SYSCONF(3) BSD Library Functions Manual SYSCONF(3)NAMEsysconf — get configurable system variables
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
long
sysconf(int name);
DESCRIPTION
This interface is defined by IEEE Std 1003.1-1988 (“POSIX.1”). A far
more complete interface is available using sysctl(3).
The sysconf() function provides a method for applications to determine
the current value of a configurable system limit or option variable. The
name argument specifies the system variable to be queried. Symbolic con‐
stants for each name value are found in the include file <unistd.h>.
The available values are as follows:
_SC_ARG_MAX
The maximum bytes of argument to exec(2).
_SC_CHILD_MAX
The maximum number of simultaneous processes per user id.
_SC_CLK_TCK
Number of micro-seconds per hz tick.
_SC_NGROUPS_MAX
The maximum number of supplemental groups.
_SC_OPEN_MAX
The maximum number of open files per user id.
_SC_STREAM_MAX
The minimum maximum number of streams that a process may have
open at any one time.
_SC_TZNAME_MAX
The minimum maximum number of types supported for the name of a
timezone.
_SC_JOB_CONTROL
Return 1 if job control is available on this system, otherwise
-1.
_SC_SAVED_IDS
Returns 1 if saved set-group and saved set-user ID is available,
otherwise -1.
_SC_VERSION
The version of ISO/IEC 9945 (POSIX 1003.1) with which the system
attempts to comply.
_SC_BC_BASE_MAX
The maximum ibase/obase values in the bc(1) utility.
_SC_BC_DIM_MAX
The maximum array size in the bc(1) utility.
_SC_BC_SCALE_MAX
The maximum scale value in the bc(1) utility.
_SC_BC_STRING_MAX
The maximum string length in the bc(1) utility.
_SC_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX
The maximum number of weights that can be assigned to any entry
of the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the locale definition file.
_SC_EXPR_NEST_MAX
The maximum number of expressions that can be nested within
parenthesis by the expr(1) utility.
_SC_LINE_MAX
The maximum length in bytes of a text-processing utility's input
line.
_SC_RE_DUP_MAX
The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expres‐
sion permitted when using interval notation.
_SC_2_VERSION
The version of POSIX 1003.2 with which the system attempts to
comply.
_SC_2_C_BIND
Return 1 if the system's C-language development facilities sup‐
port the C-Language Bindings Option, otherwise -1.
_SC_2_C_DEV
Return 1 if the system supports the C-Language Development Utili‐
ties Option, otherwise -1.
_SC_2_CHAR_TERM
Return 1 if the system supports at least one terminal type capa‐
ble of all operations described in POSIX 1003.2, otherwise -1.
_SC_2_FORT_DEV
Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Development Utilities
Option, otherwise -1.
_SC_2_FORT_RUN
Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities
Option, otherwise -1.
_SC_2_LOCALEDEF
Return 1 if the system supports the creation of locales, other‐
wise -1.
_SC_2_SW_DEV
Return 1 if the system supports the Software Development Utili‐
ties Option, otherwise -1.
_SC_2_UPE
Return 1 if the system supports the User Portability Utilities
Option, otherwise -1.
RETURN VALUES
If the call to sysconf is not successful, -1 is returned and errno is set
appropriately. Otherwise, if the variable is associated with functional‐
ity that is not supported, -1 is returned and errno is not modified.
Otherwise, the current variable value is returned.
ERRORS
The sysconf() function may fail and set errno for any of the errors spec‐
ified for the library functions sysctl(3). In addition, the following
error may be reported:
[EINVAL] The value of the name argument is invalid.
SEE ALSOsysctl(3)BUGS
The value for _SC_STREAM_MAX is a minimum maximum, and required to be the
same as ANSI C's FOPEN_MAX, so the returned value is a ridiculously small
and misleading number.
STANDARDS
The sysconf() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-1988 (“POSIX.1”).
HISTORY
The sysconf function first appeared in 4.4BSD.
4th Berkeley Distribution April 19, 1994 4th Berkeley Distribution