11.1: What is the "ANSI C Standard?"
A: In 1983, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
commissioned a committee to standardize the C language. Their
work was ratified as ANS X3.159-1989, and has since been adopted
as ISO/IEC 9899:1990, and later amended.
11.2: How can I get a copy of the Standard?
A: Copies are available from ANSI in New York, or from Global
Engineering Documents in Englewood, CO, or from any national
standards body, or from ISO in Geneva, or republished within one
or more books. See the unabridged list for details.
11.2a: Where can I get information about updates to the Standard?
A: See the full list for pointers.
11.3: My ANSI compiler is complaining about prototype mismatches for
parameters declared float.
A: You have mixed the new-style prototype declaration
"extern int func(float);" with the old-style definition
"int func(x) float x;". "Narrow" types are treated differently
according to which syntax is used. This problem can be fixed by
avoiding narrow types, or by using either new-style (prototype)
or old-style syntax consistently.
11.4: Can you mix old-style and new-style function syntax?
A: Doing so is currently perfectly legal, for most argument types
(see question 11.3).
11.5: Why does the declaration "extern f(struct x *p);" give me a
warning message?
A: A structure declared (or even mentioned) for the first time
within a prototype cannot be compatible with other structures
declared in the same source file.
11.8: Why can't I use const values in initializers and array
dimensions?
A: The value of a const-qualified object is *not* a constant
expression in the full sense of the term.
11.9: What's the difference between "const char *"p and
"char * const" p?
A: The former declares a pointer to a constant character; the
latter declares a constant pointer to a character.
11.10: Why can't I pass a char ** to a function which expects a
const char **?
A: The rule which permits slight mismatches in qualified pointer
assignments is not applied recursively.
11.12: Can I declare main() as void, to shut off these annoying "main
returns no value" messages?
A: No.
11.13: But what about main's third argument, envp?
A: It's a non-standard (though common) extension.
11.14: I believe that declaring void main() can't fail, since I'm
calling exit() instead of returning.
A: It doesn't matter whether main() returns or not, the problem is
that its caller may not even be able to *call* it correctly.
11.15: The book I've been using always uses void main().
A: It's wrong.
11.16: Is exit(status) truly equivalent to returning the same status
from main()?
A: Yes and no. (See the full list for details.)
11.17: How do I get the ANSI "stringizing" preprocessing operator `#'
to stringize the macro's value instead of its name?
A: You can use a two-step #definition to force a macro to be
expanded as well as stringized.
11.18: What does the message "warning: macro replacement within a
string literal" mean?
A: Some pre-ANSI compilers/preprocessors expanded macro parameters
even inside string literals and character constants.
11.19: I'm getting strange syntax errors inside lines I've #ifdeffed
out.
A: Under ANSI C, #ifdeffed-out text must still consist of "valid
preprocessing tokens." This means that there must be no
newlines inside quotes, and no unterminated comments or quotes
(i.e. no single apostrophes).
11.20: What are #pragmas ?
A: The #pragma directive provides a single, well-defined "escape
hatch" which can be used for extensions.
11.21: What does "#pragma once" mean?
A: It is an extension implemented by some preprocessors to help
make header files idempotent.
11.22: Is char a[3] = "abc"; legal?
A: Yes, in ANSI C.
11.24: Why can't I perform arithmetic on a void * pointer?
A: The compiler doesn't know the size of the pointed-to objects.
11.25: What's the difference between memcpy() and memmove()?
A: memmove() offers guaranteed behavior if the source and
destination arguments overlap.
11.26: What should malloc(0) do?
A: The behavior is implementation-defined.
11.27: Why does the ANSI Standard not guarantee more than six case-
insensitive characters of external identifier significance?
A: The problem is older linkers which cannot be forced (by mere
words in a Standard) to upgrade.
11.29: My compiler is rejecting the simplest possible test programs,
with all kinds of syntax errors.
A: Perhaps it is a pre-ANSI compiler.
11.30: Why are some ANSI/ISO Standard library routines showing up as
undefined, even though I've got an ANSI compiler?
A: Perhaps you don't have ANSI-compatible headers and libraries.
11.31: Does anyone have a tool for converting old-style C programs to
ANSI C, or for automatically generating prototypes?
A: See the full list for details.
11.32: Why won't frobozz-cc, which claims to be ANSI compliant, accept
this code?
A: Are you sure that the code being rejected doesn't rely on some
non-Standard extension?
