aiocb
Include: <aio.h>.
struct aiocb {
int aio_fildes; /* File descriptor */
off_t aio_offset; /* File offset */
volatile void *aio_buf; /* Location of buffer */
size_t aio_nbytes; /* Length of transfer */
int aio_reqprio; /* Request priority offset */
struct sigevent aio_sigevent; /* Signal number and value */
int aio_lio_opcode;/* Operation to be performed */
};
For further information about this structure, see aio(7).
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: aio_cancel(3), aio_error(3), aio_fsync(3),
aio_read(3), aio_return(3), aio_suspend(3), aio_write(3),
lio_listio(3)
blkcnt_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <sys/stat.h>.
Used for file block counts. According to POSIX, it shall
be a signed integer type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: stat(2)
blksize_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <sys/stat.h>.
Used for file block sizes. According to POSIX, it shall
be a signed integer type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: stat(2)
cc_t
Include: <termios.h>.
Used for terminal special characters. According to POSIX,
it shall be an unsigned integer type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: termios(3)
clock_t
Include: <time.h> or <sys/types.h>. Alternatively,
<sys/time.h>.
Used for system time in clock ticks or CLOCKS_PER_SEC
(defined in <time.h>). According to POSIX, it shall be an
integer type or a real-floating type.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: times(2), clock(3)
clockid_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <time.h>.
Used for clock ID type in the clock and timer functions.
According to POSIX, it shall be defined as an arithmetic
type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: clock_adjtime(2), clock_getres(2),
clock_nanosleep(2), timer_create(2),
clock_getcpuclockid(3)
dev_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <sys/stat.h>.
Used for device IDs. According to POSIX, it shall be an
integer type. For further details of this type, see
makedev(3).
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: mknod(2), stat(2)
div_t
Include: <stdlib.h>.
typedef struct {
int quot; /* Quotient */
int rem; /* Remainder */
} div_t;
It is the type of the value returned by the div(3)
function.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: div(3)
double_t
Include: <math.h>.
The implementation's most efficient floating type at least
as wide as double. Its type depends on the value of the
macro FLT_EVAL_METHOD (defined in <float.h>):
0 double_t is double.
1 double_t is double.
2 double_t is long double.
For other values of FLT_EVAL_METHOD, the type of double_t
is implementation-defined.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the float_t type in this page.
fd_set
Include: <sys/select.h>. Alternatively, <sys/time.h>.
A structure type that can represent a set of file
descriptors. According to POSIX, the maximum number of
file descriptors in an fd_set structure is the value of
the macro FD_SETSIZE.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: select(2)
fenv_t
Include: <fenv.h>.
This type represents the entire floating-point
environment, including control modes and status flags; for
further details, see fenv(3).
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: fenv(3)
fexcept_t
Include: <fenv.h>.
This type represents the floating-point status flags
collectively; for further details see fenv(3).
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: fenv(3)
FILE
Include: <stdio.h>. Alternatively, <wchar.h>.
An object type used for streams.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: fclose(3), flockfile(3), fopen(3), fprintf(3),
fread(3), fscanf(3), stdin(3), stdio(3)
float_t
Include: <math.h>.
The implementation's most efficient floating type at least
as wide as float. Its type depends on the value of the
macro FLT_EVAL_METHOD (defined in <float.h>):
0 float_t is float.
1 float_t is double.
2 float_t is long double.
For other values of FLT_EVAL_METHOD, the type of float_t
is implementation-defined.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the double_t type in this page.
gid_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <grp.h>, <pwd.h>,
<signal.h>, <stropts.h>, <sys/ipc.h>, <sys/stat.h>, or
<unistd.h>.
A type used to hold group IDs. According to POSIX, this
shall be an integer type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: chown(2), getgid(2), getegid(2), getgroups(2),
getresgid(2), getgrnam(3), credentials(7)
id_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <sys/resource.h>.
