This is libc.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0b from libc.texinfo.

INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU libraries
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Libc: (libc).                 C library.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents the GNU C library.

   This is Edition 0.10, last updated 2001-07-06, of `The GNU C Library
Reference Manual', for Version 2.2.x.

   Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 Free
Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being "GNU Lesser General Public License", the
Front-Cover texts being (a) (see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts
being (b) (see below).  A copy of the license is included in the section
entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

   (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:

   A GNU Manual

   (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:

   You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
software.  Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
funds for GNU development.


File: libc.info,  Node: Opening and Closing Files,  Next: I/O Primitives,  Up: Low-Level I/O

Opening and Closing Files
=========================

   This section describes the primitives for opening and closing files
using file descriptors.  The `open' and `creat' functions are declared
in the header file `fcntl.h', while `close' is declared in `unistd.h'.

 - Function: int open (const char *FILENAME, int FLAGS[, mode_t MODE])
     The `open' function creates and returns a new file descriptor for
     the file named by FILENAME.  Initially, the file position
     indicator for the file is at the beginning of the file.  The
     argument MODE is used only when a file is created, but it doesn't
     hurt to supply the argument in any case.

     The FLAGS argument controls how the file is to be opened.  This is
     a bit mask; you create the value by the bitwise OR of the
     appropriate parameters (using the `|' operator in C).  *Note File
     Status Flags::, for the parameters available.

     The normal return value from `open' is a non-negative integer file
     descriptor.  In the case of an error, a value of -1 is returned
     instead.  In addition to the usual file name errors (*note File
     Name Errors::), the following `errno' error conditions are defined
     for this function:

    `EACCES'
          The file exists but is not readable/writable as requested by
          the FLAGS argument, the file does not exist and the directory
          is unwritable so it cannot be created.

    `EEXIST'
          Both `O_CREAT' and `O_EXCL' are set, and the named file
          already exists.

    `EINTR'
          The `open' operation was interrupted by a signal.  *Note
          Interrupted Primitives::.

    `EISDIR'
          The FLAGS argument specified write access, and the file is a
          directory.

    `EMFILE'
          The process has too many files open.  The maximum number of
          file descriptors is controlled by the `RLIMIT_NOFILE'
          resource limit; *note Limits on Resources::.

    `ENFILE'
          The entire system, or perhaps the file system which contains
          the directory, cannot support any additional open files at
          the moment.  (This problem cannot happen on the GNU system.)

    `ENOENT'
          The named file does not exist, and `O_CREAT' is not specified.

    `ENOSPC'
          The directory or file system that would contain the new file
          cannot be extended, because there is no disk space left.

    `ENXIO'
          `O_NONBLOCK' and `O_WRONLY' are both set in the FLAGS
          argument, the file named by FILENAME is a FIFO (*note Pipes
          and FIFOs::), and no process has the file open for reading.

    `EROFS'
          The file resides on a read-only file system and any of
          `O_WRONLY', `O_RDWR', and `O_TRUNC' are set in the FLAGS
          argument, or `O_CREAT' is set and the file does not already
          exist.

     If on a 32 bit machine the sources are translated with
     `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' the function `open' returns a file
     descriptor opened in the large file mode which enables the file
     handling functions to use files up to 2^63 bytes in size and
     offset from -2^63 to 2^63.  This happens transparently for the user
     since all of the lowlevel file handling functions are equally
     replaced.

     This function is a cancellation point in multi-threaded programs.
     This is a problem if the thread allocates some resources (like
     memory, file descriptors, semaphores or whatever) at the time
     `open' is called.  If the thread gets canceled these resources
     stay allocated until the program ends.  To avoid this calls to
     `open' should be protected using cancellation handlers.

     The `open' function is the underlying primitive for the `fopen'
     and `freopen' functions, that create streams.

 - Function: int open64 (const char *FILENAME, int FLAGS[, mode_t MODE])
     This function is similar to `open'.  It returns a file descriptor
     which can be used to access the file named by FILENAME.  The only
     difference is that on 32 bit systems the file is opened in the
     large file mode.  I.e., file length and file offsets can exceed 31
     bits.

     When the sources are translated with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' this
     function is actually available under the name `open'.  I.e., the
     new, extended API using 64 bit file sizes and offsets transparently
     replaces the old API.

