xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/fts.3 (revision 41466b50c1d5bfd1cf6adaae547a579a75d7c04e)
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.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
13.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
14.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
15.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\"     @(#)fts.3	8.5 (Berkeley) 4/16/94
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd April 16, 1994
36.Dt FTS 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm fts
40.Nd traverse a file hierarchy
41.Sh LIBRARY
42.Lb libc
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.In sys/types.h
45.In sys/stat.h
46.In fts.h
47.Ft FTS *
48.Fn fts_open "char * const *path_argv" "int options" "int (*compar)(const FTSENT **, const FTSENT **)"
49.Ft FTSENT *
50.Fn fts_read "FTS *ftsp"
51.Ft FTSENT *
52.Fn fts_children "FTS *ftsp" "int options"
53.Ft int
54.Fn fts_set "FTS *ftsp" "FTSENT *f" "int options"
55.Ft int
56.Fn fts_close "FTS *ftsp"
57.Sh DESCRIPTION
58The
59.Nm
60functions are provided for traversing
61.Tn UNIX
62file hierarchies.
63A simple overview is that the
64.Fn fts_open
65function returns a
66.Dq handle
67on a file hierarchy, which is then supplied to
68the other
69.Nm
70functions.
71The function
72.Fn fts_read
73returns a pointer to a structure describing one of the files in the file
74hierarchy.
75The function
76.Fn fts_children
77returns a pointer to a linked list of structures, each of which describes
78one of the files contained in a directory in the hierarchy.
79In general, directories are visited two distinguishable times; in pre-order
80(before any of their descendants are visited) and in post-order (after all
81of their descendants have been visited).
82Files are visited once.
83It is possible to walk the hierarchy
84.Dq logically
85(ignoring symbolic links)
86or physically (visiting symbolic links), order the walk of the hierarchy or
87prune and/or re-visit portions of the hierarchy.
88.Pp
89Two structures are defined (and typedef'd) in the include file
90.Aq Pa fts.h .
91The first is
92.Fa FTS ,
93the structure that represents the file hierarchy itself.
94The second is
95.Fa FTSENT ,
96the structure that represents a file in the file
97hierarchy.
98Normally, an
99.Fa FTSENT
100structure is returned for every file in the file
101hierarchy.
102In this manual page,
103.Dq file
104and
105.Dq Fa FTSENT No structure
106are generally
107interchangeable.
108The
109.Fa FTSENT
110structure contains at least the following fields, which are
111described in greater detail below:
112.Bd -literal
113typedef struct _ftsent {
114	u_short fts_info;		/* flags for FTSENT structure */
115	char *fts_accpath;		/* access path */
116	char *fts_path;			/* root path */
117	u_short fts_pathlen;		/* strlen(fts_path) */
118	char *fts_name;			/* file name */
119	u_short fts_namelen;		/* strlen(fts_name) */
120	short fts_level;		/* depth (\-1 to N) */
121	int fts_errno;			/* file errno */
122	long fts_number;		/* local numeric value */
123	void *fts_pointer;		/* local address value */
124	struct ftsent *fts_parent;	/* parent directory */
125	struct ftsent *fts_link;	/* next file structure */
126	struct ftsent *fts_cycle;	/* cycle structure */
127	struct stat *fts_statp;		/* stat(2) information */
128} FTSENT;
129.Ed
130.Pp
131These fields are defined as follows:
132.Bl -tag -width "fts_namelen"
133.It Fa fts_info
134One of the following values describing the returned
135.Fa FTSENT
136structure and
137the file it represents.
138With the exception of directories without errors
139.Pq Dv FTS_D ,
140all of these
141entries are terminal, that is, they will not be revisited, nor will any
142of their descendants be visited.
143.Bl  -tag -width FTS_DEFAULT
144.It Dv FTS_D
145A directory being visited in pre-order.
146.It Dv FTS_DC
147A directory that causes a cycle in the tree.
