IOCTL(2) — UNIX Programmer’s Manual
NAME
ioctl, stty, gtty − control device
SYNOPSIS
#include <sgtty.h>
ioctl(fildes, request, argp)
int fildes;
int request;
struct sgttyb *argp;
stty(fildes, argp)
int fildes;
struct sgttyb *argp;
gtty(fildes, argp)
int fildes;
struct sgttyb *argp;
DESCRIPTION
Ioctl performs a variety of functions on character special files (devices). The writeups of various devices in section 4 discuss how ioctl applies to them.
For certain status setting and status inquiries about terminal devices, the functions stty and gtty are equivalent to
ioctl(fildes, TIOCSETP, argp)
ioctl(fildes, TIOCGETP, argp)
respectively; see tty(4).
The following two standard calls, however, apply to any open file:
ioctl(fildes, FIOCLEX, NULL);
ioctl(fildes, FIONCLEX, NULL);
The first causes the file to be closed automatically during a successful exec operation; the second reverses the effect of the first.
The following call applies to any open file:
ioctl(fildes, FIONREAD, &count)
returning, in the longword count the number of characters available for reading from fildes.
SEE ALSO
DIAGNOSTICS
Zero is returned if the call was successful; −1 if the file descriptor does not refer to the kind of file for which it was intended, or if request attempts to modify the state of a terminal when fildes is not writeable.
BUGS
Strictly speaking, since ioctl may be extended in different ways to devices with different properties, argp should have an open-ended declaration like
union { struct sgttyb ...; ... } *argp;
The important thing is that the size is fixed by ’struct sgttyb’.
7th Edition