NAME

ctermid - generate a pathname for the controlling terminal

SYNOPSIS

[CX] #include <stdio.h>

char *ctermid(char *s);

DESCRIPTION

The ctermid() function shall generate a string that, when used as a pathname, refers to the current controlling terminal for the current process. If ctermid() returns a pathname, access to the file is not guaranteed.

If the application uses any of the _POSIX_THREAD_SAFE_FUNCTIONS or _POSIX_THREADS functions, it shall ensure that the ctermid() function is called with a non-NULL parameter.

RETURN VALUE

If s is a null pointer, the string shall be generated in an area that may be static (and therefore may be overwritten by each call), the address of which shall be returned. Otherwise, s is assumed to point to a character array of at least L_ctermid bytes; the string is placed in this array and the value of s shall be returned. The symbolic constant L_ctermid is defined in <stdio.h>, and shall have a value greater than 0.

The ctermid() function shall return an empty string if the pathname that would refer to the controlling terminal cannot be determined, or if the function is unsuccessful.

ERRORS

No errors are defined.

EXAMPLES

Determining the Controlling Terminal for the Current Process

The following example returns a pointer to a string that identifies the controlling terminal for the current process. The pathname for the terminal is stored in the array pointed to by the ptr argument, which has a size of L_ctermid bytes, as indicated by the term argument.

#include <stdio.h>
...
char term[L_ctermid];
char *ptr;


ptr = ctermid(term);

APPLICATION USAGE

The difference between ctermid() and ttyname() is that ttyname() must be handed a file descriptor and return a path of the terminal associated with that file descriptor, while ctermid() returns a string (such as "/dev/tty" ) that refers to the current controlling terminal if used as a pathname.

RATIONALE

L_ctermid must be defined appropriately for a given implementation and must be greater than zero so that array declarations using it are accepted by the compiler. The value includes the terminating null byte.

Conforming applications that use threads cannot call ctermid() with NULL as the parameter if either _POSIX_THREAD_SAFE_FUNCTIONS or _POSIX_THREADS is defined. If s is not NULL, the ctermid() function generates a string that, when used as a pathname, refers to the current controlling terminal for the current process. If s is NULL, the return value of ctermid() is undefined.

There is no additional burden on the programmer-changing to use a hypothetical thread-safe version of ctermid() along with allocating a buffer is more of a burden than merely allocating a buffer. Application code should not assume that the returned string is short, as some implementations have more than two pathname components before reaching a logical device name.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

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

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 1. Derived from Issue 1 of the SVID.

Issue 5

The DESCRIPTION is updated for alignment with the POSIX Threads Extension.

Issue 6

The DESCRIPTION is updated to avoid use of the term "must" for application requirements.