carta
fputc_unlocked(3)

fputc_unlocked3

Output a character or word to a stream

Part of fputc(3).

Usage

int

int

int

int

int

int

int

Library

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

Overview

The fputc() function writes the character c (converted to an ``unsigned char'') to the output stream pointed to by stream.

The putc() macro acts essentially identically to fputc(), but is a macro that expands in-line. It may evaluate stream more than once, so arguments given to putc() should not be expressions with potential side effects.

The putchar() function is identical to putc() with an output stream of stdout.

The putw() function writes the specified int to the named output stream.

The fputc_unlocked(), putc_unlocked(), and putchar_unlocked() functions are equivalent to fputc(), putc(), and putchar() respectively, except that the caller is responsible for locking the stream with flockfile(3) before calling them. These functions may be used to avoid the overhead of locking the stream for each character, and to avoid output being interspersed from multiple threads writing to the same stream.

Return values

The functions, fputc(), putc(), putchar(), putc_unlocked() and putchar_unlocked() return the character written. If an error occurs, the value EOF is returned. The putw() function returns 0 on success; EOF is returned if a write error occurs, or if an attempt is made to write a read-only stream.

Standards

The functions fputc(), putc(), and putchar(), conform to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (“ISO C90”). The putc_unlocked() and putchar_unlocked() functions conform to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”). A function putw() function appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

Bugs

The size and byte order of an int varies from one machine to another, and putw() is not recommended for portable applications.

From base 16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79 in FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27). Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.