xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/fts.3 (revision 2be1a816b9ff69588e55be0a84cbe2a31efc0f2f)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
13.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
14.\"    without specific prior written permission.
15.\"
16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
26.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
27.\"
28.\"     @(#)fts.3	8.5 (Berkeley) 4/16/94
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd January 26, 2008
32.Dt FTS 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm fts
36.Nd traverse a file hierarchy
37.Sh LIBRARY
38.Lb libc
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.In sys/types.h
41.In sys/stat.h
42.In fts.h
43.Ft FTS *
44.Fn fts_open "char * const *path_argv" "int options" "int (*compar)(const FTSENT * const *, const FTSENT * const *)"
45.Ft FTSENT *
46.Fn fts_read "FTS *ftsp"
47.Ft FTSENT *
48.Fn fts_children "FTS *ftsp" "int options"
49.Ft int
50.Fn fts_set "FTS *ftsp" "FTSENT *f" "int options"
51.Ft void
52.Fn fts_set_clientptr "FTS *ftsp" "void *clientdata"
53.Ft void *
54.Fn fts_get_clientptr "FTS *ftsp"
55.Ft FTS *
56.Fn fts_get_stream "FTSENT *f"
57.Ft int
58.Fn fts_close "FTS *ftsp"
59.Sh DESCRIPTION
60The
61.Nm
62functions are provided for traversing
63.Ux
64file hierarchies.
65A simple overview is that the
66.Fn fts_open
67function returns a
68.Dq handle
69on a file hierarchy, which is then supplied to
70the other
71.Nm
72functions.
73The function
74.Fn fts_read
75returns a pointer to a structure describing one of the files in the file
76hierarchy.
77The function
78.Fn fts_children
79returns a pointer to a linked list of structures, each of which describes
80one of the files contained in a directory in the hierarchy.
81In general, directories are visited two distinguishable times; in pre-order
82(before any of their descendants are visited) and in post-order (after all
83of their descendants have been visited).
84Files are visited once.
85It is possible to walk the hierarchy
86.Dq logically
87(ignoring symbolic links)
88or physically (visiting symbolic links), order the walk of the hierarchy or
89prune and/or re-visit portions of the hierarchy.
90.Pp
91Two structures are defined (and typedef'd) in the include file
92.In fts.h .
93The first is
94.Vt FTS ,
95the structure that represents the file hierarchy itself.
96The second is
97.Vt FTSENT ,
98the structure that represents a file in the file
99hierarchy.
100Normally, an
101.Vt FTSENT
102structure is returned for every file in the file
103hierarchy.
104In this manual page,
105.Dq file
106and
107.Dq Vt FTSENT No structure
108are generally
109interchangeable.
110.Pp
111The
112.Vt FTS
113structure contains space for a single pointer, which may be used to
114store application data or per-hierarchy state.
115The
116.Fn fts_set_clientptr
117and
118.Fn fts_get_clientptr
119functions may be used to set and retrieve this pointer.
120This is likely to be useful only when accessed from the sort
121comparison function, which can determine the original
122.Vt FTS
123stream of its arguments using the
124.Fn fts_get_stream
125function.
126The two
127.Li get
128functions are also available as macros of the same name.
129.Pp
130The
131.Vt FTSENT
132structure contains at least the following fields, which are
133described in greater detail below:
134.Bd -literal
135typedef struct _ftsent {
136	int fts_info;			/* status for FTSENT structure */
137	char *fts_accpath;		/* access path */
138	char *fts_path;			/* root path */
139	size_t fts_pathlen;		/* strlen(fts_path) */
140	char *fts_name;			/* file name */
141	size_t fts_namelen;		/* strlen(fts_name) */
142	long fts_level;			/* depth (\-1 to N) */
143	int fts_errno;			/* file errno */
144	long long fts_number;		/* local numeric value */
145	void *fts_pointer;		/* local address value */
146	struct ftsent *fts_parent;	/* parent directory */
147	struct ftsent *fts_link;	/* next file structure */
148	struct ftsent *fts_cycle;	/* cycle structure */
149	struct stat *fts_statp;		/* stat(2) information */
150} FTSENT;
151.Ed
152.Pp
153These fields are defined as follows:
154.Bl -tag -width "fts_namelen"
155.It Fa fts_info
156One of the following values describing the returned
157.Vt FTSENT
158structure and
159the file it represents.