148(The
149.Fa fts_cycle
150field of the
151.Fa FTSENT
152structure will be filled in as well.)
153.It Dv FTS_DEFAULT
154Any
155.Fa FTSENT
156structure that represents a file type not explicitly described
157by one of the other
158.Fa fts_info
159values.
160.It Dv FTS_DNR
161A directory which cannot be read.
162This is an error return, and the
163.Fa fts_errno
164field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
165.It Dv FTS_DOT
166A file named
167.Ql .\&
168or
169.Ql ..\&
170which was not specified as a file name to
171.Fn fts_open
172(see
173.Dv FTS_SEEDOT ) .
174.It Dv FTS_DP
175A directory being visited in post-order.
176The contents of the
177.Fa FTSENT
178structure will be unchanged from when
179it was returned in pre-order, i.e. with the
180.Fa fts_info
181field set to
182.Dv FTS_D .
183.It Dv FTS_ERR
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_F
188A regular file.
189.It Dv FTS_NS
190A file for which no
191.Xr stat 2
192information was available.
193The contents of the
194.Fa fts_statp
195field are undefined.
196This is an error return, and the
197.Fa fts_errno
198field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
199.It Dv FTS_NSOK
200A file for which no
201.Xr stat 2
202information was requested.
203The contents of the
204.Fa fts_statp
205field are undefined.
206.It Dv FTS_SL
207A symbolic link.
208.It Dv FTS_SLNONE
209A symbolic link with a non-existent target.
210The contents of the
211.Fa fts_statp
212field reference the file characteristic information for the symbolic link
213itself.
214.El
215.It Fa fts_accpath
216A path for accessing the file from the current directory.
217.It Fa fts_path
218The path for the file relative to the root of the traversal.
219This path contains the path specified to
220.Fn fts_open
221as a prefix.
222.It Fa fts_pathlen
223The length of the string referenced by
224.Fa fts_path .
225.It Fa fts_name
226The name of the file.
227.It Fa fts_namelen
228The length of the string referenced by
229.Fa fts_name .
230.It Fa fts_level
231The depth of the traversal, numbered from \-1 to N, where this file
232was found.
233The
234.Fa FTSENT
235structure representing the parent of the starting point (or root)
236of the traversal is numbered
237.Dv FTS_ROOTPARENTLEVEL
238(\-1), and the
239.Fa FTSENT
240structure for the root
241itself is numbered
242.Dv FTS_ROOTLEVEL
243(0).
244.It Fa fts_errno
245Upon return of a
246.Fa FTSENT
247structure from the
248.Fn fts_children
249or
250.Fn fts_read
251functions, with its
252.Fa fts_info
253field set to
254.Dv FTS_DNR ,
255.Dv FTS_ERR
256or
257.Dv FTS_NS ,
258the
259.Fa fts_errno
260field contains the value of the external variable
261.Va errno
262specifying the cause of the error.
263Otherwise, the contents of the
264.Fa fts_errno
265field are undefined.
266.It Fa fts_number
267This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
268not modified by the
269.Nm
270functions.
271It is initialized to 0.
272.It Fa fts_pointer
273This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
274not modified by the
275.Nm
276functions.
277It is initialized to
278.Dv NULL .
279.It Fa fts_parent
280A pointer to the
281.Fa FTSENT
282structure referencing the file in the hierarchy
283immediately above the current file, i.e. the directory of which this
284file is a member.
285A parent structure for the initial entry point is provided as well,
286however, only the
287.Fa fts_level ,
288.Fa fts_number
289and
290.Fa fts_pointer
291fields are guaranteed to be initialized.
292.It Fa fts_link
293Upon return from the
294.Fn fts_children
295function, the
296.Fa fts_link
297field points to the next structure in the NULL-terminated linked list of
298directory members.
299Otherwise, the contents of the
300.Fa fts_link
301field are undefined.
