#include <poll.h>

int poll(struct pollfd fds[], nfds_t nfds, int timeout);

int ppoll(struct pollfd *restrict fds, nfds_t nfds,
 const struct timespec *restrict tsp, const sigset_t *restrict sigmask);

The poll() and ppoll() functions provides applications with a mechanism for multiplexing input/output over a set of file descriptors. For each member of the array pointed to by fds, poll() and ppoll() examine the given file descriptor for the event(s) specified in events. The number of pollfd structures in the fds array is specified by nfds. The poll() and ppoll() functions identify those file descriptors on which an application can read or write data, or on which certain events have occurred.

The ppoll() function behaves identically to poll(), except as follows:

The fds argument specifies the file descriptors to be examined and the events of interest for each file descriptor. It is a pointer to an array with one member for each open file descriptor of interest. The array's members are pollfd structures, which contain the following members:

int fd; /* file descriptor */
short events; /* requested events */
short revents; /* returned events */

The fd member specifies an open file descriptor and the events and revents members are bitmasks constructed by a logical OR operation of any combination of the following event flags: POLLIN

If the value fd is less than 0, events is ignored and revents is set to 0 in that entry on return from poll() and ppoll().

The results of the poll() or ppoll() query are stored in the revents member in the pollfd structure. Bits are set in the revents bitmask to indicate which of the requested events are true. If none are true, none of the specified bits are set in revents when either the poll() or ppoll() call returns. The event flags POLLHUP, POLLERR, and POLLNVAL are always set in revents if the conditions they indicate are true; this occurs even though these flags were not present in events.

If none of the defined events have occurred on any selected file descriptor, poll() and ppoll() wait at least timeout milliseconds for an event to occur on any of the selected file descriptors. On a computer where millisecond timing accuracy is not available, timeout is rounded up to the nearest legal value available on that system. If the value timeout is 0, poll() returns immediately. If the value of timeout is -1, poll() blocks until a requested event occurs or until the call is interrupted. If the value of tsp is NULL, then ppoll() blocks until a requested event occurs or until the call is interrupted. The poll() and ppoll() functions are not affected by the O_NDELAY and O_NONBLOCK flags.

The poll() and ppoll() functions support regular files, terminal and pseudo-terminal devices, streams-based files, FIFOs, pipes, and sockets. The behavior of poll() and ppoll() on elements of fds that refer to other types of file is unspecified.

A file descriptor for a socket that is listening for connections will indicate that it is ready for reading, once connections are available. A file descriptor for a socket that is connecting asynchronously will indicate that it is ready for writing, once a connection has been established.

Regular files always poll() and ppoll() TRUE for reading and writing.

Upon successful completion, a non-negative value is returned. A positive value indicates the total number of file descriptors that has been selected (that is, file descriptors for which the revents member is non-zero). A value of 0 indicates that the call timed out and no file descriptors have been selected. Upon failure, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

The poll() and ppoll() functions will fail if: EAGAIN

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:

Intro (2), getmsg (2), getrlimit (2), putmsg (2), read (2), write (2), select (3C), attributes (7), standards (7), chpoll (9E)

STREAMS Programming Guide

Non-STREAMS drivers use chpoll(9E) to implement poll() on these devices.