File Descriptor Management
File Descriptors
The POSIX file access APIs
(e.g. read(2) and write(2)) operate on file descriptors.
A file descriptor is an integer*.
Normally, when a process starts, it has (at least) three already-open file descriptors:
0: standard input (read only)
1: standard output (write only)
2: standard error (write only)
As additional files are opened
(e.g. with open(2), creat(2) or pipe(2))
each is assigned the lowest unused file descriptor.
(*If you want a little more truth, these integers are indexes into a
table of open files that the Operating System maintains for
each process)
Input/Output Redirection
Two other operations can be used to manipulate file descriptors:
- close(2) closes the file on the specified file descriptor,
making that file descriptor available for reuse.
- dup(2) allocates the lowest available file descriptor,
and creates another reference to the open file instance
on the specified file descriptor.
Input/output redirection is accomplished by:
- opening the new input/output file
- closing the file descriptor (0, 1, 2) to be replaced
- duplicate the new input/output file to the (newly vacated) file descriptor
to be replaced
- close the (now redundant) file descriptor
on to which that file was originally opened
Example: input redirection
Example: output redirection