NAME

       mkfifo - make a FIFO special file (a named pipe)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <sys/stat.h>

       int mkfifo(const char *pathname, mode_t mode);

DESCRIPTION

       mkfifo()  makes  a  FIFO  special file with name pathname.  mode specifies the FIFO's permissions.  It is
       modified by the process's umask in the usual way: the  permissions  of  the  created  file  are  (mode  &
       ~umask).

       A FIFO special file is similar to a pipe, except that it is created in a different way.  Instead of being
       an  anonymous  communications  channel,  a  FIFO  special  file is entered into the filesystem by calling
       mkfifo().

       Once you have created a FIFO special file in this way, any process can open it for reading or writing, in
       the same way as an ordinary file.  However, it has to be open at both ends simultaneously before you  can
       proceed  to  do  any  input or output operations on it.  Opening a FIFO for reading normally blocks until
       some other process opens the same FIFO for writing, and vice versa.  See fifo(7) for nonblocking handling
       of FIFO special files.

RETURN VALUE

       On success mkfifo() returns 0.  In the case of an error, -1 is returned (in  which  case,  errno  is  set
       appropriately).

ERRORS

       EACCES One of the directories in pathname did not allow search (execute) permission.

       EDQUOT The user's quota of disk blocks or inodes on the filesystem has been exhausted.

       EEXIST pathname  already  exists.   This includes the case where pathname is a symbolic link, dangling or
              not.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              Either the total length of pathname is greater than PATH_MAX, or an individual filename  component
              has  a  length  greater  than  NAME_MAX.   In the GNU system, there is no imposed limit on overall
              filename length, but some filesystems may place limits on the length of a component.

       ENOENT A directory component in pathname does not exist or is a dangling symbolic link.

       ENOSPC The directory or filesystem has no room for the new file.

       ENOTDIR
              A component used as a directory in pathname is not, in fact, a directory.

       EROFS  pathname refers to a read-only filesystem.

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1-2001.

SEE ALSO

       mkfifo(1), close(2), open(2), read(2), stat(2), umask(2), write(2), mkfifoat(3), fifo(7)

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 3.54 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/.

GNU                                                2013-01-27                                          MKFIFO(3)