xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/gen/directory.3 (revision 73e0051e)
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32.\"     @(#)directory.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/gen/directory.3,v 1.7.2.5 2003/03/15 15:11:05 trhodes Exp $
34.\" $DragonFly: src/lib/libc/gen/directory.3,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:26:42 dillon Exp $
35.\"
36.Dd August 2, 2009
37.Dt DIRECTORY 3
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm fdopendir ,
41.Nm opendir ,
42.Nm readdir ,
43.Nm readdir_r ,
44.Nm telldir ,
45.Nm seekdir ,
46.Nm rewinddir ,
47.Nm closedir ,
48.Nm dirfd
49.Nd directory operations
50.Sh LIBRARY
51.Lb libc
52.Sh SYNOPSIS
53.In sys/types.h
54.In dirent.h
55.Ft DIR *
56.Fn fdopendir "int fd"
57.Ft DIR *
58.Fn opendir "const char *filename"
59.Ft struct dirent *
60.Fn readdir "DIR *dirp"
61.Ft int
62.Fn readdir_r "DIR *dirp" "struct dirent *entry" "struct dirent **result"
63.Ft long
64.Fn telldir "DIR *dirp"
65.Ft void
66.Fn seekdir "DIR *dirp" "long  loc"
67.Ft void
68.Fn rewinddir "DIR *dirp"
69.Ft int
70.Fn closedir "DIR *dirp"
71.Ft int
72.Fn dirfd "DIR *dirp"
73.Sh DESCRIPTION
74The
75.Fn opendir
76function
77opens the directory named by
78.Fa filename ,
79associates a
80.Em directory stream
81with it
82and
83returns a pointer to be used to identify the
84.Em directory stream
85in subsequent operations.  The pointer
86.Dv NULL
87is returned if
88.Fa filename
89cannot be accessed, or if it cannot
90.Xr malloc 3
91enough memory to hold the whole thing.
92.Pp
93The
94.Fn fdopendir
95function associates a
96.Em directory stream
97with the directory file descriptor
98.Fa fd .
99The file offset associated with
100.Fa fd
101at the time of the call determines which entries are returned.
102The file descriptor must not be used further by the caller in any way.
103.Pp
104The
105.Fn readdir
106function
107returns a pointer to the next directory entry.  It returns
108.Dv NULL
109upon reaching the end of the directory or detecting an invalid
110.Fn seekdir
111operation.
112.Pp
113The
114.Fn readdir_r
115function
116provides the same functionality as
117.Fn readdir ,
118but the caller must provide a directory
119.Fa entry
120buffer to store the results in.  If the read succeeds,
121.Fa result
122is pointed at the
123.Fa entry ;
124upon reaching the end of the directory
125.Fa result
126is set to
127.Dv NULL .
128The
129.Fn readdir_r
130function
131returns 0 on success or an error number to indicate failure.
132.Pp
133The
134.Fn telldir
135function
136returns the current location associated with the named
137.Em directory stream .
138Values returned by
139.Fn telldir
140are good only for the lifetime of the
141.Dv DIR
142pointer,
143.Fa dirp ,
144from which they are derived.  If the directory is closed and then
145reopened, prior values returned by
146.Fn telldir
147will no longer be valid.
148.Pp
149The
150.Fn seekdir
151function
152sets the position of the next
153.Fn readdir
154operation on the
155.Em directory stream .
156The new position reverts to the one associated with the
157.Em directory stream
158when the
159.Fn telldir
160operation was performed.
161.Pp
162The
163.Fn rewinddir
164function
165resets the position of the named
166.Em directory stream
167to the beginning of the directory.
168.Pp
169The
170.Fn closedir
171function
172closes the named
173.Em directory stream
174and frees the structure associated with the
175.Fa dirp
176pointer,
177returning 0 on success.
178On failure, \-1 is returned and the global variable
179.Va errno
180is set to indicate the error.
181.Pp
182The
183.Fn dirfd
184function
185returns the integer file descriptor associated with the named
186.Em directory stream ,
187see
188.Xr open 2 .
189.Pp
190Sample code which searches a directory for entry ``name'' is:
191.Bd -literal -offset indent
192len = strlen(name);
193dirp = opendir(".");
194while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL)
195	if (dp->d_namlen == len && !strcmp(dp->d_name, name)) {
196		(void)closedir(dirp);
197		return FOUND;
198	}
199(void)closedir(dirp);
200return NOT_FOUND;
201.Ed
202.Sh SEE ALSO
203.Xr close 2 ,
204.Xr lseek 2 ,
205.Xr open 2 ,
206.Xr read 2 ,
207.Xr dir 5
208.Sh HISTORY
209The
210.Fn opendir ,
211.Fn readdir ,
212.Fn telldir ,
213.Fn seekdir ,
214.Fn rewinddir ,
215.Fn closedir ,
216and
217.Fn dirfd
218functions appeared in
219.Bx 4.2 .
220