System Calls write(2)
NAME
write, pwrite, writev - write on a file
SYNOPSIS
#include
ssize_t write(int fildes, const void *buf, size_t nbyte);
ssize_t pwrite(int fildes, const void *buf, size_t nbyte,
off_t offset);
#include
ssize_t writev(int fildes, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt);
DESCRIPTION
The write() function attempts to write nbyte bytes from the buffer pointed to by buf to the file associated with the open file descriptor, fildes. If nbyte is 0, write() will return 0 and have no other results if the file is a regular file; otherwise, the results are unspecified. On a regular file or other file capable of seeking, the actual writing of data proceeds from the position in the file indicated by the file offset associated with fildes. Before successful return from write(), the file offset is incremented by the number of bytes actually written. On a regular file, if this incremented file offset is greater than the length of the file, the length of the file will be set to this file offset.If the O_SYNC bit has been set, write I/O operations on the
file descriptor complete as defined by synchronized I/O file integrity completion. If fildes refers to a socket, write() is equivalent to send(3SOCKET) with no flags set. On a file not capable of seeking, writing always takes place starting at the current position. The value of a file offset associated with such a device is undefined.
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 1
System Calls write(2)If the O_APPEND flag of the file status flags is set, the
file offset will be set to the end of the file prior to each write and no intervening file modification operation willoccur between changing the file offset and the write opera-
tion. For regular files, no data transfer will occur past the offset maximum established in the open file description with fildes. A write() to a regular file is blocked if mandatory file/record locking is set (see chmod(2)), and there is a record lock owned by another process on the segment of the file to be written:o If O_NDELAY or O_NONBLOCK is set, write() returns
-1 and sets errno to EAGAIN.
o If O_NDELAY and O_NONBLOCK are clear, write()
sleeps until all blocking locks are removed or the write() is terminated by a signal. If a write() requests that more bytes be written than thereis room for-for example, if the write would exceed the pro-
cess file size limit (see getrlimit(2) and ulimit(2)), thesystem file size limit, or the free space on the device-only
as many bytes as there is room for will be written. For example, suppose there is space for 20 bytes more in a filebefore reaching a limit. A write() of 512-bytes returns 20.
The next write() of a non-zero number of bytes gives a
failure return (except as noted for pipes and FIFO below). If write() is interrupted by a signal before it writes anydata, it will return -1 with errno set to EINTR.
If write() is interrupted by a signal after it successfullywrites some data, it will return the number of bytes writ-
ten.If write() exceeds the process file size limit, the applica-
tion generates a SIGXFSZ signal, whose default behavior is to dump core. After a write() to a regular file has successfully returned:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 2
System Calls write(2) o Any successful read(2) from each byte position in the file that was modified by that write will return the data specified by the write() for thatposition until such byte positions are again modi-
fied. o Any subsequent successful write() to the same byte position in the file will overwrite that file data. Write requests to a pipe or FIFO are handled the same as a regular file with the following exceptions: o There is no file offset associated with a pipe, hence each write request appends to the end of the pipe.o Write requests of {PIPE_BUF} bytes or less are
guaranteed not to be interleaved with data from other processes doing writes on the same pipe.Writes of greater than {PIPE_BUF} bytes may have
data interleaved, on arbitrary boundaries, with writes by other processes, whether or not theO_NONBLOCK or O_NDELAY flags are set.
o If O_NONBLOCK and O_NDELAY are clear, a write
request may cause the process to block, but on nor-
mal completion it returns nbyte.o If O_NONBLOCK and O_NDELAY are set, write() does
not block the process. If a write() request forPIPE_BUF or fewer bytes succeeds completely
write() returns nbyte. Otherwise, if O_NONBLOCK is
set, it returns -1 and sets errno to EAGAIN or if
O_NDELAY is set, it returns 0. A write() request
for greater than {PIPE_BUF} bytes transfers what
it can and returns the number of bytes written orit transfers no data and, if O_NONBLOCK is set,
returns -1 with errno set to EAGAIN or if O_NDELAY
is set, it returns 0. Finally, if a request isgreater than PIPE_BUF bytes and all data previously
written to the pipe has been read, write()transfers at least PIPE_BUF bytes.