 - Obsolete function: int creat (const char *FILENAME, mode_t MODE)
     This function is obsolete.  The call:

          creat (FILENAME, MODE)

     is equivalent to:

          open (FILENAME, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, MODE)

     If on a 32 bit machine the sources are translated with
     `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' the function `creat' returns a file
     descriptor opened in the large file mode which enables the file
     handling functions to use files up to 2^63 in size and offset from
     -2^63 to 2^63.  This happens transparently for the user since all
     of the lowlevel file handling functions are equally replaced.

 - Obsolete function: int creat64 (const char *FILENAME, mode_t MODE)
     This function is similar to `creat'.  It returns a file descriptor
     which can be used to access the file named by FILENAME.  The only
     the difference is that on 32 bit systems the file is opened in the
     large file mode.  I.e., file length and file offsets can exceed 31
     bits.

     To use this file descriptor one must not use the normal operations
     but instead the counterparts named `*64', e.g., `read64'.

     When the sources are translated with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' this
     function is actually available under the name `open'.  I.e., the
     new, extended API using 64 bit file sizes and offsets transparently
     replaces the old API.

 - Function: int close (int FILEDES)
     The function `close' closes the file descriptor FILEDES.  Closing
     a file has the following consequences:

        * The file descriptor is deallocated.

        * Any record locks owned by the process on the file are
          unlocked.

        * When all file descriptors associated with a pipe or FIFO have
          been closed, any unread data is discarded.

     This function is a cancellation point in multi-threaded programs.
     This is a problem if the thread allocates some resources (like
     memory, file descriptors, semaphores or whatever) at the time
     `close' is called.  If the thread gets canceled these resources
     stay allocated until the program ends.  To avoid this, calls to
     `close' should be protected using cancellation handlers.

     The normal return value from `close' is 0; a value of -1 is
     returned in case of failure.  The following `errno' error
     conditions are defined for this function:

    `EBADF'
          The FILEDES argument is not a valid file descriptor.

    `EINTR'
          The `close' call was interrupted by a signal.  *Note
          Interrupted Primitives::.  Here is an example of how to
          handle `EINTR' properly:

               TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY (close (desc));

    `ENOSPC'
    `EIO'
    `EDQUOT'
          When the file is accessed by NFS, these errors from `write'
          can sometimes not be detected until `close'.  *Note I/O
          Primitives::, for details on their meaning.

     Please note that there is _no_ separate `close64' function.  This
     is not necessary since this function does not determine nor depend
     on the mode of the file.  The kernel which performs the `close'
     operation knows which mode the descriptor is used for and can
     handle this situation.

   To close a stream, call `fclose' (*note Closing Streams::) instead
of trying to close its underlying file descriptor with `close'.  This
flushes any buffered output and updates the stream object to indicate
that it is closed.


File: libc.info,  Node: I/O Primitives,  Next: File Position Primitive,  Prev: Opening and Closing Files,  Up: Low-Level I/O

Input and Output Primitives
===========================

   This section describes the functions for performing primitive input
and output operations on file descriptors: `read', `write', and
`lseek'.  These functions are declared in the header file `unistd.h'.

 - Data Type: ssize_t
     This data type is used to represent the sizes of blocks that can be
     read or written in a single operation.  It is similar to `size_t',
     but must be a signed type.

 - Function: ssize_t read (int FILEDES, void *BUFFER, size_t SIZE)
     The `read' function reads up to SIZE bytes from the file with
     descriptor FILEDES, storing the results in the BUFFER.  (This is
     not necessarily a character string, and no terminating null
     character is added.)

     The return value is the number of bytes actually read.  This might
     be less than SIZE; for example, if there aren't that many bytes
     left in the file or if there aren't that many bytes immediately
     available.  The exact behavior depends on what kind of file it is.
     Note that reading less than SIZE bytes is not an error.

     A value of zero indicates end-of-file (except if the value of the
     SIZE argument is also zero).  This is not considered an error.  If
     you keep calling `read' while at end-of-file, it will keep
     returning zero and doing nothing else.

     If `read' returns at least one character, there is no way you can
     tell whether end-of-file was reached.  But if you did reach the
     end, the next read will return zero.

     In case of an error, `read' returns -1.  The following `errno'
     error conditions are defined for this function:

    `EAGAIN'
          Normally, when no input is immediately available, `read'
          waits for some input.  But if the `O_NONBLOCK' flag is set
          for the file (*note File Status Flags::), `read' returns
          immediately without reading any data, and reports this error.

