1=head1 NAME 2 3POSIX - Perl interface to IEEE Std 1003.1 4 5=head1 SYNOPSIS 6 7 use POSIX; 8 use POSIX qw(setsid); 9 use POSIX qw(:errno_h :fcntl_h); 10 11 printf "EINTR is %d\n", EINTR; 12 13 $sess_id = POSIX::setsid(); 14 15 $fd = POSIX::open($path, O_CREAT|O_EXCL|O_WRONLY, 0644); 16 # note: that's a filedescriptor, *NOT* a filehandle 17 18=head1 DESCRIPTION 19 20The POSIX module permits you to access all (or nearly all) the standard 21POSIX 1003.1 identifiers. Many of these identifiers have been given Perl-ish 22interfaces. 23 24I<Everything is exported by default> with the exception of any POSIX 25functions with the same name as a built-in Perl function, such as 26C<abs>, C<alarm>, C<rmdir>, C<write>, etc.., which will be exported 27only if you ask for them explicitly. This is an unfortunate backwards 28compatibility feature. You can stop the exporting by saying C<use 29POSIX ()> and then use the fully qualified names (ie. C<POSIX::SEEK_END>). 30 31This document gives a condensed list of the features available in the POSIX 32module. Consult your operating system's manpages for general information on 33most features. Consult L<perlfunc> for functions which are noted as being 34identical to Perl's builtin functions. 35 36The first section describes POSIX functions from the 1003.1 specification. 37The second section describes some classes for signal objects, TTY objects, 38and other miscellaneous objects. The remaining sections list various 39constants and macros in an organization which roughly follows IEEE Std 401003.1b-1993. 41 42=head1 NOTE 43 44The POSIX module is probably the most complex Perl module supplied with 45the standard distribution. It incorporates autoloading, namespace games, 46and dynamic loading of code that's in Perl, C, or both. It's a great 47source of wisdom. 48 49=head1 CAVEATS 50 51A few functions are not implemented because they are C specific. If you 52attempt to call these, they will print a message telling you that they 53aren't implemented, and suggest using the Perl equivalent should one 54exist. For example, trying to access the setjmp() call will elicit the 55message "setjmp() is C-specific: use eval {} instead". 56 57Furthermore, some evil vendors will claim 1003.1 compliance, but in fact 58are not so: they will not pass the PCTS (POSIX Compliance Test Suites). 59For example, one vendor may not define EDEADLK, or the semantics of the 60errno values set by open(2) might not be quite right. Perl does not 61attempt to verify POSIX compliance. That means you can currently 62successfully say "use POSIX", and then later in your program you find 63that your vendor has been lax and there's no usable ICANON macro after 64all. This could be construed to be a bug. 65 66=head1 FUNCTIONS 67 68=over 8 69 70=item _exit 71 72This is identical to the C function C<_exit()>. It exits the program 73immediately which means among other things buffered I/O is B<not> flushed. 74 75Note that when using threads and in Linux this is B<not> a good way to 76exit a thread because in Linux processes and threads are kind of the 77same thing (Note: while this is the situation in early 2003 there are 78projects under way to have threads with more POSIXly semantics in Linux). 79If you want not to return from a thread, detach the thread. 80 81=item abort 82 83This is identical to the C function C<abort()>. It terminates the 84process with a C<SIGABRT> signal unless caught by a signal handler or 85if the handler does not return normally (it e.g. does a C<longjmp>). 86 87=item abs 88 89This is identical to Perl's builtin C<abs()> function, returning 90the absolute value of its numerical argument. 91 92=item access 93 94Determines the accessibility of a file. 95 96 if( POSIX::access( "/", &POSIX::R_OK ) ){ 97 print "have read permission\n"; 98 } 99 100Returns C<undef> on failure. Note: do not use C<access()> for 101security purposes. Between the C<access()> call and the operation 102you are preparing for the permissions might change: a classic 103I<race condition>. 104 105=item acos 106 107This is identical to the C function C<acos()>, returning 108the arcus cosine of its numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>. 109 110=item alarm 111 112This is identical to Perl's builtin C<alarm()> function, 113either for arming or disarming the C<SIGARLM> timer. 114 115=item asctime 116 117This is identical to the C function C<asctime()>. It returns 118a string of the form 119 120 "Fri Jun 2 18:22:13 2000\n\0" 121 122and it is called thusly 123 124 $asctime = asctime($sec, $min, $hour, $mday, $mon, $year, 125 $wday, $yday, $isdst); 126 127The C<$mon> is zero-based: January equals C<0>. The C<$year> is 1281900-based: 2001 equals C<101>. The C<$wday>, C<$yday>, and C<$isdst> 129default to zero (and the first two are usually ignored anyway). 130 131=item asin 132 133This is identical to the C function C<asin()>, returning 134the arcus sine of its numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>. 135 136=item assert 137 138Unimplemented, but you can use L<perlfunc/die> and the L<Carp> module 139to achieve similar things. 140 141=item atan 142 143This is identical to the C function C<atan()>, returning the 144arcus tangent of its numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>. 145 146=item atan2 147 148This is identical to Perl's builtin C<atan2()> function, returning 149the arcus tangent defined by its two numerical arguments, the I<y> 150coordinate and the I<x> coordinate. See also L<Math::Trig>. 151 152=item atexit 153 154atexit() is C-specific: use C<END {}> instead, see L<perlsub>. 155 156=item atof 157 158atof() is C-specific. Perl converts strings to numbers transparently. 159If you need to force a scalar to a number, add a zero to it. 160 161=item atoi 162 163atoi() is C-specific. Perl converts strings to numbers transparently. 164If you need to force a scalar to a number, add a zero to it. 165If you need to have just the integer part, see L<perlfunc/int>. 166 167=item atol 168 169atol() is C-specific. Perl converts strings to numbers transparently. 170If you need to force a scalar to a number, add a zero to it. 171If you need to have just the integer part, see L<perlfunc/int>. 172 173=item bsearch 174 175bsearch() not supplied. For doing binary search on wordlists, 176see L<Search::Dict>. 177 178=item calloc 179 180calloc() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently. 181 182=item ceil 183 184This is identical to the C function C<ceil()>, returning the smallest 185integer value greater than or equal to the given numerical argument. 186 187=item chdir 188 189This is identical to Perl's builtin C<chdir()> function, allowing 190one to change the working (default) directory, see L<perlfunc/chdir>. 191 192=item chmod 193 194This is identical to Perl's builtin C<chmod()> function, allowing 195one to change file and directory permissions, see L<perlfunc/chmod>. 196 197=item chown 198 199This is identical to Perl's builtin C<chown()> function, allowing one 200to change file and directory owners and groups, see L<perlfunc/chown>. 201 202=item clearerr 203 204Use the method C<IO::Handle::clearerr()> instead, to reset the error 205state (if any) and EOF state (if any) of the given stream. 206 207=item clock 208 209This is identical to the C function C<clock()>, returning the 210amount of spent processor time in microseconds. 211 212=item close 213 214Close the file. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling 215C<POSIX::open>. 216 217 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY ); 218 POSIX::close( $fd ); 219 220Returns C<undef> on failure. 221 222See also L<perlfunc/close>. 223 224=item closedir 225 226This is identical to Perl's builtin C<closedir()> function for closing 227a directory handle, see L<perlfunc/closedir>. 228 229=item cos 230 231This is identical to Perl's builtin C<cos()> function, for returning 232the cosine of its numerical argument, see L<perlfunc/cos>. 