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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 <sys/uio.h> #include <unistd.h> ssize_t read(int d, void *buf, size_t nbytes); ssize_t pread(int d, void *buf, size_t nbytes, off_t offset); ssize_t readv(int d, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt); ssize_t preadv(int d, 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 d 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 mem- ory 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 d (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 po- sition. The value of the pointer associated with such an object is unde- fined. 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 refer- ences 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 read- ing 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 un- less: [EBADF] The d argument is not a valid file or socket descrip- tor open for reading. [ECONNRESET] The d 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 sys- tem. [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 d 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 re- siding 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 opera- tions 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 off- set 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 nega- tive. [EINVAL] The sum of the iov_len values in the iov array over- flowed a 32-bit integer. [EFAULT] Part of the iov array points outside the process's al- located address space. The pread() and preadv() system calls may also return the following er- rors: [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 con- form 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 ap- peared in 4.2BSD. The read() function appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. BSD October 11, 2006 BSD
NAME | LIBRARY | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUES | ERRORS | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY
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