11.33: What's the difference between implementation-defined,
unspecified, and undefined behavior?
A: If you're writing portable code, ignore the distinctions.
Otherwise, see the full list.
11.34: I'm appalled that the ANSI Standard leaves so many issues
undefined.
A: In most of these cases, the Standard is simply codifying
existing practice.
11.35: I just tried some allegedly-undefined code on an ANSI-conforming
compiler, and got the results I expected.
A: A compiler may do anything it likes when faced with undefined
behavior, including doing what you expect.
Section 12. Stdio
12.1: What's wrong with the code "char c; while((c = getchar()) !=
EOF) ..."?
A: The variable to hold getchar's return value must be an int.
12.2: Why won't the code "while(!feof(infp)) {
fgets(buf, MAXLINE, infp); fputs(buf, outfp); }" work?
A: EOF is only indicated *after* an input routine has reached end-
of-file.
12.4: My program's prompts and intermediate output don't always show
up on the screen.
A: It's best to use an explicit fflush(stdout) whenever output
should definitely be visible.
12.5: How can I read one character at a time, without waiting for the
RETURN key?
A: See question 19.1.
12.6: How can I print a '%' character with printf?
A: "%%".
12.9: How can printf() use %f for type double, if scanf() requires
%lf?
A: C's "default argument promotions" mean that values of type float
are promoted to double.
12.10: How can I implement a variable field width with printf?
A: Use printf("%*d", width, n).
12.11: How can I print numbers with commas separating the thousands?
A: There is no standard routine (but see
12.12: Why doesn't the call scanf("%d", i) work?
A: The arguments you pass to scanf() must always be pointers.
12.13: Why doesn't the code "double d; scanf("%f", &d);" work?
A: Unlike printf(), scanf() uses %lf for double, and %f for float.
12.15: How can I specify a variable width in a scanf() format string?
A: You can't.
12.17: When I read numbers from the keyboard with scanf "%d\n", it
seems to hang until I type one extra line of input.
A: Try using "%d" instead of "%d\n".
12.18: I'm reading a number with scanf %d and then a string with
gets(), but the compiler seems to be skipping the call to
gets()!
A: scanf() and gets() do not work well together.
12.19: I'm re-prompting the user if scanf() fails, but sometimes it
seems to go into an infinite loop.
A: scanf() tends to "jam" on bad input since it does not discard
it.
12.20: Why does everyone say not to use scanf()? What should I use
instead?
A: scanf() has a number of problems. Usually, it's easier to read
entire lines and then interpret them.
12.21: How can I tell how much destination buffer space I'll need for
an arbitrary sprintf call? How can I avoid overflowing the
destination buffer with sprintf()?
A: There are not (yet) any good answers to either of these
excellent questions.
12.23: Why does everyone say not to use gets()?
A: It cannot be prevented from overflowing the input buffer.
12.24: Why does errno contain ENOTTY after a call to printf()?
A: Don't worry about it. It is only meaningful for a program to
inspect the contents of errno after an error has been reported.
12.25: What's the difference between fgetpos/fsetpos and ftell/fseek?
A: fgetpos() and fsetpos() use a special typedef which may allow
them to work with larger files than ftell() and fseek().
12.26: Will fflush(stdin) flush unread characters from the standard
input stream?
A: No.
12.30: I'm trying to update a file in place, by using fopen mode "r+",
but it's not working.
A: Be sure to call fseek between reading and writing.
12.33: How can I redirect stdin or stdout from within a program?
A: Use freopen().
12.34: Once I've used freopen(), how can I get the original stream
back?
A: There isn't a good way. Try avoiding freopen.
12.38: How can I read a binary data file properly?
A: Be sure to specify "rb" mode when calling fopen().
Section 13. Library Functions
13.1: How can I convert numbers to strings?
A: Just use sprintf().
13.2: Why does strncpy() not always write a '\0'?
A: For mildly-interesting historical reasons.
13.5: Why do some versions of toupper() act strangely if given an
upper-case letter?
A: Older versions of toupper() and tolower() did not always work as
expected in this regard.
13.6: How can I split up a string into whitespace-separated fields?
A: Try strtok().
13.7: I need some code to do regular expression and wildcard matching.
A: regexp libraries abound; see the full list for details.
13.8: I'm trying to sort an array of strings with qsort(), using
strcmp() as the comparison function, but it's not working.
