xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/alarm.3 (revision 6575e6daae316c2e0cdafbe764f9a6e232ff3ee7)
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32.\"     @(#)alarm.3	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd April 19, 1994
36.Dt ALARM 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm alarm
40.Nd set signal timer alarm
41.Sh LIBRARY
42.Lb libc
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Fd #include <unistd.h>
45.Ft unsigned int
46.Fn alarm "unsigned int seconds"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48.Bf -symbolic
49This interface is made obsolete by
50.Xr setitimer 2 .
51.Ef
52.Pp
53The
54.Fn alarm
55function sets a timer to deliver the signal
56.Dv SIGALRM
57to the calling process after the specified number of
58.Fa seconds .
59If an alarm has already been set with
60.Fn alarm
61but has not been delivered, another call to
62.Fn alarm
63will supersede the prior call.
64The request
65.Fn alarm "0"
66voids the current
67alarm and the signal SIGALRM will not be delivered.
68.Pp
69Due to
70.Xr setitimer 2
71restriction the maximum number of
72.Ar seconds
73allowed is 100000000.
74.Sh RETURN VALUES
75The return value of
76.Fn alarm
77is the amount of time left on the timer from a previous call to
78.Fn alarm .
79If no alarm is currently set, the return value is 0.
80.Sh SEE ALSO
81.Xr setitimer 2 ,
82.Xr sigaction 2 ,
83.Xr sigpause 2 ,
84.Xr sigvec 2 ,
85.Xr signal 3 ,
86.Xr sleep 3 ,
87.Xr ualarm 3 ,
88.Xr usleep 3
89.\" .Sh STANDARDS
90.\" The
91.\" .Fn alarm
92.\" function conforms to
93.\" .St -p1003.1-90 .
94.Sh HISTORY
95An
96.Fn alarm
97function appeared in
98.At v7 .
99