1 ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are member of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the respecti ve org anization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. 2 International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 3. 3 In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1. Draft International Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75% of the national bodies casting a vote. 4 International Standard ISO/IEC 9899 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 22, Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces. The Working Group responsible for this standard (WG 14) maintains a site on the World Wide Web at http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG14/ containing additional information relevant to this standard such as a Rationale for many of the decisions made during its preparation and a log of Defect Reports and Responses. 5 This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition, ISO/IEC 9899:1990, as amended and corrected by ISO/IEC 9899/COR1:1994, ISO/IEC 9899/AMD1:1995, and ISO/IEC 9899/COR2:1996. Major changes from the previous edition include: — restricted character set support via digraphs and (originally specified in AMD1) — wide character library support in and (originally specified in AMD1) — more precise aliasing rules via effective type — restricted pointers — variable-length arrays ve org anization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. 2 International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 3. 3 In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1. Draft International Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75% of the national bodies casting a vote. 4 International Standard ISO/IEC 9899 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 22, Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces. The Working Group responsible for this standard (WG 14) maintains a site on the World Wide Web at http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC22/WG14/ containing additional information relevant to this standard such as a Rationale for many of the decisions made during its preparation and a log of Defect Reports and Responses. 5 This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition, ISO/IEC 9899:1990, as amended and corrected by ISO/IEC 9899/COR1:1994, ISO/IEC 9899/AMD1:1995, and ISO/IEC 9899/COR2:1996. Major changes from the previous edition include: — restricted character set support via digraphs and (originally specified in AMD1) — wide character library support in and (originally specified in AMD1) — more precise aliasing rules via effective type — restricted pointers — variable-length arrays