A: You'll have to write a "helper" comparison function which takes
two generic pointer arguments, converts them to char **, and
dereferences them, yielding char *'s which can be usefully
compared.
13.9: Now I'm trying to sort an array of structures, but the compiler
is complaining that the function is of the wrong type for
qsort().
A: The comparison function must be declared as accepting "generic
pointers" (const void *) which it then converts to structure
pointers.
13.10: How can I sort a linked list?
A: Algorithms like insertion sort and merge sort work well, or you
can keep the list in order as you build it.
13.11: How can I sort more data than will fit in memory?
A: You want an "external sort"; see the full list for details.
13.12: How can I get the time of day in a C program?
A: Just use the time(), ctime(), and/or localtime() functions.
13.13: How can I convert a struct tm or a string into a time_t?
A: The ANSI mktime() routine converts a struct tm to a time_t. No
standard routine exists to parse strings.
13.14: How can I perform calendar manipulations?
A: The ANSI/ISO Standard C mktime() and difftime() functions
provide some support for both problems.
13.15: I need a random number generator.
A: The Standard C library has one: rand().
13.16: How can I get random integers in a certain range?
A: One method is something like
(int)((double)rand() / ((double)RAND_MAX + 1) * N)
13.17: Each time I run my program, I get the same sequence of numbers
back from rand().
A: You can call srand() to seed the pseudo-random number generator
with a truly random initial value.
13.18: I need a random true/false value, so I'm just taking rand() % 2,
but it's alternating 0, 1, 0, 1, 0...
A: Try using the higher-order bits: see question 13.16.
13.20: How can I generate random numbers with a normal or Gaussian
distribution?
A: See the longer versions of this list for ideas.
13.24: I'm trying to port this old program. Why do I get "undefined
external" errors for some library functions?
A: Some semistandard functions have been renamed or replaced over
the years; see the full list for details.
13.25: I get errors due to library functions being undefined even
though I #include the right header files.
A: You may have to explicitly ask for the correct libraries to be
searched.
13.26: I'm still getting errors due to library functions being
undefined, even though I'm requesting the right libraries.
A: Library search order is significant; usually, you must search
the libraries last.
13.28: What does it mean when the linker says that _end is undefined?
A: You generally get that message only when other things are
undefined, too.
Section 14. Floating Point
14.1: When I set a float variable to 3.1, why is printf() printing it
as 3.0999999?
A: Most computers use base 2 for floating-point numbers, and many
fractions (including 0.1 decimal) are not exactly representable
in base 2.
14.2: Why is sqrt(144.) giving me crazy numbers?
A: Make sure that you have #included
declared other functions returning double.
14.3: I keep getting "undefined: sin" compilation errors.
A: Make sure you're actually linking with the math library.
14.4: My floating-point calculations are acting strangely and giving
me different answers on different machines.
A: First, see question 14.2 above. If the problem isn't that
simple, see the full list for a brief explanation, or any good
programming book for a better one.
14.5: What's a good way to check for "close enough" floating-point
equality?
A: The best way is to use an accuracy threshold which is relative
to the magnitude of the numbers being compared.
14.6: How do I round numbers?
A: For positive numbers, try (int)(x + 0.5) .
14.7: Where is C's exponentiation operator?
A: Try using the pow() function.
14.8: The pre-#defined constant M_PI seems to be missing from
A: That constant is not standard.
14.9: How do I test for IEEE NaN and other special values?
A: There is not yet a portable way, but see the full list for
ideas.
14.11: What's a good way to implement complex numbers in C?
A: It is straightforward to define a simple structure and some
arithmetic functions to manipulate them.
14.12: I'm looking for some mathematical library code.
A: Ajay Shah maintains an index of free numerical software which is
archived in the comp.lang.c directory at rtfm.mit.edu (see
question 20.40).
14.13: I'm having trouble with a Turbo C program which crashes and says
something like "floating point formats not linked."
A: You may have to insert an extra call to a floating-point library
routine to force loading of floating-point support.
Section 15. Variable-Length Argument Lists
15.1: I heard that you have to #include
printf(). Why?
A: So that a proper prototype for printf() will be in scope.
15.2: How can %f be used for both float and double arguments in
printf()?
A: In variable-length argument lists, types char and short int are
promoted to int, and float is promoted to double.
15.3: Why don't function prototypes guard against mismatches in
printf's arguments?
A: Function prototypes do not provide any information about the
number and types of variable arguments.
15.4: How can I write a function that takes a variable number of
arguments?
