wait4 man page on OpenBSD

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   11362 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
OpenBSD logo
[printable version]

WAIT(2)			  OpenBSD Programmer's Manual		       WAIT(2)

NAME
     wait, waitpid, wait4, wait3 - wait for process termination

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/wait.h>

     pid_t
     wait(int *status);

     pid_t
     waitpid(pid_t wpid, int *status, int options);

     #include <sys/time.h>
     #include <sys/resource.h>

     pid_t
     wait3(int *status, int options, struct rusage *rusage);

     pid_t
     wait4(pid_t wpid, int *status, int options, struct rusage *rusage);

DESCRIPTION
     The wait() function suspends execution of its calling process until
     status information is available for a terminated child process, or a
     signal is received.  On return from a successful wait() call, the status
     area, if non-zero, is filled in with termination information about the
     process that exited (see below).

     The wait4() call provides a more general interface for programs that need
     to wait for certain child processes, that need resource utilization
     statistics accumulated by child processes, or that require options.  The
     other wait functions are implemented using wait4().

     The wpid parameter specifies the set of child processes for which to
     wait.  The following symbolic constants are currently defined in
     <sys/wait.h>:

	   #define WAIT_ANY	   (-1)	   /* any process */
	   #define WAIT_MYPGRP	   0	   /* any process in my process group */

     If wpid is set to WAIT_ANY, the call waits for any child process.	If
     wpid is set to WAIT_MYPGRP, the call waits for any child process in the
     process group of the caller.  If wpid is greater than zero, the call
     waits for the process with process ID wpid.  If wpid is less than -1, the
     call waits for any process whose process group ID equals the absolute
     value of wpid.

     The status parameter is defined below.  The options parameter contains
     the bitwise OR of any of the following options:

     WCONTINUED	 Causes status to be reported for stopped child processes that
		 have been continued by receipt of a SIGCONT signal.

     WNOHANG	 Indicates that the call should not block if there are no
		 processes that wish to report status.

     WUNTRACED	 If set, children of the current process that are stopped due
		 to a SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, SIGTSTP, or SIGSTOP signal also have
		 their status reported.

     If rusage is non-zero, a summary of the resources used by the terminated
     process and all its children is returned (this information is currently
     not available for stopped processes).

     When the WNOHANG option is specified and no processes wish to report
     status, wait4() returns a process ID of 0.

     The waitpid() call is identical to wait4() with an rusage value of zero.
     The older wait3() call is the same as wait4() with a wpid value of -1.

     The following macros may be used to test the manner of exit of the
     process.  One of the first three macros will evaluate to a non-zero
     (true) value:

     WIFCONTINUED(status)
	     True if the process has not terminated, and has continued after a
	     job control stop.	This macro can be true only if the wait call
	     specified the WCONTINUED option.

     WIFEXITED(status)
	     True if the process terminated normally by a call to _exit(2) or
	     exit(3).

     WIFSIGNALED(status)
	     True if the process terminated due to receipt of a signal.

     WIFSTOPPED(status)
	     True if the process has not terminated, but has stopped and can
	     be restarted.  This macro can be true only if the wait call
	     specified the WUNTRACED option or if the child process is being
	     traced (see ptrace(2)).

     Depending on the values of those macros, the following macros produce the
     remaining status information about the child process:

     WEXITSTATUS(status)
	     If WIFEXITED(status) is true, evaluates to the low-order 8 bits
	     of the argument passed to _exit(2) or exit(3) by the child.

     WTERMSIG(status)
	     If WIFSIGNALED(status) is true, evaluates to the number of the
	     signal that caused the termination of the process.

     WCOREDUMP(status)
	     If WIFSIGNALED(status) is true, evaluates as true if the
	     termination of the process was accompanied by the creation of a
	     core file containing an image of the process when the signal was
	     received.

     WSTOPSIG(status)
	     If WIFSTOPPED(status) is true, evaluates to the number of the
	     signal that caused the process to stop.

NOTES
     See sigaction(2) for a list of termination signals.  A status of 0
     indicates normal termination.

     If a parent process terminates without waiting for all of its child
     processes to terminate, the remaining child processes are assigned the
     parent process 1 ID (the init process ID).

     If a signal is caught while any of the wait() calls is pending, the call
     may be interrupted or restarted when the signal-catching routine returns,
     depending on the options in effect for the signal; for further
     information, see siginterrupt(3).

RETURN VALUES
     If wait() returns due to a stopped or terminated child process, the
     process ID of the child is returned to the calling process.  Otherwise, a
     value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

     If wait4(), wait3() or waitpid() returns due to a stopped or terminated
     child process, the process ID of the child is returned to the calling
     process.  If there are no children not previously awaited, -1 is returned
     with errno set to [ECHILD].  Otherwise, if WNOHANG is specified and there
     are no stopped or exited children, 0 is returned.	If an error is
     detected or a caught signal aborts the call, a value of -1 is returned
     and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
     wait() will fail and return immediately if:

     [ECHILD]	   The calling process has no existing unwaited-for child
		   processes.

     [EFAULT]	   The status or rusage arguments point to an illegal address.
		   (May not be detected before exit of a child process.)

     [EINTR]	   The call was interrupted by a caught signal, or the signal
		   did not have the SA_RESTART flag set.

     [EINVAL]	   Invalid or undefined flags were passed in the options
		   argument.

SEE ALSO
     _exit(2), sigaction(2), exit(3)

STANDARDS
     The wait() and waitpid() functions are defined by POSIX; wait4() and
     wait3() are not specified by POSIX.  The WCOREDUMP() macro and the
     ability to restart a pending wait() call are extensions to the POSIX
     interface.

HISTORY
     A wait() function call appeared in Version 2 AT&T UNIX.

OpenBSD 4.9			 May 31, 2007			   OpenBSD 4.9
[top]

List of man pages available for OpenBSD

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net