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Module Unix

module Unix: sig .. end

Interface to the Unix system.

To use the labeled version of this module, add module Unix = UnixLabels in your implementation.

Note: all the functions of this module (except Unix.error_message and Unix.handle_unix_error) are liable to raise the Unix.Unix_error exception whenever the underlying system call signals an error.

Error report

type error =
| E2BIG (*

Argument list too long

*)
| EACCES (*

Permission denied

*)
| EAGAIN (*

Resource temporarily unavailable; try again

*)
| EBADF (*

Bad file descriptor

*)
| EBUSY (*

Resource unavailable

*)
| ECHILD (*

No child process

*)
| EDEADLK (*

Resource deadlock would occur

*)
| EDOM (*

Domain error for math functions, etc.

*)
| EEXIST (*

File exists

*)
| EFAULT (*

Bad address

*)
| EFBIG (*

File too large

*)
| EINTR (*

Function interrupted by signal

*)
| EINVAL (*

Invalid argument

*)
| EIO (*

Hardware I/O error

*)
| EISDIR (*

Is a directory

*)
| EMFILE (*

Too many open files by the process

*)
| EMLINK (*

Too many links

*)
| ENAMETOOLONG (*

Filename too long

*)
| ENFILE (*

Too many open files in the system

*)
| ENODEV (*

No such device

*)
| ENOENT (*

No such file or directory

*)
| ENOEXEC (*

Not an executable file

*)
| ENOLCK (*

No locks available

*)
| ENOMEM (*

Not enough memory

*)
| ENOSPC (*

No space left on device

*)
| ENOSYS (*

Function not supported

*)
| ENOTDIR (*

Not a directory

*)
| ENOTEMPTY (*

Directory not empty

*)
| ENOTTY (*

Inappropriate I/O control operation

*)
| ENXIO (*

No such device or address

*)
| EPERM (*

Operation not permitted

*)
| EPIPE (*

Broken pipe

*)
| ERANGE (*

Result too large

*)
| EROFS (*

Read-only file system

*)
| ESPIPE (*

Invalid seek e.g. on a pipe

*)
| ESRCH (*

No such process

*)
| EXDEV (*

Invalid link

*)
| EWOULDBLOCK (*

Operation would block

*)
| EINPROGRESS (*

Operation now in progress

*)
| EALREADY (*

Operation already in progress

*)
| ENOTSOCK (*

Socket operation on non-socket

*)
| EDESTADDRREQ (*

Destination address required

*)
| EMSGSIZE (*

Message too long

*)
| EPROTOTYPE (*

Protocol wrong type for socket

*)
| ENOPROTOOPT (*

Protocol not available

*)
| EPROTONOSUPPORT (*

Protocol not supported

*)
| ESOCKTNOSUPPORT (*

Socket type not supported

*)
| EOPNOTSUPP (*

Operation not supported on socket

*)
| EPFNOSUPPORT (*

Protocol family not supported

*)
| EAFNOSUPPORT (*

Address family not supported by protocol family

*)
| EADDRINUSE (*

Address already in use

*)
| EADDRNOTAVAIL (*

Can't assign requested address

*)
| ENETDOWN (*

Network is down

*)
| ENETUNREACH (*

Network is unreachable

*)
| ENETRESET (*

Network dropped connection on reset

*)
| ECONNABORTED (*

Software caused connection abort

*)
| ECONNRESET (*

Connection reset by peer

*)
| ENOBUFS (*

No buffer space available

*)
| EISCONN (*

Socket is already connected

*)
| ENOTCONN (*

Socket is not connected

*)
| ESHUTDOWN (*

Can't send after socket shutdown

*)
| ETOOMANYREFS (*

Too many references: can't splice

*)
| ETIMEDOUT (*

Connection timed out

*)
| ECONNREFUSED (*

Connection refused

*)
| EHOSTDOWN (*

Host is down

*)
| EHOSTUNREACH (*

No route to host

*)
| ELOOP (*

Too many levels of symbolic links

*)
| EOVERFLOW (*

File size or position not representable

*)
| EUNKNOWNERR of int (*

Unknown error

*)

The type of error codes. Errors defined in the POSIX standard and additional errors from UNIX98 and BSD. All other errors are mapped to EUNKNOWNERR.

exception Unix_error(error, string, string);

Raised by the system calls below when an error is encountered. The first component is the error code; the second component is the function name; the third component is the string parameter to the function, if it has one, or the empty string otherwise.

