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

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       http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.