xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/fts.3 (revision 2ca7a12a81a5376ef17d3a3ea70f7000c025c579)
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31.Dd January 7, 2005
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	u_short fts_info;		/* flags for FTSENT structure */
137	char *fts_accpath;		/* access path */
138	char *fts_path;			/* root path */
139	u_short fts_pathlen;		/* strlen(fts_path) */
140	char *fts_name;			/* file name */
141	u_short fts_namelen;		/* strlen(fts_name) */
142	short fts_level;		/* depth (\-1 to N) */
143	int fts_errno;			/* file errno */
144	long fts_number;		/* local numeric value */
145	void *fts_pointer;		/* local address value */
146	int64_t fts_bignum;		/* local 64-bit numeric value */
147	struct ftsent *fts_parent;	/* parent directory */
148	struct ftsent *fts_link;	/* next file structure */
149	struct ftsent *fts_cycle;	/* cycle structure */
150	struct stat *fts_statp;		/* stat(2) information */
151} FTSENT;
152.Ed
153.Pp
154These fields are defined as follows:
155.Bl -tag -width "fts_namelen"
156.It Fa fts_info
157One of the following values describing the returned
158.Vt FTSENT
159structure and
160the file it represents.
161With the exception of directories without errors
162.Pq Dv FTS_D ,
163all of these
164entries are terminal, that is, they will not be revisited, nor will any
165of their descendants be visited.
166.Bl  -tag -width FTS_DEFAULT
167.It Dv FTS_D
168A directory being visited in pre-order.
169.It Dv FTS_DC
170A directory that causes a cycle in the tree.
171(The
172.Fa fts_cycle
173field of the
174.Vt FTSENT
175structure will be filled in as well.)
176.It Dv FTS_DEFAULT
177Any
178.Vt FTSENT
179structure that represents a file type not explicitly described
180by one of the other
181.Fa fts_info
182values.
183.It Dv FTS_DNR
184A directory which cannot be read.
185This is an error return, and the
186.Fa fts_errno
187field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
188.It Dv FTS_DOT
189A file named
190.Ql .\&
191or
192.Ql ..\&
193which was not specified as a file name to
194.Fn fts_open
195(see
196.Dv FTS_SEEDOT ) .
197.It Dv FTS_DP
198A directory being visited in post-order.
199The contents of the
200.Vt FTSENT
201structure will be unchanged from when
202it was returned in pre-order, i.e., with the
203.Fa fts_info
204field set to
205.Dv FTS_D .
206.It Dv FTS_ERR
207This is an error return, and the
208.Fa fts_errno
209field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
210.It Dv FTS_F
211A regular file.
212.It Dv FTS_NS
213A file for which no
214.Xr stat 2
215information was available.
216The contents of the
217.Fa fts_statp
218field are undefined.
219This is an error return, and the
220.Fa fts_errno
221field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
222.It Dv FTS_NSOK
223A file for which no
224.Xr stat 2
225information was requested.
226The contents of the
227.Fa fts_statp
228field are undefined.
229.It Dv FTS_SL
230A symbolic link.
231.It Dv FTS_SLNONE
232A symbolic link with a non-existent target.
233The contents of the
234.Fa fts_statp
235field reference the file characteristic information for the symbolic link
236itself.
237.El
238.It Fa fts_accpath
239A path for accessing the file from the current directory.
240.It Fa fts_path
241The path for the file relative to the root of the traversal.
242This path contains the path specified to
243.Fn fts_open
244as a prefix.
245.It Fa fts_pathlen
246The length of the string referenced by
247.Fa fts_path .
248.It Fa fts_name
249The name of the file.
250.It Fa fts_namelen
251The length of the string referenced by
252.Fa fts_name .
253.It Fa fts_level
254The depth of the traversal, numbered from \-1 to N, where this file
255was found.
256The
257.Vt FTSENT
258structure representing the parent of the starting point (or root)
259of the traversal is numbered
260.Dv FTS_ROOTPARENTLEVEL
261(\-1), and the
262.Vt FTSENT
263structure for the root
264itself is numbered
265.Dv FTS_ROOTLEVEL
266(0).
267.It Fa fts_errno
268Upon return of a
269.Vt FTSENT
270structure from the
271.Fn fts_children
272or
273.Fn fts_read
274functions, with its
275.Fa fts_info
276field set to
277.Dv FTS_DNR ,
278.Dv FTS_ERR
279or
280.Dv FTS_NS ,
281the
282.Fa fts_errno
283field contains the value of the external variable
284.Va errno
285specifying the cause of the error.
