xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdio/getline.3 (revision b2d48be1bc7df45ddd13b143a160d0acb5a383c5)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2009 David Schultz <das@FreeBSD.org>
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd November 30, 2012
28.Dt GETLINE 3
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm getdelim ,
32.Nm getline
33.Nd get a line from a stream
34.Sh LIBRARY
35.Lb libc
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.Fd "#define _WITH_GETLINE"
38.In stdio.h
39.Ft ssize_t
40.Fn getdelim "char ** restrict linep" "size_t * restrict linecapp" "int delimiter" " FILE * restrict stream"
41.Ft ssize_t
42.Fn getline "char ** restrict linep" "size_t * restrict linecapp" " FILE * restrict stream"
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44The
45.Fn getdelim
46function reads a line from
47.Fa stream ,
48delimited by the character
49.Fa delimiter .
50The
51.Fn getline
52function is equivalent to
53.Fn getdelim
54with the newline character as the delimiter.
55The delimiter character is included as part of the line, unless
56the end of the file is reached.
57.Pp
58The caller may provide a pointer to a malloced buffer for the line in
59.Fa *linep ,
60and the capacity of that buffer in
61.Fa *linecapp .
62These functions expand the buffer as needed, as if via
63.Fn realloc .
64If
65.Fa linep
66points to a
67.Dv NULL
68pointer, a new buffer will be allocated.
69In either case,
70.Fa *linep
71and
72.Fa *linecapp
73will be updated accordingly.
74.Sh RETURN VALUES
75The
76.Fn getdelim
77and
78.Fn getline
79functions return the number of characters stored in the buffer, excluding the
80terminating
81.Dv NUL
82character.
83The value \-1 is returned if an error occurs, or if end-of-file is reached.
84.Sh EXAMPLES
85The following code fragment reads lines from a file and
86writes them to standard output.
87The
88.Fn fwrite
89function is used in case the line contains embedded
90.Dv NUL
91characters.
92.Bd -literal -offset indent
93char *line = NULL;
94size_t linecap = 0;
95ssize_t linelen;
96while ((linelen = getline(&line, &linecap, fp)) > 0)
97	fwrite(line, linelen, 1, stdout);
98free(line);
99.Ed
100.Sh COMPATIBILITY
101Many application writers used the name
102.Va getline
103before the
104.Fn getline
105function was introduced in
106.St -p1003.1 ,
107so a prototype is not provided by default in order to avoid
108compatibility problems.
109Applications that wish to use the
110.Fn getline
111function described herein should either request a strict
112.St -p1003.1-2008
113environment by defining the macro
114.Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE
115to the value 200809 or greater, or by defining the macro
116.Dv _WITH_GETLINE ,
117prior to the inclusion of
118.In stdio.h .
119For compatibility with GNU libc, defining either
120.Dv _BSD_SOURCE
121or
122.Dv _GNU_SOURCE
123prior to the inclusion of
124.In stdio.h
125will also make
126.Fn getline
127available.
128.Sh ERRORS
129These functions may fail if:
130.Bl -tag -width Er
131.It Bq Er EINVAL
132Either
133.Fa linep
134or
135.Fa linecapp
136is
137.Dv NULL .
138.It Bq Er EOVERFLOW
139No delimiter was found in the first
140.Dv SSIZE_MAX
141characters.
142.El
143.Pp
144These functions may also fail due to any of the errors specified for
145.Fn fgets
146and
147.Fn malloc .
148.Sh SEE ALSO
149.Xr fgetln 3 ,
150.Xr fgets 3 ,
151.Xr malloc 3
152.Sh STANDARDS
153The
154.Fn getdelim
155and
156.Fn getline
157functions conform to
158.St -p1003.1-2008 .
159.Sh HISTORY
160These routines first appeared in
161.Fx 8.0 .
162.Sh BUGS
163There are no wide character versions of
164.Fn getdelim
165or
166.Fn getline .
167