INTRO(3)

NAME
intro - introduction to the C libraries

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, libSystem. Other libraries must be indicated at compile time with the -l option of the compiler.

The various libraries (followed by the loader flag):

libSystem (-lSystem)
    Standard C library functions. When using the C compiler cc(1), it is not necessary to supply the loader flag -lSystem for these functions. There are several `libraries' or groups of functions included inside of libSystem: the standard 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.

    For compatibility with other systems, which provide these capabilities in separate libraries (such as libc), symbolic links are provided for -lc, -ldbm, -ldl, -linfo, -lm, -lpoll, -lpthread and -lrpcsvc; they all point to libSystem.

libcurses (-lcurses -ltermcap)
    Terminal independent screen management routines for two dimensional non-bitmap display terminals. (See ncurses(3).)

libl (-ll)
    The library for lex(1).

libtermcap (-ltermcap)
    The terminal independent operation library package. (See termcap(3).)

liby (-ly)
    The library for yacc(1).

FILES
/usr/lib/libSystem.dylib
    the main System library
/usr/lib/libSystem_debug.dylib
    the main System library compiled with debug support
/usr/lib/libSystem_profile.dylib
    the main System library compiled for profiling

SEE ALSO
cc(1), ld(1), nm(1), intro(2), stdio(3)

HISTORY
An intro manual appeared in AT&T UNIX.