286Otherwise, the contents of the
287.Fa fts_errno
288field are undefined.
289.It Fa fts_number
290This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
291not modified by the
292.Nm
293functions.
294It is initialized to 0.
295Note that this field is overlaid by
296.Fa fts_bignum .
297.It Fa fts_pointer
298This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
299not modified by the
300.Nm
301functions.
302It is initialized to
303.Dv NULL .
304Note that this field is overlaid by
305.Fa fts_bignum .
306.It Fa fts_bignum
307This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
308not modified by the
309.Nm
310functions.
311It is initialized to 0.
312Note that this field overlays
313.Fa fts_number
314and
315.Fa fts_pointer .
316.It Fa fts_parent
317A pointer to the
318.Vt FTSENT
319structure referencing the file in the hierarchy
320immediately above the current file, i.e., the directory of which this
321file is a member.
322A parent structure for the initial entry point is provided as well,
323however, only the
324.Fa fts_level ,
325.Fa fts_bignum ,
326.Fa fts_number
327and
328.Fa fts_pointer
329fields are guaranteed to be initialized.
330.It Fa fts_link
331Upon return from the
332.Fn fts_children
333function, the
334.Fa fts_link
335field points to the next structure in the NULL-terminated linked list of
336directory members.
337Otherwise, the contents of the
338.Fa fts_link
339field are undefined.
340.It Fa fts_cycle
341If a directory causes a cycle in the hierarchy (see
342.Dv FTS_DC ) ,
343either because
344of a hard link between two directories, or a symbolic link pointing to a
345directory, the
346.Fa fts_cycle
347field of the structure will point to the
348.Vt FTSENT
349structure in the hierarchy that references the same file as the current
350.Vt FTSENT
351structure.
352Otherwise, the contents of the
353.Fa fts_cycle
354field are undefined.
355.It Fa fts_statp
356A pointer to
357.Xr stat 2
358information for the file.
359.El
360.Pp
361A single buffer is used for all of the paths of all of the files in the
362file hierarchy.
363Therefore, the
364.Fa fts_path
365and
366.Fa fts_accpath
367fields are guaranteed to be
368.Dv NUL Ns -terminated
369.Em only
370for the file most recently returned by
371.Fn fts_read .
372To use these fields to reference any files represented by other
373.Vt FTSENT
374structures will require that the path buffer be modified using the
375information contained in that
376.Vt FTSENT
377structure's
378.Fa fts_pathlen
379field.
380Any such modifications should be undone before further calls to
381.Fn fts_read
382are attempted.
383The
384.Fa fts_name
385field is always
386.Dv NUL Ns -terminated .
387.Pp
388Note that the use of
389.Fa fts_bignum
390is mutually exclusive with the use of
391.Fa fts_number
392or
393.Fa fts_pointer .
394.Sh FTS_OPEN
395The
396.Fn fts_open
397function takes a pointer to an array of character pointers naming one
398or more paths which make up a logical file hierarchy to be traversed.
399The array must be terminated by a
400.Dv NULL
401pointer.
402.Pp
403There are
404a number of options, at least one of which (either
405.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
406or
407.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL )
408must be specified.
409The options are selected by
410.Em or Ns 'ing
411the following values:
412.Bl -tag -width "FTS_PHYSICAL"
413.It Dv FTS_COMFOLLOW
414This option causes any symbolic link specified as a root path to be
415followed immediately whether or not
416.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
417is also specified.
418.It Dv FTS_LOGICAL
419This option causes the
420.Nm
421routines to return
422.Vt FTSENT
423structures for the targets of symbolic links
424instead of the symbolic links themselves.
425If this option is set, the only symbolic links for which
426.Vt FTSENT
427structures
428are returned to the application are those referencing non-existent files.
429Either
430.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
431or
432.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
433.Em must
434be provided to the
435.Fn fts_open
436function.
437.It Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
438As a performance optimization, the
439.Nm
440functions change directories as they walk the file hierarchy.
441This has the side-effect that an application cannot rely on being
442in any particular directory during the traversal.
443The
444.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
445option turns off this optimization, and the
446.Nm
447functions will not change the current directory.
448Note that applications should not themselves change their current directory
449and try to access files unless
450.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
451is specified and absolute
452pathnames were provided as arguments to
453.Fn fts_open .
454.It Dv FTS_NOSTAT
455By default, returned
456.Vt FTSENT
457structures reference file characteristic information (the
458.Fa statp
459field) for each file visited.
