Exiting main program...\n");

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Starting main program...
Exiting main program...
This is functionA

void exit(int status)

Description
The C library function void exit(int status) terminates the calling process
immediately. Any open file descriptors belonging to the process are closed and
any children of the process are inherited by process 1, init, and the process
parent is sent a SIGCHLD signal.
199

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for exit() function.
void exit(int status)

Parameters

status -- This is the status value returned to the parent process.

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of exit() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main ()
{
printf("Start of the program....\n");

printf("Exiting the program....\n");

exit(0);

printf("End of the program....\n");

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Start of the program....
Exiting the program....

char *getenv(const char *name)

Description
The C library function char *getenv(const char *name) searches for the
environment string pointed to, by name and returns the associated value to the
string.

200

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for getenv() function.
char *getenv(const char *name)

Parameters

name -- This is the C string containing the name of the requested

variable.

Return Value
This function returns a null-terminated string with the value of the requested
environment variable, or NULL if that environment variable does not exist.

Example
The following example shows the usage of getenv() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main ()
{
printf("PATH : %s\n", getenv("PATH"));
printf("HOME : %s\n", getenv("HOME"));
printf("ROOT : %s\n", getenv("ROOT"));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
PATH : /sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
HOME : /
ROOT : (null)

int system(const char *string)

Description
The C library function int system(const char *command) passes the
command name or program name specified by command to the host
environment to be executed by the command processor and returns after the
command has been completed.
201

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for system() function.
int system(const char *command)

Parameters

command -- This is the C string containing the name of the requested

variable.

Return Value
The value returned is -1 on error, and the return status of the command
otherwise.

Example
The following example shows the usage of system() function to list down all the
files and directories in the current directory under unix machine.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char command[50];

strcpy( command, "ls -l" );

system(command);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
on my unix machine:
drwxr-xr-x 2 apache apache 4096 Aug 22 07:25 hsperfdata_apache
drwxr-xr-x 2 railo railo 4096 Aug 21 18:48 hsperfdata_railo
rw------ 1 apache apache 8 Aug 21 18:48 mod_mono_dashboard_XXGLOBAL_1
rw------ 1 apache apache 8 Aug 21 18:48 mod_mono_dashboard_asp_2
srwx---- 1 apache apache 0 Aug 22 05:28 mod_mono_server_asp
rw------ 1 apache apache 0 Aug 22 05:28 mod_mono_server_asp_1280495620
srwx---- 1 apache apache 0 Aug 21 18:48 mod_mono_server_global
202

C Standard Library

The following example shows the usage of system() function to list down all the
files and directories in the current directory under windows machine.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char command[50];

strcpy( command, "dir" );

system(command);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
on my windows machine:
a.txt
amit.doc
sachin
saurav
file.c

void *bsearch(const void *key, const void *base, size_t nitems, size_t
size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *))
Description
The C library function void *bsearch(const void *key, const void *base, size_t
nitems, size_t size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *)) function searches
an array of nitems objects, the initial member of which is pointed to by base, for
a member that matches the object pointed to, by key. The size of each member
of the array is specified by size.
The contents of the array should be in ascending sorted order according to the
comparison function referenced by compar.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for bsearch() function.

203

C Standard Library

void *bsearch(const void *key, const void *base, size_t nitems, size_t
size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *))

Parameters

key -- This is the pointer to the object that serves as key for the search,
type-casted as a void*.

base -- This is the pointer to the first object of the array where the search
is performed, type-casted as a void*.

nitems -- This is the number of elements in the array pointed by base.

size -- This is the size in bytes of each element in the array.

compar -- This is the function that compares two elements.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to an entry in the array that matches the search
key. If key is not found, a NULL pointer is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of bsearch() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int cmpfunc(const void * a, const void * b)

{
return ( *(int*)a - *(int*)b );
}

int values[] = { 5, 20, 29, 32, 63 };

int main ()
{
int *item;
int key = 32;

/* using bsearch() to find value 32 in the array */

item = (int*) bsearch (&key, values, 5, sizeof (int), cmpfunc);
if( item != NULL )
204

C Standard Library

{
printf("Found item = %d\n", *item);
}
else
{
printf("Item = %d could not be found\n", *item);
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Found item = 32

void qsort(void *base, size_t nitems, size_t size, int (*compar)(const

void *, const void*))
Description
The C library function void qsort(void *base, size_t nitems, size_t size, int
(*compar)(const void *, const void*)) sorts an array.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for qsort() function.
void qsort(void *base, size_t nitems, size_t size, int (*compar)(const
void *, const void*))

Parameters

base -- This is the pointer to the first element of the array to be sorted.

nitems -- This is the number of elements in the array pointed by base.

size -- This is the size in bytes of each element in the array.

compar -- This is the function that compares two elements.

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of qsort() function.
#include <stdio.h>
205

C Standard Library

#include <stdlib.h>

int values[] = { 88, 56, 100, 2, 25 };

int cmpfunc (const void * a, const void * b)

{
return ( *(int*)a - *(int*)b );
}

int main()
{
int n;

printf("Before sorting the list is: \n");

for( n = 0 ; n < 5; n++ ) {
printf("%d ", values[n]);
}

qsort(values, 5, sizeof(int), cmpfunc);

printf("\nAfter sorting the list is: \n");

for( n = 0 ; n < 5; n++ ) {
printf("%d ", values[n]);
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Before sorting the list is:
88 56 100 2 25
After sorting the list is:
2 25 56 88 100

206

C Standard Library

int abs(int x)
Description
The C library function int abs(int x) returns the absolute value of int x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for abs() function.
int abs(int x)

Parameters

x -- This is the integral value.

Return Value
This function returns the absolute value of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of abs() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main ()
{
int a, b;

a = abs(5);
printf("value of a = %d\n", a);

b = abs(-10);
printf("value of b = %d\n", b);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result:
value of a = 5
value of b = 10

207

C Standard Library

div_t div(int numer, int denom)

Description
The C library function div_t div(int
(numerator) by denom (denominator).

numer,

int

denom) divides numer

Declaration
Following is the declaration for div() function.
div_t div(int numer, int denom)

Parameters

numer -- This is the numerator.

denom -- This is the denominator.

