What does the “c” mean in cout, cin, cerr and clog?

Question

What does the "c" mean in the cout, cin, cerr and clog names?

I would say char but I haven't found anything to confirm it.

Answer 1

The "c" stands for "character" because iostreams map values to and from byte (char) representations. [Bjarne Stroustrup's C++ Style and Technique FAQ]

Answer 2

I originally guessed console, and this link confirmed it. But after seeing the quote from Stroustrup, it seems that's a misconception, and that the c stands for character.

One thing in favor of that theory that can serve as an indicator is the fact that for each stream object (cin, cout, cerr, etc.) there is an equivalent, wide-stream one (wcin, wcout, wcerr, etc.).

Answer 3

Edit: FredOverflow has found the right answer with a link toward Stroustrup web site.

A c++ standard draft (n1905.pdf on www.open-std.org, I don't have the exact link) seems to indicate that it comes from "C" : "C standard output" => cout

27.3 Standard iostream objects [lib.iostream.objects]

1- The header <iostream> declares objects that associate objects with the standard C streams provided for by the functions declared in <cstdio> (27.8.2).

[...]

27.3.1 Narrow stream objects [lib.narrow.stream.objects]

istream cin

1- The object cin controls input from a stream buffer associated with the object stdin, declared in <cstdio>.

[...]