xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/fts.3 (revision 06c3fb2749bda94cb5201f81ffdb8fa6c3161b2e)
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28.Dd January 12, 2014
29.Dt FTS 3
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm fts
33.Nd traverse a file hierarchy
34.Sh LIBRARY
35.Lb libc
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.In fts.h
38.Ft FTS *
39.Fn fts_open "char * const *path_argv" "int options" "int (*compar)(const FTSENT * const *, const FTSENT * const *)"
40.Ft FTSENT *
41.Fn fts_read "FTS *ftsp"
42.Ft FTSENT *
43.Fn fts_children "FTS *ftsp" "int options"
44.Ft int
45.Fn fts_set "FTS *ftsp" "FTSENT *f" "int options"
46.Ft void
47.Fn fts_set_clientptr "FTS *ftsp" "void *clientdata"
48.Ft void *
49.Fn fts_get_clientptr "FTS *ftsp"
50.Ft FTS *
51.Fn fts_get_stream "FTSENT *f"
52.Ft int
53.Fn fts_close "FTS *ftsp"
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55The
56.Nm
57functions are provided for traversing
58.Ux
59file hierarchies.
60A simple overview is that the
61.Fn fts_open
62function returns a
63.Dq handle
64on a file hierarchy, which is then supplied to
65the other
66.Nm
67functions.
68The function
69.Fn fts_read
70returns a pointer to a structure describing one of the files in the file
71hierarchy.
72The function
73.Fn fts_children
74returns a pointer to a linked list of structures, each of which describes
75one of the files contained in a directory in the hierarchy.
76In general, directories are visited two distinguishable times; in pre-order
77(before any of their descendants are visited) and in post-order (after all
78of their descendants have been visited).
79Files are visited once.
80It is possible to walk the hierarchy
81.Dq logically
82(ignoring symbolic links)
83or physically (visiting symbolic links), order the walk of the hierarchy or
84prune and/or re-visit portions of the hierarchy.
85.Pp
86Two structures are defined (and typedef'd) in the include file
87.In fts.h .
88The first is
89.Vt FTS ,
90the structure that represents the file hierarchy itself.
91The second is
92.Vt FTSENT ,
93the structure that represents a file in the file
94hierarchy.
95Normally, an
96.Vt FTSENT
97structure is returned for every file in the file
98hierarchy.
99In this manual page,
100.Dq file
101and
102.Dq Vt FTSENT No structure
103are generally
104interchangeable.
105.Pp
106The
107.Vt FTS
108structure contains space for a single pointer, which may be used to
109store application data or per-hierarchy state.
110The
111.Fn fts_set_clientptr
112and
113.Fn fts_get_clientptr
114functions may be used to set and retrieve this pointer.
115This is likely to be useful only when accessed from the sort
116comparison function, which can determine the original
117.Vt FTS
118stream of its arguments using the
119.Fn fts_get_stream
120function.
121The two
122.Li get
123functions are also available as macros of the same name.
124.Pp
125The
126.Vt FTSENT
127structure contains at least the following fields, which are
128described in greater detail below:
129.Bd -literal
130typedef struct _ftsent {
131	int fts_info;			/* status for FTSENT structure */
132	char *fts_accpath;		/* access path */
133	char *fts_path;			/* root path */
134	size_t fts_pathlen;		/* strlen(fts_path) */
135	char *fts_name;			/* file name */
136	size_t fts_namelen;		/* strlen(fts_name) */
137	long fts_level;			/* depth (\-1 to N) */
138	int fts_errno;			/* file errno */
139	long long fts_number;		/* local numeric value */
140	void *fts_pointer;		/* local address value */
141	struct ftsent *fts_parent;	/* parent directory */
142	struct ftsent *fts_link;	/* next file structure */
143	struct ftsent *fts_cycle;	/* cycle structure */
144	struct stat *fts_statp;		/* stat(2) information */
145} FTSENT;
146.Ed
147.Pp
148These fields are defined as follows:
149.Bl -tag -width "fts_namelen"
150.It Fa fts_info
151One of the following values describing the returned
152.Vt FTSENT
153structure and
154the file it represents.
