xref: /netbsd/lib/libc/sys/ioctl.2 (revision c4a72b64)
1.\"	$NetBSD: ioctl.2,v 1.13 2002/08/11 12:40:47 yamt Exp $
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34.\"     @(#)ioctl.2	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
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36.Dd August 11, 2002
37.Dt IOCTL 2
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm ioctl
41.Nd control device
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Fd #include \*[Lt]sys/ioctl.h\*[Gt]
46.Ft int
47.Fn ioctl "int d" "unsigned long request" "void *argp"
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Fn ioctl
51function manipulates the underlying device parameters of special files.
52In particular, many operating
53characteristics of character special files (e.g. terminals)
54may be controlled with
55.Fn ioctl
56requests.
57The argument
58.Fa d
59must be an open file descriptor.
60.Pp
61An  ioctl
62.Fa request
63has encoded in it whether the argument is an
64.Dq in
65parameter
66or
67.Dq out
68parameter, and the size of the argument
69.Fa argp
70in bytes.
71Macros and defines used in specifying an ioctl
72.Fa request
73are located in the file
74.Ao Pa sys/ioctl.h Ac .
75.Sh GENERIC IOCTLS
76Some ioctls are applicable to any file descriptor.
77These include:
78.Bl -tag -width "xxxxxx"
79.It Dv FIOCLEX
80Set close-on-exec flag.
81The file will be closed when
82.Xr exec 3
83is invoked.
84.It Dv FIONCLEX
85Clear close-on-exec flag.
86The file will remain open across
87.Xr exec 3 .
88.El
89.Pp
90Some generic ioctls are not implemented for all types of file
91descriptors.
92These include:
93.Bl -tag -width "xxxxxx"
94.It Dv FIONREAD "int"
95Get the number of bytes that are immediately available for reading.
96.It Dv FIONBIO "int"
97Set non-blocking I/O mode if the argument is non-zero.
98In non-blocking mode,
99.Xr read 2
100or
101.Xr write 2
102calls return \-1 and set
103.Va errno
104to
105.Er EAGAIN
106immediately when no data is available.
107.It Dv FIONASYNC "int"
108Set asynchronous I/O mode if the argument is non-zero.
109In asynchronous mode, the process or process group specified by
110.Dv FIOSETOWN
111will start receiving
112.Dv SIGIO
113signals when data is available.
114The
115.Dv SIGIO
116signal will be delivered when data is available on the file
117descriptor.
118.It Dv FIOSETOWN, FIOGETOWN "int"
119Set/get the process or the process group (if negative) that should receive
120.Dv SIGIO
121signals when data is available.
122.El
123.Sh RETURN VALUES
124If an error has occurred, a value of -1 is returned and
125.Va errno
126is set to indicate the error.
127.Sh ERRORS
128.Fn ioctl
129will fail if:
130.Bl -tag -width Er
131.It Bq Er EBADF
132.Fa d
133is not a valid descriptor.
134.It Bq Er ENOTTY
135.Fa d
136is not associated with a character
137special device.
138.It Bq Er ENOTTY
139The specified request does not apply to the kind
140of object that the descriptor
141.Fa d
142references.
143.It Bq Er EINVAL
144.Fa request
145or
146.Fa argp
147is not valid.
148.It Bq Er EFAULT
149.Fa argp
150points outside the process's allocated address space.
151.El
152.Sh SEE ALSO
153.Xr mt 1 ,
154.Xr execve 2 ,
155.Xr fcntl 2 ,
156.Xr intro 4 ,
157.Xr tty 4
158.Sh HISTORY
159An
160.Fn ioctl
161function call appeared in
162.At v7 .
163