302.It Fa fts_cycle
303If a directory causes a cycle in the hierarchy (see
304.Dv FTS_DC ) ,
305either because
306of a hard link between two directories, or a symbolic link pointing to a
307directory, the
308.Fa fts_cycle
309field of the structure will point to the
310.Fa FTSENT
311structure in the hierarchy that references the same file as the current
312.Fa FTSENT
313structure.
314Otherwise, the contents of the
315.Fa fts_cycle
316field are undefined.
317.It Fa fts_statp
318A pointer to
319.Xr stat 2
320information for the file.
321.El
322.Pp
323A single buffer is used for all of the paths of all of the files in the
324file hierarchy.
325Therefore, the
326.Fa fts_path
327and
328.Fa fts_accpath
329fields are guaranteed to be
330.Dv NUL Ns -terminated
331.Em only
332for the file most recently returned by
333.Fn fts_read .
334To use these fields to reference any files represented by other
335.Fa FTSENT
336structures will require that the path buffer be modified using the
337information contained in that
338.Fa FTSENT
339structure's
340.Fa fts_pathlen
341field.
342Any such modifications should be undone before further calls to
343.Fn fts_read
344are attempted.
345The
346.Fa fts_name
347field is always
348.Dv NUL Ns -terminated .
349.Sh FTS_OPEN
350The
351.Fn fts_open
352function takes a pointer to an array of character pointers naming one
353or more paths which make up a logical file hierarchy to be traversed.
354The array must be terminated by a
355.Dv NULL
356pointer.
357.Pp
358There are
359a number of options, at least one of which (either
360.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
361or
362.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL )
363must be specified.
364The options are selected by
365.Em or Ns 'ing
366the following values:
367.Bl -tag -width "FTS_PHYSICAL"
368.It Dv FTS_COMFOLLOW
369This option causes any symbolic link specified as a root path to be
370followed immediately whether or not
371.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
372is also specified.
373.It Dv FTS_LOGICAL
374This option causes the
375.Nm
376routines to return
377.Fa FTSENT
378structures for the targets of symbolic links
379instead of the symbolic links themselves.
380If this option is set, the only symbolic links for which
381.Fa FTSENT
382structures
383are returned to the application are those referencing non-existent files.
384Either
385.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
386or
387.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
388.Em must
389be provided to the
390.Fn fts_open
391function.
392.It Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
393As a performance optimization, the
394.Nm
395functions change directories as they walk the file hierarchy.
396This has the side-effect that an application cannot rely on being
397in any particular directory during the traversal.
398The
399.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
400option turns off this optimization, and the
401.Nm
402functions will not change the current directory.
403Note that applications should not themselves change their current directory
404and try to access files unless
405.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
406is specified and absolute
407pathnames were provided as arguments to
408.Fn fts_open .
409.It Dv FTS_NOSTAT
410By default, returned
411.Fa FTSENT
412structures reference file characteristic information (the
413.Fa statp
414field) for each file visited.
415This option relaxes that requirement as a performance optimization,
416allowing the
417.Nm
418functions to set the
419.Fa fts_info
420field to
421.Dv FTS_NSOK
422and leave the contents of the
423.Fa statp
424field undefined.
425.It Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
426This option causes the
427.Nm
428routines to return
429.Fa FTSENT
430structures for symbolic links themselves instead
431of the target files they point to.
432If this option is set,
433.Fa FTSENT
434structures for all symbolic links in the
435hierarchy are returned to the application.
436Either
437.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
438or
439.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
440.Em must
441be provided to the
442.Fn fts_open
443function.
444.It Dv FTS_SEEDOT
445By default, unless they are specified as path arguments to
446.Fn fts_open ,
447any files named
448.Ql .\&
449or
450.Ql ..\&
451encountered in the file hierarchy are ignored.
452This option causes the
453.Nm
454routines to return
455.Fa FTSENT
456structures for them.
457.It Dv FTS_XDEV
458This option prevents
459.Nm
460from descending into directories that have a different device number
461than the file from which the descent began.
