GETDIRENTRIES(2) BSD System Calls Manual GETDIRENTRIES(2)
NAME
getdirentries -- get directory entries in a filesystem independent format
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/dirent.h>
int
getdirentries(int fd, char *buf, int nbytes, long *basep);
DESCRIPTION
Getdirentries() reads directory entries from the directory referenced by the file descriptor fd into the buffer pointed to by buf, in a
filesystem independent format. Up to nbytes of data will be transferred. Nbytes must be greater than or equal to the block size associated
with the file, see stat(2). Some filesystems may not support getdirentries() with buffers smaller than this size.
The data in the buffer is a series of dirent structures each containing the following entries:
u_int32_t d_fileno; /* file number of entry */
u_int16_t d_reclen; /* length of this record */
u_int8_t d_type; /* file type, see below */
u_int8_t d_namlen; /* length of string in d_name */
char d_name[MAXNAMELEN + 1]; /* see below */
The d_fileno entry is a number which is unique for each distinct file in the filesystem. Files that are linked by hard links (see link(2))
have the same d_fileno. Users of getdirentries() should skip entries with d_fileno = 0, as such entries represent files which have been
deleted but not yet removed from the directory entry. The d_reclen entry is the length, in bytes, of the directory record. The d_name entry
contains a null terminated file name. The d_namlen entry specifies the length of the file name excluding the null byte. Thus the actual
size of d_name may vary from 1 to MAXNAMELEN + 1. d_type is a integer representing the type of the directory entry. The following types are
defined in <sys/dirent.h>:
#define DT_UNKNOWN 0
#define DT_FIFO 1
#define DT_CHR 2
#define DT_DIR 4
#define DT_BLK 6
#define DT_REG 8
#define DT_LNK 10
#define DT_SOCK 12
#define DT_WHT 14
Entries may be separated by extra space. The d_reclen entry may be used as an offset from the start of a dirent structure to the next struc-
ture, if any.
The actual number of bytes transferred is returned. The current position pointer associated with fd is set to point to the next block of
entries. The pointer may not advance by the number of bytes returned by getdirentries(). A value of zero is returned when the end of the
directory has been reached.
Getdirentries() writes the position of the block read into the location pointed to by basep. Alternatively, the current position pointer may
be set and retrieved by lseek(2). The current position pointer should only be set to a value returned by lseek(2), a value returned in the
location pointed to by basep, or zero.
RETURN VALUES
If successful, the number of bytes actually transferred is returned. Otherwise, -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indi-
cate the error.
ERRORS
Getdirentries() will fail if:
[EBADF] fd is not a valid file descriptor open for reading.
[EFAULT] Either buf or basep point outside the allocated address space.
[EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
SEE ALSO
open(2), lseek(2)
HISTORY
The getdirentries() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.
BSD
June 9, 1993 BSD