Return Value
This function returns the value in a structure defined in <cstdlib>, which has two
members. For div_t: int quot; int rem;

Example
The following example shows the usage of div() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
div_t output;

output = div(27, 4);

printf("Quotient part of (27/ 4) = %d\n", output.quot);
printf("Remainder part of (27/4) = %d\n", output.rem);

output = div(27, 3);

printf("Quotient part of (27/ 3) = %d\n", output.quot);
printf("Remainder part of (27/3) = %d\n", output.rem);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
208

C Standard Library

Quotient part of (27/ 4) = 6

Remainder part of (27/4) = 3
Quotient part of (27/ 3) = 9
Remainder part of (27/3) = 0

long int labs(long int x)

Description
The C library function long int labs(long int x) returns the absolute value of x.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for labs() function.
long int labs(long int x)

Parameters

x -- This is the integral value.

Return Value
This function returns the absolute value of x.

Example
The following example shows the usage of labs() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main ()
{
long int a,b;

a = labs(65987L);
printf("Value of a = %ld\n", a);

b = labs(-1005090L);
printf("Value of b = %ld\n", b);

return(0);
}
209

C Standard Library

Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Value of a = 65987
Value of b = 1005090

ldiv_t ldiv(long int numer, long int denom)

Description
The C library function div_t div(long int numer, long int denom) divides numer
(numerator) by denom (denominator).

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ldiv() function.
div_t div(long int numer, long int denom)

Parameters

numer -- This is the numerator.

denom -- This is the denominator.

Return Value
This function returns the value in a structure defined in <cstdlib>, which has two
members. For ldiv_t: long quot; long rem;

Example
The following example shows the usage of ldiv() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main ()
{
ldiv_t output;

output = ldiv(100000L, 30000L);

printf("Quotient = %ld\n", output.quot);

printf("Remainder = %ld\n", output.rem);

return(0);
210

C Standard Library

}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Quotient = 3
Remainder = 10000

int rand(void)
Description
The C library function int rand(void) returns a pseudo-random number in the
range of 0 to RAND_MAX.
RAND_MAX is a constant whose default value
implementations but it is granted to be at least 32767.

may

vary

between

Declaration
Following is the declaration for rand() function.
int rand(void)

Parameters

NA

Return Value
This function returns an integer value between 0 and RAND_MAX.

Example
The following example shows the usage of rand() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
int i, n;
time_t t;

n = 5;

/* Intializes random number generator */

srand((unsigned) time(&t));
211

C Standard Library

/* Print 5 random numbers from 0 to 49 */

for( i = 0 ; i < n ; i++ ) {
printf("%d\n", rand() % 50);
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
38
45
29
29
47

void srand(unsigned int seed)

Description
The C library function void srand(unsigned int seed) seeds the random
number generator used by the function rand.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for srand() function.
void srand(unsigned int seed)

Parameters

seed -- This is an integer value to be used as seed by the pseudo-random

number generator algorithm.

Return Value
This function does not return any value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of srand() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
212

C Standard Library

int main()
{
int i, n;
time_t t;

n = 5;

/* Intializes random number generator */

srand((unsigned) time(&t));

/* Print 5 random numbers from 0 to 50 */

for( i = 0 ; i < n ; i++ ) {
printf("%d\n", rand() % 50);
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
38
45
29
29
47

int mblen(const char *str, size_t n)

Description
The C library function int mblen(const char *str, size_t n) returns the length
of a multi-byte character pointed to, by the argument str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for mblen() function.
int mblen(const char *str, size_t n)

Parameters
213

C Standard Library

str -- This is the pointer to the first byte of a multibyte character.

n -- This is the maximum number of bytes to be checked for character

length.

Return Value
The mblen() function returns the number of bytes passed from the multi-byte
sequence starting at str, if a non-null wide character was recognized. It returns
0, if a null wide character was recognized. It returns -1, if an invalid multi-byte
sequence was encountered or if it could not parse a complete multi-byte
character.

Example
The following example shows the usage of mblen() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
int len;
char *pmbnull

= NULL;

char *pmb = (char *)malloc( MB_CUR_MAX );

wchar_t *pwc = L"Hi";
wchar_t *pwcs = (wchar_t *)malloc( sizeof( wchar_t ));

printf("Converting to multibyte string\n");

len = wcstombs( pmb, pwc, MB_CUR_MAX);
printf("Characters converted %d\n", len);
printf("Hex value of first multibyte character: %#.4x\n", pmb);

len = mblen( pmb, MB_CUR_MAX );

printf( "Length in bytes of multibyte character %x: %u\n", pmb, len );

pmb = NULL;

len = mblen( pmb, MB_CUR_MAX );

printf( "Length in bytes of multibyte character %x: %u\n", pmb, len );
214

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Converting to multibyte string
Characters converted 1
Hex value of first multibyte character: 0x168c6010
Length in bytes of multibyte character 168c6010: 1
Length in bytes of multibyte character 0: 0

size_t mbstowcs(schar_t *pwcs, const char *str, size_t n)

Description
The C library function size_t mbstowcs(schar_t *pwcs, const char *str,
size_t n) converts the string of multi-byte characters pointed to, by the
argument str to the array pointed to by pwcs.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for mbstowcs() function.
size_t mbstowcs(schar_t *pwcs, const char *str, size_t n)

Parameters

pwcs -- This is the pointer to an array of wchar_t elements that is long

enough to store a wide string max characters long.

str -- This is the C multibyte character string to be interpreted.

n -- This is the maximum number of wchar_t characters to be interpreted.

Return Value
This function returns the number of characters translated, excluding the ending
null-character. If an invalid multi-byte character is encountered, a -1 value is
returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of mbstowcs() function.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<string.h>

215

C Standard Library

int main()
{
int len;
char *pmbnull

= NULL;

char *pmb = (char *)malloc( MB_CUR_MAX );

wchar_t *pwc = L"Hi";
wchar_t *pwcs = (wchar_t *)malloc( sizeof( wchar_t ));

printf("Converting to multibyte string\n");

len = wcstombs( pmb, pwc, MB_CUR_MAX);
printf("Characters converted %d\n", len);
printf("Hex value of first multibyte character: %#.4x\n", pmb);

printf("Converting back to Wide-Character string\n");

len = mbstowcs( pwcs, pmb, MB_CUR_MAX);
printf("Characters converted %d\n", len);
printf("Hex value of first wide character %#.4x\n\n", pwcs);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Converting to multibyte string
Characters converted 1
Hex value of first multibyte character: 0x19a60010
Converting back to Wide-Character string
Characters converted 1
Hex value of first wide character 0x19a60030

int mbtowc(whcar_t *pwc, const char *str, size_t n)

Description
The C library function int mbtowc(whcar_t *pwc, const char *str, size_t
n) converts a multibyte sequence to a wide character.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for mbtowc() function.
216

C Standard Library

int mbtowc(whcar_t *pwc, const char *str, size_t n)

Parameters

pwc -- This is the pointer to an object of type wchar_t.

str -- This is the pointer to the first byte of a multi-byte character.

n -- This is the maximum number of bytes to be checked for character

length.