A: Use the
15.5: How can I write a function that takes a format string and a
variable number of arguments, like printf(), and passes them to
printf() to do most of the work?
A: Use vprintf(), vfprintf(), or vsprintf().
15.6: How can I write a function analogous to scanf(), that calls
scanf() to do most of the work?
A: Unfortunately, vscanf and the like are not standard.
15.7: I have a pre-ANSI compiler, without
A: There's an older header,
same functionality.
15.8: How can I discover how many arguments a function was actually
called with?
A: Any function which takes a variable number of arguments must be
able to determine *from the arguments' values* how many of them
there are.
15.9: My compiler isn't letting me declare a function that accepts
*only* variable arguments.
A: Standard C requires at least one fixed argument.
15.10: Why isn't "va_arg(argp, float)" working?
A: Because the "default argument promotions" apply in variable-
length argument lists, you should always use
va_arg(argp, double).
15.11: I can't get va_arg() to pull in an argument of type pointer-to-
function.
A: Use a typedef.
15.12: How can I write a function which takes a variable number of
arguments and passes them to some other function ?
A: In general, you cannot.
15.13: How can I call a function with an argument list built up at run
time?
A: You can't.
Section 16. Strange Problems
16.2a: I'm getting baffling syntax errors which make no sense at all,
and it seems like large chunks of my program aren't being
compiled.
A: Check for unclosed comments or mismatched preprocessing
directives.
16.2b: Why isn't my procedure call working?
A: Function calls always require parenthesized argument lists.
16.3: This program crashes before it even runs!
A: Look for very large, local arrays.
(See also questions 11.12, 16.4, 16.5, and 18.4.)
16.4: I have a program that seems to run correctly, but then crashes
as it's exiting.
A: See the full list for ideas.
16.5: This program runs perfectly on one machine, but I get weird
results on another.
A: See the full list for a brief list of possibilities.
16.6: Why does the code "char *p = "hello, world!"; p[0] = 'H';"
crash?
A: String literals are not modifiable, except (in effect) when they
are used as array initializers.
16.8: What does "Segmentation violation" mean?
A: It generally means that your program tried to access memory it
shouldn't have, invariably as a result of stack corruption or
improper pointer use.
Section 17. Style
17.1: What's the best style for code layout in C?
A: There is no one "best style," but see the full list for a few
suggestions.
17.3: Is the code "if(!strcmp(s1, s2))" good style?
A: Not particularly.
17.4: Why do some people write if(0 == x) instead of if(x == 0)?
A: It's a trick to guard against the common error of writing
if(x = 0) .
17.5: I came across some code that puts a (void) cast before each call
to printf(). Why?
A: To suppress warnings about otherwise discarded return values.
17.8: What is "Hungarian Notation"?
A: It's a naming convention which encodes things about a variable's
type in its name.
17.9: Where can I get the "Indian Hill Style Guide" and other coding
standards?
A: See the unabridged list.
17.10: Some people say that goto's are evil and that I should never use
them. Isn't that a bit extreme?
A: Yes. Absolute rules are an imperfect approach to good
programming style.
Section 18. Tools and Resources
18.1: I'm looking for C development tools (cross-reference generators,
code beautifiers, etc.).
A: See the full list for a few names.
18.2: How can I track down these pesky malloc problems?
A: See the full list for a list of tools.
18.3: What's a free or cheap C compiler I can use?
A: See the full list for a brief catalog.
18.4: I just typed in this program, and it's acting strangely. Can
you see anything wrong with it?
A: See if you can run lint first.
18.5: How can I shut off the "warning: possible pointer alignment
problem" message which lint gives me for each call to malloc()?
A: It may be easier simply to ignore the message, perhaps in an
automated way with grep -v.
18.7: Where can I get an ANSI-compatible lint?
A: See the unabridged list for two commercial products.
18.8: Don't ANSI function prototypes render lint obsolete?
A: No. A good compiler may match most of lint's diagnostics; few
provide all.
18.9: Are there any C tutorials or other resources on the net?
A: There are several of them.
18.10: What's a good book for learning C?
A: There are far too many books on C to list here; the full list
contains a few pointers.
18.13: Where can I find the sources of the standard C libraries?
A: Several possibilites are listed in the full list.
18.14: I need code to parse and evaluate expressions.
A: Several available packages are mentioned in the full list.
18.15: Where can I get a BNF or YACC grammar for C?
A: See the ANSI Standard, or the unabridged list.
