SELECT(2)           Linux Programmer's Manual           SELECT(2)

NAME
       select,  FD_CLR,  FD_ISSET,  FD_SET, FD_ZERO - synchronous
       I/O multiplexing

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/time.h>
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <unistd.h>

       int  select(int  n,  fd_set  *readfds,  fd_set  *writefds,
       fd_set *exceptfds, struct timeval *timeout);

       FD_CLR(int fd, fd_set *set);
       FD_ISSET(int fd, fd_set *set);
       FD_SET(int fd, fd_set *set);
       FD_ZERO(fd_set *set);

DESCRIPTION
       select  waits  for  a number of file descriptors to change
       status.

       Three independent sets of descriptors are watched.   Those
       listed  in  readfds  will  be watched to see if characters
       become available for reading, those in  writefds  will  be
       watched  to  see if it is ok to immediately write on them,
       and those in exceptfds will be watched for exceptions.  On
       exit,  the  sets  are  modified in place to indicate which
       descriptors actually changed status.

       Four macros are provided to manipulate the sets.   FD_ZERO
       will clear a set.  FD_SET and FD_CLR add or remove a given
       descriptor from  a  set.   FD_ISSET  tests  to  see  if  a
       descriptor is part of the set; this is useful after select
       returns.

       n is the highest-numbered descriptor in any of  the  three
       sets, plus 1.

       timeout  is  an  upper bound on the amount of time elapsed
       before select returns. It may be zero, causing  select  to
       return  immediately.  If  timeout  is  NULL  (no timeout),
       select can block indefinitely.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, select returns the number of descriptors  con-
       tained  in  the  descriptor sets, which may be zero if the
       timeout expires before anything interesting  happens.   On
       error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately; the
       sets and timeout become undefined, so do not rely on their
       contents after an error.

ERRORS
       EBADF   An invalid file descriptor was given in one of the
               sets.

       EINTR   A non blocked signal was caught.

       EINVAL  n is negative.

       ENOMEM  select was unable to allocate memory for  internal
               tables.

NOTES
       Some  code calls select with all three sets empty, n zero,
       and a non-null timeout as a fairly portable way  to  sleep
       with subsecond precision.

       On  Linux,  timeout  is  modified to reflect the amount of
       time not slept; most other implementations do not do this.
       This  causes  problems  both  when  Linux code which reads
       timeout is ported to other  operating  systems,  and  when
       code  is  ported to Linux that reuses a struct timeval for
       multiple selects in  a  loop  without  reinitializing  it.
       Consider timeout to be undefined after select returns.

EXAMPLE
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <sys/time.h>
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <unistd.h>

       int
       main(void)
       {
           fd_set rfds;
           struct timeval tv;
           int retval;

           /* Watch stdin (fd 0) to see when it has input. */
           FD_ZERO(&rfds);
           FD_SET(0, &rfds);
           /* Wait up to five seconds. */
           tv.tv_sec = 5;
           tv.tv_usec = 0;

           retval = select(1, &rfds, NULL, NULL, &tv);
           /* Don't rely on the value of tv now! */

           if (retval)
               printf("Data is available now.\n");
               /* FD_ISSET(0, &rfds) will be true. */
           else
               printf("No data within five seconds.\n");

           exit(0);
       }

CONFORMING TO
       4.4BSD  (the  select  function  first appeared in 4.2BSD).
       Generally  portable  to/from  non-BSD  systems  supporting
       clones  of  the BSD socket layer (including System V vari-
       ants).  However, note that the System V variant  typically
       sets the timeout variable before exit, but the BSD variant
       does not.

SEE ALSO
       accept(2), connect(2), read(2), recv(2), send(2), write(2)

Linux 1.2               February 11, 1996                       1