ASSERT(3C) Standard C Library Functions ASSERT(3C)

assert - verify program assertion

#include <assert.h>
void assert(int expression);

The assert() macro inserts diagnostics into applications. When executed, if expression is FALSE (zero), assert() prints the error message


Assertion failed: expression, file xyz, line nnn

on the standard error output and aborts. In the error message, xyz is the name of the source file and nnn the source line number of the assert() statement. These are respectively the values of the preprocessor macros __FILE__ and __LINE__.

Since assert() is implemented as a macro, the expression may not contain any string literals.

Compiling with the preprocessor option -DNDEBUG or with the preprocessor control statement #define NDEBUG ahead of the #include <assert.h> statement, will stop assertions from being compiled into the program.

Messages printed from this function are in the native language specified by the LC_MESSAGES locale category. See setlocale(3C).

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Interface Stability Committed
MT-Level Safe
Standard See standards(7).

abort(3C), gettext(3C), setlocale(3C), attributes(7), standards(7)

March 30, 2005 OmniOS