233See also L<Math::Trig>. 234 235=item cosh 236 237This is identical to the C function C<cosh()>, for returning 238the hyperbolic cosine of its numeric argument. See also L<Math::Trig>. 239 240=item creat 241 242Create a new file. This returns a file descriptor like the ones returned by 243C<POSIX::open>. Use C<POSIX::close> to close the file. 244 245 $fd = POSIX::creat( "foo", 0611 ); 246 POSIX::close( $fd ); 247 248See also L<perlfunc/sysopen> and its C<O_CREAT> flag. 249 250=item ctermid 251 252Generates the path name for the controlling terminal. 253 254 $path = POSIX::ctermid(); 255 256=item ctime 257 258This is identical to the C function C<ctime()> and equivalent 259to C<asctime(localtime(...))>, see L</asctime> and L</localtime>. 260 261=item cuserid 262 263Get the login name of the owner of the current process. 264 265 $name = POSIX::cuserid(); 266 267=item difftime 268 269This is identical to the C function C<difftime()>, for returning 270the time difference (in seconds) between two times (as returned 271by C<time()>), see L</time>. 272 273=item div 274 275div() is C-specific, use L<perlfunc/int> on the usual C</> division and 276the modulus C<%>. 277 278=item dup 279 280This is similar to the C function C<dup()>, for duplicating a file 281descriptor. 282 283This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling 284C<POSIX::open>. 285 286Returns C<undef> on failure. 287 288=item dup2 289 290This is similar to the C function C<dup2()>, for duplicating a file 291descriptor to an another known file descriptor. 292 293This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling 294C<POSIX::open>. 295 296Returns C<undef> on failure. 297 298=item errno 299 300Returns the value of errno. 301 302 $errno = POSIX::errno(); 303 304This identical to the numerical values of the C<$!>, see L<perlvar/$ERRNO>. 305 306=item execl 307 308execl() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>. 309 310=item execle 311 312execle() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>. 313 314=item execlp 315 316execlp() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>. 317 318=item execv 319 320execv() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>. 321 322=item execve 323 324execve() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>. 325 326=item execvp 327 328execvp() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>. 329 330=item exit 331 332This is identical to Perl's builtin C<exit()> function for exiting the 333program, see L<perlfunc/exit>. 334 335=item exp 336 337This is identical to Perl's builtin C<exp()> function for 338returning the exponent (I<e>-based) of the numerical argument, 339see L<perlfunc/exp>. 340 341=item fabs 342 343This is identical to Perl's builtin C<abs()> function for returning 344the absolute value of the numerical argument, see L<perlfunc/abs>. 345 346=item fclose 347 348Use method C<IO::Handle::close()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/close>. 349 350=item fcntl 351 352This is identical to Perl's builtin C<fcntl()> function, 353see L<perlfunc/fcntl>. 354 355=item fdopen 356 357Use method C<IO::Handle::new_from_fd()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/open>. 358 359=item feof 360 361Use method C<IO::Handle::eof()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/eof>. 362 363=item ferror 364 365Use method C<IO::Handle::error()> instead. 366 367=item fflush 368 369Use method C<IO::Handle::flush()> instead. 370See also L<perlvar/$OUTPUT_AUTOFLUSH>. 371 372=item fgetc 373 374Use method C<IO::Handle::getc()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/read>. 375 376=item fgetpos 377 378Use method C<IO::Seekable::getpos()> instead, or see L<L/seek>. 379 380=item fgets 381 382Use method C<IO::Handle::gets()> instead. Similar to E<lt>E<gt>, also known 383as L<perlfunc/readline>. 384 385=item fileno 386 387Use method C<IO::Handle::fileno()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/fileno>. 388 389=item floor 390 391This is identical to the C function C<floor()>, returning the largest 392integer value less than or equal to the numerical argument. 393 394=item fmod 395 396This is identical to the C function C<fmod()>. 397 398 $r = fmod($x, $y); 399 400It returns the remainder C<$r = $x - $n*$y>, where C<$n = trunc($x/$y)>. 401The C<$r> has the same sign as C<$x> and magnitude (absolute value) 402less than the magnitude of C<$y>. 403 404=item fopen 405 406Use method C<IO::File::open()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/open>. 407 408=item fork 409 410This is identical to Perl's builtin C<fork()> function 411for duplicating the current process, see L<perlfunc/fork> 412and L<perlfork> if you are in Windows. 413 414=item fpathconf 415 416Retrieves the value of a configurable limit on a file or directory. This 417uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling C<POSIX::open>. 418 419The following will determine the maximum length of the longest allowable 420pathname on the filesystem which holds C</var/foo>. 421 422 $fd = POSIX::open( "/var/foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY ); 423 $path_max = POSIX::fpathconf( $fd, &POSIX::_PC_PATH_MAX ); 424 425Returns C<undef> on failure. 426 427=item fprintf 428 429fprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/printf> instead. 430 431=item fputc 432 433fputc() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead. 434 435=item fputs 436 437fputs() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead. 438 439=item fread 440 441fread() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/read> instead. 442 443=item free 444 445free() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently. 446 447=item freopen 448 449freopen() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/open> instead. 450 451=item frexp 452 453Return the mantissa and exponent of a floating-point number. 454 455 ($mantissa, $exponent) = POSIX::frexp( 1.234e56 ); 456 457=item fscanf 458 459fscanf() is C-specific, use E<lt>E<gt> and regular expressions instead. 460 461=item fseek 462 463Use method C<IO::Seekable::seek()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/seek>. 464 465=item fsetpos 466 467Use method C<IO::Seekable::setpos()> instead, or seek L<perlfunc/seek>. 468 469=item fstat 470 471Get file status. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by 472calling C<POSIX::open>. The data returned is identical to the data from 473Perl's builtin C<stat> function. 474 475 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY ); 476 @stats = POSIX::fstat( $fd ); 477 478=item fsync 479 480Use method C<IO::Handle::sync()> instead. 481 482=item ftell 483 484Use method C<IO::Seekable::tell()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/tell>. 485 486=item fwrite 487 488fwrite() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead. 489 490=item getc 491 492This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getc()> function, 493see L<perlfunc/getc>. 494 495=item getchar 496 497Returns one character from STDIN. Identical to Perl's C<getc()>, 498see L<perlfunc/getc>. 499 500=item getcwd 501 502Returns the name of the current working directory. 503See also L<Cwd>. 504 505=item getegid 506 507Returns the effective group identifier. Similar to Perl' s builtin 508variable C<$(>, see L<perlvar/$EGID>. 509 510=item getenv 511 512Returns the value of the specified enironment variable. 513The same information is available through the C<%ENV> array. 514 515=item geteuid 516 517Returns the effective user identifier. Identical to Perl's builtin C<$E<gt>> 518variable, see L<perlvar/$EUID>. 519 520=item getgid 521 522Returns the user's real group identifier. Similar to Perl's builtin 523variable C<$)>, see L<perlvar/$GID>. 524 525=item getgrgid 526 527This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getgrgid()> function for 528returning group entries by group identifiers, see 529L<perlfunc/getgrgid>. 