Old Varargs - The GNU C Library

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##### A.2.3.1 Old-Style Variadic Functions

Before ISO C, programmers used a slightly different facility for writing variadic functions. The GNU C compiler still supports it; currently, it is more portable than the ISO C facility, since support for ISO C is still not universal. The header file which defines the old-fashioned variadic facility is called `varargs.h`.

Using `varargs.h` is almost the same as using `stdarg.h`. There is no difference in how you call a variadic function; see Calling Variadics. The only difference is in how you define them. First of all, you must use old-style non-prototype syntax, like this:

         tree
         build (va_alist)
              va_dcl
         {

Secondly, you must give `va_start` only one argument, like this:

           va_list p;
           va_start (p);

These are the special macros used for defining old-style variadic functions:

— Macro: va_alist

> This macro stands for the argument name list required in a variadic function.

— Macro: va_dcl

> This macro declares the implicit argument or arguments for a variadic function.

— Macro: void va_start (va_list ap)

> This macro, as defined in `varargs.h`, initializes the argument pointer variable ap to point to the first argument of the current function.

The other argument macros, `va_arg` and `va_end`, are the same in `varargs.h` as in `stdarg.h`; see Argument Macros, for details.

It does not work to include both `varargs.h` and `stdarg.h` in the same compilation; they define `va_start` in conflicting ways.