Provided by: manpages-posix-dev_2017a-2_all 
PROLOG
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.
NAME
dprintf, fprintf, printf, snprintf, sprintf — print formatted output
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
int dprintf(int fildes, const char *restrict format, ...);
int fprintf(FILE *restrict stream, const char *restrict format, ...);
int printf(const char *restrict format, ...);
int snprintf(char *restrict s, size_t n,
const char *restrict format, ...);
int sprintf(char *restrict s, const char *restrict format, ...);
DESCRIPTION
Excluding dprintf(): The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with
the ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the ISO C
standard is unintentional. This volume of POSIX.1‐2017 defers to the ISO C standard.
The fprintf() function shall place output on the named output stream. The printf()
function shall place output on the standard output stream stdout. The sprintf() function
shall place output followed by the null byte, '\0', in consecutive bytes starting at *s;
it is the user's responsibility to ensure that enough space is available.
The dprintf() function shall be equivalent to the fprintf() function, except that
dprintf() shall write output to the file associated with the file descriptor specified by
the fildes argument rather than place output on a stream.
The snprintf() function shall be equivalent to sprintf(), with the addition of the n
argument which states the size of the buffer referred to by s. If n is zero, nothing
shall be written and s may be a null pointer. Otherwise, output bytes beyond the n‐1st
shall be discarded instead of being written to the array, and a null byte is written at
the end of the bytes actually written into the array.
If copying takes place between objects that overlap as a result of a call to sprintf() or
snprintf(), the results are undefined.
Each of these functions converts, formats, and prints its arguments under control of the
format. The format is a character string, beginning and ending in its initial shift
state, if any. The format is composed of zero or more directives: ordinary characters,
which are simply copied to the output stream, and conversion specifications, each of which
shall result in the fetching of zero or more arguments. The results are undefined if
there are insufficient arguments for the format. If the format is exhausted while
arguments remain, the excess arguments shall be evaluated but are otherwise ignored.
Conversions can be applied to the nth argument after the format in the argument list,
rather than to the next unused argument. In this case, the conversion specifier character
% (see below) is replaced by the sequence "%n$", where n is a decimal integer in the range
[1,{NL_ARGMAX}], giving the position of the argument in the argument list. This feature
provides for the definition of format strings that select arguments in an order
appropriate to specific languages (see the EXAMPLES section).
The format can contain either numbered argument conversion specifications (that is, "%n$"
and "*m$"), or unnumbered argument conversion specifications (that is, % and *), but not
both. The only exception to this is that %% can be mixed with the "%n$" form. The results
of mixing numbered and unnumbered argument specifications in a format string are
undefined. When numbered argument specifications are used, specifying the Nth argument
requires that all the leading arguments, from the first to the (N-1)th, are specified in
the format string.
In format strings containing the "%n$" form of conversion specification, numbered
arguments in the argument list can be referenced from the format string as many times as
required.
In format strings containing the % form of conversion specification, each conversion
specification uses the first unused argument in the argument list.
All forms of the fprintf() functions allow for the insertion of a language-dependent radix
character in the output string. The radix character is defined in the current locale
(category LC_NUMERIC). In the POSIX locale, or in a locale where the radix character is
not defined, the radix character shall default to a <period> ('.').
Each conversion specification is introduced by the '%' character or by the character
sequence "%n$", after which the following appear in sequence:
* Zero or more flags (in any order), which modify the meaning of the conversion
specification.
* An optional minimum field width. If the converted value has fewer bytes than the
field width, it shall be padded with <space> characters by default on the left; it
shall be padded on the right if the left-adjustment flag ('-'), described below, is
given to the field width. The field width takes the form of an <asterisk> ('*'),
described below, or a decimal integer.
* An optional precision that gives the minimum number of digits to appear for the d, i,
o, u, x, and X conversion specifiers; the number of digits to appear after the radix
character for the a, A, e, E, f, and F conversion specifiers; the maximum number of
significant digits for the g and G conversion specifiers; or the maximum number of
bytes to be printed from a string in the s and S conversion specifiers. The precision
takes the form of a <period> ('.') followed either by an <asterisk> ('*'), described
below, or an optional decimal digit string, where a null digit string is treated as
zero. If a precision appears with any other conversion specifier, the behavior is
undefined.
