PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | EXAMPLES | APPLICATION USAGE | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT

DBM_CLEARERR(3P)          POSIX Programmer's Manual         DBM_CLEARERR(3P)

PROLOG         top

       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
       corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or
       the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME         top

       dbm_clearerr, dbm_close, dbm_delete, dbm_error, dbm_fetch,
       dbm_firstkey, dbm_nextkey, dbm_open, dbm_store — database functions

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <ndbm.h>
       int dbm_clearerr(DBM *db);
       void dbm_close(DBM *db);
       int dbm_delete(DBM *db, datum key);
       int dbm_error(DBM *db);
       datum dbm_fetch(DBM *db, datum key);
       datum dbm_firstkey(DBM *db);
       datum dbm_nextkey(DBM *db);
       DBM *dbm_open(const char *file, int open_flags, mode_t file_mode);
       int dbm_store(DBM *db, datum key, datum content, int store_mode);

DESCRIPTION         top

       These functions create, access, and modify a database.
       A datum consists of at least two members, dptr and dsize.  The dptr
       member points to an object that is dsize bytes in length. Arbitrary
       binary data, as well as character strings, may be stored in the
       object pointed to by dptr.
       A database shall be stored in one or two files. When one file is
       used, the name of the database file shall be formed by appending the
       suffix .db to the file argument given to dbm_open().  When two files
       are used, the names of the database files shall be formed by
       appending the suffixes .dir and .pag respectively to the file
       argument.
       The dbm_open() function shall open a database. The file argument to
       the function is the pathname of the database. The open_flags argument
       has the same meaning as the flags argument of open() except that a
       database opened for write-only access opens the files for read and
       write access and the behavior of the O_APPEND flag is unspecified.
       The file_mode argument has the same meaning as the third argument of
       open().
       The dbm_open() function need not accept pathnames longer than
       {PATH_MAX}−4 bytes (including the terminating null), or pathnames
       with a last component longer than {NAME_MAX}−4 bytes (excluding the
       terminating null).
       The dbm_close() function shall close a database. The application
       shall ensure that argument db is a pointer to a dbm structure that
       has been returned from a call to dbm_open().
       These database functions shall support an internal block size large
       enough to support key/content pairs of at least 1023 bytes.
       The dbm_fetch() function shall read a record from a database. The
       argument db is a pointer to a database structure that has been
       returned from a call to dbm_open().  The argument key is a datum that
       has been initialized by the application to the value of the key that
       matches the key of the record the program is fetching.
       The dbm_store() function shall write a record to a database. The
       argument db is a pointer to a database structure that has been
       returned from a call to dbm_open().  The argument key is a datum that
       has been initialized by the application to the value of the key that
       identifies (for subsequent reading, writing, or deleting) the record
       the application is writing. The argument content is a datum that has
       been initialized by the application to the value of the record the
       program is writing. The argument store_mode controls whether
       dbm_store() replaces any pre-existing record that has the same key
       that is specified by the key argument. The application shall set
       store_mode to either DBM_INSERT or DBM_REPLACE. If the database
       contains a record that matches the key argument and store_mode is
       DBM_REPLACE, the existing record shall be replaced with the new
       record. If the database contains a record that matches the key
       argument and store_mode is DBM_INSERT, the existing record shall be
       left unchanged and the new record ignored. If the database does not
       contain a record that matches the key argument and store_mode is
       either DBM_INSERT or DBM_REPLACE, the new record shall be inserted in
       the database.
       If the sum of a key/content pair exceeds the internal block size, the
       result is unspecified. Moreover, the application shall ensure that
       all key/content pairs that hash together fit on a single block. The
       dbm_store() function shall return an error in the event that a disk
       block fills with inseparable data.
       The dbm_delete() function shall delete a record and its key from the
       database. The argument db is a pointer to a database structure that
       has been returned from a call to dbm_open().  The argument key is a
       datum that has been initialized by the application to the value of
       the key that identifies the record the program is deleting.
       The dbm_firstkey() function shall return the first key in the
       database. The argument db is a pointer to a database structure that
       has been returned from a call to dbm_open().
       The dbm_nextkey() function shall return the next key in the database.
       The argument db is a pointer to a database structure that has been
       returned from a call to dbm_open().  The application shall ensure
       that the dbm_firstkey() function is called before calling
       dbm_nextkey().  Subsequent calls to dbm_nextkey() return the next key
       until all of the keys in the database have been returned.
       The dbm_error() function shall return the error condition of the
       database. The argument db is a pointer to a database structure that
       has been returned from a call to dbm_open().
       The dbm_clearerr() function shall clear the error condition of the
       database. The argument db is a pointer to a database structure that
       has been returned from a call to dbm_open().
       The dptr pointers returned by these functions may point into static
       storage that may be changed by subsequent calls.
       These functions need not be thread-safe.

