ftw(3)


NAME

   ftw, nftw - file tree walk

SYNOPSIS

   #include <ftw.h>

   int nftw(const char *dirpath,
           int (*fn) (const char *fpath, const struct stat *sb,
                      int typeflag, struct FTW *ftwbuf),
           int nopenfd, int flags);

   #include <ftw.h>

   int ftw(const char *dirpath,
           int (*fn) (const char *fpath, const struct stat *sb,
                      int typeflag),
           int nopenfd);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

   nftw(): _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500

DESCRIPTION

   nftw()  walks  through  the  directory  tree  that is located under the
   directory dirpath, and calls fn() once for each entry in the tree.   By
   default,  directories  are  handled before the files and subdirectories
   they contain (preorder traversal).

   To avoid using up  all  of  the  calling  process's  file  descriptors,
   nopenfd  specifies  the  maximum number of directories that nftw() will
   hold open simultaneously.  When the search depth exceeds  this,  nftw()
   will  become slower because directories have to be closed and reopened.
   nftw() uses at most one file descriptor for each level in the directory
   tree.

   For  each  entry  found  in  the  tree,  nftw()  calls  fn()  with four
   arguments: fpath, sb, typeflag, and ftwbuf.  fpath is the  pathname  of
   the  entry,  and  is  expressed  either  as  a pathname relative to the
   calling process's current working directory at the time of the call  to
   nftw(),  if  dirpath  was  expressed  as  a relative pathname, or as an
   absolute pathname, if dirpath was expressed as  an  absolute  pathname.
   sb is a pointer to the stat structure returned by a call to stat(2) for
   fpath.  typeflag is an integer that has one of the following values:

   FTW_F  fpath is a regular file.

   FTW_D  fpath is a directory.

   FTW_DNR
          fpath is a directory which can't be read.

   FTW_DP fpath is a directory, and FTW_DEPTH was specified in flags.  (If
          FTW_DEPTH  was  not  specified  in  flags, then directories will
          always be visited with typeflag set to FTW_D.)  All of the files
          and subdirectories within fpath have been processed.

   FTW_NS The  stat(2) call failed on fpath, which is not a symbolic link.
          The probable  cause  for  this  is  that  the  caller  had  read
          permission  on  the parent directory, so that the filename fpath
          could be seen, but did not have execute permission, so that  the
          file could not be reached for stat(2).

   FTW_SL fpath is a symbolic link, and FTW_PHYS was set in flags.

   FTW_SLN
          fpath  is a symbolic link pointing to a nonexistent file.  (This
          occurs only if FTW_PHYS is not set.)

   The fourth argument  that  nftw()  supplies  when  calling  fn()  is  a
   structure of type FTW:

       struct FTW {
           int base;
           int level;
       };

   base  is  the  offset of the filename (i.e., basename component) in the
   pathname given in fpath.  level is the depth of fpath in the  directory
   tree, relative to the root of the tree (dirpath, which has depth 0).

   To  stop  the  tree walk, fn() returns a nonzero value; this value will
   become the return value of nftw().  As long as fn() returns  0,  nftw()
   will  continue  either until it has traversed the entire tree, in which
   case it will return zero, or until it encounters an error  (such  as  a
   malloc(3) failure), in which case it will return -1.

   Because  nftw() uses dynamic data structures, the only safe way to exit
   out of a tree walk is to return a nonzero value from fn().  To allow  a
   signal  to  terminate  the walk without causing a memory leak, have the
   handler set  a  global  flag  that  is  checked  by  fn().   Don't  use
   longjmp(3) unless the program is going to terminate.

   The  flags  argument  of  nftw() is formed by ORing zero or more of the
   following flags:

   FTW_ACTIONRETVAL (since glibc 2.3.3)
          If this glibc-specific flag is  set,  then  nftw()  handles  the
          return  value  from fn() differently.  fn() should return one of
          the following values:

          FTW_CONTINUE
                 Instructs nftw() to continue normally.

          FTW_SKIP_SIBLINGS
                 If fn() returns this value, then siblings of the  current
                 entry  will  be  skipped, and processing continues in the
                 parent.

          FTW_SKIP_SUBTREE
                 If fn() is called with  an  entry  that  is  a  directory
                 (typeflag  is  FTW_D),  this  return  value  will prevent
                 objects  within  that  directory  from  being  passed  as
                 arguments  to fn().  nftw() continues processing with the
                 next sibling of the directory.

          FTW_STOP
                 Causes nftw() to return immediately with the return value
                 FTW_STOP.

          Other  return values could be associated with new actions in the
          future; fn() should not return values other  than  those  listed
          above.

          The  feature  test  macro  _GNU_SOURCE  must  be defined (before
          including any header files) in order to obtain the definition of
          FTW_ACTIONRETVAL from <ftw.h>.