530 531=item getgrnam 532 533This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getgrnam()> function for 534returning group entries by group names, see L<perlfunc/getgrnam>. 535 536=item getgroups 537 538Returns the ids of the user's supplementary groups. Similar to Perl's 539builtin variable C<$)>, see L<perlvar/$GID>. 540 541=item getlogin 542 543This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getlogin()> function for 544returning the user name associated with the current session, see 545L<perlfunc/getlogin>. 546 547=item getpgrp 548 549This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getpgrp()> function for 550returning the prcess group identifier of the current process, see 551L<perlfunc/getpgrp>. 552 553=item getpid 554 555Returns the process identifier. Identical to Perl's builtin 556variable C<$$>, see L<perlvar/$PID>. 557 558=item getppid 559 560This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getppid()> function for 561returning the process identifier of the parent process of the current 562process , see L<perlfunc/getppid>. 563 564=item getpwnam 565 566This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getpwnam()> function for 567returning user entries by user names, see L<perlfunc/getpwnam>. 568 569=item getpwuid 570 571This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getpwuid()> function for 572returning user entries by user identifiers, see L<perlfunc/getpwuid>. 573 574=item gets 575 576Returns one line from C<STDIN>, similar to E<lt>E<gt>, also known 577as the C<readline()> function, see L<perlfunc/readline>. 578 579B<NOTE>: if you have C programs that still use C<gets()>, be very 580afraid. The C<gets()> function is a source of endless grief because 581it has no buffer overrun checks. It should B<never> be used. The 582C<fgets()> function should be preferred instead. 583 584=item getuid 585 586Returns the user's identifier. Identical to Perl's builtin C<$E<lt>> variable, 587see L<perlvar/$UID>. 588 589=item gmtime 590 591This is identical to Perl's builtin C<gmtime()> function for 592converting seconds since the epoch to a date in Greenwich Mean Time, 593see L<perlfunc/gmtime>. 594 595=item isalnum 596 597This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a 598single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings may 599affect what characters are considered C<isalnum>. Does not work on 600Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 601expressions and the C</[[:alnum:]]/> construct instead, or possibly 602the C</\w/> construct. 603 604=item isalpha 605 606This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 607a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 608may affect what characters are considered C<isalpha>. Does not work 609on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 610expressions and the C</[[:alpha:]]/> construct instead. 611 612=item isatty 613 614Returns a boolean indicating whether the specified filehandle is connected 615to a tty. Similar to the C<-t> operator, see L<perlfunc/-X>. 616 617=item iscntrl 618 619This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 620a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 621may affect what characters are considered C<iscntrl>. Does not work 622on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 623expressions and the C</[[:cntrl:]]/> construct instead. 624 625=item isdigit 626 627This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 628a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 629may affect what characters are considered C<isdigit> (unlikely, but 630still possible). Does not work on Unicode characters code point 256 631or higher. Consider using regular expressions and the C</[[:digit:]]/> 632construct instead, or the C</\d/> construct. 633 634=item isgraph 635 636This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 637a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 638may affect what characters are considered C<isgraph>. Does not work 639on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 640expressions and the C</[[:graph:]]/> construct instead. 641 642=item islower 643 644This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 645a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 646may affect what characters are considered C<islower>. Does not work 647on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 648expressions and the C</[[:lower:]]/> construct instead. Do B<not> use 649C</[a-z]/>. 650 651=item isprint 652 653This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 654a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 655may affect what characters are considered C<isprint>. Does not work 656on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 657expressions and the C</[[:print:]]/> construct instead. 658 659=item ispunct 660 661This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 662a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 663may affect what characters are considered C<ispunct>. Does not work 664on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 665expressions and the C</[[:punct:]]/> construct instead. 666 667=item isspace 668 669This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 670a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 671may affect what characters are considered C<isspace>. Does not work 672on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 673expressions and the C</[[:space:]]/> construct instead, or the C</\s/> 674construct. (Note that C</\s/> and C</[[:space:]]/> are slightly 675different in that C</[[:space:]]/> can normally match a vertical tab, 676while C</\s/> does not.) 677 678=item isupper 679 680This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to 681a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings 682may affect what characters are considered C<isupper>. Does not work 683on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular 684expressions and the C</[[:upper:]]/> construct instead. Do B<not> use 685C</[A-Z]/>. 686 687=item isxdigit 688 689This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a single 690character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings may affect what 691characters are considered C<isxdigit> (unlikely, but still possible). 692Does not work on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. 693Consider using regular expressions and the C</[[:xdigit:]]/> 694construct instead, or simply C</[0-9a-f]/i>. 695 696=item kill 697 698This is identical to Perl's builtin C<kill()> function for sending 699signals to processes (often to terminate them), see L<perlfunc/kill>. 700 701=item labs 702 703(For returning absolute values of long integers.) 704labs() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/abs> instead. 705 706=item ldexp 707 708This is identical to the C function C<ldexp()> 709for multiplying floating point numbers with powers of two. 710 711 $x_quadrupled = POSIX::ldexp($x, 2); 712 713=item ldiv 714 715(For computing dividends of long integers.) 716ldiv() is C-specific, use C</> and C<int()> instead. 717 718=item link 719 720This is identical to Perl's builtin C<link()> function 721for creating hard links into files, see L<perlfunc/link>. 722 723=item localeconv 724 725Get numeric formatting information. Returns a reference to a hash 726containing the current locale formatting values. 727 728Here is how to query the database for the B<de> (Deutsch or German) locale. 