getdents(2) [opensolaris man page]

getdents(2)							   System Calls 						       getdents(2)

NAME

       getdents - read directory entries and put in a file system independent format

SYNOPSIS

       #include <dirent.h>

       int getdents(int fildes, struct dirent *buf, size_t nbyte);

DESCRIPTION

       The  getdents()	function  attempts to read nbyte bytes from the directory associated with the file descriptor fildes and to format them as
       file system independent directory entries in the buffer pointed to by buf. Since the file system independent directory entries are of vari-
       able  lengths,  in  most  cases the actual number of bytes returned will be less than nbyte. The file system independent directory entry is
       specified by the dirent structure.  See dirent.h(3HEAD).

       On devices capable of seeking, getdents() starts at a position in the file given by the file pointer associated with  fildes.  Upon  return
       from getdents(), the file pointer is incremented to point to the next directory entry.

RETURN VALUES

       Upon  successful completion, a non-negative integer is returned indicating the number of bytes actually read. A return value of 0 indicates
       the end of the directory has been reached. Otherwise, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The getdents() function will fail if:

       EBADF	    The fildes argument is not a valid file descriptor open for reading.

       EFAULT	    The buf argument points to an illegal address.

       EINVAL	    The nbyte argument is not large enough for one directory entry.

       EIO	    An I/O error occurred while accessing the file system.

       ENOENT	    The current file pointer for the directory is not located at a valid entry.

       ENOLINK	    The fildes argument points to a remote machine and the link to that machine is no longer active.

       ENOTDIR	    The fildes argument is not a directory.

       EOVERFLOW    The value of the dirent structure member d_ino or d_off cannot be represented in an ino_t or  off_t.

USAGE

       The getdents() function was developed to implement the readdir(3C) function and should not be used for other purposes.

       The getdents() function has a transitional interface for 64-bit file offsets.  See lf64(5).

SEE ALSO

       readdir(3C), dirent.h(3HEAD), lf64(5)

SunOS 5.11							    17 Jul 2001 						       getdents(2)

GETDIRENTRIES(3)					   BSD Library Functions Manual 					  GETDIRENTRIES(3)

NAME

     getdirentries -- get directory entries in a filesystem independent format

SYNOPSIS

     #include <dirent.h>

     int
     getdirentries(int fd, char *buf, int nbytes, long *basep);

DESCRIPTION

     This interface is provided for compatibility only and has been obsoleted by getdents(2).

     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:

	   unsigned long   d_fileno;
	   unsigned short  d_reclen;
	   unsigned short  d_namlen;
	   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.  If d_fileno is zero, the entry refers to a deleted file.

     The d_reclen entry is the length, in bytes, of the directory record.

     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.

     The d_name entry contains a null terminated file name.

     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

     lseek(2), open(2)

HISTORY

     The getdirentries() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

BSD
								   June 9, 1993 							       BSD