OPENAT(2) Linux Programmer's Manual OPENAT(2)NAMEopenat - open a file relative to a directory file descriptor
SYNOPSIS
#define _ATFILE_SOURCE
#include <fcntl.h>
int openat(int dirfd, const char *pathname, int flags);
int openat(int dirfd, const char *pathname, int flags, mode_t mode);
DESCRIPTION
The openat() system call operates in exactly the same way as open(2),
except for the differences described in this manual page.
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 open(2) 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 open(2)).
If pathname is absolute, then dirfd is ignored.
RETURN VALUE
On success, openat() returns a new file descriptor. On error, -1 is
returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The same errors that occur for open(2) can also occur for openat().
The following additional errors can occur for openat():
EBADF dirfd is not a valid file descriptor.
ENOTDIR
pathname is relative and dirfd is a file descriptor referring to
a file other than a directory.
VERSIONSopenat() was added to Linux in kernel 2.6.16.
CONFORMING TO
POSIX.1-2008. A similar system call exists on Solaris.
NOTESopenat() and other similar system calls suffixed "at" are supported for
two reasons.
First, openat() allows an application to avoid race conditions that
could occur when using open(2) to open files in directories other than
the current working directory. These race conditions result from the
fact that some component of the directory prefix given to open(2) could
be changed in parallel with the call to open(2). Such races can be
avoided by opening a file descriptor for the target directory, and then
specifying that file descriptor as the dirfd argument of openat().
Second, openat() allows the implementation of a per-thread "current
working directory", via file descriptor(s) maintained by the applica‐
tion. (This functionality can also be obtained by tricks based on the
use of /proc/self/fd/dirfd, but less efficiently.)
SEE ALSOfaccessat(2), fchmodat(2), fchownat(2), fstatat(2), futimesat(2),
linkat(2), mkdirat(2), mknodat(2), open(2), readlinkat(2), renameat(2),
symlinkat(2), unlinkat(2), utimensat(2), mkfifoat(3), path_resolu‐
tion(7)COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.15 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/.
Linux 2008-08-21 OPENAT(2)