A type used to hold a general identifier. According to
POSIX, this shall be an integer type that can be used to
contain a pid_t, uid_t, or gid_t.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: getpriority(2), waitid(2)
imaxdiv_t
Include: <inttypes.h>.
typedef struct {
intmax_t quot; /* Quotient */
intmax_t rem; /* Remainder */
} imaxdiv_t;
It is the type of the value returned by the imaxdiv(3)
function.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: imaxdiv(3)
intmax_t
Include: <stdint.h>. Alternatively, <inttypes.h>.
A signed integer type capable of representing any value of
any signed integer type supported by the implementation.
According to the C language standard, it shall be capable
of storing values in the range [INTMAX_MIN, INTMAX_MAX].
The macro INTMAX_C() expands its argument to an integer
constant of type intmax_t.
The length modifier for intmax_t for the printf(3) and the
scanf(3) families of functions is j; resulting commonly in
%jd or %ji for printing intmax_t values.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
Bugs: intmax_t is not large enough to represent values of
type __int128 in implementations where __int128 is defined
and long long is less than 128 bits wide.
See also: the uintmax_t type in this page.
intN_t
Include: <stdint.h>. Alternatively, <inttypes.h>.
int8_t, int16_t, int32_t, int64_t
A signed integer type of a fixed width of exactly N bits,
N being the value specified in its type name. According
to the C language standard, they shall be capable of
storing values in the range [INTN_MIN, INTN_MAX],
substituting N by the appropriate number.
According to POSIX, int8_t, int16_t, and int32_t are
required; int64_t is only required in implementations that
provide integer types with width 64; and all other types
of this form are optional.
The length modifiers for the intN_t types for the
printf(3) family of functions are expanded by macros of
the forms PRIdN and PRIiN (defined in <inttypes.h>);
resulting for example in %"PRId64" or %"PRIi64" for
printing int64_t values. The length modifiers for the
intN_t types for the scanf(3) family of functions are
expanded by macros of the forms SCNdN and SCNiN, (defined
in <inttypes.h>); resulting for example in %"SCNd8" or
%"SCNi8" for scanning int8_t values.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the intmax_t, uintN_t, and uintmax_t types in
this page.
intptr_t
Include: <stdint.h>. Alternatively, <inttypes.h>.
A signed integer type such that any valid (void *) value
can be converted to this type and back. According to the
C language standard, it shall be capable of storing values
in the range [INTPTR_MIN, INTPTR_MAX].
The length modifier for intptr_t for the printf(3) family
of functions is expanded by the macros PRIdPTR and PRIiPTR
(defined in <inttypes.h>); resulting commonly in
%"PRIdPTR" or %"PRIiPTR" for printing intptr_t values.
The length modifier for intptr_t for the scanf(3) family
of functions is expanded by the macros SCNdPTR and
SCNiPTR, (defined in <inttypes.h>); resulting commonly in
%"SCNdPTR" or %"SCNiPTR" for scanning intptr_t values.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the uintptr_t and void * types in this page.
lconv
Include: <locale.h>.
struct lconv { /* Values in the "C" locale: */
char *decimal_point; /* "." */
char *thousands_sep; /* "" */
char *grouping; /* "" */
char *mon_decimal_point; /* "" */
char *mon_thousands_sep; /* "" */
char *mon_grouping; /* "" */
char *positive_sign; /* "" */
char *negative_sign; /* "" */
char *currency_symbol; /* "" */
char frac_digits; /* CHAR_MAX */
char p_cs_precedes; /* CHAR_MAX */
char n_cs_precedes; /* CHAR_MAX */
char p_sep_by_space; /* CHAR_MAX */
char n_sep_by_space; /* CHAR_MAX */
char p_sign_posn; /* CHAR_MAX */
char n_sign_posn; /* CHAR_MAX */
char *int_curr_symbol; /* "" */
char int_frac_digits; /* CHAR_MAX */
char int_p_cs_precedes; /* CHAR_MAX */
char int_n_cs_precedes; /* CHAR_MAX */
char int_p_sep_by_space; /* CHAR_MAX */
char int_n_sep_by_space; /* CHAR_MAX */
char int_p_sign_posn; /* CHAR_MAX */
char int_n_sign_posn; /* CHAR_MAX */
};
Contains members related to the formatting of numeric
values. In the "C" locale, its members have the values
shown in the comments above.
