xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/fts.3 (revision 641a6cfb86023499caafe26a4d821a0b885cf00b)
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31.Dd March 18, 2012
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
201the directory was visited in pre-order, except for the
202.Fa fts_info
203field.
204.It Dv FTS_ERR
205This is an error return, and the
206.Fa fts_errno
207field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
208.It Dv FTS_F
209A regular file.
210.It Dv FTS_NS
211A file for which no
212.Xr stat 2
213information was available.
214The contents of the
215.Fa fts_statp
216field are undefined.
217This is an error return, and the
218.Fa fts_errno
219field will be set to indicate what caused the error.
220.It Dv FTS_NSOK
221A file for which no
222.Xr stat 2
223information was requested.
224The contents of the
225.Fa fts_statp
226field are undefined.
227.It Dv FTS_SL
228A symbolic link.
229.It Dv FTS_SLNONE
230A symbolic link with a non-existent target.
231The contents of the
232.Fa fts_statp
233field reference the file characteristic information for the symbolic link
234itself.
235.El
236.It Fa fts_accpath
237A path for accessing the file from the current directory.
238.It Fa fts_path
239The path for the file relative to the root of the traversal.
240This path contains the path specified to
241.Fn fts_open
242as a prefix.
243.It Fa fts_pathlen
244The length of the string referenced by
245.Fa fts_path .
246.It Fa fts_name
247The name of the file.
248.It Fa fts_namelen
249The length of the string referenced by
250.Fa fts_name .
251.It Fa fts_level
252The depth of the traversal, numbered from \-1 to N, where this file
253was found.
254The
255.Vt FTSENT
256structure representing the parent of the starting point (or root)
257of the traversal is numbered
258.Dv FTS_ROOTPARENTLEVEL
259(\-1), and the
260.Vt FTSENT
261structure for the root
262itself is numbered
263.Dv FTS_ROOTLEVEL
264(0).
265.It Fa fts_errno
266Upon return of a
267.Vt FTSENT
268structure from the
269.Fn fts_children
270or
271.Fn fts_read
272functions, with its
273.Fa fts_info
274field set to
275.Dv FTS_DNR ,
276.Dv FTS_ERR
277or
278.Dv FTS_NS ,
279the
280.Fa fts_errno
281field contains the value of the external variable
282.Va errno
283specifying the cause of the error.
284Otherwise, the contents of the
285.Fa fts_errno
286field are undefined.
287.It Fa fts_number
288This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
289not modified by the
290.Nm
291functions.
292It is initialized to 0.
293.It Fa fts_pointer
294This field is provided for the use of the application program and is
295not modified by the
296.Nm
297functions.
298It is initialized to
299.Dv NULL .
300.It Fa fts_parent
301A pointer to the
302.Vt FTSENT
303structure referencing the file in the hierarchy
304immediately above the current file, i.e., the directory of which this
305file is a member.
306A parent structure for the initial entry point is provided as well,
307however, only the
308.Fa fts_level ,
309.Fa fts_bignum ,
310.Fa fts_number
311and
312.Fa fts_pointer
313fields are guaranteed to be initialized.
314.It Fa fts_link
315Upon return from the
316.Fn fts_children
317function, the
318.Fa fts_link
319field points to the next structure in the NULL-terminated linked list of
320directory members.
321Otherwise, the contents of the
322.Fa fts_link
323field are undefined.
324.It Fa fts_cycle
325If a directory causes a cycle in the hierarchy (see
326.Dv FTS_DC ) ,
327either because
328of a hard link between two directories, or a symbolic link pointing to a
329directory, the
330.Fa fts_cycle
331field of the structure will point to the
332.Vt FTSENT
333structure in the hierarchy that references the same file as the current
334.Vt FTSENT
335structure.
336Otherwise, the contents of the
337.Fa fts_cycle
338field are undefined.
339.It Fa fts_statp
340A pointer to
341.Xr stat 2
342information for the file.
343.El
344.Pp
345A single buffer is used for all of the paths of all of the files in the
346file hierarchy.
