xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/scandir.3 (revision 2be1a816b9ff69588e55be0a84cbe2a31efc0f2f)
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28.\"     @(#)scandir.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd June 4, 1993
32.Dt SCANDIR 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm scandir ,
36.Nm alphasort
37.Nd scan a directory
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In sys/types.h
42.In dirent.h
43.Ft int
44.Fn scandir "const char *dirname" "struct dirent ***namelist" "int \\*(lp*select\\*(rp\\*(lpstruct dirent *\\*(rp" "int \\*(lp*compar\\*(rp\\*(lpconst void *, const void *\\*(rp"
45.Ft int
46.Fn alphasort "const void *d1" "const void *d2"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fn scandir
50function
51reads the directory
52.Fa dirname
53and builds an array of pointers to directory
54entries using
55.Xr malloc 3 .
56It returns the number of entries in the array.
57A pointer to the array of directory entries is stored in the location
58referenced by
59.Fa namelist .
60.Pp
61The
62.Fa select
63argument is a pointer to a user supplied subroutine which is called by
64.Fn scandir
65to select which entries are to be included in the array.
66The select routine is passed a
67pointer to a directory entry and should return a non-zero
68value if the directory entry is to be included in the array.
69If
70.Fa select
71is null, then all the directory entries will be included.
72.Pp
73The
74.Fa compar
75argument is a pointer to a user supplied subroutine which is passed to
76.Xr qsort 3
77to sort the completed array.
78If this pointer is null, the array is not sorted.
79.Pp
80The
81.Fn alphasort
82function
83is a routine which can be used for the
84.Fa compar
85argument to sort the array alphabetically.
86.Pp
87The memory allocated for the array can be deallocated with
88.Xr free 3 ,
89by freeing each pointer in the array and then the array itself.
90.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
91Returns \-1 if the directory cannot be opened for reading or if
92.Xr malloc 3
93cannot allocate enough memory to hold all the data structures.
94.Sh SEE ALSO
95.Xr directory 3 ,
96.Xr malloc 3 ,
97.Xr qsort 3 ,
98.Xr dir 5
99.Sh HISTORY
100The
101.Fn scandir
102and
103.Fn alphasort
104functions appeared in
105.Bx 4.2 .
106