ABS(3)

NAME
abs, labs, llabs, imaxabs - compute the absolute value of an integer.

SYNOPSIS
#include <stdlib.h>

int abs(int j);
long int labs(long int j);
long long int llabs(long long int j);

#include <inttypes.h>

intmax_t imaxabs(intmax_t j);

DESCRIPTION
The abs() function computes the absolute value of the integer argument j. The labs(), llabs() and imaxabs() functions compute the absolute value of the argument j of the appropriate integer type for the function.

RETURN VALUE
Returns the absolute value of the integer argument, of the appropriate integer type for the function.

CONFORMING TO
SVID 3, POSIX.1, BSD 4.3, ISO/IEC 9899. POSIX.1 (1996 edition) only requires the abs() function. ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (C89) only includes the abs() and labs() functions; the functions llabs() and imaxabs() were added in C99.

NOTES
Trying to take the absolute value of the most negative integer is not defined.

The llabs() function is included in glibc since version 2.0, but is not in libc5 or libc4. The imaxabs() function is included in glibc since version 2.1.1.

For llabs() to be declared, it may be necessary to define _ISOC99_SOURCE or _ISOC9X_SOURCE (depending on the version of glibc) before including any standard headers.

GCC handles abs() and labs() as builtin functions. GCC 3.0 also handles llabs() and imaxabs() as builtins.

SEE ALSO
ceil(3), floor(3), fabs(3), rint(3)