Doubt with fork() system call


 
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# 1  
Old 11-29-2011
Doubt with fork() system call

Hi
I wrote a simple fork program to illustrate the fork() system cal. here it is
Code:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<sys/stat.h>
#include<sys/types.h>
main()
{
    int flag;
    flag=fork();
    if(flag==0)
    {
        printf("Child \n");    
        printf("Process id= %d\n",getpid());
        printf("Parent id= %d\n",getppid());
    }
    if(flag==-1)
        printf("Error!!!");
    else
    {
        printf("Parent\n");
        printf("Process id= %d\n",getpid());
        printf("Parent id= %d\n",getppid());
        printf("value of flag=%d\n",flag);
    }
}

i got the following output
Code:
Parent
Process id= 2332
Parent id= 1855
value of flag=2333
Child 
Process id= 2333
Parent id= 1
Parent
Process id= 2333
Parent id= 1
value of flag=0

i understood the first part i.e parent part,but how the parent id of child becomes 1?? and again how the parent process is called??

Moderator's Comments:
Mod Comment Please use code tags!

Last edited by vbe; 11-29-2011 at 02:19 PM..
# 2  
Old 11-29-2011
They are printing simultaneously. The lines are getting mixed up between each other, probably.

You should wait() for the child in the parent, letting the child print first, before you print anything in the parent.
# 3  
Old 11-30-2011
The final else part in your code will execute for the condition, when flag is not equal to -1, so this code is executed for the two conditions like when flag value is zero and when the flag value is pid of child.
In order to avoid this ...
Code:
main()
{
      int flag;
      flag = fork();

      if( flag == -1 ) // ERROR
      {
            //Error Message
      }
      if ( flag == 0 ) // Child
      {
           //Do child stuff
      }
      if( flag > 0 )
      {
         //Do parent stuff
      }

}

Moderator's Comments:
Mod Comment Please use code tags!

Last edited by zaxxon; 11-30-2011 at 09:27 AM.. Reason: more fine code. zaxxon: code tags
# 4  
Old 11-30-2011
You get 1 as the child's parent ID because the parent is terminating before the child prints any output - leaving the child as an orphan process to be adopted by init.
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