When attempting to write to a file descriptor (other than apipe, a FIFO, a socket, or a stream) that supports nonblock-
ing writes and cannot accept the data immediately:o If O_NONBLOCK and O_NDELAY are clear, write()
blocks until the data can be accepted.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 3
System Calls write(2)o If O_NONBLOCK or O_NDELAY is set, write() does not
block the process. If some data can be written without blocking the process, write() writes what it can and returns the number of bytes written.Otherwise, if O_NONBLOCK is set, it returns -1 and
sets errno to EAGAIN or if O_NDELAY is set, it
returns 0. Upon successful completion, where nbyte is greater than 0,write() will mark for update the st_ctime and st_mtime
fields of the file, and if the file is a regular file, theS_ISUID and S_ISGID bits of the file mode may be cleared.
For streams files (see Intro(2) and streamio(7I)), the operation of write() is determined by the values of the minimum and maximum nbyte range ("packet size") accepted by the stream. These values are contained in the topmost stream module, and can not be set or tested from user level. If nbyte falls within the packet size range, nbyte bytes are written. If nbyte does not fall within the range and the minimum packet size value is zero, write() breaks the buffer into maximum packet size segments prior to sending the data downstream (the last segment may be smaller than the maximum packet size). If nbyte does not fall within therange and the minimum value is non-zero, write() fails and
sets errno to ERANGE. Writing a zero-length buffer (nbyte is
zero) to a streams device sends a zero length message withzero returned. However, writing a zero-length buffer to a
pipe or FIFO sends no message and zero is returned. Theuser program may issue the I_SWROPT ioctl(2) to enable
zero-length messages to be sent across the pipe or FIFO (see
streamio(7I)). When writing to a stream, data messages are created with a priority band of zero. When writing to a socket or to a stream that is not a pipe or a FIFO:o If O_NDELAY and O_NONBLOCK are not set, and the
stream cannot accept data (the stream write queue is full due to internal flow control conditions), write() blocks until data can be accepted.o If O_NDELAY or O_NONBLOCK is set and the stream
cannot accept data, write() returns -1 and sets
errno to EAGAIN.o If O_NDELAY or O_NONBLOCK is set and part of the
buffer has already been written when a condition occurs in which the stream cannot accept additionalSunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 4
System Calls write(2) data, write() terminates and returns the number of bytes written. The write() and writev() functions will fail if the stream head had processed an asynchronous error before the call. In this case, the value of errno does not reflect the result of write() or writev() but reflects the prior error.pwrite()
The pwrite() function is equivalent to write(), except that
it writes into a given position and does not change the fileoffset (regardless of whether O_APPEND is set). The first
three arguments to pwrite() are the same as write(), with
the addition of a fourth argument offset for the desired position inside the file. writev() The writev() function performs the same action as write(),but gathers the output data from the iovcnt buffers speci-
fied by the members of the iov array: iov[0], iov[1], ...,iov[iovcnt-1]. The iovcnt buffer is valid if greater than 0
and less than or equal to {IOV_MAX}. See Intro(2) for a
definition of {IOV_MAX}.
