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37120919 1=head1 NAME
2
3POSIX - Perl interface to IEEE Std 1003.1
4
cb1a09d0 5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6
7 use POSIX;
8 use POSIX qw(setsid);
9 use POSIX qw(:errno_h :fcntl_h);
10
11 printf "EINTR is %d\n", EINTR;
12
13 $sess_id = POSIX::setsid();
14
15 $fd = POSIX::open($path, O_CREAT|O_EXCL|O_WRONLY, 0644);
16 # note: that's a filedescriptor, *NOT* a filehandle
17
37120919 18=head1 DESCRIPTION
19
20The POSIX module permits you to access all (or nearly all) the standard
21POSIX 1003.1 identifiers. Many of these identifiers have been given Perl-ish
22interfaces. Things which are C<#defines> in C, like EINTR or O_NDELAY, are
23automatically exported into your namespace. All functions are only exported
24if you ask for them explicitly. Most likely people will prefer to use the
25fully-qualified function names.
26
27This document gives a condensed list of the features available in the POSIX
28module. Consult your operating system's manpages for general information on
29most features. Consult L<perlfunc> for functions which are noted as being
30identical to Perl's builtin functions.
31
32The first section describes POSIX functions from the 1003.1 specification.
33The second section describes some classes for signal objects, TTY objects,
34and other miscellaneous objects. The remaining sections list various
35constants and macros in an organization which roughly follows IEEE Std
361003.1b-1993.
37
37120919 38=head1 NOTE
39
40The POSIX module is probably the most complex Perl module supplied with
41the standard distribution. It incorporates autoloading, namespace games,
42and dynamic loading of code that's in Perl, C, or both. It's a great
43source of wisdom.
44
45=head1 CAVEATS
46
47A few functions are not implemented because they are C specific. If you
48attempt to call these, they will print a message telling you that they
49aren't implemented, and suggest using the Perl equivalent should one
50exist. For example, trying to access the setjmp() call will elicit the
51message "setjmp() is C-specific: use eval {} instead".
52
53Furthermore, some evil vendors will claim 1003.1 compliance, but in fact
54are not so: they will not pass the PCTS (POSIX Compliance Test Suites).
55For example, one vendor may not define EDEADLK, or the semantics of the
56errno values set by open(2) might not be quite right. Perl does not
57attempt to verify POSIX compliance. That means you can currently
58successfully say "use POSIX", and then later in your program you find
59that your vendor has been lax and there's no usable ICANON macro after
60all. This could be construed to be a bug.
61
62=head1 FUNCTIONS
63
64=over 8
65
66=item _exit
67
4755096e 68This is identical to the C function C<_exit()>. It exits the program
69immediately which means among other things buffered I/O is B<not> flushed.
37120919 70
15978375 71Note that when using threads and in Linux this is B<not> a good way to
72exit a thread because in Linux processes and threads are kind of the
73same thing (Note: while this is the situation in early 2003 there are
74projects under way to have threads with more POSIXly semantics in Linux).
75If you want not to return from a thread, detach the thread.
76
37120919 77=item abort
78
4755096e 79This is identical to the C function C<abort()>. It terminates the
80process with a C<SIGABRT> signal unless caught by a signal handler or
81if the handler does not return normally (it e.g. does a C<longjmp>).
37120919 82
83=item abs
84
4755096e 85This is identical to Perl's builtin C<abs()> function, returning
86the absolute value of its numerical argument.
37120919 87
88=item access
89
90Determines the accessibility of a file.
91
92 if( POSIX::access( "/", &POSIX::R_OK ) ){
93 print "have read permission\n";
94 }
95
4755096e 96Returns C<undef> on failure. Note: do not use C<access()> for
97security purposes. Between the C<access()> call and the operation
98you are preparing for the permissions might change: a classic
99I<race condition>.
37120919 100
101=item acos
102
4755096e 103This is identical to the C function C<acos()>, returning
c2e66d9e 104the arcus cosine of its numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 105
106=item alarm
107
4755096e 108This is identical to Perl's builtin C<alarm()> function,
109either for arming or disarming the C<SIGARLM> timer.
37120919 110
111=item asctime
112
4755096e 113This is identical to the C function C<asctime()>. It returns
114a string of the form
115
116 "Fri Jun 2 18:22:13 2000\n\0"
117
118and it is called thusly
119
120 $asctime = asctime($sec, $min, $hour, $mday, $mon, $year,
121 $wday, $yday, $isdst);
122
123The C<$mon> is zero-based: January equals C<0>. The C<$year> is
1241900-based: 2001 equals C<101>. The C<$wday>, C<$yday>, and C<$isdst>
125default to zero (and the first two are usually ignored anyway).
37120919 126
127=item asin
128
4755096e 129This is identical to the C function C<asin()>, returning
c2e66d9e 130the arcus sine of its numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 131
132=item assert
133
4755096e 134Unimplemented, but you can use L<perlfunc/die> and the L<Carp> module
135to achieve similar things.
37120919 136
137=item atan
138
4755096e 139This is identical to the C function C<atan()>, returning the
c2e66d9e 140arcus tangent of its numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 141
142=item atan2
143
4755096e 144This is identical to Perl's builtin C<atan2()> function, returning
145the arcus tangent defined by its two numerical arguments, the I<y>
c2e66d9e 146coordinate and the I<x> coordinate. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 147
148=item atexit
149
4755096e 150atexit() is C-specific: use C<END {}> instead, see L<perlsub>.
37120919 151
152=item atof
153
4755096e 154atof() is C-specific. Perl converts strings to numbers transparently.
155If you need to force a scalar to a number, add a zero to it.
37120919 156
157=item atoi
158
4755096e 159atoi() is C-specific. Perl converts strings to numbers transparently.
160If you need to force a scalar to a number, add a zero to it.
161If you need to have just the integer part, see L<perlfunc/int>.
37120919 162
163=item atol
164
4755096e 165atol() is C-specific. Perl converts strings to numbers transparently.
166If you need to force a scalar to a number, add a zero to it.
167If you need to have just the integer part, see L<perlfunc/int>.
37120919 168
169=item bsearch
170
4755096e 171bsearch() not supplied. For doing binary search on wordlists,
172see L<Search::Dict>.
37120919 173
174=item calloc
175
4755096e 176calloc() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently.
37120919 177
178=item ceil
179
4755096e 180This is identical to the C function C<ceil()>, returning the smallest
181integer value greater than or equal to the given numerical argument.
37120919 182
183=item chdir
184
4755096e 185This is identical to Perl's builtin C<chdir()> function, allowing
186one to change the working (default) directory, see L<perlfunc/chdir>.
37120919 187
188=item chmod
189
4755096e 190This is identical to Perl's builtin C<chmod()> function, allowing
191one to change file and directory permissions, see L<perlfunc/chmod>.
37120919 192
193=item chown
194
4755096e 195This is identical to Perl's builtin C<chown()> function, allowing one
196to change file and directory owners and groups, see L<perlfunc/chown>.
37120919 197
198=item clearerr
199
9d6eb86e 200Use the method C<IO::Handle::clearerr()> instead, to reset the error
4755096e 201state (if any) and EOF state (if any) of the given stream.
37120919 202
203=item clock
204
4755096e 205This is identical to the C function C<clock()>, returning the
206amount of spent processor time in microseconds.
37120919 207
208=item close
209
cb1a09d0 210Close the file. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling
211C<POSIX::open>.
212
213 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY );
214 POSIX::close( $fd );
37120919 215
216Returns C<undef> on failure.
217
4755096e 218See also L<perlfunc/close>.
219
37120919 220=item closedir
221
4755096e 222This is identical to Perl's builtin C<closedir()> function for closing
223a directory handle, see L<perlfunc/closedir>.
37120919 224
225=item cos
226
4755096e 227This is identical to Perl's builtin C<cos()> function, for returning
228the cosine of its numerical argument, see L<perlfunc/cos>.
c2e66d9e 229See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 230
231=item cosh
232
4755096e 233This is identical to the C function C<cosh()>, for returning
c2e66d9e 234the hyperbolic cosine of its numeric argument. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 235
236=item creat
237
cb1a09d0 238Create a new file. This returns a file descriptor like the ones returned by
239C<POSIX::open>. Use C<POSIX::close> to close the file.
240
241 $fd = POSIX::creat( "foo", 0611 );
242 POSIX::close( $fd );
37120919 243
4755096e 244See also L<perlfunc/sysopen> and its C<O_CREAT> flag.
245
37120919 246=item ctermid
247
cb1a09d0 248Generates the path name for the controlling terminal.
37120919 249
250 $path = POSIX::ctermid();
251
252=item ctime
253
4755096e 254This is identical to the C function C<ctime()> and equivalent
255to C<asctime(localtime(...))>, see L</asctime> and L</localtime>.
