Table of Contents

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

The file name specified by is opened for reading and/or writing as specified by the argument and the file descriptor returned to the calling process. The argument may indicate the file is to be created if it does not exist (by specifying the flag), in which case the file is created with mode as described in and modified by the process’ umask value (see The flags specified are formed by the following values O_RDONLY    open for reading only O_WRONLY    open for writing only O_RDWR        open for reading and writing O_NONBLOCK    do not block on open or for data to become available O_APPEND    append on each write O_CREAT        create file if it does not exist O_TRUNC        truncate size to 0 O_EXCL        error if create and file exists O_SHLOCK    atomically obtain a shared lock O_EXLOCK    atomically obtain an exclusive lock Opening a file with set causes each write on the file to be appended to the end. If is specified and the file exists, the file is truncated to zero length. If is set with and the file already exists, returns an error. This may be used to implement a simple exclusive access locking mechanism. If is set and the last component of the pathname is a symbolic link, will fail even if the symbolic link points to a non-existent name. If the flag is specified, do not wait for the device or file to be ready or available. If the call would result in the process being blocked for some reason (e.g., waiting for carrier on a dialup line), returns immediately. This flag also has the effect of making all subsequent I/O on the open file non-blocking. When opening a file, a lock with semantics can be obtained by setting for a shared lock, or for an exclusive lock. If creating a file with the request for the lock will never fail (provided that the underlying filesystem supports locking). If successful, returns a non-negative integer, termed a file descriptor. It returns -1 on failure. The file pointer used to mark the current position within the file is set to the beginning of the file. When a new file is created it is given the group of the directory which contains it. The new descriptor is set to remain open across system calls; see and The system imposes a limit on the number of file descriptors open simultaneously by one process. returns the current system limit.

ERRORS

The named file is opened unless: A component of the path prefix is not a directory. A component of a pathname exceeded characters, or an entire path name exceeded characters. is not set and the named file does not exist. A component of the path name that must exist does not exist. Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix. The required permissions (for reading and/or writing) are denied for the given flags. is specified, the file does not exist, and the directory in which it is to be created does not permit writing. Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname. The named file is a directory, and the arguments specify it is to be opened for writing. The named file resides on a read-only file system, and the file is to be modified. The process has already reached its limit for open file descriptors. The system file table is full. The named file is a character special or block special file, and the device associated with this special file does not exist. The operation was interrupted by a signal. or is specified but the underlying filesystem does not support locking. is specified, the file does not exist, and the directory in which the entry for the new file is being placed cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file system containing the directory. is specified, the file does not exist, and there are no free inodes on the file system on which the file is being created. is specified, the file does not exist, and the directory in which the entry for the new file is being placed cannot be extended because the user’s quota of disk blocks on the file system containing the directory has been exhausted. is specified, the file does not exist, and the user’s quota of inodes on the file system on which the file is being created has been exhausted. An I/O error occurred while making the directory entry or allocating the inode for The file is a pure procedure (shared text) file that is being executed and the call requests write access. points outside the process’s allocated address space. and were specified and the file exists. An attempt was made to open a socket (not currently implemented).

SEE ALSO

HISTORY

An function call appeared in


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