729 730 $loc = POSIX::setlocale( &POSIX::LC_ALL, "de" ); 731 print "Locale = $loc\n"; 732 $lconv = POSIX::localeconv(); 733 print "decimal_point = ", $lconv->{decimal_point}, "\n"; 734 print "thousands_sep = ", $lconv->{thousands_sep}, "\n"; 735 print "grouping = ", $lconv->{grouping}, "\n"; 736 print "int_curr_symbol = ", $lconv->{int_curr_symbol}, "\n"; 737 print "currency_symbol = ", $lconv->{currency_symbol}, "\n"; 738 print "mon_decimal_point = ", $lconv->{mon_decimal_point}, "\n"; 739 print "mon_thousands_sep = ", $lconv->{mon_thousands_sep}, "\n"; 740 print "mon_grouping = ", $lconv->{mon_grouping}, "\n"; 741 print "positive_sign = ", $lconv->{positive_sign}, "\n"; 742 print "negative_sign = ", $lconv->{negative_sign}, "\n"; 743 print "int_frac_digits = ", $lconv->{int_frac_digits}, "\n"; 744 print "frac_digits = ", $lconv->{frac_digits}, "\n"; 745 print "p_cs_precedes = ", $lconv->{p_cs_precedes}, "\n"; 746 print "p_sep_by_space = ", $lconv->{p_sep_by_space}, "\n"; 747 print "n_cs_precedes = ", $lconv->{n_cs_precedes}, "\n"; 748 print "n_sep_by_space = ", $lconv->{n_sep_by_space}, "\n"; 749 print "p_sign_posn = ", $lconv->{p_sign_posn}, "\n"; 750 print "n_sign_posn = ", $lconv->{n_sign_posn}, "\n"; 751 752=item localtime 753 754This is identical to Perl's builtin C<localtime()> function for 755converting seconds since the epoch to a date see L<perlfunc/localtime>. 756 757=item log 758 759This is identical to Perl's builtin C<log()> function, 760returning the natural (I<e>-based) logarithm of the numerical argument, 761see L<perlfunc/log>. 762 763=item log10 764 765This is identical to the C function C<log10()>, 766returning the 10-base logarithm of the numerical argument. 767You can also use 768 769 sub log10 { log($_[0]) / log(10) } 770 771or 772 773 sub log10 { log($_[0]) / 2.30258509299405 } 774 775or 776 777 sub log10 { log($_[0]) * 0.434294481903252 } 778 779=item longjmp 780 781longjmp() is C-specific: use L<perlfunc/die> instead. 782 783=item lseek 784 785Move the file's read/write position. This uses file descriptors such as 786those obtained by calling C<POSIX::open>. 787 788 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY ); 789 $off_t = POSIX::lseek( $fd, 0, &POSIX::SEEK_SET ); 790 791Returns C<undef> on failure. 792 793=item malloc 794 795malloc() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently. 796 797=item mblen 798 799This is identical to the C function C<mblen()>. 800Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte 801characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather 802useless function. 803 804=item mbstowcs 805 806This is identical to the C function C<mbstowcs()>. 807Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte 808characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather 809useless function. 810 811=item mbtowc 812 813This is identical to the C function C<mbtowc()>. 814Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte 815characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather 816useless function. 817 818=item memchr 819 820memchr() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/index> instead. 821 822=item memcmp 823 824memcmp() is C-specific, use C<eq> instead, see L<perlop>. 825 826=item memcpy 827 828memcpy() is C-specific, use C<=>, see L<perlop>, or see L<perlfunc/substr>. 829 830=item memmove 831 832memmove() is C-specific, use C<=>, see L<perlop>, or see L<perlfunc/substr>. 833 834=item memset 835 836memset() is C-specific, use C<x> instead, see L<perlop>. 837 838=item mkdir 839 840This is identical to Perl's builtin C<mkdir()> function 841for creating directories, see L<perlfunc/mkdir>. 842 843=item mkfifo 844 845This is similar to the C function C<mkfifo()> for creating 846FIFO special files. 847 848 if (mkfifo($path, $mode)) { .... 849 850Returns C<undef> on failure. The C<$mode> is similar to the 851mode of C<mkdir()>, see L<perlfunc/mkdir>. 852 853=item mktime 854 855Convert date/time info to a calendar time. 856 857Synopsis: 858 859 mktime(sec, min, hour, mday, mon, year, wday = 0, yday = 0, isdst = 0) 860 861The month (C<mon>), weekday (C<wday>), and yearday (C<yday>) begin at zero. 862I.e. January is 0, not 1; Sunday is 0, not 1; January 1st is 0, not 1. The 863year (C<year>) is given in years since 1900. I.e. The year 1995 is 95; the 864year 2001 is 101. Consult your system's C<mktime()> manpage for details 865about these and the other arguments. 866 867Calendar time for December 12, 1995, at 10:30 am. 868 869 $time_t = POSIX::mktime( 0, 30, 10, 12, 11, 95 ); 870 print "Date = ", POSIX::ctime($time_t); 871 872Returns C<undef> on failure. 873 874=item modf 875 876Return the integral and fractional parts of a floating-point number. 877 878 ($fractional, $integral) = POSIX::modf( 3.14 ); 879 880=item nice 881 882This is similar to the C function C<nice()>, for changing 883the scheduling preference of the current process. Positive 884arguments mean more polite process, negative values more 885needy process. Normal user processes can only be more polite. 886 887Returns C<undef> on failure. 888 889=item offsetof 890 891offsetof() is C-specific, you probably want to see L<perlfunc/pack> instead. 892 893=item open 894 895Open a file for reading for writing. This returns file descriptors, not 896Perl filehandles. Use C<POSIX::close> to close the file. 897 898Open a file read-only with mode 0666. 899 900 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo" ); 901 902Open a file for read and write. 903 904 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDWR ); 905 906Open a file for write, with truncation. 907 908 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_WRONLY | &POSIX::O_TRUNC ); 909 910Create a new file with mode 0640. Set up the file for writing. 911 912 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_CREAT | &POSIX::O_WRONLY, 0640 ); 913 914Returns C<undef> on failure. 915 916See also L<perlfunc/sysopen>. 917 918=item opendir 919 920Open a directory for reading. 921 922 $dir = POSIX::opendir( "/var" ); 923 @files = POSIX::readdir( $dir ); 924 POSIX::closedir( $dir ); 925 926Returns C<undef> on failure. 927 928=item pathconf 929 930Retrieves the value of a configurable limit on a file or directory. 931 932The following will determine the maximum length of the longest allowable 933pathname on the filesystem which holds C</var>. 934 935 $path_max = POSIX::pathconf( "/var", &POSIX::_PC_PATH_MAX ); 936 937Returns C<undef> on failure. 938 939=item pause 940 941This is similar to the C function C<pause()>, which suspends 942the execution of the current process until a signal is received. 943 944Returns C<undef> on failure. 945 946=item perror 947 948This is identical to the C function C<perror()>, which outputs to the 949standard error stream the specified message followed by ": " and the 950current error string. Use the C<warn()> function and the C<$!> 951variable instead, see L<perlfunc/warn> and L<perlvar/$ERRNO>. 952 953=item pipe 954 955Create an interprocess channel. This returns file descriptors like those 956returned by C<POSIX::open>. 957 958 ($fd0, $fd1) = POSIX::pipe(); 959 POSIX::write( $fd0, "hello", 5 ); 960 POSIX::read( $fd1, $buf, 5 ); 961 962See also L<perlfunc/pipe>. 963 964=item pow 965 966Computes C<$x> raised to the power C<$exponent>. 967 968 $ret = POSIX::pow( $x, $exponent ); 969 970You can also use the C<**> operator, see L<perlop>. 971 972=item printf 973 974Formats and prints the specified arguments to STDOUT. 975See also L<perlfunc/printf>. 976 977=item putc 978 979putc() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead. 980 981=item putchar 982 983putchar() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead. 984 985=item puts 986 987puts() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead. 988 989=item qsort 990 991qsort() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/sort> instead. 992 993=item raise 994 995Sends the specified signal to the current process. 996See also L<perlfunc/kill> and the C<$$> in L<perlvar/$PID>. 997 998=item rand 999 1000C<rand()> is non-portable, see L<perlfunc/rand> instead. 1001 1002=item read 1003 1004Read from a file. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by 1005calling C<POSIX::open>. If the buffer C<$buf> is not large enough for the 1006read then Perl will extend it to make room for the request. 