Conforming to: C11 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: setlocale(3), localeconv(3), charsets(7),
locale(7)
ldiv_t
Include: <stdlib.h>.
typedef struct {
long quot; /* Quotient */
long rem; /* Remainder */
} ldiv_t;
It is the type of the value returned by the ldiv(3)
function.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: ldiv(3)
lldiv_t
Include: <stdlib.h>.
typedef struct {
long long quot; /* Quotient */
long long rem; /* Remainder */
} lldiv_t;
It is the type of the value returned by the lldiv(3)
function.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: lldiv(3)
mode_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <fcntl.h>,
<ndbm.h>, <spawn.h>, <sys/ipc.h>, <sys/mman.h>, or
<sys/stat.h>.
Used for some file attributes (e.g., file mode).
According to POSIX, it shall be an integer type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: chmod(2), mkdir(2), open(2), stat(2), umask(2)
off64_t
Include: <sys/types.h>.
Used for file sizes. It is a 64-bit signed integer type.
Conforming to: Present in glibc. It is not standardized
by the C language standard nor POSIX.
Notes: The feature test macro _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE has to
be defined for this type to be available.
See also: copy_file_range(2), readahead(2),
sync_file_range(2), lseek64(3), feature_test_macros(7)
See also the off_t type in this page.
off_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <aio.h>,
<fcntl.h>, <stdio.h>, <sys/mman.h>, <sys/stat.h.h>, or
<unistd.h>.
Used for file sizes. According to POSIX, this shall be a
signed integer type.
Versions: <aio.h> and <stdio.h> define off_t since
POSIX.1-2008.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
Notes: On some architectures, the width of this type can
be controlled with the feature test macro
_FILE_OFFSET_BITS.
See also: lseek(2), mmap(2), posix_fadvise(2), pread(2),
truncate(2), fseeko(3), lockf(3), posix_fallocate(3),
feature_test_macros(7)
See also the off64_t type in this page.
pid_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <fcntl.h>,
<sched.h>, <signal.h>, <spawn.h>, <sys/msg.h>,
<sys/sem.h>, <sys/shm.h>, <sys/wait.h>, <termios.h>,
<time.h>, <unistd.h>, or <utmpx.h>.
This type is used for storing process IDs, process group
IDs, and session IDs. According to POSIX, it shall be a
signed integer type, and the implementation shall support
one or more programming environments where the width of
pid_t is no greater than the width of the type long.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: fork(2), getpid(2), getppid(2), getsid(2),
gettid(2), getpgid(2), kill(2), pidfd_open(2),
sched_setscheduler(2), waitpid(2), sigqueue(3),
credentials(7),
ptrdiff_t
Include: <stddef.h>.
Used for a count of elements, and array indices. It is
the result of subtracting two pointers. According to the
C language standard, it shall be a signed integer type
capable of storing values in the range [PTRDIFF_MIN,
PTRDIFF_MAX].
The length modifier for ptrdiff_t for the printf(3) and
the scanf(3) families of functions is t; resulting
commonly in %td or %ti for printing ptrdiff_t values.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the size_t and ssize_t types in this page.
regex_t
Include: <regex.h>.
typedef struct {
size_t re_nsub; /* Number of parenthesized subexpressions */
} regex_t;
This is a structure type used in regular expression
matching. It holds a compiled regular expression,
compiled with regcomp(3).
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: regex(3)
regmatch_t
Include: <regex.h>.
typedef struct {
regoff_t rm_so; /* Byte offset from start of string
to start of substring */
regoff_t rm_eo; /* Byte offset from start of string of
the first character after the end of
substring */
} regmatch_t;
This is a structure type used in regular expression
matching.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: regexec(3)
regoff_t
Include: <regex.h>.
According to POSIX, it shall be a signed integer type
capable of storing the largest value that can be stored in
either a ptrdiff_t type or a ssize_t type.
