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).