xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/stdlib/strtol.3 (revision b1c86f5f087524e68db12794ee9c3e3da1ab17a0)
1.\"	$NetBSD: strtol.3,v 1.26 2009/07/23 13:38:57 wiz Exp $
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34.\"     from: @(#)strtol.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
35.\"
36.Dd July 23, 2009
37.Dt STRTOL 3
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm strtol ,
41.Nm strtoll ,
42.Nm strtoimax ,
43.Nm strtoq
44.Nd convert string value to a long, long long, intmax_t or quad_t integer
45.Sh LIBRARY
46.Lb libc
47.Sh SYNOPSIS
48.In stdlib.h
49.In limits.h
50.Ft long int
51.Fn strtol "const char * restrict nptr" "char ** restrict endptr" "int base"
52.Ft long long int
53.Fn strtoll "const char * restrict nptr" "char ** restrict endptr" "int base"
54.Pp
55.In inttypes.h
56.Ft intmax_t
57.Fn strtoimax "const char * restrict nptr" "char ** restrict endptr" "int base"
58.Pp
59.In sys/types.h
60.In stdlib.h
61.In limits.h
62.Ft quad_t
63.Fn strtoq "const char * restrict nptr" "char ** restrict endptr" "int base"
64.Sh DESCRIPTION
65The
66.Fn strtol
67function
68converts the string in
69.Fa nptr
70to a
71.Ft long int
72value.
73The
74.Fn strtoll
75function
76converts the string in
77.Fa nptr
78to a
79.Ft long long int
80value.
81The
82.Fn strtoimax
83function
84converts the string in
85.Fa nptr
86to an
87.Ft intmax_t
88value.
89The
90.Fn strtoq
91function
92converts the string in
93.Fa nptr
94to a
95.Ft quad_t
96value.
97The conversion is done according to the given
98.Fa base ,
99which must be between 2 and 36 inclusive,
100or be the special value 0.
101.Pp
102The string may begin with an arbitrary amount of white space
103(as determined by
104.Xr isspace 3 )
105followed by a single optional
106.Ql +
107or
108.Ql -
109sign.
110If
111.Fa base
112is zero or 16,
113the string may then include a
114.Ql 0x
115prefix,
116and the number will be read in base 16; otherwise, a zero
117.Fa base
118is taken as 10 (decimal) unless the next character is
119.Ql 0 ,
120in which case it is taken as 8 (octal).
121.Pp
122The remainder of the string is converted to a
123.Em long
124value in the obvious manner,
125stopping at the first character which is not a valid digit
126in the given base.
127(In bases above 10, the letter
128.Ql A
129in either upper or lower case
130represents 10,
131.Ql B
132represents 11, and so forth, with
133.Ql Z
134representing 35.)
135.Pp
136If
137.Fa endptr
138is non-nil,
139.Fn strtol
140stores the address of the first invalid character in
141.Fa *endptr .
142If there were no digits at all, however,
143.Fn strtol
144stores the original value of
145.Fa nptr
146in
147.Fa *endptr .
148(Thus, if
149.Fa *nptr
150is not
151.Ql \e0
152but
153.Fa **endptr
154is
155.Ql \e0
156on return, the entire string was valid.)
157.Sh RETURN VALUES
158The
159.Fn strtol
160function
161returns the result of the conversion,
162unless the value would underflow or overflow.
163If an underflow occurs,
164.Fn strtol
165returns
166.Dv LONG_MIN ,
167.Fn strtoll
168returns
169.Dv LLONG_MIN ,
170and
171.Fn strtoimax
172returns
173.Dv INTMAX_MIN .
174If an overflow occurs,
175.Fn strtol
176returns
177.Dv LONG_MAX ,
178.Fn strtoll
179returns
180.Dv LLONG_MAX ,
181and
182.Fn strtoimax
183returns
184.Dv INTMAX_MAX .
185In these cases,
186.Va errno
187is set to
188.Er ERANGE .
189If the
190.Fa base
191argument is not supported then
192.Va errno
193is set to
194.Er EINVAL
195and the functions return 0.
196.Pp
197If no error occurs,
198.Va errno
199is left unchanged.
200This behavior (which is unlike most library functions) is guaranteed
201by the pertinent standards.
202.Sh EXAMPLES
203Because the return value of
204.Fn strtol
205cannot be used unambiguously to detect an error,
206.Va errno
207is left unchanged after a successful call.
208To ensure that a string is a valid number (i.e., in range and containing no
209trailing characters), clear
210.Va errno
211beforehand explicitly, then check it afterwards:
212.Bd -literal -offset indent
213char *ep;
214long lval;
215
216\&...
217
218errno = 0;
219lval = strtol(buf, \*[Am]ep, 10);
220if (buf[0] == '\e0' || *ep != '\e0')
221	goto not_a_number;
222if (errno == ERANGE \*[Am]\*[Am] (lval == LONG_MAX || lval == LONG_MIN))
223	goto out_of_range;
224.Ed
225.Pp
226This example will accept
227.Dq 12
228but not
229.Dq 12foo
230or
231.Dq 12\en .
232If trailing whitespace is acceptable, further checks must be done on
233.Va *ep ;
234alternately, use
235.Xr sscanf 3 .
236.Pp
237If
238.Fn strtol
239is being used instead of
240.Xr atoi 3 ,
241error checking is further complicated because the desired return value is an
242.Li int
243rather than a
244.Li long ;
245however, on some architectures integers and long integers are the same size.
246Thus the following is necessary:
247.Bd -literal -offset indent
248char *ep;
249int ival;
250long lval;
251
252\&...
253
254errno = 0;
255lval = strtol(buf, \*[Am]ep, 10);
256if (buf[0] == '\e0' || *ep != '\e0')
257	goto not_a_number;
258if ((errno == ERANGE \*[Am]\*[Am] (lval == LONG_MAX || lval == LONG_MIN)) ||
259    (lval \*[Gt] INT_MAX || lval \*[Lt] INT_MIN))
260	goto out_of_range;
261ival = lval;
262.Ed
263.Sh ERRORS
264.Bl -tag -width Er
265.It Bq Er EINVAL
266The
267.Ar base
268is not between 2 and 36 and does not contain the special value 0.
269.It Bq Er ERANGE
270The given string was out of range; the value converted has been clamped.
271.El
272.Sh SEE ALSO
273.Xr atof 3 ,
274.Xr atoi 3 ,
275.Xr atol 3 ,
276.Xr atoll 3 ,
277.Xr strtod 3 ,
278.Xr strtoul 3 ,
279.Xr strtoull 3 ,
280.Xr strtoumax 3
281.Sh STANDARDS
282The
283.Fn strtol
284function
285conforms to
286.St -ansiC .
287The
288.Fn strtoll
289and
290.Fn strtoimax
291functions conform to
292.St -isoC-99 .
293.Sh BUGS
294Ignores the current locale.
295