* An optional length modifier that specifies the size of the argument.
* A conversion specifier character that indicates the type of conversion to be applied.
A field width, or precision, or both, may be indicated by an <asterisk> ('*'). In this
case an argument of type int supplies the field width or precision. Applications shall
ensure that arguments specifying field width, or precision, or both appear in that order
before the argument, if any, to be converted. A negative field width is taken as a '-'
flag followed by a positive field width. A negative precision is taken as if the precision
were omitted. In format strings containing the "%n$" form of a conversion specification,
a field width or precision may be indicated by the sequence "*m$", where m is a decimal
integer in the range [1,{NL_ARGMAX}] giving the position in the argument list (after the
format argument) of an integer argument containing the field width or precision, for
example:
printf("%1$d:%2$.*3$d:%4$.*3$d\n", hour, min, precision, sec);
The flag characters and their meanings are:
' (The <apostrophe>.) The integer portion of the result of a decimal conversion
(%i, %d, %u, %f, %F, %g, or %G) shall be formatted with thousands' grouping
characters. For other conversions the behavior is undefined. The non-monetary
grouping character is used.
- The result of the conversion shall be left-justified within the field. The
conversion is right-justified if this flag is not specified.
+ The result of a signed conversion shall always begin with a sign ('+' or '-').
The conversion shall begin with a sign only when a negative value is converted if
this flag is not specified.
<space> If the first character of a signed conversion is not a sign or if a signed
conversion results in no characters, a <space> shall be prefixed to the result.
This means that if the <space> and '+' flags both appear, the <space> flag shall
be ignored.
# Specifies that the value is to be converted to an alternative form. For o
conversion, it shall increase the precision, if and only if necessary, to force
the first digit of the result to be a zero (if the value and precision are both 0,
a single 0 is printed). For x or X conversion specifiers, a non-zero result shall
have 0x (or 0X) prefixed to it. For a, A, e, E, f, F, g, and G conversion
specifiers, the result shall always contain a radix character, even if no digits
follow the radix character. Without this flag, a radix character appears in the
result of these conversions only if a digit follows it. For g and G conversion
specifiers, trailing zeros shall not be removed from the result as they normally
are. For other conversion specifiers, the behavior is undefined.
0 For d, i, o, u, x, X, a, A, e, E, f, F, g, and G conversion specifiers, leading
zeros (following any indication of sign or base) are used to pad to the field
width rather than performing space padding, except when converting an infinity or
NaN. If the '0' and '-' flags both appear, the '0' flag is ignored. For d, i, o,
u, x, and X conversion specifiers, if a precision is specified, the '0' flag shall
be ignored. If the '0' and <apostrophe> flags both appear, the grouping
characters are inserted before zero padding. For other conversions, the behavior
is undefined.
The length modifiers and their meanings are:
hh Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a
signed char or unsigned char argument (the argument will have been promoted
according to the integer promotions, but its value shall be converted to signed
char or unsigned char before printing); or that a following n conversion specifier
applies to a pointer to a signed char argument.
h Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a
short or unsigned short argument (the argument will have been promoted according
to the integer promotions, but its value shall be converted to short or unsigned
short before printing); or that a following n conversion specifier applies to a
pointer to a short argument.
l (ell) Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a
long or unsigned long argument; that a following n conversion specifier applies to
a pointer to a long argument; that a following c conversion specifier applies to a
wint_t argument; that a following s conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a
wchar_t argument; or has no effect on a following a, A, e, E, f, F, g, or G
conversion specifier.
ll (ell-ell)
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a
long long or unsigned long long argument; or that a following n conversion
specifier applies to a pointer to a long long argument.
j Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to an
intmax_t or uintmax_t argument; or that a following n conversion specifier applies
to a pointer to an intmax_t argument.
z Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a
size_t or the corresponding signed integer type argument; or that a following n
conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a signed integer type corresponding
to a size_t argument.
t Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a
ptrdiff_t or the corresponding unsigned type argument; or that a following n
conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a ptrdiff_t argument.
L Specifies that a following a, A, e, E, f, F, g, or G conversion specifier applies
to a long double argument.
If a length modifier appears with any conversion specifier other than as specified above,
the behavior is undefined.
