pipe(2)                                                   pipe(2)



NAME
     pipe - creates an interprocess channel

SYNOPSIS
     int pipe(fildes)
     int fildes[2];

DESCRIPTION
     pipe creates an I/O mechanism called a pipe and returns two
     file descriptors, fildes[0] and fildes[1].  fildes[0] is
     opened for reading and fildes[1] is opened for writing.

     Up to PIPE_MAX bytes of data are buffered by the pipe before
     the writing process is blocked.  A read only file descriptor
     fildes[0] accesses the data written to fildes[1] on a
     first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis.

STATUS MESSAGES AND VALUES
     Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.
     Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to
     indicate the error.

     The pipe command will fail if one or more of the following
     is true:

     EMFILE
          pipe will fail if the per-process open file limit would
          be exceeded.

     ENFILE
          The system file table is full.

SEE ALSO
     read(2), write(2)





















January 1992                                                    1