37120919 256
257=item cuserid
258
4755096e 259Get the login name of the owner of the current process.
37120919 260
261 $name = POSIX::cuserid();
262
263=item difftime
264
4755096e 265This is identical to the C function C<difftime()>, for returning
266the time difference (in seconds) between two times (as returned
267by C<time()>), see L</time>.
37120919 268
269=item div
270
4755096e 271div() is C-specific, use L<perlfunc/int> on the usual C</> division and
272the modulus C<%>.
37120919 273
274=item dup
275
4755096e 276This is similar to the C function C<dup()>, for duplicating a file
277descriptor.
cb1a09d0 278
279This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling
280C<POSIX::open>.
37120919 281
282Returns C<undef> on failure.
283
284=item dup2
285
4755096e 286This is similar to the C function C<dup2()>, for duplicating a file
287descriptor to an another known file descriptor.
cb1a09d0 288
289This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling
290C<POSIX::open>.
37120919 291
292Returns C<undef> on failure.
293
294=item errno
295
296Returns the value of errno.
297
298 $errno = POSIX::errno();
299
4755096e 300This identical to the numerical values of the C<$!>, see L<perlvar/$ERRNO>.
301
37120919 302=item execl
303
4755096e 304execl() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>.
37120919 305
306=item execle
307
4755096e 308execle() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>.
37120919 309
310=item execlp
311
4755096e 312execlp() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>.
37120919 313
314=item execv
315
4755096e 316execv() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>.
37120919 317
318=item execve
319
4755096e 320execve() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>.
37120919 321
322=item execvp
323
4755096e 324execvp() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/exec>.
37120919 325
326=item exit
327
4755096e 328This is identical to Perl's builtin C<exit()> function for exiting the
329program, see L<perlfunc/exit>.
37120919 330
331=item exp
332
4755096e 333This is identical to Perl's builtin C<exp()> function for
334returning the exponent (I<e>-based) of the numerical argument,
335see L<perlfunc/exp>.
37120919 336
337=item fabs
338
4755096e 339This is identical to Perl's builtin C<abs()> function for returning
340the absolute value of the numerical argument, see L<perlfunc/abs>.
37120919 341
342=item fclose
343
c2e66d9e 344Use method C<IO::Handle::close()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/close>.
37120919 345
346=item fcntl
347
4755096e 348This is identical to Perl's builtin C<fcntl()> function,
349see L<perlfunc/fcntl>.
37120919 350
351=item fdopen
352
c2e66d9e 353Use method C<IO::Handle::new_from_fd()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/open>.
37120919 354
355=item feof
356
c2e66d9e 357Use method C<IO::Handle::eof()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/eof>.
37120919 358
359=item ferror
360
28757baa 361Use method C<IO::Handle::error()> instead.
37120919 362
363=item fflush
364
28757baa 365Use method C<IO::Handle::flush()> instead.
c2e66d9e 366See also L<perlvar/$OUTPUT_AUTOFLUSH>.
37120919 367
368=item fgetc
369
c2e66d9e 370Use method C<IO::Handle::getc()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/read>.
37120919 371
372=item fgetpos
373
c2e66d9e 374Use method C<IO::Seekable::getpos()> instead, or see L<L/seek>.
37120919 375
376=item fgets
377
4755096e 378Use method C<IO::Handle::gets()> instead. Similar to E<lt>E<gt>, also known
379as L<perlfunc/readline>.
37120919 380
381=item fileno
382
c2e66d9e 383Use method C<IO::Handle::fileno()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/fileno>.
37120919 384
385=item floor
386
4755096e 387This is identical to the C function C<floor()>, returning the largest
388integer value less than or equal to the numerical argument.
37120919 389
390=item fmod
391
392This is identical to the C function C<fmod()>.
393
847f7ebc 394 $r = fmod($x, $y);
4755096e 395
396It returns the remainder C<$r = $x - $n*$y>, where C<$n = trunc($x/$y)>.
397The C<$r> has the same sign as C<$x> and magnitude (absolute value)
398less than the magnitude of C<$y>.
399
37120919 400=item fopen
401
c2e66d9e 402Use method C<IO::File::open()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/open>.
37120919 403
404=item fork
405
c2e66d9e 406This is identical to Perl's builtin C<fork()> function
407for duplicating the current process, see L<perlfunc/fork>
408and L<perlfork> if you are in Windows.
37120919 409
410=item fpathconf
411
cb1a09d0 412Retrieves the value of a configurable limit on a file or directory. This
413uses file descriptors such as those obtained by calling C<POSIX::open>.
414
415The following will determine the maximum length of the longest allowable
416pathname on the filesystem which holds C</tmp/foo>.
417
418 $fd = POSIX::open( "/tmp/foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY );
419 $path_max = POSIX::fpathconf( $fd, &POSIX::_PC_PATH_MAX );
37120919 420
421Returns C<undef> on failure.
422
423=item fprintf
424
4755096e 425fprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/printf> instead.
37120919 426
427=item fputc
428
4755096e 429fputc() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead.
37120919 430
431=item fputs
432
4755096e 433fputs() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead.
37120919 434
435=item fread
436
4755096e 437fread() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/read> instead.
37120919 438
439=item free
440
4755096e 441free() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently.
37120919 442
443=item freopen
444
4755096e 445freopen() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/open> instead.
37120919 446
447=item frexp
448
cb1a09d0 449Return the mantissa and exponent of a floating-point number.
450
4755096e 451 ($mantissa, $exponent) = POSIX::frexp( 1.234e56 );
37120919 452
453=item fscanf
454
4755096e 455fscanf() is C-specific, use E<lt>E<gt> and regular expressions instead.
37120919 456
457=item fseek
458
c2e66d9e 459Use method C<IO::Seekable::seek()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/seek>.
37120919 460
461=item fsetpos
462
c2e66d9e 463Use method C<IO::Seekable::setpos()> instead, or seek L<perlfunc/seek>.
37120919 464
465=item fstat
466
cb1a09d0 467Get file status. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by
468calling C<POSIX::open>. The data returned is identical to the data from
469Perl's builtin C<stat> function.
470
471 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY );
472 @stats = POSIX::fstat( $fd );
37120919 473
f0709b24 474=item fsync
475
476Use method C<IO::Handle::sync()> instead.
477
37120919 478=item ftell
479
c2e66d9e 480Use method C<IO::Seekable::tell()> instead, or see L<perlfunc/tell>.
37120919 481
482=item fwrite
483
4755096e 484fwrite() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead.
37120919 485
486=item getc
487
4755096e 488This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getc()> function,
489see L<perlfunc/getc>.
37120919 490
491=item getchar
492
4755096e 493Returns one character from STDIN. Identical to Perl's C<getc()>,
494see L<perlfunc/getc>.
37120919 495
496=item getcwd
497
498Returns the name of the current working directory.
4755096e 499See also L<Cwd>.
37120919 500
501=item getegid
502
4755096e 503Returns the effective group identifier. Similar to Perl' s builtin
504variable C<$(>, see L<perlvar/$EGID>.
37120919 505
506=item getenv
507
508Returns the value of the specified enironment variable.
4755096e 509The same information is available through the C<%ENV> array.
37120919 510
511=item geteuid
512
4755096e 513Returns the effective user identifier. Identical to Perl's builtin C<$E<gt>>
514variable, see L<perlvar/$EUID>.
37120919 515
516=item getgid
517
4755096e 518Returns the user's real group identifier. Similar to Perl's builtin
519variable C<$)>, see L<perlvar/$GID>.
37120919 520
521=item getgrgid
522
4755096e 523This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getgrgid()> function for
524returning group entries by group identifiers, see
525L<perlfunc/getgrgid>.
37120919 526
527=item getgrnam
528
4755096e 529This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getgrnam()> function for
530returning group entries by group names, see L<perlfunc/getgrnam>.
37120919 531
532=item getgroups
533
4755096e 534Returns the ids of the user's supplementary groups. Similar to Perl's
535builtin variable C<$)>, see L<perlvar/$GID>.
37120919 536
537=item getlogin
538
4755096e 539This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getlogin()> function for
540returning the user name associated with the current session, see
541L<perlfunc/getlogin>.
37120919 542
543=item getpgrp
544
4755096e 545This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getpgrp()> function for
546returning the prcess group identifier of the current process, see
547L<perlfunc/getpgrp>.
37120919 548
549=item getpid
550
4755096e 551Returns the process identifier. Identical to Perl's builtin
552variable C<$$>, see L<perlvar/$PID>.
37120919 553
554=item getppid
555
4755096e 556This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getppid()> function for
557returning the process identifier of the parent process of the current
558process , see L<perlfunc/getppid>.
37120919 559
560=item getpwnam
561
4755096e 562This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getpwnam()> function for
563returning user entries by user names, see L<perlfunc/getpwnam>.
