NAME¶

SYNOPSIS¶

/* According to POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008 */
#include <sys/select.h>

/* According to earlier standards */
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int select(int nfds, fd_set *readfds, fd_set *writefds,
           fd_set *exceptfds, struct timeval *timeout);

void FD_CLR(int fd, fd_set *set);
int  FD_ISSET(int fd, fd_set *set);
void FD_SET(int fd, fd_set *set);
void FD_ZERO(fd_set *set);
#include <sys/select.h>

int pselect(int nfds, fd_set *readfds, fd_set *writefds,
            fd_set *exceptfds, const struct timespec *timeout,
            const sigset_t *sigmask);

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

pselect(): _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L

DESCRIPTION¶

select() can monitor only file descriptors numbers that are less than FD_SETSIZE; poll(2) does not have this limitation. See BUGS.

The operation of select() and pselect() is identical, other than these three differences:

(i)

select() uses a timeout that is a struct timeval (with seconds and microseconds), while pselect() uses a struct timespec (with seconds and nanoseconds).

(ii)

select() may update the timeout argument to indicate how much time was left. pselect() does not change this argument.

(iii)

select() has no sigmask argument, and behaves as pselect() called with NULL sigmask.

Three independent sets of file descriptors are watched. The file descriptors listed in readfds will be watched to see if characters become available for reading (more precisely, to see if a read will not block; in particular, a file descriptor is also ready on end-of-file). The file descriptors in writefds will be watched to see if space is available for write (though a large write may still block). The file descriptors in exceptfds will be watched for exceptional conditions. (For examples of some exceptional conditions, see the discussion of POLLPRI in poll(2).)

On exit, each of the file descriptor sets is modified in place to indicate which file descriptors actually changed status. (Thus, if using select() within a loop, the sets must be reinitialized before each call.)

Each of the three file descriptor sets may be specified as NULL if no file descriptors are to be watched for the corresponding class of events.

Four macros are provided to manipulate the sets. FD_ZERO() clears a set. FD_SET() and FD_CLR() respectively add and remove a given file descriptor from a set. FD_ISSET() tests to see if a file descriptor is part of the set; this is useful after select() returns.

nfds should be set to the highest-numbered file descriptor in any of the three sets, plus 1. The indicated file descriptors in each set are checked, up to this limit (but see BUGS).

The timeout argument specifies the interval that select() should block waiting for a file descriptor to become ready. The call will block until either:

• a file descriptor becomes ready;
• the call is interrupted by a signal handler; or
• the timeout expires.

Note that the timeout interval will be rounded up to the system clock granularity, and kernel scheduling delays mean that the blocking interval may overrun by a small amount. If both fields of the timeval structure are zero, then select() returns immediately. (This is useful for polling.) If timeout is NULL (no timeout), select() can block indefinitely.

sigmask is a pointer to a signal mask (see sigprocmask(2)); if it is not NULL, then pselect() first replaces the current signal mask by the one pointed to by sigmask, then does the "select" function, and then restores the original signal mask.

Other than the difference in the precision of the timeout argument, the following pselect() call:

ready = pselect(nfds, &readfds, &writefds, &exceptfds,
                timeout, &sigmask);

is equivalent to atomically executing the following calls:

sigset_t origmask;
pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &sigmask, &origmask);
ready = select(nfds, &readfds, &writefds, &exceptfds, timeout);
pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &origmask, NULL);

The reason that pselect() is needed is that if one wants to wait for either a signal or for a file descriptor to become ready, then an atomic test is needed to prevent race conditions. (Suppose the signal handler sets a global flag and returns. Then a test of this global flag followed by a call of select() could hang indefinitely if the signal arrived just after the test but just before the call. By contrast, pselect() allows one to first block signals, handle the signals that have come in, then call pselect() with the desired sigmask, avoiding the race.)

struct timeval {
    long    tv_sec;         /* seconds */
    long    tv_usec;        /* microseconds */
};

struct timespec {
    long    tv_sec;         /* seconds */
    long    tv_nsec;        /* nanoseconds */
};

RETURN VALUE¶

ERRORS¶

EBADF

An invalid file descriptor was given in one of the sets. (Perhaps a file descriptor that was already closed, or one on which an error has occurred.) However, see BUGS.

EINTR

A signal was caught; see signal(7).

EINVAL

nfds is negative or exceeds the RLIMIT_NOFILE resource limit (see getrlimit(2)).

