---
title: nlist
framework: Kernel
role: symbol
platforms: [macOS 10.8+]
path: kernel/nlist
---

# nlist

Describes an entry in the symbol table for 32-bit architectures. Declared in /usr/include/mach-o/nlist.h. See also nlist_64.

## Declaration

```occ
struct nlist {
    ...
};
```

## Discussion

Discussion Common symbols must be of type N_UNDF and must have the N_EXT bit set. The n_value for a common symbol is the size (in bytes) of the data of the symbol. In C, a common symbol is a variable that is declared but not initialized in this file. Common symbols can appear only in MH_OBJECT Mach-O files.

## Topics

### Fields

- [n_un](kernel/nlist/1583921-n_un.md)
- [n_type](kernel/nlist/1583961-n_type.md)
- [n_sect](kernel/nlist/1583924-n_sect.md)
- [n_desc](kernel/nlist/1583952-n_desc.md)
- [n_value](kernel/nlist/1583940-n_value.md)