Where is the itoa function in Linux?

EDIT: Sorry, I should have remembered that this machine is decidedly non-standard, having plugged in various non-standard libc implementations for academic purposes ;-)

As itoa() is indeed non-standard, as mentioned by several helpful commenters, it is best to use sprintf(target_string,"%d",source_int) or (better yet, because it's safe from buffer overflows) snprintf(target_string, size_of_target_string_in_bytes, "%d", source_int). I know it's not quite as concise or cool as itoa(), but at least you can Write Once, Run Everywhere (tm) ;-)

Here's the old (edited) answer

You are correct in stating that the default gcc libc does not include itoa(), like several other platforms, due to it not technically being a part of the standard. See here for a little more info. Note that you have to

#include <stdlib.h>

Of course you already know this, because you wanted to use itoa() on Linux after presumably using it on another platform, but... the code (stolen from the link above) would look like:

Example

/* itoa example */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main ()
{
  int i;
  char buffer [33];
  printf ("Enter a number: ");
  scanf ("%d",&i);
  itoa (i,buffer,10);
  printf ("decimal: %s\n",buffer);
  itoa (i,buffer,16);
  printf ("hexadecimal: %s\n",buffer);
  itoa (i,buffer,2);
  printf ("binary: %s\n",buffer);
  return 0;
}

Output:

Enter a number: 1750
decimal: 1750
hexadecimal: 6d6
binary: 11011010110

Hope this helps!

If you are calling it a lot, the advice of "just use snprintf" can be annoying. So here's what you probably want:

const char *my_itoa_buf(char *buf, size_t len, int num)
{
  static char loc_buf[sizeof(int) * CHAR_BITS]; /* not thread safe */

  if (!buf)
  {
    buf = loc_buf;
    len = sizeof(loc_buf);
  }

  if (snprintf(buf, len, "%d", num) == -1)
    return ""; /* or whatever */

  return buf;
}

const char *my_itoa(int num)
{ return my_itoa_buf(NULL, 0, num); }

As Matt J wrote, there is itoa, but it's not standard. Your code will be more portable if you use snprintf.

Where is the itoa function in Linux?

There is no such function in Linux. I use this code instead.

/*
=============
itoa

Convert integer to string

PARAMS:
- value     A 64-bit number to convert
- str       Destination buffer; should be 66 characters long for radix2, 24 - radix8, 22 - radix10, 18 - radix16.
- radix     Radix must be in range -36 .. 36. Negative values used for signed numbers.
=============
*/

char* itoa (unsigned long long  value,  char str[],  int radix)
{
    char        buf [66];
    char*       dest = buf + sizeof(buf);
    boolean     sign = false;

    if (value == 0) {
        memcpy (str, "0", 2);
        return str;
    }

    if (radix < 0) {
        radix = -radix;
        if ( (long long) value < 0) {
            value = -value;
            sign = true;
        }
    }

    *--dest = '\0';

    switch (radix)
    {
    case 16:
        while (value) {
            * --dest = '0' + (value & 0xF);
            if (*dest > '9') *dest += 'A' - '9' - 1;
            value >>= 4;
        }
        break;
    case 10:
        while (value) {
            *--dest = '0' + (value % 10);
            value /= 10;
        }
        break;

    case 8:
        while (value) {
            *--dest = '0' + (value & 7);
            value >>= 3;
        }
        break;

    case 2:
        while (value) {
            *--dest = '0' + (value & 1);
            value >>= 1;
        }
        break;

    default:            // The slow version, but universal
        while (value) {
            *--dest = '0' + (value % radix);
            if (*dest > '9') *dest += 'A' - '9' - 1;
            value /= radix;
        }
        break;
    }

    if (sign) *--dest = '-';

    memcpy (str, dest, buf +sizeof(buf) - dest);
    return str;
}

glibc internal implementation

glibc 2.28 has an internal implementation:

• stdio-common/_itoa.c
• sysdeps/generic/_itoa.h

which is used in several places internally, but I could not find if it can be exposed or how.

At least that should be a robust implementation if you are willing to extract it.

This question asks how to roll your own: How to convert an int to string in C?

I would prefer this: https://github.com/wsq003/itoa_for_linux

It should be the fastest itoa() ever. We use itoa() instead of sprintf() for performance reason, so a fastest itoa() with limited feature is reasonable and worthwhile.

The replacement with snprintf is NOT complete!

It covers only bases: 2, 8, 10, 16, whereas itoa works for bases between 2 and 36.

Since I was searching a replacement for base 32, I guess I'll have to code my own!

I have used _itoa(...) on RedHat 6 and GCC compiler. It works.