155With the exception of directories without errors
156.Pq Dv FTS_D ,
157all of these
158entries are terminal, that is, they will not be revisited, nor will any
159of their descendants be visited.
160.Bl  -tag -width FTS_DEFAULT
161.It Dv FTS_D
162A directory being visited in pre-order.
163.It Dv FTS_DC
164A directory that causes a cycle in the tree.
165(The
166.Fa fts_cycle
167field of the
168.Vt FTSENT
169structure will be filled in as well.)
170.It Dv FTS_DEFAULT
171Any
172.Vt FTSENT
173structure that represents a file type not explicitly described
174by one of the other
175.Fa fts_info
176values.
177.It Dv FTS_DNR
178A directory which cannot be read.
179This is an error return, and the
180.Fa fts_errno
181field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
182.It Dv FTS_DOT
183A file named
184.Ql .\&
185or
186.Ql ..\&
187which was not specified as a file name to
188.Fn fts_open
189(see
190.Dv FTS_SEEDOT ) .
191.It Dv FTS_DP
192A directory being visited in post-order.
193The contents of the
194.Vt FTSENT
195structure will be unchanged from when
196the directory was visited in pre-order, except for the
197.Fa fts_info
198field.
199.It Dv FTS_ERR
200This is an error return, and the
201.Fa fts_errno
202field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
203.It Dv FTS_F
204A regular file.
205.It Dv FTS_NS
206A file for which no
207.Xr stat 2
208information was available.
209The contents of the
210.Fa fts_statp
211field are undefined.
212This is an error return, and the
213.Fa fts_errno
214field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
215.It Dv FTS_NSOK
216A file for which no
217.Xr stat 2
218information was requested.
219The contents of the
220.Fa fts_statp
221field are undefined.
222.It Dv FTS_SL
223A symbolic link.
224.It Dv FTS_SLNONE
225A symbolic link with a non-existent target.
226The contents of the
227.Fa fts_statp
228field reference the file characteristic information for the symbolic link
229itself.
230.El
231.It Fa fts_accpath
232A path for accessing the file from the current directory.
233.It Fa fts_path
234The path for the file relative to the root of the traversal.
235This path contains the path specified to
236.Fn fts_open
237as a prefix.
238.It Fa fts_pathlen
239The length of the string referenced by
240.Fa fts_path .
241.It Fa fts_name
242The name of the file.
243.It Fa fts_namelen
244The length of the string referenced by
245.Fa fts_name .
246.It Fa fts_level
247The depth of the traversal, numbered from \-1 to N, where this file
248was found.
249The
250.Vt FTSENT
251structure representing the parent of the starting point (or root)
252of the traversal is numbered
253.Dv FTS_ROOTPARENTLEVEL
254(\-1), and the
255.Vt FTSENT
256structure for the root
257itself is numbered
258.Dv FTS_ROOTLEVEL
259(0).
260.It Fa fts_errno
261Upon return of a
262.Vt FTSENT
263structure from the
264.Fn fts_children
265or
266.Fn fts_read
267functions, with its
268.Fa fts_info
269field set to
270.Dv FTS_DNR ,
271.Dv FTS_ERR
272or
273.Dv FTS_NS ,
274the
275.Fa fts_errno
276field contains the value of the external variable
277.Va errno
278specifying the cause of the error.
279Otherwise, the contents of the
280.Fa fts_errno
281field are undefined.
282.It Fa fts_number
283This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
284not modified by the
285.Nm
286functions.
287It is initialized to 0.
288.It Fa fts_pointer
289This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
290not modified by the
291.Nm
292functions.
293It is initialized to
294.Dv NULL .
295.It Fa fts_parent
296A pointer to the
297.Vt FTSENT
298structure referencing the file in the hierarchy
299immediately above the current file, i.e., the directory of which this
300file is a member.
301A parent structure for the initial entry point is provided as well,
302however, only the
303.Fa fts_level ,
304.Fa fts_number
305and
306.Fa fts_pointer
307fields are guaranteed to be initialized.
308.It Fa fts_link
309Upon return from the
310.Fn fts_children
311function, the
312.Fa fts_link
313field points to the next structure in the NULL-terminated linked list of
314directory members.
