PATHFIND(3GEN) String Pattern-Matching Library Functions PATHFIND(3GEN)

pathfind - search for named file in named directories

cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lgen [ library ... ]
#include <libgen.h>
char *pathfind(const char *path, const char *name, const char *mode);

The pathfind() function searches the directories named in path for the file name. The directories named in path are separated by colons (:). The mode argument is a string of option letters chosen from the set [rwxfbcdpugks]:

Letter Meaning
r readable
w writable
x executable
f normal file
b block special
c character special
d directory
p FIFO (pipe)
u set user ID bit
g set group ID bit
k sticky bit
s size non-zero

Options read, write, and execute are checked relative to the real (not the effective) user ID and group ID of the current process.

If name begins with a slash, it is treated as an absolute path name, and path is ignored.

An empty path member is treated as the current directory. A slash (/) character is not prepended at the occurrence of the first match; rather, the unadorned name is returned.

Example 1 Example of finding the ls command using the PATH environment variable.

To find the ls command using the PATH environment variable:

pathfind (getenv ("PATH"), "ls", "rx")

The pathfind() function returns a (char *) value containing static, thread-specific data that will be overwritten upon the next call from the same thread.

If the file name with all characteristics specified by mode is found in any of the directories specified by path, then pathfind() returns a pointer to a string containing the member of path, followed by a slash character (/), followed by name.

If no match is found, pathname() returns a null pointer, ((char *) 0).

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
MT-Level MT-Safe

sh(1), test(1), access(2), mknod(2), stat(2), getenv(3C), attributes(7)

The string pointed to by the returned pointer is stored in an area that is reused on subsequent calls to pathfind(). The string should not be deallocated by the caller.

When compiling multithreaded applications, the _REENTRANT flag must be defined on the compile line. This flag should only be used in multithreadedapplications.

March 10, 1999 OmniOS