          *Compatibility Note:* Most versions of BSD Unix use a
          different error code for this: `EWOULDBLOCK'.  In the GNU
          library, `EWOULDBLOCK' is an alias for `EAGAIN', so it
          doesn't matter which name you use.

          On some systems, reading a large amount of data from a
          character special file can also fail with `EAGAIN' if the
          kernel cannot find enough physical memory to lock down the
          user's pages.  This is limited to devices that transfer with
          direct memory access into the user's memory, which means it
          does not include terminals, since they always use separate
          buffers inside the kernel.  This problem never happens in the
          GNU system.

          Any condition that could result in `EAGAIN' can instead
          result in a successful `read' which returns fewer bytes than
          requested.  Calling `read' again immediately would result in
          `EAGAIN'.

    `EBADF'
          The FILEDES argument is not a valid file descriptor, or is
          not open for reading.

    `EINTR'
          `read' was interrupted by a signal while it was waiting for
          input.  *Note Interrupted Primitives::.  A signal will not
          necessary cause `read' to return `EINTR'; it may instead
          result in a successful `read' which returns fewer bytes than
          requested.

    `EIO'
          For many devices, and for disk files, this error code
          indicates a hardware error.

          `EIO' also occurs when a background process tries to read
          from the controlling terminal, and the normal action of
          stopping the process by sending it a `SIGTTIN' signal isn't
          working.  This might happen if the signal is being blocked or
          ignored, or because the process group is orphaned.  *Note Job
          Control::, for more information about job control, and *Note
          Signal Handling::, for information about signals.

     Please note that there is no function named `read64'.  This is not
     necessary since this function does not directly modify or handle
     the possibly wide file offset.  Since the kernel handles this state
     internally, the `read' function can be used for all cases.

     This function is a cancellation point in multi-threaded programs.
     This is a problem if the thread allocates some resources (like
     memory, file descriptors, semaphores or whatever) at the time
     `read' is called.  If the thread gets canceled these resources
     stay allocated until the program ends.  To avoid this, calls to
     `read' should be protected using cancellation handlers.

     The `read' function is the underlying primitive for all of the
     functions that read from streams, such as `fgetc'.

 - Function: ssize_t pread (int FILEDES, void *BUFFER, size_t SIZE,
          off_t OFFSET)
     The `pread' function is similar to the `read' function.  The first
     three arguments are identical, and the return values and error
     codes also correspond.

     The difference is the fourth argument and its handling.  The data
     block is not read from the current position of the file descriptor
     `filedes'.  Instead the data is read from the file starting at
     position OFFSET.  The position of the file descriptor itself is
     not affected by the operation.  The value is the same as before
     the call.

     When the source file is compiled with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' the
     `pread' function is in fact `pread64' and the type `off_t' has 64
     bits, which makes it possible to handle files up to 2^63 bytes in
     length.

     The return value of `pread' describes the number of bytes read.
     In the error case it returns -1 like `read' does and the error
     codes are also the same, with these additions:

    `EINVAL'
          The value given for OFFSET is negative and therefore illegal.

    `ESPIPE'
          The file descriptor FILEDES is associate with a pipe or a
          FIFO and this device does not allow positioning of the file
          pointer.

     The function is an extension defined in the Unix Single
     Specification version 2.

 - Function: ssize_t pread64 (int FILEDES, void *BUFFER, size_t SIZE,
          off64_t OFFSET)
     This function is similar to the `pread' function.  The difference
     is that the OFFSET parameter is of type `off64_t' instead of
     `off_t' which makes it possible on 32 bit machines to address
     files larger than 2^31 bytes and up to 2^63 bytes.  The file
     descriptor `filedes' must be opened using `open64' since otherwise
     the large offsets possible with `off64_t' will lead to errors with
     a descriptor in small file mode.

     When the source file is compiled with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' on
     a 32 bit machine this function is actually available under the name
     `pread' and so transparently replaces the 32 bit interface.

 - Function: ssize_t write (int FILEDES, const void *BUFFER, size_t
          SIZE)
     The `write' function writes up to SIZE bytes from BUFFER to the
     file with descriptor FILEDES.  The data in BUFFER is not
     necessarily a character string and a null character is output like
     any other character.

