.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)intro.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93 .\" $FreeBSD: src/share/man/man3/intro.3,v 1.14 2001/08/07 15:48:38 ru Exp $ .\" .Dd Aug 17, 2006 .Dt INTRO 3 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm intro .Nd introduction to the C libraries .Sh DESCRIPTION This section provides an overview of the C library functions, their error returns and other common definitions and concepts. Most of these functions are available from the System library, .Em libSystem . Other libraries must be indicated at compile time with the .Fl l option of the compiler. .Pp The various libraries (followed by the loader flag): .Bl -tag -width "libSystem (-lSystem)" .It Xr libSystem Pq Fl l Ns Ar System Standard C library functions. When using the C compiler .Xr cc 1 , it is not necessary to supply the loader flag .Fl l Ns Ar System for these functions. There are several `libraries' or groups of functions included inside of .Xr libSystem : the standard .Tn I/O routines, database routines, bit operators, string operators, character tests and character operators, des encryption routines, storage allocation, time functions, signal handling and more. .Pp For compatibility with other systems, which provide these capabilities in separate libraries (such as .Xr libc ) , symbolic links are provided for .Fl l Ns Ar c , .Fl l Ns Ar dbm , .Fl l Ns Ar dl , .Fl l Ns Ar info , .Fl l Ns Ar m , .Fl l Ns Ar poll , .Fl l Ns Ar pthread and .Fl l Ns Ar rpcsvc ; they all point to .Xr libSystem . .It Xr libcurses Pq Fl l Ns Ar curses Fl l Ns Ar termcap Terminal independent screen management routines for two dimensional non-bitmap display terminals. (See .Xr ncurses 3 . ) .It Xr libl Pq Fl l Ns Ar l The library for .Xr lex 1 . .It Xr libtermcap Pq Fl l Ns Ar termcap The terminal independent operation library package. (See .Xr termcap 3 . ) .\" .It libvt0.a .It Xr liby Pq Fl l Ns Ar y The library for .Xr yacc 1 . .El .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width /usr/lib/libSystem_profile.dylib -compact .It Pa /usr/lib/libSystem.dylib the main System library .It Pa /usr/lib/libSystem_debug.dylib the main System library compiled with debug support .It Pa /usr/lib/libSystem_profile.dylib the main System library compiled for profiling .El .Sh SEE ALSO .\" .Xr libc 3 , .Xr cc 1 , .Xr ld 1 , .Xr nm 1 , .Xr intro 2 , .Xr stdio 3 .\" .Sh LIST OF FUNCTIONS .\" .Bl -column "strncasecmpxxx" "system" .\" .Sy Name Description .\" .El .Sh HISTORY An .Nm manual appeared in .At v7 .