460This option relaxes that requirement as a performance optimization,
461allowing the
462.Nm
463functions to set the
464.Fa fts_info
465field to
466.Dv FTS_NSOK
467and leave the contents of the
468.Fa statp
469field undefined.
470.It Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
471This option causes the
472.Nm
473routines to return
474.Vt FTSENT
475structures for symbolic links themselves instead
476of the target files they point to.
477If this option is set,
478.Vt FTSENT
479structures for all symbolic links in the
480hierarchy are returned to the application.
481Either
482.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
483or
484.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
485.Em must
486be provided to the
487.Fn fts_open
488function.
489.It Dv FTS_SEEDOT
490By default, unless they are specified as path arguments to
491.Fn fts_open ,
492any files named
493.Ql .\&
494or
495.Ql ..\&
496encountered in the file hierarchy are ignored.
497This option causes the
498.Nm
499routines to return
500.Vt FTSENT
501structures for them.
502.It Dv FTS_XDEV
503This option prevents
504.Nm
505from descending into directories that have a different device number
506than the file from which the descent began.
507.El
508.Pp
509The argument
510.Fn compar
511specifies a user-defined function which may be used to order the traversal
512of the hierarchy.
513It
514takes two pointers to pointers to
515.Vt FTSENT
516structures as arguments and
517should return a negative value, zero, or a positive value to indicate
518if the file referenced by its first argument comes before, in any order
519with respect to, or after, the file referenced by its second argument.
520The
521.Fa fts_accpath ,
522.Fa fts_path
523and
524.Fa fts_pathlen
525fields of the
526.Vt FTSENT
527structures may
528.Em never
529be used in this comparison.
530If the
531.Fa fts_info
532field is set to
533.Dv FTS_NS
534or
535.Dv FTS_NSOK ,
536the
537.Fa fts_statp
538field may not either.
539If the
540.Fn compar
541argument is
542.Dv NULL ,
543the directory traversal order is in the order listed in
544.Fa path_argv
545for the root paths, and in the order listed in the directory for
546everything else.
547.Sh FTS_READ
548The
549.Fn fts_read
550function returns a pointer to an
551.Vt FTSENT
552structure describing a file in
553the hierarchy.
554Directories (that are readable and do not cause cycles) are visited at
555least twice, once in pre-order and once in post-order.
556All other files are visited at least once.
557(Hard links between directories that do not cause cycles or symbolic
558links to symbolic links may cause files to be visited more than once,
559or directories more than twice.)
560.Pp
561If all the members of the hierarchy have been returned,
562.Fn fts_read
563returns
564.Dv NULL
565and sets the external variable
566.Va errno
567to 0.
568If an error unrelated to a file in the hierarchy occurs,
569.Fn fts_read
570returns
571.Dv NULL
572and sets
573.Va errno
574appropriately.
575If an error related to a returned file occurs, a pointer to an
576.Vt FTSENT
577structure is returned, and
578.Va errno
579may or may not have been set (see
580.Fa fts_info ) .
581.Pp
582The
583.Vt FTSENT
584structures returned by
585.Fn fts_read
586may be overwritten after a call to
587.Fn fts_close
588on the same file hierarchy stream, or, after a call to
589.Fn fts_read
590on the same file hierarchy stream unless they represent a file of type
591directory, in which case they will not be overwritten until after a call to
592.Fn fts_read
593after the
594.Vt FTSENT
595structure has been returned by the function
596.Fn fts_read
597in post-order.
598.Sh FTS_CHILDREN
599The
600.Fn fts_children
601function returns a pointer to an
602.Vt FTSENT
603structure describing the first entry in a NULL-terminated linked list of
604the files in the directory represented by the
605.Vt FTSENT
606structure most recently returned by
607.Fn fts_read .
608The list is linked through the
609.Fa fts_link
610field of the
611.Vt FTSENT
612structure, and is ordered by the user-specified comparison function, if any.
613Repeated calls to
614.Fn fts_children
615will recreate this linked list.
616.Pp
617As a special case, if
618.Fn fts_read
619has not yet been called for a hierarchy,
620.Fn fts_children
621will return a pointer to the files in the logical directory specified to
622.Fn fts_open ,
623i.e., the arguments specified to
624.Fn fts_open .
625Otherwise, if the
626.Vt FTSENT
627structure most recently returned by
628.Fn fts_read
629is not a directory being visited in pre-order,
630or the directory does not contain any files,
631.Fn fts_children
632returns
633.Dv NULL
634and sets
635.Va errno
636to zero.
