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sigtrap(3perl)          Perl Programmers Reference Guide         sigtrap(3perl)

NAME
       sigtrap - Perl pragma to enable simple signal handling

SYNOPSIS
           use sigtrap;
           use sigtrap qw(stack-trace old-interface-signals);  # equivalent
           use sigtrap qw(BUS SEGV PIPE ABRT);
           use sigtrap qw(die INT QUIT);
           use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals);
           use sigtrap qw(die untrapped normal-signals);
           use sigtrap qw(die untrapped normal-signals
                           stack-trace any error-signals);
           use sigtrap 'handler' => \&my_handler, 'normal-signals';
           use sigtrap qw(handler my_handler normal-signals
                           stack-trace error-signals);

DESCRIPTION
       The sigtrap pragma is a simple interface to installing signal handlers.
       You can have it install one of two handlers supplied by sigtrap itself
       (one which provides a Perl stack trace and one which simply die()s), or
       alternately you can supply your own handler for it to install.  It can
       be told only to install a handler for signals which are either untrapped
       or ignored.  It has three lists of signals to trap, plus you can supply
       your own list of signals.

       The arguments passed to the "use" statement which invokes sigtrap are
       processed in order.  When a signal name or the name of one of sigtrap's
       signal lists is encountered a handler is immediately installed, when an
       option is encountered it affects subsequently installed handlers.

OPTIONS
   SIGNAL HANDLERS
       These options affect which handler will be used for subsequently
       installed signals.

       stack-trace
           The  handler  used for subsequently installed signals outputs a Perl
           stack trace to STDERR and then tries to  dump  core.   This  is  the
           default signal handler.

       die The  handler  used  for  subsequently  installed signals calls "die"
           (actually "croak")  with  a  message  indicating  which  signal  was
           caught.

       handler your-handler
           your-handler  will be used as the handler for subsequently installed
           signals.  your-handler can  be  any  value  which  is  valid  as  an
           assignment  to  an  element  of  %SIG.  See  perlvar for examples of
           handler functions.

   SIGNAL LISTS
       sigtrap has a few built-in lists of signals to trap.  They are:

       normal-signals
           These are the signals which  a  program  might  normally  expect  to
           encounter and which by default cause it to terminate.  They are HUP,
           INT, PIPE and TERM.

       error-signals
           These  signals  usually  indicate  a  serious  problem with the Perl
           interpreter or with your script.  They are ABRT, BUS, EMT, FPE, ILL,
           QUIT, SEGV, SYS and TRAP.

       old-interface-signals
           These are the signals which were  trapped  by  default  by  the  old
           sigtrap  interface,  they  are ABRT, BUS, EMT, FPE, ILL, PIPE, QUIT,
           SEGV, SYS, TERM, and TRAP.  If  no  signals  or  signals  lists  are
           passed to sigtrap, this list is used.

       For  each  of  these  three  lists,  the collection of signals set to be
       trapped is checked  before  trapping;  if  your  architecture  does  not
       implement  a  particular  signal,  it  will  not  be  trapped but rather
       silently ignored.

   OTHER
       untrapped
           This token tells sigtrap to install handlers only  for  subsequently
           listed signals which aren't already trapped or ignored.

       any This  token  tells  sigtrap to install handlers for all subsequently
           listed signals.  This is the default behavior.

       signal
           Any  argument  which  looks   like   a   signal   name   (that   is,
           "/^[A-Z][A-Z0-9]*$/")   indicates  that  sigtrap  should  install  a
           handler for that name.

       number
           Require that at least version number of sigtrap is being used.

EXAMPLES
       Provide a stack trace for the old-interface-signals:

           use sigtrap;

       Ditto:

           use sigtrap qw(stack-trace old-interface-signals);

       Provide a stack trace on the 4 listed signals only:

           use sigtrap qw(BUS SEGV PIPE ABRT);

       Die on INT or QUIT:

           use sigtrap qw(die INT QUIT);

       Die on HUP, INT, PIPE or TERM:

           use sigtrap qw(die normal-signals);

       Die on HUP, INT, PIPE or TERM, except  don't  change  the  behavior  for
       signals which are already trapped or ignored:

           use sigtrap qw(die untrapped normal-signals);

       Die  on  receipt  one  of  any  of the normal-signals which is currently
       untrapped, provide a stack trace on receipt of any of the error-signals:

           use sigtrap qw(die untrapped normal-signals
                           stack-trace any error-signals);

       Install my_handler() as the handler for the normal-signals:

           use sigtrap 'handler', \&my_handler, 'normal-signals';

       Install my_handler() as the handler for the  normal-signals,  provide  a
       Perl stack trace on receipt of one of the error-signals:

           use sigtrap qw(handler my_handler normal-signals
                           stack-trace error-signals);

perl v5.40.1                       2026-08-30                    sigtrap(3perl)

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