open(S)

open -- open for reading or writing

Syntax

cc  . . .  -lc

#include  <fcntl.h>

int open (const char *path, int oflag, ... );

Description

path points to a path name naming a file. The open system call opens a file descriptor for the named file and sets the file status flags according to the value of oflag. For non-STREAMS files, oflag values are constructed by OR-ing flags from the following list (only one of the first three flags below can be used):

O_RDONLY

Open for reading only.

O_WRONLY

Open for writing only.

O_RDWR

Open for reading and writing.

O_APPEND

If set, the file pointer is set to the end of the file prior to each write.

O_CREAT

If the file exists, this flag has no effect. Otherwise, the user ID of the file is set to the effective user ID of the process; the group ID of the file is set to the effective group ID of the process or to the group ID of the file's parent directory; and the low-order 12 bits of the file mode are set to the value of mode, modified as follows (see creat(S)):

All bits set in the file mode creation mask of the process are cleared (see umask(S)).
The ``save text image after execution bit'' of the mode is cleared (see chmod(S)).

O_EXCL

Causes open to fail if the file exists. This can only be used if O_CREAT is also set.

O_NOCTTY

If this flag is set and path identifies a terminal, then that terminal is prevented from becoming the controlling terminal for the process

O_SYNC

When opening a regular file, this flag affects subsequent writes. If set, each write(S) waits for both the file data and file status to be physically updated.

O_TRUNC

If the file exists, is a regular file, and is opened for writing, its length is truncated to 0. The mode, owner and group are left unchanged. It has no effect on FIFO special files or directories.

O_NONBLOCK

This flag may affect subsequent reads and writes (see read(S) and write(S)).

When opening a FIFO with O_RDONLY or O_WRONLY set:

If O_NONBLOCK is set:: An open for reading only returns without delay. An open for writing only returns an error if no process currently has the file open for reading.
If O_NONBLOCK is not set:: An open for reading only will block until a process opens the file for writing. An open for writing only blocks until a process opens the file for reading.

When opening a file associated with a communication line:

If O_NONBLOCK is set:

The open returns without waiting for carrier.

If O_NONBLOCK is not set:

The open blocks until carrier is present.

When opening a STREAMS file, oflag may be constructed from O_NONBLOCK or-ed with either O_RDONLY, O_WRONLY or O_RDWR. Other flag values are not applicable to STREAMS devices and have no effect on them. The value of O_NONBLOCK affects the operation of STREAMS drivers and certain system calls (see read(S), getmsg(S), putmsg(S), and write(S)). For drivers, the implementation of O_NONBLOCK is device-specific. Each STREAMS device driver may treat this option differently.

Certain flag values can be set following open as described in fcntl(S).

The file pointer used to mark the current position within the file is set to the beginning of the file.

The new file descriptor is set to remain open across exec system calls (see fcntl(S)).

The named file is opened unless one or more of the following is true:

[EACCES]

A component of the path prefix denies search permission.
oflag permission is denied for the named file.
The file does not exist and write permission is not set for the parent directory of the file to be created.
O_TRUNC is specified and write permission is not set for the file.

[EAGAIN]

The file exists, mandatory file/record locking is set, and there are outstanding record locks on the file (see chmod(S)) and O_TRUNC is included in oflag.

[EEXIST]

O_CREAT and O_EXCL are set, and the named file exists.

[EFAULT]

path points outside the allocated address space of the process.

[EINTR]

A signal was caught during the open system call.

[EINVAL]

The value of oflag is not valid.

[EIO]

A hangup or error occurred during a STREAMS open.

[EISDIR]

The named file is a directory and oflag includes O_WRONLY or O_RDWR

[EMFILE]

OPEN_MAX descriptors are open in the current process.

[EMULTIHOP]

Components of path require hopping to multiple remote machines.

[ENAMETOOLONG]

The length of path exceeds PATH_MAX or the length of a pathname component exceeds NAME_MAX while _POSIX_NO_TRUNC is in effect.

[ENFILE]

The system file table is full, SYS_OPEN files are open in the system.

[ENOENT]

O_CREAT is not set and the named file does not exist.
O_CREAT is set and either the path prefix does not exist or the path argument is a null string.

[ENOLINK]

path points to a remote machine, and the link to that machine is no longer active.

[ENOMEM]

The system is unable to allocate a send descriptor.

[ENOSPC]

O_CREAT and O_EXCL are set, and the file system is out of inodes.

[ENOSR]

Unable to allocate a stream.

[ENOTDIR]

A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

[ENXIO]

The named file is a character special or block special file, and the device associated with this special file does not exist.
O_NONBLOCK is set, the named file is a FIFO, O_WRONLY is set, and no process has the file open for reading.
A STREAMS module or driver open routine failed.

[EROFS]

The named file resides on a read-only file system and oflag includes either O_WRONLY, O_RDWR, O_CREAT (if the file does not exist) or O_TRUNC.

[ETXTBSY]

The file is a pure procedure (shared text) file that is being executed and oflag includes either O_WRONLY or O_RDWR.

Limitation

A maximum of three XENIX or UNIX partitions may be opened on a hard disk. Even if any of these are subsequently closed, no more may be opened until reboot.

Diagnostics

Upon successful completion, the file descriptor is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

Standards conformance

open is conformant with: