NAME
perror - write error messages to standard error
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
void perror(const char *s);
DESCRIPTION
The perror() function shall map the error number accessed through the
symbol errno to a language-dependent error message, which shall be
written to the standard error stream as follows:
* First (if s is not a null pointer and the character pointed to by s
is not the null byte), the string pointed to by s followed by a
colon and a <space>.
* Then an error message string followed by a <newline>.
The contents of the error message strings shall be the same as those
returned by strerror() with argument errno.
The perror() function shall mark the file associated with the standard
error stream as having been written (st_ctime, st_mtime marked for
update) at some time between its successful completion and exit(),
abort(), or the completion of fflush() or fclose() on stderr.
The perror() function shall not change the orientation of the standard
error stream.
RETURN VALUE
The perror() function shall not return a value.
ERRORS
No errors are defined.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Printing an Error Message for a Function
The following example replaces bufptr with a buffer that is the
necessary size. If an error occurs, the perror() function prints a
message and the program exits.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
...
char *bufptr;
size_t szbuf;
...
if ((bufptr = malloc(szbuf)) == NULL) {
perror("malloc"); exit(2);
}
...
APPLICATION USAGE
None.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
strerror() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
<stdio.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .