Name

lseek64 — reposition 64-bit read/write file offset

Synopsis

#define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE      /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
off64_t lseek64( int fd,
  off64_t offset,
  int whence);
 

DESCRIPTION

The lseek(2) family of functions reposition the offset of the open file associated with the file descriptor fd to offset bytes relative to the start, current position, or end of the file, when whence has the value SEEK_SET, SEEK_CUR, or SEEK_END, respectively.

For more details, return value, and errors, see lseek(2).

Four interfaces are available: lseek(2), lseek64(), llseek(2), and _llseek(2).

lseek()

Prototype:

      off_t lseek(int fd, off_t offset, int whence);

lseek(2) uses the type off_t. This is a 32-bit signed type on 32-bit architectures, unless one compiles with

    #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64

in which case it is a 64-bit signed type.

lseek64()

Prototype:

      off64_t lseek64(int fd, off64_t offset, int whence);

The library routine lseek64() uses a 64-bit type even when off_t is a 32-bit type. Its prototype (and the type off64_t) is available only when one compiles with

    #define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE

The function lseek64() is available since glibc 2.1, and is defined to be an alias for llseek().

llseek()

Prototype:

      loff_t llseek(int fd, loff_t offset, int whence);

The type loff_t is a 64-bit signed type. The library routine llseek() is available in glibc and works without special defines. However, the glibc headers do not provide a prototype. Users should add the above prototype, or something equivalent, to their own source. When users complained about data loss caused by a miscompilation of e2fsck(8), glibc 2.1.3 added the link-time warning

"the llseek function may be dangerous; use lseek64 instead."

This makes this function unusable if one desires a warning-free compilation.

_llseek()

On 32-bit architectures, this is the system call that is used to implement all of the above functions. The prototype is:

      int _llseek(int fd, off_t offset_hi, off_t offset_lo, loff_t *result, int whence);

For more details, see llseek(2).

64-bit systems don't need an _llseek() system call. Instead, they have an lseek(2) system call that supports 64-bit file offsets.

ATTRIBUTES

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

Interface Attribute Value
lseek64() Thread safety MT-Safe

SEE ALSO

llseek(2), lseek(2)

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 4.07 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man−pages/.


  Copyright 2004 Andries Brouwer <aebcwi.nl>.

%%%LICENSE_START(VERBATIM)
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

Since the Linux kernel and libraries are constantly changing, this
manual page may be incorrect or out-of-date.  The author(s) assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from
the use of the information contained herein.  The author(s) may not
have taken the same level of care in the production of this manual,
which is licensed free of charge, as they might when working
professionally.

Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by
the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work.
%%%LICENSE_END