Question

putchar(char) writes a character to standard output and is normally provided by stdio.h.

How do I write a character to standard output without using stdio.h or any other standard library file (that is: no #include:s allowed)?

Or phrased different, how do I implement my own putchar(char) with zero #include statements?

This is what I want to achieve:

/* NOTE: No #include:s allowed! :-) */ 

void putchar(char c) {
  /*
   * Correct answer to this question == Code that implements putchar(char).
   * Please note: no #include:s allowed. Not even a single one :-)
   */
}

int main() {
  putchar('H');
  putchar('i');
  putchar('!');
  putchar('\n');
  return 0;
}

Clarifications:

• Please note: No #include:s allowed. Not even a single one 🙂
• The solution does not have to be portable (inline assembler is hence OK), but it must compile with gcc under MacOS X.

Definition of correct answer:

• A working putchar(char c) function. Nothing more, nothing less 🙂

Answer 1

void putchar(char c) {
  extern long write(int, const char *, unsigned long);
  (void) write(1, &c, 1);
}