NAME

       fclose - close a stream

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdio.h>

       int fclose(FILE *stream);

DESCRIPTION

       The  fclose()  function shall cause the stream pointed to by stream to be flushed and the associated file
       to be closed. Any unwritten buffered data for the stream  shall  be  written  to  the  file;  any  unread
       buffered  data  shall  be discarded.  Whether or not the call succeeds, the stream shall be disassociated
       from the file and any buffer set by the setbuf() or setvbuf() function shall be  disassociated  from  the
       stream. If the associated buffer was automatically allocated, it shall be deallocated.

       The  fclose()  function shall mark for update the st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the underlying file, if
       the stream was writable, and if buffered data remains that has not yet been  written  to  the  file.  The
       fclose()  function  shall  perform  the equivalent of a close() on the file descriptor that is associated
       with the stream pointed to by stream.

       After the call to fclose(), any use of stream results in undefined behavior.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon successful completion, fclose() shall return 0; otherwise, it shall return EOF    and set  errno  to
       indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The fclose() function shall fail if:

       EAGAIN The  O_NONBLOCK  flag  is  set  for the file descriptor underlying stream and the process would be
              delayed in the write operation.

       EBADF  The file descriptor underlying stream is not valid.

       EFBIG  An attempt was made to write a file that exceeds the maximum file size.

       EFBIG  An attempt was made to write a file that exceeds the process' file size limit.

       EFBIG  The file is a regular file and an attempt was made to  write  at  or  beyond  the  offset  maximum
              associated with the corresponding stream.

       EINTR  The fclose() function was interrupted by a signal.

       EIO    The  process  is  a  member  of  a background process group attempting to write to its controlling
              terminal, TOSTOP is set, the process is neither ignoring nor blocking  SIGTTOU,  and  the  process
              group  of  the  process  is orphaned. This error may also be returned under implementation-defined
              conditions.

       ENOSPC There was no free space remaining on the device containing the file.

       EPIPE  An attempt is made to write to a pipe or FIFO that is not open  for  reading  by  any  process.  A
              SIGPIPE signal shall also be sent to the thread.

       The fclose() function may fail if:

       ENXIO  A  request  was  made  of a nonexistent device, or the request was outside the capabilities of the
              device.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE

       None.

RATIONALE

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       close() , fopen() , getrlimit() ,  ulimit()  ,  the  Base  Definitions  volume  of  IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
       <stdio.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition,
       Standard  for  Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
       Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the  original  IEEE  and
       The  Open  Group  Standard,  the  original  IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The
       original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group                                   2003                                             FCLOSE(P)