fenv(3) — Linux manual page
fenv(3) Library Functions Manual fenv(3)
NAME
feclearexcept, fegetexceptflag, feraiseexcept, fesetexceptflag,
fetestexcept, fegetenv, fegetround, feholdexcept, fesetround,
fesetenv, feupdateenv, feenableexcept, fedisableexcept,
fegetexcept - floating-point rounding and exception handling
LIBRARY
Math library (libm, -lm)
SYNOPSIS
#include <fenv.h>
int feclearexcept(int excepts);
int fegetexceptflag(fexcept_t *flagp, int excepts);
int feraiseexcept(int excepts);
int fesetexceptflag(const fexcept_t *flagp, int excepts);
int fetestexcept(int excepts);
int fegetround(void);
int fesetround(int rounding_mode);
int fegetenv(fenv_t *envp);
int feholdexcept(fenv_t *envp);
int fesetenv(const fenv_t *envp);
int feupdateenv(const fenv_t *envp);
DESCRIPTION
These eleven functions were defined in C99, and describe the
handling of floating-point rounding and exceptions (overflow,
zero-divide, etc.).
Exceptions
The divide-by-zero exception occurs when an operation on finite
numbers produces infinity as exact answer.
The overflow exception occurs when a result has to be represented
as a floating-point number, but has (much) larger absolute value
than the largest (finite) floating-point number that is
representable.
The underflow exception occurs when a result has to be
represented as a floating-point number, but has smaller absolute
value than the smallest positive normalized floating-point number
(and would lose much accuracy when represented as a denormalized
number).
The inexact exception occurs when the rounded result of an
operation is not equal to the infinite precision result. It may
occur whenever overflow or underflow occurs.
The invalid exception occurs when there is no well-defined result
for an operation, as for 0/0 or infinity - infinity or sqrt(-1).
Exception handling
Exceptions are represented in two ways: as a single bit
(exception present/absent), and these bits correspond in some
implementation-defined way with bit positions in an integer, and
also as an opaque structure that may contain more information
about the exception (perhaps the code address where it occurred).
Each of the macros FE_DIVBYZERO, FE_INEXACT, FE_INVALID,
FE_OVERFLOW, FE_UNDERFLOW is defined when the implementation
supports handling of the corresponding exception, and if so then
defines the corresponding bit(s), so that one can call exception
handling functions, for example, using the integer argument
FE_OVERFLOW|FE_UNDERFLOW. Other exceptions may be supported.
The macro FE_ALL_EXCEPT is the bitwise OR of all bits
corresponding to supported exceptions.
The feclearexcept() function clears the supported exceptions
represented by the bits in its argument.
The fegetexceptflag() function stores a representation of the
state of the exception flags represented by the argument excepts
in the opaque object *flagp.
The feraiseexcept() function raises the supported exceptions
represented by the bits in excepts.
The fesetexceptflag() function sets the complete status for the
exceptions represented by excepts to the value *flagp. This
value must have been obtained by an earlier call of
fegetexceptflag() with a last argument that contained all bits in
excepts.
The fetestexcept() function returns a word in which the bits are
set that were set in the argument excepts and for which the
corresponding exception is currently set.
Rounding mode
The rounding mode determines how the result of floating-point
operations is treated when the result cannot be exactly
represented in the significand. Various rounding modes may be
provided: round to nearest (the default), round up (toward
positive infinity), round down (toward negative infinity), and
round toward zero.
Each of the macros FE_TONEAREST, FE_UPWARD, FE_DOWNWARD, and
FE_TOWARDZERO is defined when the implementation supports getting
and setting the corresponding rounding direction.
The fegetround() function returns the macro corresponding to the
current rounding mode.
The fesetround() function sets the rounding mode as specified by
its argument and returns zero when it was successful.
C99 and POSIX.1-2008 specify an identifier, FLT_ROUNDS, defined
in <float.h>, which indicates the implementation-defined rounding
behavior for floating-point addition. This identifier has one of
the following values:
-1 The rounding mode is not determinable.
0 Rounding is toward 0.
1 Rounding is toward nearest number.
2 Rounding is toward positive infinity.
3 Rounding is toward negative infinity.
Other values represent machine-dependent, nonstandard rounding
modes.
The value of FLT_ROUNDS should reflect the current rounding mode
as set by fesetround() (but see BUGS).
Floating-point environment
The entire floating-point environment, including control modes
and status flags, can be handled as one opaque object, of type
fenv_t. The default environment is denoted by FE_DFL_ENV (of
type const fenv_t *). This is the environment setup at program
start and it is defined by ISO C to have round to nearest, all
exceptions cleared and a nonstop (continue on exceptions) mode.
The fegetenv() function saves the current floating-point
environment in the object *envp.
The feholdexcept() function does the same, then clears all
exception flags, and sets a nonstop (continue on exceptions)
mode, if available. It returns zero when successful.
The fesetenv() function restores the floating-point environment
from the object *envp. This object must be known to be valid,
for example, the result of a call to fegetenv() or feholdexcept()
or equal to FE_DFL_ENV. This call does not raise exceptions.
The feupdateenv() function installs the floating-point
environment represented by the object *envp, except that
currently raised exceptions are not cleared. After calling this
function, the raised exceptions will be a bitwise OR of those
previously set with those in *envp. As before, the object *envp
must be known to be valid.
RETURN VALUE
These functions return zero on success and nonzero if an error
occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
attributes(7).
┌─────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
│ Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├─────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
│ feclearexcept(), fegetexceptflag(), │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
│ feraiseexcept(), fesetexceptflag(), │ │ │
│ fetestexcept(), fegetround(), │ │ │
│ fesetround(), fegetenv(), │ │ │
│ feholdexcept(), fesetenv(), │ │ │
│ feupdateenv(), feenableexcept(), │ │ │
│ fedisableexcept(), fegetexcept() │ │ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘
STANDARDS
C11, POSIX.1-2008, IEC 60559 (IEC 559:1989), ANSI/IEEE 854.
HISTORY
C99, POSIX.1-2001. glibc 2.1.
NOTES
glibc notes
If possible, the GNU C Library defines a macro FE_NOMASK_ENV
which represents an environment where every exception raised
causes a trap to occur. You can test for this macro using
#ifdef. It is defined only if _GNU_SOURCE is defined. The C99
standard does not define a way to set individual bits in the
floating-point mask, for example, to trap on specific flags.
Since glibc 2.2, glibc supports the functions feenableexcept()
and fedisableexcept() to set individual floating-point traps, and
fegetexcept() to query the state.
#define _GNU_SOURCE /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <fenv.h>
int feenableexcept(int excepts);
int fedisableexcept(int excepts);
int fegetexcept(void);
The feenableexcept() and fedisableexcept() functions enable (dis‐
able) traps for each of the exceptions represented by excepts and
return the previous set of enabled exceptions when successful,
and -1 otherwise. The fegetexcept() function returns the set of
all currently enabled exceptions.
BUGS
C99 specifies that the value of FLT_ROUNDS should reflect changes
to the current rounding mode, as set by fesetround(). Currently,
this does not occur: FLT_ROUNDS always has the value 1.
SEE ALSO
math_error(7)
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Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-05-02 fenv(3)
Pages that refer to this page: execve(2), fenv_t(3type), fma(3), j0(3), lrint(3), lround(3), matherr(3), pthread_create(3), remainder(3), rint(3), round(3), __setfpucw(3), y0(3), math_error(7)