37120919 564
565=item getpwuid
566
4755096e 567This is identical to Perl's builtin C<getpwuid()> function for
568returning user entries by user identifiers, see L<perlfunc/getpwuid>.
37120919 569
570=item gets
571
4755096e 572Returns one line from C<STDIN>, similar to E<lt>E<gt>, also known
573as the C<readline()> function, see L<perlfunc/readline>.
574
575B<NOTE>: if you have C programs that still use C<gets()>, be very
576afraid. The C<gets()> function is a source of endless grief because
577it has no buffer overrun checks. It should B<never> be used. The
578C<fgets()> function should be preferred instead.
37120919 579
580=item getuid
581
4755096e 582Returns the user's identifier. Identical to Perl's builtin C<$E<lt>> variable,
583see L<perlvar/$UID>.
37120919 584
585=item gmtime
586
4755096e 587This is identical to Perl's builtin C<gmtime()> function for
588converting seconds since the epoch to a date in Greenwich Mean Time,
589see L<perlfunc/gmtime>.
37120919 590
591=item isalnum
592
f14c76ed 593This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a
594single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings may
595affect what characters are considered C<isalnum>. Does not work on
596Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
597expressions and the C</[[:alnum:]]/> construct instead, or possibly
598the C</\w/> construct.
37120919 599
600=item isalpha
601
f14c76ed 602This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
603a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
604may affect what characters are considered C<isalpha>. Does not work
605on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
606expressions and the C</[[:alpha:]]/> construct instead.
37120919 607
608=item isatty
609
610Returns a boolean indicating whether the specified filehandle is connected
4755096e 611to a tty. Similar to the C<-t> operator, see L<perlfunc/-X>.
37120919 612
613=item iscntrl
614
f14c76ed 615This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
616a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
617may affect what characters are considered C<iscntrl>. Does not work
618on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
619expressions and the C</[[:cntrl:]]/> construct instead.
37120919 620
621=item isdigit
622
f14c76ed 623This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
624a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
625may affect what characters are considered C<isdigit> (unlikely, but
626still possible). Does not work on Unicode characters code point 256
627or higher. Consider using regular expressions and the C</[[:digit:]]/>
628construct instead, or the C</\d/> construct.
37120919 629
630=item isgraph
631
f14c76ed 632This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
633a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
634may affect what characters are considered C<isgraph>. Does not work
635on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
636expressions and the C</[[:graph:]]/> construct instead.
37120919 637
638=item islower
639
f14c76ed 640This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
641a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
642may affect what characters are considered C<islower>. Does not work
643on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
644expressions and the C</[[:lower:]]/> construct instead. Do B<not> use
645C</[a-z]/>.
37120919 646
647=item isprint
648
f14c76ed 649This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
650a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
651may affect what characters are considered C<isprint>. Does not work
652on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
653expressions and the C</[[:print:]]/> construct instead.
37120919 654
655=item ispunct
656
f14c76ed 657This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
658a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
659may affect what characters are considered C<ispunct>. Does not work
660on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
661expressions and the C</[[:punct:]]/> construct instead.
37120919 662
663=item isspace
664
f14c76ed 665This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
666a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
667may affect what characters are considered C<isspace>. Does not work
668on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
669expressions and the C</[[:space:]]/> construct instead, or the C</\s/>
670construct. (Note that C</\s/> and C</[[:space:]]/> are slightly
671different in that C</[[:space:]]/> can normally match a vertical tab,
672while C</\s/> does not.)
37120919 673
674=item isupper
675
f14c76ed 676This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to
677a single character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings
678may affect what characters are considered C<isupper>. Does not work
679on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher. Consider using regular
680expressions and the C</[[:upper:]]/> construct instead. Do B<not> use
681C</[A-Z]/>.
37120919 682
683=item isxdigit
684
cb1a09d0 685This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a single
f14c76ed 686character or to a whole string. Note that locale settings may affect what
687characters are considered C<isxdigit> (unlikely, but still possible).
688Does not work on Unicode characters code point 256 or higher.
689Consider using regular expressions and the C</[[:xdigit:]]/>
690construct instead, or simply C</[0-9a-f]/i>.
37120919 691
692=item kill
693
4755096e 694This is identical to Perl's builtin C<kill()> function for sending
c2e66d9e 695signals to processes (often to terminate them), see L<perlfunc/kill>.
37120919 696
697=item labs
698
4755096e 699(For returning absolute values of long integers.)
700labs() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/abs> instead.
37120919 701
702=item ldexp
703
4755096e 704This is identical to the C function C<ldexp()>
705for multiplying floating point numbers with powers of two.
706
707 $x_quadrupled = POSIX::ldexp($x, 2);
37120919 708
709=item ldiv
710
4755096e 711(For computing dividends of long integers.)
712ldiv() is C-specific, use C</> and C<int()> instead.
37120919 713
714=item link
715
4755096e 716This is identical to Perl's builtin C<link()> function
717for creating hard links into files, see L<perlfunc/link>.
37120919 718
719=item localeconv
720
cb1a09d0 721Get numeric formatting information. Returns a reference to a hash
722containing the current locale formatting values.
723
4755096e 724Here is how to query the database for the B<de> (Deutsch or German) locale.
cb1a09d0 725
726 $loc = POSIX::setlocale( &POSIX::LC_ALL, "de" );
727 print "Locale = $loc\n";
728 $lconv = POSIX::localeconv();
729 print "decimal_point = ", $lconv->{decimal_point}, "\n";
730 print "thousands_sep = ", $lconv->{thousands_sep}, "\n";
731 print "grouping = ", $lconv->{grouping}, "\n";
732 print "int_curr_symbol = ", $lconv->{int_curr_symbol}, "\n";
733 print "currency_symbol = ", $lconv->{currency_symbol}, "\n";
734 print "mon_decimal_point = ", $lconv->{mon_decimal_point}, "\n";
735 print "mon_thousands_sep = ", $lconv->{mon_thousands_sep}, "\n";
736 print "mon_grouping = ", $lconv->{mon_grouping}, "\n";
737 print "positive_sign = ", $lconv->{positive_sign}, "\n";
738 print "negative_sign = ", $lconv->{negative_sign}, "\n";
739 print "int_frac_digits = ", $lconv->{int_frac_digits}, "\n";
740 print "frac_digits = ", $lconv->{frac_digits}, "\n";
741 print "p_cs_precedes = ", $lconv->{p_cs_precedes}, "\n";
742 print "p_sep_by_space = ", $lconv->{p_sep_by_space}, "\n";
743 print "n_cs_precedes = ", $lconv->{n_cs_precedes}, "\n";
744 print "n_sep_by_space = ", $lconv->{n_sep_by_space}, "\n";
745 print "p_sign_posn = ", $lconv->{p_sign_posn}, "\n";
746 print "n_sign_posn = ", $lconv->{n_sign_posn}, "\n";
37120919 747
748=item localtime
749
4755096e 750This is identical to Perl's builtin C<localtime()> function for
751converting seconds since the epoch to a date see L<perlfunc/localtime>.
37120919 752
753=item log
754
4755096e 755This is identical to Perl's builtin C<log()> function,
756returning the natural (I<e>-based) logarithm of the numerical argument,
757see L<perlfunc/log>.
37120919 758
759=item log10
760
4755096e 761This is identical to the C function C<log10()>,
762returning the 10-base logarithm of the numerical argument.
763You can also use
764
765 sub log10 { log($_[0]) / log(10) }
766
767or
768
769 sub log10 { log($_[0]) / 2.30258509299405 }
770
771or
772
773 sub log10 { log($_[0]) * 0.434294481903252 }
37120919 774
775=item longjmp
776
4755096e 777longjmp() is C-specific: use L<perlfunc/die> instead.
37120919 778
779=item lseek
780
8903cb82 781Move the file's read/write position. This uses file descriptors such as
cb1a09d0 782those obtained by calling C<POSIX::open>.
783
784 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY );
785 $off_t = POSIX::lseek( $fd, 0, &POSIX::SEEK_SET );
37120919 786
787Returns C<undef> on failure.
788
789=item malloc
790
4755096e 791malloc() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently.
37120919 792
793=item mblen
794
cb1a09d0 795This is identical to the C function C<mblen()>.
4755096e 796Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte
797characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather
798useless function.
37120919 799
800=item mbstowcs
801
cb1a09d0 802This is identical to the C function C<mbstowcs()>.
4755096e 803Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte
804characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather
805useless function.
37120919 806
807=item mbtowc
808
cb1a09d0 809This is identical to the C function C<mbtowc()>.
4755096e 810Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte
811characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather
812useless function.
37120919 813
814=item memchr
815
4755096e 816memchr() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/index> instead.
37120919 817
818=item memcmp
819
4755096e 820memcmp() is C-specific, use C<eq> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 821
822=item memcpy
823
4755096e 824memcpy() is C-specific, use C<=>, see L<perlop>, or see L<perlfunc/substr>.
