path: root/usr/src/man/man3c/glob.3c

.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994
.\" The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
.\" Guido van Rossum.
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\" Sun Microsystems, Inc. gratefully acknowledges The Open Group for
.\" permission to reproduce portions of its copyrighted documentation.
.\" Original documentation from The Open Group can be obtained online at
.\" http://www.opengroup.org/bookstore/.
.\"
.\" The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and The Open
.\" Group, have given us permission to reprint portions of their
.\" documentation.
.\"
.\" In the following statement, the phrase ``this text'' refers to portions
.\" of the system documentation.
.\"
.\" Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
.\" in the SunOS Reference Manual, from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition,
.\" Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System
.\" Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6,
.\" Copyright (C) 2001-2004 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
.\" Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  In the event of any discrepancy
.\" between these versions and the original IEEE and The Open Group
.\" Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee
.\" document.  The original Standard can be obtained online at
.\" http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html.
.\"
.\" This notice shall appear on any product containing this material.
.\"
.\" The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the
.\" Common Development and Distribution License (the "License").
.\" You may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
.\"
.\" You can obtain a copy of the license at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE
.\" or http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing.
.\" See the License for the specific language governing permissions
.\" and limitations under the License.
.\"
.\" When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each
.\" file and include the License file at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE.
.\" If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the
.\" fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying
.\" information: Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
.\"
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1992, X/Open Company Limited. All Rights Reserved.
.\" Portions Copyright (c) 2003, Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
.\" Portions Copyright (c) 2013, Gary Mills
.\"
.TH GLOB 3C "Nov 1, 2003"
.SH NAME
glob, globfree \- generate path names matching a pattern
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
#include <glob.h>

\fBint\fR \fBglob\fR(\fBconst char *restrict\fR \fIpattern\fR, \fBint\fR \fIflags\fR,
     \fBint(*\fR\fIerrfunc\fR)(const char *\fIepath\fR, int \fIeerrno)\fR,
     \fBglob_t *restrict\fR \fIpglob\fR);
.fi

.LP
.nf
\fBvoid\fR \fBglobfree\fR(\fBglob_t *\fR\fIpglob\fR);
.fi

.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
.LP
The \fBglob()\fR function is a path name generator.
.sp
.LP
The \fBglobfree()\fR function frees any memory allocated by \fBglob()\fR
associated with \fIpglob\fR.
.SS "\fIpattern\fR Argument"
.sp
.LP
The argument \fIpattern\fR is a pointer to a path name pattern to be expanded.
The \fBglob()\fR function matches all accessible path names against this
pattern and develops a list of all path names that match. In order to have
access to a path name, \fBglob()\fR requires search permission on every
component of a path except the last, and read permission on each directory of
any filename component of \fIpattern\fR that contains any of the following
special characters:
.sp
.in +2
.nf
*        ?        [
.fi
.in -2

.SS "\fIpglob\fR Argument"
.sp
.LP
The structure type \fBglob_t\fR is defined in the header \fB<glob.h>\fR and
includes at least the following members:
.sp
.in +2
.nf
size_t   gl_pathc;     /* Total count of paths matched by */
                       /* pattern */
char     **gl_pathv;   /* List of matched path names */
size_t   gl_offs;      /* # of slots reserved in gl_pathv */
int      gl_matchc;    /* Count of paths matching pattern. */
int      gl_flags;     /* Copy of flags parameter to glob. */
.fi
.in -2