160With the exception of directories without errors
161.Pq Dv FTS_D ,
162all of these
163entries are terminal, that is, they will not be revisited, nor will any
164of their descendants be visited.
165.Bl  -tag -width FTS_DEFAULT
166.It Dv FTS_D
167A directory being visited in pre-order.
168.It Dv FTS_DC
169A directory that causes a cycle in the tree.
170(The
171.Fa fts_cycle
172field of the
173.Vt FTSENT
174structure will be filled in as well.)
175.It Dv FTS_DEFAULT
176Any
177.Vt FTSENT
178structure that represents a file type not explicitly described
179by one of the other
180.Fa fts_info
181values.
182.It Dv FTS_DNR
183A directory which cannot be read.
184This is an error return, and the
185.Fa fts_errno
186field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
187.It Dv FTS_DOT
188A file named
189.Ql .\&
190or
191.Ql ..\&
192which was not specified as a file name to
193.Fn fts_open
194(see
195.Dv FTS_SEEDOT ) .
196.It Dv FTS_DP
197A directory being visited in post-order.
198The contents of the
199.Vt FTSENT
200structure will be unchanged from when
201it was returned in pre-order, i.e., with the
202.Fa fts_info
203field set to
204.Dv FTS_D .
205.It Dv FTS_ERR
206This is an error return, and the
207.Fa fts_errno
208field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
209.It Dv FTS_F
210A regular file.
211.It Dv FTS_NS
212A file for which no
213.Xr stat 2
214information was available.
215The contents of the
216.Fa fts_statp
217field are undefined.
218This is an error return, and the
219.Fa fts_errno
220field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
221.It Dv FTS_NSOK
222A file for which no
223.Xr stat 2
224information was requested.
225The contents of the
226.Fa fts_statp
227field are undefined.
228.It Dv FTS_SL
229A symbolic link.
230.It Dv FTS_SLNONE
231A symbolic link with a non-existent target.
232The contents of the
233.Fa fts_statp
234field reference the file characteristic information for the symbolic link
235itself.
236.El
237.It Fa fts_accpath
238A path for accessing the file from the current directory.
239.It Fa fts_path
240The path for the file relative to the root of the traversal.
241This path contains the path specified to
242.Fn fts_open
243as a prefix.
244.It Fa fts_pathlen
245The length of the string referenced by
246.Fa fts_path .
247.It Fa fts_name
248The name of the file.
249.It Fa fts_namelen
250The length of the string referenced by
251.Fa fts_name .
252.It Fa fts_level
253The depth of the traversal, numbered from \-1 to N, where this file
254was found.
255The
256.Vt FTSENT
257structure representing the parent of the starting point (or root)
258of the traversal is numbered
259.Dv FTS_ROOTPARENTLEVEL
260(\-1), and the
261.Vt FTSENT
262structure for the root
263itself is numbered
264.Dv FTS_ROOTLEVEL
265(0).
266.It Fa fts_errno
267Upon return of a
268.Vt FTSENT
269structure from the
270.Fn fts_children
271or
272.Fn fts_read
273functions, with its
274.Fa fts_info
275field set to
276.Dv FTS_DNR ,
277.Dv FTS_ERR
278or
279.Dv FTS_NS ,
280the
281.Fa fts_errno
282field contains the value of the external variable
283.Va errno
284specifying the cause of the error.
285Otherwise, the contents of the
286.Fa fts_errno
287field are undefined.
288.It Fa fts_number
289This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
290not modified by the
291.Nm
292functions.
293It is initialized to 0.
294.It Fa fts_pointer
295This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
296not modified by the
297.Nm
298functions.
299It is initialized to
300.Dv NULL .
301.It Fa fts_parent
302A pointer to the
303.Vt FTSENT
304structure referencing the file in the hierarchy
305immediately above the current file, i.e., the directory of which this
306file is a member.
307A parent structure for the initial entry point is provided as well,
308however, only the
309.Fa fts_level ,
310.Fa fts_bignum ,
311.Fa fts_number
312and
313.Fa fts_pointer
314fields are guaranteed to be initialized.