37120919 825
826=item memmove
827
4755096e 828memmove() is C-specific, use C<=>, see L<perlop>, or see L<perlfunc/substr>.
37120919 829
830=item memset
831
4755096e 832memset() is C-specific, use C<x> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 833
834=item mkdir
835
4755096e 836This is identical to Perl's builtin C<mkdir()> function
837for creating directories, see L<perlfunc/mkdir>.
37120919 838
839=item mkfifo
840
4755096e 841This is similar to the C function C<mkfifo()> for creating
842FIFO special files.
37120919 843
4755096e 844 if (mkfifo($path, $mode)) { ....
845
846Returns C<undef> on failure. The C<$mode> is similar to the
847mode of C<mkdir()>, see L<perlfunc/mkdir>.
37120919 848
849=item mktime
850
cb1a09d0 851Convert date/time info to a calendar time.
852
853Synopsis:
854
855 mktime(sec, min, hour, mday, mon, year, wday = 0, yday = 0, isdst = 0)
856
857The month (C<mon>), weekday (C<wday>), and yearday (C<yday>) begin at zero.
858I.e. January is 0, not 1; Sunday is 0, not 1; January 1st is 0, not 1. The
859year (C<year>) is given in years since 1900. I.e. The year 1995 is 95; the
860year 2001 is 101. Consult your system's C<mktime()> manpage for details
861about these and the other arguments.
862
863Calendar time for December 12, 1995, at 10:30 am.
864
865 $time_t = POSIX::mktime( 0, 30, 10, 12, 11, 95 );
866 print "Date = ", POSIX::ctime($time_t);
37120919 867
868Returns C<undef> on failure.
869
870=item modf
871
cb1a09d0 872Return the integral and fractional parts of a floating-point number.
873
874 ($fractional, $integral) = POSIX::modf( 3.14 );
37120919 875
876=item nice
877
4755096e 878This is similar to the C function C<nice()>, for changing
879the scheduling preference of the current process. Positive
880arguments mean more polite process, negative values more
881needy process. Normal user processes can only be more polite.
37120919 882
883Returns C<undef> on failure.
884
885=item offsetof
886
4755096e 887offsetof() is C-specific, you probably want to see L<perlfunc/pack> instead.
37120919 888
889=item open
890
cb1a09d0 891Open a file for reading for writing. This returns file descriptors, not
892Perl filehandles. Use C<POSIX::close> to close the file.
893
894Open a file read-only with mode 0666.
895
896 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo" );
897
898Open a file for read and write.
899
900 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDWR );
901
902Open a file for write, with truncation.
903
904 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_WRONLY | &POSIX::O_TRUNC );
905
906Create a new file with mode 0640. Set up the file for writing.
907
908 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_CREAT | &POSIX::O_WRONLY, 0640 );
37120919 909
910Returns C<undef> on failure.
911
4755096e 912See also L<perlfunc/sysopen>.
913
37120919 914=item opendir
915
cb1a09d0 916Open a directory for reading.
917
918 $dir = POSIX::opendir( "/tmp" );
919 @files = POSIX::readdir( $dir );
920 POSIX::closedir( $dir );
921
922Returns C<undef> on failure.
37120919 923
924=item pathconf
925
926Retrieves the value of a configurable limit on a file or directory.
927
928The following will determine the maximum length of the longest allowable
929pathname on the filesystem which holds C</tmp>.
930
931 $path_max = POSIX::pathconf( "/tmp", &POSIX::_PC_PATH_MAX );
932
933Returns C<undef> on failure.
934
935=item pause
936
4755096e 937This is similar to the C function C<pause()>, which suspends
938the execution of the current process until a signal is received.
37120919 939
940Returns C<undef> on failure.
941
942=item perror
943
4755096e 944This is identical to the C function C<perror()>, which outputs to the
945standard error stream the specified message followed by ": " and the
946current error string. Use the C<warn()> function and the C<$!>
947variable instead, see L<perlfunc/warn> and L<perlvar/$ERRNO>.
37120919 948
949=item pipe
950
cb1a09d0 951Create an interprocess channel. This returns file descriptors like those
952returned by C<POSIX::open>.
953
954 ($fd0, $fd1) = POSIX::pipe();
955 POSIX::write( $fd0, "hello", 5 );
956 POSIX::read( $fd1, $buf, 5 );
37120919 957
4755096e 958See also L<perlfunc/pipe>.
959
37120919 960=item pow
961
4755096e 962Computes C<$x> raised to the power C<$exponent>.
37120919 963
964 $ret = POSIX::pow( $x, $exponent );
965
4755096e 966You can also use the C<**> operator, see L<perlop>.
967
37120919 968=item printf
969
4755096e 970Formats and prints the specified arguments to STDOUT.
971See also L<perlfunc/printf>.
37120919 972
973=item putc
974
4755096e 975putc() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead.
37120919 976
977=item putchar
978
4755096e 979putchar() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead.
37120919 980
981=item puts
982
4755096e 983puts() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/print> instead.
37120919 984
985=item qsort
986
4755096e 987qsort() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/sort> instead.
37120919 988
989=item raise
990
991Sends the specified signal to the current process.
4755096e 992See also L<perlfunc/kill> and the C<$$> in L<perlvar/$PID>.
37120919 993
994=item rand
995
4755096e 996C<rand()> is non-portable, see L<perlfunc/rand> instead.
37120919 997
998=item read
999
cb1a09d0 1000Read from a file. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by
1001calling C<POSIX::open>. If the buffer C<$buf> is not large enough for the
1002read then Perl will extend it to make room for the request.
1003
1004 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_RDONLY );
1005 $bytes = POSIX::read( $fd, $buf, 3 );
37120919 1006
1007Returns C<undef> on failure.
1008
4755096e 1009See also L<perlfunc/sysread>.
1010
37120919 1011=item readdir
1012
4755096e 1013This is identical to Perl's builtin C<readdir()> function
1014for reading directory entries, see L<perlfunc/readdir>.
37120919 1015
1016=item realloc
1017
4755096e 1018realloc() is C-specific. Perl does memory management transparently.
37120919 1019
1020=item remove
1021
4755096e 1022This is identical to Perl's builtin C<unlink()> function
1023for removing files, see L<perlfunc/unlink>.
37120919 1024
1025=item rename
1026
4755096e 1027This is identical to Perl's builtin C<rename()> function
1028for renaming files, see L<perlfunc/rename>.
37120919 1029
1030=item rewind
1031
1032Seeks to the beginning of the file.
1033
1034=item rewinddir
1035
4755096e 1036This is identical to Perl's builtin C<rewinddir()> function for
1037rewinding directory entry streams, see L<perlfunc/rewinddir>.
37120919 1038
1039=item rmdir
1040
4755096e 1041This is identical to Perl's builtin C<rmdir()> function
1042for removing (empty) directories, see L<perlfunc/rmdir>.
37120919 1043
1044=item scanf
1045
4755096e 1046scanf() is C-specific, use E<lt>E<gt> and regular expressions instead,
1047see L<perlre>.
37120919 1048
1049=item setgid
1050
a043a685 1051Sets the real group identifier and the effective group identifier for
1052this process. Similar to assigning a value to the Perl's builtin
1053C<$)> variable, see L<perlvar/$GID>, except that the latter
1054will change only the real user identifier, and that the setgid()
1055uses only a single numeric argument, as opposed to a space-separated
1056list of numbers.
37120919 1057
1058=item setjmp
1059
4755096e 1060C<setjmp()> is C-specific: use C<eval {}> instead,
1061see L<perlfunc/eval>.
37120919 1062
1063=item setlocale
1064
c26abfa6 1065Modifies and queries program's locale. The following examples assume
1066
1067 use POSIX qw(setlocale LC_ALL LC_CTYPE);
1068
1069has been issued.
37120919 1070
8966fa01 1071The following will set the traditional UNIX system locale behavior
1072(the second argument C<"C">).
37120919 1073
c26abfa6 1074 $loc = setlocale( LC_ALL, "C" );
37120919 1075
c26abfa6 1076The following will query the current LC_CTYPE category. (No second
1077argument means 'query'.)
8966fa01 1078
c26abfa6 1079 $loc = setlocale( LC_CTYPE );
8966fa01 1080
1081The following will set the LC_CTYPE behaviour according to the locale
1082environment variables (the second argument C<"">).
9d6eb86e 1083Please see your systems C<setlocale(3)> documentation for the locale
71be2cbc 1084environment variables' meaning or consult L<perllocale>.
8966fa01 1085
c26abfa6 1086 $loc = setlocale( LC_CTYPE, "" );
8966fa01 1087
1088The following will set the LC_COLLATE behaviour to Argentinian
1089Spanish. B<NOTE>: The naming and availability of locales depends on
71be2cbc 1090your operating system. Please consult L<perllocale> for how to find
8966fa01 1091out which locales are available in your system.