.sp
.LP
The \fBglob()\fR function stores the number of matched path names into
\fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathc\fR and a pointer to a list of pointers to path
names into \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathv.\fR The path names are in sort order as
defined by the current setting of the  \fBLC_COLLATE\fR category. The first
pointer after the last path name is a \fINULL\fR pointer. If the pattern does
not match any path names, the returned number of matched paths is set to 0, and
the contents of \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathv\fR are implementation-dependent.
.sp
.LP
It is the caller's responsibility to create the structure pointed to by
\fIpglob\fR. The \fBglob()\fR function allocates other space as needed,
including the memory pointed to by \fBgl_pathv\fR. The \fBglobfree()\fR
function frees any space associated with \fIpglob\fR from a previous call to
\fBglob()\fR.
.SS "\fIflags\fR Argument"
.sp
.LP
The \fIflags\fR argument is used to control the behavior of \fBglob()\fR. The
value of \fIflags\fR is a bitwise inclusive \fBOR\fR of zero or more of the
following constants, which are defined in the header <\fBglob.h\fR>:
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_APPEND\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Append path names generated to the ones from a previous call to \fBglob()\fR.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_DOOFFS\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Make use of \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_offs\fR\fI\&.\fR If this flag is set,
\fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_offs\fR is used to specify how many \fINULL\fR pointers
to add to the beginning of \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathv\fR\fI\&.\fR In other
words, \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathv\fR will point to
\fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_offs\fR \fINULL\fR pointers, followed by
\fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathc\fR path name pointers, followed by a \fINULL\fR
pointer.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_ERR\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Causes \fBglob()\fR to return when it encounters a directory that it cannot
open or read. Ordinarily, \fBglob()\fR continues to find matches.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_MARK\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Each path name that is a directory that matches \fIpattern\fR has a slash
appended.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_NOCHECK\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
If \fIpattern\fR does not match any path name, then \fBglob()\fR returns a list
consisting of only \fIpattern\fR, and the number of matched path names is 1.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_NOESCAPE\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Disable backslash escaping.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_NOSORT\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Ordinarily, \fBglob()\fR sorts the matching path names according to the current
setting of the \fBLC_COLLATE\fR category.  When this flag is used the order of
path names returned is unspecified.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_ALTDIRFUNC\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
The following additional fields in the \fIpglob\fR structure
have been initialized with alternate functions for
\fBglob()\fR to use to open, read, and close directories and
to get stat information on names found in those directories:
.sp
.nf
void *(*gl_opendir)(const char *);
struct dirent *(*gl_readdir)(void *);
void (*gl_closedir)(void *);
int (*gl_lstat)(const char *, struct stat *);
int (*gl_stat)(const char *, struct stat *);
.fi
.sp
This extension is provided to allow programs such as
\fBufsrestore\fR(1M) to provide globbing from directories stored
on tape.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_BRACE\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Pre-process the pattern string to expand `{pat,pat,...}'
strings like \fBcsh\fR(1).  The pattern `{}' is left unexpanded
for historical reasons.  (\fBcsh\fR(1) does the same thing
to ease typing of \fBfind\fR(1) patterns.)
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_MAGCHAR\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Set by the \fBglob()\fR function if the pattern included globbing
characters.  See the description of the usage of
the \fBgl_matchc\fR structure member for more details.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_NOMAGIC\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Is the same as \fBGLOB_NOCHECK\fR but it only appends the
pattern if it does not contain any of the special characters
`*', `?', or `['.  \fBGLOB_NOMAGIC\fR is provided to
simplify implementing the historic \fBcsh\fR(1) globbing behavior
and should probably not be used anywhere else.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_QUOTE\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
This option has no effect and is included for backwards
compatibility with older sources.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_TILDE\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Expand patterns that start with `~' to user name home
directories.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_LIMIT\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Limit the amount of memory used by matches to \fIARG_MAX\fR.
This option should be set for programs that can be coerced
to a denial of service attack via patterns that
expand to a very large number of matches, such as a long
string of `*/../*/..'.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_KEEPSTAT\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 17n
Retain a copy of the \fBstat\fR(2) information retrieved for
matching paths in the gl_statv array:
.sp
.nf
struct stat **gl_statv;
.fi
.sp
This option may be used to avoid \fBlstat\fR(2) lookups in
cases where they are expensive.
.RE

