The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6
IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition
Copyright © 2001-2004 The IEEE and The Open Group

Typographical Conventions
The following typographical conventions are used throughout this standard. In the text, this standard is referred to as IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, which is technically identical to The Open Group Base Specifications, Issue 6.

The typographical conventions listed here are for ease of reading only. Editorial inconsistencies in the use of typography are unintentional and have no normative meaning in this standard.

Reference

Example

Notes

C-Language Data Structure

aiocb

 

C-Language Data Structure Member

aio_lio_opcode

 

C-Language Data Type

long

 

C-Language External Variable

errno

 

C-Language Function

system()

 

C-Language Function Argument

arg1

 

C-Language Function Family

exec

 

C-Language Header

<sys/stat.h>

 

C-Language Keyword

return

 

C-Language Macro with Argument

assert()

 

C-Language Macro with No Argument

INET_ADDRSTRLEN

 

C-Language Preprocessing Directive

#define

 

Commands within a Utility

a, c

 

Conversion Specification, Specifier/Modifier Character

%A, g, E

1

Environment Variable

PATH

 

Error Number

[EINTR]

 

Example Output

Hello, World

 

Filename

/tmp

 

Literal Character

'c', '\r', '\'

2

Literal String

"abcde"

2

Optional Items in Utility Syntax

[]

 

Parameter

<directory pathname>

 

Special Character

<newline>

3

Symbolic Constant

_POSIX_VDISABLE

 

Symbolic Limit, Configuration Value

{LINE_MAX}

4

Syntax

#include <sys/stat.h>

 

User Input and Example Code

echo Hello, World

5

Utility Name

awk

 

Utility Operand

file_name

 

Utility Option

-c

 

Utility Option with Option-Argument

-w width

 

Notes:
  1. Conversion specifications, specifier characters, and modifier characters are used primarily in date-related functions and utilities and the fprintf and fscanf formatting functions.

  2. Unless otherwise noted, the quotes shall not be used as input or output. When used in a list item, the quotes are omitted. For literal characters, '\' (or any of the other sequences such as ''' ) is the same as the C constant '\\' (or '\'' ).

  3. The style selected for some of the special characters, such as <newline>, matches the form of the input given to the localedef utility. Generally, the characters selected for this special treatment are those that are not visually distinct, such as the control characters <tab> or <newline>.

  4. Names surrounded by braces represent symbolic limits or configuration values which may be declared in appropriate headers by means of the C #define construct.

  5. Brackets shown in this font, "[]" , are part of the syntax and do not indicate optional items. In syntax the '|' symbol is used to separate alternatives, and ellipses ( "..." ) are used to show that additional arguments are optional.

Shading is used to identify extensions and options; see .

Footnotes and notes within the body of the normative text are for information only (informative).

Informative sections (such as Rationale, Change History, Application Usage, and so on) are denoted by continuous shading bars in the margins.

Ranges of values are indicated with parentheses or brackets as follows:

Note:
A symbolic limit beginning with POSIX is treated differently, depending on context. In a C-language header, the symbol POSIXstring (where string may contain underscores) is represented by the C identifier _POSIXstring, with a leading underscore required to prevent ISO C standard name space pollution. However, in other contexts, such as languages other than C, the leading underscore is not used because this requirement does not exist.

UNIX ® is a registered Trademark of The Open Group.
POSIX ® is a registered Trademark of The IEEE.
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