1007 1008 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY ); 1009 $bytes = POSIX::read( $fd, $buf, 3 ); 1010 1011Returns C<undef> on failure. 1012 1013See also L<perlfunc/sysread>. 1014 1015=item readdir 1016 1017This is identical to Perl's builtin C<readdir()> function 1018for reading directory entries, see L<perlfunc/readdir>. 1019 1020=item realloc 1021 1022realloc() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently. 1023 1024=item remove 1025 1026This is identical to Perl's builtin C<unlink()> function 1027for removing files, see L<perlfunc/unlink>. 1028 1029=item rename 1030 1031This is identical to Perl's builtin C<rename()> function 1032for renaming files, see L<perlfunc/rename>. 1033 1034=item rewind 1035 1036Seeks to the beginning of the file. 1037 1038=item rewinddir 1039 1040This is identical to Perl's builtin C<rewinddir()> function for 1041rewinding directory entry streams, see L<perlfunc/rewinddir>. 1042 1043=item rmdir 1044 1045This is identical to Perl's builtin C<rmdir()> function 1046for removing (empty) directories, see L<perlfunc/rmdir>. 1047 1048=item scanf 1049 1050scanf() is C-specific, use E<lt>E<gt> and regular expressions instead, 1051see L<perlre>. 1052 1053=item setgid 1054 1055Sets the real group identifier and the effective group identifier for 1056this process. Similar to assigning a value to the Perl's builtin 1057C<$)> variable, see L<perlvar/$GID>, except that the latter 1058will change only the real user identifier, and that the setgid() 1059uses only a single numeric argument, as opposed to a space-separated 1060list of numbers. 1061 1062=item setjmp 1063 1064C<setjmp()> is C-specific: use C<eval {}> instead, 1065see L<perlfunc/eval>. 1066 1067=item setlocale 1068 1069Modifies and queries program's locale. The following examples assume 1070 1071 use POSIX qw(setlocale LC_ALL LC_CTYPE); 1072 1073has been issued. 1074 1075The following will set the traditional UNIX system locale behavior 1076(the second argument C<"C">). 1077 1078 $loc = setlocale( LC_ALL, "C" ); 1079 1080The following will query the current LC_CTYPE category. (No second 1081argument means 'query'.) 1082 1083 $loc = setlocale( LC_CTYPE ); 1084 1085The following will set the LC_CTYPE behaviour according to the locale 1086environment variables (the second argument C<"">). 1087Please see your systems C<setlocale(3)> documentation for the locale 1088environment variables' meaning or consult L<perllocale>. 1089 1090 $loc = setlocale( LC_CTYPE, "" ); 1091 1092The following will set the LC_COLLATE behaviour to Argentinian 1093Spanish. B<NOTE>: The naming and availability of locales depends on 1094your operating system. Please consult L<perllocale> for how to find 1095out which locales are available in your system. 1096 1097 $loc = setlocale( LC_ALL, "es_AR.ISO8859-1" ); 1098 1099=item setpgid 1100 1101This is similar to the C function C<setpgid()> for 1102setting the process group identifier of the current process. 1103 1104Returns C<undef> on failure. 1105 1106=item setsid 1107 1108This is identical to the C function C<setsid()> for 1109setting the session identifier of the current process. 1110 1111=item setuid 1112 1113Sets the real user identifier and the effective user identifier for 1114this process. Similar to assigning a value to the Perl's builtin 1115C<$E<lt>> variable, see L<perlvar/$UID>, except that the latter 1116will change only the real user identifier. 1117 1118=item sigaction 1119 1120Detailed signal management. This uses C<POSIX::SigAction> objects for the 1121C<action> and C<oldaction> arguments. Consult your system's C<sigaction> 1122manpage for details. 1123 1124Synopsis: 1125 1126 sigaction(signal, action, oldaction = 0) 1127 1128Returns C<undef> on failure. The C<signal> must be a number (like 1129SIGHUP), not a string (like "SIGHUP"), though Perl does try hard 1130to understand you. 1131 1132=item siglongjmp 1133 1134siglongjmp() is C-specific: use L<perlfunc/die> instead. 1135 1136=item sigpending 1137 1138Examine signals that are blocked and pending. This uses C<POSIX::SigSet> 1139objects for the C<sigset> argument. Consult your system's C<sigpending> 1140manpage for details. 1141 1142Synopsis: 1143 1144 sigpending(sigset) 1145 1146Returns C<undef> on failure. 1147 1148=item sigprocmask 1149 1150Change and/or examine calling process's signal mask. This uses 1151C<POSIX::SigSet> objects for the C<sigset> and C<oldsigset> arguments. 1152Consult your system's C<sigprocmask> manpage for details. 1153 1154Synopsis: 1155 1156 sigprocmask(how, sigset, oldsigset = 0) 1157 1158Returns C<undef> on failure. 1159 1160=item sigsetjmp 1161 1162C<sigsetjmp()> is C-specific: use C<eval {}> instead, 1163see L<perlfunc/eval>. 1164 1165=item sigsuspend 1166 1167Install a signal mask and suspend process until signal arrives. This uses 1168C<POSIX::SigSet> objects for the C<signal_mask> argument. Consult your 1169system's C<sigsuspend> manpage for details. 1170 1171Synopsis: 1172 1173 sigsuspend(signal_mask) 1174 1175Returns C<undef> on failure. 1176 1177=item sin 1178 1179This is identical to Perl's builtin C<sin()> function 1180for returning the sine of the numerical argument, 1181see L<perlfunc/sin>. See also L<Math::Trig>. 1182 1183=item sinh 1184 1185This is identical to the C function C<sinh()> 1186for returning the hyperbolic sine of the numerical argument. 1187See also L<Math::Trig>. 1188 1189=item sleep 1190 1191This is functionally identical to Perl's builtin C<sleep()> function 1192for suspending the execution of the current for process for certain 1193number of seconds, see L<perlfunc/sleep>. There is one signifanct 1194difference, however: C<POSIX::sleep()> returns the number of 1195B<unslept> seconds, while the C<CORE::sleep()> returns the 1196number of slept seconds. 1197 1198=item sprintf 1199 1200This is similar to Perl's builtin C<sprintf()> function 1201for returning a string that has the arguments formatted as requested, 1202see L<perlfunc/sprintf>. 1203 1204=item sqrt 1205 1206This is identical to Perl's builtin C<sqrt()> function. 1207for returning the square root of the numerical argument, 1208see L<perlfunc/sqrt>. 1209 1210=item srand 1211 1212Give a seed the pseudorandom number generator, see L<perlfunc/srand>. 1213 1214=item sscanf 1215 1216sscanf() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead, 1217see L<perlre>. 1218 1219=item stat 1220 1221This is identical to Perl's builtin C<stat()> function 1222for retutning information about files and directories. 1223 1224=item strcat 1225 1226strcat() is C-specific, use C<.=> instead, see L<perlop>. 1227 1228=item strchr 1229 1230strchr() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/index> instead. 1231 1232=item strcmp 1233 1234strcmp() is C-specific, use C<eq> or C<cmp> instead, see L<perlop>. 1235 1236=item strcoll 1237 1238This is identical to the C function C<strcoll()> 1239for collating (comparing) strings transformed using 1240the C<strxfrm()> function. Not really needed since 1241Perl can do this transparently, see L<perllocale>. 1242 1243=item strcpy 1244 1245strcpy() is C-specific, use C<=> instead, see L<perlop>. 1246 1247=item strcspn 1248 1249strcspn() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead, 1250see L<perlre>. 1251 1252=item strerror 1253 1254Returns the error string for the specified errno. 1255Identical to the string form of the C<$!>, see L<perlvar/$ERRNO>. 1256 1257=item strftime 1258 1259Convert date and time information to string. Returns the string. 1260 1261Synopsis: 1262 1263 strftime(fmt, sec, min, hour, mday, mon, year, wday = -1, yday = -1, isdst = -1) 1264 1265The month (C<mon>), weekday (C<wday>), and yearday (C<yday>) begin at zero. 1266I.e. January is 0, not 1; Sunday is 0, not 1; January 1st is 0, not 1. The 1267year (C<year>) is given in years since 1900. I.e., the year 1995 is 95; the 1268year 2001 is 101. Consult your system's C<strftime()> manpage for details 1269about these and the other arguments. 