fmtmsg(1)fmtmsg(1)NAMEfmtmsg - display a message on stderr or system console
SYNOPSISfmtmsg [-c class] [-u subclass] [-l label] [-s severity] [-t tag] [-a
action] text
DESCRIPTION
Based on a message's classification component, fmtmsg either writes a
formatted message to stderr or writes a formatted message to the console.
A formatted message consists of up to five standard components as defined
below. The classification and subclass components are not displayed as
part of the standard message, but rather define the source of the message
and direct the display of the formatted message. The valid options are:
-c class Describes the source of the message. Valid keywords are:
hard The source of the condition is hardware.
soft The source of the condition is software.
firm The source of the condition is firmware.
-u subclass A list of keywords (separated by commas) that further defines
the message and directs the display of the message. Valid
keywords are:
appl The condition originated in an application.
This keyword should not be used in combination
with either util or opsys.
util The condition originated in a utility. This
keyword should not be used in combination with
either appl or opsys.
opsys The message originated in the kernel. This
keyword should not be used in combination with
either appl or util.
recov The application will recover from the
condition. This keyword should not be used in
combination with nrecov.
nrecov The application will not recover from the
condition. This keyword should not be used in
combination with recov.
print Print the message to the standard error stream
stderr.
console Write the message to the system console.
print, console, or both may be used.
-l label Identifies the source of the message.
-s severity Indicates the seriousness of the error. The keywords and
definitions of the standard levels of severity are:
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fmtmsg(1)fmtmsg(1)
halt The application has encountered a severe fault
and is halting.
error The application has detected a fault.
warn The application has detected a condition that
is out of the ordinary and might be a problem.
info The application is providing information about
a condition that is not in error.
-t tag The string containing an identifier for the message.
-a action A text string describing the first step in the error recovery
process. This string must be written so that the entire
action argument is interpreted as a single argument. fmtmsg
precedes each action string with the TO FIX: prefix.
text A text string describing the condition. Must be written so
that the entire text argument is interpreted as a single
argument.
The environment variables MSGVERB and SEV_LEVEL control the behavior of
fmtmsg. MSGVERB is set by the administrator in the /etc/profile for the
system. Users can override the value of MSGVERB set by the system by
resetting MSGVERB in their own .profile files or by changing the value in
their current shell session. SEV_LEVEL can be used in shell scripts.
MSGVERB tells fmtmsg which message components to select when writing
messages to stderr. The value of MSGVERB is a colon separated list of
optional keywords. MSGVERB can be set as follows:
MSGVERB=[keyword[:keyword[:. . .]]]
export MSGVERB
Valid keywords are: label, severity, text, action, and tag. If MSGVERB
contains a keyword for a component and the component's value is not the
component's null value, fmtmsg includes that component in the message
when writing the message to stderr. If MSGVERB does not include a
keyword for a message component, that component is not included in the
display of the message. The keywords may appear in any order. If
MSGVERB is not defined, if its value is the null string, if its value is
not of the correct format, or if it contains keywords other than the
valid ones listed above, fmtmsg selects all components.
MSGVERB affects only which message components are selected for display.
All message components are included in console messages.
SEV_LEVEL defines severity levels and associates print strings with them
for use by fmtmsg. The standard severity levels shown below cannot be
modified. Additional severity levels can be defined, redefined, and
removed.
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fmtmsg(1)fmtmsg(1)
0 (no severity is used)
1 HALT
2 ERROR
3 WARNING
4 INFO
SEV_LEVEL is set as follows:
SEV_LEVEL=[description[:description[:...]]]
export SEV_LEVEL
description is a comma-separated list containing three fields:
description=severity_keyword,level,printstring
severity_keyword is a character string used as the keyword with the -s
severity option to fmtmsg.
level is a character string that evaluates to a positive integer (other
than 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, which are reserved for the standard severity
levels). If the keyword severity_keyword is used, level is the severity
value passed on to fmtmsg(3C).
printstring is the character string used by fmtmsg in the standard
message format whenever the severity value level is used.
If SEV_LEVEL is not defined, or if its value is null, no severity levels
other than the defaults are available. If a description in the colon
separated list is not a comma separated list containing three fields, or
if the second field of a comma separated list does not evaluate to a
positive integer, that description in the colon separated list is
ignored.
DIAGNOSTICS
The exit codes for fmtmsg are the following:
0 All the requested functions were executed successfully.
1 The command contains a syntax error, an invalid option, or an
invalid argument to an option.
2 The function executed with partial success, however the message
was not displayed on stderr.
4 The function executed with partial success, however the message
was not displayed on the system console.
32 No requested functions were executed successfully.
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fmtmsg(1)fmtmsg(1)EXAMPLES
Example 1: The following example of fmtmsg produces a complete message
in the standard message format and displays it to the standard error
stream:
fmtmsg-c soft -u recov,print,appl -l UX:cat -s error -t UX:cat:001
-a "refer to manual" "invalid syntax"
produces:
UX:cat: ERROR: invalid syntax
TO FIX: refer to manual UX:cat:138
Example 2: When the environment variable MSGVERB is set as follows:
MSGVERB=severity:text:action
and Example 1 is used, fmtmsg produces:
ERROR: invalid syntax
TO FIX: refer to manual
Example 3: When the environment variable SEV_LEVEL is set as follows:
SEV_LEVEL=note,5,NOTE
the following fmtmsg command:
fmtmsg-c soft -u print -l UX:cat -s note -a "refer to manual"
"invalid syntax"
produces:
UX:cat: NOTE: invalid syntax
TO FIX: refer to manual
and displays the message on stderr.
NOTES
A slightly different standard error message format and a new developer
interface, pfmt, is being introduced as the replacement for fmtmsg. A
similar interface, lfmt, is also being introduced for producing a
standard format message and forwarding messages to the console and/or to
the system message logging and monitoring facilities. fmtmsg will be
removed at a future time.
SEE ALSOaddseverity(3C), fmtmsg(3C)
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