osf1 man page for getdirentries

getdirentries(2)						System Calls Manual						  getdirentries(2)

NAME
       getdirentries - Gets directory entries in a file-system independent format.

SYNOPSIS
       #include <dirent.h>

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

PARAMETERS
       Specifies the file descriptor of a directory to be read.  Points to a buffer containing the directory entries as dirent structures.  Speci-
       fies the maximum amount of data to be transferred, in bytes.  Points to the position of the block read.

DESCRIPTION
       The getdirentries() function reads directory entries from a directory into a buffer.  The entries are  returned	as  dirent  structures,  a
       file-system  independent  format.   This  call  is  not	the POSIX-defined way to process directory entries.  For POSIX interfaces, use the
       opendir(3),readdir(3), and closedir(3) library calls for reading and interpreting directory entries.

       The nbytes parameter should be greater than or equal to the block size associated with the file.  (See stat(2).)  Some file systems do  not
       support the getdirentries() function with buffers smaller than this size.

       The entries returned by the getdirentries() function into the location pointed to by buf can be separated by extra space.

       The getdirentries() function writes the position of the block read into the location pointed to by the basep parameter.	Alternatively, the
       current position pointer can be set and retrieved by lseek().  The current position pointer should only be  set	to  a  value  returned	by
       lseek(), a value returned in the location pointed to by basep, or 0 (zero).

       Upon  successful  completion,  the  actual  number of bytes transferred is returned and the current position pointer associated with the fd
       parameter is set to point to the next block of entries.	The file descriptor pointer might not advance by the same number of bytes returned
       by the getdirentries() function.  A value of 0 (zero) is returned when the end of the directory has been reached.

RETURN VALUES
       Upon successful completion, the actual number of bytes transferred is returned.	Otherwise, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the
       error.

ERRORS
       If the getdirentries() function fails, errno is set to one of the following values: The fd parameter is not a valid  file  descriptor  open
       for  reading.   Either  the buf or basep parameter points outside the allocated address space.  Either the fd parameter is not a valid file
       descriptor for a directory or the buffer is too small.  An I/O error occurred while the operating system was reading from or writing to the
       file system.

RELATED INFORMATION
       Functions: open(2), lseek(2) delim off

																  getdirentries(2)