315.It Fa fts_link
316Upon return from the
317.Fn fts_children
318function, the
319.Fa fts_link
320field points to the next structure in the NULL-terminated linked list of
321directory members.
322Otherwise, the contents of the
323.Fa fts_link
324field are undefined.
325.It Fa fts_cycle
326If a directory causes a cycle in the hierarchy (see
327.Dv FTS_DC ) ,
328either because
329of a hard link between two directories, or a symbolic link pointing to a
330directory, the
331.Fa fts_cycle
332field of the structure will point to the
333.Vt FTSENT
334structure in the hierarchy that references the same file as the current
335.Vt FTSENT
336structure.
337Otherwise, the contents of the
338.Fa fts_cycle
339field are undefined.
340.It Fa fts_statp
341A pointer to
342.Xr stat 2
343information for the file.
344.El
345.Pp
346A single buffer is used for all of the paths of all of the files in the
347file hierarchy.
348Therefore, the
349.Fa fts_path
350and
351.Fa fts_accpath
352fields are guaranteed to be
353.Dv NUL Ns -terminated
354.Em only
355for the file most recently returned by
356.Fn fts_read .
357To use these fields to reference any files represented by other
358.Vt FTSENT
359structures will require that the path buffer be modified using the
360information contained in that
361.Vt FTSENT
362structure's
363.Fa fts_pathlen
364field.
365Any such modifications should be undone before further calls to
366.Fn fts_read
367are attempted.
368The
369.Fa fts_name
370field is always
371.Dv NUL Ns -terminated .
372.Pp
373Note that the use of
374.Fa fts_bignum
375is mutually exclusive with the use of
376.Fa fts_number
377or
378.Fa fts_pointer .
379.Sh FTS_OPEN
380The
381.Fn fts_open
382function takes a pointer to an array of character pointers naming one
383or more paths which make up a logical file hierarchy to be traversed.
384The array must be terminated by a
385.Dv NULL
386pointer.
387.Pp
388There are
389a number of options, at least one of which (either
390.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
391or
392.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL )
393must be specified.
394The options are selected by
395.Em or Ns 'ing
396the following values:
397.Bl -tag -width "FTS_PHYSICAL"
398.It Dv FTS_COMFOLLOW
399This option causes any symbolic link specified as a root path to be
400followed immediately whether or not
401.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
402is also specified.
403.It Dv FTS_LOGICAL
404This option causes the
405.Nm
406routines to return
407.Vt FTSENT
408structures for the targets of symbolic links
409instead of the symbolic links themselves.
410If this option is set, the only symbolic links for which
411.Vt FTSENT
412structures
413are returned to the application are those referencing non-existent files.
414Either
415.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
416or
417.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
418.Em must
419be provided to the
420.Fn fts_open
421function.
422.It Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
423As a performance optimization, the
424.Nm
425functions change directories as they walk the file hierarchy.
426This has the side-effect that an application cannot rely on being
427in any particular directory during the traversal.
428The
429.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
430option turns off this optimization, and the
431.Nm
432functions will not change the current directory.
433Note that applications should not themselves change their current directory
434and try to access files unless
435.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
436is specified and absolute
437pathnames were provided as arguments to
438.Fn fts_open .
439.It Dv FTS_NOSTAT
440By default, returned
441.Vt FTSENT
442structures reference file characteristic information (the
443.Fa statp
444field) for each file visited.
445This option relaxes that requirement as a performance optimization,
446allowing the
447.Nm
448functions to set the
449.Fa fts_info
450field to
451.Dv FTS_NSOK
452and leave the contents of the
453.Fa statp
454field undefined.
455.It Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
456This option causes the
457.Nm
458routines to return
459.Vt FTSENT
460structures for symbolic links themselves instead
461of the target files they point to.
462If this option is set,
463.Vt FTSENT
464structures for all symbolic links in the
465hierarchy are returned to the application.
466Either
467.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
468or
469.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
470.Em must
471be provided to the
472.Fn fts_open
473function.
474.It Dv FTS_SEEDOT
475By default, unless they are specified as path arguments to
476.Fn fts_open ,
477any files named
478.Ql .\&
479or
480.Ql ..\&
481encountered in the file hierarchy are ignored.
