Manual Page Result
0
Command: pipe | Section: 2 | Source: MINIX | File: pipe.2
PIPE(2) FreeBSD System Calls Manual PIPE(2)
NAME
pipe - create descriptor pair for interprocess communication
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int
pipe(int fildes[2]);
#include <unistd.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
int
pipe2(int fildes[2], int flags);
DESCRIPTION
The pipe() function creates a pipe, which is an object allowing
unidirectional data flow, and allocates a pair of file descriptors. The
first descriptor connects to the read end of the pipe, and the second
connects to the write end, so that data written to fildes[1] appears on
(i.e., can be read from) fildes[0]. This allows the output of one
program to be sent to another program: the source's standard output is
set up to be the write end of the pipe, and the sink's standard input is
set up to be the read end of the pipe. The pipe itself persists until
all its associated descriptors are closed.
A pipe whose read or write end has been closed is considered widowed.
Writing on such a pipe causes the writing process to receive a SIGPIPE
signal. Widowing a pipe is the only way to deliver end-of-file to a
reader: after the reader consumes any buffered data, reading a widowed
pipe returns a zero count.
The pipe2() function behaves exactly like pipe() only it allows extra
flags to be set on the returned file descriptor. The following flags are
valid:
O_CLOEXEC Set the "close-on-exec" property.
O_NONBLOCK Sets non-blocking I/O.
O_NOSIGPIPE
Return EPIPE instead of raising SIGPIPE.
RETURN VALUES
On successful creation of the pipe, zero is returned. Otherwise, a value
of -1 is returned and the variable errno set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The pipe() and pipe2() calls will fail if:
[EFAULT] The fildes buffer is in an invalid area of the
process's address space. The reliable detection of
this error cannot be guaranteed; when not detected, a
signal may be delivered to the process, indicating an
address violation.
[EMFILE] Too many descriptors are active.
[ENFILE] The system file table is full.
pipe2() will also fail if:
[EINVAL] flags contains an invalid value.
SEE ALSO
sh(1), fork(2), read(2), socketpair(2), write(2)
STANDARDS
The pipe() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-1990 ("POSIX.1").
HISTORY
A pipe() function call appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. The pipe2()
function is inspired from Linux and appeared in NetBSD 6.0.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 January 23, 2012 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8