xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/directory.3 (revision 1669d8afc64812c8d2d1d147ae1fd42ff441e1b1)
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28.\"     @(#)directory.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd June 4, 1993
32.Dt DIRECTORY 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm opendir ,
36.Nm readdir ,
37.Nm readdir_r ,
38.Nm telldir ,
39.Nm seekdir ,
40.Nm rewinddir ,
41.Nm closedir ,
42.Nm dirfd
43.Nd directory operations
44.Sh LIBRARY
45.Lb libc
46.Sh SYNOPSIS
47.In sys/types.h
48.In dirent.h
49.Ft DIR *
50.Fn opendir "const char *filename"
51.Ft struct dirent *
52.Fn readdir "DIR *dirp"
53.Ft int
54.Fn readdir_r "DIR *dirp" "struct dirent *entry" "struct dirent **result"
55.Ft long
56.Fn telldir "DIR *dirp"
57.Ft void
58.Fn seekdir "DIR *dirp" "long loc"
59.Ft void
60.Fn rewinddir "DIR *dirp"
61.Ft int
62.Fn closedir "DIR *dirp"
63.Ft int
64.Fn dirfd "DIR *dirp"
65.Sh DESCRIPTION
66The
67.Fn opendir
68function
69opens the directory named by
70.Fa filename ,
71associates a
72.Em directory stream
73with it
74and
75returns a pointer to be used to identify the
76.Em directory stream
77in subsequent operations.
78The pointer
79.Dv NULL
80is returned if
81.Fa filename
82cannot be accessed, or if it cannot
83.Xr malloc 3
84enough memory to hold the whole thing.
85.Pp
86The
87.Fn readdir
88function
89returns a pointer to the next directory entry.
90It returns
91.Dv NULL
92upon reaching the end of the directory or detecting an invalid
93.Fn seekdir
94operation.
95.Pp
96The
97.Fn readdir_r
98function
99provides the same functionality as
100.Fn readdir ,
101but the caller must provide a directory
102.Fa entry
103buffer to store the results in.
104If the read succeeds,
105.Fa result
106is pointed at the
107.Fa entry ;
108upon reaching the end of the directory
109.Fa result
110is set to
111.Dv NULL .
112The
113.Fn readdir_r
114function
115returns 0 on success or an error number to indicate failure.
116.Pp
117The
118.Fn telldir
119function
120returns the current location associated with the named
121.Em directory stream .
122Values returned by
123.Fn telldir
124are good only for the lifetime of the
125.Dv DIR
126pointer,
127.Fa dirp ,
128from which they are derived.
129If the directory is closed and then
130reopened, prior values returned by
131.Fn telldir
132will no longer be valid.
133.Pp
134The
135.Fn seekdir
136function
137sets the position of the next
138.Fn readdir
139operation on the
140.Em directory stream .
141The new position reverts to the one associated with the
142.Em directory stream
143when the
144.Fn telldir
145operation was performed.
146.Pp
147The
148.Fn rewinddir
149function
150resets the position of the named
151.Em directory stream
152to the beginning of the directory.
153.Pp
154The
155.Fn closedir
156function
157closes the named
158.Em directory stream
159and frees the structure associated with the
160.Fa dirp
161pointer,
162returning 0 on success.
163On failure, \-1 is returned and the global variable
164.Va errno
165is set to indicate the error.
166.Pp
167The
168.Fn dirfd
169function
170returns the integer file descriptor associated with the named
171.Em directory stream ,
172see
173.Xr open 2 .
174.Pp
175Sample code which searches a directory for entry ``name'' is:
176.Bd -literal -offset indent
177len = strlen(name);
178dirp = opendir(".");
179while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL)
180	if (dp->d_namlen == len && !strcmp(dp->d_name, name)) {
181		(void)closedir(dirp);
182		return FOUND;
183	}
184(void)closedir(dirp);
185return NOT_FOUND;
186.Ed
187.Sh SEE ALSO
188.Xr close 2 ,
189.Xr lseek 2 ,
190.Xr open 2 ,
191.Xr read 2 ,
192.Xr dir 5
193.Sh HISTORY
194The
195.Fn opendir ,
196.Fn readdir ,
197.Fn telldir ,
198.Fn seekdir ,
199.Fn rewinddir ,
200.Fn closedir ,
201and
202.Fn dirfd
203functions appeared in
204.Bx 4.2 .
205