315Otherwise, the contents of the
316.Fa fts_link
317field are undefined.
318.It Fa fts_cycle
319If a directory causes a cycle in the hierarchy (see
320.Dv FTS_DC ) ,
321either because
322of a hard link between two directories, or a symbolic link pointing to a
323directory, the
324.Fa fts_cycle
325field of the structure will point to the
326.Vt FTSENT
327structure in the hierarchy that references the same file as the current
328.Vt FTSENT
329structure.
330Otherwise, the contents of the
331.Fa fts_cycle
332field are undefined.
333.It Fa fts_statp
334A pointer to
335.Xr stat 2
336information for the file.
337.El
338.Pp
339A single buffer is used for all of the paths of all of the files in the
340file hierarchy.
341Therefore, the
342.Fa fts_path
343and
344.Fa fts_accpath
345fields are guaranteed to be
346.Dv NUL Ns -terminated
347.Em only
348for the file most recently returned by
349.Fn fts_read .
350To use these fields to reference any files represented by other
351.Vt FTSENT
352structures will require that the path buffer be modified using the
353information contained in that
354.Vt FTSENT
355structure's
356.Fa fts_pathlen
357field.
358Any such modifications should be undone before further calls to
359.Fn fts_read
360are attempted.
361The
362.Fa fts_name
363field is always
364.Dv NUL Ns -terminated .
365.Sh FTS_OPEN
366The
367.Fn fts_open
368function takes a pointer to an array of character pointers naming one
369or more paths which make up a logical file hierarchy to be traversed.
370The array must be terminated by a
371.Dv NULL
372pointer.
373.Pp
374There are
375a number of options, at least one of which (either
376.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
377or
378.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL )
379must be specified.
380The options are selected by
381.Em or Ns 'ing
382the following values:
383.Bl -tag -width "FTS_PHYSICAL"
384.It Dv FTS_COMFOLLOW
385This option causes any symbolic link specified as a root path to be
386followed immediately whether or not
387.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
388is also specified.
389.It Dv FTS_LOGICAL
390This option causes the
391.Nm
392routines to return
393.Vt FTSENT
394structures for the targets of symbolic links
395instead of the symbolic links themselves.
396If this option is set, the only symbolic links for which
397.Vt FTSENT
398structures
399are returned to the application are those referencing non-existent files.
400Either
401.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
402or
403.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
404.Em must
405be provided to the
406.Fn fts_open
407function.
408.It Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
409To allow descending to arbitrary depths
410(independent of
411.Brq Dv PATH_MAX )
412and improve performance, the
413.Nm
414functions change directories as they walk the file hierarchy.
415This has the side-effect that an application cannot rely on being
416in any particular directory during the traversal.
417The
418.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
419option turns off this feature, and the
420.Nm
421functions will not change the current directory.
422Note that applications should not themselves change their current directory
423and try to access files unless
424.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
425is specified and absolute
426pathnames were provided as arguments to
427.Fn fts_open .
428.It Dv FTS_NOSTAT
429By default, returned
430.Vt FTSENT
431structures reference file characteristic information (the
432.Fa statp
433field) for each file visited.
434This option relaxes that requirement as a performance optimization,
435allowing the
436.Nm
437functions to set the
438.Fa fts_info
439field to
440.Dv FTS_NSOK
441and leave the contents of the
442.Fa statp
443field undefined.
444.It Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
445This option causes the
446.Nm
447routines to return
448.Vt FTSENT
449structures for symbolic links themselves instead
450of the target files they point to.
451If this option is set,
452.Vt FTSENT
453structures for all symbolic links in the
454hierarchy are returned to the application.
455Either
456.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
457or
458.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
459.Em must
460be provided to the
461.Fn fts_open
462function.
463.It Dv FTS_SEEDOT
464By default, unless they are specified as path arguments to
465.Fn fts_open ,
466any files named
467.Ql .\&
468or
469.Ql ..\&
470encountered in the file hierarchy are ignored.
471This option causes the
472.Nm
473routines to return
474.Vt FTSENT
475structures for them.
476.It Dv FTS_XDEV
477This option prevents
478.Nm
479from descending into directories that have a different device number
480than the file from which the descent began.
