| _PC_LINK_MAX | The maximum number of links to the file. If fd or path refer to a directory, then the value applies to the whole directory. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_LINK_MAX. |
| _PC_MAX_CANON | The maximum length of a formatted input line, where fd or path must refer to a terminal. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_MAX_CANON. |
| _PC_MAX_INPUT | The maximum length of an input line, where fd or path must refer to a terminal. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_MAX_INPUT. |
| _PC_NAME_MAX | The maximum length of a filename in the directory path or fd that the process is allowed to create. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_NAME_MAX. |
| _PC_PATH_MAX | The maximum length of a relative pathname when path or fd is the current working directory. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_PATH_MAX. |
| _PC_PIPE_BUF | The maximum number of bytes that can be written atomically to a pipe of FIFO. For fpathconf(), fd should refer to a pipe or FIFO. For fpathconf(), path should refer to a FIFO or a directory; in the latter case, the returned value corresponds to FIFOs created in that directory. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_PIPE_BUF. |
| _PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED | This returns a positive value if the use of chown(2) and fchown(2) for changing a file's user ID is restricted to a process with appropriate privileges, and changing a file's group ID to a value other than the process's effective group ID or one of its supplementary group IDs is restricted to a process with appropriate privileges. According to POSIX.1, this variable shall always be defined with a value other than -1. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED. |
| _PC_NO_TRUNC | This returns nonzero if accessing filenames longer than _POSIX_NAME_MAX generates an error. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_NO_TRUNC. |
| _PC_VDISABLE | This returns nonzero if special character processing can be disabled, where fd or path must refer to a terminal. |
| • | On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error (for example, EINVAL, indicating that name is invalid). |
| • | If name corresponds to a maximum or minimum limit, and that limit is indeterminate, -1 is returned and errno is not changed. (To distinguish an indeterminate limit from an error, set errno to zero before the call, and then check whether errno is nonzero when -1 is returned.) |
| • | If name corresponds to an option, a positive value is returned if the option is supported, and -1 is returned if the option is not supported. |
| • | Otherwise, the current value of the option or limit is returned. This value will not be more restrictive than the corresponding value that was described to the application in <unistd.h> or <limits.h> when the application was compiled. |
| EACCES | (pathconf()) Search permission is denied for one of the directories in the path prefix of path. |
| EBADF | (fpathconf()) fd is not a valid file descriptor. |
| EINVAL | name is invalid. |
| EINVAL | The implementation does not support an association of name with the specified file. |
| ELOOP | (pathconf()) Too many symbolic links were encountered while resolving path. |
| ENAMETOOLONG | (pathconf()) path is too long. |
| ENOENT | (pathconf()) A component of path does not exist, or path is an empty string. |
| ENOTDIR | (pathconf()) A component used as a directory in path is not in fact a directory. |
NAME
fpathconf, pathconf - get configuration values for files
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>long fpathconf(int \nfd\n, int \nname\n);\n
\nlong pathconf(const char *\npath\n, int \nname\n);DESCRIPTION
fpathconf() gets a value for the configuration option name for the open file descriptor fd.
pathconf() gets a value for configuration option name for the filename path.
The corresponding macros defined in <unistd.h> are minimum values; if an application wants to take advantage of values which may change, a call to fpathconf() or pathconf() can be made, which may yield more liberal results.
Setting name equal to one of the following constants returns the following configuration options:
- _PC_LINK_MAX
The maximum number of links to the file. If fd or path refer to a directory, then the value applies to the whole directory. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_LINK_MAX.
- _PC_MAX_CANON
The maximum length of a formatted input line, where fd or path must refer to a terminal. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_MAX_CANON.
- _PC_MAX_INPUT
The maximum length of an input line, where fd or path must refer to a terminal. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_MAX_INPUT.
- _PC_NAME_MAX
The maximum length of a filename in the directory path or fd that the process is allowed to create. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_NAME_MAX.
- _PC_PATH_MAX
The maximum length of a relative pathname when path or fd is the current working directory. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_PATH_MAX.
- _PC_PIPE_BUF
The maximum number of bytes that can be written atomically to a pipe of FIFO. For fpathconf(), fd should refer to a pipe or FIFO. For fpathconf(), path should refer to a FIFO or a directory; in the latter case, the returned value corresponds to FIFOs created in that directory. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_PIPE_BUF.
- _PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED
This returns a positive value if the use of chown(2) and fchown(2) for changing a file's user ID is restricted to a process with appropriate privileges, and changing a file's group ID to a value other than the process's effective group ID or one of its supplementary group IDs is restricted to a process with appropriate privileges. According to POSIX.1, this variable shall always be defined with a value other than -1. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED.
If fd or path refers to a directory, then the return value applies to all files in that directory.
- _PC_NO_TRUNC
This returns nonzero if accessing filenames longer than _POSIX_NAME_MAX generates an error. The corresponding macro is _POSIX_NO_TRUNC.
- _PC_VDISABLE
This returns nonzero if special character processing can be disabled, where fd or path must refer to a terminal.
RETURN VALUE
The return value of these functions is one of the following:
- •
On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error (for example, EINVAL, indicating that name is invalid).
- •
If name corresponds to a maximum or minimum limit, and that limit is indeterminate, -1 is returned and errno is not changed. (To distinguish an indeterminate limit from an error, set errno to zero before the call, and then check whether errno is nonzero when -1 is returned.)
- •
If name corresponds to an option, a positive value is returned if the option is supported, and -1 is returned if the option is not supported.
- •
Otherwise, the current value of the option or limit is returned. This value will not be more restrictive than the corresponding value that was described to the application in <unistd.h> or <limits.h> when the application was compiled.
ERRORS
- EACCES
(pathconf()) Search permission is denied for one of the directories in the path prefix of path.
- EBADF
(fpathconf()) fd is not a valid file descriptor.
- EINVAL
name is invalid.
- EINVAL
The implementation does not support an association of name with the specified file.
- ELOOP
(pathconf()) Too many symbolic links were encountered while resolving path.
- ENAMETOOLONG
(pathconf()) path is too long.
- ENOENT
(pathconf()) A component of path does not exist, or path is an empty string.
- ENOTDIR
(pathconf()) A component used as a directory in path is not in fact a directory.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
| Interface | Attribute | Value |
| fpathconf (), pathconf () | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
STANDARDS
POSIX.1-2008.
HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001.
NOTES
Files with name lengths longer than the value returned for name equal to _PC_NAME_MAX may exist in the given directory.
Some returned values may be huge; they are not suitable for allocating memory.
SEE ALSO
getconf(1), open(2), statfs(2), confstr(3), sysconf(3)