347Therefore, the
348.Fa fts_path
349and
350.Fa fts_accpath
351fields are guaranteed to be
352.Dv NUL Ns -terminated
353.Em only
354for the file most recently returned by
355.Fn fts_read .
356To use these fields to reference any files represented by other
357.Vt FTSENT
358structures will require that the path buffer be modified using the
359information contained in that
360.Vt FTSENT
361structure's
362.Fa fts_pathlen
363field.
364Any such modifications should be undone before further calls to
365.Fn fts_read
366are attempted.
367The
368.Fa fts_name
369field is always
370.Dv NUL Ns -terminated .
371.Pp
372Note that the use of
373.Fa fts_bignum
374is mutually exclusive with the use of
375.Fa fts_number
376or
377.Fa fts_pointer .
378.Sh FTS_OPEN
379The
380.Fn fts_open
381function takes a pointer to an array of character pointers naming one
382or more paths which make up a logical file hierarchy to be traversed.
383The array must be terminated by a
384.Dv NULL
385pointer.
386.Pp
387There are
388a number of options, at least one of which (either
389.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
390or
391.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL )
392must be specified.
393The options are selected by
394.Em or Ns 'ing
395the following values:
396.Bl -tag -width "FTS_PHYSICAL"
397.It Dv FTS_COMFOLLOW
398This option causes any symbolic link specified as a root path to be
399followed immediately whether or not
400.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
401is also specified.
402.It Dv FTS_LOGICAL
403This option causes the
404.Nm
405routines to return
406.Vt FTSENT
407structures for the targets of symbolic links
408instead of the symbolic links themselves.
409If this option is set, the only symbolic links for which
410.Vt FTSENT
411structures
412are returned to the application are those referencing non-existent files.
413Either
414.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
415or
416.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
417.Em must
418be provided to the
419.Fn fts_open
420function.
421.It Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
422To allow descending to arbitrary depths
423(independent of
424.Brq Dv PATH_MAX )
425and improve performance, the
426.Nm
427functions change directories as they walk the file hierarchy.
428This has the side-effect that an application cannot rely on being
429in any particular directory during the traversal.
430The
431.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
432option turns off this feature, and the
433.Nm
434functions will not change the current directory.
435Note that applications should not themselves change their current directory
436and try to access files unless
437.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
438is specified and absolute
439pathnames were provided as arguments to
440.Fn fts_open .
441.It Dv FTS_NOSTAT
442By default, returned
443.Vt FTSENT
444structures reference file characteristic information (the
445.Fa statp
446field) for each file visited.
447This option relaxes that requirement as a performance optimization,
448allowing the
449.Nm
450functions to set the
451.Fa fts_info
452field to
453.Dv FTS_NSOK
454and leave the contents of the
455.Fa statp
456field undefined.
457.It Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
458This option causes the
459.Nm
460routines to return
461.Vt FTSENT
462structures for symbolic links themselves instead
463of the target files they point to.
464If this option is set,
465.Vt FTSENT
466structures for all symbolic links in the
467hierarchy are returned to the application.
468Either
469.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
470or
471.Dv FTS_PHYSICAL
472.Em must
473be provided to the
474.Fn fts_open
475function.
476.It Dv FTS_SEEDOT
477By default, unless they are specified as path arguments to
478.Fn fts_open ,
479any files named
480.Ql .\&
481or
482.Ql ..\&
483encountered in the file hierarchy are ignored.
484This option causes the
485.Nm
486routines to return
487.Vt FTSENT
488structures for them.
489.It Dv FTS_XDEV
490This option prevents
491.Nm
492from descending into directories that have a different device number
493than the file from which the descent began.
494.El
495.Pp
496The argument
497.Fn compar
498specifies a user-defined function which may be used to order the traversal
499of the hierarchy.
500It
501takes two pointers to pointers to
502.Vt FTSENT
503structures as arguments and
504should return a negative value, zero, or a positive value to indicate
505if the file referenced by its first argument comes before, in any order
506with respect to, or after, the file referenced by its second argument.
