access(2)							System Calls Manual							 access(2)

NAME

       access - Determines the accessibility of a file

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int access (
	       const char *path,
	       int access_mode) ;

STANDARDS

       Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

       access():  XPG4, XPG4-UNIX

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.

PARAMETERS

       Points  to  the file pathname.  When the path parameter refers to a symbolic link, the access() function returns information about the file
       pointed to by the symbolic link.

	      Permission to access all components of the path parameter is determined by using a real user ID instead of an effective user ID, and
	      a  group	access	list  (including a real group ID) instead of an effective group ID.  Specifies the type of access. The bit pattern
	      contained in the access_mode parameter is constructed by a logical OR of the following values: Checks read permission.  Checks write
	      permission.  Checks execute (search) permission.	Checks to see if the file exists.

DESCRIPTION

       The access() function checks for accessibility of the file specified by a pathname.

       Only  access  bits  are	checked.   A  directory  may be indicated as writable by access(), but an attempt to open it for writing will fail
       (although files may be created there); a file's access bits may indicate that it is executable, but the execve() function can fail  if  the
       file does not contain the proper format.

RETURN VALUES

       Upon  successful  completion,  the  access()  function returns value of 0 (zero).  Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to
       indicate the error.

ERRORS

       If the access() function fails, access to the file specified by the path parameter is denied and errno may be set to one of  the  following
       values: Permission bits of the file mode do not permit the requested access, or search permission is denied on a component of the path pre-
       fix.  The owner of a file has permission checked with respect to the ``owner'' read, write, and execute mode bits, members  of  the  file's
       group  other  than  the owner have permission checked with respect to the ``group'' mode bits, and all others have permissions checked with
       respect to the ``other'' mode bits.  The path parameter points outside the process' allocated address space.  The pathname contains a char-
       acter  with  the high-order bit set.  An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.  Too many symbolic links were
       encountered in translating the pathname.  A component of a pathname exceeded PATH_MAX characters, or an entire pathname	exceeded  NAME_MAX
       characters.   The  named  file  does  not exist or is an empty string.  A component of the path prefix is not a directory.  Write access is
       requested for a file on a read-only file system.

RELATED INFORMATION

       Functions: chmod(2), stat(2)

       Standards: standards(5) delim off

																	 access(2)