Return Value

If str is not NULL, the mbtowc() function returns the number of consumed
bytes starting at str, or 0 if s points to a null byte, or -1 upon failure.

If str is NULL, the mbtowc() function returns non-zero if the encoding has
non-trivial shift state, or zero if the encoding is stateless.

Example
The following example shows the usage of mbtowc() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
char *str = "This is tutorialspoint.com";
wchar_t mb[100];
int len;

len = mblen(NULL, MB_CUR_MAX);

mbtowc(mb, str, len*strlen(str) );

wprintf(L"%ls \n", mb );

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
which will be in multi-byte, a kind of binary output.

217

C Standard Library

???

size_t wcstombs(char *str, const wchar_t *pwcs, size_t n)

Description
The C library function size_t wcstombs(char *str, const wchar_t *pwcs,
size_t n) converts the wide-character string pwcs to a multibyte string starting
at str. At most n bytes are written to str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for wcstombs() function.
size_t wcstombs(char *str, const wchar_t *pwcs, size_t n)

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to an array of char elements at least n bytes

long.

pwcs -- This is wide-character string to be converted.

n -- This is the maximum number of bytes to be written to str.

Return Value
This function returns the number of bytes (not characters) converted and written
to str, excluding the ending null-character. If an invalid multibyte character is
encountered, -1 value is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of wcstombs() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define BUFFER_SIZE 50

int main()
{
size_t ret;
char *MB = (char *)malloc( BUFFER_SIZE );
wchar_t *WC = L"http://www.tutorialspoint.com";

/* converting wide-character string */

ret = wcstombs(MB, WC, BUFFER_SIZE);
218

C Standard Library

printf("Characters converted = %u\n", ret);

printf("Multibyte character = %s\n\n", MB);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Characters converted = 29
Multibyte character = http://www.tutorialspoint.com

int wctomb(char *str, wchar_t wchar)

Description
The C library function int wctomb(char *str, wchar_t wchar) function
converts the wide character wchar to its multibyte representation and stores it
at the beginning of the character array pointed to by str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for wctomb() function.
int wctomb(char *str, wchar_t wchar)

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to an array large enough to hold a multibyte

character,

wchar -- This is the wide character of type wchar_t.

Return Value

If str is not NULL, the wctomb() function returns the number of bytes that
have been written to the byte array at str. If wchar cannot be represented
as a multibyte sequence, -1 is returned.

If str is NULL, the wctomb() function returns non-zero if the encoding has
non-trivial shift state, or zero if the encoding is stateless.

Example
The following example shows the usage of wctomb() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

219

C Standard Library

int main()
{
int i;
wchar_t wc = L'a';
char *pmbnull = NULL;
char *pmb = (char *)malloc(sizeof( char ));

printf("Converting wide character:\n");

i = wctomb( pmb, wc );
printf("Characters converted: %u\n", i);
printf("Multibyte character: %.1s\n", pmb);

printf("Trying to convert when target is NULL:\n");

i = wctomb( pmbnull, wc );
printf("Characters converted: %u\n", i);
/* this will not print any value */
printf("Multibyte character: %.1s\n", pmbnull);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Converting wide character:
Characters converted: 1
Multibyte character: a
Trying to convert when target is NULL:
Characters converted: 0
Multibyte character:

220

C Standard Library

14. <STRING.H>
Introduction

The string.h header defines one variable type, one macro, and various functions
for manipulating arrays of characters.

Library Variables
Following is the variable type defined in the header string.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

size_t
This is the unsigned
the sizeof keyword.

integral

type

and

is

the

result

of

Library Macros
Following is the macro defined in the header string.h:
S.N.

Macro & Description

NULL
This macro is the value of a null pointer constant.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header string.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

void *memchr(const void *str, int c, size_t n)

Searches for the first occurrence of the character c (an unsigned char)
in the first n bytes of the string pointed to, by the argument str.

int memcmp(const void *str1, const void *str2, size_t n)

221

C Standard Library

Compares the first n bytes of str1 and str2.

3

void *memcpy(void *dest, const void *src, size_t n)

Copies n characters from src to dest.

void *memmove(void *dest, const void *src, size_t n)

Another function to copy n characters from str2 to str1.

void *memset(void *str, int c, size_t n)

Copies the character c (an unsigned char) to the first n characters of
the string pointed to, by the argument str.

char *strcat(char *dest, const char *src)

Appends the string pointed to, by src to the end of the string pointed
to by dest.

char *strncat(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Appends the string pointed to, by src to the end of the string pointed
to, by destup to n characters long.

char *strchr(const char *str, int c)

Searches for the first occurrence of the character c (an unsigned char)
in the string pointed to, by the argument str.

int strcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Compares the string pointed to, by str1 to the string pointed to by str2.

10

int strncmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t n)

Compares at most the first n bytes of str1 and str2.

11

int strcoll(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Compares string str1 to str2. The
LC_COLLATE setting of the location.

12

result

is

dependent

on

the

char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src)

Copies the string pointed to, by src to dest.

222

C Standard Library

13

char *strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Copies up to n characters from the string pointed to, by src to dest.

14

size_t strcspn(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Calculates the length of the initial segment of str1 which consists
entirely of characters not in str2.

15

char *strerror(int errnum)

Searches an internal array for the error number errnum and returns a
pointer to an error message string.

16

size_t strlen(const char *str)

Computes the length of the string str up to but not including the
terminating null character.

17

char *strpbrk(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Finds the first character in the string str1 that matches any character
specified in str2.

18

char *strrchr(const char *str, int c)

Searches for the last occurrence of the character c (an unsigned char)
in the string pointed to by the argument str.

19

size_t strspn(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Calculates the length of the initial segment of str1 which consists
entirely of characters in str2.

20

char *strstr(const char *haystack, const char *needle)

Finds the first occurrence of the entire string needle (not including the
terminating null character) which appears in the string haystack.

21

char *strtok(char *str, const char *delim)

Breaks string str into a series of tokens separated by delim.

