FLOCK(1) BSD General Commands Manual FLOCK(1)NAME
flock -- Provide locking API for shell scripts
SYNOPSIS
flock [-dnosvx] [-w timeout] lockfile|lockdir [-c command] | [command ...]
flock [-dnsuvx] [-w timeout] lockfd
DESCRIPTION
The flock utility provides flock(2) access to the command line or scripts. The first form locks a file or directory while the command pro-
vided is executed. If the file or directory does not exist, then a file is created.
The second form can use an arbitrary file descriptor that is provided from a shell script for example:
(
flock -s 100
# commands to be executed under the lock
) 100> /path/to/lockfile
The following options are available:
-c command Pass a command to a the shell.
-d, --debug Provide debugging output.
-n, --nb, --nonblock
Don't block and fail immediately if the lock could not be obtained.
-o, --close Close the file before executing the command. This is useful if the child forks and should not be holding the lock.
-s, --shared Obtain a shared lock.
-u, --unlock Unlock an existing lock. This is available only for a file descriptor.
-v, --verbose On error print an explanation of the failure.
-w, --wait, --timeout seconds
Fail if the lock could not be obtained after seconds.
-x, --exclusive Obtain an exclusive lock.
EXIT STATUS
The flock utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO shlock(1), flock(2)HISTORY
An flock utility appeared in NetBSD 6.1.
BSD November 2, 2012 BSD
Check Out this Related Man Page
FLOCK(1) User Commands FLOCK(1)NAME
flock - manage locks from shell scripts
SYNOPSIS
flock [options] <file|directory> <command> [command args]
flock [options] <file|directory> -c <command>
flock [options] <file descriptor number>
DESCRIPTION
This utility manages flock(2) locks from within shell scripts or the command line.
The first and second forms wrap the lock around the executing a command, in a manner similar to su(1) or newgrp(1). It locks a specified
file or directory, which is created (assuming appropriate permissions), if it does not already exist. By default, if the lock cannot be
immediately acquired, flock waits until the lock is available.
The third form uses open file by file descriptor number. See examples how that can be used.
OPTIONS -s, --shared
Obtain a shared lock, sometimes called a read lock.
-x, -e, --exclusive
Obtain an exclusive lock, sometimes called a write lock. This is the default.
-u, --unlock
Drop a lock. This is usually not required, since a lock is automatically dropped when the file is closed. However, it may be
required in special cases, for example if the enclosed command group may have forked a background process which should not be hold-
ing the lock.
-n, --nb, --nonblock
Fail rather than wait if the lock cannot be immediately acquired. See the -E option for the exit code used.
-w, --wait, --timeout seconds
Fail if the lock cannot be acquired within seconds. Decimal fractional values are allowed. See the -E option for the exit code
used.
-o, --close
Close the file descriptor on which the lock is held before executing command . This is useful if command spawns a child process
which should not be holding the lock.
-E, --conflict-exit-code number
The exit code used when the -n option is in use, and the conflicting lock exists, or the -w option is in use, and the timeout is
reached. The default value is 1.
-c, --command command
Pass a single command, without arguments, to the shell with -c.
-h, --help
Print a help message.
-V, --version
Show version number and exit.
EXAMPLES
shell1> flock /tmp -c cat
shell2> flock -w .007 /tmp -c echo; /bin/echo $?
Set exclusive lock to directory /tmp and the second command will fail.
shell1> flock -s /tmp -c cat
shell2> flock -s -w .007 /tmp -c echo; /bin/echo $?
Set shared lock to directory /tmp and the second command will not fail. Notice that attempting to get exclusive lock with second
command would fail.
shell> flock -x local-lock-file echo 'a b c'
Grab the exclusive lock "local-lock-file" before running echo with 'a b c'.
(
flock -n 9 || exit 1
# ... commands executed under lock ...
) 9>/var/lock/mylockfile
The form is convenient inside shell scripts. The mode used to open the file doesn't matter to flock; using > or >> allows the lock-
file to be created if it does not already exist, however, write permission is required. Using < requires that the file already
exists but only read permission is required.
[ "${FLOCKER}" != "$0" ] && exec env FLOCKER="$0" flock -en "$0" "$0" "$@" || :
This is useful boilerplate code for shell scripts. Put it at the top of the shell script you want to lock and it'll automatically
lock itself on the first run. If the env var $FLOCKER is not set to the shell script that is being run, then execute flock and grab
an exclusive non-blocking lock (using the script itself as the lock file) before re-execing itself with the right arguments. It
also sets the FLOCKER env var to the right value so it doesn't run again.
EXIT STATUS
The command uses sysexits.h return values for everything else but an options -n or -w failures which return either the value given by the
-E option, or 1 by default.
AUTHOR
H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2003-2006 H. Peter Anvin.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
LAR PURPOSE.
SEE ALSO flock(2)AVAILABILITY
The flock command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
linux/>.
util-linux September 2011 FLOCK(1)