SLEEP(3C)                            SysV                            SLEEP(3C)



NAME
     sleep - suspend execution for interval

SYNOPSIS
     unsigned sleep (seconds)
     unsigned seconds;

DESCRIPTION
     The current process is suspended from execution for the number of seconds
     specified by the argument.  The actual suspension time may be less than
     that requested for two reasons: (1) Because scheduled wakeups occur at
     fixed 1-second intervals, (on the second, according to an internal clock)
     and (2) because any caught signal will terminate the sleep following
     execution of that signal's catching routine.  Also, the suspension time
     may be longer than requested by an arbitrary amount due to the scheduling
     of other activity in the system.  The value returned by sleep will be the
     "unslept" amount (the requested time minus the time actually slept) in
     case the caller had an alarm set to go off earlier than the end of the
     requested sleep time, or premature arousal due to another caught signal.

     The sleep function causes the current process to be suspended from
     execution until either at least the specified number of real time seconds
     specified by the argument seconds have elapsed or a signal is delivered
     to the calling process and its action is to invoke a signal handling
     function or to terminate the process. The suspension time may be longer
     than requested due to the scheduling of other activity in the system.

DIAGNOSTICS
     If the sleep() function returns because the requested time has elapsed, 0
     (zero) is returned.  If the sleep() function returns because a signal was
     caught, the amount of time still remaining to be "slept" is returned.

SEE ALSO
     alarm(2), pause(2), signal(2).