     The return value is the number of bytes actually written.  This
     may be SIZE, but can always be smaller.  Your program should
     always call `write' in a loop, iterating until all the data is
     written.

     Once `write' returns, the data is enqueued to be written and can be
     read back right away, but it is not necessarily written out to
     permanent storage immediately.  You can use `fsync' when you need
     to be sure your data has been permanently stored before
     continuing.  (It is more efficient for the system to batch up
     consecutive writes and do them all at once when convenient.
     Normally they will always be written to disk within a minute or
     less.)  Modern systems provide another function `fdatasync' which
     guarantees integrity only for the file data and is therefore
     faster.  You can use the `O_FSYNC' open mode to make `write' always
     store the data to disk before returning; *note Operating Modes::.

     In the case of an error, `write' returns -1.  The following
     `errno' error conditions are defined for this function:

    `EAGAIN'
          Normally, `write' blocks until the write operation is
          complete.  But if the `O_NONBLOCK' flag is set for the file
          (*note Control Operations::), it returns immediately without
          writing any data and reports this error.  An example of a
          situation that might cause the process to block on output is
          writing to a terminal device that supports flow control,
          where output has been suspended by receipt of a STOP
          character.

          *Compatibility Note:* Most versions of BSD Unix use a
          different error code for this: `EWOULDBLOCK'.  In the GNU
          library, `EWOULDBLOCK' is an alias for `EAGAIN', so it
          doesn't matter which name you use.

          On some systems, writing a large amount of data from a
          character special file can also fail with `EAGAIN' if the
          kernel cannot find enough physical memory to lock down the
          user's pages.  This is limited to devices that transfer with
          direct memory access into the user's memory, which means it
          does not include terminals, since they always use separate
          buffers inside the kernel.  This problem does not arise in the
          GNU system.

    `EBADF'
          The FILEDES argument is not a valid file descriptor, or is
          not open for writing.

    `EFBIG'
          The size of the file would become larger than the
          implementation can support.

    `EINTR'
          The `write' operation was interrupted by a signal while it was
          blocked waiting for completion.  A signal will not
          necessarily cause `write' to return `EINTR'; it may instead
          result in a successful `write' which writes fewer bytes than
          requested.  *Note Interrupted Primitives::.

    `EIO'
          For many devices, and for disk files, this error code
          indicates a hardware error.

    `ENOSPC'
          The device containing the file is full.

    `EPIPE'
          This error is returned when you try to write to a pipe or
          FIFO that isn't open for reading by any process.  When this
          happens, a `SIGPIPE' signal is also sent to the process; see
          *Note Signal Handling::.

     Unless you have arranged to prevent `EINTR' failures, you should
     check `errno' after each failing call to `write', and if the error
     was `EINTR', you should simply repeat the call.  *Note Interrupted
     Primitives::.  The easy way to do this is with the macro
     `TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY', as follows:

          nbytes = TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY (write (desc, buffer, count));

     Please note that there is no function named `write64'.  This is not
     necessary since this function does not directly modify or handle
     the possibly wide file offset.  Since the kernel handles this state
     internally the `write' function can be used for all cases.

     This function is a cancellation point in multi-threaded programs.
     This is a problem if the thread allocates some resources (like
     memory, file descriptors, semaphores or whatever) at the time
     `write' is called.  If the thread gets canceled these resources
     stay allocated until the program ends.  To avoid this, calls to
     `write' should be protected using cancellation handlers.

     The `write' function is the underlying primitive for all of the
     functions that write to streams, such as `fputc'.

 - Function: ssize_t pwrite (int FILEDES, const void *BUFFER, size_t
          SIZE, off_t OFFSET)
     The `pwrite' function is similar to the `write' function.  The
     first three arguments are identical, and the return values and
     error codes also correspond.

     The difference is the fourth argument and its handling.  The data
     block is not written to the current position of the file descriptor
     `filedes'.  Instead the data is written to the file starting at
     position OFFSET.  The position of the file descriptor itself is
     not affected by the operation.  The value is the same as before
     the call.

     When the source file is compiled with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' the
     `pwrite' function is in fact `pwrite64' and the type `off_t' has
     64 bits, which makes it possible to handle files up to 2^63 bytes
     in length.