The iovec structure contains the following members:caddr_t iov_base;
int iov_len;
Each iovec entry specifies the base address and length of anarea in memory from which data should be written. The wri-
tev() function always writes all data from an area before proceeding to the next.If fildes refers to a regular file and all of the iov_len
members in the array pointed to by iov are 0, writev() will return 0 and have no other effect. For other file types, the behavior is unspecified.If the sum of the iov_len values is greater than SSIZE_MAX,
the operation fails and no data is transferred.RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, write() returns the number of bytes actually written to the file associated with fildes.This number is never greater than nbyte. Otherwise, -1 is
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 5
System Calls write(2)returned, the file-pointer remains unchanged, and errno is
set to indicate the error. Upon successful completion, writev() returns the number ofbytes actually written. Otherwise, it returns -1, the
file-pointer remains unchanged, and errno is set to indicate
an error.ERRORS
The write(), pwrite(), and writev() functions will fail if:
EAGAIN Mandatory file/record locking is set, O_NDELAY or
O_NONBLOCK is set, and there is a blocking record
lock; an attempt is made to write to a streamthat can not accept data with the O_NDELAY or
O_NONBLOCK flag set; or a write to a pipe or FIFO
of PIPE_BUF bytes or less is requested and less
than nbytes of free space is available.EBADF The fildes argument is not a valid file descrip-
tor open for writing. EDEADLK The write was going to go to sleep and cause a deadlock situation to occur.EDQUOT The user's quota of disk blocks on the file sys-
tem containing the file has been exhausted. EFBIG An attempt is made to write a file that exceeds the process's file size limit or the maximum file size (see getrlimit(2) and ulimit(2)). EFBIG The file is a regular file, nbyte is greater than 0, and the starting position is greater than or equal to the offset maximum established in the file description associated with fildes. EINTR A signal was caught during the write operation and no data was transferred.EIO The process is in the background and is attempt-
ing to write to its controlling terminal whose TOSTOP flag is set, or the process is neither ignoring nor blocking SIGTTOU signals and theSunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 6
System Calls write(2) process group of the process is orphaned. ENOLCK Enforced record locking was enabled and{LOCK_MAX} regions are already locked in the
system, or the system record lock table was full and the write could not go to sleep until the blocking record lock was removed. ENOLINK The fildes argument is on a remote machine and the link to that machine is no longer active. ENOSPC During a write to an ordinary file, there is no free space left on the device. ENOSR An attempt is made to write to a streams with insufficient streams memory resources available in the system. ENXIO A hangup occurred on the stream being written to. EPIPE An attempt is made to write to a pipe or a FIFO that is not open for reading by any process, orthat has only one end open (or to a file descrip-
tor created by socket(3SOCKET), using typeSOCK_STREAM that is no longer connected to a peer
endpoint). A SIGPIPE signal will also be sent tothe thread. The process dies unless special pro-
visions were taken to catch or ignore the signal. ERANGE The transfer request size was outside the range supported by the streams file associated with fildes.The write() and pwrite() functions will fail if:
EFAULT The buf argument points to an illegal address.EINVAL The nbyte argument overflowed an ssize_t.
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 7
System Calls write(2)The pwrite() function fails and the file pointer remains
unchanged if: ESPIPE The fildes argument is associated with a pipe or FIFO. The write() and writev() functions may fail if: EINVAL The stream or multiplexer referenced by fildes is linked (directly or indirectly) downstream from a multiplexer.ENXIO A request was made of a non-existent device, or
the request was outside the capabilities of the device. ENXIO A hangup occurred on the stream being written to. A write to a streams file may fail if an error message has been received at the stream head. In this case, errno is set to the value included in the error message. The writev() function may fail if: EINVAL The iovcnt argument was less than or equal to 0 orgreater than {IOV_MAX}; one of the iov_len values
in the iov array was negative; or the sum of theiov_len values in the iov array overflowed an
ssize_t.
USAGE
The pwrite() function has a transitional interface for 64-
bit file offsets. See lf64(5).ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 8
System Calls write(2)____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Committed ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
| MT-Level | write() is Async-Signal-Safe|
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Standard | See standards(5). ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
Intro(2), chmod(2), creat(2), dup(2), fcntl(2), getrlimit(2), ioctl(2), lseek(2), open(2), pipe(2), ulimit(2), send(3SOCKET), socket(3SOCKET), attributes(5), lf64(5), standards(5), streamio(7I)SunOS 5.11 Last change: 29 Jan 2008 9