csqrt(3)

csqrt3

Complex square root functions

Usage

#include <complex.h>

double complex

csqrt(double complex z);

float complex

csqrtf(float complex z);

long double complex

csqrtl(long double complex z);

Library

Math Library (libm, -lm)

Overview

The csqrt(), csqrtf(), and csqrtl() functions compute the square root of z in the complex plane, with a branch cut along the negative real axis. In other words, csqrt(), csqrtf(), and csqrtl() always return the square root whose real part is non-negative.

Return values

These functions return the requested square root. The square root of 0 is +0 0, where the imaginary parts of the input and respective result have the same sign. For infinities and s, the following rules apply, with the earlier rules having precedence:

Input Result k + *I + *I (for all k) - + *I *I
+ *I + *I k + *I + *I
+ k*I + *I - + k*I +0 + *I
+ k*I + 0*I

For numbers with negative imaginary parts, the above special cases apply given the identity:

csqrt(conj(z)) = conj(csqrt(z))

Note that the sign of is indeterminate. Also, if the real or imaginary part of the input is finite and an is generated, an invalid exception will be thrown.

Releases

39 releases since FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE; the text changed 25 times.

  1. 8.0
  2. 8.1
  3. 8.2
  4. 8.3
  5. 8.4
  6. 9.0
  7. 9.1
  8. 9.2
  9. 9.3
  10. 10.0
  11. 10.1
  12. 10.2
  13. 10.3
  14. 10.4
  15. 11.0
  16. 11.1
  17. 11.2
  18. 11.3
  19. 11.4
  20. 12.0
  21. 12.1
  22. 12.2
  23. 12.3
  24. 12.4
  25. 13.0–13.2
  26. 13.3–16.0

Standards

The csqrt(), csqrtf(), and csqrtl() functions conform to ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (“ISO C99”).

Bugs

For csqrt() and csqrtl(), inexact results are not always correctly rounded.

From base 16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79 in FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27). Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.