MKFIFO(3)                                           Linux Programmer's Manual                                          MKFIFO(3)



NAME
       mkfifo - make a FIFO special file (a named pipe)

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <sys/stat.h>

       int mkfifo(const char *pathname, mode_t mode);

DESCRIPTION
       mkfifo()  makes  a  FIFO  special file with name pathname.  mode specifies the FIFO's permissions.  It is modified by the
       process's umask in the usual way: the permissions of the created file are (mode & ~umask).

       A FIFO special file is similar to a pipe, except that it is created in a different way.  Instead of  being  an  anonymous
       communications channel, a FIFO special file is entered into the file system by calling mkfifo().

       Once you have created a FIFO special file in this way, any process can open it for reading or writing, in the same way as
       an ordinary file.  However, it has to be open at both ends simultaneously before you can proceed to do any input or  out-
       put  operations on it.  Opening a FIFO for reading normally blocks until some other process opens the same FIFO for writ-
       ing, and vice versa.  See fifo(7) for nonblocking handling of FIFO special files.

RETURN VALUE
       On success mkfifo() returns 0.  In the case of an error, -1 is returned (in which case, errno is set appropriately).

ERRORS
       EACCES One of the directories in pathname did not allow search (execute) permission.

       EEXIST pathname already exists.  This includes the case where pathname is a symbolic link, dangling or not.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              Either the total length of pathname is greater than PATH_MAX, or an individual filename  component  has  a  length
              greater  than  NAME_MAX.   In  the GNU system, there is no imposed limit on overall filename length, but some file
              systems may place limits on the length of a component.

       ENOENT A directory component in pathname does not exist or is a dangling symbolic link.

       ENOSPC The directory or file system has no room for the new file.

       ENOTDIR
              A component used as a directory in pathname is not, in fact, a directory.

       EROFS  pathname refers to a read-only file system.

CONFORMING TO
       POSIX.1-2001.

SEE ALSO
       mkfifo(1), close(2), open(2), read(2), stat(2), umask(2), write(2), mkfifoat(3), fifo(7)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 3.25 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project,  and  information  about
       reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



GNU                                                        2008-06-12                                                  MKFIFO(3)