1stdio(3)                   Library Functions Manual                   stdio(3)
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NAME

6       stdio - standard input/output library functions
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LIBRARY

9       Standard C library (libc, -lc)
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SYNOPSIS

12       #include <stdio.h>
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14       FILE *stdin;
15       FILE *stdout;
16       FILE *stderr;
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DESCRIPTION

19       The  standard  I/O  library  provides  a  simple and efficient buffered
20       stream I/O interface.  Input and output is  mapped  into  logical  data
21       streams  and the physical I/O characteristics are concealed.  The func‐
22       tions and macros are listed below; more information is  available  from
23       the individual man pages.
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25       A  stream  is associated with an external file (which may be a physical
26       device) by opening a file, which may involve creating a new file.  Cre‐
27       ating  an existing file causes its former contents to be discarded.  If
28       a file can support positioning requests (such as a disk  file,  as  op‐
29       posed  to  a  terminal), then a file position indicator associated with
30       the stream is positioned at the start of the file (byte  zero),  unless
31       the file is opened with append mode.  If append mode is used, it is un‐
32       specified whether the position indicator will be placed at the start or
33       the  end  of  the file.  The position indicator is maintained by subse‐
34       quent reads, writes, and positioning requests.  All input occurs as  if
35       the  characters were read by successive calls to the fgetc(3) function;
36       all output takes place as if all characters were written by  successive
37       calls to the fputc(3) function.
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39       A  file  is  disassociated  from  a stream by closing the file.  Output
40       streams are flushed (any unwritten buffer contents are  transferred  to
41       the host environment) before the stream is disassociated from the file.
42       The value of a pointer to a FILE object is indeterminate after  a  file
43       is closed (garbage).
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45       A file may be subsequently reopened, by the same or another program ex‐
46       ecution, and its contents reclaimed or modified (if it can  be  reposi‐
47       tioned  at  the  start).   If the main function returns to its original
48       caller, or the exit(3) function is called, all open  files  are  closed
49       (hence  all  output  streams  are  flushed) before program termination.
50       Other methods of program termination, such as abort(3)  do  not  bother
51       about closing files properly.
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53       At  program  startup, three text streams are predefined and need not be
54       opened explicitly: standard input  (for  reading  conventional  input),
55       standard  output  (for writing conventional output), and standard error
56       (for writing diagnostic output).  These streams are abbreviated  stdin,
57       stdout,  and  stderr.   When  opened,  the standard error stream is not
58       fully buffered;  the  standard  input  and  output  streams  are  fully
59       buffered  if and only if the streams do not refer to an interactive de‐
60       vice.
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62       Output streams that refer to terminal devices are always line  buffered
63       by  default;  pending  output  to such streams is written automatically
64       whenever an input stream that refers to a terminal device is read.   In
65       cases  where  a large amount of computation is done after printing part
66       of a line on an output terminal, it is necessary to fflush(3) the stan‐
67       dard  output before going off and computing so that the output will ap‐
68       pear.
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70       The stdio library is a part of the library libc and routines are  auto‐
71       matically loaded as needed by cc(1).  The SYNOPSIS sections of the fol‐
72       lowing manual pages indicate which include files are to be  used,  what
73       the compiler declaration for the function looks like and which external
74       variables are of interest.
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76       The following are defined as macros; these  names  may  not  be  reused
77       without  first  removing their current definitions with #undef: BUFSIZ,
78       EOF, FILENAME_MAX, FOPEN_MAX,  L_cuserid,  L_ctermid,  L_tmpnam,  NULL,
79       SEEK_END,  SEEK_SET, SEEK_CUR, TMP_MAX, clearerr, feof, ferror, fileno,
80       getc, getchar, putc, putchar, stderr, stdin, stdout.  Function versions
81       of  the  macro functions feof, ferror, clearerr, fileno, getc, getchar,
82       putc, and putchar exist and will be used if the macros definitions  are
83       explicitly removed.
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85   List of functions
86       Function         Description
87       ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
88       clearerr(3)      check and reset stream status
89       fclose(3)        close a stream
90       fdopen(3)        stream open functions
91       feof(3)          check and reset stream status
92       ferror(3)        check and reset stream status
93       fflush(3)        flush a stream
94       fgetc(3)         get next character or word from input stream
95       fgetpos(3)       reposition a stream
96       fgets(3)         get a line from a stream
97       fileno(3)        return the integer descriptor of the argument stream
98       fopen(3)         stream open functions
99       fprintf(3)       formatted output conversion
100       fpurge(3)        flush a stream
101       fputc(3)         output a character or word to a stream
102       fputs(3)         output a line to a stream
103       fread(3)         binary stream input/output
104       freopen(3)       stream open functions
105       fscanf(3)        input format conversion
106       fseek(3)         reposition a stream
107       fsetpos(3)       reposition a stream
108       ftell(3)         reposition a stream
109       fwrite(3)        binary stream input/output
110       getc(3)          get next character or word from input stream
111       getchar(3)       get next character or word from input stream
112       gets(3)          get a line from a stream
113       getw(3)          get next character or word from input stream
114       mktemp(3)        make temporary filename (unique)
115       perror(3)        system error messages
116       printf(3)        formatted output conversion
117       putc(3)          output a character or word to a stream
118       putchar(3)       output a character or word to a stream
119       puts(3)          output a line to a stream
120       putw(3)          output a character or word to a stream
121       remove(3)        remove directory entry
122       rewind(3)        reposition a stream
123       scanf(3)         input format conversion
124       setbuf(3)        stream buffering operations
125       setbuffer(3)     stream buffering operations
126       setlinebuf(3)    stream buffering operations
127       setvbuf(3)       stream buffering operations
128       sprintf(3)       formatted output conversion
129       sscanf(3)        input format conversion
130       strerror(3)      system error messages
131       sys_errlist(3)   system error messages
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133       sys_nerr(3)      system error messages
134       tempnam(3)       temporary file routines
135       tmpfile(3)       temporary file routines
136       tmpnam(3)        temporary file routines
137       ungetc(3)        un-get character from input stream
138       vfprintf(3)      formatted output conversion
139       vfscanf(3)       input format conversion
140       vprintf(3)       formatted output conversion
141       vscanf(3)        input format conversion
142       vsprintf(3)      formatted output conversion
143       vsscanf(3)       input format conversion
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STANDARDS

146       C11, POSIX.1-2008.
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HISTORY

149       C89, POSIX.1-2001.
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SEE ALSO

152       close(2), open(2), read(2), write(2), stdout(3), unlocked_stdio(3)
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156Linux man-pages 6.04              2023-03-30                          stdio(3)
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