close(2)                                                 close(2)



     NAME
          close - close a file descriptor

     SYNOPSIS
          int close(fildes)
          int fildes;

     DESCRIPTION
          close closes the file descriptor indicated by fildes.  All
          outstanding record locks owned by the process (on the file
          indicated by fildes) are removed.

          The argument fildes is a file descriptor obtained from a
          creat, open, dup, fcntl, pipe, or socket system call.  A
          close system call is automatically performed on all open
          files are part of exit . There is a small, finite limit on
          the number of open files per process (OPEN_MAX), so close is
          necessary for programs that deal with many files.

          When all file descriptors associated with a pipe or FIFO
          special file have been closed, any data remaining in the
          pipe or FIFO is discarded.  When all file descriptors asso-
          ciated with an open file description have been closed, the
          file description is freed. If the link count of the file is
          0 when all the file descriptors associated with the file
          have been closed, the space occupied by the file is freed
          and the file is no longer accessible.

     RETURN VALUE
          Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.  Oth-
          erwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indi-
          cate the error.

     ERRORS
          close will fail if one or both of the following are true:

          [EBADF]The argument fildes is not a valid open file descrip-
                 tor.

          [EINTR]close was interrupted by a signal.

     SEE ALSO
          creat(2), dup(2), exec(2), fcntl(2), open(2), pipe(2),
          socket(2N).











     April, 1990                                                     1