poll(2) [osx man page]
POLL(2) BSD System Calls Manual POLL(2) NAME
poll -- synchronous I/O multiplexing SYNOPSIS
#include <poll.h> int poll(struct pollfd fds[], nfds_t nfds, int timeout); DESCRIPTION
Poll() examines a set of file descriptors to see if some of them are ready for I/O or if certain events have occurred on them. The fds argu- ment is a pointer to an array of pollfd structures, as defined in <poll.h> (shown below). The nfds argument specifies the size of the fds array. struct pollfd { int fd; /* file descriptor */ short events; /* events to look for */ short revents; /* events returned */ }; The fields of struct pollfd are as follows: fd File descriptor to poll. events Events to poll for. (See below.) revents Events which may occur or have occurred. (See below.) The event bitmasks in events and revents have the following bits: POLLERR An exceptional condition has occurred on the device or socket. This flag is output only, and ignored if present in the input events bitmask. POLLHUP The device or socket has been disconnected. This flag is output only, and ignored if present in the input events bitmask. Note that POLLHUP and POLLOUT are mutually exclusive and should never be present in the revents bitmask at the same time. POLLIN Data other than high priority data may be read without blocking. This is equivalent to ( POLLRDNORM | POLLRDBAND ). POLLNVAL The file descriptor is not open. This flag is output only, and ignored if present in the input events bitmask. POLLOUT Normal data may be written without blocking. This is equivalent to POLLWRNORM. POLLPRI High priority data may be read without blocking. POLLRDBAND Priority data may be read without blocking. POLLRDNORM Normal data may be read without blocking. POLLWRBAND Priority data may be written without blocking. POLLWRNORM Normal data may be written without blocking. The distinction between normal, priority, and high-priority data is specific to particular file types or devices. If timeout is greater than zero, it specifies a maximum interval (in milliseconds) to wait for any file descriptor to become ready. If timeout is zero, then poll() will return without blocking. If the value of timeout is -1, the poll blocks indefinitely. RETURN VALUES
Poll() returns the number of descriptors that are ready for I/O, or -1 if an error occurred. If the time limit expires, poll() returns 0. If poll() returns with an error, including one due to an interrupted call, the fds array will be unmodified and the global variable errno will be set to indicate the error. ERRORS
Poll() will fail if: [EAGAIN] Allocation of internal data structures fails. A subsequent request may succeed. [EFAULT] Fds points outside the process's allocated address space. [EINTR] A signal is delivered before the time limit expires and before any of the selected events occurs. [EINVAL] The nfds argument is greater than OPEN_MAX or the timeout argument is less than -1. BUGS
The poll() system call currently does not support devices. SEE ALSO
accept(2), connect(2), kevent(2), read(2), recv(2), select(2), send(2), write(2) HISTORY
The poll() function call appeared in AT&T System V UNIX. BSD
February 27, 2005 BSD
Check Out this Related Man Page
POLL(2) BSD System Calls Manual POLL(2) NAME
poll, pollts -- synchronous I/O multiplexing LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc) SYNOPSIS
#include <poll.h> int poll(struct pollfd *fds, nfds_t nfds, int timeout); #include <poll.h> #include <signal.h> #include <time.h> int pollts(struct pollfd * restrict fds, nfds_t nfds, const struct timespec * restrict ts, const sigset_t * restrict sigmask); DESCRIPTION
poll() and pollts() examine a set of file descriptors to see if some of them are ready for I/O. The fds argument is a pointer to an array of pollfd structures as defined in <poll.h> (shown below). The nfds argument determines the size of the fds array. struct pollfd { int fd; /* file descriptor */ short events; /* events to look for */ short revents; /* events returned */ }; The fields of struct pollfd are as follows: fd File descriptor to poll. If the value in fd is negative, the file descriptor is ignored and revents is set to 0. events Events to poll for. (See below.) revents Events which may occur. (See below.) The event bitmasks in events and revents have the following bits: POLLIN Data other than high priority data may be read without blocking. POLLRDNORM Normal data may be read without blocking. POLLRDBAND Data with a non-zero priority may be read without blocking. POLLPRI High priority data may be read without blocking. POLLOUT Normal data may be written without blocking. POLLWRNORM Equivalent to POLLOUT. POLLWRBAND Data with a non-zero priority may be written without blocking. POLLERR An exceptional condition has occurred on the device or socket. This flag is always checked, even if not present in the events bitmask. POLLHUP The device or socket has been disconnected. This flag is always checked, even if not present in the events bitmask. Note that POLLHUP and POLLOUT should never be present in the revents bitmask at the same time. If the remote end of a socket is closed, poll() returns a POLLIN event, rather than a POLLHUP. POLLNVAL The file descriptor is not open. This flag is always checked, even if not present in the events bitmask. If timeout is neither zero nor INFTIM (-1), it specifies a maximum interval to wait for any file descriptor to become ready, in milliseconds. If timeout is INFTIM (-1), the poll blocks indefinitely. If timeout is zero, then poll() will return without blocking. If ts is a non-null pointer, it references a timespec structure which specifies a maximum interval to wait for any file descriptor to become ready. If ts is a null pointer, pollts() blocks indefinitely. If ts is a non-null pointer, referencing a zero-valued timespec structure, then pollts() will return without blocking. If sigmask is a non-null pointer, then the pollts() function shall replace the signal mask of the caller by the set of signals pointed to by sigmask before examining the descriptors, and shall restore the signal mask of the caller before returning. RETURN VALUES
poll() returns the number of descriptors that are ready for I/O, or -1 if an error occurred. If the time limit expires, poll() returns 0. If poll() returns with an error, including one due to an interrupted call, the fds array will be unmodified. COMPATIBILITY
This implementation differs from the historical one in that a given file descriptor may not cause poll() to return with an error. In cases where this would have happened in the historical implementation (e.g. trying to poll a revoke(2)d descriptor), this implementation instead copies the events bitmask to the revents bitmask. Attempting to perform I/O on this descriptor will then return an error. This behaviour is believed to be more useful. ERRORS
An error return from poll() indicates: [EFAULT] fds points outside the process's allocated address space. [EINTR] A signal was delivered before the time limit expired and before any of the selected events occurred. [EINVAL] The specified time limit is negative. SEE ALSO
accept(2), connect(2), read(2), recv(2), select(2), send(2), write(2) HISTORY
The poll() function appeared in AT&T System V Release 3 UNIX. The pollts() function first appeared in NetBSD 3.0. BUGS
The distinction between some of the fields in the events and revents bitmasks is really not useful without STREAMS. The fields are defined for compatibility with existing software. BSD
September 8, 2006 BSD