1.\" $MirOS: src/lib/libc/stdlib/strtonum.3,v 1.3 2005/09/22 20:15:31 tg Exp $
2.\" $OpenBSD: strtonum.3,v 1.11 2005/04/14 07:58:46 jmc Exp $
3.\"
4.\" Copyright (c) 2004 Ted Unangst
5.\"
6.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
7.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
8.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
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10.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
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12.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
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18.Dd April 29, 2004
19.Dt STRTONUM 3
20.Os
21.Sh NAME
22.Nm strtonum
23.Nd "reliably convert string value to an integer"
24.Sh SYNOPSIS
25.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
26.Fd #include <limits.h>
27.Ft long long
28.Fo strtonum
29.Fa "const char *nptr"
30.Fa "long long minval"
31.Fa "long long maxval"
32.Fa "const char **errstr"
33.Fc
34.Sh DESCRIPTION
35The
36.Fn strtonum
37function converts the string in
38.Fa nptr
39to a
40.Li long long
41value.
42The
43.Fn strtonum
44function was designed to facilitate safe, robust programming
45and overcome the shortcomings of the
46.Xr atoi 3
47and
48.Xr strtol 3
49family of interfaces.
50.Pp
51The string may begin with an arbitrary amount of whitespace
52(as determined by
53.Xr isspace 3 )
54followed by a single optional
55.Ql +
56or
57.Ql -
58sign.
59.Pp
60The remainder of the string is converted to a
61.Li long long
62value according to base 10.
63On
64.Mx ,
65if the value is prefixed by
66.Sq 0
67or
68.Sq 0x ,
69conversion is done according to base 8 or 16, respectively.
70This is a change in the underlying library and only visible
71to the user, not to the programme using
72.Fn strtonum .
73.Pp
74The value obtained is then checked against the provided
75.Fa minval
76and
77.Fa maxval
78bounds.
79If
80.Fa errstr
81is non-null,
82.Fn strtonum
83stores an error string in
84.Fa *errstr
85indicating the failure.
86.Sh RETURN VALUES
87The
88.Fn strtonum
89function returns the result of the conversion,
90unless the value would exceed the provided bounds or is invalid.
91On error, 0 is returned and
92.Fa errstr
93will point to an error message.
94.Fa *errstr
95will be set to
96.Dv NULL
97on success;
98this fact can be used to differentiate
99a successful return of 0 from an error.
100.Sh EXAMPLES
101Using
102.Fn strtonum
103correctly is meant to be simpler than the alternative functions.
104.Bd -literal -offset indent
105int iterations;
106const char *errstr;
107
108iterations = strtonum(optarg, 1, 64, &errstr);
109if (errstr)
110	errx(1, "number of iterations is %s: %s", errstr, optarg);
111.Ed
112.Pp
113The above example will guarantee that the value of iterations is between
1141 and 64.
115.Sh ERRORS
116.Bl -tag -width Er
117.It Bq Er ERANGE
118The given string was out of range.
119.It Bq Er EINVAL
120The given string did not consist solely of digit characters.
121.It Bq Er EINVAL
122.Ar minval
123was larger than
124.Ar maxval .
125.El
126.Pp
127If an error occurs,
128.Fa errstr
129will be set to one of the following strings:
130.Pp
131.Bl -tag -width "too largeXX" -compact
132.It too large
133The result was larger than the provided maximum value.
134.It too small
135The result was smaller than the provided minimum value.
136.It invalid
137The string did not consist solely of digit characters.
138.El
139.Sh SEE ALSO
140.Xr atof 3 ,
141.Xr atoi 3 ,
142.Xr atol 3 ,
143.Xr atoll 3 ,
144.Xr sscanf 3 ,
145.Xr strtod 3 ,
146.Xr strtol 3 ,
147.Xr strtoul 3
148.Sh STANDARDS
149.Fn strtonum
150is an
151.Ox
152extension.
153The existing alternatives, such as
154.Xr atoi 3
155and
156.Xr strtol 3 ,
157are either impossible or difficult to use safely.
158.Sh HISTORY
159The
160.Fn strtonum
161function first appeared in
162.Ox 3.6 .
163