     The return value of `pwrite' describes the number of written bytes.
     In the error case it returns -1 like `write' does and the error
     codes are also the same, with these additions:

    `EINVAL'
          The value given for OFFSET is negative and therefore illegal.

    `ESPIPE'
          The file descriptor FILEDES is associated with a pipe or a
          FIFO and this device does not allow positioning of the file
          pointer.

     The function is an extension defined in the Unix Single
     Specification version 2.

 - Function: ssize_t pwrite64 (int FILEDES, const void *BUFFER, size_t
          SIZE, off64_t OFFSET)
     This function is similar to the `pwrite' function.  The difference
     is that the OFFSET parameter is of type `off64_t' instead of
     `off_t' which makes it possible on 32 bit machines to address
     files larger than 2^31 bytes and up to 2^63 bytes.  The file
     descriptor `filedes' must be opened using `open64' since otherwise
     the large offsets possible with `off64_t' will lead to errors with
     a descriptor in small file mode.

     When the source file is compiled using `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64'
     on a 32 bit machine this function is actually available under the
     name `pwrite' and so transparently replaces the 32 bit interface.


File: libc.info,  Node: File Position Primitive,  Next: Descriptors and Streams,  Prev: I/O Primitives,  Up: Low-Level I/O

Setting the File Position of a Descriptor
=========================================

   Just as you can set the file position of a stream with `fseek', you
can set the file position of a descriptor with `lseek'.  This specifies
the position in the file for the next `read' or `write' operation.
*Note File Positioning::, for more information on the file position and
what it means.

   To read the current file position value from a descriptor, use
`lseek (DESC, 0, SEEK_CUR)'.

 - Function: off_t lseek (int FILEDES, off_t OFFSET, int WHENCE)
     The `lseek' function is used to change the file position of the
     file with descriptor FILEDES.

     The WHENCE argument specifies how the OFFSET should be
     interpreted, in the same way as for the `fseek' function, and it
     must be one of the symbolic constants `SEEK_SET', `SEEK_CUR', or
     `SEEK_END'.

    `SEEK_SET'
          Specifies that WHENCE is a count of characters from the
          beginning of the file.

    `SEEK_CUR'
          Specifies that WHENCE is a count of characters from the
          current file position.  This count may be positive or
          negative.

    `SEEK_END'
          Specifies that WHENCE is a count of characters from the end of
          the file.  A negative count specifies a position within the
          current extent of the file; a positive count specifies a
          position past the current end.  If you set the position past
          the current end, and actually write data, you will extend the
          file with zeros up to that position.

     The return value from `lseek' is normally the resulting file
     position, measured in bytes from the beginning of the file.  You
     can use this feature together with `SEEK_CUR' to read the current
     file position.

     If you want to append to the file, setting the file position to the
     current end of file with `SEEK_END' is not sufficient.  Another
     process may write more data after you seek but before you write,
     extending the file so the position you write onto clobbers their
     data.  Instead, use the `O_APPEND' operating mode; *note Operating
     Modes::.

     You can set the file position past the current end of the file.
     This does not by itself make the file longer; `lseek' never
     changes the file.  But subsequent output at that position will
     extend the file.  Characters between the previous end of file and
     the new position are filled with zeros.  Extending the file in
     this way can create a "hole": the blocks of zeros are not actually
     allocated on disk, so the file takes up less space than it appears
     to; it is then called a "sparse file".

     If the file position cannot be changed, or the operation is in
     some way invalid, `lseek' returns a value of -1.  The following
     `errno' error conditions are defined for this function:

    `EBADF'
          The FILEDES is not a valid file descriptor.

    `EINVAL'
          The WHENCE argument value is not valid, or the resulting file
          offset is not valid.  A file offset is invalid.

    `ESPIPE'
          The FILEDES corresponds to an object that cannot be
          positioned, such as a pipe, FIFO or terminal device.
          (POSIX.1 specifies this error only for pipes and FIFOs, but
          in the GNU system, you always get `ESPIPE' if the object is
          not seekable.)

     When the source file is compiled with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' the
     `lseek' function is in fact `lseek64' and the type `off_t' has 64
     bits which makes it possible to handle files up to 2^63 bytes in
     length.

     This function is a cancellation point in multi-threaded programs.
     This is a problem if the thread allocates some resources (like
     memory, file descriptors, semaphores or whatever) at the time
     `lseek' is called.  If the thread gets canceled these resources
     stay allocated until the program ends.  To avoid this calls to
     `lseek' should be protected using cancellation handlers.