22

size_t strxfrm(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Transforms the first n characters of the string src into corrent locale
and places them in the string dest.
223

C Standard Library

void *memchr(const void *str, int c, size_t n)

Description
The C library function void *memchr(const void *str, int c, size_t
n) searches for the first occurrence of the character c (an unsigned char) in the
first n bytes of the string pointed to, by the argument str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for memchr() function.
void *memchr(const void *str, int c, size_t n)

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to the block of memory where the search is
performed.

c -- This is the value to be passed as an int, but the function performs a

byte per byte search using the unsigned char conversion of this value.

n -- This is the number of bytes to be analyzed.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the matching byte or NULL if the character
does not occur in the given memory area.

Example
The following example shows the usage of memchr() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
const char str[] = "http://www.tutorialspoint.com";
const char ch = '.';
char *ret;

ret = memchr(str, ch, strlen(str));

printf("String after |%c| is - |%s|\n", ch, ret);

return(0);
}
224

C Standard Library

Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String after |.| is - |.tutorialspoint.com|

int memcmp(const void *str1, const void *str2, size_t n)

Description
The C library function int memcmp(const void *str1, const void *str2,
size_t n)) compares the first n bytes of memory area str1 and memory
area str2.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for memcmp() function.
int memcmp(const void *str1, const void *str2, size_t n)

Parameters

str1 -- This is the pointer to a block of memory.

str2 -- This is the pointer to a block of memory.

n -- This is the number of bytes to be compared.

Return Value

if Return value is < 0 then it indicates str1 is less than str2.

if Return value is > 0 then it indicates str2 is less than str1.

if Return value is = 0 then it indicates str1 is equal to str2.

Example
The following example shows the usage of memcmp() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char str1[15];
char str2[15];
int ret;

memcpy(str1, "abcdef", 6);

memcpy(str2, "ABCDEF", 6);
225

C Standard Library

ret = memcmp(str1, str2, 5);

if(ret > 0)
{
printf("str2 is less than str1");
}
else if(ret < 0)
{
printf("str1 is less than str2");
}
else
{
printf("str1 is equal to str2");
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
str2 is less than str1

void *memcpy(void *dest, const void *src, size_t n)

Description
The C library function void *memcpy(void *str1, const void *str2, size_t
n) copies n characters from memory area str2 to memory area str1.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for memcpy() function.
void *memcpy(void *str1, const void *str2, size_t n)

Parameters

str1 -- This is pointer to the destination array where the content is to be

copied, type-casted to a pointer of type void*.

str2 -- This is pointer to the source of data to be copied, type-casted to a

pointer of type void*.

n -- This is the number of bytes to be copied.

226

C Standard Library

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to destination, which is str1.

Example
The following example shows the usage of memcpy() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
const char src[50] = "http://www.tutorialspoint.com";
char dest[50];

printf("Before memcpy dest = %s\n", dest);

memcpy(dest, src, strlen(src)+1);
printf("After memcpy dest = %s\n", dest);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Before memcpy dest =
After memcpy dest = http://www.tutorialspoint.com

void *memmove(void *dest, const void *src, size_t n)

Description
The C library function void *memmove(void *str1, const void *str2, size_t
n) copies n characters from str2 to str1, but for overlapping memory blocks,
memmove() is a safer approach than memcpy().

Declaration
Following is the declaration for memmove() function.
void *memmove(void *str1, const void *str2, size_t n)

Parameters

str1 -- This is a pointer to the destination array where the content is to be

copied, type-casted to a pointer of type void*.
227

C Standard Library

str2 -- This is a pointer to the source of data to be copied, type-casted to

a pointer of type void*.

n -- This is the number of bytes to be copied.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the destination, which is str1.

Example
The following example shows the usage of memmove() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
const char dest[] = "oldstring";
const char src[]

= "newstring";

printf("Before memmove dest = %s, src = %s\n", dest, src);

memmove(dest, src, 9);
printf("After memmove dest = %s, src = %s\n", dest, src);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Before memmove dest = oldstring, src = newstring
After memmove dest = newstring, src = newstring

void *memset(void *str, int c, size_t n)

Description
The C library function void *memset(void *str, int c, size_t n) copies the
character c (an unsigned char) to the first n characters of the string pointed to,
by the argument str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for memset() function.
void *memset(void *str, int c, size_t n)
228

C Standard Library

Parameters

str -- This is a pointer to the block of memory to fill.

c -- This is the value to be set. The value is passed as an int, but the
function fills the block of memory using the unsigned char conversion of
this value.

n -- This is the number of bytes to be set to the value.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the memory area str.

Example
The following example shows the usage of memset() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char str[50];

strcpy(str,"This is string.h library function");

puts(str);

memset(str,'$',7);
puts(str);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
This is string.h library function
$$$$$$$ string.h library function

char *strcat(char *dest, const char *src)

Description
The C library function char *strcat(char *dest, const char *src) appends the
string pointed to by src to the end of the string pointed to by dest.
229

C Standard Library

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strcat() function.
char *strcat(char *dest, const char *src)

Parameters

dest -- This is pointer to the destination array, which should contain a C

string, and should be large enough to contain the concatenated resulting
string.

src -- This is the string to be appended. This should not overlap the
destination.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the resulting string dest.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strcat() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char src[50], dest[50];

strcpy(src,

"This is source");

strcpy(dest, "This is destination");

strcat(dest, src);

printf("Final destination string : |%s|", dest);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Final destination string : |This is destinationThis is source|

230

C Standard Library

char *strncat(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Description
The C library function char *strncat(char *dest, const char *src, size_t
n) appends the string pointed to by src to the end of the string pointed to
by dest up to n characters long.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strncat() function.
char *strncat(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Parameters

dest -- This is pointer to the destination array, which should contain a C

string, and should be large enough to contain the concatenated resulting
string which includes the additional null-character.

src -- This is the string to be appended.

n -- This is the maximum number of characters to be appended.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the resulting string dest.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strncat() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char src[50], dest[50];

strcpy(src,

"This is source");

strcpy(dest, "This is destination");

strncat(dest, src, 15);

printf("Final destination string : |%s|", dest);

return(0);
231

C Standard Library

}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Final destination string : |This is destinationThis is source|

char *strchr(const char *str, int c)

Description
The C library function char *strchr(const char *str, int c) searches for the
first occurrence of the character c (an unsigned char) in the string pointed to by
the argument str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strchr() function.
char *strchr(const char *str, int c)

Parameters

str -- This is the C string to be scanned.

c -- This is the character to be searched in str.

