dirfd (3)

#include <sys/types.h>

#include <dirent.h>

int dirfd(DIR *dirp);

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

dirfd():

_BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE

|| /* Since glibc 2.10: */

(_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700)

The function dirfd() returns the file descriptor associated with the directory stream dirp.

This descriptor is the one used internally by the directory stream. As a result, it is useful only for functions which do not depend on or alter the file position, such as fstat(2) and fchdir(2). It will be automatically closed when closedir(3) is called.

On success, a nonnegative file descriptor is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the cause of the error.

POSIX.1-2008 specifies two errors, neither of which is returned by the current implementation.

EINVAL

dirp does not refer to a valid directory stream.

ENOTSUP

The implementation does not support the association of a file descriptor with a directory.

Multithreading (see pthreads(7))

The dirfd() function is thread-safe.

POSIX.1-2008. This function was a BSD extension, present in 4.3BSD-Reno, not in 4.2BSD.

The prototype for dirfd() is available only if _BSD_SOURCE or _SVID_SOURCE is defined.

open(2), closedir(3), opendir(3), readdir(3), rewinddir(3), scandir(3), seekdir(3), telldir(3)

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