The conversion specifiers and their meanings are:
d, i The int argument shall be converted to a signed decimal in the style "[-]dddd".
The precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear; if the value being
converted can be represented in fewer digits, it shall be expanded with leading
zeros. The default precision is 1. The result of converting zero with an explicit
precision of zero shall be no characters.
o The unsigned argument shall be converted to unsigned octal format in the style
"dddd". The precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear; if the
value being converted can be represented in fewer digits, it shall be expanded
with leading zeros. The default precision is 1. The result of converting zero with
an explicit precision of zero shall be no characters.
u The unsigned argument shall be converted to unsigned decimal format in the style
"dddd". The precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear; if the
value being converted can be represented in fewer digits, it shall be expanded
with leading zeros. The default precision is 1. The result of converting zero with
an explicit precision of zero shall be no characters.
x The unsigned argument shall be converted to unsigned hexadecimal format in the
style "dddd"; the letters "abcdef" are used. The precision specifies the minimum
number of digits to appear; if the value being converted can be represented in
fewer digits, it shall be expanded with leading zeros. The default precision is 1.
The result of converting zero with an explicit precision of zero shall be no
characters.
X Equivalent to the x conversion specifier, except that letters "ABCDEF" are used
instead of "abcdef".
f, F The double argument shall be converted to decimal notation in the style
"[-]ddd.ddd", where the number of digits after the radix character is equal to the
precision specification. If the precision is missing, it shall be taken as 6; if
the precision is explicitly zero and no '#' flag is present, no radix character
shall appear. If a radix character appears, at least one digit appears before it.
The low-order digit shall be rounded in an implementation-defined manner.
A double argument representing an infinity shall be converted in one of the styles
"[-]inf" or "[-]infinity"; which style is implementation-defined. A double
argument representing a NaN shall be converted in one of the styles "[-]nan(n-
char-sequence)" or "[-]nan"; which style, and the meaning of any n-char-sequence,
is implementation-defined. The F conversion specifier produces "INF", "INFINITY",
or "NAN" instead of "inf", "infinity", or "nan", respectively.
e, E The double argument shall be converted in the style "[-]d.ddde±dd", where there is
one digit before the radix character (which is non-zero if the argument is non-
zero) and the number of digits after it is equal to the precision; if the
precision is missing, it shall be taken as 6; if the precision is zero and no '#'
flag is present, no radix character shall appear. The low-order digit shall be
rounded in an implementation-defined manner. The E conversion specifier shall
produce a number with 'E' instead of 'e' introducing the exponent. The exponent
shall always contain at least two digits. If the value is zero, the exponent shall
be zero.
A double argument representing an infinity or NaN shall be converted in the style
of an f or F conversion specifier.
g, G The double argument representing a floating-point number shall be converted in the
style f or e (or in the style F or E in the case of a G conversion specifier),
depending on the value converted and the precision. Let P equal the precision if
non-zero, 6 if the precision is omitted, or 1 if the precision is zero. Then, if a
conversion with style E would have an exponent of X:
-- If P>X≥-4, the conversion shall be with style f (or F) and precision P-(X+1).
-- Otherwise, the conversion shall be with style e (or E) and precision P-1.
Finally, unless the '#' flag is used, any trailing zeros shall be removed from the
fractional portion of the result and the decimal-point character shall be removed
if there is no fractional portion remaining.
A double argument representing an infinity or NaN shall be converted in the style
of an f or F conversion specifier.
a, A A double argument representing a floating-point number shall be converted in the
style "[-]0xh.hhhhp±d", where there is one hexadecimal digit (which shall be non-
zero if the argument is a normalized floating-point number and is otherwise
unspecified) before the decimal-point character and the number of hexadecimal
digits after it is equal to the precision; if the precision is missing and
FLT_RADIX is a power of 2, then the precision shall be sufficient for an exact
representation of the value; if the precision is missing and FLT_RADIX is not a
power of 2, then the precision shall be sufficient to distinguish values of type
double, except that trailing zeros may be omitted; if the precision is zero and
the '#' flag is not specified, no decimal-point character shall appear. The
letters "abcdef" shall be used for a conversion and the letters "ABCDEF" for A
conversion. The A conversion specifier produces a number with 'X' and 'P' instead
of 'x' and 'p'. The exponent shall always contain at least one digit, and only as
many more digits as necessary to represent the decimal exponent of 2. If the value
is zero, the exponent shall be zero.
