The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6
IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition
Copyright © 2001-2004 The IEEE and The Open Group, All Rights reserved.
A newer edition of this document exists here

NAME

strtol, strtoll - convert a string to a long integer

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>

long strtol(const char *restrict
str, char **restrict endptr, int base);
long long strtoll(const char *restrict
str, char **restrict endptr,
       int
base)

DESCRIPTION

[CX] [Option Start] The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 defers to the ISO C standard. [Option End]

These functions shall convert the initial portion of the string pointed to by str to a type long and long long representation, respectively. First, they decompose the input string into three parts:

  1. An initial, possibly empty, sequence of white-space characters (as specified by isspace())

  2. A subject sequence interpreted as an integer represented in some radix determined by the value of base

  3. A final string of one or more unrecognized characters, including the terminating null byte of the input string.

Then they shall attempt to convert the subject sequence to an integer, and return the result.

If the value of base is 0, the expected form of the subject sequence is that of a decimal constant, octal constant, or hexadecimal constant, any of which may be preceded by a '+' or '-' sign. A decimal constant begins with a non-zero digit, and consists of a sequence of decimal digits. An octal constant consists of the prefix '0' optionally followed by a sequence of the digits '0' to '7' only. A hexadecimal constant consists of the prefix 0x or 0X followed by a sequence of the decimal digits and letters 'a' (or 'A' ) to 'f' (or 'F' ) with values 10 to 15 respectively.

If the value of base is between 2 and 36, the expected form of the subject sequence is a sequence of letters and digits representing an integer with the radix specified by base, optionally preceded by a '+' or '-' sign. The letters from 'a' (or 'A' ) to 'z' (or 'Z' ) inclusive are ascribed the values 10 to 35; only letters whose ascribed values are less than that of base are permitted. If the value of base is 16, the characters 0x or 0X may optionally precede the sequence of letters and digits, following the sign if present.

The subject sequence is defined as the longest initial subsequence of the input string, starting with the first non-white-space character that is of the expected form. The subject sequence shall contain no characters if the input string is empty or consists entirely of white-space characters, or if the first non-white-space character is other than a sign or a permissible letter or digit.

If the subject sequence has the expected form and the value of base is 0, the sequence of characters starting with the first digit shall be interpreted as an integer constant. If the subject sequence has the expected form and the value of base is between 2 and 36, it shall be used as the base for conversion, ascribing to each letter its value as given above. If the subject sequence begins with a minus sign, the value resulting from the conversion shall be negated. A pointer to the final string shall be stored in the object pointed to by endptr, provided that endptr is not a null pointer.

In other than the C [CX] [Option Start]  or POSIX [Option End] locales, other implementation-defined subject sequences may be accepted.

If the subject sequence is empty or does not have the expected form, no conversion is performed; the value of str is stored in the object pointed to by endptr, provided that endptr is not a null pointer.

[CX] [Option Start] The strtol() function shall not change the setting of errno if successful.

Since 0, {LONG_MIN} or {LLONG_MIN}, and {LONG_MAX} or {LLONG_MAX} are returned on error and are also valid returns on success, an application wishing to check for error situations should set errno to 0, then call strtol() or strtoll(), then check errno. [Option End]

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, these functions shall return the converted value, if any. If no conversion could be performed, 0 shall be returned [CX] [Option Start]  and errno may be set to [EINVAL]. [Option End]

If the correct value is outside the range of representable values, {LONG_MIN}, {LONG_MAX}, {LLONG_MIN}, or {LLONG_MAX} shall be returned (according to the sign of the value), and errno set to [ERANGE].

ERRORS

These functions shall fail if:

[ERANGE]
The value to be returned is not representable.

These functions may fail if:

[EINVAL]
[CX] [Option Start] The value of base is not supported. [Option End]

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

None.

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

isalpha(), scanf(), strtod(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <stdlib.h>

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 1. Derived from Issue 1 of the SVID.

Issue 5

The DESCRIPTION is updated to indicate that errno is not changed if the function is successful.

Issue 6

Extensions beyond the ISO C standard are marked.

The following new requirements on POSIX implementations derive from alignment with the Single UNIX Specification:

The following changes are made for alignment with the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard:

End of informative text.

UNIX ® is a registered Trademark of The Open Group.
POSIX ® is a registered Trademark of The IEEE.
[ Main Index | XBD | XCU | XSH | XRAT ]