xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/sys/read.2 (revision 9e6611d4)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
13.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
14.\"    without specific prior written permission.
15.\"
16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
26.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
27.\"
28.\"     @(#)read.2	8.4 (Berkeley) 2/26/94
29.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/sys/read.2,v 1.9.2.6 2001/12/14 18:34:01 ru Exp $
30.\"
31.Dd March 2, 2018
32.Dt READ 2
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm read ,
36.Nm readv ,
37.Nm pread ,
38.Nm preadv ,
39.Nm extpread ,
40.Nm extpreadv
41.Nd read input
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.In sys/types.h
46.In sys/uio.h
47.In unistd.h
48.Ft ssize_t
49.Fn read "int d" "void *buf" "size_t nbytes"
50.Ft ssize_t
51.Fn readv "int d" "const struct iovec *iov" "int iovcnt"
52.Ft ssize_t
53.Fn pread "int d" "void *buf" "size_t nbytes" "off_t offset"
54.Ft ssize_t
55.Fn preadv "int d" "const struct iovec *iov" "int iovcnt" "off_t offset"
56.Ft ssize_t
57.Fn extpread "int d" "void *buf" "size_t nbytes" "int flags" "off_t offset"
58.Ft ssize_t
59.Fn extpreadv "int d" "const struct iovec *iov" "int iovcnt" "int flags" "off_t offset"
60.Sh DESCRIPTION
61.Fn Read
62attempts to read
63.Fa nbytes
64of data from the object referenced by the descriptor
65.Fa d
66into the buffer pointed to by
67.Fa buf .
68.Fn Readv
69performs the same action, but scatters the input data
70into the
71.Fa iovcnt
72buffers specified by the members of the
73.Fa iov
74array: iov[0], iov[1], ..., iov[iovcnt\|\-\|1].
75The
76.Fn pread ,
77.Fn preadv ,
78.Fn extpread ,
79and
80.Fn extpreadv
81calls perform the same function, but read from the specified position in
82the file without modifying the file pointer.
83.Pp
84For
85.Fn readv
86and
87.Fn preadv ,
88the
89.Fa iovec
90structure is defined as:
91.Pp
92.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
93struct iovec {
94	char   *iov_base;  /* Base address. */
95	size_t iov_len;    /* Length. */
96};
97.Ed
98.Pp
99Each
100.Fa iovec
101entry specifies the base address and length of an area
102in memory where data should be placed.
103.Fn Readv
104and
105.Fn preadv
106will always fill an area completely before proceeding
107to the next.
108.Pp
109The
110.Fn extpread
111and
112.Fn extpreadv
113allow a
114.Ar flags
115argument
116to also be passed in, controlling blocking/non-blocking and other features
117on a call-by-call basis, ignoring the related default for the descriptor.
118Allowed flags are:
119.Bl -tag -width ".Dv O_FNONBLOCKING"
120.It Dv O_FBLOCKING
121Force the system call to operate in a blocking fashion.
122.It Dv O_FNONBLOCKING
123Force the system call to operate in a non-blocking fashion.
124.It Dv O_FAPPEND
125Force append mode for the operation.
126.It Dv O_FOFFSET
127Force offset mode for the operation.
128.El
129.Pp
130On objects capable of seeking, the
131.Fn read
132starts at a position
133given by the pointer associated with
134.Fa d
135(see
136.Xr lseek 2 ) .
137Upon return from
138.Fn read ,
139the pointer is incremented by the number of bytes actually read.
140.Pp
141Objects that are not capable of seeking always read from the current
142position.  The value of the pointer associated with such an
143object is undefined.
144.Pp
145Upon successful completion,
146.Fn read ,
147.Fn readv ,
148.Fn pread ,
149and
150.Fn preadv
151return the number of bytes actually read and placed in the buffer.
152The system guarantees to read the number of bytes requested if
153the descriptor references a normal file that has that many bytes left
154before the end-of-file, but in no other case.
155.Sh RETURN VALUES
156If successful, the
157number of bytes actually read is returned.
158Upon reading end-of-file,
159zero is returned.
160Otherwise, a -1 is returned and the global variable
161.Va errno
162is set to indicate the error.
163.Sh ERRORS
164.Fn Read ,
165.Fn readv ,
166.Fn pread ,
167.Fn preadv ,
168.Fn extpread
169and
170.Fn extpreadv
171will succeed unless:
172.Bl -tag -width Er
173.It Bq Er EBADF
174.Fa D
175is not a valid file or socket descriptor open for reading.
176.It Bq Er EFAULT
177.Fa Buf
178points outside the allocated address space.
179.It Bq Er EIO
180An I/O error occurred while reading from the file system.
181.It Bq Er EINTR
182A read from a slow device was interrupted before
183any data arrived by the delivery of a signal.
184.It Bq Er EINVAL
185The pointer associated with
186.Fa d
187was negative.
188.It Bq Er EAGAIN
189The file was marked for non-blocking I/O,
190and no data were ready to be read.
191.El
192.Pp
193In addition,
194.Fn readv ,
195.Fn preadv
196and
197.Fn extpreadv
198may return one of the following errors:
199.Bl -tag -width Er
200.It Bq Er EINVAL
201.Fa Iovcnt
202was less than or equal to 0, or greater than 16.
203.It Bq Er EINVAL
204One of the
205.Fa iov_len
206values in the
207.Fa iov
208array was negative.
209.It Bq Er EINVAL
210The sum of the
211.Fa iov_len
212values in the
213.Fa iov
214array overflowed a 32-bit integer.
215.It Bq Er EFAULT
216Part of the
217.Fa iov
218points outside the process's allocated address space.
219.El
220.Pp
221The
222.Fn pread ,
223.Fn preadv ,
224.Fn extpread
225and
226.Fn extpreadv
227calls may also return the following errors:
228.Bl -tag -width Er
229.It Bq Er EINVAL
230The specified file offset is invalid.
231.It Bq Er ESPIPE
232The file descriptor is associated with a pipe, socket, or FIFO.
233.El
234.Sh SEE ALSO
235.Xr dup 2 ,
236.Xr fcntl 2 ,
237.Xr open 2 ,
238.Xr pipe 2 ,
239.Xr select 2 ,
240.Xr socket 2 ,
241.Xr socketpair 2
242.Sh STANDARDS
243The
244.Fn read
245function call is expected to conform to
246.St -p1003.1-90 .
247The
248.Fn readv
249and
250.Fn pread
251functions are expected to conform to
252.St -xpg4.2 .
253.Pp
254The
255.Fn extpread
256and
257.Fn extpreadv
258functions are
259.Dx
260specific extensions.
261.Sh HISTORY
262The
263.Fn preadv
264function call was added in
265.Dx 1.5 .
266The
267.Fn pread
268function call
269appeared in
270.At V.4 .
271The
272.Fn readv
273function call
274appeared in
275.Bx 4.2 .
276A
277.Fn read
278function call appeared in
279.At v6 .
280