Return Value
This returns a pointer to the first occurrence of the character c in the string str,
or NULL if the character is not found.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strchr() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
const char str[] = "http://www.tutorialspoint.com";
const char ch = '.';
char *ret;

ret = strchr(str, ch);

printf("String after |%c| is - |%s|\n", ch, ret);

232

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String after |.| is - |.tutorialspoint.com|

int strcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Description
The C library function int strcmp(const char *str1, const char
*str2) compares the string pointed to, by str1 to the string pointed to by str2.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strcmp() function.
int strcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Parameters

str1 -- This is the first string to be compared.

str2 -- This is the second string to be compared.

Return Value
This function return values that are as follows:

if Return value is < 0 then it indicates str1 is less than str2.

if Return value is > 0 then it indicates str2 is less than str1.

if Return value is = 0 then it indicates str1 is equal to str2.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strncmp() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char str1[15];
char str2[15];
int ret;

233

C Standard Library

strcpy(str1, "abcdef");
strcpy(str2, "ABCDEF");

ret = strcmp(str1, str2);

if(ret < 0)
{
printf("str1 is less than str2");
}
else if(ret > 0)
{
printf("str2 is less than str1");
}
else
{
printf("str1 is equal to str2");
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
str2 is less than str1

int strncmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t n)

Description
The C library function int strncmp(const char *str1, const char *str2,
size_t n) compares at most the first n bytes of str1 and str2.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strncmp() function.
int strncmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t n)

Parameters

str1 -- This is the first string to be compared.

str2 -- This is the second string to be compared.

234

C Standard Library

n -- The maximum number of characters to be compared.

Return Value
This function return values that are as follows:

if Return value is < 0 then it indicates str1 is less than str2.

if Return value is > 0 then it indicates str2 is less than str1.

if Return value is = 0 then it indicates str1 is equal to str2.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strncmp() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char str1[15];
char str2[15];
int ret;

strcpy(str1, "abcdef");
strcpy(str2, "ABCDEF");

ret = strncmp(str1, str2, 4);

if(ret < 0)
{
printf("str1 is less than str2");
}
else if(ret > 0)
{
printf("str2 is less than str1");
}
else
{
printf("str1 is equal to str2");
235

C Standard Library

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
str2 is less than str1

int strcoll(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Description
The C library function int strcoll(const char *str1, const char
*str2) compares string str1 to str2. The result is dependent on the
LC_COLLATE setting of the location.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strcoll() function.
int strcoll(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Parameters

str1 -- This is the first string to be compared.

str2 -- This is the second string to be compared.

Return Value
This function return values that are as follows:

if Return value is < 0 then it indicates str1 is less than str2.

if Return value is > 0 then it indicates str2 is less than str1.

if Return value is = 0 then it indicates str1 is equal to str2.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strcoll() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char str1[15];
char str2[15];
236

C Standard Library

int ret;

strcpy(str1, "abc");
strcpy(str2, "ABC");

ret = strcoll(str1, str2);

if(ret > 0)
{
printf("str1 is less than str2");
}
else if(ret < 0)
{
printf("str2 is less than str1");
}
else
{
printf("str1 is equal to str2");
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
str1 is less than str2

char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src)

Description
The C library function char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src) copies the
string pointed to, by src to dest.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strcpy() function.
char *strcpy(char *dest, const char *src)
237

C Standard Library

Parameters

dest -- This is the pointer to the destination array where the content is to
be copied.

src -- This is the string to be copied.

Return Value
This returns a pointer to the destination string dest.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strcpy() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
char src[40];
char dest[100];

memset(dest, '\0', sizeof(dest));

strcpy(src, "This is tutorialspoint.com");
strcpy(dest, src);

printf("Final copied string : %s\n", dest);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Final copied string : This is tutorialspoint.com

char *strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Description
The C library function char *strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t
n) copies up to n characters from the string pointed to, by src to dest. In a case
where the length of src is less than that of n, the remainder of dest will be
padded with null bytes.

Declaration
238

C Standard Library

Following is the declaration for strncpy() function.

char *strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Parameters

dest -- This is the pointer to the destination array where the content is to
be copied.

src -- This is the string to be copied.

n -- The number of characters to be copied from source.

Return Value
This function returns the final copy of the copied string.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strncpy() function. Here we have
used function memset() to clear the memory location.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
char src[40];
char dest[12];

memset(dest, '\0', sizeof(dest));

strcpy(src, "This is tutorialspoint.com");
strncpy(dest, src, 10);

printf("Final copied string : %s\n", dest);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Final copied string : This is tu

239

C Standard Library

size_t strcspn(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Description
The C library function size_t strcspn(const char *str1, const char
*str2) calculates the length of the initial segment of str1, which consists
entirely of characters not in str2.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strcspn() function.
size_t strcspn(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Parameters

str1 -- This is the main C string to be scanned.

str2 -- This is the string containing a list of characters to match in str1.

Return Value
This function returns the number of characters in the initial segment of string
str1, which are not in the string str2.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strcspn() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
int len;
const char str1[] = "ABCDEF4960910";
const char str2[] = "013";

len = strcspn(str1, str2);

printf("First matched character is at %d\n", len + 1);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
240

C Standard Library

First matched character is at 10

char *strerror(int errnum)

Description
The C library function char *strerror(int errnum) searches an internal array
for the error number errnum and returns a pointer to an error message string.
The error strings produced by strerror depend on the developing platform and
compiler.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strerror() function.
char *strerror(int errnum)

Parameters

errnum -- This is the error number, usually errno.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the error string describing error errnum.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strerror() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>

int main ()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
if( fp == NULL )
{
printf("Error: %s\n", strerror(errno));
}

return(0);
}
241

C Standard Library

Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result
because we are trying to open a file which does not exist:
Error: No such file or directory

size_t strlen(const char *str)

Description
The C library function size_t strlen(const char *str) computes the length of
the string str up to, but not including the terminating null character.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strlen() function.
size_t strlen(const char *str)

Parameters

str -- This is the string whose length is to be found.

