xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/directory.3 (revision a8445737e740901f5f2c8d24c12ef7fc8b00134e)
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32.\"     @(#)directory.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\"
34.Dd June 4, 1993
35.Dt DIRECTORY 3
36.Os BSD 4.2
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm opendir ,
39.Nm readdir ,
40.Nm telldir ,
41.Nm seekdir ,
42.Nm rewinddir ,
43.Nm closedir ,
44.Nm dirfd
45.Nd directory operations
46.Sh SYNOPSIS
47.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
48.Fd #include <dirent.h>
49.Ft DIR *
50.Fn opendir "const char *filename"
51.Ft struct dirent *
52.Fn readdir "DIR *dirp"
53.Ft long
54.Fn telldir "const DIR *dirp"
55.Ft void
56.Fn seekdir "DIR *dirp" "long  loc"
57.Ft void
58.Fn rewinddir "DIR *dirp"
59.Ft int
60.Fn closedir "DIR *dirp"
61.Ft int
62.Fn dirfd "DIR *dirp"
63.Sh DESCRIPTION
64The
65.Fn opendir
66function
67opens the directory named by
68.Fa filename ,
69associates a
70.Em directory stream
71with it
72and
73returns a pointer to be used to identify the
74.Em directory stream
75in subsequent operations.  The pointer
76.Dv NULL
77is returned if
78.Fa filename
79cannot be accessed, or if it cannot
80.Xr malloc 3
81enough memory to hold the whole thing.
82.Pp
83The
84.Fn readdir
85function
86returns a pointer to the next directory entry.  It returns
87.Dv NULL
88upon reaching the end of the directory or detecting an invalid
89.Fn seekdir
90operation.
91.Pp
92The
93.Fn telldir
94function
95returns the current location associated with the named
96.Em directory stream .
97Values returned by
98.Fn telldir
99are good only for the lifetime of the
100.Dv DIR
101pointer,
102.Fa dirp ,
103from which they are derived.  If the directory is closed and then
104reopened, prior values returned by
105.Fn telldir
106will no longer be valid.
107.Pp
108The
109.Fn seekdir
110function
111sets the position of the next
112.Fn readdir
113operation on the
114.Em directory stream .
115The new position reverts to the one associated with the
116.Em directory stream
117when the
118.Fn telldir
119operation was performed.
120.Pp
121The
122.Fn rewinddir
123function
124resets the position of the named
125.Em directory stream
126to the beginning of the directory.
127.Pp
128The
129.Fn closedir
130function
131closes the named
132.Em directory stream
133and frees the structure associated with the
134.Fa dirp
135pointer,
136returning 0 on success.
137On failure, \-1 is returned and the global variable
138.Va errno
139is set to indicate the error.
140.Pp
141The
142.Fn dirfd
143function
144returns the integer file descriptor associated with the named
145.Em directory stream ,
146see
147.Xr open 2 .
148.Pp
149Sample code which searches a directory for entry ``name'' is:
150.Bd -literal -offset indent
151len = strlen(name);
152dirp = opendir(".");
153while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL)
154	if (dp->d_namlen == len && !strcmp(dp->d_name, name)) {
155		(void)closedir(dirp);
156		return FOUND;
157	}
158(void)closedir(dirp);
159return NOT_FOUND;
160.Ed
161.Sh SEE ALSO
162.Xr close 2 ,
163.Xr lseek 2 ,
164.Xr open 2 ,
165.Xr read 2 ,
166.Xr dir 5
167.Sh HISTORY
168The
169.Fn opendir ,
170.Fn readdir ,
171.Fn telldir ,
172.Fn seekdir ,
173.Fn rewinddir ,
174.Fn closedir ,
175and
176.Fn dirfd
177functions appeared in
178.Bx 4.2 .
179