1092
c26abfa6 1093 $loc = setlocale( LC_ALL, "es_AR.ISO8859-1" );
8966fa01 1094
37120919 1095=item setpgid
1096
4755096e 1097This is similar to the C function C<setpgid()> for
1098setting the process group identifier of the current process.
37120919 1099
1100Returns C<undef> on failure.
1101
1102=item setsid
1103
4755096e 1104This is identical to the C function C<setsid()> for
1105setting the session identifier of the current process.
37120919 1106
1107=item setuid
1108
a043a685 1109Sets the real user identifier and the effective user identifier for
1110this process. Similar to assigning a value to the Perl's builtin
1111C<$E<lt>> variable, see L<perlvar/$UID>, except that the latter
1112will change only the real user identifier.
37120919 1113
1114=item sigaction
1115
cb1a09d0 1116Detailed signal management. This uses C<POSIX::SigAction> objects for the
1117C<action> and C<oldaction> arguments. Consult your system's C<sigaction>
1118manpage for details.
1119
1120Synopsis:
1121
1122 sigaction(sig, action, oldaction = 0)
37120919 1123
1124Returns C<undef> on failure.
1125
1126=item siglongjmp
1127
4755096e 1128siglongjmp() is C-specific: use L<perlfunc/die> instead.
37120919 1129
1130=item sigpending
1131
cb1a09d0 1132Examine signals that are blocked and pending. This uses C<POSIX::SigSet>
1133objects for the C<sigset> argument. Consult your system's C<sigpending>
1134manpage for details.
1135
1136Synopsis:
1137
1138 sigpending(sigset)
37120919 1139
1140Returns C<undef> on failure.
1141
1142=item sigprocmask
1143
cb1a09d0 1144Change and/or examine calling process's signal mask. This uses
1145C<POSIX::SigSet> objects for the C<sigset> and C<oldsigset> arguments.
1146Consult your system's C<sigprocmask> manpage for details.
1147
1148Synopsis:
1149
1150 sigprocmask(how, sigset, oldsigset = 0)
37120919 1151
1152Returns C<undef> on failure.
1153
1154=item sigsetjmp
1155
4755096e 1156C<sigsetjmp()> is C-specific: use C<eval {}> instead,
1157see L<perlfunc/eval>.
37120919 1158
1159=item sigsuspend
1160
cb1a09d0 1161Install a signal mask and suspend process until signal arrives. This uses
1162C<POSIX::SigSet> objects for the C<signal_mask> argument. Consult your
1163system's C<sigsuspend> manpage for details.
1164
1165Synopsis:
1166
1167 sigsuspend(signal_mask)
37120919 1168
1169Returns C<undef> on failure.
1170
1171=item sin
1172
4755096e 1173This is identical to Perl's builtin C<sin()> function
1174for returning the sine of the numerical argument,
c2e66d9e 1175see L<perlfunc/sin>. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 1176
1177=item sinh
1178
4755096e 1179This is identical to the C function C<sinh()>
1180for returning the hyperbolic sine of the numerical argument.
c2e66d9e 1181See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 1182
1183=item sleep
1184
2ab27a20 1185This is functionally identical to Perl's builtin C<sleep()> function
1186for suspending the execution of the current for process for certain
1187number of seconds, see L<perlfunc/sleep>. There is one signifanct
2bad225e 1188difference, however: C<POSIX::sleep()> returns the number of
2ab27a20 1189B<unslept> seconds, while the C<CORE::sleep()> returns the
1190number of slept seconds.
37120919 1191
1192=item sprintf
1193
4755096e 1194This is similar to Perl's builtin C<sprintf()> function
1195for returning a string that has the arguments formatted as requested,
1196see L<perlfunc/sprintf>.
37120919 1197
1198=item sqrt
1199
1200This is identical to Perl's builtin C<sqrt()> function.
4755096e 1201for returning the square root of the numerical argument,
1202see L<perlfunc/sqrt>.
37120919 1203
1204=item srand
1205
4755096e 1206Give a seed the pseudorandom number generator, see L<perlfunc/srand>.
37120919 1207
1208=item sscanf
1209
4755096e 1210sscanf() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead,
1211see L<perlre>.
37120919 1212
1213=item stat
1214
4755096e 1215This is identical to Perl's builtin C<stat()> function
1216for retutning information about files and directories.
37120919 1217
1218=item strcat
1219
4755096e 1220strcat() is C-specific, use C<.=> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 1221
1222=item strchr
1223
4755096e 1224strchr() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/index> instead.
37120919 1225
1226=item strcmp
1227
4755096e 1228strcmp() is C-specific, use C<eq> or C<cmp> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 1229
1230=item strcoll
1231
4755096e 1232This is identical to the C function C<strcoll()>
1233for collating (comparing) strings transformed using
1234the C<strxfrm()> function. Not really needed since
1235Perl can do this transparently, see L<perllocale>.
37120919 1236
1237=item strcpy
1238
4755096e 1239strcpy() is C-specific, use C<=> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 1240
1241=item strcspn
1242
4755096e 1243strcspn() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead,
1244see L<perlre>.
37120919 1245
1246=item strerror
1247
1248Returns the error string for the specified errno.
4755096e 1249Identical to the string form of the C<$!>, see L<perlvar/$ERRNO>.
37120919 1250
1251=item strftime
1252
cb1a09d0 1253Convert date and time information to string. Returns the string.
1254
1255Synopsis:
1256
e44f695e 1257 strftime(fmt, sec, min, hour, mday, mon, year, wday = -1, yday = -1, isdst = -1)
cb1a09d0 1258
1259The month (C<mon>), weekday (C<wday>), and yearday (C<yday>) begin at zero.
1260I.e. January is 0, not 1; Sunday is 0, not 1; January 1st is 0, not 1. The
e44f695e 1261year (C<year>) is given in years since 1900. I.e., the year 1995 is 95; the
cb1a09d0 1262year 2001 is 101. Consult your system's C<strftime()> manpage for details
659b4938 1263about these and the other arguments.
f14c76ed 1264
659b4938 1265If you want your code to be portable, your format (C<fmt>) argument
1266should use only the conversion specifiers defined by the ANSI C
f14c76ed 1267standard (C89, to play safe). These are C<aAbBcdHIjmMpSUwWxXyYZ%>.
1268But even then, the B<results> of some of the conversion specifiers are
1269non-portable. For example, the specifiers C<aAbBcpZ> change according
1270to the locale settings of the user, and both how to set locales (the
1271locale names) and what output to expect are non-standard.
1272The specifier C<c> changes according to the timezone settings of the
1273user and the timezone computation rules of the operating system.
1274The C<Z> specifier is notoriously unportable since the names of
1275timezones are non-standard. Sticking to the numeric specifiers is the
1276safest route.
1277
1278The given arguments are made consistent as though by calling
1279C<mktime()> before calling your system's C<strftime()> function,
1280except that the C<isdst> value is not affected.
cb1a09d0 1281
1282The string for Tuesday, December 12, 1995.
1283
1284 $str = POSIX::strftime( "%A, %B %d, %Y", 0, 0, 0, 12, 11, 95, 2 );
1285 print "$str\n";
37120919 1286
1287=item strlen
1288
4755096e 1289strlen() is C-specific, use C<length()> instead, see L<perlfunc/length>.
37120919 1290
1291=item strncat
1292
4755096e 1293strncat() is C-specific, use C<.=> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 1294
1295=item strncmp
1296
4755096e 1297strncmp() is C-specific, use C<eq> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 1298
1299=item strncpy
1300
4755096e 1301strncpy() is C-specific, use C<=> instead, see L<perlop>.
37120919 1302
1303=item strpbrk
1304
4755096e 1305strpbrk() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead,
1306see L<perlre>.
37120919 1307
1308=item strrchr
1309
4755096e 1310strrchr() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/rindex> instead.
37120919 1311
1312=item strspn
1313
4755096e 1314strspn() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead,
1315see L<perlre>.
37120919 1316
1317=item strstr
1318
4755096e 1319This is identical to Perl's builtin C<index()> function,
1320see L<perlfunc/index>.
37120919 1321
1322=item strtod
1323
a89d8a78 1324String to double translation. Returns the parsed number and the number
1325of characters in the unparsed portion of the string. Truly
1326POSIX-compliant systems set $! ($ERRNO) to indicate a translation
1327error, so clear $! before calling strtod. However, non-POSIX systems
1328may not check for overflow, and therefore will never set $!.
1329
1330strtod should respect any POSIX I<setlocale()> settings.
1331
1332To parse a string $str as a floating point number use
1333
1334 $! = 0;
1335 ($num, $n_unparsed) = POSIX::strtod($str);
1336
1337The second returned item and $! can be used to check for valid input:
1338
1339 if (($str eq '') || ($n_unparsed != 0) || !$!) {
1340 die "Non-numeric input $str" . $! ? ": $!\n" : "\n";
1341 }
1342
1343When called in a scalar context strtod returns the parsed number.
