GETDENTS(2) GETDENTS(2)
NAME
getdents - read directory entries and put in a file system
independent format
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/dirent.h>
int getdents (fildes, buf, nbyte)
int fildes;
char *buf;
unsigned nbyte;
DESCRIPTION
Fildes is a file descriptor obtained from an open(2) or
dup(2) system call.
getdents attempts to read nbyte bytes from the directory
associated with fildes and to format them as file system
independent directory entries in the buffer pointed to by
buf. Since the file system independent directory entries
are of variable length, in most cases the actual number of
bytes returned will be strictly less than nbyte.
The file system independent directory entry is specified by
the dirent structure. For a description of this see
dirent(4).
On devices capable of seeking, getdents starts at a position
in the file given by the file pointer associated with
fildes. Upon return from getdents, the file pointer is
incremented to point to the next directory entry.
This system call was developed in order to implement the
readdir(3X) routine [for a description see directory(3X)],
and should not be used for other purposes.
getdents will fail if one or more of the following are true:
[EBADF] Fildes is not a valid file descriptor open
for reading.
Page 1 May 1989
GETDENTS(2) GETDENTS(2)
[EFAULT] Buf points outside the allocated address
space.
[EINVAL] nbyte is not large enough for one directory
entry.
[ENOENT] The current file pointer for the directory is
not located at a valid entry.
[ENOLINK] Fildes points to a remote machine and the
link to that machine is no longer active.
[ENOTDIR] Fildes is not a directory.
[EIO] An I/O error occurred while accessing the
file system.
SEE ALSO
directory(3X), dirent(4).
DIAGNOSTICS
Upon successful completion a non-negative integer is
returned indicating the number of bytes actually read. A
value of 0 indicates the end of the directory has been
reached. If the system call failed, a -1 is returned and
errno is set to indicate the error.
Page 2 May 1989