xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/dup.2 (revision b2ea75c1b17e1a9a339660e7ed45cd24946b230e)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: dup.2,v 1.8 2000/10/18 05:12:08 aaron Exp $
2.\"	$NetBSD: dup.2,v 1.4 1995/02/27 12:32:21 cgd Exp $
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35.\"     @(#)dup.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
36.\"
37.Dd June 4, 1993
38.Dt DUP 2
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm dup ,
42.Nm dup2
43.Nd duplicate an existing file descriptor
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Fd #include <unistd.h>
46.Ft int
47.Fn dup "int oldd"
48.Ft int
49.Fn dup2 "int oldd" "int newd"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51.Fn dup
52duplicates an existing object descriptor and returns its value to
53the calling process
54.Fa ( newd
55=
56.Fn dup oldd ) .
57The argument
58.Fa oldd
59is a small non-negative integer index in the per-process descriptor table.
60The value must be less than the size of the table, which is returned by
61.Xr getdtablesize 3 .
62The new descriptor returned by the call is the lowest numbered descriptor
63currently not in use by the process.
64.Pp
65The object referenced by the descriptor does not distinguish between
66.Fa oldd
67and
68.Fa newd
69in any way.
70Thus if
71.Fa newd
72and
73.Fa oldd
74are duplicate references to an open
75file,
76.Xr read 2 ,
77.Xr write 2
78and
79.Xr lseek 2
80calls all move a single pointer into the file,
81and append mode, non-blocking I/O and asynchronous I/O options
82are shared between the references.
83If a separate pointer into the file is desired, a different
84object reference to the file must be obtained by issuing an
85additional
86.Xr open 2
87call.
88The close-on-exec flag on the new file descriptor is unset.
89.Pp
90In
91.Fn dup2 ,
92the value of the new descriptor
93.Fa newd
94is specified.
95If this descriptor is already in use, it is first deallocated as if a
96.Xr close 2
97call had been done first.
98.Sh RETURN VALUES
99The value \-1 is returned if an error occurs in either call.
100The external variable
101.Va errno
102indicates the cause of the error.
103.Sh ERRORS
104.Fn dup
105and
106.Fn dup2
107fail if:
108.Bl -tag -width Er
109.It Bq Er EBADF
110.Fa oldd
111or
112.Fa newd
113is not a valid active descriptor
114.It Bq Er EMFILE
115Too many descriptors are active.
116.El
117.Sh SEE ALSO
118.Xr accept 2 ,
119.Xr close 2 ,
120.Xr fcntl 2 ,
121.Xr open 2 ,
122.Xr pipe 2 ,
123.Xr socket 2 ,
124.Xr socketpair 2 ,
125.Xr getdtablesize 3
126.Sh STANDARDS
127.Fn dup
128and
129.Fn dup2
130are expected to conform to
131.St -p1003.1-88 .
132