lseek(2) [hpux man page]

lseek(2)							System Calls Manual							  lseek(2)

NAME

       lseek - move read/write file pointer; seek

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

       sets the file pointer associated with the file descriptor as follows:

	      o  If whence is the pointer is set to offset bytes.

	      o  If whence is the pointer is set to its current location plus offset.

	      o  If whence is the pointer is set to the size of the file plus offset.

       These symbolic constants are defined in

RETURN VALUE

       When completes successfully, it returns an integer, which is the resulting file offset as measured in bytes from the beginning of the file.
       Otherwise, a value of is returned and is set to indicate the error.

       For all files that are not character or block special files, the integer returned on successful completion is non-negative.  For  character
       or  block  special  files that correspond to disk sections larger than 2 gigabytes, a non-negative integer is returned for successful seeks
       beyond 2 gigabytes.  This value is the resulting file offset as measured in bytes from the beginning of the file, when taken as an unsigned
       value.  always indicates an error return, even when encountered on greater than 2 gigabyte disk sections.  The call succeeds for NFS direc-
       tories even if the resulting file offset becomes negative.

ERRORS

       fails and the file offset remains unchanged if one or more of the following is true:

       [EBADF]	      fildes is not an open file descriptor.

       [ESPIPE]       fildes is associated with a pipe, socket, or FIFO.

       [EINVAL]       whence is not one of the supported values.

       [EINVAL]       The resulting file offset would be negative.

       [EINVAL]       The resulting file offset would be a value which cannot be represented correctly in an object of type

WARNINGS

       Some devices are incapable of seeking.  The value of the file offset associated with such a device is undefined.

       Using with a whence of on device special files is not supported and the results are not defined.

SEE ALSO

       creat(2), dup(2), fcntl(2), lseek64(2), open(2), unistd(5).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

																	  lseek(2)

Check Out this Related Man Page

LSEEK(2)						      BSD System Calls Manual							  LSEEK(2)

NAME

     lseek, seek -- reposition read/write file offset

LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

     #include <unistd.h>

     off_t
     lseek(int fildes, off_t offset, int whence);

DESCRIPTION

     The lseek() function repositions the offset of the file descriptor fildes to the argument offset according to the directive whence.  The
     argument fildes must be an open file descriptor.  lseek() repositions the file pointer fildes as follows:

	   If whence is SEEK_SET, the offset is set to offset bytes.

	   If whence is SEEK_CUR, the offset is set to its current location plus offset bytes.

	   If whence is SEEK_END, the offset is set to the size of the file plus offset bytes.

     The lseek() function allows the file offset to be set beyond the end of the existing end-of-file of the file.  If data is later written at
     this point, subsequent reads of the data in the gap return bytes of zeros (until data is actually written into the gap).

     Some devices are incapable of seeking.  The value of the pointer associated with such a device is undefined.

RETURN VALUES

     Upon successful completion, lseek() returns the resulting offset location as measured in bytes from the beginning of the file.  Otherwise, a
     value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

     lseek() will fail and the file pointer will remain unchanged if:

     [EBADF]		fildes is not an open file descriptor.

     [EINVAL]		whence is not a proper value, or the resulting file offset would be invalid.

     [ESPIPE]		fildes is associated with a pipe, socket, or FIFO.

SEE ALSO

     dup(2), open(2)

STANDARDS

     The lseek() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (``POSIX.1'').

HISTORY

     A seek() function appeared in Version 2 AT&T UNIX, later renamed into lseek() for ``long seek'' due to a larger offset argument type.

BUGS

     This document's use of whence is incorrect English, but is maintained for historical reasons.

BSD
								   April 3, 2010							       BSD

Linux and UNIX Man Pages

lseek(2) [hpux man page]

Check Out this Related Man Page