EC_INTERACT_PRINT_ERROR_HELPS(3)

💅 EC_INTERACT_PRINT_ERROR_HELPS(3) — bestie edition 💅

okay so this is a page from the Libecoli Programmer's Manual, and it's about ec_interact_print_error_helps. yes that name is a whole mouthful, i know, but stay with me 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

ec_interact_print_error_helps — prints out the suggestions that ec_interact_get_error_helps() made for you. like, it does the saying part, the other one does the thinking part. iconic duo behaviour, honestly 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <ecoli/interact.h>

int ec_interact_print_error_helps(
    FILE                            *out,       /* The pointer to the output stream. */
    unsigned int                     width,     /* The number of columns on terminal. */
    const char                      *line,      /* The line used to generate the error helps. */
    /*
     * The helps array returned by ec_interact_get_helps().
     */
    const struct ec_interact_help   *helps,
    /*
     * The array size returned by ec_interact_get_helps().
     */
    size_t                           n,
    size_t                           char_idx   /* The index of the error in the line string. */
);

so you hand it:

• out — the pointer to the output stream, aka where the goss gets printed 💬
• width — the number of columns on the terminal, so it knows how much room it has to work with 📐
• line — the line that was used to generate the error helps 📝
• helps — the helps array, the one that ec_interact_get_helps() gave you 🎁
• n — the size of that array, also courtesy of ec_interact_get_helps() 🔢
• char_idx — the index of the error inside the line string, so it knows exactly where the oopsie is 📍

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🦋 STRUCTURES 🦋

here's the lil struct that describes a contextual help:

struct ec_interact_help {
};

that's it. that's the whole thing. it's giving minimalist 🎀

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⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

0 on success, or -1 on error. no in-between, she's not ambiguous 💀

ngl bestie, if you get -1 back, something went wrong and you should probably look at it. not me being emotionally supportive about an error code 😭

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

the whole friend group, in order:

• ec_interact_get_completions(3)
• ec_interact_print_helps(3)
• ec_interact_print_cols(3)
• ec_interact_set_help(3)
• ec_interact_append_chars(3)
• ec_interact_set_desc(3)
• ec_interact_get_callback(3)
• ec_interact_set_callback(3)
• ec_interact_get_error_helps(3)
• ec_interact_free_completions(3)
• ec_interact_get_helps(3)
• ec_interact_free_helps(3)

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright (C) 2010-2026 Olivier Matz, Robin Jarry.

like, respect the authors, they've been carrying this since 2010 ✨

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and that's the page, bestie!! this whole thing lives under libecoli, dated 2026-06-11, and the manual section is EC_INTERA...RROR_HELPS(3) — yes the title got squished in the original too, it's not just you, iykyk 🧚💜