SCANDIR(3)

NAME
scandir, scandirat, scandir_b, alphasort, versionsort - scan a directory

LIBRARY
libc

SYNOPSIS
#include <dirent.h>
int
scandir(const char *dirname, struct dirent ***namelist, int *selectconst struct dirent *, int *comparconst struct dirent **, const struct dirent **);
int
scandirat(int dirfd, const char *dirname, struct dirent ***namelist, int *selectconst struct dirent *, int *comparconst struct dirent **, const struct dirent **);
int
scandir_b(const char *dirname, struct dirent ***namelist, int ^selectconst struct dirent *, int ^comparconst struct dirent **, const struct dirent **);
int
alphasort(const struct dirent **d1, const struct dirent **d2);
int
versionsort(const struct dirent **d1, const struct dirent **d2);

DESCRIPTION
The scandir() function reads the directory dirname and builds an array of pointers to directory entries using malloc(3). It returns the number of entries in the array. A pointer to the array of directory entries is stored in the location referenced by namelist.

The select argument is a pointer to a user supplied subroutine which is called by scandir() to select which entries are to be included in the array. The select routine is passed a pointer to a directory entry and should return a non-zero value if the directory entry is to be included in the array. If select is null, then all the directory entries will be included.

The compar argument is a pointer to a user supplied subroutine which is passed to qsort(3) to sort the completed array. If this pointer is null, the array is not sorted.

The alphasort() function is a routine which can be used for the compar argument to sort the array alphabetically using strcoll(3).

The versionsort() function is a routine which can be used for the compar argument to sort the array naturally using strverscmp(3).

The memory allocated for the array can be deallocated with free(3), by freeing each pointer in the array and then the array itself.

The scandirat() function is similar to scandir(), but takes an additional dirfd argument. If the supplied dirname is absolute, the function's behavior is identical to that of scandir(), the dirfd argument is unused. If dirname is relative, dirfd must be a valid file descriptor referencing a directory, in which case the dirname lookup is performed relative to the directory referenced by dirfd. If dirfd has the special value AT_FDCWD, then the current process directory is used as the base for relative lookups. See openat(2) for additional details.

The scandir_b() function behaves in the same way as scandir(), but takes blocks as arguments instead of function pointers and calls qsort_b() rather than qsort().

DIAGNOSTICS
Returns -1 if the directory cannot be opened for reading or if malloc(3) cannot allocate enough memory to hold all the data structures.

SEE ALSO
openat(2), directory(3), malloc(3), qsort(3), strcoll(3), strverscmp(3), dir(5)

STANDARDS
The versionsort() function is a GNU extension and conforms to no standard.

HISTORY
The scandir() and alphasort() functions appeared in 4.2BSD. The scandirat() and versionsort() functions were added in FreeBSD 13.2.