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FORK(3F) FORK(3F) NAME fork - create a copy of this process SYNOPSIS integer function fork() DESCRIPTION Fork creates a copy of the calling process. The only distinction be- tween the 2 processes is that the value returned to one of them (re- ferred to as the `parent' process) will be the process id of the copy. The copy is usually referred to as the `child' process. The value re- turned to the `child' process will be zero. All logical units open for writing are flushed before the fork to avoid duplication of the contents of I/O buffers in the external file(s). If the returned value is negative, it indicates an error and will be the negation of the system error code. See perror(3F). A corresponding exec routine has not been provided because there is no satisfactory way to retain open logical units across the exec. How- ever, the usual function of fork/exec can be performed using sys- tem(3F). FILES /usr/lib/libU77.a SEE ALSO fork(2), wait(3F), kill(3F), system(3F), perror(3F) 4.2 Berkeley Distribution April 30, 1991 FORK(3F)