481.El
482.Pp
483The argument
484.Fn compar
485specifies a user-defined function which may be used to order the traversal
486of the hierarchy.
487It
488takes two pointers to pointers to
489.Vt FTSENT
490structures as arguments and
491should return a negative value, zero, or a positive value to indicate
492if the file referenced by its first argument comes before, in any order
493with respect to, or after, the file referenced by its second argument.
494The
495.Fa fts_accpath ,
496.Fa fts_path
497and
498.Fa fts_pathlen
499fields of the
500.Vt FTSENT
501structures may
502.Em never
503be used in this comparison.
504If the
505.Fa fts_info
506field is set to
507.Dv FTS_NS
508or
509.Dv FTS_NSOK ,
510the
511.Fa fts_statp
512field may not either.
513If the
514.Fn compar
515argument is
516.Dv NULL ,
517the directory traversal order is in the order listed in
518.Fa path_argv
519for the root paths, and in the order listed in the directory for
520everything else.
521.Sh FTS_READ
522The
523.Fn fts_read
524function returns a pointer to an
525.Vt FTSENT
526structure describing a file in
527the hierarchy.
528Directories (that are readable and do not cause cycles) are visited at
529least twice, once in pre-order and once in post-order.
530All other files are visited at least once.
531(Hard links between directories that do not cause cycles or symbolic
532links to symbolic links may cause files to be visited more than once,
533or directories more than twice.)
534.Pp
535If all the members of the hierarchy have been returned,
536.Fn fts_read
537returns
538.Dv NULL
539and sets the external variable
540.Va errno
541to 0.
542If an error unrelated to a file in the hierarchy occurs,
543.Fn fts_read
544returns
545.Dv NULL
546and sets
547.Va errno
548appropriately.
549If an error related to a returned file occurs, a pointer to an
550.Vt FTSENT
551structure is returned, and
552.Va errno
553may or may not have been set (see
554.Fa fts_info ) .
555.Pp
556The
557.Vt FTSENT
558structures returned by
559.Fn fts_read
560may be overwritten after a call to
561.Fn fts_close
562on the same file hierarchy stream, or, after a call to
563.Fn fts_read
564on the same file hierarchy stream unless they represent a file of type
565directory, in which case they will not be overwritten until after a call to
566.Fn fts_read
567after the
568.Vt FTSENT
569structure has been returned by the function
570.Fn fts_read
571in post-order.
572.Sh FTS_CHILDREN
573The
574.Fn fts_children
575function returns a pointer to an
576.Vt FTSENT
577structure describing the first entry in a NULL-terminated linked list of
578the files in the directory represented by the
579.Vt FTSENT
580structure most recently returned by
581.Fn fts_read .
582The list is linked through the
583.Fa fts_link
584field of the
585.Vt FTSENT
586structure, and is ordered by the user-specified comparison function, if any.
587Repeated calls to
588.Fn fts_children
589will recreate this linked list.
590.Pp
591As a special case, if
592.Fn fts_read
593has not yet been called for a hierarchy,
594.Fn fts_children
595will return a pointer to the files in the logical directory specified to
596.Fn fts_open ,
597i.e., the arguments specified to
598.Fn fts_open .
599Otherwise, if the
600.Vt FTSENT
601structure most recently returned by
602.Fn fts_read
603is not a directory being visited in pre-order,
604or the directory does not contain any files,
605.Fn fts_children
606returns
607.Dv NULL
608and sets
609.Va errno
610to zero.
611If an error occurs,
612.Fn fts_children
613returns
614.Dv NULL
615and sets
616.Va errno
617appropriately.
618.Pp
619The
620.Vt FTSENT
621structures returned by
622.Fn fts_children
623may be overwritten after a call to
624.Fn fts_children ,
625.Fn fts_close
626or
627.Fn fts_read
628on the same file hierarchy stream.
629.Pp
630.Em Option
631may be set to the following value:
632.Bl -tag -width FTS_NAMEONLY
633.It Dv FTS_NAMEONLY
634Only the names of the files are needed.
