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

# NAME

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

# SYNOPSIS

`#include <signal.h>`

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

extern char *sys_siglist[];
extern char *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 not `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 (see sigaction(2) for a list), the string “Unknown signal” is produced.

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 value `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.

# CAVEATS

On systems other than OpenBSD, the `LC_MESSAGES` locale(1) category can cause different strings to be printed instead of the normal signal descriptions; see CAVEATS in setlocale(3) for details.

May 16, 2019 | Debian