A double argument representing an infinity or NaN shall be converted in the style
of an f or F conversion specifier.
c The int argument shall be converted to an unsigned char, and the resulting byte
shall be written.
If an l (ell) qualifier is present, the wint_t argument shall be converted as if
by an ls conversion specification with no precision and an argument that points to
a two-element array of type wchar_t, the first element of which contains the
wint_t argument to the ls conversion specification and the second element contains
a null wide character.
s The argument shall be a pointer to an array of char. Bytes from the array shall
be written up to (but not including) any terminating null byte. If the precision
is specified, no more than that many bytes shall be written. If the precision is
not specified or is greater than the size of the array, the application shall
ensure that the array contains a null byte.
If an l (ell) qualifier is present, the argument shall be a pointer to an array of
type wchar_t. Wide characters from the array shall be converted to characters
(each as if by a call to the wcrtomb() function, with the conversion state
described by an mbstate_t object initialized to zero before the first wide
character is converted) up to and including a terminating null wide character. The
resulting characters shall be written up to (but not including) the terminating
null character (byte). If no precision is specified, the application shall ensure
that the array contains a null wide character. If a precision is specified, no
more than that many characters (bytes) shall be written (including shift
sequences, if any), and the array shall contain a null wide character if, to equal
the character sequence length given by the precision, the function would need to
access a wide character one past the end of the array. In no case shall a partial
character be written.
p The argument shall be a pointer to void. The value of the pointer is converted to
a sequence of printable characters, in an implementation-defined manner.
n The argument shall be a pointer to an integer into which is written the number of
bytes written to the output so far by this call to one of the fprintf() functions.
No argument is converted.
C Equivalent to lc.
S Equivalent to ls.
% Print a '%' character; no argument is converted. The complete conversion
specification shall be %%.
If a conversion specification does not match one of the above forms, the behavior is
undefined. If any argument is not the correct type for the corresponding conversion
specification, the behavior is undefined.
In no case shall a nonexistent or small field width cause truncation of a field; if the
result of a conversion is wider than the field width, the field shall be expanded to
contain the conversion result. Characters generated by fprintf() and printf() are printed
as if fputc() had been called.
For the a and A conversion specifiers, if FLT_RADIX is a power of 2, the value shall be
correctly rounded to a hexadecimal floating number with the given precision.
For a and A conversions, if FLT_RADIX is not a power of 2 and the result is not exactly
representable in the given precision, the result should be one of the two adjacent numbers
in hexadecimal floating style with the given precision, with the extra stipulation that
the error should have a correct sign for the current rounding direction.
For the e, E, f, F, g, and G conversion specifiers, if the number of significant decimal
digits is at most DECIMAL_DIG, then the result should be correctly rounded. If the number
of significant decimal digits is more than DECIMAL_DIG but the source value is exactly
representable with DECIMAL_DIG digits, then the result should be an exact representation
with trailing zeros. Otherwise, the source value is bounded by two adjacent decimal
strings L < U, both having DECIMAL_DIG significant digits; the value of the resultant
decimal string D should satisfy L <= D <= U, with the extra stipulation that the error
should have a correct sign for the current rounding direction.
The last data modification and last file status change timestamps of the file shall be
marked for update:
1. Between the call to a successful execution of fprintf() or printf() and the next
successful completion of a call to fflush() or fclose() on the same stream or a call
to exit() or abort()
2. Upon successful completion of a call to dprintf()
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, the dprintf(), fprintf(), and printf() functions shall return
the number of bytes transmitted.
Upon successful completion, the sprintf() function shall return the number of bytes
written to s, excluding the terminating null byte.
Upon successful completion, the snprintf() function shall return the number of bytes that
would be written to s had n been sufficiently large excluding the terminating null byte.
If an output error was encountered, these functions shall return a negative value and set
errno to indicate the error.
If the value of n is zero on a call to snprintf(), nothing shall be written, the number of
bytes that would have been written had n been sufficiently large excluding the terminating
null shall be returned, and s may be a null pointer.
