xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/directory.3 (revision d056fa046c6a91b90cd98165face0e42a33a5173)
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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.
82The pointer
83.Dv NULL
84is returned if
85.Fa filename
86cannot be accessed, or if it cannot
87.Xr malloc 3
88enough memory to hold the whole thing.
89.Pp
90The
91.Fn readdir
92function
93returns a pointer to the next directory entry.
94It returns
95.Dv NULL
96upon reaching the end of the directory or detecting an invalid
97.Fn seekdir
98operation.
99.Pp
100The
101.Fn readdir_r
102function
103provides the same functionality as
104.Fn readdir ,
105but the caller must provide a directory
106.Fa entry
107buffer to store the results in.
108If the read succeeds,
109.Fa result
110is pointed at the
111.Fa entry ;
112upon reaching the end of the directory
113.Fa result
114is set to
115.Dv NULL .
116The
117.Fn readdir_r
118function
119returns 0 on success or an error number to indicate failure.
120.Pp
121The
122.Fn telldir
123function
124returns the current location associated with the named
125.Em directory stream .
126Values returned by
127.Fn telldir
128are good only for the lifetime of the
129.Dv DIR
130pointer,
131.Fa dirp ,
132from which they are derived.
133If the directory is closed and then
134reopened, prior values returned by
135.Fn telldir
136will no longer be valid.
137.Pp
138The
139.Fn seekdir
140function
141sets the position of the next
142.Fn readdir
143operation on the
144.Em directory stream .
145The new position reverts to the one associated with the
146.Em directory stream
147when the
148.Fn telldir
149operation was performed.
150.Pp
151The
152.Fn rewinddir
153function
154resets the position of the named
155.Em directory stream
156to the beginning of the directory.
157.Pp
158The
159.Fn closedir
160function
161closes the named
162.Em directory stream
163and frees the structure associated with the
164.Fa dirp
165pointer,
166returning 0 on success.
167On failure, \-1 is returned and the global variable
168.Va errno
169is set to indicate the error.
170.Pp
171The
172.Fn dirfd
173function
174returns the integer file descriptor associated with the named
175.Em directory stream ,
176see
177.Xr open 2 .
178.Pp
179Sample code which searches a directory for entry ``name'' is:
180.Bd -literal -offset indent
181len = strlen(name);
182dirp = opendir(".");
183while ((dp = readdir(dirp)) != NULL)
184	if (dp->d_namlen == len && !strcmp(dp->d_name, name)) {
185		(void)closedir(dirp);
186		return FOUND;
187	}
188(void)closedir(dirp);
189return NOT_FOUND;
190.Ed
191.Sh SEE ALSO
192.Xr close 2 ,
193.Xr lseek 2 ,
194.Xr open 2 ,
195.Xr read 2 ,
196.Xr dir 5
197.Sh HISTORY
198The
199.Fn opendir ,
200.Fn readdir ,
201.Fn telldir ,
202.Fn seekdir ,
203.Fn rewinddir ,
204.Fn closedir ,
205and
206.Fn dirfd
207functions appeared in
208.Bx 4.2 .
209