ioctl — control device
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
int
ioctl( |
int | d, |
int | request, | |
...) ; |
The ioctl
() function
manipulates the underlying device parameters of special
files. In particular, many operating characteristics of
character special files (e.g., terminals) may be controlled
with ioctl
() requests. The
argument d
must be an
open file descriptor.
The second argument is a device-dependent request code.
The third argument is an untyped pointer to memory. It's
traditionally char *argp
(from the days before
void * was valid C),
and will be so named for this discussion.
An ioctl
() request
has encoded in it
whether the argument is an in
parameter or out
parameter, and the size
of the argument argp
in bytes. Macros and
defines used in specifying an ioctl
() request
are located in the file
<
sys/ioctl.h
>
Usually, on success zero is returned. A few ioctl
() requests use the return value as an
output parameter and return a non-negative value on success.
On error, −1 is returned, and errno
is set appropriately.
d
is not a
valid descriptor.
argp
references an inaccessible memory area.
Request
or
argp
is not
valid.
d
is not
associated with a character special device.
The specified request does not apply to the kind of
object that the descriptor d
references.
No single standard. Arguments, returns, and semantics of
ioctl
() vary according to the
device driver in question (the call is used as a catch-all
for operations that don't cleanly fit the Unix stream I/O
model). See ioctl_list(2) for a list of
many of the known ioctl
()
calls. The ioctl
() function
call appeared in Version 7 AT&T Unix.
In order to use this call, one needs an open file
descriptor. Often the open(2) call has unwanted
side effects, that can be avoided under Linux by giving it
the O_NONBLOCK
flag.
This page is part of release 2.79 of the Linux man-pages
project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting
bugs, can be found at
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Copyright (c) 1980, 1991 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors. 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. (#)ioctl.2 6.4 (Berkeley) 3/10/91 Modified 1993-07-23 by Rik Faith <faithcs.unc.edu> Modified 1996-10-22 by Eric S. Raymond <esrthyrsus.com> Modified 1999-06-25 by Rachael Munns <vashtidream.org.uk> Modified 2000-09-21 by Andries Brouwer <aebcwi.nl> |