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FENV(3)                       Linux Programmer's Manual                       FENV(3)

NAME         top

       feclearexcept,  fegetexceptflag, feraiseexcept, fesetexceptflag, fetestexcept,
       fegetenv, fegetround, feholdexcept, fesetround, fesetenv,  feupdateenv,  feen-
       ableexcept,  fedisableexcept, fegetexcept - floating-point rounding and excep-
       tion handling

SYNOPSIS         top

       #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);

       Link with -lm.

DESCRIPTION         top

       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         top

       These functions return zero on success and nonzero if an error occurred.

VERSIONS         top

       These functions first appeared in glibc in version 2.1.

CONFORMING TO         top

       IEC 60559 (IEC 559:1989), ANSI/IEEE 854, C99, POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES         top

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 only defined 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 version
       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 (disable) 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         top

       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         top

       math_error(7)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of release 3.32 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found
       at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux                                 2010-10-31                              FENV(3)

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