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.Dd September 7, 1996 .Dt POLL 2 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm poll .Nd synchronous I/O multiplexing .Sh SYNOPSIS .Fd #include <sys/types.h> .Fd #include <poll.h> .Ft int .Fn poll "struct pollfd *fds" "nfds_t nfds" "int timeout" .Sh DESCRIPTION .Fn poll examines a set of file descriptors to see if some of them are ready for I/O. The .Fa fds argument is a pointer to an array of pollfd structures as defined in .Aq Pa poll.h (shown below). The .Fa nfds argument determines the size of the .Fa fds array. d -literal struct pollfd { int fd; /* file descriptor */ short events; /* events to look for */ short revents; /* events returned */ }; .Ed
p The fields of .Fa struct pollfd are as follows: l -tag -width XXXrevents t fd File descriptor to poll. t events Events to poll for. (See below.) t revents Events which may occur. (See below.) .El
p The event bitmasks in .Fa events and .Fa revents have the following bits: l -tag -width XXXPOLLWRNORM t POLLIN Data other than high priority data may be read without blocking. t POLLRDNORM Normal data may be read without blocking. t POLLRDBAND Data with a non-zero priority may be read without blocking. t POLLPRI High priority data may be read without blocking. t POLLOUT t POLLWRNORM Normal data may be written without blocking. t POLLWRBAND Data with a non-zero priority may be written without blocking. t POLLERR An exceptional condition has occured on the device or socket. This flag is always checked, even if not present in the .Fa events bitmask. t POLLHUP The device or socket has been disconnected. This flag is always checked, even if not present in the .Fa events bitmask. Note that POLLHUP and POLLOUT should never be present in the .Fa revents bitmask at the same time. t POLLNVAL The file descriptor is not open. This flag is always checked, even if not present in the .Fa events bitmask. .El
p If .Fa timeout is neither zero nor INFTIM (-1), it specifies a maximum interval to wait for any file descriptor to become ready, in milliseconds. If .Fa timeout is INFTIM (-1), the poll blocks indefinitely. If .Fa timeout is zero, then .Fn poll will return without blocking. .Sh RETURN VALUES .Fn poll returns the number of descriptors that are ready for I/O, or -1 if an error occured. If the time limit expires, .Fn poll returns 0. If .Fn poll returns with an error, including one due to an interrupted call, the .Fa fds array will be unmodified. .Sh COMPATIBILITY This implementation differs from the historical one in that a given file descriptor may not cause .Fn poll to return with an error. In cases where this would have happened in the historical implementation (e.g. trying to poll a .Xr revoke 2 ed descriptor), this implementation instead copies the .Fa events bitmask to the .Fa revents bitmask. Attempting to perform I/O on this descriptor will then return an error. This behaviour is believed to be more useful. .Sh ERRORS An error return from .Fn poll indicates: l -tag -width Er t Bq Er EFAULT .Fa fds points outside the process's allocated address space. t Bq Er EINTR A signal was delivered before the time limit expired and before any of the selected events occurred. t Bq Er EINVAL The specified time limit is negative. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr accept 2 , .Xr connect 2 , .Xr read 2 , .Xr recv 2 , .Xr select 2 , .Xr send 2 , .Xr write 2 .Sh BUGS The distinction between some of the fields in the .Fa events and .Fa revents bitmasks is really not useful without STREAMS. The fields are defined for compatibility with existing software. .Sh HISTORY The .Fn poll function call appeared in .At V.3 .