xref: /netbsd/lib/libc/sys/dup.2 (revision bf9ec67e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: dup.2,v 1.13 2002/02/08 01:28:17 ross Exp $
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34.\"     @(#)dup.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
35.\"
36.Dd June 4, 1993
37.Dt DUP 2
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm dup ,
41.Nm dup2
42.Nd duplicate an existing file descriptor
43.Sh LIBRARY
44.Lb libc
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include \*[Lt]unistd.h\*[Gt]
47.Ft int
48.Fn dup "int oldd"
49.Ft int
50.Fn dup2 "int oldd" "int newd"
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52.Fn dup
53duplicates an existing object descriptor and returns its value to
54the calling process
55.Fa ( newd
56=
57.Fn dup oldd ) .
58The argument
59.Fa oldd
60is a small non-negative integer index in
61the per-process descriptor table.  The value must be less
62than the size of the table, which is returned by
63.Xr getdtablesize 3 .
64The new descriptor returned by the call
65is the lowest numbered descriptor
66currently not in use by the process.
67.Pp
68The object referenced by the descriptor does not distinguish
69between
70.Fa oldd
71and
72.Fa newd
73in any way.
74Thus if
75.Fa newd
76and
77.Fa oldd
78are duplicate references to an open
79file,
80.Xr read 2 ,
81.Xr write 2
82and
83.Xr lseek 2
84calls all move a single pointer into the file,
85and append mode, non-blocking I/O and asynchronous I/O options
86are shared between the references.
87If a separate pointer into the file is desired, a different
88object reference to the file must be obtained by issuing an
89additional
90.Xr open 2
91call.
92The close-on-exec flag on the new file descriptor is unset.
93.Pp
94In
95.Fn dup2 ,
96the value of the new descriptor
97.Fa newd
98is specified.  If this descriptor is already
99in use, the descriptor is first deallocated as if a
100.Xr close 2
101call had been done first.
102.Sh RETURN VALUES
103The value -1 is returned if an error occurs in either call.
104The external variable
105.Va errno
106indicates the cause of the error.
107.Sh ERRORS
108.Fn dup
109and
110.Fn dup2
111fail if:
112.Bl -tag -width Er
113.It Bq Er EBADF
114.Fa oldd
115or
116.Fa newd
117is not a valid active descriptor
118.It Bq Er EMFILE
119Too many descriptors are active.
120.El
121.Sh SEE ALSO
122.Xr accept 2 ,
123.Xr close 2 ,
124.Xr fcntl 2 ,
125.Xr open 2 ,
126.Xr pipe 2 ,
127.Xr socket 2 ,
128.Xr socketpair 2 ,
129.Xr getdtablesize 3
130.Sh STANDARDS
131The
132.Fn dup
133and
134.Fn dup2
135functions conform to
136.St -p1003.1-90 .
137