Concept of setjump and longjump in C

“Setjump” and “Longjump” are defined in setjmp.h, a header file in C standard library.

• setjump(jmp_buf buf) : uses buf to remember current position and returns 0.
• longjump(jmp_buf buf, i) : Go back to place buf is pointing to and return i .

// A simple C program to demonstrate working of setjmp() and longjmp()
#include<stdio.h>
#include<setjmp.h>
jmp_buf buf;
void func()
{
    printf("Welcome to GeeksforGeeks\n");

    // Jump to the point setup by setjmp
    longjmp(buf, 1);

    printf("Geek2\n");
}

int main()
{
    // Setup jump position using buf and return 0
    if (setjmp(buf))
        printf("Geek3\n");
    else
    {
        printf("Geek4\n");
        func();
    }
    return 0;
}

Output :

Geek4
Welcome to GeeksforGeeks
Geek3

The main feature of these function is to provide a way that deviates from standard call and return sequence. This is mainly used to implement exception handling in C. setjmp can be used like try (in languages like C++ and Java). The call to longjmp can be used like throw (Note that longjmp() transfers control to the point set by setjmp()).

This article is contributed by Aditya Chatterjee.Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above