Manpages - errno.3p

This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer’s Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

errno — error return value

  #include <errno.h>

The lvalue errno is used by many functions to return error values.

Many functions provide an error number in errno, which has type int and is defined in <errno.h>. The value of errno shall be defined only after a call to a function for which it is explicitly stated to be set and until it is changed by the next function call or if the application assigns it a value. The value of errno should only be examined when it is indicated to be valid by a function’s return value. Applications shall obtain the definition of errno by the inclusion of <errno.h>. No function in this volume of POSIX.1‐2017 shall set errno to 0. The setting of errno after a successful call to a function is unspecified unless the description of that function specifies that errno shall not be modified.

It is unspecified whether errno is a macro or an identifier declared with external linkage. If a macro definition is suppressed in order to access an actual object, or a program defines an identifier with the name errno, the behavior is undefined.

The symbolic values stored in errno are documented in the ERRORS sections on all relevant pages.

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The following sections are informative.

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Previously both POSIX and X/Open documents were more restrictive than the ISO C standard in that they required errno to be defined as an external variable, whereas the ISO C standard required only that errno be defined as a modifiable lvalue with type int.

An application that needs to examine the value of errno to determine the error should set it to 0 before a function call, then inspect it before a subsequent function call.

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Section 2.3, Error Numbers

The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, <errno.h>

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology – Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 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 .

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