.th PERROR III 11/5/73 .sh NAME perror \*- system error messages .sh SYNOPSIS .ft B perror(s) .br char *s; .s3 int sys\*_nerr; .br char *sys\*_errlist[]; .s3 int errno; .ft R .br .sh DESCRIPTION .it Perror produces a short error message describing the last error encountered during a call to the system from a C program. First the argument string .it s is printed, then a colon, then the message and a new-line. Most usefully, the argument string is the name of the program which incurred the error. The error number is taken from the external variable .it errno, which is set when errors occur but not cleared when non-erroneous calls are made. .s3 To simplify variant formatting of messages, the vector of message strings .it sys\*_errlist is provided; .it errno can be used as an index in this table to get the message string without the newline. .it Sys\*_nerr is the largest message number provided for in the table; it should be checked because new error codes may be added to the system before they are added to the table. .sh "SEE ALSO" Introduction to System Calls .sh BUGS