.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by .\" Chris Torek. .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" from: @(#)ffs.3 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94 .\" $NetBSD: ffs.3,v 1.13 2010/04/28 07:47:09 jruoho Exp $ .\" .Dd April 28, 2010 .Dt FFS 3 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm ffs .Nd find first bit set in a bit string .Sh LIBRARY .Lb libc .Sh SYNOPSIS .In strings.h .Ft int .Fn ffs "int value" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn ffs function finds the first bit set in .Fa value and returns the index of that bit. Bits are numbered starting from 1, starting at the right-most bit. A return value of 0 means that the argument was zero. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr bitstring 3 , .Xr ffs32 3 , .Xr popcount 3 .Sh STANDARDS The .Fn ffs function conforms to .St -p1003.1-2001 . .Sh HISTORY The .Fn ffs function appeared in .Bx 4.3 . The prototype for it existed previously in the .In string.h header before it was moved to .In strings.h for .Tn POSIX compliance.