635The contents of all the fields in the returned linked list of structures
636are undefined with the exception of the
637.Fa fts_name
638and
639.Fa fts_namelen
640fields.
641.El
642.Sh FTS_SET
643The function
644.Fn fts_set
645allows the user application to determine further processing for the
646file
647.Fa f
648of the stream
649.Fa ftsp .
650The
651.Fn fts_set
652function
653returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
654.Em Option
655must be set to one of the following values:
656.Bl -tag -width FTS_PHYSICAL
657.It Dv FTS_AGAIN
658Re-visit the file; any file type may be re-visited.
659The next call to
660.Fn fts_read
661will return the referenced file.
662The
663.Fa fts_stat
664and
665.Fa fts_info
666fields of the structure will be reinitialized at that time,
667but no other fields will have been changed.
668This option is meaningful only for the most recently returned
669file from
670.Fn fts_read .
671Normal use is for post-order directory visits, where it causes the
672directory to be re-visited (in both pre and post-order) as well as all
673of its descendants.
674.It Dv FTS_FOLLOW
675The referenced file must be a symbolic link.
676If the referenced file is the one most recently returned by
677.Fn fts_read ,
678the next call to
679.Fn fts_read
680returns the file with the
681.Fa fts_info
682and
683.Fa fts_statp
684fields reinitialized to reflect the target of the symbolic link instead
685of the symbolic link itself.
686If the file is one of those most recently returned by
687.Fn fts_children ,
688the
689.Fa fts_info
690and
691.Fa fts_statp
692fields of the structure, when returned by
693.Fn fts_read ,
694will reflect the target of the symbolic link instead of the symbolic link
695itself.
696In either case, if the target of the symbolic link does not exist the
697fields of the returned structure will be unchanged and the
698.Fa fts_info
699field will be set to
700.Dv FTS_SLNONE .
701.Pp
702If the target of the link is a directory, the pre-order return, followed
703by the return of all of its descendants, followed by a post-order return,
704is done.
705.It Dv FTS_SKIP
706No descendants of this file are visited.
707The file may be one of those most recently returned by either
708.Fn fts_children
709or
710.Fn fts_read .
711.El
712.Sh FTS_CLOSE
713The
714.Fn fts_close
715function closes a file hierarchy stream
716.Fa ftsp
717and restores the current directory to the directory from which
718.Fn fts_open
719was called to open
720.Fa ftsp .
721The
722.Fn fts_close
723function
724returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
725.Sh ERRORS
726The function
727.Fn fts_open
728may fail and set
729.Va errno
730for any of the errors specified for the library functions
731.Xr open 2
732and
733.Xr malloc 3 .
734.Pp
735The function
736.Fn fts_close
737may fail and set
738.Va errno
739for any of the errors specified for the library functions
740.Xr chdir 2
741and
742.Xr close 2 .
743.Pp
744The functions
745.Fn fts_read
746and
747.Fn fts_children
748may fail and set
749.Va errno
750for any of the errors specified for the library functions
751.Xr chdir 2 ,
752.Xr malloc 3 ,
753.Xr opendir 3 ,
754.Xr readdir 3
755and
756.Xr stat 2 .
757.Pp
758In addition,
759.Fn fts_children ,
760.Fn fts_open
761and
762.Fn fts_set
763may fail and set
764.Va errno
765as follows:
766.Bl -tag -width Er
767.It Bq Er EINVAL
768The options were invalid, or the list were empty.
769.El
770.Sh SEE ALSO
771.Xr find 1 ,
772.Xr chdir 2 ,
773.Xr stat 2 ,
774.Xr ftw 3 ,
775.Xr qsort 3
776.Sh HISTORY
777The
778.Nm
779interface was first introduced in
780.Bx 4.4 .
781The
782.Fn fts_get_clientptr ,
783.Fn fts_get_stream ,
784and
785.Fn fts_set_clientptr
786functions were introduced in
787.Fx 5.0 ,
788principally to provide for alternative interfaces to the
789.Nm
790functionality using different data structures.
791.Sh BUGS
792The
793.Fn fts_open
794function will automatically set the
795.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
796option if the
797.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
798option is provided, or if it cannot
799.Xr open 2
800the current directory.
801