stdio

STDIO(3)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                  STDIO(3)

NAME
       stdio - standard input/output library functions

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdio.h>

       FILE *stdin;
       FILE *stdout;
       FILE *stderr;

DESCRIPTION
       The  standard  I/O  library  provides  a  simple and efficient buffered
       stream I/O interface.  Input and output is  mapped  into  logical  data
       streams  and the physical I/O characteristics are concealed.  The func-
       tions and macros are listed below; more information is  available  from
       the individual man pages.

       A  stream  is associated with an external file (which may be a physical
       device) by opening a file, which may involve creating a new file.  Cre-
       ating  an existing file causes its former contents to be discarded.  If
       a file can support positioning requests (such as a disk  file,  as  op-
       posed  to  a  terminal), then a file position indicator associated with
       the stream is positioned at the start of the file (byte  zero),  unless
       the file is opened with append mode.  If append mode is used, it is un-
       specified whether the position indicator will be placed at the start or
       the  end  of  the file.  The position indicator is maintained by subse-
       quent reads, writes and positioning requests.  All input occurs  as  if
       the  characters were read by successive calls to the fgetc(3) function;
       all output takes place as if all characters were written by  successive
       calls to the fputc(3) function.

       A  file  is  disassociated  from  a stream by closing the file.  Output
       streams are flushed (any unwritten buffer contents are  transferred  to
       the host environment) before the stream is disassociated from the file.
       The value of a pointer to a FILE object is indeterminate after  a  file
       is closed (garbage).

       A file may be subsequently reopened, by the same or another program ex-
       ecution, and its contents reclaimed or modified (if it can  be  reposi-
       tioned  at  the  start).   If the main function returns to its original
       caller, or the exit(3) function is called, all open  files  are  closed
       (hence  all  output  streams  are  flushed) before program termination.
       Other methods of program termination, such as abort(3)  do  not  bother
       about closing files properly.

       At  program  startup, three text streams are predefined and need not be
       opened explicitly: standard input  (for  reading  conventional  input),
       standard  output  (for writing conventional output), and standard error
       (for writing diagnostic output).  These streams are abbreviated  stdin,
       stdout,  and  stderr.   When  opened,  the standard error stream is not
       fully buffered;  the  standard  input  and  output  streams  are  fully
       buffered  if and only if the streams do not refer to an interactive de-
       vice.

       Output streams that refer to terminal devices are always line  buffered
       by  default;  pending  output  to such streams is written automatically
       whenever an input stream that refers to a terminal device is read.   In
       cases  where  a large amount of computation is done after printing part
       of a line on an output terminal, it is necessary to fflush(3) the stan-
       dard  output before going off and computing so that the output will ap-
       pear.

       The stdio library is a part of the library libc and routines are  auto-
       matically loaded as needed by cc(1).  The SYNOPSIS sections of the fol-
       lowing manual pages indicate which include files are to be  used,  what
       the compiler declaration for the function looks like and which external
       variables are of interest.

       The following are defined as macros; these  names  may  not  be  reused
       without  first  removing their current definitions with #undef: BUFSIZ,
       EOF, FILENAME_MAX, FOPEN_MAX,  L_cuserid,  L_ctermid,  L_tmpnam,  NULL,
       SEEK_END,  SEEK_SET, SEEK_CUR, TMP_MAX, clearerr, feof, ferror, fileno,
       getc, getchar, putc, putchar, stderr, stdin, stdout.  Function versions
       of  the  macro functions feof, ferror, clearerr, fileno, getc, getchar,
       putc, and putchar exist and will be used if the macros definitions  are
       explicitly removed.

   List of functions
       Function         Description
       ----------------------------------------------------------------------
       clearerr(3)      check and reset stream status
       fclose(3)        close a stream
       fdopen(3)        stream open functions
       feof(3)          check and reset stream status
       ferror(3)        check and reset stream status
       fflush(3)        flush a stream
       fgetc(3)         get next character or word from input stream
       fgetpos(3)       reposition a stream
       fgets(3)         get a line from a stream
       fileno(3)        return the integer descriptor of the argument stream
       fopen(3)         stream open functions
       fprintf(3)       formatted output conversion
       fpurge(3)        flush a stream
       fputc(3)         output a character or word to a stream
       fputs(3)         output a line to a stream
       fread(3)         binary stream input/output
       freopen(3)       stream open functions
       fscanf(3)        input format conversion
       fseek(3)         reposition a stream
       fsetpos(3)       reposition a stream
       ftell(3)         reposition a stream
       fwrite(3)        binary stream input/output
       getc(3)          get next character or word from input stream
       getchar(3)       get next character or word from input stream
       gets(3)          get a line from a stream
       getw(3)          get next character or word from input stream
       mktemp(3)        make temporary filename (unique)
       perror(3)        system error messages
       printf(3)        formatted output conversion
       putc(3)          output a character or word to a stream
       putchar(3)       output a character or word to a stream
       puts(3)          output a line to a stream
       putw(3)          output a character or word to a stream
       remove(3)        remove directory entry
       rewind(3)        reposition a stream
       scanf(3)         input format conversion
       setbuf(3)        stream buffering operations
       setbuffer(3)     stream buffering operations
       setlinebuf(3)    stream buffering operations
       setvbuf(3)       stream buffering operations
       sprintf(3)       formatted output conversion
       sscanf(3)        input format conversion
       strerror(3)      system error messages
       sys_errlist(3)   system error messages
       sys_nerr(3)      system error messages
       tempnam(3)       temporary file routines
       tmpfile(3)       temporary file routines

       tmpnam(3)        temporary file routines
       ungetc(3)        un-get character from input stream
       vfprintf(3)      formatted output conversion
       vfscanf(3)       input format conversion
       vprintf(3)       formatted output conversion
       vscanf(3)        input format conversion
       vsprintf(3)      formatted output conversion
       vsscanf(3)       input format conversion

CONFORMING TO
       The stdio library conforms to C89.

SEE ALSO
       close(2), open(2), read(2), write(2), stdout(3), unlocked_stdio(3)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 5.05 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
       latest     version     of     this    page,    can    be    found    at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

                                  2017-11-26                          STDIO(3)