637If an error occurs,
638.Fn fts_children
639returns
640.Dv NULL
641and sets
642.Va errno
643appropriately.
644.Pp
645The
646.Vt FTSENT
647structures returned by
648.Fn fts_children
649may be overwritten after a call to
650.Fn fts_children ,
651.Fn fts_close
652or
653.Fn fts_read
654on the same file hierarchy stream.
655.Pp
656.Em Option
657may be set to the following value:
658.Bl -tag -width FTS_NAMEONLY
659.It Dv FTS_NAMEONLY
660Only the names of the files are needed.
661The contents of all the fields in the returned linked list of structures
662are undefined with the exception of the
663.Fa fts_name
664and
665.Fa fts_namelen
666fields.
667.El
668.Sh FTS_SET
669The function
670.Fn fts_set
671allows the user application to determine further processing for the
672file
673.Fa f
674of the stream
675.Fa ftsp .
676The
677.Fn fts_set
678function
679returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
680.Em Option
681must be set to one of the following values:
682.Bl -tag -width FTS_PHYSICAL
683.It Dv FTS_AGAIN
684Re-visit the file; any file type may be re-visited.
685The next call to
686.Fn fts_read
687will return the referenced file.
688The
689.Fa fts_stat
690and
691.Fa fts_info
692fields of the structure will be reinitialized at that time,
693but no other fields will have been changed.
694This option is meaningful only for the most recently returned
695file from
696.Fn fts_read .
697Normal use is for post-order directory visits, where it causes the
698directory to be re-visited (in both pre and post-order) as well as all
699of its descendants.
700.It Dv FTS_FOLLOW
701The referenced file must be a symbolic link.
702If the referenced file is the one most recently returned by
703.Fn fts_read ,
704the next call to
705.Fn fts_read
706returns the file with the
707.Fa fts_info
708and
709.Fa fts_statp
710fields reinitialized to reflect the target of the symbolic link instead
711of the symbolic link itself.
712If the file is one of those most recently returned by
713.Fn fts_children ,
714the
715.Fa fts_info
716and
717.Fa fts_statp
718fields of the structure, when returned by
719.Fn fts_read ,
720will reflect the target of the symbolic link instead of the symbolic link
721itself.
722In either case, if the target of the symbolic link does not exist the
723fields of the returned structure will be unchanged and the
724.Fa fts_info
725field will be set to
726.Dv FTS_SLNONE .
727.Pp
728If the target of the link is a directory, the pre-order return, followed
729by the return of all of its descendants, followed by a post-order return,
730is done.
731.It Dv FTS_SKIP
732No descendants of this file are visited.
733The file may be one of those most recently returned by either
734.Fn fts_children
735or
736.Fn fts_read .
737.El
738.Sh FTS_CLOSE
739The
740.Fn fts_close
741function closes a file hierarchy stream
742.Fa ftsp
743and restores the current directory to the directory from which
744.Fn fts_open
745was called to open
746.Fa ftsp .
747The
748.Fn fts_close
749function
750returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
751.Sh ERRORS
752The function
753.Fn fts_open
754may fail and set
755.Va errno
756for any of the errors specified for the library functions
757.Xr open 2
758and
759.Xr malloc 3 .
760.Pp
761The function
762.Fn fts_close
763may fail and set
764.Va errno
765for any of the errors specified for the library functions
766.Xr chdir 2
767and
768.Xr close 2 .
769.Pp
770The functions
771.Fn fts_read
772and
773.Fn fts_children
774may fail and set
775.Va errno
776for any of the errors specified for the library functions
777.Xr chdir 2 ,
778.Xr malloc 3 ,
779.Xr opendir 3 ,
780.Xr readdir 3
781and
782.Xr stat 2 .
783.Pp
784In addition,
785.Fn fts_children ,
786.Fn fts_open
787and
788.Fn fts_set
789may fail and set
790.Va errno
791as follows:
792.Bl -tag -width Er
793.It Bq Er EINVAL
794The options were invalid.
795.El
796.Sh SEE ALSO
797.Xr find 1 ,
798.Xr chdir 2 ,
799.Xr stat 2 ,
800.Xr ftw 3 ,
801.Xr qsort 3
802.Sh HISTORY
803The
804.Nm
805interface was first introduced in
806.Bx 4.4 .
807The
808.Fn fts_get_clientptr ,
809.Fn fts_get_stream ,
810and
811.Fn fts_set_clientptr
812functions were introduced in
813.Fx 5.0 ,
814principally to provide for alternative interfaces to the
815.Nm
816functionality using different data structures.
817