FreeBSD manual
download PDF document: setbuffer.3.pdf
SETBUF(3) FreeBSD Library Functions Manual SETBUF(3)
NAME
setbuf, setbuffer, setlinebuf, setvbuf - stream buffering operations
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
void
setbuf(FILE * restrict stream, char * restrict buf);
void
setbuffer(FILE *stream, char *buf, int size);
int
setlinebuf(FILE *stream);
int
setvbuf(FILE * restrict stream, char * restrict buf, int mode,
size_t size);
DESCRIPTION
The three types of buffering available are unbuffered, block buffered,
and line buffered. When an output stream is unbuffered, information
appears on the destination file or terminal as soon as written; when it
is block buffered many characters are saved up and written as a block;
when it is line buffered characters are saved up until a newline is
output or input is read from any stream attached to a terminal device
(typically stdin). The function fflush(3) may be used to force the block
out early. (See fclose(3).)
Normally all files are block buffered. When the first I/O operation
occurs on a file, malloc(3) is called, and an optimally-sized buffer is
obtained. If a stream refers to a terminal (as stdout normally does) it
is line buffered. The standard error stream stderr is always unbuffered.
Note that these defaults may be altered using the stdbuf(1) utility.
The setvbuf() function may be used to alter the buffering behavior of a
stream. The mode argument must be one of the following three macros:
_IONBF unbuffered
_IOLBF line buffered
_IOFBF fully buffered
The size argument may be given as zero to obtain deferred optimal-size
buffer allocation as usual. If it is not zero, then except for
unbuffered files, the buf argument should point to a buffer at least size
bytes long; this buffer will be used instead of the current buffer. If
buf is not NULL, it is the caller's responsibility to free(3) this buffer
after closing the stream. (If the size argument is not zero but buf is
NULL, a buffer of the given size will be allocated immediately, and
released on close. This is an extension to ANSI C; portable code should
use a size of 0 with any NULL buffer.)
is exactly equivalent to the call
setvbuf(stream, buf, buf ? _IOFBF : _IONBF, BUFSIZ);
The setbuffer() function is the same, except that the size of the buffer
is up to the caller, rather than being determined by the default BUFSIZ.
The setlinebuf() function is exactly equivalent to the call:
setvbuf(stream, (char *)NULL, _IOLBF, 0);
RETURN VALUES
The setvbuf() function returns 0 on success, or EOF if the request cannot
be honored (note that the stream is still functional in this case).
The setlinebuf() function returns what the equivalent setvbuf() would
have returned.
SEE ALSO
stdbuf(1), fclose(3), fopen(3), fread(3), malloc(3), printf(3), puts(3)
STANDARDS
The setbuf() and setvbuf() functions conform to ISO/IEC 9899:1990
("ISO C90").
HISTORY
The setbuf() function first appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX. The
setbuffer() function first appeared in 4.1cBSD. The setlinebuf()
function first appeared in 4.2BSD. The setvbuf() function first appeared
in 4.4BSD.
BUGS
setbuf() usually uses a suboptimal buffer size and should be avoided.
FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11 May 1, 2020 FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11