Return Value
This function returns the length of string.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strlen() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
char str[50];
int len;

strcpy(str, "This is tutorialspoint.com");

len = strlen(str);
printf("Length of |%s| is |%d|\n", str, len);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
242

C Standard Library

Length of |This is tutorialspoint.com| is |26|

char *strpbrk(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Description
The C library function char *strpbrk(const char *str1, const char
*str2) finds the first character in the string str1 that matches any character
specified in str2. This does not include the terminating null-characters.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strpbrk() function.
char *strpbrk(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Parameters

str1 -- This is the C string to be scanned.

str2 -- This is the C string containing the characters to match.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the character in str1 that matches one of the
characters in str2, or NULL if no such character is found.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strpbrk() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
const char str1[] = "abcde2fghi3jk4l";
const char str2[] = "34";
char *ret;

ret = strpbrk(str1, str2);

if(ret)
{
printf("First matching character: %c\n", *ret);
}
else
243

C Standard Library

{
printf("Character not found");
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
First matching character: 3

char *strrchr(const char *str, int c)

Description
The C library function char *strrchr(const char *str, int c) searches for the
last occurrence of the character c (an unsigned char) in the string pointed to, by
the argument str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strrchr() function.
char *strrchr(const char *str, int c)

Parameters

str -- This is the C string.

c -- This is the character to be located. It is passed as its int promotion,

but it is internally converted back to char.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the last occurrence of character in str. If the
value is not found, the function returns a null pointer.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strrchr() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
int len;
const char str[] = "http://www.tutorialspoint.com";
244

C Standard Library

const char ch = '.';

char *ret;

ret = strrchr(str, ch);

printf("String after |%c| is - |%s|\n", ch, ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
String after |.| is - |.com|

size_t strspn(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Description
The C library function size_t strspn(const char *str1, const char
*str2) calculates the length of the initial segment of str1 which consists entirely
of characters in str2.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strspn() function.
size_t strspn(const char *str1, const char *str2)

Parameters

str1 -- This is the main C string to be scanned.

str2 -- This is the string containing the list of characters to match in str1.

Return Value
This function returns the number of characters in the initial segment of str1
which consist only of characters from str2.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strspn() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main ()
{
245

C Standard Library

int len;
const char str1[] = "ABCDEFG019874";
const char str2[] = "ABCD";

len = strspn(str1, str2);

printf("Length of initial segment matching %d\n", len );

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Length of initial segment matching 4

char *strstr(const char *haystack, const char *needle)

Description
The C library function char *strstr(const char *haystack, const char
*needle)
finds the first occurrence of the substring needle in the
string haystack. The terminating '\0' characters are not compared.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strstr() function.
char *strstr(const char *haystack, const char *needle)

Parameters

haystack -- This is the main C string to be scanned.

needle -- This is the small string to be searched within haystack string.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the first occurrence in haystack of any of the
entire sequence of characters specified in needle, or a null pointer if the
sequence is not present in haystack.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strstr() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

246

C Standard Library

int main()
{
const char haystack[20] = "TutorialsPoint";
const char needle[10] = "Point";
char *ret;

ret = strstr(haystack, needle);

printf("The substring is: %s\n", ret);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
The substring is: Point

char *strtok(char *str, const char *delim)

Description
The C library function char *strtok(char *str, const char *delim) breaks
string str into a series of tokens using the delimiter delim.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strtok() function.
char *strtok(char *str, const char *delim)

Parameters

str -- The contents of this string are modified and broken into smaller
strings (tokens).

delim -- This is the C string containing the delimiters. These may vary
from one call to another.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to the last token found in the string. A null
pointer is returned if there are no tokens left to retrieve.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strtok() function.
247

C Standard Library

#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
const char str[80] = "This is - www.tutorialspoint.com - website";
const char s[2] = "-";
char *token;

/* get the first token */

token = strtok(str, s);

/* walk through other tokens */

while( token != NULL )
{
printf( " %s\n", token );

token = strtok(NULL, s);

}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
This is
www.tutorialspoint.com
website

size_t strxfrm(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Description
The C library function size_t strxfrm(char *dest, const char *src, size_t
n) transforms the first n characters of the string src into current locale and place
them in the string dest.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strxfrm() function.
248

C Standard Library

size_t strxfrm(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n)

Parameters

dest -- This is the pointer to the destination array where the content is to
be copied. It can be a null pointer if the argument for n is zero.

src -- This is the C string to be transformed into current locale.

n -- The maximum number of characters to be copied to str1.

Return Value
This function returns the length of the transformed string, not including the
terminating null-character.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strxfrm() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
char dest[20];
char src[20];
int len;

strcpy(src, "Tutorials Point");

len = strxfrm(dest, src, 20);

printf("Length of string |%s| is: |%d|", dest, len);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Length of string |Tutorials Point| is: |15|

249

15. <TIME.H>

C Standard Library

Introduction
The time.h header defines four variable types, two macro and various functions
for manipulating date and time.

Library Variables
Following are the variable types defined in the header time.h:
S.N.

Variable & Description

size_t
This is the unsigned
the sizeof keyword.

integral

type

and

is

the

result

of

clock_t
This is a type suitable for storing the processor time.

time_t is
This is a type suitable for storing the calendar time.

struct tm
This is a structure used to hold the time and date.

The tm structure has the following definition:

struct tm {
int tm_sec;

/* seconds,

range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_min;

/* minutes, range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_hour;

/* hours, range 0 to 23

*/

int tm_mday;

/* day of the month, range 1 to 31

*/

int tm_mon;

/* month, range 0 to 11

*/

int tm_year;

/* The number of years since 1900

*/

int tm_wday;

/* day of the week, range 0 to 6

*/

int tm_yday;

/* day in the year, range 0 to 365

*/
250

C Standard Library

int tm_isdst;

/* daylight saving time

*/

};

Library Macros
Following are the macros defined in the header time.h:
S.N.

Macro & Description

NULL
This macro is the value of a null pointer constant.

CLOCKS_PER_SEC
This macro represents the number of processor clocks per second.

Library Functions
Following are the functions defined in the header time.h:
S.N.

