IOCTL

Section: System Calls (2)
Updated: March 4, 1986
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NAME

ioctl - control device  

SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/ioctl.h>

ioctl(d, request, argp)
int d;
unsigned long request;
char *argp;
 

DESCRIPTION

Ioctl performs a variety of functions on open descriptors. In particular, many operating characteristics of character special files (e.g. terminals) may be controlled with ioctl requests. The writeups of various devices in section 4 discuss how ioctl applies to them.

An ioctl request has encoded in it whether the argument is an ``in'' parameter or ``out'' parameter, and the size of the argument argp in bytes. Macros and defines used in specifying an ioctl request are located in the file <sys/ioctl.h>.  

RETURN VALUE

If an error has occurred, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.  

ERRORS

Ioctl will fail if one or more of the following are true:
[EBADF]
D is not a valid descriptor.
[ENOTTY]
D is not associated with a character special device.
[ENOTTY]
The specified request does not apply to the kind of object that the descriptor d references.
[EINVAL]
Request or argp is not valid.
 

SEE ALSO

execve(2), fcntl(2), mt(4), tty(4), intro(4N)


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
RETURN VALUE
ERRORS
SEE ALSO

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