ERRORS
For the conditions under which dprintf(), fprintf(), and printf() fail and may fail, refer
to fputc() or fputwc().
In addition, all forms of fprintf() shall fail if:
EILSEQ A wide-character code that does not correspond to a valid character has been
detected.
EOVERFLOW
The value to be returned is greater than {INT_MAX}.
The dprintf() function may fail if:
EBADF The fildes argument is not a valid file descriptor.
The dprintf(), fprintf(), and printf() functions may fail if:
ENOMEM Insufficient storage space is available.
The snprintf() function shall fail if:
EOVERFLOW
The value of n is greater than {INT_MAX}.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Printing Language-Independent Date and Time
The following statement can be used to print date and time using a language-independent
format:
printf(format, weekday, month, day, hour, min);
For American usage, format could be a pointer to the following string:
"%s, %s %d, %d:%.2d\n"
This example would produce the following message:
Sunday, July 3, 10:02
For German usage, format could be a pointer to the following string:
"%1$s, %3$d. %2$s, %4$d:%5$.2d\n"
This definition of format would produce the following message:
Sonntag, 3. Juli, 10:02
Printing File Information
The following example prints information about the type, permissions, and number of links
of a specific file in a directory.
The first two calls to printf() use data decoded from a previous stat() call. The user-
defined strperm() function shall return a string similar to the one at the beginning of
the output for the following command:
ls -l
The next call to printf() outputs the owner's name if it is found using getpwuid(); the
getpwuid() function shall return a passwd structure from which the name of the user is
extracted. If the user name is not found, the program instead prints out the numeric value
of the user ID.
The next call prints out the group name if it is found using getgrgid(); getgrgid() is
very similar to getpwuid() except that it shall return group information based on the
group number. Once again, if the group is not found, the program prints the numeric value
of the group for the entry.
The final call to printf() prints the size of the file.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <pwd.h>
#include <grp.h>
char *strperm (mode_t);
...
struct stat statbuf;
struct passwd *pwd;
struct group *grp;
...
printf("%10.10s", strperm (statbuf.st_mode));
printf("%4d", statbuf.st_nlink);
if ((pwd = getpwuid(statbuf.st_uid)) != NULL)
printf(" %-8.8s", pwd->pw_name);
else
printf(" %-8ld", (long) statbuf.st_uid);
if ((grp = getgrgid(statbuf.st_gid)) != NULL)
printf(" %-8.8s", grp->gr_name);
else
printf(" %-8ld", (long) statbuf.st_gid);
printf("%9jd", (intmax_t) statbuf.st_size);
...
Printing a Localized Date String
The following example gets a localized date string. The nl_langinfo() function shall
return the localized date string, which specifies the order and layout of the date. The
strftime() function takes this information and, using the tm structure for values, places
the date and time information into datestring. The printf() function then outputs
datestring and the name of the entry.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <langinfo.h>
...
struct dirent *dp;
struct tm *tm;
char datestring[256];
...
strftime(datestring, sizeof(datestring), nl_langinfo (D_T_FMT), tm);
printf(" %s %s\n", datestring, dp->d_name);
...
Printing Error Information
The following example uses fprintf() to write error information to standard error.
In the first group of calls, the program tries to open the password lock file named
LOCKFILE. If the file already exists, this is an error, as indicated by the O_EXCL flag
on the open() function. If the call fails, the program assumes that someone else is
updating the password file, and the program exits.
The next group of calls saves a new password file as the current password file by creating
a link between LOCKFILE and the new password file PASSWDFILE.
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>
#define LOCKFILE "/etc/ptmp"
#define PASSWDFILE "/etc/passwd"
...
int pfd;
...
if ((pfd = open(LOCKFILE, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL,
S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH)) == -1)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Cannot open /etc/ptmp. Try again later.\n");
exit(1);
}
...
if (link(LOCKFILE,PASSWDFILE) == -1) {
fprintf(stderr, "Link error: %s\n", strerror(errno));
exit(1);
}
...
Printing Usage Information
The following example checks to make sure the program has the necessary arguments, and
uses fprintf() to print usage information if the expected number of arguments is not
present.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
...
char *Options = "hdbtl";
...
if (argc < 2) {
fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s -%s <file\n", argv[0], Options); exit(1);
}
...
