close
Synopsis
#include <unistd.h>
int close(int fildes);
Status
Partially implemented
Conformance
IEEE Std 1003.1-2017
Description
The purpose is to close a file descriptor. The close() function shall deallocate the file descriptor indicated by
fildes. To deallocate means to make the file descriptor available for return by subsequent calls to open() or other
functions that allocate file descriptors. All outstanding record locks owned by the process on the file associated with
the file descriptor shall be removed (that is, unlocked).
If close() is interrupted by a signal that is to be caught, it shall return -1 with errno set to EINTR and the
state of fildes is unspecified. If a I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system during
close(), it may return -1 with errno set to EIO, if this error is returned, the state of fildes is
unspecified.
When all file descriptors associated with a pipe or FIFO special file are closed, any data remaining in the pipe or
FIFO shall be discarded.
When all file descriptors associated with an open file description have been closed, the open file description shall be freed.
If the link count of the file is 0, when all file descriptors associated with the file are closed, the space occupied
by the file shall be freed and the file shall no longer be accessible.
If a STREAMS-based fildes is closed and the calling process was previously registered to receive a SIGPOLL signal
for events associated with that STREAM, the calling process shall be unregistered for events associated with the
STREAM. The last close() for a STREAM shall cause the STREAM associated with fildes to be dismantled.
If O_NONBLOCK is not set and there have been no signals posted for the STREAM, and if there is data on the module's
write queue, close() shall wait for an unspecified time (for each module and driver) for any output to drain before
dismantling the STREAM. The time delay can be changed via a I_SETCLTIME ioctl() request. If the O_NONBLOCK
flag is set, or if there are any pending signals, close() shall not wait for output to drain, and shall dismantle the
STREAM immediately.
If the implementation supports STREAMS-based pipes, and fildes is associated with one end of a pipe, the last
close() shall cause a hangup to occur on the other end of the pipe. In addition, if the other end of the pipe has been
named by fattach(), then the last close() shall force the named end to be detached by fdetach(). If the named end
has no open file descriptors associated with it and gets detached, the STREAM associated with that end shall also be
dismantled. If fildes refers to the master side of a pseudo-terminal, and this is the last close, a SIGHUP
signal shall be sent to the controlling process, if any, for which the slave side of the pseudo-terminal is the
controlling terminal. It is unspecified whether closing the master side of the pseudo-terminal flushes all queued input
and output. If fildes refers to the slave side of a STREAMS-based pseudo-terminal, a zero-length message may be
sent to the master.
When there is an outstanding cancelable asynchronous I/O operation against fildes when close() is called,
that I/O operation may be canceled. A I/O operation that is not canceled completes as if the close()
operation had not yet occurred.
All operations that are not canceled shall complete as if the close() blocked until the operations completed. The
close() operation itself need not block awaiting such I/O completion. Whether any I/O operation is canceled,
and which I/O operation may be canceled upon close(), is implementation-defined.
If a memory mapped file or a shared memory object remains referenced at the last close (that is, a process has it mapped), then the entire contents of the memory object shall persist until the memory object becomes unreferenced. If this is the last close of a memory mapped file or a shared memory object and the close results in the memory object becoming unreferenced, and the memory object has been unlinked, then the memory object shall be removed.
If fildes refers to a socket, close() shall cause the socket to be destroyed. If the socket is in connection-mode,
and the SO_LINGER option is set for the socket with non-zero linger time, and the socket has untransmitted data, then
close() shall block for up to the current linger interval until all data is transmitted.
Return value
Upon successful completion, 0 shall be returned, otherwise,
-1 shall be returned and errno set to indicate the error.
Errors
The close() function shall fail if:
-
EBADF- The fildes argument is not an open file descriptor. -
EINTR- Theclose()function was interrupted by a signal.
The close() function may fail if:
EIO- An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
Tests
Untested
Known bugs
None