NAME

       pmprintf, pmflush - print formatted output in a window or to standard error

C SYNOPSIS

       #include <pcp/pmapi.h>

       int pmprintf(const char *fmt, ... /*args*/);
       int pmflush(void);

       cc ... -lpcp

DESCRIPTION

       The  combination  of pmprintf and pmflush produces output in either an xconfirm(1) window,
       on the standard error stream, or to a file in a manner similar  to  fprintf(3).   The  fmt
       argument  is  used  to  control  the  conversion, formatting, and printing of the variable
       length args list.  The output technique is controlled via an environment variable.

       pmprintf appends the formatted message string to an internal  buffer  shared  by  the  two
       routines, without actually producing any output.

       pmflush causes the internal buffer to be either displayed in a window, printed on standard
       error, or flushed to a file and the internal buffer to be cleared.

DIAGNOSTICS

       On successful completion, pmprintf returns the number  of  characters  transmitted,  while
       pmflush returns a value of zero on successful completion.

       For either routine, a negative value is returned if an error was encountered, and this can
       be passed to pmErrStr(3) to obtain the associated error message.

FILES

       pmprintf uses the mkstemp(3) function to create a temporary file.  This temporary file  is
       deleted when pmflush is called.

ENVIRONMENT

       The environment variable PCP_STDERR controls the output technique used by pmflush:

           If PCP_STDERR is unset, the text is written onto the stderr stream of the caller.

           If  PCP_STDERR  is  set  to  the  literal  reserved word DISPLAY then the text will be
           displayed as a GUI dialog using xconfirm(1).

           If PCP_STDERR is set to any other value then pmflush interprets the value  as  a  file
           name  and  appends  the  text to that file.  The file is created if it doesn't already
           exist, and in this case if the file creation fails, then stderr is used instead).

SEE ALSO

       pmdbg(1), fprintf(3), mkstemp(3), pmErrStr(3) and PMAPI(3).