diff --git a/elfio/elfio.hpp b/elfio/elfio.hpp
index 13e88bf..bc2aa51 100644
--- a/elfio/elfio.hpp
+++ b/elfio/elfio.hpp
@@ -244,31 +244,6 @@ class elfio
     }
 
     //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  private:
-    bool is_offset_in_section( Elf64_Off offset, const section* sec ) const
-    {
-        return ( offset >= sec->get_offset() ) &&
-               ( offset < ( sec->get_offset() + sec->get_size() ) );
-    }
-
-    Elf64_Addr get_virtual_addr( Elf64_Off offset, const section* sec ) const
-    {
-        return sec->get_address() + offset - sec->get_offset();
-    }
-
-    const section* find_prog_section_for_offset( Elf64_Off offset ) const
-    {
-        for ( int i = 0; i < sections.size(); ++i ) {
-            const section* sec = sections[i];
-            if ( sec->get_type() == SHT_PROGBITS )
-                if ( is_offset_in_section( offset, sec ) )
-                    return sec;
-        }
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
-    //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  public:
     //! returns an empty string if no problems are detected,
     //! or a string containing an error message if problems are found,
     //! with one error per line.
@@ -328,8 +303,32 @@ class elfio
         // clang-format on
     }
 
-    //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   private:
+    //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    bool is_offset_in_section( Elf64_Off offset, const section* sec ) const
+    {
+        return ( offset >= sec->get_offset() ) &&
+               ( offset < ( sec->get_offset() + sec->get_size() ) );
+    }
+
+    //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    Elf64_Addr get_virtual_addr( Elf64_Off offset, const section* sec ) const
+    {
+        return sec->get_address() + offset - sec->get_offset();
+    }
+
+    //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    const section* find_prog_section_for_offset( Elf64_Off offset ) const
+    {
+        for ( int i = 0; i < sections.size(); ++i ) {
+            const section* sec = sections[i];
+            if ( sec->get_type() == SHT_PROGBITS )
+                if ( is_offset_in_section( offset, sec ) )
+                    return sec;
+        }
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
     //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     void clean()
     {
diff --git a/examples/c_wrapper/c_example.c b/examples/c_wrapper/c_example.c
index 4c94729..df77ebe 100644
--- a/examples/c_wrapper/c_example.c
+++ b/examples/c_wrapper/c_example.c
@@ -29,10 +29,25 @@ THE SOFTWARE.
 int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
 {
     pelfio_t pelfio = elfio_new();
-    bool     ret    = elfio_load( pelfio, argv[0] );
+    bool     ret;
+
+    if ( argc == 1 )
+        ret = elfio_load( pelfio, argv[0] );
+    else
+        ret = elfio_load( pelfio, argv[1] );
 
     if ( !ret ) {
         printf( "Can't load ELF file\n" );
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    char msg[128];
+    ret = elfio_validate( pelfio, msg, 128 );
+
+    if ( !ret ) {
+        printf( "Validation errors:\n" );
+        printf( "%s\n", msg );
+        return 2;
     }
 
     //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.cpp b/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.cpp
index bf27e1e..e8c05be 100644
--- a/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.cpp
+++ b/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.cpp
@@ -108,6 +108,17 @@ psegment_t elfio_add_segment( pelfio_t pelfio )
     return pelfio->segments.add();
 }
 
+bool elfio_validate( pelfio_t pelfio, char* msg, int msg_len )
+{
+    std::string error = pelfio->validate();
+
+    if ( msg != nullptr && msg_len > 0 ) {
+        strncpy( msg, error.c_str(), (size_t)msg_len - 1 );
+    }
+
+    return error.empty();
+}
+
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // section
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -476,11 +487,12 @@ bool elfio_array_get_entry( parray_t    parray,
                             Elf_Xword   index,
                             Elf64_Addr* paddress )
 {
-    bool ret = parray->get_entry( index, *paddress);
+    bool ret = parray->get_entry( index, *paddress );
 
     return ret;
 }
 
-void elfio_array_add_entry( parray_t parray, Elf64_Addr address ) {
+void elfio_array_add_entry( parray_t parray, Elf64_Addr address )
+{
     parray->add_entry( address );
 }
diff --git a/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.h b/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.h
index 65a96d6..127ab44 100644
--- a/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.h
+++ b/examples/c_wrapper/elfio_c_wrapper.h
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ typedef int bool;
     Elf_Half   elfio_get_segments_num( pelfio_t pelfio );
     psegment_t elfio_get_segment_by_index( pelfio_t pelfio, int index );
     psegment_t elfio_add_segment( pelfio_t pelfio );
+    bool       elfio_validate( pelfio_t pelfio, char* msg, int msg_len );
 
     //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     // section
diff --git a/tests/ELFIOTest1.cpp b/tests/ELFIOTest1.cpp
index bf1505a..0661d17 100644
--- a/tests/ELFIOTest1.cpp
+++ b/tests/ELFIOTest1.cpp
@@ -899,7 +899,7 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE( detect_mismatched_section_segment_tables )
      *     with address of section .ctors (0x804948e) at offset 0x48e
      */
     std::string in = "elf_examples/mismatched_segments.elf";
-    elfio elf;
+    elfio       elf;
     BOOST_REQUIRE_EQUAL( elf.load( in ), true );
-    BOOST_REQUIRE( elf.validate().length() > 0);
+    BOOST_REQUIRE( elf.validate().length() > 0 );
 }
diff --git a/tests/ELFIOTest2.cpp b/tests/ELFIOTest2.cpp
index ba0aa8f..46dfb11 100644
--- a/tests/ELFIOTest2.cpp
+++ b/tests/ELFIOTest2.cpp
@@ -236,9 +236,10 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE( init_array_write_64 )
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE( test_hex )
 {
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 1 ), "0x1");
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 10 ), "0xA");
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 0x12345678 ), "0x12345678");
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 0xFFFFFFFF ), "0xFFFFFFFF");
-    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF ), "0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 1 ), "0x1" );
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 10 ), "0xA" );
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 0x12345678 ), "0x12345678" );
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 0xFFFFFFFF ), "0xFFFFFFFF" );
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( to_hex_string( 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF ),
+                       "0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF" );
 }