getc_unlocked(3p) — Linux manual page

PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | EXAMPLES | APPLICATION USAGE | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT

GETC_UNLOCKED(3P)       POSIX Programmer's Manual      GETC_UNLOCKED(3P)

PROLOG         top

       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The
       Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
       corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
       or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME         top

       getc_unlocked, getchar_unlocked, putc_unlocked, putchar_unlocked
       — stdio with explicit client locking

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <stdio.h>

       int getc_unlocked(FILE *stream);
       int getchar_unlocked(void);
       int putc_unlocked(int c, FILE *stream);
       int putchar_unlocked(int c);

DESCRIPTION         top

       Versions of the functions getc(), getchar(), putc(), and
       putchar() respectively named getc_unlocked(), getchar_unlocked(),
       putc_unlocked(), and putchar_unlocked() shall be provided which
       are functionally equivalent to the original versions, with the
       exception that they are not required to be implemented in a fully
       thread-safe manner. They shall be thread-safe when used within a
       scope protected by flockfile() (or ftrylockfile()) and
       funlockfile().  These functions can safely be used in a multi-
       threaded program if and only if they are called while the
       invoking thread owns the (FILE *) object, as is the case after a
       successful call to the flockfile() or ftrylockfile() functions.

       If getc_unlocked() or putc_unlocked() are implemented as macros
       they may evaluate stream more than once, so the stream argument
       should never be an expression with side-effects.

RETURN VALUE         top

       See getc(3p), getchar(3p), putc(3p), and putchar(3p).

ERRORS         top

       See getc(3p), getchar(3p), putc(3p), and putchar(3p).

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES         top

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE         top

       Since they may be implemented as macros, getc_unlocked() and
       putc_unlocked() may treat incorrectly a stream argument with
       side-effects. In particular, getc_unlocked(*f++) and
       putc_unlocked(c,*f++) do not necessarily work as expected.
       Therefore, use of these functions in such situations should be
       preceded by the following statement as appropriate:

           #undef getc_unlocked
           #undef putc_unlocked

RATIONALE         top

       Some I/O functions are typically implemented as macros for
       performance reasons (for example, putc() and getc()).  For
       safety, they need to be synchronized, but it is often too
       expensive to synchronize on every character. Nevertheless, it was
       felt that the safety concerns were more important; consequently,
       the getc(), getchar(), putc(), and putchar() functions are
       required to be thread-safe. However, unlocked versions are also
       provided with names that clearly indicate the unsafe nature of
       their operation but can be used to exploit their higher
       performance.  These unlocked versions can be safely used only
       within explicitly locked program regions, using exported locking
       primitives. In particular, a sequence such as:

           flockfile(fileptr);
           putc_unlocked('1', fileptr);
           putc_unlocked('\n', fileptr);
           fprintf(fileptr, "Line 2\n");
           funlockfile(fileptr);

       is permissible, and results in the text sequence:

           1
           Line 2

       being printed without being interspersed with output from other
       threads.

       It would be wrong to have the standard names such as getc(),
       putc(), and so on, map to the ``faster, but unsafe'' rather than
       the ``slower, but safe'' versions. In either case, you would
       still want to inspect all uses of getc(), putc(), and so on, by
       hand when converting existing code. Choosing the safe bindings as
       the default, at least, results in correct code and maintains the
       ``atomicity at the function'' invariant. To do otherwise would
       introduce gratuitous synchronization errors into converted code.
       Other routines that modify the stdio (FILE *) structures or
       buffers are also safely synchronized.

       Note that there is no need for functions of the form
       getc_locked(), putc_locked(), and so on, since this is the
       functionality of getc(), putc(), et al.  It would be
       inappropriate to use a feature test macro to switch a macro
       definition of getc() between getc_locked() and getc_unlocked(),
       since the ISO C standard requires an actual function to exist, a
       function whose behavior could not be changed by the feature test
       macro. Also, providing both the xxx_locked() and xxx_unlocked()
       forms leads to the confusion of whether the suffix describes the
       behavior of the function or the circumstances under which it
       should be used.

       Three additional routines, flockfile(), ftrylockfile(), and
       funlockfile() (which may be macros), are provided to allow the
       user to delineate a sequence of I/O statements that are executed
       synchronously.

       The ungetc() function is infrequently called relative to the
       other functions/macros so no unlocked variation is needed.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS         top

       None.

SEE ALSO         top

       Section 2.5, Standard I/O Streams, flockfile(3p), getc(3p),
       getchar(3p), putc(3p), putchar(3p)

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, stdio.h(0p)

COPYRIGHT         top

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic
       form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information
       Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The
       Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright
       (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
       Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  In the event of any
       discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The
       Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be
       obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page
       are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of
       the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

IEEE/The Open Group               2017                 GETC_UNLOCKED(3P)

Pages that refer to this page: stdio.h(0p)flockfile(3p)getchar_unlocked(3p)putchar_unlocked(3p)putc_unlocked(3p)