37120919 1344
1345=item strtok
1346
4755096e 1347strtok() is C-specific, use regular expressions instead, see
1348L<perlre>, or L<perlfunc/split>.
37120919 1349
1350=item strtol
1351
a89d8a78 1352String to (long) integer translation. Returns the parsed number and
1353the number of characters in the unparsed portion of the string. Truly
1354POSIX-compliant systems set $! ($ERRNO) to indicate a translation
1355error, so clear $! before calling strtol. However, non-POSIX systems
1356may not check for overflow, and therefore will never set $!.
1357
1358strtol should respect any POSIX I<setlocale()> settings.
1359
1360To parse a string $str as a number in some base $base use
1361
1362 $! = 0;
1363 ($num, $n_unparsed) = POSIX::strtol($str, $base);
1364
1365The base should be zero or between 2 and 36, inclusive. When the base
1366is zero or omitted strtol will use the string itself to determine the
1367base: a leading "0x" or "0X" means hexadecimal; a leading "0" means
1368octal; any other leading characters mean decimal. Thus, "1234" is
1369parsed as a decimal number, "01234" as an octal number, and "0x1234"
1370as a hexadecimal number.
1371
1372The second returned item and $! can be used to check for valid input:
1373
1374 if (($str eq '') || ($n_unparsed != 0) || !$!) {
1375 die "Non-numeric input $str" . $! ? ": $!\n" : "\n";
1376 }
1377
1378When called in a scalar context strtol returns the parsed number.
1379
1380=item strtoul
1381
4755096e 1382String to unsigned (long) integer translation. strtoul() is identical
1383to strtol() except that strtoul() only parses unsigned integers. See
1384L</strtol> for details.
a89d8a78 1385
4755096e 1386Note: Some vendors supply strtod() and strtol() but not strtoul().
1387Other vendors that do supply strtoul() parse "-1" as a valid value.
37120919 1388
1389=item strxfrm
1390
cb1a09d0 1391String transformation. Returns the transformed string.
1392
1393 $dst = POSIX::strxfrm( $src );
37120919 1394
4755096e 1395Used in conjunction with the C<strcoll()> function, see L</strcoll>.
1396
1397Not really needed since Perl can do this transparently, see
1398L<perllocale>.
1399
37120919 1400=item sysconf
1401
1402Retrieves values of system configurable variables.
1403
1404The following will get the machine's clock speed.
1405
1406 $clock_ticks = POSIX::sysconf( &POSIX::_SC_CLK_TCK );
1407
1408Returns C<undef> on failure.
1409
1410=item system
1411
4755096e 1412This is identical to Perl's builtin C<system()> function, see
1413L<perlfunc/system>.
37120919 1414
1415=item tan
1416
4755096e 1417This is identical to the C function C<tan()>, returning the
c2e66d9e 1418tangent of the numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 1419
1420=item tanh
1421
4755096e 1422This is identical to the C function C<tanh()>, returning the
c2e66d9e 1423hyperbolic tangent of the numerical argument. See also L<Math::Trig>.
37120919 1424
1425=item tcdrain
1426
4755096e 1427This is similar to the C function C<tcdrain()> for draining
1428the output queue of its argument stream.
37120919 1429
1430Returns C<undef> on failure.
1431
1432=item tcflow
1433
4755096e 1434This is similar to the C function C<tcflow()> for controlling
1435the flow of its argument stream.
37120919 1436
1437Returns C<undef> on failure.
1438
1439=item tcflush
1440
4755096e 1441This is similar to the C function C<tcflush()> for flushing
cc767757 1442the I/O buffers of its argument stream.
37120919 1443
1444Returns C<undef> on failure.
1445
1446=item tcgetpgrp
1447
4755096e 1448This is identical to the C function C<tcgetpgrp()> for returning the
1449process group identifier of the foreground process group of the controlling
1450terminal.
37120919 1451
1452=item tcsendbreak
1453
4755096e 1454This is similar to the C function C<tcsendbreak()> for sending
1455a break on its argument stream.
37120919 1456
1457Returns C<undef> on failure.
1458
1459=item tcsetpgrp
1460
4755096e 1461This is similar to the C function C<tcsetpgrp()> for setting the
1462process group identifier of the foreground process group of the controlling
1463terminal.
37120919 1464
1465Returns C<undef> on failure.
1466
1467=item time
1468
4755096e 1469This is identical to Perl's builtin C<time()> function
1470for returning the number of seconds since the epoch
1471(whatever it is for the system), see L<perlfunc/time>.
37120919 1472
1473=item times
1474
1475The times() function returns elapsed realtime since some point in the past
1476(such as system startup), user and system times for this process, and user
1477and system times used by child processes. All times are returned in clock
1478ticks.
1479
1480 ($realtime, $user, $system, $cuser, $csystem) = POSIX::times();
1481
1482Note: Perl's builtin C<times()> function returns four values, measured in
1483seconds.
1484
1485=item tmpfile
1486
4755096e 1487Use method C<IO::File::new_tmpfile()> instead, or see L<File::Temp>.
37120919 1488
1489=item tmpnam
1490
1491Returns a name for a temporary file.
1492
1493 $tmpfile = POSIX::tmpnam();
1494
60cba15a 1495For security reasons, which are probably detailed in your system's
1496documentation for the C library tmpnam() function, this interface
1497should not be used; instead see L<File::Temp>.
4755096e 1498
37120919 1499=item tolower
1500
4755096e 1501This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a single
1502character or to a whole string. Consider using the C<lc()> function,
1503see L<perlfunc/lc>, or the equivalent C<\L> operator inside doublequotish
1504strings.
37120919 1505
1506=item toupper
1507
4755096e 1508This is identical to the C function, except that it can apply to a single
1509character or to a whole string. Consider using the C<uc()> function,
1510see L<perlfunc/uc>, or the equivalent C<\U> operator inside doublequotish
1511strings.
37120919 1512
1513=item ttyname
1514
4755096e 1515This is identical to the C function C<ttyname()> for returning the
1516name of the current terminal.
37120919 1517
1518=item tzname
1519
cb1a09d0 1520Retrieves the time conversion information from the C<tzname> variable.
1521
1522 POSIX::tzset();
1523 ($std, $dst) = POSIX::tzname();
37120919 1524
1525=item tzset
1526
4755096e 1527This is identical to the C function C<tzset()> for setting
1528the current timezone based on the environment variable C<TZ>,
1529to be used by C<ctime()>, C<localtime()>, C<mktime()>, and C<strftime()>
1530functions.
37120919 1531
1532=item umask
1533
4755096e 1534This is identical to Perl's builtin C<umask()> function
1535for setting (and querying) the file creation permission mask,
1536see L<perlfunc/umask>.
37120919 1537
1538=item uname
1539
cb1a09d0 1540Get name of current operating system.
1541
4755096e 1542 ($sysname, $nodename, $release, $version, $machine) = POSIX::uname();
1543
1544Note that the actual meanings of the various fields are not
1545that well standardized, do not expect any great portability.
1546The C<$sysname> might be the name of the operating system,
1547the C<$nodename> might be the name of the host, the C<$release>
1548might be the (major) release number of the operating system,
1549the C<$version> might be the (minor) release number of the
1550operating system, and the C<$machine> might be a hardware identifier.
1551Maybe.
37120919 1552
1553=item ungetc
1554
28757baa 1555Use method C<IO::Handle::ungetc()> instead.
37120919 1556
1557=item unlink
1558
4755096e 1559This is identical to Perl's builtin C<unlink()> function
1560for removing files, see L<perlfunc/unlink>.
37120919 1561
1562=item utime
1563
4755096e 1564This is identical to Perl's builtin C<utime()> function
1565for changing the time stamps of files and directories,
1566see L<perlfunc/utime>.
37120919 1567
1568=item vfprintf
1569
4755096e 1570vfprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/printf> instead.
37120919 1571
1572=item vprintf
1573
4755096e 1574vprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/printf> instead.
37120919 1575
1576=item vsprintf
1577
4755096e 1578vsprintf() is C-specific, see L<perlfunc/sprintf> instead.
37120919 1579
1580=item wait
1581
4755096e 1582This is identical to Perl's builtin C<wait()> function,
1583see L<perlfunc/wait>.
37120919 1584
1585=item waitpid
1586
cb1a09d0 1587Wait for a child process to change state. This is identical to Perl's
4755096e 1588builtin C<waitpid()> function, see L<perlfunc/waitpid>.
cb1a09d0 1589
2ac1ef3d 1590 $pid = POSIX::waitpid( -1, POSIX::WNOHANG );
cb1a09d0 1591 print "status = ", ($? / 256), "\n";
37120919 1592
1593=item wcstombs
1594
cb1a09d0 1595This is identical to the C function C<wcstombs()>.