Function & Description

char *asctime(const struct tm *timeptr)

Returns a pointer to a string which represents the day and time of the
structure timeptr.
clock_t clock(void)

Returns the processor clock time used since the beginning of an

implementation defined era (normally the beginning of the program).
char *ctime(const time_t *timer)

Returns a string representing the localtime based on the argument

timer.
double difftime(time_t time1, time_t time2)

Returns the difference of seconds between time1 and time2 (time1time2).

struct tm *gmtime(const time_t *timer)

The value of timer is broken up into the structure tm and expressed in

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), also known as Greenwich Mean
251

C Standard Library

Time (GMT).
struct tm *localtime(const time_t *timer)
6

The value of timer is broken up into the structure tm and expressed in

the local time zone.
time_t mktime(struct tm *timeptr)

Converts the structure pointed to by timeptr into a time_t value

according to the local time zone.
size_t strftime(char *str, size_t maxsize, const char *format, const
struct tm *timeptr)
Formats the time represented in the structure timeptr according to the
formatting rules defined in format and stored into str.
time_t time(time_t *timer)
Calculates the current calender time and encodes it into time_t format.

char *asctime(const struct tm *timeptr)

Description
The C library function char *asctime(const struct tm *timeptr) returns a
pointer to a string which represents the day and time of the structure struct
timeptr.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for asctime() function.
char *asctime(const struct tm *timeptr)

Parameters
The timeptr is a pointer to tm structure that contains a calendar time broken
down into its components as shown below:
struct tm {
int tm_sec;

/* seconds,

range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_min;

/* minutes, range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_hour;

/* hours, range 0 to 23

*/

int tm_mday;

/* day of the month, range 1 to 31

*/

int tm_mon;

/* month, range 0 to 11

*/

int tm_year;

/* The number of years since 1900

*/
252

C Standard Library

int tm_wday;

/* day of the week, range 0 to 6

*/

int tm_yday;

/* day in the year, range 0 to 365

*/

int tm_isdst;

/* daylight saving time

*/

};

Return Value
This function returns a C string containing the date and time information in a
human-readable format Www Mmm dd hh:mm:ss yyyy, where Www is the
weekday, Mmm the month in letters, dd the day of the month, hh:mm:ss the
time, and yyyy the year.

Example
The following example shows the usage of asctime() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <time.h>

int main()
{
struct tm t;

t.tm_sec

= 10;

t.tm_min

= 10;

t.tm_hour

= 6;

t.tm_mday

= 25;

t.tm_mon

= 2;

t.tm_year

= 89;

t.tm_wday

= 6;

puts(asctime(&t));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Sat Mar 25 06:10:10 1989
253

C Standard Library

clock_t clock(void)
Description
The C library function clock_t clock(void) returns the number of clock ticks
elapsed since the program was launched. To get the number of seconds used by
the CPU, you will need to divide by CLOCKS_PER_SEC.
On a 32 bit system where CLOCKS_PER_SEC equals 1000000 this function will
return the same value approximately every 72 minutes.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for clock() function.
clock_t clock(void)

Parameters

NA

Return Value
This function returns the number of clock ticks elapsed since the start of the
program. On failure, the function returns a value of -1.

Example
The following example shows the usage of clock() function.
#include <time.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
clock_t start_t, end_t, total_t;
int i;

start_t = clock();
printf("Starting of the program, start_t = %ld\n", start_t);

printf("Going to scan a big loop, start_t = %ld\n", start_t);

for(i=0; i< 10000000; i++)
{
}
end_t = clock();
printf("End of the big loop, end_t = %ld\n", end_t);
254

C Standard Library

total_t = (double)(end_t - start_t) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC;

printf("Total time taken by CPU: %f\n", total_t

);

printf("Exiting of the program...\n");

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Starting of the program, start_t = 0
Going to scan a big loop, start_t = 0
End of the big loop, end_t = 20000
Total time taken by CPU: 0.000000
Exiting of the program...

char *ctime(const time_t *timer)

Description
The C library function char *ctime(const time_t *timer) returns a string
representing the localtime based on the argument timer.
The returned string has the following format: Www Mmm dd hh:mm:ss
yyyy,where Www is the weekday, Mmm the month in letters, dd the day of the
month, hh:mm:ss the time, and yyyy the year.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for ctime() function.
char *ctime(const time_t *timer)

Parameters

timer -- This is the pointer to a time_t object that contains a calendar

time.

Return Value
This function returns a C string containing the date and time information in a
human-readable format.

Example
The following example shows the usage of ctime() function.
#include <stdio.h>
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#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
time_t curtime;

time(&curtime);

printf("Current time = %s", ctime(&curtime));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Current time = Mon Aug 13 08:23:14 2012

double difftime(time_t time1, time_t time2)

Description
The C library function double difftime(time_t time1, time_t time2) returns
the difference of seconds between time1 and time2 i.e. (time1 - time2). The
two times are specified in calendar time, which represents the time elapsed
since the Epoch (00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC)).

Declaration
Following is the declaration for difftime() function.
double difftime(time_t time1, time_t time2)

Parameters

time1 -- This is the time_t object for end time.

time2 -- This is the time_t object for start time.

Return Value
This function returns the difference of two times (time2 - time1) as a double
value.

Example
The following example shows the usage of difftime() function.
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#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
time_t start_t, end_t;
double diff_t;

printf("Starting of the program...\n");

time(&start_t);

printf("Sleeping for 5 seconds...\n");

sleep(5);

time(&end_t);
diff_t = difftime(end_t, start_t);

printf("Execution time = %f\n", diff_t);

printf("Exiting of the program...\n");

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Starting of the program...
Sleeping for 5 seconds...
Execution time = 5.000000
Exiting of the program...

struct tm *gmtime(const time_t *timer)

Description
The C library function struct tm *gmtime(const time_t *timer) uses the
value pointed by timer to fill a tm structure with the values that represent the
corresponding time, expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or GMT
timezone.
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Declaration
Following is the declaration for gmtime() function.
struct tm *gmtime(const time_t *timer)

Parameters

timeptr -- This is the pointer to a time_t value representing a calendar

time.

Return Value
This function returns pointer to a tm structure with the time information filled in.
Below is the detail of timeptr structure:
struct tm {
int tm_sec;

/* seconds,

range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_min;

/* minutes, range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_hour;

/* hours, range 0 to 23

*/

int tm_mday;

/* day of the month, range 1 to 31

*/

int tm_mon;

/* month, range 0 to 11

*/

int tm_year;

/* The number of years since 1900

*/

int tm_wday;

/* day of the week, range 0 to 6

*/

int tm_yday;

/* day in the year, range 0 to 365

*/

int tm_isdst;

/* daylight saving time

*/

};

Example
The following example shows the usage of gmtime() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

#define BST (+1)

#define CCT (+8)

int main ()
{

time_t rawtime;
struct tm *info;
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time(&rawtime);
/* Get GMT time */
info = gmtime(&rawtime );

printf("Current world clock:\n");

printf("London : %2d:%02d\n", (info->tm_hour+BST)%24, info->tm_min);
printf("China

: %2d:%02d\n", (info->tm_hour+CCT)%24, info->tm_min);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Current world clock:
London : 14:10
China : 21:10

struct tm *localtime(const time_t *timer)

Description
The C library function struct tm *localtime(const time_t *timer) uses the
time pointed by timer to fill a tm structure with the values that represent the
corresponding local time. The value of timer is broken up into the
structure tm and expressed in the local time zone.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for localtime() function.
struct tm *localtime(const time_t *timer)

Parameters

timer -- This is the pointer to a time_t value representing a calendar

time.

