TRUNCATE(3P)

PROLOG
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
truncate - truncate a file to a specified length

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

int truncate(const char *path, off_t length);

DESCRIPTION

The truncate() function shall cause the regular file named by path to have a size which shall be equal to length bytes.

If the file previously was larger than length, the extra data is discarded. If the file was previously shorter than length, its size is increased, and the extended area appears as if it were zero-filled.

The application shall ensure that the process has write permission for the file.

If the request would cause the file size to exceed the soft file size limit for the process, the request shall fail and the implementation shall generate the SIGXFSZ signal for the process.

This function shall not modify the file offset for any open file descriptions associated with the file. Upon successful completion, if the file size is changed, this function shall mark for update the st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the file, and the S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits of the file mode may be cleared.

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, truncate() shall return 0. Otherwise, -1 shall be returned, and errno set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

The truncate() function shall fail if:

EINTR
    A signal was caught during execution.

EINVAL
    The length argument was less than 0.

EFBIG or EINVAL
    The length argument was greater than the maximum file size.

EIO An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to a file system.

EACCES
    A component of the path prefix denies search permission, or write permission is denied on the file.

EISDIR
    The named file is a directory.

ELOOP
    A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of the path argument.

ENAMETOOLONG
    The length of the path argument exceeds {PATH_MAX} or a pathname component is longer than {NAME_MAX}.

ENOENT
    A component of path does not name an existing file or path is an empty string.

ENOTDIR
    A component of the path prefix of path is not a directory.

EROFS
    The named file resides on a read-only file system.

The truncate() function may fail if:

ELOOP
    More than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during resolution of the path argument.

ENAMETOOLONG
    Pathname resolution of a symbolic link produced an intermediate result whose length exceeds {PATH_MAX}.

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

None.

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

open(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <unistd.h>

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 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 .