libc/gen/directory.3

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.\"     @(#)directory.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd April 16, 2008
.Dt DIRECTORY 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm opendir ,
.Nm fdopendir ,
.Nm readdir ,
.Nm readdir_r ,
.Nm telldir ,
.Nm seekdir ,
.Nm rewinddir ,
.Nm closedir ,
.Nm dirfd
.Nd directory operations
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/types.h
.In dirent.h
.Ft DIR *
.Fn opendir "const char *filename"
.Ft DIR *
.Fn fdopendir "int fd"
.Ft struct dirent *
.Fn readdir "DIR *dirp"
.Ft int
.Fn readdir_r "DIR *dirp" "struct dirent *entry" "struct dirent **result"
.Ft long
.Fn telldir "DIR *dirp"
.Ft void
.Fn seekdir "DIR *dirp" "long loc"
.Ft void
.Fn rewinddir "DIR *dirp"
.Ft int
.Fn closedir "DIR *dirp"
.Ft int
.Fn dirfd "DIR *dirp"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn opendir
function
opens the directory named by
.Fa filename ,
associates a
.Em directory stream
with it
and
returns a pointer to be used to identify the
.Em directory stream
in subsequent operations.
The pointer
.Dv NULL
is returned if
.Fa filename
cannot be accessed, or if it cannot
.Xr malloc 3
enough memory to hold the whole thing.
.Pp
The
.Fn fdopendir
function is equivalent to the
.Fn opendir
function except that the directory is specified by a file descriptor
.Fa fd
rather than by a name.
The file offset associated with the file descriptor at the time of the call
determines which entries are returned.
.Pp
Upon successful return from
.Fn fdopendir ,
the file descriptor is under the control of the system,
and if any attempt is made to close the file descriptor,
or to modify the state of the associated description other than by means
of
.Fn closedir ,
.Fn readdir ,
.Fn readdir_r ,
or
.Fn rewinddir ,
the behavior is undefined.
Upon calling
.Fn closedir
the file descriptor is closed.
The
.Dv FD_CLOEXEC
flag is set on the file descriptor by a successful call to
.Fn fdopendir .
.Pp
The
.Fn readdir
function
returns a pointer to the next directory entry.
It returns
.Dv NULL
upon reaching the end of the directory or detecting an invalid
.Fn seekdir
operation.
.Pp
The
.Fn readdir_r
function
provides the same functionality as
.Fn readdir ,
but the caller must provide a directory
.Fa entry
buffer to store the results in.
If the read succeeds,
.Fa result
is pointed at the
.Fa entry ;
upon reaching the end of the directory
.Fa result
is set to
.Dv NULL .
The
.Fn readdir_r
function
returns 0 on success or an error number to indicate failure.
.Pp
The
.Fn telldir
function
returns the current location associated with the named
.Em directory stream .
Values returned by
.Fn telldir
are good only for the lifetime of the
.Dv DIR
pointer,
.Fa dirp ,
from which they are derived.
If the directory is closed and then
reopened, prior values returned by
.Fn telldir
will no longer be valid.
.Pp
The
.Fn seekdir
function
sets the position of the next
.Fn readdir
operation on the
.Em directory stream .
The new position reverts to the one associated with the
.Em directory stream
when the
.Fn telldir
operation was performed.
.Pp
The
.Fn rewinddir
function
resets the position of the named
.Em directory stream
to the beginning of the directory.
.Pp
The
.Fn closedir
function
closes the named
.Em directory stream
and frees the structure associated with the
.Fa dirp
pointer,
returning 0 on success.
On failure, \-1 is returned and the global variable
.Va errno
is set to indicate the error.
.Pp
The
.Fn dirfd
function
returns the integer file descriptor associated with the named
.Em directory stream ,
see
.Xr open 2 .
.Pp
Sample code which searches a directory for entry ``name'' is:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
len = strlen(name);
dirp = opendir(".");
while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL)
	if (dp->d_namlen == len && !strcmp(dp->d_name, name)) {
		(void)closedir(dirp);
		return FOUND;
	}
(void)closedir(dirp);
return NOT_FOUND;
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr close 2 ,
.Xr lseek 2 ,
.Xr open 2 ,
.Xr read 2 ,
.Xr dir 5
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn opendir ,
.Fn readdir ,
.Fn telldir ,
.Fn seekdir ,
.Fn rewinddir ,
.Fn closedir ,
and
.Fn dirfd
functions appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .
The
.Fn fdopendir
function appeared in
.Fx 8.0 .