xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/gen/scandir.3 (revision a563ca70)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 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. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
13.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
14.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
15.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\"     @(#)scandir.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/gen/scandir.3,v 1.3.2.5 2003/03/15 15:11:05 trhodes Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd November 4, 2010
36.Dt SCANDIR 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm scandir ,
40.Nm alphasort
41.Nd scan a directory
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.In sys/types.h
46.In dirent.h
47.Ft int
48.Fn scandir "const char *dirname" "struct dirent ***namelist" "int \\*(lp*select\\*(rp\\*(lpconst struct dirent *\\*(rp" "int \\*(lp*compar\\*(rp\\*(lpconst struct dirent **, const struct dirent **\\*(rp"
49.Ft int
50.Fn alphasort "const struct dirent **d1" "const struct dirent **d2"
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52The
53.Fn scandir
54function
55reads the directory
56.Fa dirname
57and builds an array of pointers to directory
58entries using
59.Xr malloc 3 .
60It returns the number of entries in the array.
61A pointer to the array of directory entries is stored in the location
62referenced by
63.Fa namelist .
64.Pp
65The
66.Fa select
67argument is a pointer to a user supplied subroutine which is called by
68.Fn scandir
69to select which entries are to be included in the array.
70The select routine is passed a
71pointer to a directory entry and should return a non-zero
72value if the directory entry is to be included in the array.
73If
74.Fa select
75is null, then all the directory entries will be included.
76.Pp
77The
78.Fa compar
79argument is a pointer to a user supplied subroutine which is passed to
80.Xr qsort 3
81to sort the completed array.
82If this pointer is null, the array is not sorted.
83.Pp
84The
85.Fn alphasort
86function
87is a routine which can be used for the
88.Fa compar
89argument to sort the array alphabetically.
90.Pp
91The memory allocated for the array can be deallocated with
92.Xr free 3 ,
93by freeing each pointer in the array and then the array itself.
94.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
95Returns \-1 if the directory cannot be opened for reading or if
96.Xr malloc 3
97cannot allocate enough memory to hold all the data structures.
98.Sh SEE ALSO
99.Xr directory 3 ,
100.Xr malloc 3 ,
101.Xr qsort 3 ,
102.Xr dir 5
103.Sh HISTORY
104The
105.Fn scandir
106and
107.Fn alphasort
108functions appeared in
109.Bx 4.2 .
110