xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/sys/read.2 (revision 335b9e93)
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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 August 7, 2019
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.It Bq Er ENOBUFS
192A message was not delivered because it would have overflowed the buffer.
193.El
194.Pp
195In addition,
196.Fn readv ,
197.Fn preadv
198and
199.Fn extpreadv
200may return one of the following errors:
201.Bl -tag -width Er
202.It Bq Er EINVAL
203.Fa Iovcnt
204was less than or equal to 0, or greater than 16.
205.It Bq Er EINVAL
206One of the
207.Fa iov_len
208values in the
209.Fa iov
210array was negative.
211.It Bq Er EINVAL
212The sum of the
213.Fa iov_len
214values in the
215.Fa iov
216array overflowed a 32-bit integer.
217.It Bq Er EFAULT
218Part of the
219.Fa iov
220points outside the process's allocated address space.
221.El
222.Pp
223The
224.Fn pread ,
225.Fn preadv ,
226.Fn extpread
227and
228.Fn extpreadv
229calls may also return the following errors:
230.Bl -tag -width Er
231.It Bq Er EINVAL
232The specified file offset is invalid.
233.It Bq Er ESPIPE
234The file descriptor is associated with a pipe, socket, or FIFO.
235.El
236.Sh SEE ALSO
237.Xr dup 2 ,
238.Xr fcntl 2 ,
239.Xr open 2 ,
240.Xr pipe 2 ,
241.Xr select 2 ,
242.Xr socket 2 ,
243.Xr socketpair 2
244.Sh STANDARDS
245The
246.Fn read
247function call is expected to conform to
248.St -p1003.1-90 .
249The
250.Fn readv
251and
252.Fn pread
253functions are expected to conform to
254.St -xpg4.2 .
255.Pp
256The
257.Fn extpread
258and
259.Fn extpreadv
260functions are
261.Dx
262specific extensions.
263.Sh HISTORY
264The
265.Fn preadv
266function call was added in
267.Dx 1.5 .
268The
269.Fn pread
270function call
271appeared in
272.At V.4 .
273The
274.Fn readv
275function call
276appeared in
277.Bx 4.2 .
278A
279.Fn read
280function call appeared in
281.At v6 .
282