NAME¶

SYNOPSIS¶

#include <semaphore.h>

int sem_wait(sem_t *sem);

int sem_trywait(sem_t *sem);

int sem_timedwait(sem_t *sem, const struct timespec *abs_timeout);

Link with -pthread.

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

sem_timedwait(): _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L

DESCRIPTION¶

sem_trywait() is the same as sem_wait(), except that if the decrement cannot be immediately performed, then call returns an error (errno set to EAGAIN) instead of blocking.

sem_timedwait() is the same as sem_wait(), except that abs_timeout specifies a limit on the amount of time that the call should block if the decrement cannot be immediately performed. The abs_timeout argument points to a structure that specifies an absolute timeout in seconds and nanoseconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC). This structure is defined as follows:

struct timespec {
    time_t tv_sec;      /* Seconds */
    long   tv_nsec;     /* Nanoseconds [0 .. 999999999] */
};

If the timeout has already expired by the time of the call, and the semaphore could not be locked immediately, then sem_timedwait() fails with a timeout error (errno set to ETIMEDOUT).

If the operation can be performed immediately, then sem_timedwait() never fails with a timeout error, regardless of the value of abs_timeout. Furthermore, the validity of abs_timeout is not checked in this case.

RETURN VALUE¶

ERRORS¶

EINTR

The call was interrupted by a signal handler; see signal(7).

EINVAL

sem is not a valid semaphore.

The following additional error can occur for sem_trywait():

EAGAIN

The operation could not be performed without blocking (i.e., the semaphore currently has the value zero).

The following additional errors can occur for sem_timedwait():

EINVAL

The value of abs_timeout.tv_nsecs is less than 0, or greater than or equal to 1000 million.

ETIMEDOUT

The call timed out before the semaphore could be locked.

ATTRIBUTES¶

CONFORMING TO¶

EXAMPLE¶

$ ./a.out 2 3
About to call sem_timedwait()
sem_post() from handler
sem_timedwait() succeeded
$ ./a.out 2 1
About to call sem_timedwait()
sem_timedwait() timed out

#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <semaphore.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <assert.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <signal.h>
sem_t sem;
#define handle_error(msg) \
    do { perror(msg); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } while (0)
static void
handler(int sig)
{
    write(STDOUT_FILENO, "sem_post() from handler\n", 24);
    if (sem_post(&sem) == -1) {
        write(STDERR_FILENO, "sem_post() failed\n", 18);
        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
}
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    struct sigaction sa;
    struct timespec ts;
    int s;
    if (argc != 3) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s <alarm-secs> <wait-secs>\n",
                argv[0]);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    if (sem_init(&sem, 0, 0) == -1)
        handle_error("sem_init");
    /* Establish SIGALRM handler; set alarm timer using argv[1] */
    sa.sa_handler = handler;
    sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
    sa.sa_flags = 0;
    if (sigaction(SIGALRM, &sa, NULL) == -1)
        handle_error("sigaction");
    alarm(atoi(argv[1]));
    /* Calculate relative interval as current time plus
       number of seconds given argv[2] */
    if (clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &ts) == -1)
        handle_error("clock_gettime");
    ts.tv_sec += atoi(argv[2]);
    printf("main() about to call sem_timedwait()\n");
    while ((s = sem_timedwait(&sem, &ts)) == -1 && errno == EINTR)
        continue;       /* Restart if interrupted by handler */
    /* Check what happened */
    if (s == -1) {
        if (errno == ETIMEDOUT)
            printf("sem_timedwait() timed out\n");
        else
            perror("sem_timedwait");
    } else
        printf("sem_timedwait() succeeded\n");
    exit((s == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE);
}

SEE ALSO¶

COLOPHON¶