PERROR(3)

NAME
perror, strerror - system error messages

SYNOPSIS
perror(s)
char *s;

#include <string.h>

char *
strerror(errnum)
int errnum;

DESCRIPTION
The strerror() and perror() functions look up the error message string corresponding to an error number.

The strerror() function accepts an error number argument errnum and returns a pointer to the corresponding message string.

The perror() function finds the error message corresponding to the current value of the global variable errno (intro(2)) and writes it, followed by a newline, to the standard error file descriptor. If the argument string is non-NULL, it is prepended to the message string and separated from it by a colon and space (`: '). If string is NULL, only the error message string is printed.

If errnum is not a recognized error number, the error message string will contain ``Unknown error: '' followed by the error number in decimal.

The error messages are stored in a data file now rather than an in memory array. See syserror(5).

SEE ALSO
mkerrlst(1), intro(2), psignal(3), strerror(3), syserror(3), syserror(5)

BUGS
The strerror() function returns its result in a static buffer which may be overwritten by subsequent calls.

The array sys_errlist[] and the global sys_nerr are obsolete and should not be used. They have, for the time being, been placed in an object library liberrlst.a.