PERROR(3) PERROR(3) NAME perror, sys_errlist, sys_nerr - system error messages SYNOPSIS perror(s) char *s; int sys_nerr; char *sys_errlist[]; DESCRIPTION Perror produces a short error message on the standard error file describing the last error encountered during a call to the system from a C program. First the argument string s is printed, then a colon, then the message and a new-line. Most usefully, the argument string is the name of the pro- gram which incurred the error. The error number is taken from the external variable errno (see intro(2)), which is set when errors occur but not cleared when non-erroneous calls are made. To simplify variant formatting of messages, the vector of message strings sys_errlist is provided; errno can be used as an index in this table to get the message string without the newline. Sys_nerr is the number of messages 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. SEE ALSO intro(2)