Return Value
This function returns a pointer to a tm structure with the time information filled
in. Following is the tm structure information:
struct tm {
int tm_sec;

/* seconds,

range 0 to 59

*/
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int tm_min;

/* minutes, range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_hour;

/* hours, range 0 to 23

*/

int tm_mday;

/* day of the month, range 1 to 31

*/

int tm_mon;

/* month, range 0 to 11

*/

int tm_year;

/* The number of years since 1900

*/

int tm_wday;

/* day of the week, range 0 to 6

*/

int tm_yday;

/* day in the year, range 0 to 365

*/

int tm_isdst;

/* daylight saving time

*/

};

Example
The following example shows the usage of localtime() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
time_t rawtime;
struct tm *info;
char buffer[80];

time( &rawtime );

info = localtime( &rawtime );

printf("Current local time and date: %s", asctime(info));

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Current local time and date: Thu Aug 23 09:12:05 2012

time_t mktime(struct tm *timeptr)

Description
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The C library function time_t mktime(struct tm *timeptr) converts the

structure pointed to by timeptr into a time_t value according to the local time
zone.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for mktime() function.
time_t mktime(struct tm *timeptr)

Parameters

timeptr -- This is the pointer to a time_t value representing a calendar

time, broken down into its components. Below is the detail of timeptr
structure

struct tm {
int tm_sec;

/* seconds,

range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_min;

/* minutes, range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_hour;

/* hours, range 0 to 23

*/

int tm_mday;

/* day of the month, range 1 to 31

*/

int tm_mon;

/* month, range 0 to 11

*/

int tm_year;

/* The number of years since 1900

*/

int tm_wday;

/* day of the week, range 0 to 6

*/

int tm_yday;

/* day in the year, range 0 to 365

*/

int tm_isdst;

/* daylight saving time

*/

};

Return Value
This function returns a time_t value corresponding to the calendar time passed
as argument. On error, a -1 value is returned.

Example
The following example shows the usage of mktime() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
int ret;
struct tm info;
char buffer[80];
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info.tm_year = 2001 - 1900;

info.tm_mon = 7 - 1;
info.tm_mday = 4;
info.tm_hour = 0;
info.tm_min = 0;
info.tm_sec = 1;
info.tm_isdst = -1;

ret = mktime(&info);
if( ret == -1 )
{
printf("Error: unable to make time using mktime\n");
}
else
{
strftime(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%c", &info );
printf(buffer);
}

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Wed Jul 4 00:00:01 2001

size_t strftime(char *str, size_t maxsize, const char *format, const

struct tm *timeptr)
Description
The C library function size_t strftime(char *str, size_t maxsize, const char
*format, const struct tm *timeptr) formats the time represented in the
structure timeptr according to the formatting rules defined in format and stored
into str.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for strftime() function.
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size_t strftime(char *str, size_t maxsize, const char *format, const

struct tm *timeptr)

Parameters

str -- This is the pointer to the destination array where the resulting C
string is copied.

maxsize -- This is the maximum number of characters to be copied to str.

format -- This is the C string containing any combination of regular

characters and special format specifiers. These format specifiers are
replaced by the function to the corresponding values to represent the time
specified in tm. The format specifiers are:

Specifier

Replaced By

Example

%a

Abbreviated weekday name

Sun

%A

Full weekday name

Sunday

%b

Abbreviated month name

Mar

%B

Full month name

March

%c

Date and time representation

Sun
Aug
19
02:56:02 2012

%d

Day of the month (01-31)

19

%H

Hour in 24h format (00-23)

14

%I

Hour in 12h format (01-12)

05

%j

Day of the year (001-366)

231

%m

Month as a decimal number (01-12)

08

%M

Minute (00-59)

55

%p

AM or PM designation

PM

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%S

Second (00-61)

02

%U

Week number with the first Sunday as the

first day of week one (00-53)

33

%w

Weekday as a decimal number with Sunday

as 0 (0-6)

%W

Week number with the first Monday as the

first day of week one (00-53)

34

%x

Date representation

08/19/12

%X

Time representation

02:50:06

%y

Year, last two digits (00-99)

01

%Y

Year

2012

%Z

Timezone name or abbreviation

CDT

%%

A % sign

timeptr -- This is the pointer to a tm structure that contains a calendar

time broken down into its components as shown below:

struct tm {
int tm_sec;

/* seconds,

range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_min;

/* minutes, range 0 to 59

*/

int tm_hour;

/* hours, range 0 to 23

*/

int tm_mday;

/* day of the month, range 1 to 31

*/

int tm_mon;

/* month, range 0 to 11

*/

int tm_year;

/* The number of years since 1900

*/

int tm_wday;

/* day of the week, range 0 to 6

*/

int tm_yday;

/* day in the year, range 0 to 365

*/

int tm_isdst;

/* daylight saving time

*/

};

Return Value
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If the resulting C string fits in less than size characters (which includes the
terminating null-character), the total number of characters copied to str (not
including the terminating null-character) is returned otherwise, it returns zero.

Example
The following example shows the usage of strftime() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
time_t rawtime;
struct tm *info;
char buffer[80];

time( &rawtime );

info = localtime( &rawtime );

strftime(buffer,80,"%x - %I:%M%p", info);

printf("Formatted date & time : |%s|\n", buffer );

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Formatted date & time : |08/23/12 - 12:40AM|

time_t time(time_t *timer)

Description
The C library function time_t time(time_t *seconds) returns the time since
the Epoch (00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970), measured in seconds. If seconds is
not NULL, the return value is also stored in variable seconds.

Declaration
Following is the declaration for time() function.

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time_t time(time_t *t)

Parameters

seconds -- This is the pointer to an object of type time_t, where the

seconds value will be stored.

Return Value
The current calendar time as a time_t object.

Example
The following example shows the usage of time() function.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
time_t seconds;

seconds = time(NULL);
printf("Hours since January 1, 1970 = %ld\n", seconds/3600);

return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result:
Hours since January 1, 1970 = 393923

266