Versions: Prior to POSIX.1-2008, the type was capable of
storing the largest value that can be stored in either an
off_t type or a ssize_t type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the regmatch_t structure and the ptrdiff_t and
ssize_t types in this page.
sigevent
Include: <signal.h>. Alternatively, <aio.h>, <mqueue.h>,
or <time.h>.
struct sigevent {
int sigev_notify; /* Notification type */
int sigev_signo; /* Signal number */
union sigval sigev_value; /* Signal value */
void (*sigev_notify_function)(union sigval);
/* Notification function */
pthread_attr_t *sigev_notify_attributes;
/* Notification attributes */
};
For further details about this type, see sigevent(7).
Versions: <aio.h> and <time.h> define sigevent since
POSIX.1-2008.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: timer_create(2), getaddrinfo_a(3),
lio_listio(3), mq_notify(3)
See also the aiocb structure in this page.
siginfo_t
Include: <signal.h>. Alternatively, <sys/wait.h>.
typedef struct {
int si_signo; /* Signal number */
int si_code; /* Signal code */
pid_t si_pid; /* Sending process ID */
uid_t si_uid; /* Real user ID of sending process */
void *si_addr; /* Address of faulting instruction */
int si_status; /* Exit value or signal */
union sigval si_value; /* Signal value */
} siginfo_t;
Information associated with a signal. For further details
on this structure (including additional, Linux-specific
fields), see sigaction(2).
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: pidfd_send_signal(2), rt_sigqueueinfo(2),
sigaction(2), sigwaitinfo(2), psiginfo(3)
sigset_t
Include: <signal.h>. Alternatively, <spawn.h>, or
<sys/select.h>.
This is a type that represents a set of signals.
According to POSIX, this shall be an integer or structure
type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: epoll_pwait(2), ppoll(2), pselect(2),
sigaction(2), signalfd(2), sigpending(2), sigprocmask(2),
sigsuspend(2), sigwaitinfo(2), signal(7)
sigval
Include: <signal.h>.
union sigval {
int sigval_int; /* Integer value */
void *sigval_ptr; /* Pointer value */
};
Data passed with a signal.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: pthread_sigqueue(3), sigqueue(3), sigevent(7)
See also the sigevent structure and the siginfo_t type in
this page.
size_t
Include: <stddef.h> or <sys/types.h>. Alternatively,
<aio.h>, <glob.h>, <grp.h>, <iconv.h>, <monetary.h>,
<mqueue.h>, <ndbm.h>, <pwd.h>, <regex.h>, <search.h>,
<signal.h>, <stdio.h>, <stdlib.h>, <string.h>,
<strings.h>, <sys/mman.h>, <sys/msg.h>, <sys/sem.h>,
<sys/shm.h>, <sys/socket.h>, <sys/uio.h>, <time.h>,
<unistd.h>, <wchar.h>, or <wordexp.h>.
Used for a count of bytes. It is the result of the sizeof
operator. According to the C language standard, it shall
be an unsigned integer type capable of storing values in
the range [0, SIZE_MAX]. According to POSIX, the
implementation shall support one or more programming
environments where the width of size_t is no greater than
the width of the type long.
The length modifier for size_t for the printf(3) and the
scanf(3) families of functions is z; resulting commonly in
%zu or %zx for printing size_t values.
Versions: <aio.h>, <glob.h>, <grp.h>, <iconv.h>,
<mqueue.h>, <pwd.h>, <signal.h>, and <sys/socket.h> define
size_t since POSIX.1-2008.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: read(2), write(2), fread(3), fwrite(3),
memcmp(3), memcpy(3), memset(3), offsetof(3)
See also the ptrdiff_t and ssize_t types in this page.
sockaddr
Include: <sys/socket.h>.
struct sockaddr {
sa_family_t sa_family; /* Address family */
char sa_data[]; /* Socket address */
};
Describes a socket address.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: accept(2), getpeername(2), getsockname(2),
socket(2)
socklen_t
Include: <sys/socket.h>. Alternatively, <netdb.h>.
