| 1 | .TH CLOSE 2 |
| 2 | .SH NAME |
| 3 | close \- close a file |
| 4 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
| 5 | .B close(fildes) |
| 6 | .PP |
| 7 | .SH DESCRIPTION |
| 8 | Given |
| 9 | a file descriptor such as returned from an |
| 10 | .I open, |
| 11 | .I creat, |
| 12 | .I dup |
| 13 | or |
| 14 | .IR pipe (2) |
| 15 | call, |
| 16 | .I close |
| 17 | closes the associated file. |
| 18 | A close of all files is automatic on |
| 19 | .I exit, |
| 20 | but since |
| 21 | there is a limit on the number of open files per process, |
| 22 | .I close |
| 23 | is necessary for programs which deal with many files. |
| 24 | .PP |
| 25 | Files are closed upon termination of a process, and |
| 26 | certain high-numbered file descriptors are closed by |
| 27 | .IR exec (2). |
| 28 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| 29 | creat(2), open(2), pipe(2), exec(2) |
| 30 | .SH DIAGNOSTICS |
| 31 | Zero is returned if a file is closed; |
| 32 | \-1 is returned for an unknown file descriptor. |
| 33 | .SH "ASSEMBLER (PDP-11)" |
| 34 | (close = 6.) |
| 35 | .br |
| 36 | (file descriptor in r0) |
| 37 | .br |
| 38 | .B sys close |
| 39 | .PP |
| 40 | .SH BUGS |
| 41 | A file cannot be closed while there are pages which have been |
| 42 | .I vread |
| 43 | but not referenced. |