462.El
463.Pp
464The argument
465.Fn compar
466specifies a user-defined function which may be used to order the traversal
467of the hierarchy.
468It
469takes two pointers to pointers to
470.Fa FTSENT
471structures as arguments and
472should return a negative value, zero, or a positive value to indicate
473if the file referenced by its first argument comes before, in any order
474with respect to, or after, the file referenced by its second argument.
475The
476.Fa fts_accpath ,
477.Fa fts_path
478and
479.Fa fts_pathlen
480fields of the
481.Fa FTSENT
482structures may
483.Em never
484be used in this comparison.
485If the
486.Fa fts_info
487field is set to
488.Dv FTS_NS
489or
490.Dv FTS_NSOK ,
491the
492.Fa fts_statp
493field may not either.
494If the
495.Fn compar
496argument is
497.Dv NULL ,
498the directory traversal order is in the order listed in
499.Fa path_argv
500for the root paths, and in the order listed in the directory for
501everything else.
502.Sh FTS_READ
503The
504.Fn fts_read
505function returns a pointer to an
506.Fa FTSENT
507structure describing a file in
508the hierarchy.
509Directories (that are readable and do not cause cycles) are visited at
510least twice, once in pre-order and once in post-order.
511All other files are visited at least once.
512(Hard links between directories that do not cause cycles or symbolic
513links to symbolic links may cause files to be visited more than once,
514or directories more than twice.)
515.Pp
516If all the members of the hierarchy have been returned,
517.Fn fts_read
518returns
519.Dv NULL
520and sets the external variable
521.Va errno
522to 0.
523If an error unrelated to a file in the hierarchy occurs,
524.Fn fts_read
525returns
526.Dv NULL
527and sets
528.Va errno
529appropriately.
530If an error related to a returned file occurs, a pointer to an
531.Fa FTSENT
532structure is returned, and
533.Va errno
534may or may not have been set (see
535.Fa fts_info ) .
536.Pp
537The
538.Fa FTSENT
539structures returned by
540.Fn fts_read
541may be overwritten after a call to
542.Fn fts_close
543on the same file hierarchy stream, or, after a call to
544.Fn fts_read
545on the same file hierarchy stream unless they represent a file of type
546directory, in which case they will not be overwritten until after a call to
547.Fn fts_read
548after the
549.Fa FTSENT
550structure has been returned by the function
551.Fn fts_read
552in post-order.
553.Sh FTS_CHILDREN
554The
555.Fn fts_children
556function returns a pointer to an
557.Fa FTSENT
558structure describing the first entry in a NULL-terminated linked list of
559the files in the directory represented by the
560.Fa FTSENT
561structure most recently returned by
562.Fn fts_read .
563The list is linked through the
564.Fa fts_link
565field of the
566.Fa FTSENT
567structure, and is ordered by the user-specified comparison function, if any.
568Repeated calls to
569.Fn fts_children
570will recreate this linked list.
571.Pp
572As a special case, if
573.Fn fts_read
574has not yet been called for a hierarchy,
575.Fn fts_children
576will return a pointer to the files in the logical directory specified to
577.Fn fts_open ,
578i.e. the arguments specified to
579.Fn fts_open .
580Otherwise, if the
581.Fa FTSENT
582structure most recently returned by
583.Fn fts_read
584is not a directory being visited in pre-order,
585or the directory does not contain any files,
586.Fn fts_children
587returns
588.Dv NULL
589and sets
590.Va errno
591to zero.
592If an error occurs,
593.Fn fts_children
594returns
595.Dv NULL
596and sets
597.Va errno
598appropriately.
599.Pp
600The
601.Fa FTSENT
602structures returned by
603.Fn fts_children
604may be overwritten after a call to
605.Fn fts_children ,
606.Fn fts_close
607or
608.Fn fts_read
609on the same file hierarchy stream.
