ASSERT(3P)

PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
assert - insert program diagnostics

SYNOPSIS

#include <assert.h>

void assert(scalar expression);

DESCRIPTION

The assert() macro shall insert diagnostics into programs; it shall expand to a void expression. When it is executed, if expression (which shall have a scalar type) is false (that is, compares equal to 0), assert() shall write information about the particular call that failed on stderr and shall call abort().

The information written about the call that failed shall include the text of the argument, the name of the source file, the source file line number, and the name of the enclosing function; the latter are, respectively, the values of the preprocessing macros __FILE__ and __LINE__ and of the identifier __func__.

Forcing a definition of the name NDEBUG, either from the compiler command line or with the preprocessor control statement #define NDEBUG ahead of the #include <assert.h> statement, shall stop assertions from being compiled into the program.

RETURN VALUE

The assert() macro shall not return a value.

ERRORS

No errors are defined.

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

None.

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

abort(), stderr, the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <assert.h>

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .