.\" Public Domain, March 1996, Steven M. Schultz
.\"
.\"	@(#)syserrlst.3	1.1 (2.11BSD) 1996/3/26
.\"
.TH SYSERRLST 3  "March 26, 1996"
.UC 2
.SH NAME
syserrlst, __errlst \- read system error messages from file
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B char *
.B syserrlst(err)
.B int err;
.PP
.B char *
.B __errlst(err, path);
.B int err;
.B char *path;
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.BR Syserrlst (3)
reads the error message string corresponding to \fIerr\fP from the
file \fI/etc/syserrlst\fP.
.PP
.BR __errlst(3)
reads the error message string corresponding to \fIerr\fP from the
file \fIpath\fP.  The file \fIpath\fP must be in the format described
in 
.BR syserrlst (5).
.PP
.B NULL
is returned if \fIerr\fP is out of bounds (negative or greater than the
highest message number in \fI/etc/syserrlst\fP or \fIpath\fP) or if the
error message file can not be opened.  It is the
responsibility of the caller (\fBstrerror\fP(3))
to check for and properly handle the \fINULL\fP return.
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
.B NULL
if an error was encountered in opening the error message file, if the
error was out of bounds, or if the file did not start with the correct
magic number.  Otherwise a 
.B "char *"
is returned pointing to a static buffer containing the text of the error
message.
.SH ERRORS
.BR syserrlst (3)
and
.BR __errlst (3)
can return any of the errors for the
.BR open (2),
.BR lseek (2),
or
.BR read (2)
system calls.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
perror(3),
strerror(3),
syserrlst(5)
.SH HISTORY
.BR syserrlst (3),
and
.BR __errlst (3)
were created for 2.11BSD with the aim of saving 2kb of \fBData\fP space
in programs which called 
.BR perror (3),
or
.BR strerror (3).
.SH BUGS
The information is stored in a static buffer.