610.Pp
611.Em Option
612may be set to the following value:
613.Bl -tag -width FTS_NAMEONLY
614.It Dv FTS_NAMEONLY
615Only the names of the files are needed.
616The contents of all the fields in the returned linked list of structures
617are undefined with the exception of the
618.Fa fts_name
619and
620.Fa fts_namelen
621fields.
622.El
623.Sh FTS_SET
624The function
625.Fn fts_set
626allows the user application to determine further processing for the
627file
628.Fa f
629of the stream
630.Fa ftsp .
631The
632.Fn fts_set
633function
634returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
635.Em Option
636must be set to one of the following values:
637.Bl -tag -width FTS_PHYSICAL
638.It Dv FTS_AGAIN
639Re-visit the file; any file type may be re-visited.
640The next call to
641.Fn fts_read
642will return the referenced file.
643The
644.Fa fts_stat
645and
646.Fa fts_info
647fields of the structure will be reinitialized at that time,
648but no other fields will have been changed.
649This option is meaningful only for the most recently returned
650file from
651.Fn fts_read .
652Normal use is for post-order directory visits, where it causes the
653directory to be re-visited (in both pre and post-order) as well as all
654of its descendants.
655.It Dv FTS_FOLLOW
656The referenced file must be a symbolic link.
657If the referenced file is the one most recently returned by
658.Fn fts_read ,
659the next call to
660.Fn fts_read
661returns the file with the
662.Fa fts_info
663and
664.Fa fts_statp
665fields reinitialized to reflect the target of the symbolic link instead
666of the symbolic link itself.
667If the file is one of those most recently returned by
668.Fn fts_children ,
669the
670.Fa fts_info
671and
672.Fa fts_statp
673fields of the structure, when returned by
674.Fn fts_read ,
675will reflect the target of the symbolic link instead of the symbolic link
676itself.
677In either case, if the target of the symbolic link does not exist the
678fields of the returned structure will be unchanged and the
679.Fa fts_info
680field will be set to
681.Dv FTS_SLNONE .
682.Pp
683If the target of the link is a directory, the pre-order return, followed
684by the return of all of its descendants, followed by a post-order return,
685is done.
686.It Dv FTS_SKIP
687No descendants of this file are visited.
688The file may be one of those most recently returned by either
689.Fn fts_children
690or
691.Fn fts_read .
692.El
693.Sh FTS_CLOSE
694The
695.Fn fts_close
696function closes a file hierarchy stream
697.Fa ftsp
698and restores the current directory to the directory from which
699.Fn fts_open
700was called to open
701.Fa ftsp .
702The
703.Fn fts_close
704function
705returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
706.Sh ERRORS
707The function
708.Fn fts_open
709may fail and set
710.Va errno
711for any of the errors specified for the library functions
712.Xr open 2
713and
714.Xr malloc 3 .
715.Pp
716The function
717.Fn fts_close
718may fail and set
719.Va errno
720for any of the errors specified for the library functions
721.Xr chdir 2
722and
723.Xr close 2 .
724.Pp
725The functions
726.Fn fts_read
727and
728.Fn fts_children
729may fail and set
730.Va errno
731for any of the errors specified for the library functions
732.Xr chdir 2 ,
733.Xr malloc 3 ,
734.Xr opendir 3 ,
735.Xr readdir 3
736and
737.Xr stat 2 .
738.Pp
739In addition,
740.Fn fts_children ,
741.Fn fts_open
742and
743.Fn fts_set
744may fail and set
745.Va errno
746as follows:
747.Bl -tag -width Er
748.It Bq Er EINVAL
749The options were invalid.
750.El
751.Sh SEE ALSO
752.Xr find 1 ,
753.Xr chdir 2 ,
754.Xr stat 2 ,
755.Xr qsort 3
756.Sh STANDARDS
757The
758.Nm
759utility is expected to be included in a future
760.St -p1003.1-88
761revision.
762