opensolaris man page for dirfd

dirfd(3C)						   Standard C Library Functions 						 dirfd(3C)

NAME
       dirfd - get directory stream file descriptor

SYNOPSIS
       #include <dirent.h>

       int dirfd(DIR *dir);

DESCRIPTION
       The dirfd() function returns the file descriptor associated with the directory stream dir.

       This  file  descriptor  is  the one used internally by the directory stream operations. See opendir(3C), closedir(3C), readdir(3C), rewind-
       dir(3C), seekdir(3C), telldir(3C).  The file descriptor is automatically closed when closedir() is called for the directory stream  dir	or
       when one of the exec functions is called.  See exec(2).

       The  file descriptor can safely be used only by functions that do not depend on or alter the file position, such as fstat(2) and fchdir(2).
       Closing the file descriptor with close(2) or modifying the file position by means other than the directory stream operations  listed  above
       causes undefined behavior to occur when one of the directory stream operations is subsequently called with the directory stream dir.

RETURN VALUES
       Upon  successful  completion,  the  dirfd() function returns an open file descriptor for the directory associated with the directory stream
       dir.

ERRORS
       There are no defined error returns.  Passing an invalid directory stream as an argument to the dirfd() function results in undefined behav-
       ior.

USAGE
       The dirfd() function is intended to be used to obtain a file descriptor for use with the fchdir() function.

ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Committed 		   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |MT-Level		     |Safe			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO
       close(2), exec(2), fchdir(2), fstat(2), closedir(3C), opendir(3C), readdir(3C), rewinddir(3C), seekdir(3C), telldir(3C), attributes(5)

SunOS 5.11							    24 Oct 2007 							 dirfd(3C)