xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/directory.3 (revision 3193579b66fd7067f898dbc54bdea81a0e6f9bd0)
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32.\"     @(#)directory.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 4, 1993
36.Dt DIRECTORY 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm opendir ,
40.Nm readdir ,
41.Nm readdir_r ,
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.In sys/types.h
52.In dirent.h
53.Ft DIR *
54.Fn opendir "const char *filename"
55.Ft struct dirent *
56.Fn readdir "DIR *dirp"
57.Ft int
58.Fn readdir_r "DIR *dirp" "struct dirent *entry" "struct dirent **result"
59.Ft long
60.Fn telldir "DIR *dirp"
61.Ft void
62.Fn seekdir "DIR *dirp" "long  loc"
63.Ft void
64.Fn rewinddir "DIR *dirp"
65.Ft int
66.Fn closedir "DIR *dirp"
67.Ft int
68.Fn dirfd "DIR *dirp"
69.Sh DESCRIPTION
70The
71.Fn opendir
72function
73opens the directory named by
74.Fa filename ,
75associates a
76.Em directory stream
77with it
78and
79returns a pointer to be used to identify the
80.Em directory stream
81in subsequent operations.  The pointer
82.Dv NULL
83is returned if
84.Fa filename
85cannot be accessed, or if it cannot
86.Xr malloc 3
87enough memory to hold the whole thing.
88.Pp
89The
90.Fn readdir
91function
92returns a pointer to the next directory entry.  It returns
93.Dv NULL
94upon reaching the end of the directory or detecting an invalid
95.Fn seekdir
96operation.
97.Pp
98The
99.Fn readdir_r
100function
101provides the same functionality as
102.Fn readdir ,
103but the caller must provide a directory
104.Fa entry
105buffer to store the results in.  If the read succeeds,
106.Fa result
107is pointed at the
108.Fa entry ;
109upon reaching the end of the directory
110.Fa result
111is set to
112.Dv NULL .
113The
114.Fn readdir_r
115function
116returns 0 on success or an error number to indicate failure.
117.Pp
118The
119.Fn telldir
120function
121returns the current location associated with the named
122.Em directory stream .
123Values returned by
124.Fn telldir
125are good only for the lifetime of the
126.Dv DIR
127pointer,
128.Fa dirp ,
129from which they are derived.  If 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