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NAME
ftw - traverse (walk) a file tree
SYNOPSIS
#include <ftw.h> int ftw(const char *path, int (*fn)(const char *, const struct stat *ptr, int flag), int ndirs);
DESCRIPTION
The ftw() function shall recursively descend the directory hierarchy rooted in path. For each object in
the hierarchy, ftw() shall call the function pointed to by fn, passing it a pointer to a null-terminated
character string containing the name of the object, a pointer to a stat structure containing information
about the object, and an integer. Possible values of the integer, defined in the <ftw.h> header, are:
FTW_D For a directory.
FTW_DNR
For a directory that cannot be read.
FTW_F For a file.
FTW_SL For a symbolic link (but see also FTW_NS below).
FTW_NS For an object other than a symbolic link on which stat() could not successfully be executed. If
the object is a symbolic link and stat() failed, it is unspecified whether ftw() passes FTW_SL or
FTW_NS to the user-supplied function.
If the integer is FTW_DNR, descendants of that directory shall not be processed. If the integer is
FTW_NS, the stat structure contains undefined values. An example of an object that would cause FTW_NS to
be passed to the function pointed to by fn would be a file in a directory with read but without execute
(search) permission.
The ftw() function shall visit a directory before visiting any of its descendants.
The ftw() function shall use at most one file descriptor for each level in the tree.
The argument ndirs should be in the range [1, {OPEN_MAX}].
The tree traversal shall continue until either the tree is exhausted, an invocation of fn returns a non-
zero value, or some error, other than [EACCES], is detected within ftw().
The ndirs argument shall specify the maximum number of directory streams or file descriptors or both
available for use by ftw() while traversing the tree. When ftw() returns it shall close any directory
streams and file descriptors it uses not counting any opened by the application-supplied fn function.
The results are unspecified if the application-supplied fn function does not preserve the current working
directory.
The ftw() function need not be reentrant. A function that is not required to be reentrant is not required
to be thread-safe.
RETURN VALUE
If the tree is exhausted, ftw() shall return 0. If the function pointed to by fn returns a non-zero
value, ftw() shall stop its tree traversal and return whatever value was returned by the function pointed
to by fn. If ftw() detects an error, it shall return -1 and set errno to indicate the error.
If ftw() encounters an error other than [EACCES] (see FTW_DNR and FTW_NS above), it shall return -1 and
set errno to indicate the error. The external variable errno may contain any error value that is possible
when a directory is opened or when one of the stat functions is executed on a directory or file.
ERRORS
The ftw() function shall fail if:
EACCES Search permission is denied for any component of path or read permission is denied for path.
ELOOP A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of the path argument.
ENAMETOOLONG
The length of the path argument exceeds {PATH_MAX} or a pathname component is longer than
{NAME_MAX}.
ENOENT A component of path does not name an existing file or path is an empty string.
ENOTDIR
A component of path is not a directory.
EOVERFLOW
A field in the stat structure cannot be represented correctly in the current programming
environment for one or more files found in the file hierarchy.
The ftw() function may fail if:
EINVAL The value of the ndirs argument is invalid.
ELOOP More than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during resolution of the path argument.
ENAMETOOLONG
Pathname resolution of a symbolic link produced an intermediate result whose length exceeds
{PATH_MAX}.
In addition, if the function pointed to by fn encounters system errors, errno may be set accordingly.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Walking a Directory Structure
The following example walks the current directory structure, calling the fn function for every directory
entry, using at most 10 file descriptors:
#include <ftw.h>
...
if (ftw(".", fn, 10) != 0) {
perror("ftw"); exit(2);
}
APPLICATION USAGE
The ftw() function may allocate dynamic storage during its operation. If ftw() is forcibly terminated,
such as by longjmp() or siglongjmp() being executed by the function pointed to by fn or an interrupt
routine, ftw() does not have a chance to free that storage, so it remains permanently allocated. A safe
way to handle interrupts is to store the fact that an interrupt has occurred, and arrange to have the
function pointed to by fn return a non-zero value at its next invocation.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
longjmp() , lstat() , malloc() , nftw() , opendir() , siglongjmp() , stat() , the Base Definitions volume
of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <ftw.h>, <sys/stat.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 .