SETBUF(3)SETBUF(3)NAME
setbuf, setbuffer, setlinebuf - assign buffering to a stream
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
setbuf(stream, buf)
FILE *stream;
char *buf;
setbuffer(stream, buf, size)
FILE *stream;
char *buf;
int size;
setlinebuf(stream)
FILE *stream;
DESCRIPTION
The three types of buffering available are unbuffered, block buffered,
and line buffered. When an output stream is unbuffered, information
appears on the destination file or terminal as soon as written; when it
is block buffered many characters are saved up and written as a block;
when it is line buffered characters are saved up until a newline is
encountered or input is read from stdin. Fflush (see fclose(3)) may be
used to force the block out early. Normally all files are block
buffered. A buffer is obtained from malloc(3) upon the first getc or
putc(3) on the file. If the standard stream stdout refers to a termi‐
nal it is line buffered. The standard stream stderr is always
unbuffered.
Setbuf is used after a stream has been opened but before it is read or
written. The character array buf is used instead of an automatically
allocated buffer. If buf is the constant pointer NULL, input/output
will be completely unbuffered. A manifest constant BUFSIZ tells how
big an array is needed:
char buf[BUFSIZ];
Setbuffer, an alternate form of setbuf, is used after a stream has been
opened but before it is read or written. The character array buf whose
size is determined by the size argument is used instead of an automati‐
cally allocated buffer. If buf is the constant pointer NULL,
input/output will be completely unbuffered.
Setlinebuf is used to change stdout or stderr from block buffered or
unbuffered to line buffered. Unlike setbuf and setbuffer it can be
used at any time that the file descriptor is active.
A file can be changed from unbuffered or line buffered to block
buffered by using freopen (see fopen(3)). A file can be changed from
block buffered or line buffered to unbuffered by using freopen followed
by setbuf with a buffer argument of NULL.
SEE ALSOfopen(3), getc(3), putc(3), malloc(3), fclose(3), puts(3), printf(3),
fread(3)BUGS
The setbuffer and setlinebuf functions are not portable to non-4.2BSD
versions of UNIX. On 4.2BSD and 4.3BSD systems, setbuf always uses a
suboptimal buffer size and should be avoided. Setbuffer is not usually
needed as the default file I/O buffer sizes are optimal.
4th Berkeley Distribution April 1, 1989 SETBUF(3)