     The `lseek' function is the underlying primitive for the `fseek',
     `fseeko', `ftell', `ftello' and `rewind' functions, which operate
     on streams instead of file descriptors.

 - Function: off64_t lseek64 (int FILEDES, off64_t OFFSET, int WHENCE)
     This function is similar to the `lseek' function.  The difference
     is that the OFFSET parameter is of type `off64_t' instead of
     `off_t' which makes it possible on 32 bit machines to address
     files larger than 2^31 bytes and up to 2^63 bytes.  The file
     descriptor `filedes' must be opened using `open64' since otherwise
     the large offsets possible with `off64_t' will lead to errors with
     a descriptor in small file mode.

     When the source file is compiled with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' on
     a 32 bits machine this function is actually available under the
     name `lseek' and so transparently replaces the 32 bit interface.

   You can have multiple descriptors for the same file if you open the
file more than once, or if you duplicate a descriptor with `dup'.
Descriptors that come from separate calls to `open' have independent
file positions; using `lseek' on one descriptor has no effect on the
other.  For example,

     {
       int d1, d2;
       char buf[4];
       d1 = open ("foo", O_RDONLY);
       d2 = open ("foo", O_RDONLY);
       lseek (d1, 1024, SEEK_SET);
       read (d2, buf, 4);
     }

will read the first four characters of the file `foo'.  (The
error-checking code necessary for a real program has been omitted here
for brevity.)

   By contrast, descriptors made by duplication share a common file
position with the original descriptor that was duplicated.  Anything
which alters the file position of one of the duplicates, including
reading or writing data, affects all of them alike.  Thus, for example,

     {
       int d1, d2, d3;
       char buf1[4], buf2[4];
       d1 = open ("foo", O_RDONLY);
       d2 = dup (d1);
       d3 = dup (d2);
       lseek (d3, 1024, SEEK_SET);
       read (d1, buf1, 4);
       read (d2, buf2, 4);
     }

will read four characters starting with the 1024'th character of `foo',
and then four more characters starting with the 1028'th character.

 - Data Type: off_t
     This is an arithmetic data type used to represent file sizes.  In
     the GNU system, this is equivalent to `fpos_t' or `long int'.

     If the source is compiled with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' this type
     is transparently replaced by `off64_t'.

 - Data Type: off64_t
     This type is used similar to `off_t'.  The difference is that even
     on 32 bit machines, where the `off_t' type would have 32 bits,
     `off64_t' has 64 bits and so is able to address files up to 2^63
     bytes in length.

     When compiling with `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64' this type is
     available under the name `off_t'.

   These aliases for the `SEEK_...' constants exist for the sake of
compatibility with older BSD systems.  They are defined in two
different header files: `fcntl.h' and `sys/file.h'.

`L_SET'
     An alias for `SEEK_SET'.

`L_INCR'
     An alias for `SEEK_CUR'.

`L_XTND'
     An alias for `SEEK_END'.


File: libc.info,  Node: Descriptors and Streams,  Next: Stream/Descriptor Precautions,  Prev: File Position Primitive,  Up: Low-Level I/O

Descriptors and Streams
=======================

   Given an open file descriptor, you can create a stream for it with
the `fdopen' function.  You can get the underlying file descriptor for
an existing stream with the `fileno' function.  These functions are
declared in the header file `stdio.h'.

 - Function: FILE * fdopen (int FILEDES, const char *OPENTYPE)
     The `fdopen' function returns a new stream for the file descriptor
     FILEDES.

     The OPENTYPE argument is interpreted in the same way as for the
     `fopen' function (*note Opening Streams::), except that the `b'
     option is not permitted; this is because GNU makes no distinction
     between text and binary files.  Also, `"w"' and `"w+"' do not
     cause truncation of the file; these have an effect only when
     opening a file, and in this case the file has already been opened.
     You must make sure that the OPENTYPE argument matches the actual
     mode of the open file descriptor.

     The return value is the new stream.  If the stream cannot be
     created (for example, if the modes for the file indicated by the
     file descriptor do not permit the access specified by the OPENTYPE
     argument), a null pointer is returned instead.

