FMTMSG(1) User Commands FMTMSG(1)

NAME

fmtmsg - display a message on stderr or system console

SYNOPSIS

fmtmsg [-c class] [-u subclass] [-l label] [-s severity]
[-t tag] [-a action] text

DESCRIPTION

Based on a message's classification component, the fmtmsg utility
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 (see
environment variable MSGVERB in the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section of
this page). 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.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-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:

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.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Standard message format

The following example of fmtmsg produces a complete message in the
standard message format and displays it to the standard error stream.


example% 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: Using MSGVERB

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: Using SEV_LEVEL

When the environment variable SEV_LEVEL is set as follows:


SEV_LEVEL=note,5,NOTE


the following fmtmsg command:


example% fmtmsg -c soft -u print -l UX:cat -s note \
-a "refer to manual" "invalid syntax"


produces:


NOTE: invalid syntax
TO FIX: refer to manual


and displays the message on stderr.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

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.

0
(no severity is used)


1
HALT


2
ERROR


3
WARNING


4
INFO


SEV_LEVEL is set as follows:


description is a comma-separated list containing three fields:

SEV_LEVEL= [description[:description[:...]]]
export SEV_LEVEL


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.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

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.

SEE ALSO

addseverity(3C), fmtmsg(3C), attributes(7)

July 20, 1994 FMTMSG(1)