xref: /original-bsd/lib/libc/sys/getdirentries.2 (revision ea3a8ee8)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" %sccs.include.redist.roff%
5.\"
6.\"	@(#)getdirentries.2	6.5 (Berkeley) 07/23/91
7.\"
8.Dd
9.Dt GETDIRENTRIES 2
10.Os
11.Sh NAME
12.Nm getdirentries
13.Nd "get directory entries in a filesystem independent format"
14.Sh SYNOPSIS
15.Fd #include <sys/dirent.h>
16.Ft int
17.Fn getdirentries "int fd" "char *buf" "int nbytes" "long *basep"
18.Sh DESCRIPTION
19.Fn Getdirentries
20reads directory entries from the directory
21referenced by the file descriptor
22.Fa fd
23into the buffer pointed to by
24.Fa buf ,
25in a filesystem independent format.
26Up to
27.Fa nbytes
28of data will be transferred.
29.Fa Nbytes
30must be greater than or equal to the
31block size associated with the file,
32see
33.Xr stat 2 .
34Some filesystems may not support
35.Fn getdirentries
36with buffers smaller than this size.
37.Pp
38The data in the buffer is a series of
39.Em dirent
40structures each containing the following entries:
41.Bd -literal -offset indent
42unsigned long	d_fileno;
43unsigned short	d_reclen;
44unsigned short	d_namlen;
45char    	d_name[MAXNAMELEN + 1]; /* see below */
46.Ed
47.Pp
48The
49.Fa d_fileno
50entry is a number which is unique for each
51distinct file in the filesystem.
52Files that are linked by hard links (see
53.Xr link 2 )
54have the same
55.Fa d_fileno .
56The
57.Fa d_reclen
58entry is the length, in bytes, of the directory record.
59The
60.Fa d_name
61entry contains a null terminated file name.
62The
63.Fa d_namlen
64entry specifies the length of the file name excluding the null byte.
65Thus the actual size of
66.Fa d_name
67may vary from 1 to
68.Dv MAXNAMELEN
69\&+ 1.
70.Pp
71Entries may be separated by extra space.
72The
73.Fa d_reclen
74entry may be used as an offset from the start of a
75.Fa dirent
76structure to the next structure, if any.
77.Pp
78The actual number of bytes transferred is returned.
79The current position pointer associated with
80.Fa fd
81is set to point to the next block of entries.
82The pointer may not advance by the number of bytes returned by
83.Fn getdirentries .
84A value of zero is returned when
85the end of the directory has been reached.
86.Pp
87.Fn Getdirentries
88writes the position of the block read into the location pointed to by
89.Fa basep .
90Alternatively, the current position pointer may be set and retrieved by
91.Xr lseek 2 .
92The current position pointer should only be set to a value returned by
93.Xr lseek 2 ,
94a value returned in the location pointed to by
95.Fa basep ,
96or zero.
97.Sh RETURN VALUES
98If successful, the number of bytes actually transferred is returned.
99Otherwise, -1 is returned and the global variable
100.Va errno
101is set to indicate the error.
102.Sh ERRORS
103.Fn Getdirentries
104will fail if:
105.Bl -tag -width [EFAULT]
106.It EBADF
107.Fa fd
108is not a valid file descriptor open for reading.
109.It EFAULT
110Either
111.Fa buf
112or
113.Fa basep
114point outside the allocated address space.
115.It EIO
116An
117.Tn I/O
118error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
119.El
120.Sh SEE ALSO
121.Xr open 2 ,
122.Xr lseek 2
123.Sh HISTORY
124The
125.Nm getdirentries
126function call is
127.Ud .
128