Manpages - strsignal.3

Table of Contents

NAME

strsignal, sigabbrev_np, sigdescr_np, sys_siglist - return string describing signal

SYNOPSIS

  #include <string.h>

  char *strsignal(int sig);
  const char *sigdescr_np(int sig);
  const char *sigabbrev_np(int sig);

  extern const char *const sys_siglist[];

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see *feature_test_macros*(7)):

*sigabbrev_np*(), *sigdescr_np*():

      _GNU_SOURCE

*strsignal*():

      From glibc 2.10 to 2.31:
          _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
      Before glibc 2.10:
          _GNU_SOURCE

sys_siglist:

      Since glibc 2.19:
          _DEFAULT_SOURCE
      Glibc 2.19 and earlier:
          _BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

The strsignal*() function returns a string describing the signal number passed in the argument sig. The string can be used only until the next call to *strsignal*(). The string returned by *strsignal*() is localized according to the *LC_MESSAGES category in the current locale.

The *sigdescr_np*() function returns a string describing the signal number passed in the argument sig. Unlike *strsignal*() this string is not influenced by the current locale.

The sigabbrev_np*() function returns the abbreviated name of the signal, sig. For example, given the value *SIGINT, it returns the string “INT”.

The (deprecated) array sys_siglist holds the signal description strings indexed by signal number. The *strsignal*() or the *sigdescr_np*() function should be used instead of this array; see also VERSIONS.

RETURN VALUE

The *strsignal*() function returns the appropriate description string, or an unknown signal message if the signal number is invalid. On some systems (but not on Linux), NULL may instead be returned for an invalid signal number.

The *sigdescr_np*() and *sigabbrev_np*() functions return the appropriate description string. The returned string is statically allocated and valid for the lifetime of the program. These functions return NULL for an invalid signal number.

VERSIONS

*sigdescr_np*() and *sigabbrev_np*() first appeared in glibc 2.32.

Starting with version 2.32, the sys_siglist symbol is no longer exported by glibc.

ATTRIBUTES

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see *attributes*(7).

Interface Attribute Value
*strsignal*() Thread safety MT-Unsafe race:strsignal locale
*sigdescr_np*(), *sigabbrev_np*() Thread safety MT-Safe

CONFORMING TO

*strsignal*(): POSIX.1-2008. Present on Solaris and the BSDs.

*sigdescr_np*() and *sigdabbrev_np*() are GNU extensions.

sys_siglist is nonstandard, but present on many other systems.

NOTES

*sigdescr_np*() and *sigdabbrev_np*() are thread-safe and async-signal-safe.

SEE ALSO

*psignal*(3), *strerror*(3)

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 5.13 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Author: dt

Created: 2022-02-21 Mon 13:50