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open(2)

TRUNCATE(2)

NAME

truncate − truncate a file to a specified length

USAGE

truncate(path, length)
char *path;
int length;

ftruncate(fd, length)
int fd, length;

DESCRIPTION

Truncate truncates the file named by path or referred to by fd to a maximum of length bytes in size.  If the file was larger than length, the extra data is lost.  With ftruncate, the file must be open for writing. 

NOTES

Partial blocks discarded as the result of truncation are not zero-filled; this can leave holes in files which do not read as zero. 

RETURN VALUE

A value of zero is returned if the call succeeds.  If the call fails, −1 is returned, and the global variable errno specifies the error. 

ERRORS

Truncate succeeds unless:

[EPERM] The pathname contains a character with the high-order bit set. 

[ENOENT] The pathname is too long. 

[ENOTDIR] A component of the path prefix of path is not a directory. 

[ENOENT] The named file does not exist. 

[EACCES] A component of the path prefix denies search permission. 

[EISDIR] The named file is a directory. 

[EROFS] The named file resides on a read-only file system. 

[ETXTBSY] The file is a pure procedure (i.e., shared text) file that is being executed. 

[EFAULT] Name points outside the process’ allocated address space. 

Ftruncate succeeds unless:

[EBADF] The fd is not a valid descriptor. 

[EINVAL] The fd refers to a socket, not a file. 

RELATED INFORMATION

open(2)

Typewritten Software • bear@typewritten.org • Edmonds, WA 98026