     In some other systems, `fdopen' may fail to detect that the modes
     for file descriptor do not permit the access specified by
     `opentype'.  The GNU C library always checks for this.

   For an example showing the use of the `fdopen' function, see *Note
Creating a Pipe::.

 - Function: int fileno (FILE *STREAM)
     This function returns the file descriptor associated with the
     stream STREAM.  If an error is detected (for example, if the STREAM
     is not valid) or if STREAM does not do I/O to a file, `fileno'
     returns -1.

 - Function: int fileno_unlocked (FILE *STREAM)
     The `fileno_unlocked' function is equivalent to the `fileno'
     function except that it does not implicitly lock the stream if the
     state is `FSETLOCKING_INTERNAL'.

     This function is a GNU extension.

   There are also symbolic constants defined in `unistd.h' for the file
descriptors belonging to the standard streams `stdin', `stdout', and
`stderr'; see *Note Standard Streams::.

`STDIN_FILENO'
     This macro has value `0', which is the file descriptor for
     standard input.

`STDOUT_FILENO'
     This macro has value `1', which is the file descriptor for
     standard output.

`STDERR_FILENO'
     This macro has value `2', which is the file descriptor for
     standard error output.


File: libc.info,  Node: Stream/Descriptor Precautions,  Next: Scatter-Gather,  Prev: Descriptors and Streams,  Up: Low-Level I/O

Dangers of Mixing Streams and Descriptors
=========================================

   You can have multiple file descriptors and streams (let's call both
streams and descriptors "channels" for short) connected to the same
file, but you must take care to avoid confusion between channels.  There
are two cases to consider: "linked" channels that share a single file
position value, and "independent" channels that have their own file
positions.

   It's best to use just one channel in your program for actual data
transfer to any given file, except when all the access is for input.
For example, if you open a pipe (something you can only do at the file
descriptor level), either do all I/O with the descriptor, or construct a
stream from the descriptor with `fdopen' and then do all I/O with the
stream.

* Menu:

* Linked Channels::	   Dealing with channels sharing a file position.
* Independent Channels::   Dealing with separately opened, unlinked channels.
* Cleaning Streams::	   Cleaning a stream makes it safe to use
                            another channel.


File: libc.info,  Node: Linked Channels,  Next: Independent Channels,  Up: Stream/Descriptor Precautions

Linked Channels
---------------

   Channels that come from a single opening share the same file
position; we call them "linked" channels.  Linked channels result when
you make a stream from a descriptor using `fdopen', when you get a
descriptor from a stream with `fileno', when you copy a descriptor with
`dup' or `dup2', and when descriptors are inherited during `fork'.  For
files that don't support random access, such as terminals and pipes,
_all_ channels are effectively linked.  On random-access files, all
append-type output streams are effectively linked to each other.

   If you have been using a stream for I/O, and you want to do I/O using
another channel (either a stream or a descriptor) that is linked to it,
you must first "clean up" the stream that you have been using.  *Note
Cleaning Streams::.

   Terminating a process, or executing a new program in the process,
destroys all the streams in the process.  If descriptors linked to these
streams persist in other processes, their file positions become
undefined as a result.  To prevent this, you must clean up the streams
before destroying them.


File: libc.info,  Node: Independent Channels,  Next: Cleaning Streams,  Prev: Linked Channels,  Up: Stream/Descriptor Precautions

Independent Channels
--------------------

   When you open channels (streams or descriptors) separately on a
seekable file, each channel has its own file position.  These are called
"independent channels".

   The system handles each channel independently.  Most of the time,
this is quite predictable and natural (especially for input): each
channel can read or write sequentially at its own place in the file.
However, if some of the channels are streams, you must take these
precautions:

   * You should clean an output stream after use, before doing anything
     else that might read or write from the same part of the file.

   * You should clean an input stream before reading data that may have
     been modified using an independent channel.  Otherwise, you might
     read obsolete data that had been in the stream's buffer.

   If you do output to one channel at the end of the file, this will
certainly leave the other independent channels positioned somewhere
before the new end.  You cannot reliably set their file positions to the
new end of file before writing, because the file can always be extended
by another process between when you set the file position and when you
write the data.  Instead, use an append-type descriptor or stream; they
always output at the current end of the file.  In order to make the
end-of-file position accurate, you must clean the output channel you
were using, if it is a stream.

