MKFIFO
Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 2021-03-22
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NAME
mkfifo, mkfifoat - make a FIFO special file (a named pipe)
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
int mkfifo(const char *pathname, mode_t mode);
#include <fcntl.h> /* Definition of AT_* constants */
#include <sys/stat.h>
int mkfifoat(int dirfd, const char *pathname, mode_t mode);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see
feature_test_macros(7)):
mkfifoat():
Since glibc 2.10:
_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
Before glibc 2.10:
_ATFILE_SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
mkfifo()
makes a FIFO special file with name pathname.
mode specifies the FIFO's permissions.
It is modified by the
process's umask in the usual way: the permissions of the created
file are (mode & ~umask).
A FIFO special file is similar to a pipe, except that it is created
in a different way.
Instead of being an anonymous communications
channel, a FIFO special file is entered into the filesystem by
calling
mkfifo().
Once you have created a FIFO special file in this way, any process can
open it for reading or writing, in the same way as an ordinary file.
However, it has to be open at both ends simultaneously before you can
proceed to do any input or output operations on it.
Opening a FIFO for reading normally blocks until some
other process opens the same FIFO for writing, and vice versa.
See
fifo(7)
for nonblocking handling of FIFO special files.
mkfifoat()
The
mkfifoat()
function operates in exactly the same way as
mkfifo(),
except for the differences described here.
If the pathname given in
pathname
is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory
referred to by the file descriptor
dirfd
(rather than relative to the current working directory of
the calling process, as is done by
mkfifo()
for a relative pathname).
If
pathname
is relative and
dirfd
is the special value
AT_FDCWD,
then
pathname
is interpreted relative to the current working
directory of the calling process (like
mkfifo()).
If
pathname
is absolute, then
dirfd
is ignored.
RETURN VALUE
On success
mkfifo()
and
mkfifoat()
return 0.
On error, -1 is returned and
errno
is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
- EACCES
-
One of the directories in pathname did not allow search
(execute) permission.
- EDQUOT
-
The user's quota of disk blocks or inodes on the filesystem has been
exhausted.
- EEXIST
-
pathname already exists.
This includes the case where
pathname
is a symbolic link, dangling or not.
- ENAMETOOLONG
-
Either the total length of pathname is greater than
PATH_MAX, or an individual filename component has a length
greater than NAME_MAX.
In the GNU system, there is no imposed
limit on overall filename length, but some filesystems may place
limits on the length of a component.
- ENOENT
-
A directory component in pathname does not exist or is a
dangling symbolic link.
- ENOSPC
-
The directory or filesystem has no room for the new file.
- ENOTDIR
-
A component used as a directory in pathname is not, in fact, a
directory.
- EROFS
-
pathname refers to a read-only filesystem.
The following additional errors can occur for
mkfifoat():
- EBADF
-
dirfd
is not a valid file descriptor.
- ENOTDIR
-
pathname
is a relative path and
dirfd
is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory.
VERSIONS
mkfifoat()
was added to glibc in version 2.4.
It is implemented using
mknodat(2),
available on Linux since kernel 2.6.16.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
attributes(7).
Interface | Attribute | Value
|
mkfifo(),
mkfifoat()
| Thread safety | MT-Safe
|
CONFORMING TO
mkfifo():
POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.
mkfifoat():
POSIX.1-2008.
SEE ALSO
mkfifo(1),
close(2),
open(2),
read(2),
stat(2),
umask(2),
write(2),
fifo(7)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 5.11 of the Linux
man-pages
project.
A description of the project,
information about reporting bugs,
and the latest version of this page,
can be found at
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- mkfifoat()
-
- RETURN VALUE
-
- ERRORS
-
- VERSIONS
-
- ATTRIBUTES
-
- CONFORMING TO
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- COLOPHON
-
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Time: 06:22:44 GMT, May 09, 2021