4755096e 1596Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte
1597characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather
1598useless function.
37120919 1599
1600=item wctomb
1601
cb1a09d0 1602This is identical to the C function C<wctomb()>.
4755096e 1603Perl does not have any support for the wide and multibyte
1604characters of the C standards, so this might be a rather
1605useless function.
37120919 1606
1607=item write
1608
cb1a09d0 1609Write to a file. This uses file descriptors such as those obtained by
1610calling C<POSIX::open>.
1611
1612 $fd = POSIX::open( "foo", &POSIX::O_WRONLY );
1613 $buf = "hello";
1614 $bytes = POSIX::write( $b, $buf, 5 );
37120919 1615
1616Returns C<undef> on failure.
1617
4755096e 1618See also L<perlfunc/syswrite>.
1619
37120919 1620=back
1621
1622=head1 CLASSES
1623
37120919 1624=head2 POSIX::SigAction
1625
1626=over 8
1627
1628=item new
1629
cb1a09d0 1630Creates a new C<POSIX::SigAction> object which corresponds to the C
1631C<struct sigaction>. This object will be destroyed automatically when it is
1632no longer needed. The first parameter is the fully-qualified name of a sub
1633which is a signal-handler. The second parameter is a C<POSIX::SigSet>
28757baa 1634object, it defaults to the empty set. The third parameter contains the
1635C<sa_flags>, it defaults to 0.
cb1a09d0 1636
28757baa 1637 $sigset = POSIX::SigSet->new(SIGINT, SIGQUIT);
cb1a09d0 1638 $sigaction = POSIX::SigAction->new( 'main::handler', $sigset, &POSIX::SA_NOCLDSTOP );
1639
1640This C<POSIX::SigAction> object should be used with the C<POSIX::sigaction()>
1641function.
37120919 1642
1643=back
1644
557c0de7 1645=over 8
1646
1647=item handler
1648
1649=item mask
1650
1651=item flags
1652
1653accessor functions to get/set the values of a SigAction object.
1654
1655 $sigset = $sigaction->mask;
1656 $sigaction->flags(&POSIX::SA_RESTART);
1657
1658=back
1659
37120919 1660=head2 POSIX::SigSet
1661
1662=over 8
1663
1664=item new
1665
1666Create a new SigSet object. This object will be destroyed automatically
1667when it is no longer needed. Arguments may be supplied to initialize the
1668set.
1669
1670Create an empty set.
1671
1672 $sigset = POSIX::SigSet->new;
1673
1674Create a set with SIGUSR1.
1675
1676 $sigset = POSIX::SigSet->new( &POSIX::SIGUSR1 );
1677
1678=item addset
1679
1680Add a signal to a SigSet object.
1681
1682 $sigset->addset( &POSIX::SIGUSR2 );
1683
1684Returns C<undef> on failure.
1685
1686=item delset
1687
1688Remove a signal from the SigSet object.
1689
1690 $sigset->delset( &POSIX::SIGUSR2 );
1691
1692Returns C<undef> on failure.
1693
1694=item emptyset
1695
1696Initialize the SigSet object to be empty.
1697
1698 $sigset->emptyset();
1699
1700Returns C<undef> on failure.
1701
1702=item fillset
1703
1704Initialize the SigSet object to include all signals.
1705
1706 $sigset->fillset();
1707
1708Returns C<undef> on failure.
1709
1710=item ismember
1711
1712Tests the SigSet object to see if it contains a specific signal.
1713
1714 if( $sigset->ismember( &POSIX::SIGUSR1 ) ){
1715 print "contains SIGUSR1\n";
1716 }
1717
1718=back
1719
1720=head2 POSIX::Termios
1721
1722=over 8
1723
1724=item new
1725
1726Create a new Termios object. This object will be destroyed automatically
55d729e4 1727when it is no longer needed. A Termios object corresponds to the termios
1728C struct. new() mallocs a new one, getattr() fills it from a file descriptor,
1729and setattr() sets a file descriptor's parameters to match Termios' contents.
37120919 1730
1731 $termios = POSIX::Termios->new;
1732
1733=item getattr
1734
cb1a09d0 1735Get terminal control attributes.
1736
1737Obtain the attributes for stdin.
1738
1739 $termios->getattr()
1740
1741Obtain the attributes for stdout.
1742
1743 $termios->getattr( 1 )
37120919 1744
1745Returns C<undef> on failure.
1746
1747=item getcc
1748
1749Retrieve a value from the c_cc field of a termios object. The c_cc field is
1750an array so an index must be specified.
1751
1752 $c_cc[1] = $termios->getcc(1);
1753
1754=item getcflag
1755
1756Retrieve the c_cflag field of a termios object.
1757
1758 $c_cflag = $termios->getcflag;
1759
1760=item getiflag
1761
1762Retrieve the c_iflag field of a termios object.
1763
1764 $c_iflag = $termios->getiflag;
1765
1766=item getispeed
1767
1768Retrieve the input baud rate.
1769
1770 $ispeed = $termios->getispeed;
1771
1772=item getlflag
1773
1774Retrieve the c_lflag field of a termios object.
1775
1776 $c_lflag = $termios->getlflag;
1777
1778=item getoflag
1779
1780Retrieve the c_oflag field of a termios object.
1781
1782 $c_oflag = $termios->getoflag;
1783
1784=item getospeed
1785
1786Retrieve the output baud rate.
1787
1788 $ospeed = $termios->getospeed;
1789
1790=item setattr
1791
cb1a09d0 1792Set terminal control attributes.
1793
1794Set attributes immediately for stdout.
1795
1796 $termios->setattr( 1, &POSIX::TCSANOW );
37120919 1797
1798Returns C<undef> on failure.
1799
1800=item setcc
1801
1802Set a value in the c_cc field of a termios object. The c_cc field is an
1803array so an index must be specified.
1804
6b7a6f50 1805 $termios->setcc( &POSIX::VEOF, 1 );
37120919 1806
1807=item setcflag
1808
1809Set the c_cflag field of a termios object.
1810
55d729e4 1811 $termios->setcflag( $c_cflag | &POSIX::CLOCAL );
37120919 1812
1813=item setiflag
1814
1815Set the c_iflag field of a termios object.
1816
55d729e4 1817 $termios->setiflag( $c_iflag | &POSIX::BRKINT );
37120919 1818
1819=item setispeed
1820
1821Set the input baud rate.
1822
1823 $termios->setispeed( &POSIX::B9600 );
1824
1825Returns C<undef> on failure.
1826
1827=item setlflag
1828
1829Set the c_lflag field of a termios object.
1830
55d729e4 1831 $termios->setlflag( $c_lflag | &POSIX::ECHO );
37120919 1832
1833=item setoflag
1834
1835Set the c_oflag field of a termios object.
1836
55d729e4 1837 $termios->setoflag( $c_oflag | &POSIX::OPOST );
37120919 1838
1839=item setospeed
1840
1841Set the output baud rate.
1842
1843 $termios->setospeed( &POSIX::B9600 );
1844
1845Returns C<undef> on failure.