Describes the length of a socket address. According to
POSIX, this shall be an integer type of at least 32 bits.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: accept(2), bind(2), connect(2),
gethostbyaddr(2), getnameinfo(2), socket(2)
See also the sockaddr structure in this page.
ssize_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <aio.h>,
<monetary.h>, <mqueue.h>, <stdio.h>, <sys/msg.h>,
<sys/socket.h>, <sys/uio.h>, or <unistd.h>.
Used for a count of bytes or an error indication.
According to POSIX, it shall be a signed integer type
capable of storing values at least in the range [-1,
SSIZE_MAX], and the implementation shall support one or
more programming environments where the width of ssize_t
is no greater than the width of the type long.
Glibc and most other implementations provide a length
modifier for ssize_t for the printf(3) and the scanf(3)
families of functions, which is z; resulting commonly in
%zd or %zi for printing ssize_t values. Although z works
for ssize_t on most implementations, portable POSIX
programs should avoid using it—for example, by converting
the value to intmax_t and using its length modifier (j).
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: read(2), readlink(2), readv(2), recv(2),
send(2), write(2)
See also the ptrdiff_t and size_t types in this page.
suseconds_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <sys/select.h>, or
<sys/time.h>.
Used for time in microseconds. According to POSIX, it
shall be a signed integer type capable of storing values
at least in the range [-1, 1000000], and the
implementation shall support one or more programming
environments where the width of suseconds_t is no greater
than the width of the type long.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the timeval structure in this page.
time_t
Include: <time.h> or <sys/types.h>. Alternatively,
<sched.h>, <sys/msg.h>, <sys/select.h>, <sys/sem.h>,
<sys/shm.h>, <sys/stat.h>, <sys/time.h>, or <utime.h>.
Used for time in seconds. According to POSIX, it shall be
an integer type.
Versions: <sched.h> defines time_t since POSIX.1-2008.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: stime(2), time(2), ctime(3), difftime(3)
timer_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <time.h>.
Used for timer ID returned by timer_create(2). According
to POSIX, there are no defined comparison or assignment
operators for this type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: timer_create(2), timer_delete(2),
timer_getoverrun(2), timer_settime(2)
timespec
Include: <time.h>. Alternatively, <aio.h>, <mqueue.h>,
<sched.h>, <signal.h>, <sys/select.h>, or <sys/stat.h>.
struct timespec {
time_t tv_sec; /* Seconds */
long tv_nsec; /* Nanoseconds */
};
Describes times in seconds and nanoseconds.
Conforming to: C11 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: clock_gettime(2), clock_nanosleep(2),
nanosleep(2), timerfd_gettime(2), timer_gettime(2)
timeval
Include: <sys/time.h>. Alternatively, <sys/resource.h>,
<sys/select.h>, or <utmpx.h>.
struct timeval {
time_t tv_sec; /* Seconds */
suseconds_t tv_usec; /* Microseconds */
};
Describes times in seconds and microseconds.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: gettimeofday(2), select(2), utimes(2),
adjtime(3), futimes(3), timeradd(3)
uid_t
Include: <sys/types.h>. Alternatively, <pwd.h>,
<signal.h>, <stropts.h>, <sys/ipc.h>, <sys/stat.h>, or
<unistd.h>.
A type used to hold user IDs. According to POSIX, this
shall be an integer type.
Conforming to: POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: chown(2), getuid(2), geteuid(2), getresuid(2),
getpwnam(3), credentials(7)
uintmax_t
Include: <stdint.h>. Alternatively, <inttypes.h>.
An unsigned integer type capable of representing any value
of any unsigned integer type supported by the
implementation. According to the C language standard, it
shall be capable of storing values in the range [0,
UINTMAX_MAX].
The macro UINTMAX_C() expands its argument to an integer
constant of type uintmax_t.
