lint question
Guy Harris
guy at auspex.UUCP
Thu Jan 12 04:58:20 AEST 1989
>The return values of the printf family functions are not very
>consistently defined. Because of this, one should never use their
>return value.
More correctly:
There exist at least two definitions of the return values
of the printf family functions. Because of this, you should
only use their return value if you know your software will be
built only in environments where one particular definition
is in effect.
The System V definition has them returning the number of
characters printed on success, or EOF on failure, and this
is also the definition in the current dpANS. Thus, this
definition will become more common in the future; eventually,
most, if not all, systems will use this definition. Even UNIX
systems that "started with 4BSD" often have environments in
which this definition is used.
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