xref: /freebsd-14.2/lib/libc/sys/ioctl.2 (revision 9b50d902)
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32.\"     @(#)ioctl.2	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
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34.Dd December 11, 1993
35.Dt IOCTL 2
36.Os BSD 4
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm ioctl
39.Nd control device
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Fd #include <sys/ioctl.h>
42.Ft int
43.Fn ioctl "int d" "unsigned long request" "char *argp"
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Fn ioctl
47function manipulates the underlying device parameters of special files.
48In particular, many operating
49characteristics of character special files (e.g. terminals)
50may be controlled with
51.Fn ioctl
52requests.
53The argument
54.Fa d
55must be an open file descriptor.
56.Pp
57An  ioctl
58.Fa request
59has encoded in it whether the argument is an
60.Dq in
61parameter
62or
63.Dq out
64parameter, and the size of the argument
65.Fa argp
66in bytes.
67Macros and defines used in specifying an ioctl
68.Fa request
69are located in the file
70.Ao Pa sys/ioctl.h Ac .
71.Sh RETURN VALUES
72If an error has occurred, a value of -1 is returned and
73.Va errno
74is set to indicate the error.
75.Sh ERRORS
76.Fn Ioctl
77will fail if:
78.Bl -tag -width [ENOTTY]
79.It Bq Er EBADF
80.Fa d
81is not a valid descriptor.
82.It Bq Er ENOTTY
83.Fa d
84is not associated with a character
85special device.
86.It Bq Er ENOTTY
87The specified request does not apply to the kind
88of object that the descriptor
89.Fa d
90references.
91.It Bq Er EINVAL
92.Fa Request
93or
94.Fa argp
95is not valid.
96.El
97.Sh SEE ALSO
98.Xr mt 1 ,
99.Xr execve 2 ,
100.Xr fcntl 2 ,
101.Xr tty 4 ,
102.Xr intro 4
103.Sh HISTORY
104An
105.Nm
106function call appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
107