close(2) close(2) NAME close - close a file descriptor SYNOPSIS #include <unistd.h> int close(int fildes); DESCRIPTION close() closes the file descriptor indicated by fildes. fildes is a file descriptor obtained from a creat(), open(), dup(), fcntl(), or pipe() system call. All associated file segments which have been locked by this process with the lockf() function are released (i.e., unlocked). RETURN VALUE Upon successful completion, close() returns a value of 0; otherwise, it returns -1 and sets errno to indicate the error. ERRORS close() fails if the any of following conditions are encountered: [EBADF] fildes is not a valid open file descriptor. [EINTR] An attempt to close a slow device or connection was interrupted by a signal. The file descriptor still points to an open device or connection. [ENOSPC] Not enough space on the file system. This error can occur when closing a file on an NFS file system. [When a write() system call is executed on a local file system and if a new buffer needs to be allocated to hold the data, the buffer is mapped onto the disk at that time. A full disk is detected at this time and write() returns an error. When the write() system call is executed on an NFS file system, the new buffer is allocated without communicating with the NFS server to see if there is space for the buffer (to improve NFS performance). It is only when the buffer is written to the server (at file close or the buffer is full) that the disk-full condition is detected.] SEE ALSO creat(2), dup(2), exec(2), fcntl(2), lockf(2), open(2), pipe(2). STANDARDS CONFORMANCE close(): AES, SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3, XPG4, FIPS 151-2, POSIX.1 Hewlett-Packard Company - 1 - HP-UX Release 10.20: July 1996