gcvt(3) — Linux manual page

NAME | LIBRARY | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ATTRIBUTES | STANDARDS | HISTORY | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

gcvt(3)                  Library Functions Manual                 gcvt(3)

NAME         top

       gcvt - convert a floating-point number to a string

LIBRARY         top

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <stdlib.h>

       char *gcvt(double number, int ndigit, char *buf);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see
   feature_test_macros(7)):

       gcvt():
           Since glibc 2.17
               (_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 && ! (_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L))
                   || /* glibc >= 2.20 */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE
                   || /* glibc <= 2.19 */ _SVID_SOURCE
           glibc 2.12 to glibc 2.16:
               (_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 && ! (_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L))
                   || _SVID_SOURCE
           Before glibc 2.12:
               _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500

DESCRIPTION         top

       The gcvt() function converts number to a minimal length null-
       terminated ASCII string and stores the result in buf.  It produces
       ndigit significant digits in either printf(3) F format or E
       format.

RETURN VALUE         top

       The gcvt() function returns buf.

ATTRIBUTES         top

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
       attributes(7).
       โ”Œโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ฌโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”
       โ”‚ Interface                            โ”‚ Attribute     โ”‚ Value   โ”‚
       โ”œโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ผโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ผโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ค
       โ”‚ gcvt()                               โ”‚ Thread safety โ”‚ MT-Safe โ”‚
       โ””โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”ดโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”˜

STANDARDS         top

       None.

HISTORY         top

       Marked as LEGACY in POSIX.1-2001.  POSIX.1-2008 removed it,
       recommending the use of sprintf(3) instead (though snprintf(3) may
       be preferable).

SEE ALSO         top

       ecvt(3), fcvt(3), sprintf(3)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the man-pages (Linux kernel and C library
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Linux man-pages 6.18            2026-02-08                        gcvt(3)

Pages that refer to this page: ecvt(3)qecvt(3)