open(2) System Calls Manual open(2)
NAME
open() - open file for reading or writing
SYNOPSIS
Remarks
The ANSI C "" construct specifies a variable length argument list whose optional member is given in the associated comment
DESCRIPTION
The system call opens a file descriptor for the named file and sets the file status flags according to the value of oflag.
The path argument points to a path name naming a file, and must not exceed bytes in length.
The oflag argument is a value that is the bitwise inclusive OR of flags listed in "Read-Write Flags," "General Flags," "Synchronized I/O
Flags," and "Direct I/O Flags" below.
The optional mode argument is only effective when the flag is specified.
The file pointer used to mark the current position within the file is set to the beginning of the file.
The new file descriptor is set to remain open across system calls. See fcntl(2).
Read-Write Flags
Exactly one of the or flags must be used in composing the value of oflag. If none or more than one is used, the behavior is undefined.
Open for reading only.
Open for writing only.
Open for reading and writing.
General Flags
Several of the flags listed below can be changed with the system call while the file is open. See fcntl(2) and fcntl(5) for details.
If set, the file offset is set to the end of the file prior
to each write.
If the file exists, this flag has no effect, except as
noted under below. Otherwise, the owner ID of the file is set to the effective user ID of the process, the group ID
of the file is set to the effective group ID of the process if the set-group-ID bit of the parent directory is not
set, or to the group ID of the parent directory if the set-group-ID bit of the parent directory is set.
The file access permission bits of the new file mode are set to the value of mode, modified as follows (see
creat(2)):
o For each bit set in the file mode creation mask of the process, the corresponding bit in the new file mode is
cleared (see umask(2)).
o The "save text image after execution" bit of the new file mode is cleared. See chmod(2).
o On HFS file systems with access control lists, three base ACL entries are created corresponding to the file access
permissions (see acl(5)).
o On JFS file systems that support access control lists, optional ACL entries are created corresponding to the par-
ent directory's default ACL entries (see aclv(5)).
If and are set and the file exists, fails.
This is a non-standard flag which may be used by
32-bit applications to access files larger than 2 GB. See creat64(2).
This flag might affect subsequent reads and writes.
See read(2) and write(2).
When opening a FIFO with or set:
If is set:
A read-only returns without delay.
A write-only returns an error if no process currently has the file open for reading.
If is clear:
A read-only does not return until a process opens the file for writing.
A write-only does not return until a process opens the file for reading.
When opening a file associated with a communication line:
If is set:
The returns without waiting for carrier.
If is clear:
The does not return until carrier is present.
If set, and path identifies a terminal device, does not cause the terminal to become the controlling terminal for the process.
If the last component of
path refers to a symbolic link, the will fail. This is true regardless of whether the target of the link exists or
not.
NOTE: If the symbolic link in path is followed by a trailing '/', the link will be traversed, regardless of the set-
ting of
Same effect as for open(2), but slightly different effect in read(2) and write(2). If both and are specified, takes precedence.
If the file exists, its length is truncated to 0
and the mode and owner are unchanged.
Synchronized I/O Flags
Together, the and flags constitute support for Synchronized I/O. These flags are ignored for files other than ordinary files and block
special files on those systems that permit I/O to block special devices (see pathconf(2)). If both the and flags are set, the effect is as
if only the flag was set. The flag is ignored if it is not set along with the or flag.
If a file is opened with
or that flag is set with the option of writes to that file by the process block until the data specified in the write request
and all file attributes required to retrieve the data are written to the disk. File attributes that are not necessary for
data retrieval (access time, modification time, status change time) are not necessarily written to the disk prior to return-
ing to the calling process.
Identical to
with the addition that all file attributes changed by the write operation (including access time, modification time, and sta-
tus change time) are also written to the disk prior to returning to the calling process.
Identical to
for file system writes.
For file system reads, the calling process blocks until the data being read and all file attributes required to retrieve the
data are the same as their image on disk. Writes pending on the data to be read are executed prior to returning to the call-
ing process.
Identical to
for file system writes.
Identical to for file system reads, with the addition that all file attributes changed by the read operation (including
access time, modification time, and status change time) too are the same as their image on disk.
RETURN VALUE
returns the following values:
Successful completion.
n is a file descriptor for the opened file.
Failure.
is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
If fails, is set to one of the following values.
[EACCES] oflag permission is denied for the named file.
[EACCES] A component of the path prefix denies search permission.
[EACCES] The file does not exist and the directory in which the file is to be created does not permit writing.
[EACCES] is specified and write permission is denied.
[EAGAIN] The file exists, enforcement mode file/record locking is set (see chmod(2)), there are outstanding record locks on
the file with the or system calls, and is set.
[EDQUOT] User's disk quota block or inode limit has been reached for this file system.
[EEXIST] and are set and the named file exists.
[EFAULT] path points outside the allocated address space of the process.
[EINTR] A signal was caught during the system call, and the system call was not restarted (see signal(5)).
[EINVAL] oflag specifies both and
[EISDIR] The named file is a directory and oflag is write or read/write.
[ELOOP] Too many symbolic links are encountered in translating the path name.
[EMFILE] The maximum number of file descriptors allowed are currently open.
[ENAMETOOLONG] The length of the specified path name exceeds bytes, or the length of a component of the path name exceeds bytes
while is in effect.
[ENFILE] The system file table is full.
[ENODEV] The named file is a character special or block special file, and the driver associated with this special file has not
been configured into the kernel or the DLKM driver associated with this special file failed to load.
[ENOENT] The named file does not exist (for example, path is null or a component of path does not exist, or the file itself
does not exist and is not set).
[ENOTDIR] A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
[ENOTSUP] The last component of path is a sybolic link and was set.
[ENXIO] is set, the named file is a FIFO, is set, and no process has the file open for reading.
[ENXIO] The named file is a character special or block special file, and the device associated with this special file does
not exist.
[ENOSPC] is specified, the file does not already exist, and the directory that would contain the file cannot be extended.
[EOVERFLOW] The named file is a regular file and the size of the file cannot be represented correctly in an object of size
[EROFS] The named file resides on a read-only file system and oflag is write or read/write.
[ETXTBSY] The file is open for execution and oflag is write or read/write. Normal executable files are only open for a short
time when they start execution. Other executable file types can be kept open for a long time, or indefinitely under
some circumstances.
EXAMPLES
The following call to opens file for reading only and returns a file descriptor for For an example of reading from file see the read(2)
manual entry.
The following call to opens file for writing and returns a file descriptor for For an example of preallocating disk space for see the pre-
alloc(2) manual entry. For an example of writing to see the write(2) manual entry.
The following call opens file for synchronized I/O file integrity for reads and writes.
AUTHOR
was developed by HP, AT&T, and the University of California, Berkeley.
SEE ALSO
acl(2), chmod(2), close(2), creat(2), dup(2), fcntl(2), flock(2), lockf(2), lseek(2), creat64(2), pathconf(2), read(2), select(2),
umask(2), write(2), setacl(2), acl(5), aclv(5), fcntl(5), privileges(5), signal(5), thread_safety(5), unistd(5).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
open(2)