RETURN VALUE         top

       The dbm_store() and dbm_delete() functions shall return 0 when they
       succeed and a negative value when they fail.
       The dbm_store() function shall return 1 if it is called with a flags
       value of DBM_INSERT and the function finds an existing record with
       the same key.
       The dbm_error() function shall return 0 if the error condition is not
       set and return a non-zero value if the error condition is set.
       The return value of dbm_clearerr() is unspecified.
       The dbm_firstkey() and dbm_nextkey() functions shall return a key
       datum.  When the end of the database is reached, the dptr member of
       the key is a null pointer. If an error is detected, the dptr member
       of the key shall be a null pointer and the error condition of the
       database shall be set.
       The dbm_fetch() function shall return a content datum.  If no record
       in the database matches the key or if an error condition has been
       detected in the database, the dptr member of the content shall be a
       null pointer.
       The dbm_open() function shall return a pointer to a database
       structure. If an error is detected during the operation, dbm_open()
       shall return a (DBM *)0.

ERRORS         top

       No errors are defined.
       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES         top

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE         top

       The following code can be used to traverse the database:
           for(key = dbm_firstkey(db); key.dptr != NULL; key = dbm_nextkey(db))
       The dbm_* functions provided in this library should not be confused
       in any way with those of a general-purpose database management
       system. These functions do not provide for multiple search keys per
       entry, they do not protect against multi-user access (in other words
       they do not lock records or files), and they do not provide the many
       other useful database functions that are found in more robust
       database management systems. Creating and updating databases by use
       of these functions is relatively slow because of data copies that
       occur upon hash collisions. These functions are useful for
       applications requiring fast lookup of relatively static information
       that is to be indexed by a single key.
       Note that a strictly conforming application is extremely limited by
       these functions: since there is no way to determine that the keys in
       use do not all hash to the same value (although that would be rare),
       a strictly conforming application cannot be guaranteed that it can
       store more than one block's worth of data in the database. As long as
       a key collision does not occur, additional data may be stored, but
       because there is no way to determine whether an error is due to a key
       collision or some other error condition (dbm_error() being
       effectively a Boolean), once an error is detected, the application is
       effectively limited to guessing what the error might be if it wishes
       to continue using these functions.
       The dbm_delete() function need not physically reclaim file space,
       although it does make it available for reuse by the database.
       After calling dbm_store() or dbm_delete() during a pass through the
       keys by dbm_firstkey() and dbm_nextkey(), the application should
       reset the database by calling dbm_firstkey() before again calling
       dbm_nextkey().  The contents of these files are unspecified and may
       not be portable.
       Applications should take care that database pathname arguments
       specified to dbm_open() are not prefixes of unrelated files. This
       might be done, for example, by placing databases in a separate
       directory.
       Since some implementations use three characters for a suffix and
       others use four characters for a suffix, applications should ensure
       that the maximum portable pathname length passed to dbm_open() is no
       greater than {PATH_MAX}−4 bytes, with the last component of the
       pathname no greater than {NAME_MAX}−4 bytes.

RATIONALE         top

       Previously the standard required the database to be stored in two
       files, one file being a directory containing a bitmap of keys and
       having .dir as its suffix. The second file containing all data and
       having .pag as its suffix. This has been changed not to specify the
       use of the files and to allow newer implementations of the Berkeley
       DB interface using a single file that have evolved while remaining
       compatible with the application programming interface. The standard
       developers considered removing the specific suffixes altogether but
       decided to retain them so as not to pollute the application file name
       space more than necessary and to allow for portable backups of the
       database.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS         top

       None.

SEE ALSO         top

       open(3p)
       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, ndbm.h(0p)

COPYRIGHT         top

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information
       Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open
       Group Base Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the
       Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open
       Group.  (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1
       applied.) In the event of any discrepancy between this version and
       the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and
       The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original
       Standard can be obtained online at http://www.unix.org/online.html .
       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the
       source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group                 2013                    DBM_CLEARERR(3P)

Pages that refer to this page: ndbm.h(0p)