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    Command Linux
    Home - man page - READDIR

    READDIR

    WillieBy WillieFebruary 13, 2026Updated:February 13, 2026No Comments2 Mins Read
     

    NAME

    readdir – read directory entry  

    SYNOPSIS

    
    int readdir(unsigned int fd, struct old_linux_dirent *dirp,
                unsigned int count);
    

    Note: There is no glibc wrapper for this system call; see NOTES.  

    DESCRIPTION

    This is not the function you are interested in. Look at readdir(3) for the POSIX conforming C library interface. This page documents the bare kernel system call interface, which is superseded by getdents(2).

    readdir() reads one old_linux_dirent structure from the directory referred to by the file descriptor fd into the buffer pointed to by dirp. The argument count is ignored; at most one old_linux_dirent structure is read.

    The old_linux_dirent structure is declared as follows:

    struct old_linux_dirent {
        long  d_ino;              /* inode number */
        off_t d_off;              /* offset to this old_linux_dirent */
        unsigned short d_reclen;  /* length of this d_name */
        char  d_name[NAME_MAX+1]; /* filename (null-terminated) */
    }
    

    d_ino is an inode number. d_off is the distance from the start of the directory to this old_linux_dirent. d_reclen is the size of d_name, not counting the terminating null byte (‘\0’). d_name is a null-terminated filename.  

    RETURN VALUE

    On success, 1 is returned. On end of directory, 0 is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.  

    ERRORS

    EBADF
    Invalid file descriptor fd.
    EFAULT
    Argument points outside the calling process’s address space.
    EINVAL
    Result buffer is too small.
    ENOENT
    No such directory.
    ENOTDIR
    File descriptor does not refer to a directory.
     

    CONFORMING TO

    This system call is Linux-specific.  

    NOTES

    Glibc does not provide a wrapper for this system call; call it using syscall(2). You will need to define the old_linux_dirent structure yourself. However, probably you should use readdir(3) instead.

    This system call does not exist on x86-64.  

    COLOPHON

    This page is part of release 3.74 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

    Willie
    • Website

    Willie has over 15 years of experience in Linux system administration and DevOps. After managing infrastructure for startups and enterprises alike, he founded Command Linux to share the practical knowledge he wished he had when starting out. He oversees content strategy and contributes guides on server management, automation, and security.

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