GETPT

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 2008-06-14
Index Return to Main Contents
 

NAME

getpt - open the pseudo-terminal master (PTM)  

SYNOPSIS

#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <stdlib.h>

int getpt(void);
 

DESCRIPTION

getpt() opens a pseudo-terminal master and returns its file descriptor. It is equivalent to 

    open(/dev/ptmx, O_RDWR | O_NOCTTY);
on Linux systems, though the pseudo-terminal master is located elsewhere on some systems that use GNU Libc.  

RETURN VALUE

getpt() returns an open file descriptor upon successful completion. Otherwise, it returns -1 and sets errno to indicate the error.  

ERRORS

getpt() can fail with various errors described in open(2).  

VERSIONS

getpt() is provided in glibc since version 2.1.  

CONFORMING TO

getpt() is glibc-specific; use posix_openpt(3) instead.  

SEE ALSO

grantpt(3), posix_openpt(3), ptsname(3), unlockpt(3), ptmx(4), pty(7)  

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 3.22 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.