---
name: "puts"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "man-pages"
version: "6.19-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/puts"
---

# puts(3)

output of characters and strings

## NAME

fputc, fputs, putc, putchar, puts - output of characters and strings

## LIBRARY

Standard C library (*libc*, *-lc*)

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <stdio.h>
```

**int fputc(int** *c***, FILE \****stream***);** **int putc(int** *c***, FILE \****stream***);** **int putchar(int** *c***);**

**int fputs(const char \*restrict** *s***, FILE \*restrict** *stream***);** **int puts(const char \****s***);**

## DESCRIPTION

**fputc**() writes the character *c*, cast to an *unsigned char*, to *stream*.

**putc**() is equivalent to **fputc**() except that it may be implemented as a macro which evaluates *stream* more than once.

*putchar(c)* is equivalent to *putc(c, stdout)*.

**fputs**() writes the string *s* to *stream*, without its terminating null byte ('\\0').

**puts**() writes the string *s* and a trailing newline to *stdout*.

Calls to the functions described here can be mixed with each other and with calls to other output functions from the *stdio* library for the same output stream.

For nonlocking counterparts, see [**unlocked\_stdio**(3)](/unlocked_stdio/3.md).

## RETURN VALUE

**fputc**(), **putc**(), and **putchar**() return the character written as an *unsigned char* cast to an *int* or **EOF** on error.

**puts**() and **fputs**() return a nonnegative number on success, or **EOF** on error.

## ATTRIBUTES

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see [**attributes**(7)](/attributes/7.md).

| | | |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Interface** | **Attribute** | **Value** |
| **fputc**(), **fputs**(), **putc**(), **putchar**(), **puts**() | Thread safety | MT-Safe |

## STANDARDS

C11, POSIX.1-2008.

## HISTORY

POSIX.1-2001, C89, C99.

## BUGS

It is not advisable to mix calls to output functions from the *stdio* library with low-level calls to [**write**(2)](/write/2.md) for the file descriptor associated with the same output stream; the results will be undefined and very probably not what you want.

## SEE ALSO

[**write**(2)](/write/2.md), [**ferror**(3)](/ferror/3.md), [**fgets**(3)](/fgets/3.md), [**fopen**(3)](/fopen/3.md), [**fputwc**(3)](/fputwc/3.md), [**fputws**(3)](/fputws/3.md), [**fseek**(3)](/fseek/3.md), [**fwrite**(3)](/fwrite/3.md), [**putwchar**(3)](/putwchar/3.md), [**scanf**(3)](/scanf/3.md), [**unlocked\_stdio**(3)](/unlocked_stdio/3.md)