18.15a: Does anyone have a C compiler test suite I can use?
A: See the full list for several sources.
18.15c: Where are some collections of useful code fragments and
examples?
A: See the full list for a few sources.
18.16: Where and how can I get copies of all these freely distributable
programs?
A: See the regular postings in the comp.sources.unix and
comp.sources.misc newsgroups, or the full version of this list,
for information.
Section 19. System Dependencies
19.1: How can I read a single character from the keyboard without
waiting for the RETURN key?
A: Alas, there is no standard or portable way to do this sort of
thing in C.
19.2: How can I find out how many characters are available for
reading, or do a non-blocking read?
A: These, too, are entirely operating-system-specific.
19.3: How can I display a percentage-done indication that updates
itself in place, or show one of those "twirling baton" progress
indicators?
A: The character '\r' is a carriage return, and '\b' is a
backspace.
19.4: How can I clear the screen, or print things in inverse video, or
move the cursor?
A: The only halfway-portable solution is the curses library.
19.5: How do I read the arrow keys? What about function keys?
A: Such things depend on the keyboard, operating system, and
library you're using.
19.6: How do I read the mouse?
A: What system are you using?
19.7: How can I do serial ("comm") port I/O?
A: It's system-dependent.
19.8: How can I direct output to the printer?
A: See the full list for ideas.
19.9: How do I send escape sequences to control a terminal or other
device?
A: By sending them. ESC is '\033' in ASCII.
19.10: How can I do graphics?
A: There is no portable way.
19.11: How can I check whether a file exists?
A: You can try the access() or stat() functions. Otherwise, the
only guaranteed and portable way is to try opening the file.
19.12: How can I find out the size of a file, prior to reading it in?
A: You might be able to get an estimate using stat() or fseek/ftell
(but see the full list for caveats).
19.12a: How can I find the modification date of a file?
A: Try stat().
19.13: How can a file be shortened in-place without completely clearing
or rewriting it?
A: There are various ways to do this, but there is no portable
solution.
19.14: How can I insert or delete a line in the middle of a file?
A: Short of rewriting the file, you probably can't.
19.15: How can I recover the file name given an open file descriptor?
A: This problem is, in general, insoluble. It is best to remember
the names of files yourself when you open them
19.16: How can I delete a file?
A: The Standard C Library function is remove().
19.17: What's wrong with the call fopen("c:\newdir\file.dat", "r")?
A: You probably need to double those backslashes.
19.18: How can I increase the allowable number of simultaneously open
files?
A: Check your system documentation.
19.20: How can I read a directory in a C program?
A: See if you can use the opendir() and readdir() routines.
19.22: How can I find out how much memory is available?
A: Your operating system may provide a routine which returns this
information.
19.23: How can I allocate arrays or structures bigger than 64K?
A: Some operating systems won't let you.
19.24: What does the error message "DGROUP exceeds 64K" mean?
A: It means that you have too much static data.
19.25: How can I access memory located at a certain address?
A: Set a pointer to the absolute address.
19.27: How can I invoke another program from within a C program?
A: Use system().
19.30: How can I invoke another program and trap its output?
A: Unix and some other systems provide a popen() routine.
19.31: How can my program discover the complete pathname to the
executable from which it was invoked?
A: argv[0] may contain all or part of the pathname. You may be
able to duplicate the command language interpreter's search path
logic to locate the executable.
19.32: How can I automatically locate a program's configuration files
in the same directory as the executable?
A: It's hard; see also question 19.31 above.
19.33: How can a process change an environment variable in its caller?
A: If it's possible to do so at all, it's system dependent.
19.36: How can I read in an object file and jump to routines in it?
A: You want a dynamic linker or loader.
19.37: How can I implement a delay, or time a user's response, with sub-
second resolution?
A: Unfortunately, there is no portable way.
19.38: How can I trap or ignore keyboard interrupts like control-C?
A: Use signal().
19.39: How can I handle floating-point exceptions gracefully?
A: Take a look at matherr() and signal(SIGFPE).
19.40: How do I... Use sockets? Do networking? Write client/server
applications?
A: These questions have more to do with the networking facilities
you have available than they do with C.
19.40b: How do I use BIOS calls? How can I write ISR's? How can I
create TSR's?
A: These are very particular to specific systems.
19.41: But I can't use all these nonstandard, system-dependent
functions, because my program has to be ANSI compatible!
