bsd man page for close

CLOSE(2)							System Calls Manual							  CLOSE(2)

NAME
       close - delete a descriptor

SYNOPSIS
       close(d)
       int d;

DESCRIPTION
       The  close  call deletes a descriptor from the per-process object reference table.  If this is the last reference to the underlying object,
       then it will be deactivated.  For example, on the last close of a file the current seek pointer associated with the file is  lost;  on  the
       last close of a socket(2) associated naming information and queued data are discarded; on the last close of a file holding an advisory lock
       the lock is released (see further flock(2)).

       A close of all of a process's descriptors is automatic on exit, but since there is a limit on the number of active descriptors per process,
       close is necessary for programs that deal with many descriptors.

       When  a	process forks (see fork(2)), all descriptors for the new child process reference the same objects as they did in the parent before
       the fork.  If a new process is then to be run using execve(2), the process would normally inherit these descriptors.  Most of the  descrip-
       tors  can  be  rearranged with dup2(2) or deleted with close before the execve is attempted, but if some of these descriptors will still be
       needed if the execve fails, it is necessary to arrange for them to be closed if the execve succeeds.  For this reason, the call	``fcntl(d,
       F_SETFD,  1)''  is  provided,  which arranges that a descriptor will be closed after a successful execve; the call ``fcntl(d, F_SETFD, 0)''
       restores the default, which is to not close the descriptor.

RETURN VALUE
       Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.  Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and the global integer variable errno is set to
       indicate the error.

ERRORS
       Close will fail if:

       [EBADF]	      D is not an active descriptor.

SEE ALSO
       accept(2), flock(2), open(2), pipe(2), socket(2), socketpair(2), execve(2), fcntl(2)

4th Berkeley Distribution					   May 22, 1986 							  CLOSE(2)