EINVAL

The value contained within timeout is invalid.

ENOMEM

Unable to allocate memory for internal tables.

VERSIONS¶

CONFORMING TO¶

pselect() is defined in POSIX.1g, and in POSIX.1-2001 and POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES¶

On some other UNIX systems, select() can fail with the error EAGAIN if the system fails to allocate kernel-internal resources, rather than ENOMEM as Linux does. POSIX specifies this error for poll(2), but not for select(). Portable programs may wish to check for EAGAIN and loop, just as with EINTR.

On systems that lack pselect(), reliable (and more portable) signal trapping can be achieved using the self-pipe trick. In this technique, a signal handler writes a byte to a pipe whose other end is monitored by select() in the main program. (To avoid possibly blocking when writing to a pipe that may be full or reading from a pipe that may be empty, nonblocking I/O is used when reading from and writing to the pipe.)

Concerning the types involved, the classical situation is that the two fields of a timeval structure are typed as long (as shown above), and the structure is defined in <sys/time.h>. The POSIX.1 situation is

struct timeval {
    time_t         tv_sec;     /* seconds */
    suseconds_t    tv_usec;    /* microseconds */
};

where the structure is defined in <sys/select.h> and the data types time_t and suseconds_t are defined in <sys/types.h>.

Concerning prototypes, the classical situation is that one should include <time.h> for select(). The POSIX.1 situation is that one should include <sys/select.h> for select() and pselect().

Under glibc 2.0, <sys/select.h> gives the wrong prototype for pselect(). Under glibc 2.1 to 2.2.1, it gives pselect() when _GNU_SOURCE is defined. Since glibc 2.2.2, the requirements are as shown in the SYNOPSIS.

#define POLLIN_SET (POLLRDNORM | POLLRDBAND | POLLIN | POLLHUP |
                    POLLERR)
                   /* Ready for reading */
#define POLLOUT_SET (POLLWRBAND | POLLWRNORM | POLLOUT | POLLERR)
                   /* Ready for writing */
#define POLLEX_SET (POLLPRI)
                   /* Exceptional condition */

struct {
    const kernel_sigset_t *ss;   /* Pointer to signal set */
    size_t ss_len;               /* Size (in bytes) of object
                                    pointed to by 'ss' */
};

BUGS¶

According to POSIX, select() should check all specified file descriptors in the three file descriptor sets, up to the limit nfds-1. However, the current implementation ignores any file descriptor in these sets that is greater than the maximum file descriptor number that the process currently has open. According to POSIX, any such file descriptor that is specified in one of the sets should result in the error EBADF.

Glibc 2.0 provided a version of pselect() that did not take a sigmask argument.

Starting with version 2.1, glibc provided an emulation of pselect() that was implemented using sigprocmask(2) and select(). This implementation remained vulnerable to the very race condition that pselect() was designed to prevent. Modern versions of glibc use the (race-free) pselect() system call on kernels where it is provided.

Under Linux, select() may report a socket file descriptor as "ready for reading", while nevertheless a subsequent read blocks. This could for example happen when data has arrived but upon examination has wrong checksum and is discarded. There may be other circumstances in which a file descriptor is spuriously reported as ready. Thus it may be safer to use O_NONBLOCK on sockets that should not block.

On Linux, select() also modifies timeout if the call is interrupted by a signal handler (i.e., the EINTR error return). This is not permitted by POSIX.1. The Linux pselect() system call has the same behavior, but the glibc wrapper hides this behavior by internally copying the timeout to a local variable and passing that variable to the system call.

EXAMPLE¶

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int
main(void)
{
    fd_set rfds;
    struct timeval tv;
    int retval;
    /* Watch stdin (fd 0) to see when it has input. */
    FD_ZERO(&rfds);
    FD_SET(0, &rfds);
    /* Wait up to five seconds. */
    tv.tv_sec = 5;
    tv.tv_usec = 0;
    retval = select(1, &rfds, NULL, NULL, &tv);
    /* Don't rely on the value of tv now! */
    if (retval == -1)
        perror("select()");
    else if (retval)
        printf("Data is available now.\n");
        /* FD_ISSET(0, &rfds) will be true. */
    else
        printf("No data within five seconds.\n");
    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

SEE ALSO¶

For a tutorial with discussion and examples, see select_tut(2).

COLOPHON¶