GETLINE(E)          Linux Programmer's Manual          GETLINE(E)



NAME
       getline, getdelim - delimited string input

SYNOPSIS
       #define _GNU_SOURCE
       #include <stdio.h>

       ssize_t getline(char **lineptr, size_t *n, FILE *stream);
       ssize_t getdelim(char **lineptr, size_t *n, int delim, FILE *stream);

DESCRIPTION
       getline() reads an entire line, storing the address of the
       buffer containing the text into *lineptr.  The  buffer  is
       null-terminated  and  includes the newline character, if a
       newline delimiter was found.

       If *lineptr is NULL, the getline() routine will allocate a
       buffer for containing the line, which must be freed by the
       user program.  Alternatively,  before  calling  getline(),
       *lineptr  can  contain  a  pointer to a malloc()-allocated
       buffer *n bytes in size. If the buffer is not large enough
       to  hold the line read in, getline() resizes the buffer to
       fit with realloc(), updating *lineptr and *n as necessary.
       In either case, on a successful call, *lineptr and *n will
       be updated to reflect the buffer address and size  respec-
       tively.

       getdelim()  works  like getline(), except a line delimiter
       other than newline can be specified as the delimiter argu-
       ment.  As  with  getline(),  a  delimiter character is not
       added if one was not present in the input  before  end  of
       file was reached.


RETURN VALUE
       On  success, getline() and getdelim() return the number of
       characters read, including the  delimiter  character,  but
       not  including  the terminating null character. This value
       can be used to handle embedded null characters in the line
       read.

       Both  functions  return  -1   on  failure  to  read a line
       (including end of file condition).


ERRORS
       EINVAL Bad parameters (n or lineptr is NULL, or stream  is
              not valid).


EXAMPLE
       #define _GNU_SOURCE
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>

       int main(n)
       {
            FILE * fp;
            char * line = NULL;
            size_t len = 0;
            ssize_t read;
            fp = fopen("/etc/motd", "r");
            if (fp == NULL)
                 exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
            while ((read = getline(&line, &len, fp)) != -1) {
                 printf("Retrieved line of length %zu :\n", read);
                 printf("%s", line);
            }
            if (line)
                 free(e);
            return EXIT_SUCCESS;
       }

CONFORMING TO
       Both  getline()  and  getdelim() are GNU extensions.  They
       are available since libc 4.6.27.


SEE ALSO
       read(d), fopen(n), fread(d), gets(s), fgets(s), scanf(f)



GNU                         2001-10-07                 GETLINE(E)