.sp
.LP
The \fBGLOB_APPEND\fR flag can be used to append a new set of path names to
those found in a previous call to \fBglob()\fR. The following rules apply when
two or more calls to \fBglob()\fR are made with the same value of \fIpglob\fR
and without intervening calls to \fBglobfree()\fR:
.RS +4
.TP
1.
The first such call must not set \fBGLOB_APPEND.\fR All subsequent calls
must set it.
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
2.
All the calls must set \fBGLOB_DOOFFS,\fR or all must not set it.
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
3.
After the second call, \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathv\fR points to a list
containing the following:
.RS +4
.TP
a.
Zero or more \fINULL\fR pointers, as specified by \fBGLOB_DOOFFS\fR and
\fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_offs\fR.
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
b.
Pointers to the path names that were in the \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathv\fR
list before the call, in the same order as before.
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
c.
Pointers to the new path names generated by the second call, in the
specified order.
.RE
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
4.
The count returned in \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathc\fR will be the total
number of path names from the two calls.
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
5.
The application can change any of the fields after a call to \fBglob()\fR.
If it does, it must reset them to the original value before a subsequent call,
using the same \fIpglob\fR value, to \fBglobfree()\fR or \fBglob()\fR with the
\fBGLOB_APPEND\fR flag.
.RE
.SS "\fIerrfunc\fR and \fIepath\fR Arguments"
.sp
.LP
If, during the search, a directory is encountered that cannot be opened or read
and \fIerrfunc\fR is not a \fINULL\fR pointer, \fBglob()\fR calls
\fB(\fR\fI*errfunc\fR\fB)\fR with two arguments:
.RS +4
.TP
1.
The \fIepath\fR argument is a pointer to the path that failed.
.RE
.RS +4
.TP
2.
The \fIeerrno\fR argument is the value of \fIerrno\fR from the failure, as
set by the \fBopendir\fR(3C), \fBreaddir\fR(3C) or \fBstat\fR(2) functions.
(Other values may be used to report other errors not explicitly documented for
those functions.)
.RE

.sp
.LP
If \fB(\fR\fI*errfunc\fR\fB)\fR is called and returns non-zero, or if the
\fBGLOB_ERR\fR flag is set in \fIflags\fR, \fBglob()\fR stops the scan and
returns \fBGLOB_ABORTED\fR after setting \fIgl_pathc\fR and \fIgl_pathv\fR in
\fIpglob\fR to reflect the paths already scanned. If \fBGLOB_ERR\fR is not set
and either \fIerrfunc\fR is a \fINULL\fR pointer or
\fB(\fR\fI*errfunc\fR\fB)\fR returns 0, the error is ignored.
.SH RETURN VALUES
.sp
.LP
On successful completion, \fBglob()\fR returns zero.
In addition the fields of pglob contain the values described below:

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBgl_pathc\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
Contains the total number of matched pathnames so far.
This includes other matches from previous invocations of
\fBglob()\fR if \fBGLOB_APPEND\fR was specified.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBgl_matchc\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
Contains the number of matched pathnames in the current
invocation of \fBglob()\fR.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBgl_flags\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
Contains a copy of the flags parameter with the bit
\fBGLOB_MAGCHAR\fR set if pattern contained any of the special
characters `*', `?', or `[', cleared if not.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBgl_pathv\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
Contains a pointer to a null-terminated list of matched
pathnames.  However, if \fBgl_pathc\fR is zero, the contents of
\fBgl_pathv\fR are undefined.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBgl_statv\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
If the \fBGLOB_KEEPSTAT\fR flag was set, \fBgl_statv\fR contains a
pointer to a null-terminated list of matched \fBstat\fR(2)
objects corresponding to the paths in \fBgl_pathc\fR.
.RE

.sp
.LP
If \fBglob()\fR terminates due to an error, it sets \fBerrno\fR and
returns one of the following non-zero constants. defined in <\fBglob.h\fR>:

