xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/gen/directory.3 (revision 17306b8fd0952c7489f93f0230818481e5a1e2c9)
1.\"	$NetBSD: directory.3,v 1.10 1999/03/22 19:44:39 garbled Exp $
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34.\"     @(#)directory.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
35.\"
36.Dd June 4, 1993
37.Dt DIRECTORY 3
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm opendir ,
41.Nm readdir ,
42.Nm telldir ,
43.Nm seekdir ,
44.Nm rewinddir ,
45.Nm closedir ,
46.Nm dirfd
47.Nd directory operations
48.Sh LIBRARY
49.Lb libc
50.Sh SYNOPSIS
51.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
52.Fd #include <dirent.h>
53.Ft DIR *
54.Fn opendir "const char *filename"
55.Ft struct dirent *
56.Fn readdir "DIR *dirp"
57.Ft long
58.Fn telldir "const DIR *dirp"
59.Ft void
60.Fn seekdir "DIR *dirp" "long  loc"
61.Ft void
62.Fn rewinddir "DIR *dirp"
63.Ft int
64.Fn closedir "DIR *dirp"
65.Ft int
66.Fn dirfd "DIR *dirp"
67.Sh DESCRIPTION
68The
69.Fn opendir
70function
71opens the directory named by
72.Fa filename ,
73associates a
74.Em directory stream
75with it
76and
77returns a pointer to be used to identify the
78.Em directory stream
79in subsequent operations.  The pointer
80.Dv NULL
81is returned if
82.Fa filename
83cannot be accessed, or if it cannot
84.Xr malloc 3
85enough memory to hold the whole thing.
86.Pp
87The
88.Fn readdir
89function
90returns a pointer to the next directory entry.  It returns
91.Dv NULL
92upon reaching the end of the directory or detecting an invalid
93.Fn seekdir
94operation.
95.Pp
96The
97.Fn telldir
98function
99returns the current location associated with the named
100.Em directory stream .
101.Pp
102The
103.Fn seekdir
104function
105sets the position of the next
106.Fn readdir
107operation on the
108.Em directory stream .
109The new position reverts to the one associated with the
110.Em directory stream
111when the
112.Fn telldir
113operation was performed.  Values returned by
114.Fn telldir
115are good only for the lifetime of the
116.Dv DIR
117pointer,
118.Fa dirp ,
119from which they are derived.
120If the directory is closed and then reopened, the
121.Fn telldir
122value may be invalidated due to undetected directory compaction.
123It is safe to use a previous
124.Fn telldir
125value immediately after a call to
126.Fn opendir
127and before any calls to
128.Fn readdir .
129.Pp
130The
131.Fn rewinddir
132function
133resets the position of the named
134.Em directory stream
135to the beginning of the directory.
136.Pp
137The
138.Fn closedir
139function
140closes the named
141.Em directory stream
142and frees the structure associated with the
143.Fa dirp
144pointer,
145returning 0 on success.
146On failure, \-1 is returned and the global variable
147.Va errno
148is set to indicate the error.
149.Pp
150The
151.Fn dirfd
152function
153returns the integer file descriptor associated with the named
154.Em directory stream ,
155see
156.Xr open 2 .
157.Pp
158Sample code which searchs a directory for entry ``name'' is:
159.Bd -literal -offset indent
160len = strlen(name);
161dirp = opendir(".");
162while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL)
163	if (dp->d_namlen == len && !strcmp(dp->d_name, name)) {
164		(void)closedir(dirp);
165		return FOUND;
166	}
167(void)closedir(dirp);
168return NOT_FOUND;
169.Ed
170.Sh SEE ALSO
171.Xr open 2 ,
172.Xr close 2 ,
173.Xr read 2 ,
174.Xr lseek 2 ,
175.Xr dir 5
176.Sh STANDARDS
177The
178.Fn opendir ,
179.Fn readdir ,
180.Fn rewinddir
181and
182.Fn closedir
183functions conform to
184.St -p1003.1-90 .
185.Sh HISTORY
186The
187.Fn opendir ,
188.Fn readdir ,
189.Fn telldir ,
190.Fn seekdir ,
191.Fn rewinddir ,
192.Fn closedir ,
193and
194.Fn dirfd
195functions appeared in
196.Bx 4.2 .
197