   FTW_CHDIR
          If  set,  do  a  chdir(2)  to each directory before handling its
          contents.  This is useful if the program needs to  perform  some
          action  in  the  directory  in which fpath resides.  (Specifying
          this flag has no effect on the pathname that is  passed  in  the
          fpath argument of fn.)

   FTW_DEPTH
          If  set,  do  a post-order traversal, that is, call fn() for the
          directory itself after handling the contents  of  the  directory
          and  its subdirectories.  (By default, each directory is handled
          before its contents.)

   FTW_MOUNT
          If set, stay within the same  filesystem  (i.e.,  do  not  cross
          mount points).

   FTW_PHYS
          If  set, do not follow symbolic links.  (This is what you want.)
          If not set, symbolic links are followed, but no file is reported
          twice.

          If  FTW_PHYS is not set, but FTW_DEPTH is set, then the function
          fn() is never called for a directory that would be a  descendant
          of itself.

   ftw()
   ftw() is an older function that offers a subset of the functionality of
   nftw().  The notable differences are as follows:

   *  ftw() has no flags argument.  It behaves the same as when nftw()  is
      called with flags specified as zero.

   *  The callback function, fn(), is not supplied with a fourth argument.

   *  The  range  of  values  that  is  passed  via  the typeflag argument
      supplied to fn() is smaller: just FTW_F, FTW_D, FTW_DNR, FTW_NS, and
      (possibly) FTW_SL.

RETURN VALUE

   These functions return 0 on success, and -1 if an error occurs.

   If fn() returns nonzero, then the tree walk is terminated and the value
   returned by fn() is returned as the result of ftw() or nftw().

   If nftw() is called with  the  FTW_ACTIONRETVAL  flag,  then  the  only
   nonzero value that should be used by fn() to terminate the tree walk is
   FTW_STOP, and that value is returned as the result of nftw().

VERSIONS

   nftw() is available under glibc since version 2.1.

ATTRIBUTES

   For  an  explanation  of  the  terms  used   in   this   section,   see
   attributes(7).

   
   Interface  Attribute      Value       
   
   nftw()     Thread safety  MT-Safe cwd 
   
   ftw()      Thread safety  MT-Safe     
   

CONFORMING TO

   POSIX.1-2001,  POSIX.1-2008,  SVr4, SUSv1.  POSIX.1-2008 marks ftw() as
   obsolete.

NOTES

   POSIX.1-2008 notes that the results are  unspecified  if  fn  does  not
   preserve the current working directory.

   The function nftw() and the use of FTW_SL with ftw() were introduced in
   SUSv1.

   In some implementations (e.g., glibc), ftw() will never use FTW_SL,  on
   other  systems  FTW_SL occurs only for symbolic links that do not point
   to an existing file, and again on other systems ftw() will  use  FTW_SL
   for  each  symbolic  link.   If  fpath  is  a symbolic link and stat(2)
   failed, POSIX.1-2008 states that it  is  undefined  whether  FTW_NS  or
   FTW_SL is passed in typeflag.  For predictable results, use nftw().

EXAMPLE

   The following program traverses the directory tree under the path named
   in its first command-line argument, or under the current  directory  if
   no  argument  is  supplied.  It displays various information about each
   file.   The  second  command-line  argument  can  be  used  to  specify
   characters  that  control the value assigned to the flags argument when
   calling nftw().

   Program source
   #define _XOPEN_SOURCE 500
   #include <ftw.h>
   #include <stdio.h>
   #include <stdlib.h>
   #include <string.h>
   #include <stdint.h>

   static int
   display_info(const char *fpath, const struct stat *sb,
                int tflag, struct FTW *ftwbuf)
   {
       printf("%-3s %2d %7jd   %-40s %d %s\n",
           (tflag == FTW_D) ?   "d"   : (tflag == FTW_DNR) ? "dnr" :
           (tflag == FTW_DP) ?  "dp"  : (tflag == FTW_F) ?   "f" :
           (tflag == FTW_NS) ?  "ns"  : (tflag == FTW_SL) ?  "sl" :
           (tflag == FTW_SLN) ? "sln" : "???",
           ftwbuf->level, (intmax_t) sb->st_size,
           fpath, ftwbuf->base, fpath + ftwbuf->base);
       return 0;           /* To tell nftw() to continue */
   }

   int
   main(int argc, char *argv[])
   {
       int flags = 0;

       if (argc > 2 && strchr(argv[2], 'd') != NULL)
           flags |= FTW_DEPTH;
       if (argc > 2 && strchr(argv[2], 'p') != NULL)
           flags |= FTW_PHYS;

       if (nftw((argc < 2) ? "." : argv[1], display_info, 20, flags)
               == -1) {
           perror("nftw");
           exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
       }
       exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
   }

SEE ALSO

   stat(2), fts(3), readdir(3)

COLOPHON

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   description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
   latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
   https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.





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