   It's impossible for two channels to have separate file pointers for a
file that doesn't support random access.  Thus, channels for reading or
writing such files are always linked, never independent.  Append-type
channels are also always linked.  For these channels, follow the rules
for linked channels; see *Note Linked Channels::.


File: libc.info,  Node: Cleaning Streams,  Prev: Independent Channels,  Up: Stream/Descriptor Precautions

Cleaning Streams
----------------

   On the GNU system, you can clean up any stream with `fclean':

 - Function: int fclean (FILE *STREAM)
     Clean up the stream STREAM so that its buffer is empty.  If STREAM
     is doing output, force it out.  If STREAM is doing input, give the
     data in the buffer back to the system, arranging to reread it.

   On other systems, you can use `fflush' to clean a stream in most
cases.

   You can skip the `fclean' or `fflush' if you know the stream is
already clean.  A stream is clean whenever its buffer is empty.  For
example, an unbuffered stream is always clean.  An input stream that is
at end-of-file is clean.  A line-buffered stream is clean when the last
character output was a newline.

   There is one case in which cleaning a stream is impossible on most
systems.  This is when the stream is doing input from a file that is not
random-access.  Such streams typically read ahead, and when the file is
not random access, there is no way to give back the excess data already
read.  When an input stream reads from a random-access file, `fflush'
does clean the stream, but leaves the file pointer at an unpredictable
place; you must set the file pointer before doing any further I/O.  On
the GNU system, using `fclean' avoids both of these problems.

   Closing an output-only stream also does `fflush', so this is a valid
way of cleaning an output stream.  On the GNU system, closing an input
stream does `fclean'.

   You need not clean a stream before using its descriptor for control
operations such as setting terminal modes; these operations don't affect
the file position and are not affected by it.  You can use any
descriptor for these operations, and all channels are affected
simultaneously.  However, text already "output" to a stream but still
buffered by the stream will be subject to the new terminal modes when
subsequently flushed.  To make sure "past" output is covered by the
terminal settings that were in effect at the time, flush the output
streams for that terminal before setting the modes.  *Note Terminal
Modes::.


File: libc.info,  Node: Scatter-Gather,  Next: Memory-mapped I/O,  Prev: Stream/Descriptor Precautions,  Up: Low-Level I/O

Fast Scatter-Gather I/O
=======================

   Some applications may need to read or write data to multiple buffers,
which are separated in memory.  Although this can be done easily enough
with multiple calls to `read' and `write', it is inefficient because
there is overhead associated with each kernel call.

   Instead, many platforms provide special high-speed primitives to
perform these "scatter-gather" operations in a single kernel call.  The
GNU C library will provide an emulation on any system that lacks these
primitives, so they are not a portability threat.  They are defined in
`sys/uio.h'.

   These functions are controlled with arrays of `iovec' structures,
which describe the location and size of each buffer.

 - Data Type: struct iovec
     The `iovec' structure describes a buffer. It contains two fields:

    `void *iov_base'
          Contains the address of a buffer.

    `size_t iov_len'
          Contains the length of the buffer.


 - Function: ssize_t readv (int FILEDES, const struct iovec *VECTOR,
          int COUNT)
     The `readv' function reads data from FILEDES and scatters it into
     the buffers described in VECTOR, which is taken to be COUNT
     structures long.  As each buffer is filled, data is sent to the
     next.

     Note that `readv' is not guaranteed to fill all the buffers.  It
     may stop at any point, for the same reasons `read' would.

     The return value is a count of bytes (_not_ buffers) read, 0
     indicating end-of-file, or -1 indicating an error.  The possible
     errors are the same as in `read'.


 - Function: ssize_t writev (int FILEDES, const struct iovec *VECTOR,
          int COUNT)
     The `writev' function gathers data from the buffers described in
     VECTOR, which is taken to be COUNT structures long, and writes
     them to `filedes'.  As each buffer is written, it moves on to the
     next.

     Like `readv', `writev' may stop midstream under the same
     conditions `write' would.

     The return value is a count of bytes written, or -1 indicating an
     error.  The possible errors are the same as in `write'.


   Note that if the buffers are small (under about 1kB), high-level
streams may be easier to use than these functions.  However, `readv' and
`writev' are more efficient when the individual buffers themselves (as
opposed to the total output), are large.  In that case, a high-level
stream would not be able to cache the data effectively.