The length modifier for uintmax_t for the printf(3) and
the scanf(3) families of functions is j; resulting
commonly in %ju or %jx for printing uintmax_t values.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
Bugs: uintmax_t is not large enough to represent values of
type unsigned __int128 in implementations where unsigned
__int128 is defined and unsigned long long is less than
128 bits wide.
See also: the intmax_t type in this page.
uintN_t
Include: <stdint.h>. Alternatively, <inttypes.h>.
uint8_t, uint16_t, uint32_t, uint64_t
An unsigned integer type of a fixed width of exactly N
bits, N being the value specified in its type name.
According to the C language standard, they shall be
capable of storing values in the range [0, UINTN_MAX],
substituting N by the appropriate number.
According to POSIX, uint8_t, uint16_t, and uint32_t are
required; uint64_t is only required in implementations
that provide integer types with width 64; and all other
types of this form are optional.
The length modifiers for the uintN_t types for the
printf(3) family of functions are expanded by macros of
the forms PRIuN, PRIoN, PRIxN, and PRIXN (defined in
<inttypes.h>); resulting for example in %"PRIu32" or
%"PRIx32" for printing uint32_t values. The length
modifiers for the uintN_t types for the scanf(3) family of
functions are expanded by macros of the forms SCNuN,
SCNoN, SCNxN, and SCNXN (defined in <inttypes.h>);
resulting for example in %"SCNu16" or %"SCNx16" for
scanning uint16_t values.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the intmax_t, intN_t, and uintmax_t types in
this page.
uintptr_t
Include: <stdint.h>. Alternatively, <inttypes.h>.
An unsigned integer type such that any valid (void *)
value can be converted to this type and back. According
to the C language standard, it shall be capable of storing
values in the range [0, UINTPTR_MAX].
The length modifier for uintptr_t for the printf(3) family
of functions is expanded by the macros PRIuPTR, PRIoPTR,
PRIxPTR, and PRIXPTR (defined in <inttypes.h>); resulting
commonly in %"PRIuPTR" or %"PRIxPTR" for printing
uintptr_t values. The length modifier for uintptr_t for
the scanf(3) family of functions is expanded by the macros
SCNuPTR, SCNoPTR, SCNxPTR, and SCNXPTR (defined in
<inttypes.h>); resulting commonly in %"SCNuPTR" or
%"SCNxPTR" for scanning uintptr_t values.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: the intptr_t and void * types in this page.
va_list
Include: <stdarg>. Alternatively, <stdio.h>, or
<wchar.h>.
Used by functions with a varying number of arguments of
varying types. The function must declare an object of
type va_list which is used by the macros va_start(3),
va_arg(3), va_copy(3), and va_end(3) to traverse the list
of arguments.
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: va_start(3), va_arg(3), va_copy(3), va_end(3)
void *
According to the C language standard, a pointer to any
object type may be converted to a pointer to void and
back. POSIX further requires that any pointer, including
pointers to functions, may be converted to a pointer to
void and back.
Conversions from and to any other pointer type are done
implicitly, not requiring casts at all. Note that this
feature prevents any kind of type checking: the programmer
should be careful not to convert a void * value to a type
incompatible to that of the underlying data, because that
would result in undefined behavior.
This type is useful in function parameters and return
value to allow passing values of any type. The function
will typically use some mechanism to know the real type of
the data being passed via a pointer to void.
A value of this type can't be dereferenced, as it would
give a value of type void, which is not possible.
Likewise, pointer arithmetic is not possible with this
type. However, in GNU C, pointer arithmetic is allowed as
an extension to the standard; this is done by treating the
size of a void or of a function as 1. A consequence of
this is that sizeof is also allowed on void and on
function types, and returns 1.
The conversion specifier for void * for the printf(3) and
the scanf(3) families of functions is p.
Versions: The POSIX requirement about compatibility
between void * and function pointers was added in
POSIX.1-2008 Technical Corrigendum 1 (2013).
Conforming to: C99 and later; POSIX.1-2001 and later.
See also: malloc(3), memcmp(3), memcpy(3), memset(3)
See also the intptr_t and uintptr_t types in this page.