1270 1271If you want your code to be portable, your format (C<fmt>) argument 1272should use only the conversion specifiers defined by the ANSI C 1273standard (C89, to play safe). These are C<aAbBcdHIjmMpSUwWxXyYZ%>. 1274But even then, the B<results> of some of the conversion specifiers are 1275non-portable. For example, the specifiers C<aAbBcpZ> change according 1276to the locale settings of the user, and both how to set locales (the 1277locale names) and what output to expect are non-standard. 1278The specifier C<c> changes according to the timezone settings of the 1279user and the timezone computation rules of the operating system. 1280The C<Z> specifier is notoriously unportable since the names of 1281timezones are non-standard. Sticking to the numeric specifiers is the 1282safest route. 1283 1284The given arguments are made consistent as though by calling 1285C<mktime()> before calling your system's C<strftime()> function, 1286except that the C<isdst> value is not affected. 1287 1288The string for Tuesday, December 12, 1995. 1289 1290 $str = POSIX::strftime( "%A, %B %d, %Y", 0, 0, 0, 12, 11, 95, 2 ); 1291 print "$str\n"; 1292 1293=item strlen 1294 1295strlen() is C-specific, use C<length()> instead, see L<perlfunc/length>. 1296 1297=item strncat 1298 1299strncat() is C-specific, use C<.=> instead, see L<perlop>. 1300 1301=item strncmp 1302 1303strncmp() is C-specific, use C<eq> instead, see L<perlop>. 1304 1305=item strncpy 1306 1307strncpy() is C-specific, use C<=> instead, see L<perlop>. 1308 1309=item strpbrk 1310 1311strpbrk() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead, 1312see L<perlre>. 1313 1314=item strrchr 1315 1316strrchr() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/rindex> instead. 1317 1318=item strspn 1319 1320strspn() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead, 1321see L<perlre>. 1322 1323=item strstr 1324 1325This is identical to Perl's builtin C<index()> function, 1326see L<perlfunc/index>. 1327 1328=item strtod 1329 1330String to double translation. Returns the parsed number and the number 1331of characters in the unparsed portion of the string. Truly 1332POSIX-compliant systems set $! ($ERRNO) to indicate a translation 1333error, so clear $! before calling strtod. However, non-POSIX systems 1334may not check for overflow, and therefore will never set $!. 1335 1336strtod should respect any POSIX I<setlocale()> settings. 1337 1338To parse a string $str as a floating point number use 1339 1340 $! = 0; 1341 ($num, $n_unparsed) = POSIX::strtod($str); 1342 1343The second returned item and $! can be used to check for valid input: 1344 1345 if (($str eq '') || ($n_unparsed != 0) || !$!) { 1346 die "Non-numeric input $str" . $! ? ": $!\n" : "\n"; 1347 } 1348 1349When called in a scalar context strtod returns the parsed number. 1350 1351=item strtok 1352 1353strtok() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead, see 1354L<perlre>, or L<perlfunc/split>. 1355 1356=item strtol 1357 1358String to (long) integer translation. Returns the parsed number and 1359the number of characters in the unparsed portion of the string. Truly 1360POSIX-compliant systems set $! ($ERRNO) to indicate a translation 1361error, so clear $! before calling strtol. However, non-POSIX systems 1362may not check for overflow, and therefore will never set $!. 1363 1364strtol should respect any POSIX I<setlocale()> settings. 1365 1366To parse a string $str as a number in some base $base use 1367 1368 $! = 0; 1369 ($num, $n_unparsed) = POSIX::strtol($str, $base); 1370 1371The base should be zero or between 2 and 36, inclusive. When the base 1372is zero or omitted strtol will use the string itself to determine the 1373base: a leading "0x" or "0X" means hexadecimal; a leading "0" means 1374octal; any other leading characters mean decimal. Thus, "1234" is 1375parsed as a decimal number, "01234" as an octal number, and "0x1234" 1376as a hexadecimal number. 1377 1378The second returned item and $! can be used to check for valid input: 1379 1380 if (($str eq '') || ($n_unparsed != 0) || !$!) { 1381 die "Non-numeric input $str" . $! ? ": $!\n" : "\n"; 1382 } 1383 1384When called in a scalar context strtol returns the parsed number. 1385 1386=item strtoul 1387 1388String to unsigned (long) integer translation. strtoul() is identical 1389to strtol() except that strtoul() only parses unsigned integers. See 1390L</strtol> for details. 1391 1392Note: Some vendors supply strtod() and strtol() but not strtoul(). 1393Other vendors that do supply strtoul() parse "-1" as a valid value. 1394 1395=item strxfrm 1396 1397String transformation. Returns the transformed string. 1398 1399 $dst = POSIX::strxfrm( $src ); 1400 1401Used in conjunction with the C<strcoll()> function, see L</strcoll>. 1402 1403Not really needed since Perl can do this transparently, see 1404L<perllocale>. 1405 1406=item sysconf 1407 1408Retrieves values of system configurable variables. 1409 1410The following will get the machine's clock speed. 1411 1412 $clock_ticks = POSIX::sysconf( &POSIX::_SC_CLK_TCK ); 1413 1414Returns C<undef> on failure. 1415 1416=item system 1417 1418This is identical to Perl's builtin C<system()> function, see 1419L<perlfunc/system>. 1420 1421=item tan 1422 1423This is identical to the C function C<tan()>, returning the 1424tangent of the numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>. 1425 1426=item tanh 1427 1428This is identical to the C function C<tanh()>, returning the 1429hyperbolic tangent of the numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>. 1430 1431=item tcdrain 1432 1433This is similar to the C function C<tcdrain()> for draining 1434the output queue of its argument stream. 1435 1436Returns C<undef> on failure. 1437 1438=item tcflow 1439 1440This is similar to the C function C<tcflow()> for controlling 1441the flow of its argument stream. 1442 1443Returns C<undef> on failure. 1444 1445=item tcflush 1446 1447This is similar to the C function C<tcflush()> for flushing 1448the I/O buffers of its argument stream. 1449 1450Returns C<undef> on failure. 1451 1452=item tcgetpgrp 1453 1454This is identical to the C function C<tcgetpgrp()> for returning the 1455process group identifier of the foreground process group of the controlling 1456terminal. 1457 1458=item tcsendbreak 1459 1460This is similar to the C function C<tcsendbreak()> for sending 1461a break on its argument stream. 1462 1463Returns C<undef> on failure. 1464 1465=item tcsetpgrp 1466 1467This is similar to the C function C<tcsetpgrp()> for setting the 1468process group identifier of the foreground process group of the controlling 1469terminal. 1470 1471Returns C<undef> on failure. 1472 1473=item time 1474 1475This is identical to Perl's builtin C<time()> function 1476for returning the number of seconds since the epoch 1477(whatever it is for the system), see L<perlfunc/time>. 1478 1479=item times 1480 1481The times() function returns elapsed realtime since some point in the past 1482(such as system startup), user and system times for this process, and user 1483and system times used by child processes. All times are returned in clock 1484ticks. 1485 1486 ($realtime, $user, $system, $cuser, $csystem) = POSIX::times(); 1487 1488Note: Perl's builtin C<times()> function returns four values, measured in 1489seconds. 1490 1491=item tmpfile 1492 1493Use method C<IO::File::new_tmpfile()> instead, or see L<File::Temp>. 1494 1495=item tmpnam 1496 1497Returns a name for a temporary file. 1498 1499 $tmpfile = POSIX::tmpnam(); 1500 1501For security reasons, which are probably detailed in your system's 1502documentation for the C library tmpnam() function, this interface 1503should not be used; instead see L<File::Temp>. 