Character classification functions
#include <ctype.h> int isalnum(int c); int isalpha(int c); int iscntrl(int c); int isdigit(int c); int isgraph(int c); int islower(int c); int isprint(int c); int ispunct(int c); int isspace(int c); int isupper(int c); int isxdigit(int c); int isascii(int c); int isblank(int c); int isalnum_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isalpha_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isblank_l(int c, locale_t locale); int iscntrl_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isdigit_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isgraph_l(int c, locale_t locale); int islower_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isprint_l(int c, locale_t locale); int ispunct_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isspace_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isupper_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isxdigit_l(int c, locale_t locale); int isascii_l(int c, locale_t locale);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
isascii():
_BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE
isblank():
_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 600 || _ISOC99_SOURCE || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L;
or cc -std=c99
isalnum_l(), isalpha_l(), isblank_l(), iscntrl_l(), isdigit_l(), isgraph_l(), islower_l(), isprint_l(), ispunct_l(), isspace_l(), isupper_l(), isxdigit_l():
Since glibc 2.10:
_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700
Before glibc 2.10:
_GNU_SOURCE
isascii_l():
Since glibc 2.10:
_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700 && (_SVID_SOURCE || _BSD_SOURCE)
Before glibc 2.10:
_GNU_SOURCE
These functions check whether c, which must have the value of an unsigned char or EOF, falls into a certain character class according to the specified locale. The functions without the "_l" suffix perform the check based on the current locale.
The functions with the "_l" suffix perform the check based on the locale specified by the locale object locale. The behavior of these functions is undefined if locale is the special locale object LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE (see duplocale(3)) or is not a valid locale object handle.
The list below explains the operation of the functions without the "_l" suffix; the functions with the "_l" suffix differ only in using the locale object locale instead of the current locale.
isalnum()
checks for an alphanumeric character; it is equivalent to (isalpha(c) || isdigit(c)).
isalpha()
checks for an alphabetic character; in the standard "C" locale, it is equivalent to (isupper(c) || islower(c)). In some locales, there may be additional characters for which isalpha() is true–letters which are neither uppercase nor lowercase.
isascii()
checks whether c is a 7-bit unsigned char value that fits into the ASCII character set.
isblank()
checks for a blank character; that is, a space or a tab.
iscntrl()
checks for a control character.
isdigit()
checks for a digit (0 through 9).
isgraph()
checks for any printable character except space.
islower()
checks for a lowercase character.
isprint()
checks for any printable character including space.
ispunct()
checks for any printable character which is not a space or an alphanumeric character.
isspace()
checks for white-space characters. In the C and POSIX locales, these are: space, form-feed ('\f'), newline ('\n'), carriage return ('\r'), horizontal tab ('\t'), and vertical tab ('\v').
isupper()
checks for an uppercase letter.
isxdigit()
checks for hexadecimal digits, that is, one of
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f A B C D E F.
The values returned are nonzero if the character c falls into the tested class, and zero if not.
The isalnum(), isalpha(), isascii(), isblank(), iscntrl(), isdigit(), isgraph(), islower(), isprint(), ispunct(), isspace(), isupper(), and isxdigit() functions are thread-safe.
isalnum_l(), isalpha_l(), isblank_l(), iscntrl_l(), isdigit_l(), isgraph_l(), islower_l(), isprint_l(), ispunct_l(), isspace_l(), isupper_l(), isxdigit_l(), and isascii_l() are available since glibc 2.3.
C89 specifies isalnum(), isalpha(), iscntrl(), isdigit(), isgraph(), islower(), isprint(), ispunct(), isspace(), isupper(), and isxdigit(), but not isascii() and isblank(). POSIX.1-2001 also specifies those functions, and also isascii() (as an XSI extension) and isblank(). C99 specifies all of the preceding functions, except isascii().
POSIX.1-2008 marks isascii() as obsolete, noting that it cannot be used portably in a localized application.
POSIX.1-2008 specifies isalnum_l(), isalpha_l(), isblank_l(), iscntrl_l(), isdigit_l(), isgraph_l(), islower_l(), isprint_l(), ispunct_l(), isspace_l(), isupper_l(), and isxdigit_l().
isascii_l() is a GNU extension.
The details of what characters belong to which class depend on the locale. For example, isupper() will not recognize an A-umlaut (Ä) as an uppercase letter in the default C locale.
This page is part of release 3.74 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.