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_ABORTED\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
The scan was stopped because \fBGLOB_ERR\fR was set or
\fB(\fR\fI*errfunc\fR\fB)\fR returned non-zero.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_NOMATCH\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
The pattern does not match any existing path name, and \fBGLOB_NOCHECK\fR was
not set in flags.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_NOSPACE\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
An attempt to allocate memory failed.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fBGLOB_NOSYS\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 16n
The requested function is not supported by this version of
\fBglob()\fR.
.RE

.LP
The arguments \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathc\fR and \fIpglob\(mi>\fR\fBgl_pathv\fR are still set as
specified above.
.sp
.LP
The \fBglobfree()\fR function returns no value.
.SH USAGE
.sp
.LP
This function is not provided for the purpose of enabling utilities to perform
path name expansion on their arguments, as this operation is performed by the
shell, and utilities are explicitly not expected to redo this. Instead, it is
provided for applications that need to do path name expansion on strings
obtained from other sources, such as a pattern typed by a user or read from a
file.
.sp
.LP
If a utility needs to see if a path name matches a given pattern, it can use
\fBfnmatch\fR(3C).
.sp
.LP
Note that \fBgl_pathc\fR and \fBgl_pathv\fR have meaning even if \fBglob()\fR
fails. This allows \fBglob()\fR to report partial results in the event of an
error. However, if \fBgl_pathc\fR is 0, \fBgl_pathv\fR is unspecified even if
\fBglob()\fR did not return an error.
.sp
.LP
The \fBGLOB_NOCHECK\fR option could be used when an application wants to expand
a path name if wildcards are specified, but wants to treat the pattern as just
a string otherwise.
.sp
.LP
The new path names generated by a subsequent call with \fBGLOB_APPEND\fR are
not sorted together with the previous path names. This mirrors the way that the
shell handles path name expansion when multiple expansions are done on a
command line.
.sp
.LP
Applications that need tilde and parameter expansion should use the
\fBwordexp\fR(3C) function.
.SH EXAMPLES
.LP
\fBExample 1 \fRExample of \fBglob_doofs\fR function.
.sp
.LP
One use of the \fBGLOB_DOOFFS\fR flag is by applications that build an argument
list for use with the \fBexecv()\fR, \fBexecve()\fR, or \fBexecvp()\fR
functions (see \fBexec\fR(2)). Suppose, for example, that an application wants
to do the equivalent of:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
\fBls\fR \fB-l\fR *.c
.fi
.in -2

.sp
.LP
but for some reason:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
system("ls -l *.c")
.fi
.in -2

.sp
.LP
is not acceptable. The application could obtain approximately the same result
using the sequence:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
globbuf.gl_offs = 2;
glob ("*.c", GLOB_DOOFFS, NULL, &globbuf);
globbuf.gl_pathv[0] = "ls";
globbuf.gl_pathv[1] = "-l";
execvp ("ls", &globbuf.gl_pathv[0]);
.fi
.in -2

.sp
.LP
Using the same example:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
\fBls\fR \fB-l\fR *.c *.h
.fi
.in -2

.sp
.LP
could be approximately simulated using \fBGLOB_APPEND\fR as follows:

.sp
.in +2
.nf
\fBglobbuf.gl_offs = 2;
glob ("*.c", GLOB_DOOFFS, NULL, &globbuf);
glob ("*.h", GLOB_DOOFFS|GLOB_APPEND, NULL, &globbuf);
\&.\|.\|.\fR
.fi
.in -2

.SH ATTRIBUTES
.sp
.LP
See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
.sp

.sp
.TS
box;
c | c
l | l .
ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
_
Interface Stability	Standard
_
MT-Level	MT-Safe
.TE

.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
.LP
\fBexecv\fR(2), \fBstat\fR(2), \fBfnmatch\fR(3C), \fBopendir\fR(3C),
\fBreaddir\fR(3C), \fBwordexp\fR(3C), \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBstandards\fR(5)