507The
508.Fa fts_accpath ,
509.Fa fts_path
510and
511.Fa fts_pathlen
512fields of the
513.Vt FTSENT
514structures may
515.Em never
516be used in this comparison.
517If the
518.Fa fts_info
519field is set to
520.Dv FTS_NS
521or
522.Dv FTS_NSOK ,
523the
524.Fa fts_statp
525field may not either.
526If the
527.Fn compar
528argument is
529.Dv NULL ,
530the directory traversal order is in the order listed in
531.Fa path_argv
532for the root paths, and in the order listed in the directory for
533everything else.
534.Sh FTS_READ
535The
536.Fn fts_read
537function returns a pointer to an
538.Vt FTSENT
539structure describing a file in
540the hierarchy.
541Directories (that are readable and do not cause cycles) are visited at
542least twice, once in pre-order and once in post-order.
543All other files are visited at least once.
544(Hard links between directories that do not cause cycles or symbolic
545links to symbolic links may cause files to be visited more than once,
546or directories more than twice.)
547.Pp
548If all the members of the hierarchy have been returned,
549.Fn fts_read
550returns
551.Dv NULL
552and sets the external variable
553.Va errno
554to 0.
555If an error unrelated to a file in the hierarchy occurs,
556.Fn fts_read
557returns
558.Dv NULL
559and sets
560.Va errno
561appropriately.
562If an error related to a returned file occurs, a pointer to an
563.Vt FTSENT
564structure is returned, and
565.Va errno
566may or may not have been set (see
567.Fa fts_info ) .
568.Pp
569The
570.Vt FTSENT
571structures returned by
572.Fn fts_read
573may be overwritten after a call to
574.Fn fts_close
575on the same file hierarchy stream, or, after a call to
576.Fn fts_read
577on the same file hierarchy stream unless they represent a file of type
578directory, in which case they will not be overwritten until after a call to
579.Fn fts_read
580after the
581.Vt FTSENT
582structure has been returned by the function
583.Fn fts_read
584in post-order.
585.Sh FTS_CHILDREN
586The
587.Fn fts_children
588function returns a pointer to an
589.Vt FTSENT
590structure describing the first entry in a NULL-terminated linked list of
591the files in the directory represented by the
592.Vt FTSENT
593structure most recently returned by
594.Fn fts_read .
595The list is linked through the
596.Fa fts_link
597field of the
598.Vt FTSENT
599structure, and is ordered by the user-specified comparison function, if any.
600Repeated calls to
601.Fn fts_children
602will recreate this linked list.
603.Pp
604As a special case, if
605.Fn fts_read
606has not yet been called for a hierarchy,
607.Fn fts_children
608will return a pointer to the files in the logical directory specified to
609.Fn fts_open ,
610i.e., the arguments specified to
611.Fn fts_open .
612Otherwise, if the
613.Vt FTSENT
614structure most recently returned by
615.Fn fts_read
616is not a directory being visited in pre-order,
617or the directory does not contain any files,
618.Fn fts_children
619returns
620.Dv NULL
621and sets
622.Va errno
623to zero.
624If an error occurs,
625.Fn fts_children
626returns
627.Dv NULL
628and sets
629.Va errno
630appropriately.
631.Pp
632The
633.Vt FTSENT
634structures returned by
635.Fn fts_children
636may be overwritten after a call to
637.Fn fts_children ,
638.Fn fts_close
639or
640.Fn fts_read
641on the same file hierarchy stream.
642.Pp
643.Em Option
644may be set to the following value:
645.Bl -tag -width FTS_NAMEONLY
646.It Dv FTS_NAMEONLY
647Only the names of the files are needed.
648The contents of all the fields in the returned linked list of structures
649are undefined with the exception of the
650.Fa fts_name
651and
652.Fa fts_namelen
653fields.
654.El
655.Sh FTS_SET
656The function
657.Fn fts_set
658allows the user application to determine further processing for the
659file
660.Fa f
661of the stream
662.Fa ftsp .
