putcharA

PutcharA is a name used in some programming language discussions to denote an extended variant of the standard putchar function. It is intended to write a single character to the program's standard output, similarly to putchar, but with possible enhancements or teaching-oriented features. Because it is not part of a formal standard, its exact behavior depends on the language or library implementing it.

Commonly, putcharA is described with a signature such as int putcharA(int ch) in C-like pseudocode. On success, it returns the written character as an unsigned char converted to int; on error, it returns a negative value or EOF. Some designs allow it to accept a wider range of input, such as a Unicode code point, or to handle encoding to UTF-8 before output. Implementation details, including buffering and error semantics, vary.

Usage and portability: It is generally non-standard and used mainly in educational materials or experimental libraries. Developers should consult their specific language documentation to determine compatibility and exact behavior. In production code, standard functions like putchar, putc, fputc, or higher-level I/O routines are preferred; unlocked variants or optimized I/O APIs may be available in certain environments.

See also: putchar, putchar_unlocked, fputc, putc.