A: That's an impossible requirement. Any real program requires at
least a few services which ANSI doesn't define.
Section 20. Miscellaneous
20.1: How can I return multiple values from a function?
A: Either pass pointers to several locations which the function can
fill in, or have the function return a structure containing the
desired values.
20.3: How do I access command-line arguments?
A: Via main()'s argv parameter.
20.5: How can I write data files which can be read on other machines
with different data formats?
A: The most portable solution is to use text files.
20.6: How can I call a function, given its name as a string?
A: The most straightforward thing to do is to maintain a
correspondence table of names and function pointers.
20.8: How can I implement sets or arrays of bits?
A: Use arrays of char or int, with a few macros to access the
desired bit at the proper index.
20.9: How can I determine whether a machine's byte order is big-endian
or little-endian?
A: The usual tricks involve pointers or unions.
20.10: How can I convert integers to binary or hexadecimal?
A: Internally, integers are already in binary. During I/O, you may
be able to select a base.
20.11: Can I use base-2 constants (something like 0b101010)?
Is there a printf() format for binary?
A: No, on both counts.
20.12: What is the most efficient way to count the number of bits which
are set in a value?
A: Many "bit-fiddling" problems like this one can be sped up and
streamlined using lookup tables.
20.13: What's the best way of making my program efficient?
A: By picking good algorithms and implementing them carefully.
20.14: Are pointers really faster than arrays? How much do function
calls slow things down?
A: Precise answers to these and many similar questions depend on
the processor and compiler in use.
20.17: Is there a way to switch on strings?
A: Not directly.
20.18: Is there a way to have non-constant case labels (i.e. ranges or
arbitrary expressions)?
A: No.
20.19: Are the outer parentheses in return statements really optional?
A: Yes.
20.20: Why don't C comments nest? Are they legal inside quoted
strings?
A: C comments don't nest because PL/I's comments don't either. The
character sequences /* and */ are not special within double-
quoted strings.
20.24: Why doesn't C have nested functions?
A: They were deliberately left out of C as a simplification.
20.25: How can I call FORTRAN (C++, BASIC, Pascal, Ada, LISP) functions
from C?
A: The answer is entirely dependent on the machine and the specific
calling sequences of the various compilers in use.
20.26: Does anyone know of a program for converting Pascal or FORTRAN
to C?
A: Several freely distributable programs are available, namely
ptoc, p2c, and f2c. See the full list for details.
20.27: Can I use a C++ compiler to compile C code?
A: Not necessarily; C++ is not a strict superset of C.
20.28: I need to compare two strings for close, but not necessarily
exact, equality.
A: See the full list for ideas.
20.29: What is hashing?
A: A mapping of strings (or other data structures) to integers, for
easier searching.
20.31: How can I find the day of the week given the date?
A: Use mktime(), Zeller's congruence, or some code in the full
list.
20.32: Will 2000 be a leap year?
A: Yes.
20.34: How do you write a program which produces its own source code as
its output?
A: Here's one:
char*s="char*s=%c%s%c;main(){printf(s,34,s,34);}";
main(){printf(s,34,s,34);}
20.35: What is "Duff's Device"?
A: It's a devastatingly deviously unrolled byte-copying loop. See
the full list for details.
20.36: When will the next Obfuscated C Code Contest be held? How can I
get a copy of previous winning entries?
A: See the full list, or send e-mail to judges@toad.com .
20.37: What was the entry keyword mentioned in K&R1?
A: It was reserved to allow functions with multiple, differently-
named entry points, but it has been withdrawn.
20.38: Where does the name "C" come from, anyway?
A: C was derived from B, which was inspired by BCPL, which was a
simplification of CPL.
20.39: How do you pronounce "char"?
A: Like the English words "char," "care," or "car" (your choice).
20.40: Where can I get extra copies of this list?
A: An up-to-date copy may be obtained from ftp.eskimo.com in
directory u/s/scs/C-faq/. You can also just pull it off the
net; the unabridged version is normally posted on the first of
each month, with an Expires: line which should keep it around
all month. It is also posted to the newsgroups comp.answers and
news.answers . Several sites archive news.answers postings and
other FAQ lists, including this one; two sites are rtfm.mit.edu
(directory pub/usenet), and ftp.uu.net (directory usenet). An
archie server should help you find others.
A hypertext version of this FAQ list is available at
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html .
An extended version has been published by Addison-Wesley
as _C Programming FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions_
(ISBN 0-201-84519-9).
