xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/ioctl.2 (revision 5e4c038a45edbc7d63b7c2daa76e29f88b64a4e3)
1.\"	$NetBSD: ioctl.2,v 1.12 2002/02/08 01:28:18 ross Exp $
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34.\"     @(#)ioctl.2	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
35.\"
36.Dd December 11, 1993
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 RETURN VALUES
76If an error has occurred, a value of -1 is returned and
77.Va errno
78is set to indicate the error.
79.Sh ERRORS
80.Fn ioctl
81will fail if:
82.Bl -tag -width Er
83.It Bq Er EBADF
84.Fa d
85is not a valid descriptor.
86.It Bq Er ENOTTY
87.Fa d
88is not associated with a character
89special device.
90.It Bq Er ENOTTY
91The specified request does not apply to the kind
92of object that the descriptor
93.Fa d
94references.
95.It Bq Er EINVAL
96.Fa request
97or
98.Fa argp
99is not valid.
100.El
101.Sh SEE ALSO
102.Xr mt 1 ,
103.Xr execve 2 ,
104.Xr fcntl 2 ,
105.Xr intro 4 ,
106.Xr tty 4
107.Sh HISTORY
108An
109.Fn ioctl
110function call appeared in
111.At v7 .
112