bsd man page for strerror

PERROR(3)						     Library Functions Manual							 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 deci-
       mal.

       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.

4th Berkeley Distribution					  March 21, 1996							 PERROR(3)