1504 1505=item tolower 1506 1507This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a single 1508character or to a whole string. Consider using the C<lc()> function, 1509see L<perlfunc/lc>, or the equivalent C<\L> operator inside doublequotish 1510strings. 1511 1512=item toupper 1513 1514This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a single 1515character or to a whole string. Consider using the C<uc()> function, 1516see L<perlfunc/uc>, or the equivalent C<\U> operator inside doublequotish 1517strings. 1518 1519=item ttyname 1520 1521This is identical to the C function C<ttyname()> for returning the 1522name of the current terminal. 1523 1524=item tzname 1525 1526Retrieves the time conversion information from the C<tzname> variable. 1527 1528 POSIX::tzset(); 1529 ($std, $dst) = POSIX::tzname(); 1530 1531=item tzset 1532 1533This is identical to the C function C<tzset()> for setting 1534the current timezone based on the environment variable C<TZ>, 1535to be used by C<ctime()>, C<localtime()>, C<mktime()>, and C<strftime()> 1536functions. 1537 1538=item umask 1539 1540This is identical to Perl's builtin C<umask()> function 1541for setting (and querying) the file creation permission mask, 1542see L<perlfunc/umask>. 1543 1544=item uname 1545 1546Get name of current operating system. 1547 1548 ($sysname, $nodename, $release, $version, $machine) = POSIX::uname(); 1549 1550Note that the actual meanings of the various fields are not 1551that well standardized, do not expect any great portability. 1552The C<$sysname> might be the name of the operating system, 1553the C<$nodename> might be the name of the host, the C<$release> 1554might be the (major) release number of the operating system, 1555the C<$version> might be the (minor) release number of the 1556operating system, and the C<$machine> might be a hardware identifier. 1557Maybe. 1558 1559=item ungetc 1560 1561Use method C<IO::Handle::ungetc()> instead. 1562 1563=item unlink 1564 1565This is identical to Perl's builtin C<unlink()> function 1566for removing files, see L<perlfunc/unlink>. 1567 1568=item utime 1569 1570This is identical to Perl's builtin C<utime()> function 1571for changing the time stamps of files and directories, 1572see L<perlfunc/utime>. 1573 1574=item vfprintf 1575 1576vfprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/printf> instead. 1577 1578=item vprintf 1579 1580vprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/printf> instead. 1581 1582=item vsprintf 1583 1584vsprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/sprintf> instead. 1585 1586=item wait 1587 1588This is identical to Perl's builtin C<wait()> function, 1589see L<perlfunc/wait>. 1590 1591=item waitpid 1592 1593Wait for a child process to change state. This is identical to Perl's 1594builtin C<waitpid()> function, see L<perlfunc/waitpid>. 1595 1596 $pid = POSIX::waitpid( -1, POSIX::WNOHANG ); 1597 print "status = ", ($? / 256), "\n"; 1598 1599=item wcstombs 1600 1601This is identical to the C function C<wcstombs()>. 1602Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte 1603characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather 1604useless function. 1605 1606=item wctomb 1607 1608This is identical to the C function C<wctomb()>. 1609Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte 1610characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather 1611useless function. 1612 1613=item write 1614 1615Write to a file. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by 1616calling C<POSIX::open>. 1617 1618 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_WRONLY ); 1619 $buf = "hello"; 1620 $bytes = POSIX::write( $b, $buf, 5 ); 1621 1622Returns C<undef> on failure. 1623 1624See also L<perlfunc/syswrite>. 1625 1626=back 1627 1628=head1 CLASSES 1629 1630=head2 POSIX::SigAction 1631 1632=over 8 1633 1634=item new 1635 1636Creates a new C<POSIX::SigAction> object which corresponds to the C 1637C<struct sigaction>. This object will be destroyed automatically when it is 1638no longer needed. The first parameter is the fully-qualified name of a sub 1639which is a signal-handler. The second parameter is a C<POSIX::SigSet> 1640object, it defaults to the empty set. The third parameter contains the 1641C<sa_flags>, it defaults to 0. 1642 1643 $sigset = POSIX::SigSet->new(SIGINT, SIGQUIT); 1644 $sigaction = POSIX::SigAction->new( \&main::handler, $sigset, &POSIX::SA_NOCLDSTOP ); 1645 1646This C<POSIX::SigAction> object is intended for use with the C<POSIX::sigaction()> 1647function. 1648 1649=back 1650 1651=over 8 1652 1653=item handler 1654 1655=item mask 1656 1657=item flags 1658 1659accessor functions to get/set the values of a SigAction object. 1660 1661 $sigset = $sigaction->mask; 1662 $sigaction->flags(&POSIX::SA_RESTART); 1663 1664=item safe 1665 1666accessor function for the "safe signals" flag of a SigAction object; see 1667L<perlipc> for general information on safe (a.k.a. "deferred") signals. If 1668you wish to handle a signal safely, use this accessor to set the "safe" flag 1669in the C<POSIX::SigAction> object: 1670 1671 $sigaction->safe(1); 1672 1673You may also examine the "safe" flag on the output action object which is 1674filled in when given as the third parameter to C<POSIX::sigaction()>: 1675 1676 sigaction(SIGINT, $new_action, $old_action); 1677 if ($old_action->safe) { 1678 # previous SIGINT handler used safe signals 1679 } 1680 1681=back 1682 1683=head2 POSIX::SigSet 1684 1685=over 8 1686 1687=item new 1688 1689Create a new SigSet object. This object will be destroyed automatically 1690when it is no longer needed. Arguments may be supplied to initialize the 1691set. 1692 1693Create an empty set. 1694 1695 $sigset = POSIX::SigSet->new; 1696 1697Create a set with SIGUSR1. 1698 1699 $sigset = POSIX::SigSet->new( &POSIX::SIGUSR1 ); 1700 1701=item addset 1702 1703Add a signal to a SigSet object. 1704 1705 $sigset->addset( &POSIX::SIGUSR2 ); 1706 1707Returns C<undef> on failure. 1708 1709=item delset 1710 1711Remove a signal from the SigSet object. 1712 1713 $sigset->delset( &POSIX::SIGUSR2 ); 1714 1715Returns C<undef> on failure. 1716 1717=item emptyset 1718 1719Initialize the SigSet object to be empty. 1720 1721 $sigset->emptyset(); 1722 1723Returns C<undef> on failure. 1724 1725=item fillset 1726 1727Initialize the SigSet object to include all signals. 1728 1729 $sigset->fillset(); 1730 1731Returns C<undef> on failure. 1732 1733=item ismember 1734 1735Tests the SigSet object to see if it contains a specific signal. 1736 1737 if( $sigset->ismember( &POSIX::SIGUSR1 ) ){ 1738 print "contains SIGUSR1\n"; 1739 } 1740 1741=back 1742 1743=head2 POSIX::Termios 1744 1745=over 8 1746 1747=item new 1748 1749Create a new Termios object. This object will be destroyed automatically 1750when it is no longer needed. A Termios object corresponds to the termios 1751C struct. new() mallocs a new one, getattr() fills it from a file descriptor, 1752and setattr() sets a file descriptor's parameters to match Termios' contents. 1753 1754 $termios = POSIX::Termios->new; 1755 1756=item getattr 1757 1758Get terminal control attributes. 1759 1760Obtain the attributes for stdin. 1761 1762 $termios->getattr() 1763 1764Obtain the attributes for stdout. 1765 1766 $termios->getattr( 1 ) 1767 1768Returns C<undef> on failure. 1769 1770=item getcc 1771 1772Retrieve a value from the c_cc field of a termios object. The c_cc field is 1773an array so an index must be specified. 1774 1775 $c_cc[1] = $termios->getcc(1); 1776 1777=item getcflag 1778 1779Retrieve the c_cflag field of a termios object. 1780 1781 $c_cflag = $termios->getcflag; 1782 1783=item getiflag 1784 1785Retrieve the c_iflag field of a termios object. 1786 1787 $c_iflag = $termios->getiflag; 1788 1789=item getispeed 1790 1791Retrieve the input baud rate. 1792 1793 $ispeed = $termios->getispeed; 1794 1795=item getlflag 1796 1797Retrieve the c_lflag field of a termios object. 1798 1799 $c_lflag = $termios->getlflag; 1800 1801=item getoflag 1802 1803Retrieve the c_oflag field of a termios object. 