PFMT(3C-SVR4) RISC/os Reference Manual PFMT(3C-SVR4)
NAME
pfmt - display error message in standard format
SYNOPSIS
#include <pfmt.h>
int pfmt(FILE *stream, long flags, char *format, ... /* arg */);
DESCRIPTION
pfmt() retrieves a format string from a locale-specific mes-
sage database (unless MM_NOGET is specified) and uses it for
printf() style formatting of args. The output is displayed
on stream.
pfmt() encapsulates the output in the standard error message
format (unless MM_NOSTD is specified, in which case the out-
put is simply printf() like).
If the printf() format string is to be retrieved from a mes-
sage database, the format argument must have the following
structure:
<catalog>:<msgnum>:<defmsg>.
If MM_NOGET is specified, only the <defmsg> part must be
specified.
<catalog> is used to indicate the message database that con-
tains the localized version of the format string. <catalog>
must be limited to 14 characters. These characters must be
selected from a set of all characters values, excluding \0
(null) and the ASCII codes for / (slash) and : (colon).
<msgnum> is a positive number that indicates the index of
the string into the message database.
If the catalog does not exist in the locale (specified by
the last call to setlocale() using the LC_ALL or LC_MESSAGES
categories), or if the message number is out of bound,
pfmt() will attempt to retrieve the message from the C
locale. If this second retrieval fails, pfmt() uses the
<defmsg> part of the format argument.
If <catalog> is omitted, pfmt() will attempt to retrieve the
string from the default catalog specified by the last call
to setcat() In this case, the format argument has the fol-
lowing structure:
:<msgnum>:<defmsg>.
pfmt() will output
Message not found!!\n
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as format string if <catalog> is not a valid catalog name,
if no catalog is specified (either explicitly or via
setcat()), if <msgnum> is not a valid number, or if no mes-
sage could be retrieved from the message databases, and
<defmsg> was omitted.
The flags determine the type of output (i.e., whether the
format should be interpreted as is or encapsulated in the
standard message format), and the access to message catalogs
to retrieve a localized version of format.
The flags are composed of several groups, and can take the
following values (one from each group):
Output format control
MM_NOSTD Do not use the standard message format,
interpret format as a printf() format.
Only catalog access control flags
should be specified if MM_NOSTD is
used; all other flags will be ignored
MM_STD Output using the standard message for-
mat (default, value 0).
Catalog access control
MM_NOGET Do not retrieve a localized version of
format. In this case, only the
<defmsg> part of the format is speci-
fied.
MM_GET Retrieve a localized version of format,
from the <catalog>, using <msgid> as
the index and <defmsg> as the default
message (default, value 0).
Severity (standard message format only)
MM_HALT generates a localized version of HALT.
MM_ERROR generates a localized version of ERROR
(default, value 0).
MM_WARNING generates a localized version of WARN-
ING.
MM_INFO generates a localized version of INFO.
Additional severities can be defined. Add-on severi-
ties can be defined with number-string pairs with
numeric values from the range [5-255], using addsev().
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The numeric value OR-ed with other flags will generate
the specified severity.
If the severity is not defined, pfmt() used the string
SEV=N where N is replaced by the integer severity value
passed in flags.
Multiple severities passed inf flags will not be
detected as an error. Any combination of severities
will be summed and the numeric value will cause the
display of either a severity string (if defined) or the
string SEV=N (if undefined).
Action
MM_ACTION specifies an action message. Any
severity value is superseded and
replaced by a localized version of TO
FIX.
STANDARD ERROR MESSAGE FORMAT
pfmt() displays error messages in the following format:
label: severity: text
If no label was defined by a call to setlabel(), the message
is displayed in the format:
severity: text
If pfmt() is called twice to display an error message and a
helpful action or recovery message, the output can look
like:
label: severity: text
label: TO FIX: text
RETURN VALUE
Upon success, pfmt() returns the number of bytes transmit-
ted. Upon failure, it returns a negative value:
-1 write error to stream.
EXAMPLES
Example 1:
setlabel("UX:test");
pfmt(stderr, MM_ERROR, "test:2:Cannot open file: %s\n", strerror(errno));
displays the message:
UX:test: ERROR: Cannot open file: No such file or directory
Example 2:
setlabel("UX:test");
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setcat("test");
pfmt(stderr, MM_ERROR, ":10:Syntax error\n");
pfmt(stderr, MM_ACTION, "55:Usage ...\n");
displays the message
UX:test: ERROR: Syntax error
UX:test: TO FIX: Usage ...
SEE ALSO
addsev(3C), environ(5), gettxt(3C), lfmt(3C), pfmt(1),
printf(3C), setcat(3C), setlabel(3C), setlocale(3C).
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