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intro(3)

NAME

     intro -- introduction to the C libraries

DESCRIPTION

     This section provides an overview of the C library functions, their error
     returns and other common definitions and concepts.  Most of these func-
     tions are available from the C library, libc.  Other libraries, such as
     the math library, libm, must be indicated at compile time with the -l
     option of the compiler.

     The various libraries (followed by the loader flag):

     libc (-lc)  Standard C library functions.	When using the C compiler
		 cc(1), it is not necessary to supply the loader flag -lc for
		 these functions.  There are several `libraries' or groups of
		 functions included inside of libc: the standard I/O routines,
		 database routines, bit operators, string operators, character
		 tests and character operators, des encryption routines, stor-
		 age allocation, time functions, signal handling and more.

     libcurses (-lcurses -ltermcap)
		 Terminal independent screen management routines for two
		 dimensional non-bitmap display terminals.  (See ncurses(3).)

     libcompat (-lcompat)
		 Functions which are obsolete but are available for compati-
		 bility with 4.3BSD.  In particular, a number of system call
		 interfaces provided in previous releases of BSD have been
		 included for source code compatibility.  Use of these rou-
		 tines should, for the most part, be avoided.  The manual page
		 entry for each compatibility routine indicates the proper
		 interface to use.

     libkvm (-lkvm)
		 Functions used to access kernel memory are in this library.
		 They can be used against both a running system and a crash
		 dump.	(See kvm(3).)

     libl (-ll)  The library for lex(1).

     libm (-lm)  The math library, libm.  The math library is loaded as needed
		 by the Pascal compiler, but not by the C compiler which
		 requires the -lm flag.  (See math(3).)

     libmp (-lmp)

     libtermcap (-ltermcap)
		 The terminal independent operation library package.  (See
		 termcap(3).)

     liby (-ly)  The library for yacc(1).

FILES

     /usr/lib/libc.a	the C library
     /usr/lib/libc_p.a	the C library compiled for profiling
     /usr/lib/libm.a	the math library
     /usr/lib/libm_p.a	the math library compiled for profiling

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