xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdio/fread.3 (revision 5c52a79884070364bfc920fb8e492cfac61ec72f)
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32.\"     @(#)fread.3	8.2 (Berkeley) 3/8/94
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd March 8, 1994
36.Dt FREAD 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm fread ,
40.Nm fwrite
41.Nd binary stream input/output
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.In stdio.h
46.Ft size_t
47.Fn fread "void * restrict ptr" "size_t size" "size_t nmemb" "FILE * restrict stream"
48.Ft size_t
49.Fn fwrite "const void * restrict ptr" "size_t size" "size_t nmemb" "FILE * restrict stream"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The function
52.Fn fread
53reads
54.Fa nmemb
55objects, each
56.Fa size
57bytes long, from the stream pointed to by
58.Fa stream ,
59storing them at the location given by
60.Fa ptr .
61.Pp
62The function
63.Fn fwrite
64writes
65.Fa nmemb
66objects, each
67.Fa size
68bytes long, to the stream pointed to by
69.Fa stream ,
70obtaining them from the location given by
71.Fa ptr .
72.Sh RETURN VALUES
73The functions
74.Fn fread
75and
76.Fn fwrite
77advance the file position indicator for the stream
78by the number of bytes read or written.
79They return the number of objects read or written.
80If an error occurs, or the end-of-file is reached,
81the return value is a short object count (or zero).
82.Pp
83The function
84.Fn fread
85does not distinguish between end-of-file and error, and callers
86must use
87.Xr feof 3
88and
89.Xr ferror 3
90to determine which occurred.
91The function
92.Fn fwrite
93returns a value less than
94.Fa nmemb
95only if a write error has occurred.
96.Sh SEE ALSO
97.Xr read 2 ,
98.Xr write 2
99.Sh STANDARDS
100The functions
101.Fn fread
102and
103.Fn fwrite
104conform to
105.St -isoC .
106