sscanf(9)

💅 sscanf(9) — Kernel API Manual, bestie edition

Ok so we're talking about sscanf from the kernel API manual (sscanf(9), section 9, kernel API) — the one that takes a buffer and unformats it back into a list of arguments. It's literally the reverse of sprintf, and it ate. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

sscanf — Unformat a buffer into a list of arguments 💖

Like, you hand it a chunk of text and it goes "k I see what you did there" and hands you back the actual values. Reverse-formatting, no cap.

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int sscanf (const char *buf , const char *fmt , ... );

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• buf — input buffer. This is the text you're unformatting, the raw material, the main character. 🌈
• fmt — formatting of buffer. The blueprint that tells sscanf how to read that buffer, iykyk. 🧚
• ... — resulting arguments. The whole point — where the parsed goodies land. 🫶

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Kernel file ./lib/vsprintf.c — and its whole friend group, fr fr:

• simple_strtoull(9)
• simple_strtoul(9)
• simple_strtol(9)
• simple_strtoll(9)
• vsnprintf(9)
• vscnprintf(9)
• snprintf(9)
• scnprintf(9)
• vsprintf(9)
• sprintf(9)
• vbin_printf(9)
• bstr_printf(9)
• vsscanf(9)

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That's the whole page bestie, go parse something iconic 💅✨

Sign-off tea 🍓: this one lives in ./lib, dated October 2026, and it's page sscanf(9) of the Kernel API Manual. Periodt. 🎀