PSIGNAL(3) | Library Functions Manual | PSIGNAL(3)

# NAME

`psignal`, `psiginfo`, `sys_siglist`, `sys_signame` —
system signal messages

# LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

# SYNOPSIS

`#include <signal.h>`

void
`psignal`(int sig, const char *s);

`psiginfo`(const siginfo_t *si, const char *s);

extern const char * const sys_siglist[];
extern const char * const sys_signame[];

# DESCRIPTION

The `psignal`() function locates the descriptive message string for the given signal number sig and writes it to the standard error.

If the argument s is non-`NULL` it is written to the standard error file descriptor prior to the message string, immediately followed by a colon and a space. If the signal number is not recognized (sigaction(2)), the string “Unknown signal” is produced.

The `psiginfo`() function produces the same output as the `psignal`() function, only it uses the signal number information from the si argument.

The message strings can be accessed directly using the external array sys_siglist, indexed by recognized signal numbers. The external array sys_signame is used similarly and contains short, upper-case abbreviations for signals which are useful for recognizing signal names in user input. The defined variable `NSIG` contains a count of the strings in sys_siglist and sys_signame.

# SEE ALSO

sigaction(2), perror(3), setlocale(3), strsignal(3)

# HISTORY

The `psignal`() function appeared in 4.2BSD. The `psiginfo`() function appeared in NetBSD 6.0.

August 27, 2010 | NetBSD 9.2