READ(2) BSD System Calls Manual READ(2)
NAME
read, readv, pread, preadv -- read input
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
ssize_t
read(int fd, void *buf, size_t nbytes);
ssize_t
pread(int fd, void *buf, size_t nbytes, off_t offset);
#include <sys/uio.h>
ssize_t
readv(int fd, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt);
ssize_t
preadv(int fd, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt, off_t offset);
DESCRIPTION
The read() system call attempts to read nbytes of data from the object referenced by the descriptor fd into the buffer pointed to by buf.
The readv() system call performs the same action, but scatters the input data into the iovcnt buffers specified by the members of the iov
array: iov[0], iov[1], ..., iov[iovcnt-1]. The pread() and preadv() system calls perform the same functions, but read from the specified
position in the file without modifying the file pointer.
For readv() and preadv(), the iovec structure is defined as:
struct iovec {
void *iov_base; /* Base address. */
size_t iov_len; /* Length. */
};
Each iovec entry specifies the base address and length of an area in memory where data should be placed. The readv() system call will always
fill an area completely before proceeding to the next.
On objects capable of seeking, the read() starts at a position given by the pointer associated with fd (see lseek(2)). Upon return from
read(), the pointer is incremented by the number of bytes actually read.
Objects that are not capable of seeking always read from the current position. The value of the pointer associated with such an object is
undefined.
Upon successful completion, read(), readv(), pread() and preadv() return the number of bytes actually read and placed in the buffer. The
system guarantees to read the number of bytes requested if the descriptor references a normal file that has that many bytes left before the
end-of-file, but in no other case.
RETURN VALUES
If successful, the number of bytes actually read is returned. Upon reading end-of-file, zero is returned. Otherwise, a -1 is returned and
the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The read(), readv(), pread() and preadv() system calls will succeed unless:
[EBADF] The fd argument is not a valid file or socket descriptor open for reading.
[ECONNRESET] The fd argument refers to a socket, and the remote socket end is forcibly closed.
[EFAULT] The buf argument points outside the allocated address space.
[EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from the file system.
[EBUSY] Failed to read from a file, e.g. /proc/<pid>/regs while <pid> is not stopped
[EINTR] A read from a slow device (i.e. one that might block for an arbitrary amount of time) was interrupted by the delivery of a
signal before any data arrived.
[EINVAL] The pointer associated with fd was negative.
[EAGAIN] The file was marked for non-blocking I/O, and no data were ready to be read.
[EISDIR] The file descriptor is associated with a directory residing on a file system that does not allow regular read operations
on directories (e.g. NFS).
[EOPNOTSUPP] The file descriptor is associated with a file system and file type that do not allow regular read operations on it.
[EOVERFLOW] The file descriptor is associated with a regular file, nbytes is greater than 0, offset is before the end-of-file, and
offset is greater than or equal to the offset maximum established for this file system.
[EINVAL] The value nbytes is greater than INT_MAX.
In addition, readv() and preadv() may return one of the following errors:
[EINVAL] The iovcnt argument was less than or equal to 0, or greater than IOV_MAX.
[EINVAL] One of the iov_len values in the iov array was negative.
[EINVAL] The sum of the iov_len values in the iov array overflowed a 32-bit integer.
[EFAULT] Part of the iov array points outside the process's allocated address space.
The pread() and preadv() system calls may also return the following errors:
[EINVAL] The offset value was negative.
[ESPIPE] The file descriptor is associated with a pipe, socket, or FIFO.
SEE ALSO
dup(2), fcntl(2), getdirentries(2), open(2), pipe(2), select(2), socket(2), socketpair(2), fread(3), readdir(3)
STANDARDS
The read() system call is expected to conform to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (``POSIX.1''). The readv() and pread() system calls are expected to
conform to X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2 (``XPG4.2'').
HISTORY
The preadv() system call appeared in FreeBSD 6.0. The pread() function appeared in AT&T System V Release 4 UNIX. The readv() system call
appeared in 4.2BSD. The read() function appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
BSD
September 11, 2013 BSD