1804 1805 $c_oflag = $termios->getoflag; 1806 1807=item getospeed 1808 1809Retrieve the output baud rate. 1810 1811 $ospeed = $termios->getospeed; 1812 1813=item setattr 1814 1815Set terminal control attributes. 1816 1817Set attributes immediately for stdout. 1818 1819 $termios->setattr( 1, &POSIX::TCSANOW ); 1820 1821Returns C<undef> on failure. 1822 1823=item setcc 1824 1825Set a value in the c_cc field of a termios object. The c_cc field is an 1826array so an index must be specified. 1827 1828 $termios->setcc( &POSIX::VEOF, 1 ); 1829 1830=item setcflag 1831 1832Set the c_cflag field of a termios object. 1833 1834 $termios->setcflag( $c_cflag | &POSIX::CLOCAL ); 1835 1836=item setiflag 1837 1838Set the c_iflag field of a termios object. 1839 1840 $termios->setiflag( $c_iflag | &POSIX::BRKINT ); 1841 1842=item setispeed 1843 1844Set the input baud rate. 1845 1846 $termios->setispeed( &POSIX::B9600 ); 1847 1848Returns C<undef> on failure. 1849 1850=item setlflag 1851 1852Set the c_lflag field of a termios object. 1853 1854 $termios->setlflag( $c_lflag | &POSIX::ECHO ); 1855 1856=item setoflag 1857 1858Set the c_oflag field of a termios object. 1859 1860 $termios->setoflag( $c_oflag | &POSIX::OPOST ); 1861 1862=item setospeed 1863 1864Set the output baud rate. 1865 1866 $termios->setospeed( &POSIX::B9600 ); 1867 1868Returns C<undef> on failure. 1869 1870=item Baud rate values 1871 1872B38400 B75 B200 B134 B300 B1800 B150 B0 B19200 B1200 B9600 B600 B4800 B50 B2400 B110 1873 1874=item Terminal interface values 1875 1876TCSADRAIN TCSANOW TCOON TCIOFLUSH TCOFLUSH TCION TCIFLUSH TCSAFLUSH TCIOFF TCOOFF 1877 1878=item c_cc field values 1879 1880VEOF VEOL VERASE VINTR VKILL VQUIT VSUSP VSTART VSTOP VMIN VTIME NCCS 1881 1882=item c_cflag field values 1883 1884CLOCAL CREAD CSIZE CS5 CS6 CS7 CS8 CSTOPB HUPCL PARENB PARODD 1885 1886=item c_iflag field values 1887 1888BRKINT ICRNL IGNBRK IGNCR IGNPAR INLCR INPCK ISTRIP IXOFF IXON PARMRK 1889 1890=item c_lflag field values 1891 1892ECHO ECHOE ECHOK ECHONL ICANON IEXTEN ISIG NOFLSH TOSTOP 1893 1894=item c_oflag field values 1895 1896OPOST 1897 1898=back 1899 1900=head1 PATHNAME CONSTANTS 1901 1902=over 8 1903 1904=item Constants 1905 1906_PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED _PC_LINK_MAX _PC_MAX_CANON _PC_MAX_INPUT _PC_NAME_MAX _PC_NO_TRUNC _PC_PATH_MAX _PC_PIPE_BUF _PC_VDISABLE 1907 1908=back 1909 1910=head1 POSIX CONSTANTS 1911 1912=over 8 1913 1914=item Constants 1915 1916_POSIX_ARG_MAX _POSIX_CHILD_MAX _POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED _POSIX_JOB_CONTROL _POSIX_LINK_MAX _POSIX_MAX_CANON _POSIX_MAX_INPUT _POSIX_NAME_MAX _POSIX_NGROUPS_MAX _POSIX_NO_TRUNC _POSIX_OPEN_MAX _POSIX_PATH_MAX _POSIX_PIPE_BUF _POSIX_SAVED_IDS _POSIX_SSIZE_MAX _POSIX_STREAM_MAX _POSIX_TZNAME_MAX _POSIX_VDISABLE _POSIX_VERSION 1917 1918=back 1919 1920=head1 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION 1921 1922=over 8 1923 1924=item Constants 1925 1926_SC_ARG_MAX _SC_CHILD_MAX _SC_CLK_TCK _SC_JOB_CONTROL _SC_NGROUPS_MAX _SC_OPEN_MAX _SC_PAGESIZE _SC_SAVED_IDS _SC_STREAM_MAX _SC_TZNAME_MAX _SC_VERSION 1927 1928=back 1929 1930=head1 ERRNO 1931 1932=over 8 1933 1934=item Constants 1935 1936E2BIG EACCES EADDRINUSE EADDRNOTAVAIL EAFNOSUPPORT EAGAIN EALREADY EBADF 1937EBUSY ECHILD ECONNABORTED ECONNREFUSED ECONNRESET EDEADLK EDESTADDRREQ 1938EDOM EDQUOT EEXIST EFAULT EFBIG EHOSTDOWN EHOSTUNREACH EINPROGRESS EINTR 1939EINVAL EIO EISCONN EISDIR ELOOP EMFILE EMLINK EMSGSIZE ENAMETOOLONG 1940ENETDOWN ENETRESET ENETUNREACH ENFILE ENOBUFS ENODEV ENOENT ENOEXEC 1941ENOLCK ENOMEM ENOPROTOOPT ENOSPC ENOSYS ENOTBLK ENOTCONN ENOTDIR 1942ENOTEMPTY ENOTSOCK ENOTTY ENXIO EOPNOTSUPP EPERM EPFNOSUPPORT EPIPE 1943EPROCLIM EPROTONOSUPPORT EPROTOTYPE ERANGE EREMOTE ERESTART EROFS 1944ESHUTDOWN ESOCKTNOSUPPORT ESPIPE ESRCH ESTALE ETIMEDOUT ETOOMANYREFS 1945ETXTBSY EUSERS EWOULDBLOCK EXDEV 1946 1947=back 1948 1949=head1 FCNTL 1950 1951=over 8 1952 1953=item Constants 1954 1955FD_CLOEXEC F_DUPFD F_GETFD F_GETFL F_GETLK F_OK F_RDLCK F_SETFD F_SETFL F_SETLK F_SETLKW F_UNLCK F_WRLCK O_ACCMODE O_APPEND O_CREAT O_EXCL O_NOCTTY O_NONBLOCK O_RDONLY O_RDWR O_TRUNC O_WRONLY 1956 1957=back 1958 1959=head1 FLOAT 1960 1961=over 8 1962 1963=item Constants 1964 1965DBL_DIG DBL_EPSILON DBL_MANT_DIG DBL_MAX DBL_MAX_10_EXP DBL_MAX_EXP DBL_MIN DBL_MIN_10_EXP DBL_MIN_EXP FLT_DIG FLT_EPSILON FLT_MANT_DIG FLT_MAX FLT_MAX_10_EXP FLT_MAX_EXP FLT_MIN FLT_MIN_10_EXP FLT_MIN_EXP FLT_RADIX FLT_ROUNDS LDBL_DIG LDBL_EPSILON LDBL_MANT_DIG LDBL_MAX LDBL_MAX_10_EXP LDBL_MAX_EXP LDBL_MIN LDBL_MIN_10_EXP LDBL_MIN_EXP 1966 1967=back 1968 1969=head1 LIMITS 1970 1971=over 8 1972 1973=item Constants 1974 1975ARG_MAX CHAR_BIT CHAR_MAX CHAR_MIN CHILD_MAX INT_MAX INT_MIN LINK_MAX LONG_MAX LONG_MIN MAX_CANON MAX_INPUT MB_LEN_MAX NAME_MAX NGROUPS_MAX OPEN_MAX PATH_MAX PIPE_BUF SCHAR_MAX SCHAR_MIN SHRT_MAX SHRT_MIN SSIZE_MAX STREAM_MAX TZNAME_MAX UCHAR_MAX UINT_MAX ULONG_MAX USHRT_MAX 1976 1977=back 1978 1979=head1 LOCALE 1980 1981=over 8 1982 1983=item Constants 1984 1985LC_ALL LC_COLLATE LC_CTYPE LC_MONETARY LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME 1986 1987=back 1988 1989=head1 MATH 1990 1991=over 8 1992 1993=item Constants 1994 1995HUGE_VAL 1996 1997=back 1998 1999=head1 SIGNAL 2000 2001=over 8 2002 2003=item Constants 2004 2005SA_NOCLDSTOP SA_NOCLDWAIT SA_NODEFER SA_ONSTACK SA_RESETHAND SA_RESTART 2006SA_SIGINFO SIGABRT SIGALRM SIGCHLD SIGCONT SIGFPE SIGHUP SIGILL SIGINT 2007SIGKILL SIGPIPE SIGQUIT SIGSEGV SIGSTOP SIGTERM SIGTSTP SIGTTIN SIGTTOU 2008SIGUSR1 SIGUSR2 SIG_BLOCK SIG_DFL SIG_ERR SIG_IGN SIG_SETMASK 2009SIG_UNBLOCK 2010 2011=back 2012 2013=head1 STAT 2014 2015=over 8 2016 2017=item Constants 2018 2019S_IRGRP S_IROTH S_IRUSR S_IRWXG S_IRWXO S_IRWXU S_ISGID S_ISUID S_IWGRP S_IWOTH S_IWUSR S_IXGRP S_IXOTH S_IXUSR 2020 2021=item Macros 2022 2023S_ISBLK S_ISCHR S_ISDIR S_ISFIFO S_ISREG 2024 2025=back 2026 2027=head1 STDLIB 2028 2029=over 8 2030 2031=item Constants 2032 2033EXIT_FAILURE EXIT_SUCCESS MB_CUR_MAX RAND_MAX 2034 2035=back 2036 2037=head1 STDIO 2038 2039=over 8 2040 2041=item Constants 2042 2043BUFSIZ EOF FILENAME_MAX L_ctermid L_cuserid L_tmpname TMP_MAX 2044 2045=back 2046 2047=head1 TIME 2048 2049=over 8 2050 2051=item Constants 2052 2053CLK_TCK CLOCKS_PER_SEC 2054 2055=back 2056 2057=head1 UNISTD 2058 2059=over 8 2060 2061=item Constants 2062 2063R_OK SEEK_CUR SEEK_END SEEK_SET STDIN_FILENO STDOUT_FILENO STDERR_FILENO W_OK X_OK 2064 2065=back 2066 2067=head1 WAIT 2068 2069=over 8 2070 2071=item Constants 2072 2073WNOHANG WUNTRACED 2074 2075=over 16 2076 2077=item WNOHANG 2078 2079Do not suspend the calling process until a child process 2080changes state but instead return immediately. 2081 2082=item WUNTRACED 2083 2084Catch stopped child processes. 2085 2086=back 2087 2088=item Macros 2089 2090WIFEXITED WEXITSTATUS WIFSIGNALED WTERMSIG WIFSTOPPED WSTOPSIG 2091 2092=over 16 2093 2094=item WIFEXITED 2095 2096WIFEXITED($?) returns true if the child process exited normally 2097(C<exit()> or by falling off the end of C<main()>) 2098 2099=item WEXITSTATUS 2100 2101WEXITSTATUS($?) returns the normal exit status of the child process 2102(only meaningful if WIFEXITED($?) is true) 2103 2104=item WIFSIGNALED 2105 2106WIFSIGNALED($?) returns true if the child process terminated because 2107of a signal 2108 2109=item WTERMSIG 2110 2111WTERMSIG($?) returns the signal the child process terminated for 2112(only meaningful if WIFSIGNALED($?) is true) 2113 2114=item WIFSTOPPED 2115 2116WIFSTOPPED($?) returns true if the child process is currently stopped 2117(can happen only if you specified the WUNTRACED flag to waitpid()) 2118 2119=item WSTOPSIG 2120 2121WSTOPSIG($?) returns the signal the child process was stopped for 2122(only meaningful if WIFSTOPPED($?) is true) 2123 2124=back 2125 2126=back 2127 2128