---
name: "wordexp.h"
section: "0p"
platform: "linux"
package: "man-pages"
version: "6.19-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/wordexp.h"
---

# wordexp.h(0p)

word-expansion types

## 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

wordexp.h — word-expansion types

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <wordexp.h>
```

## DESCRIPTION

The *\<wordexp.h\>* header shall define the structures and symbolic constants used by the *wordexp*() and *wordfree*() functions.

The *\<wordexp.h\>* header shall define the **wordexp\_t** structure type, which shall include at least the following members:

```
size_t   we_wordc  Count of words matched by words.
char   **we_wordv  Pointer to list of expanded words.
size_t   we_offs   Slots to reserve at the beginning of we_wordv.
```

The *\<wordexp.h\>* header shall define the following symbolic constants for use as flags for the *wordexp*() function:

- WRDE\_APPEND

  Append words to those previously generated.

- WRDE\_DOOFFS

  Number of null pointers to prepend to *we\_wordv*.

- WRDE\_NOCMD

  Fail if command substitution is requested.

- WRDE\_REUSE

  The *pwordexp* argument was passed to a previous successful call to *wordexp*(), and has not been passed to *wordfree*(). The result is the same as if the application had called *wordfree*() and then called *wordexp*() without WRDE\_REUSE.

- WRDE\_SHOWERR

  Do not redirect *stderr* to **/dev/null**.

- WRDE\_UNDEF

  Report error on an attempt to expand an undefined shell variable.

The *\<wordexp.h\>* header shall define the following symbolic constants as error return values:

- WRDE\_BADCHAR

  One of the unquoted characters—\<newline\>, **'\|'**, **'&'**, **';'**, **'\<'**, **'\>'**, **'('**, **')'**, **'{'**, **'}'**— appears in *words* in an inappropriate context.

- WRDE\_BADVAL

  Reference to undefined shell variable when WRDE\_UNDEF is set in *flags*.

- WRDE\_CMDSUB

  Command substitution requested when WRDE\_NOCMD was set in *flags*.

- WRDE\_NOSPACE

  Attempt to allocate memory failed.

- WRDE\_SYNTAX

  Shell syntax error, such as unbalanced parentheses or unterminated string.

The *\<wordexp.h\>* header shall define the **size\_t** type as described in *\<stddef.h\>*.

The following shall be declared as functions and may also be defined as macros. Function prototypes shall be provided.

```
int  wordexp(const char *restrict, wordexp_t *restrict, int);
void wordfree(wordexp_t *);
```

*The following sections are informative.*

## APPLICATION USAGE

None.

## RATIONALE

None.

## FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

## SEE ALSO

***\<stddef.h\>***

The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2017, *Section 2.6*, *Word Expansions*

## COPYRIGHT

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 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 .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting\_bugs.html .