stdio.h(7POSIX)

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
stdio.h — standard buffered input/output

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>

DESCRIPTION
Some of the functionality described on this reference page extends the ISO C standard. Applications shall define the appropriate feature test macro (see the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2017, Section 2.2, The Compilation Environment) to enable the visibility of these symbols in this header.

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following data types through typedef:

FILE
    A structure containing information about a file.

fpos_t
    A non-array type containing all information needed to specify uniquely every position within a file.

off_t
    As described in <sys/types.h>.

size_t
    As described in <stddef.h>.

ssize_t
    As described in <sys/types.h>.

va_list
    As described in <stdarg.h>.

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following macros which shall expand to integer constant expressions:

BUFSIZ
    Size of <stdio.h> buffers. This shall expand to a positive value.

L_ctermid
    Maximum size of character array to hold ctermid() output.

L_tmpnam
    Maximum size of character array to hold tmpnam() output.

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following macros which shall expand to integer constant expressions with distinct values:

_IOFBF
    Input/output fully buffered.

_IOLBF
    Input/output line buffered.

_IONBF
    Input/output unbuffered.

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following macros which shall expand to integer constant expressions with distinct values:

SEEK_CUR
    Seek relative to current position.

SEEK_END
    Seek relative to end-of-file.

SEEK_SET
    Seek relative to start-of-file.

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following macros which shall expand to integer constant expressions denoting implementation limits:

{FILENAME_MAX}
    Maximum size in bytes of the longest pathname that the implementation guarantees can be opened.

{FOPEN_MAX}
    Number of streams which the implementation guarantees can be open simultaneously. The value is at least eight.

{TMP_MAX}
    Minimum number of unique filenames generated by tmpnam(). Maximum number of times an application can call tmpnam() reliably. The value of {TMP_MAX} is at least 25.

    On XSI-conformant systems, the value of {TMP_MAX} is at least 10000.

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following macro which shall expand to an integer constant expression with type int and a negative value:

EOF End-of-file return value.

The <stdio.h> header shall define NULL as described in <stddef.h>.

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following macro which shall expand to a string constant:

P_tmpdir
    Default directory prefix for tempnam().

The <stdio.h> header shall define the following macros which shall expand to expressions of type ``pointer to FILE'' that point to the FILE objects associated, respectively, with the standard error, input, and output streams:

stderr
    Standard error output stream.

stdin
    Standard input stream.

stdout
    Standard output stream.

The following shall be declared as functions and may also be defined as macros. Function prototypes shall be provided.

    void     clearerr(FILE *);
    char    *ctermid(char *);
    int      dprintf(int, const char *restrict, ...)
    int      fclose(FILE *);
    FILE    *fdopen(int, const char *);
    int      feof(FILE *);
    int      ferror(FILE *);
    int      fflush(FILE *);
    int      fgetc(FILE *);
    int      fgetpos(FILE *restrict, fpos_t *restrict);
    char    *fgets(char *restrict, int, FILE *restrict);
    int      fileno(FILE *);
    void     flockfile(FILE *);
    FILE    *fmemopen(void *restrict, size_t, const char *restrict);
    FILE    *fopen(const char *restrict, const char *restrict);
    int      fprintf(FILE *restrict, const char *restrict, ...);
    int      fputc(int, FILE *);
    int      fputs(const char *restrict, FILE *restrict);
    size_t   fread(void *restrict, size_t, size_t, FILE *restrict);
    FILE    *freopen(const char *restrict, const char *restrict,
                 FILE *restrict);
    int      fscanf(FILE *restrict, const char *restrict, ...);
    int      fseek(FILE *, long, int);
    int      fseeko(FILE *, off_t, int);
    int      fsetpos(FILE *, const fpos_t *);
    long     ftell(FILE *);
    off_t    ftello(FILE *);
    int      ftrylockfile(FILE *);
    void     funlockfile(FILE *);
    size_t   fwrite(const void *restrict, size_t, size_t, FILE *restrict);
    int      getc(FILE *);
    int      getchar(void);
    int      getc_unlocked(FILE *);
    int      getchar_unlocked(void);
    ssize_t  getdelim(char **restrict, size_t *restrict, int,
                 FILE *restrict);
    ssize_t  getline(char **restrict, size_t *restrict, FILE *restrict);
    char    *gets(char *);
    FILE    *open_memstream(char **, size_t *);
    int      pclose(FILE *);
    void     perror(const char *);
    FILE    *popen(const char *, const char *);
    int      printf(const char *restrict, ...);
    int      putc(int, FILE *);
    int      putchar(int);
    int      putc_unlocked(int, FILE *);
    int      putchar_unlocked(int);
    int      puts(const char *);
    int      remove(const char *);
    int      rename(const char *, const char *);
    int      renameat(int, const char *, int, const char *);
    void     rewind(FILE *);
    int      scanf(const char *restrict, ...);
    void     setbuf(FILE *restrict, char *restrict);
    int      setvbuf(FILE *restrict, char *restrict, int, size_t);
    int      snprintf(char *restrict, size_t, const char *restrict, ...);
    int      sprintf(char *restrict, const char *restrict, ...);
    int      sscanf(const char *restrict, const char *restrict, ...);
    char    *tempnam(const char *, const char *);
    FILE    *tmpfile(void);
    char    *tmpnam(char *);
    int      ungetc(int, FILE *);
    int      vdprintf(int, const char *restrict, va_list);
    int      vfprintf(FILE *restrict, const char *restrict, va_list);
    int      vfscanf(FILE *restrict, const char *restrict, va_list);
    int      vprintf(const char *restrict, va_list);
    int      vscanf(const char *restrict, va_list);
    int      vsnprintf(char *restrict, size_t, const char *restrict,
                 va_list);
    int      vsprintf(char *restrict, const char *restrict, va_list);
    int      vsscanf(const char *restrict, const char *restrict, va_list);

Inclusion of the <stdio.h> header may also make visible all symbols from <stddef.h>.

The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
Since standard I/O streams may use an underlying file descriptor to access the file associated with a stream, application developers need to be aware that {FOPEN_MAX} streams may not be available if file descriptors are being used to access files that are not associated with streams.

RATIONALE
There is a conflict between the ISO C standard and the POSIX definition of the {TMP_MAX} macro that is addressed by ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard, Defect Report 336. The POSIX standard is in alignment with the public record of the response to the Defect Report. This change has not yet been published as part of the ISO C standard.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.

SEE ALSO
<stdarg.h>, <stddef.h>, <sys_types.h>

The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2017, Section 2.2, The Compilation Environment, clearerr(), ctermid(), fclose(), fdopen(), feof(), ferror(), fflush(), fgetc(), fgetpos(), fgets(), fileno(), flockfile(), fmemopen(), fopen(), fprintf(), fputc(), fputs(), fread(), freopen(), fscanf(), fseek(), fsetpos(), ftell(), fwrite(), getc(), getchar(), getc_unlocked(), getdelim(), getopt(), gets(), open_memstream(), pclose(), perror(), popen(), putc(), putchar(), puts(), remove(), rename(), rewind(), setbuf(), setvbuf(), stdin, system(), tempnam(), tmpfile(), tmpnam(), ungetc(), vfprintf(), vfscanf()

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 .