482This option causes the
483.Nm
484routines to return
485.Vt FTSENT
486structures for them.
487.It Dv FTS_XDEV
488This option prevents
489.Nm
490from descending into directories that have a different device number
491than the file from which the descent began.
492.El
493.Pp
494The argument
495.Fn compar
496specifies a user-defined function which may be used to order the traversal
497of the hierarchy.
498It
499takes two pointers to pointers to
500.Vt FTSENT
501structures as arguments and
502should return a negative value, zero, or a positive value to indicate
503if the file referenced by its first argument comes before, in any order
504with respect to, or after, the file referenced by its second argument.
505The
506.Fa fts_accpath ,
507.Fa fts_path
508and
509.Fa fts_pathlen
510fields of the
511.Vt FTSENT
512structures may
513.Em never
514be used in this comparison.
515If the
516.Fa fts_info
517field is set to
518.Dv FTS_NS
519or
520.Dv FTS_NSOK ,
521the
522.Fa fts_statp
523field may not either.
524If the
525.Fn compar
526argument is
527.Dv NULL ,
528the directory traversal order is in the order listed in
529.Fa path_argv
530for the root paths, and in the order listed in the directory for
531everything else.
532.Sh FTS_READ
533The
534.Fn fts_read
535function returns a pointer to an
536.Vt FTSENT
537structure describing a file in
538the hierarchy.
539Directories (that are readable and do not cause cycles) are visited at
540least twice, once in pre-order and once in post-order.
541All other files are visited at least once.
542(Hard links between directories that do not cause cycles or symbolic
543links to symbolic links may cause files to be visited more than once,
544or directories more than twice.)
545.Pp
546If all the members of the hierarchy have been returned,
547.Fn fts_read
548returns
549.Dv NULL
550and sets the external variable
551.Va errno
552to 0.
553If an error unrelated to a file in the hierarchy occurs,
554.Fn fts_read
555returns
556.Dv NULL
557and sets
558.Va errno
559appropriately.
560If an error related to a returned file occurs, a pointer to an
561.Vt FTSENT
562structure is returned, and
563.Va errno
564may or may not have been set (see
565.Fa fts_info ) .
566.Pp
567The
568.Vt FTSENT
569structures returned by
570.Fn fts_read
571may be overwritten after a call to
572.Fn fts_close
573on the same file hierarchy stream, or, after a call to
574.Fn fts_read
575on the same file hierarchy stream unless they represent a file of type
576directory, in which case they will not be overwritten until after a call to
577.Fn fts_read
578after the
579.Vt FTSENT
580structure has been returned by the function
581.Fn fts_read
582in post-order.
583.Sh FTS_CHILDREN
584The
585.Fn fts_children
586function returns a pointer to an
587.Vt FTSENT
588structure describing the first entry in a NULL-terminated linked list of
589the files in the directory represented by the
590.Vt FTSENT
591structure most recently returned by
592.Fn fts_read .
593The list is linked through the
594.Fa fts_link
595field of the
596.Vt FTSENT
597structure, and is ordered by the user-specified comparison function, if any.
598Repeated calls to
599.Fn fts_children
600will recreate this linked list.
601.Pp
602As a special case, if
603.Fn fts_read
604has not yet been called for a hierarchy,
605.Fn fts_children
606will return a pointer to the files in the logical directory specified to
607.Fn fts_open ,
608i.e., the arguments specified to
609.Fn fts_open .
610Otherwise, if the
611.Vt FTSENT
612structure most recently returned by
613.Fn fts_read
614is not a directory being visited in pre-order,
615or the directory does not contain any files,
616.Fn fts_children
617returns
618.Dv NULL
619and sets
620.Va errno
621to zero.
622If an error occurs,
623.Fn fts_children
624returns
625.Dv NULL
626and sets
627.Va errno
628appropriately.
629.Pp
630The
631.Vt FTSENT
632structures returned by
633.Fn fts_children
634may be overwritten after a call to
635.Fn fts_children ,
636.Fn fts_close
637or
638.Fn fts_read
639on the same file hierarchy stream.