1846
1847=item Baud rate values
1848
1849B38400 B75 B200 B134 B300 B1800 B150 B0 B19200 B1200 B9600 B600 B4800 B50 B2400 B110
1850
1851=item Terminal interface values
1852
1853TCSADRAIN TCSANOW TCOON TCIOFLUSH TCOFLUSH TCION TCIFLUSH TCSAFLUSH TCIOFF TCOOFF
1854
1855=item c_cc field values
1856
1857VEOF VEOL VERASE VINTR VKILL VQUIT VSUSP VSTART VSTOP VMIN VTIME NCCS
1858
1859=item c_cflag field values
1860
1861CLOCAL CREAD CSIZE CS5 CS6 CS7 CS8 CSTOPB HUPCL PARENB PARODD
1862
1863=item c_iflag field values
1864
1865BRKINT ICRNL IGNBRK IGNCR IGNPAR INLCR INPCK ISTRIP IXOFF IXON PARMRK
1866
1867=item c_lflag field values
1868
1869ECHO ECHOE ECHOK ECHONL ICANON IEXTEN ISIG NOFLSH TOSTOP
1870
1871=item c_oflag field values
1872
1873OPOST
1874
1875=back
1876
1877=head1 PATHNAME CONSTANTS
1878
1879=over 8
1880
1881=item Constants
1882
1883_PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED _PC_LINK_MAX _PC_MAX_CANON _PC_MAX_INPUT _PC_NAME_MAX _PC_NO_TRUNC _PC_PATH_MAX _PC_PIPE_BUF _PC_VDISABLE
1884
1885=back
1886
1887=head1 POSIX CONSTANTS
1888
1889=over 8
1890
1891=item Constants
1892
1893_POSIX_ARG_MAX _POSIX_CHILD_MAX _POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED _POSIX_JOB_CONTROL _POSIX_LINK_MAX _POSIX_MAX_CANON _POSIX_MAX_INPUT _POSIX_NAME_MAX _POSIX_NGROUPS_MAX _POSIX_NO_TRUNC _POSIX_OPEN_MAX _POSIX_PATH_MAX _POSIX_PIPE_BUF _POSIX_SAVED_IDS _POSIX_SSIZE_MAX _POSIX_STREAM_MAX _POSIX_TZNAME_MAX _POSIX_VDISABLE _POSIX_VERSION
1894
1895=back
1896
1897=head1 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
1898
1899=over 8
1900
1901=item Constants
1902
d61b6859 1903_SC_ARG_MAX _SC_CHILD_MAX _SC_CLK_TCK _SC_JOB_CONTROL _SC_NGROUPS_MAX _SC_OPEN_MAX _SC_PAGESIZE _SC_SAVED_IDS _SC_STREAM_MAX _SC_TZNAME_MAX _SC_VERSION
37120919 1904
1905=back
1906
1907=head1 ERRNO
1908
1909=over 8
1910
1911=item Constants
1912
774d564b 1913E2BIG EACCES EADDRINUSE EADDRNOTAVAIL EAFNOSUPPORT EAGAIN EALREADY EBADF
1914EBUSY ECHILD ECONNABORTED ECONNREFUSED ECONNRESET EDEADLK EDESTADDRREQ
1915EDOM EDQUOT EEXIST EFAULT EFBIG EHOSTDOWN EHOSTUNREACH EINPROGRESS EINTR
1916EINVAL EIO EISCONN EISDIR ELOOP EMFILE EMLINK EMSGSIZE ENAMETOOLONG
1917ENETDOWN ENETRESET ENETUNREACH ENFILE ENOBUFS ENODEV ENOENT ENOEXEC
1918ENOLCK ENOMEM ENOPROTOOPT ENOSPC ENOSYS ENOTBLK ENOTCONN ENOTDIR
1919ENOTEMPTY ENOTSOCK ENOTTY ENXIO EOPNOTSUPP EPERM EPFNOSUPPORT EPIPE
1920EPROCLIM EPROTONOSUPPORT EPROTOTYPE ERANGE EREMOTE ERESTART EROFS
1921ESHUTDOWN ESOCKTNOSUPPORT ESPIPE ESRCH ESTALE ETIMEDOUT ETOOMANYREFS
1922ETXTBSY EUSERS EWOULDBLOCK EXDEV
37120919 1923
1924=back
1925
1926=head1 FCNTL
1927
1928=over 8
1929
1930=item Constants
1931
1932FD_CLOEXEC F_DUPFD F_GETFD F_GETFL F_GETLK F_OK F_RDLCK F_SETFD F_SETFL F_SETLK F_SETLKW F_UNLCK F_WRLCK O_ACCMODE O_APPEND O_CREAT O_EXCL O_NOCTTY O_NONBLOCK O_RDONLY O_RDWR O_TRUNC O_WRONLY
1933
1934=back
1935
1936=head1 FLOAT
1937
1938=over 8
1939
1940=item Constants
1941
1942DBL_DIG DBL_EPSILON DBL_MANT_DIG DBL_MAX DBL_MAX_10_EXP DBL_MAX_EXP DBL_MIN DBL_MIN_10_EXP DBL_MIN_EXP FLT_DIG FLT_EPSILON FLT_MANT_DIG FLT_MAX FLT_MAX_10_EXP FLT_MAX_EXP FLT_MIN FLT_MIN_10_EXP FLT_MIN_EXP FLT_RADIX FLT_ROUNDS LDBL_DIG LDBL_EPSILON LDBL_MANT_DIG LDBL_MAX LDBL_MAX_10_EXP LDBL_MAX_EXP LDBL_MIN LDBL_MIN_10_EXP LDBL_MIN_EXP
1943
1944=back
1945
1946=head1 LIMITS
1947
1948=over 8
1949
1950=item Constants
1951
1952ARG_MAX CHAR_BIT CHAR_MAX CHAR_MIN CHILD_MAX INT_MAX INT_MIN LINK_MAX LONG_MAX LONG_MIN MAX_CANON MAX_INPUT MB_LEN_MAX NAME_MAX NGROUPS_MAX OPEN_MAX PATH_MAX PIPE_BUF SCHAR_MAX SCHAR_MIN SHRT_MAX SHRT_MIN SSIZE_MAX STREAM_MAX TZNAME_MAX UCHAR_MAX UINT_MAX ULONG_MAX USHRT_MAX
1953
1954=back
1955
1956=head1 LOCALE
1957
1958=over 8
1959
1960=item Constants
1961
1962LC_ALL LC_COLLATE LC_CTYPE LC_MONETARY LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME
1963
1964=back
1965
1966=head1 MATH
1967
1968=over 8
1969
1970=item Constants
1971
1972HUGE_VAL
1973
1974=back
1975
1976=head1 SIGNAL
1977
1978=over 8
1979
1980=item Constants
1981
774d564b 1982SA_NOCLDSTOP SA_NOCLDWAIT SA_NODEFER SA_ONSTACK SA_RESETHAND SA_RESTART
1983SA_SIGINFO SIGABRT SIGALRM SIGCHLD SIGCONT SIGFPE SIGHUP SIGILL SIGINT
1984SIGKILL SIGPIPE SIGQUIT SIGSEGV SIGSTOP SIGTERM SIGTSTP SIGTTIN SIGTTOU
1985SIGUSR1 SIGUSR2 SIG_BLOCK SIG_DFL SIG_ERR SIG_IGN SIG_SETMASK
1986SIG_UNBLOCK
37120919 1987
1988=back
1989
1990=head1 STAT
1991
1992=over 8
1993
1994=item Constants
1995
1996S_IRGRP S_IROTH S_IRUSR S_IRWXG S_IRWXO S_IRWXU S_ISGID S_ISUID S_IWGRP S_IWOTH S_IWUSR S_IXGRP S_IXOTH S_IXUSR
1997
1998=item Macros
1999
2000S_ISBLK S_ISCHR S_ISDIR S_ISFIFO S_ISREG
2001
2002=back
2003
2004=head1 STDLIB
2005
2006=over 8
2007
2008=item Constants
2009
2010EXIT_FAILURE EXIT_SUCCESS MB_CUR_MAX RAND_MAX
2011
2012=back
2013
2014=head1 STDIO
2015
2016=over 8
2017
2018=item Constants
2019
c07a80fd 2020BUFSIZ EOF FILENAME_MAX L_ctermid L_cuserid L_tmpname TMP_MAX
37120919 2021
2022=back
2023
2024=head1 TIME
2025
2026=over 8
2027
2028=item Constants
2029
2030CLK_TCK CLOCKS_PER_SEC
2031
2032=back
2033
2034=head1 UNISTD
2035
2036=over 8
2037
2038=item Constants
2039
b250498f 2040R_OK SEEK_CUR SEEK_END SEEK_SET STDIN_FILENO STDOUT_FILENO STDERR_FILENO W_OK X_OK
37120919 2041
2042=back
2043
2044=head1 WAIT
2045
2046=over 8
2047
2048=item Constants
2049
2050WNOHANG WUNTRACED
2051
9d6eb86e 2052=over 16
2053
2054=item WNOHANG
2055
2056Do not suspend the calling process until a child process
2057changes state but instead return immediately.
2058
2059=item WUNTRACED
2060
2061Catch stopped child processes.
2062
2063=back
2064
37120919 2065=item Macros
2066
2067WIFEXITED WEXITSTATUS WIFSIGNALED WTERMSIG WIFSTOPPED WSTOPSIG
2068
9d6eb86e 2069=over 16
2070
2071=item WIFEXITED
2072
2073WIFEXITED($?) returns true if the child process exited normally
2074(C<exit()> or by falling off the end of C<main()>)
2075
2076=item WEXITSTATUS
2077
2078WEXITSTATUS($?) returns the normal exit status of the child process
2079(only meaningful if WIFEXITED($?) is true)
2080
2081=item WIFSIGNALED
2082
2083WIFSIGNALED($?) returns true if the child process terminated because
2084of a signal
2085
2086=item WTERMSIG
2087
2088WTERMSIG($?) returns the signal the child process terminated for
2089(only meaningful if WIFSIGNALED($?) is true)
2090
2091=item WIFSTOPPED
2092
2093WIFSTOPPED($?) returns true if the child process is currently stopped
2094(can happen only if you specified the WUNTRACED flag to waitpid())
2095
2096=item WSTOPSIG
2097
2098WSTOPSIG($?) returns the signal the child process was stopped for
2099(only meaningful if WIFSTOPPED($?) is true)
2100
2101=back
2102
37120919 2103=back
2104