xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/err.3 (revision 3688be0eeb59367d9dd33e4b0963813b72ce0ef3)

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.\"	From: @(#)err.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93
.\"	$Id$
.\"
.Dd April 13, 1995
.Dt ERR 3
.Os BSD 4
.Sh NAME
.Nm err ,
.Nm verr ,
.Nm errx ,
.Nm verrx ,
.Nm warn ,
.Nm vwarn ,
.Nm warnx ,
.Nm vwarnx ,
.Nm err_set_file ,
.Nm err_set_exit
.Nd formatted error messages
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <err.h>
.Ft void
.Fn err "int eval" "const char *fmt" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn verr "int eval" "const char *fmt" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn errx "int eval" "const char *fmt" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn verrx "int eval" "const char *fmt" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn warn "const char *fmt" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn vwarn "const char *fmt" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn warnx "const char *fmt" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn vwarnx "const char *fmt" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn err_set_file "void *fp"
.Ft void
.Fn err_set_exit "void (*exitf)(int)"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn err
and
.Fn warn
family of functions display a formatted error message on the standard
error output, or on another file specified using the
.Fn err_set_file
function.
In all cases, the last component of the program name, a colon character,
and a space are output.
If the
.Va fmt
argument is not NULL, the formatted error message, a colon character,
and a space are output.
In the case of the
.Fn err ,
.Fn verr ,
.Fn warn ,
and
.Fn vwarn
functions, the error message string affiliated with the current value of
the global variable
.Va errno
is output.
In all cases, the output is followed by a newline character.
.Pp
The
.Fn err ,
.Fn verr ,
.Fn errx ,
and
.Fn verrx
functions do not return, but exit with the value of the argument
.Fa eval .
The
.Fn err_set_exit
function can be used to specify a function which is called before
.Xr exit 2
to perform any necessary cleanup; passing a null function pointer for
.Va exitf
resets the hook to do nothing.
.Sh EXAMPLES
Display the current errno information string and exit:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((p = malloc(size)) == NULL)
	err(1, NULL);
if ((fd = open(file_name, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1)
	err(1, "%s", file_name);
.Ed
.Pp
Display an error message and exit:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if (tm.tm_hour < START_TIME)
	errx(1, "too early, wait until %s", start_time_string);
.Ed
.Pp
Warn of an error:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((fd = open(raw_device, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1)
	warnx("%s: %s: trying the block device",
	    raw_device, strerror(errno));
if ((fd = open(block_device, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1)
	err(1, "%s", block_device);
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr strerror 3
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn err
and
.Fn warn
functions first appeared in 4.4BSD.