640.Pp
641.Em Option
642may be set to the following value:
643.Bl -tag -width FTS_NAMEONLY
644.It Dv FTS_NAMEONLY
645Only the names of the files are needed.
646The contents of all the fields in the returned linked list of structures
647are undefined with the exception of the
648.Fa fts_name
649and
650.Fa fts_namelen
651fields.
652.El
653.Sh FTS_SET
654The function
655.Fn fts_set
656allows the user application to determine further processing for the
657file
658.Fa f
659of the stream
660.Fa ftsp .
661The
662.Fn fts_set
663function
664returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
665.Em Option
666must be set to one of the following values:
667.Bl -tag -width FTS_PHYSICAL
668.It Dv FTS_AGAIN
669Re-visit the file; any file type may be re-visited.
670The next call to
671.Fn fts_read
672will return the referenced file.
673The
674.Fa fts_stat
675and
676.Fa fts_info
677fields of the structure will be reinitialized at that time,
678but no other fields will have been changed.
679This option is meaningful only for the most recently returned
680file from
681.Fn fts_read .
682Normal use is for post-order directory visits, where it causes the
683directory to be re-visited (in both pre and post-order) as well as all
684of its descendants.
685.It Dv FTS_FOLLOW
686The referenced file must be a symbolic link.
687If the referenced file is the one most recently returned by
688.Fn fts_read ,
689the next call to
690.Fn fts_read
691returns the file with the
692.Fa fts_info
693and
694.Fa fts_statp
695fields reinitialized to reflect the target of the symbolic link instead
696of the symbolic link itself.
697If the file is one of those most recently returned by
698.Fn fts_children ,
699the
700.Fa fts_info
701and
702.Fa fts_statp
703fields of the structure, when returned by
704.Fn fts_read ,
705will reflect the target of the symbolic link instead of the symbolic link
706itself.
707In either case, if the target of the symbolic link does not exist the
708fields of the returned structure will be unchanged and the
709.Fa fts_info
710field will be set to
711.Dv FTS_SLNONE .
712.Pp
713If the target of the link is a directory, the pre-order return, followed
714by the return of all of its descendants, followed by a post-order return,
715is done.
716.It Dv FTS_SKIP
717No descendants of this file are visited.
718The file may be one of those most recently returned by either
719.Fn fts_children
720or
721.Fn fts_read .
722.El
723.Sh FTS_CLOSE
724The
725.Fn fts_close
726function closes a file hierarchy stream
727.Fa ftsp
728and restores the current directory to the directory from which
729.Fn fts_open
730was called to open
731.Fa ftsp .
732The
733.Fn fts_close
734function
735returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
736.Sh ERRORS
737The function
738.Fn fts_open
739may fail and set
740.Va errno
741for any of the errors specified for the library functions
742.Xr open 2
743and
744.Xr malloc 3 .
745.Pp
746The function
747.Fn fts_close
748may fail and set
749.Va errno
750for any of the errors specified for the library functions
751.Xr chdir 2
752and
753.Xr close 2 .
754.Pp
755The functions
756.Fn fts_read
757and
758.Fn fts_children
759may fail and set
760.Va errno
761for any of the errors specified for the library functions
762.Xr chdir 2 ,
763.Xr malloc 3 ,
764.Xr opendir 3 ,
765.Xr readdir 3
766and
767.Xr stat 2 .
768.Pp
769In addition,
770.Fn fts_children ,
771.Fn fts_open
772and
773.Fn fts_set
774may fail and set
775.Va errno
776as follows:
777.Bl -tag -width Er
778.It Bq Er EINVAL
779The options were invalid.
780.El
781.Sh SEE ALSO
782.Xr find 1 ,
783.Xr chdir 2 ,
784.Xr stat 2 ,
785.Xr ftw 3 ,
786.Xr qsort 3
787.Sh HISTORY
788The
789.Nm
790interface was first introduced in
791.Bx 4.4 .
792The
793.Fn fts_get_clientptr ,
794.Fn fts_get_stream ,
795and
796.Fn fts_set_clientptr
797functions were introduced in
798.Fx 5.0 ,
799principally to provide for alternative interfaces to the
800.Nm
801functionality using different data structures.
802