Formatting a Decimal String
The following example prints a key and data pair on stdout. Note use of the <asterisk>
('*') in the format string; this ensures the correct number of decimal places for the
element based on the number of elements requested.
#include <stdio.h>
...
long i;
char *keystr;
int elementlen, len;
...
while (len < elementlen) {
...
printf("%s Element%0*ld\n", keystr, elementlen, i);
...
}
Creating a Pathname
The following example creates a pathname using information from a previous getpwnam()
function that returned the password database entry of the user.
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
...
char *pathname;
struct passwd *pw;
size_t len;
...
// digits required for pid_t is number of bits times
// log2(10) = approx 10/33
len = strlen(pw->pw_dir) + 1 + 1+(sizeof(pid_t)*80+32)/33 +
sizeof ".out";
pathname = malloc(len);
if (pathname != NULL)
{
snprintf(pathname, len, "%s/%jd.out", pw->pw_dir,
(intmax_t)getpid());
...
}
Reporting an Event
The following example loops until an event has timed out. The pause() function waits
forever unless it receives a signal. The fprintf() statement should never occur due to the
possible return values of pause().
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>
...
while (!event_complete) {
...
if (pause() != -1 || errno != EINTR)
fprintf(stderr, "pause: unknown error: %s\n", strerror(errno));
}
...
Printing Monetary Information
The following example uses strfmon() to convert a number and store it as a formatted
monetary string named convbuf. If the first number is printed, the program prints the
format and the description; otherwise, it just prints the number.
#include <monetary.h>
#include <stdio.h>
...
struct tblfmt {
char *format;
char *description;
};
struct tblfmt table[] = {
{ "%n", "default formatting" },
{ "%11n", "right align within an 11 character field" },
{ "%#5n", "aligned columns for values up to 99999" },
{ "%=*#5n", "specify a fill character" },
{ "%=0#5n", "fill characters do not use grouping" },
{ "%^#5n", "disable the grouping separator" },
{ "%^#5.0n", "round off to whole units" },
{ "%^#5.4n", "increase the precision" },
{ "%(#5n", "use an alternative pos/neg style" },
{ "%!(#5n", "disable the currency symbol" },
};
...
float input[3];
int i, j;
char convbuf[100];
...
strfmon(convbuf, sizeof(convbuf), table[i].format, input[j]);
if (j == 0) {
printf("%s%s%s\n", table[i].format,
convbuf, table[i].description);
}
else {
printf("%s\n", convbuf);
}
...
Printing Wide Characters
The following example prints a series of wide characters. Suppose that "L`@`" expands to
three bytes:
wchar_t wz [3] = L"@@"; // Zero-terminated
wchar_t wn [3] = L"@@@"; // Unterminated
fprintf (stdout,"%ls", wz); // Outputs 6 bytes
fprintf (stdout,"%ls", wn); // Undefined because wn has no terminator
fprintf (stdout,"%4ls", wz); // Outputs 3 bytes
fprintf (stdout,"%4ls", wn); // Outputs 3 bytes; no terminator needed
fprintf (stdout,"%9ls", wz); // Outputs 6 bytes
fprintf (stdout,"%9ls", wn); // Outputs 9 bytes; no terminator needed
fprintf (stdout,"%10ls", wz); // Outputs 6 bytes
fprintf (stdout,"%10ls", wn); // Undefined because wn has no terminator
In the last line of the example, after processing three characters, nine bytes have been
output. The fourth character must then be examined to determine whether it converts to one
byte or more. If it converts to more than one byte, the output is only nine bytes. Since
there is no fourth character in the array, the behavior is undefined.
APPLICATION USAGE
If the application calling fprintf() has any objects of type wint_t or wchar_t, it must
also include the <wchar.h> header to have these objects defined.
RATIONALE
If an implementation detects that there are insufficient arguments for the format, it is
recommended that the function should fail and report an [EINVAL] error.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
Section 2.5, Standard I/O Streams, fputc(), fscanf(), setlocale(), strfmon(), wcrtomb()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 7, Locale, <inttypes.h>, <stdio.h>,
<wchar.h>
COPYRIGHT
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 .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have
been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report
such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .