strsignal(3)		    Library Functions Manual		    strsignal(3)

NAME
     strsignal,	 sigabbrev_np, sigdescr_np, sys_siglist - return string describ-
     ing signal

LIBRARY
     Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <string.h>

     char *strsignal(int sig);
     const char *sigdescr_np(int sig);
     const char *sigabbrev_np(int sig);

     [[deprecated]] extern const char *const sys_siglist[];

 Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

     sigabbrev_np(), sigdescr_np():
	 _GNU_SOURCE

     strsignal():
	 From glibc 2.10 to glibc 2.31:
	     _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
	 Before glibc 2.10:
	     _GNU_SOURCE

     sys_siglist:
	 Since glibc 2.19:
	     _DEFAULT_SOURCE
	 glibc 2.19 and earlier:
	     _BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
     The strsignal() function returns a	 string	 describing  the  signal  number
     passed  in	 the  argument	sig.  The string can be used only until the next
     call to strsignal().  The string returned by strsignal() is  localized  ac-
     cording to the LC_MESSAGES category in the current locale.

     The  sigdescr_np()	 function  returns a string describing the signal number
     passed in the argument sig.  Unlike strsignal() this string is  not  influ-
     enced by the current locale.

     The  sigabbrev_np()  function  returns  the abbreviated name of the signal,
     sig.  For example, given the value SIGINT, it returns the string "INT".

     The (deprecated) array sys_siglist holds the signal description strings in-
     dexed by signal number.  The  strsignal()	or  the	 sigdescr_np()	function
     should be used instead of this array; see also VERSIONS.

RETURN VALUE
     The  strsignal() function returns the appropriate description string, or an
     unknown signal message if the signal number is invalid.   On  some	 systems
     (but not on Linux), NULL may instead be returned for an invalid signal num-
     ber.

     The  sigdescr_np()	 and sigabbrev_np() functions return the appropriate de-
     scription string.	The returned string is statically  allocated  and  valid
     for  the  lifetime	 of the program.  These functions return NULL for an in-
     valid signal number.

ATTRIBUTES
     For an explanation of the terms used in this  section,  see  attributes(7).
     allbox; lb lb lbx l l l.  Interface Attribute Value T{ strsignal()
     T}	  Thread safety	  T{ MT-Unsafe race:strsignal locale T} T{
     sigdescr_np(), sigabbrev_np() T}	Thread safety  MT-Safe

STANDARDS
     strsignal()
	    POSIX.1-2008.

     sigdescr_np()
     sigabbrev_np()
	    GNU.

     sys_siglist
	    None.

HISTORY
     strsignal()
	    POSIX.1-2008.  Solaris, BSD.

     sigdescr_np()
     sigabbrev_np()
	    glibc 2.32.

     sys_siglist
	    Removed in glibc 2.32.

NOTES
     sigdescr_np() and sigabbrev_np() are thread-safe and async-signal-safe.

SEE ALSO
     psignal(3), strerror(3)

Linux man-pages 6.18		   2026-02-08			    strsignal(3)