663The
664.Fn fts_set
665function
666returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
667.Em Option
668must be set to one of the following values:
669.Bl -tag -width FTS_PHYSICAL
670.It Dv FTS_AGAIN
671Re-visit the file; any file type may be re-visited.
672The next call to
673.Fn fts_read
674will return the referenced file.
675The
676.Fa fts_stat
677and
678.Fa fts_info
679fields of the structure will be reinitialized at that time,
680but no other fields will have been changed.
681This option is meaningful only for the most recently returned
682file from
683.Fn fts_read .
684Normal use is for post-order directory visits, where it causes the
685directory to be re-visited (in both pre and post-order) as well as all
686of its descendants.
687.It Dv FTS_FOLLOW
688The referenced file must be a symbolic link.
689If the referenced file is the one most recently returned by
690.Fn fts_read ,
691the next call to
692.Fn fts_read
693returns the file with the
694.Fa fts_info
695and
696.Fa fts_statp
697fields reinitialized to reflect the target of the symbolic link instead
698of the symbolic link itself.
699If the file is one of those most recently returned by
700.Fn fts_children ,
701the
702.Fa fts_info
703and
704.Fa fts_statp
705fields of the structure, when returned by
706.Fn fts_read ,
707will reflect the target of the symbolic link instead of the symbolic link
708itself.
709In either case, if the target of the symbolic link does not exist the
710fields of the returned structure will be unchanged and the
711.Fa fts_info
712field will be set to
713.Dv FTS_SLNONE .
714.Pp
715If the target of the link is a directory, the pre-order return, followed
716by the return of all of its descendants, followed by a post-order return,
717is done.
718.It Dv FTS_SKIP
719No descendants of this file are visited.
720The file may be one of those most recently returned by either
721.Fn fts_children
722or
723.Fn fts_read .
724.El
725.Sh FTS_CLOSE
726The
727.Fn fts_close
728function closes a file hierarchy stream
729.Fa ftsp
730and restores the current directory to the directory from which
731.Fn fts_open
732was called to open
733.Fa ftsp .
734The
735.Fn fts_close
736function
737returns 0 on success, and \-1 if an error occurs.
738.Sh ERRORS
739The function
740.Fn fts_open
741may fail and set
742.Va errno
743for any of the errors specified for the library functions
744.Xr open 2
745and
746.Xr malloc 3 .
747.Pp
748The function
749.Fn fts_close
750may fail and set
751.Va errno
752for any of the errors specified for the library functions
753.Xr chdir 2
754and
755.Xr close 2 .
756.Pp
757The functions
758.Fn fts_read
759and
760.Fn fts_children
761may fail and set
762.Va errno
763for any of the errors specified for the library functions
764.Xr chdir 2 ,
765.Xr malloc 3 ,
766.Xr opendir 3 ,
767.Xr readdir 3
768and
769.Xr stat 2 .
770.Pp
771In addition,
772.Fn fts_children ,
773.Fn fts_open
774and
775.Fn fts_set
776may fail and set
777.Va errno
778as follows:
779.Bl -tag -width Er
780.It Bq Er EINVAL
781The options were invalid, or the list were empty.
782.El
783.Sh SEE ALSO
784.Xr find 1 ,
785.Xr chdir 2 ,
786.Xr stat 2 ,
787.Xr ftw 3 ,
788.Xr qsort 3
789.Sh HISTORY
790The
791.Nm
792interface was first introduced in
793.Bx 4.4 .
794The
795.Fn fts_get_clientptr ,
796.Fn fts_get_stream ,
797and
798.Fn fts_set_clientptr
799functions were introduced in
800.Fx 5.0 ,
801principally to provide for alternative interfaces to the
802.Nm
803functionality using different data structures.
804.Sh BUGS
805The
806.Fn fts_open
807function will automatically set the
808.Dv FTS_NOCHDIR
809option if the
810.Dv FTS_LOGICAL
811option is provided, or if it cannot
812.Xr open 2
813the current directory.
814