UnixLabels.Unix_error and Unix.Unix_error are the same, and catching one will catch the other.

let error_message: error => string;

Return a string describing the given error code.

let handle_unix_error: ('a => 'b, 'a) => 'b;

handle_unix_error f x applies f to x and returns the result. If the exception Unix.Unix_error is raised, it prints a message describing the error and exits with code 2.

Access to the process environment

let environment: unit => array(string);

Return the process environment, as an array of strings with the format ``variable=value''. The returned array is empty if the process has special privileges.

let unsafe_environment: unit => array(string);

Return the process environment, as an array of strings with the format ``variable=value''. Unlike Unix.environment, this function returns a populated array even if the process has special privileges. See the documentation for Unix.unsafe_getenv for more details.

let getenv: string => string;

Return the value associated to a variable in the process environment, unless the process has special privileges.

let unsafe_getenv: string => string;

Return the value associated to a variable in the process environment.

Unlike Unix.getenv, this function returns the value even if the process has special privileges. It is considered unsafe because the programmer of a setuid or setgid program must be careful to avoid using maliciously crafted environment variables in the search path for executables, the locations for temporary files or logs, and the like.

let putenv: (string, string) => unit;

putenv name value sets the value associated to a variable in the process environment. name is the name of the environment variable, and value its new associated value.

Process handling

type process_status =
| WEXITED of int (*

The process terminated normally by exit; the argument is the return code.

*)
| WSIGNALED of int (*

The process was killed by a signal; the argument is the signal number.

*)
| WSTOPPED of int (*

The process was stopped by a signal; the argument is the signal number.

*)

The termination status of a process. See module Sys for the definitions of the standard signal numbers. Note that they are not the numbers used by the OS.

type wait_flag =
| WNOHANG (*

Do not block if no child has died yet, but immediately return with a pid equal to 0.

*)
| WUNTRACED (*

Report also the children that receive stop signals.

*)

Flags for Unix.waitpid.

let execv: (string, array(string)) => 'a;

execv prog args execute the program in file prog, with the arguments args, and the current process environment. These execv* functions never return: on success, the current program is replaced by the new one.

let execve: (string, array(string), array(string)) => 'a;

Same as Unix.execv, except that the third argument provides the environment to the program executed.

let execvp: (string, array(string)) => 'a;

Same as Unix.execv, except that the program is searched in the path.

let execvpe: (string, array(string), array(string)) => 'a;

Same as Unix.execve, except that the program is searched in the path.

let fork: unit => int;

Fork a new process. The returned integer is 0 for the child process, the pid of the child process for the parent process.

On Windows: not implemented, use Unix.create_process or threads.

let wait: unit => (int, process_status);

Wait until one of the children processes die, and return its pid and termination status.

On Windows: not implemented, use Unix.waitpid.

let waitpid: (list(wait_flag), int) => (int, process_status);

Same as Unix.wait, but waits for the child process whose pid is given. A pid of -1 means wait for any child. A pid of 0 means wait for any child in the same process group as the current process. Negative pid arguments represent process groups. The list of options indicates whether waitpid should return immediately without waiting, and whether it should report stopped children.

On Windows: can only wait for a given PID, not any child process.

let system: string => process_status;

Execute the given command, wait until it terminates, and return its termination status. The string is interpreted by the shell /bin/sh (or the command interpreter cmd.exe on Windows) and therefore can contain redirections, quotes, variables, etc. To properly quote whitespace and shell special characters occurring in file names or command arguments, the use of Filename.quote_command is recommended. The result WEXITED 127 indicates that the shell couldn't be executed.

let _exit: int => 'a;

Terminate the calling process immediately, returning the given status code to the operating system: usually 0 to indicate no errors, and a small positive integer to indicate failure. Unlike exit, Unix._exit performs no finalization whatsoever: functions registered with at_exit are not called, input/output channels are not flushed, and the C run-time system is not finalized either.

The typical use of Unix._exit is after a Unix.fork operation, when the child process runs into a fatal error and must exit. In this case, it is preferable to not perform any finalization action in the child process, as these actions could interfere with similar actions performed by the parent process. For example, output channels should not be flushed by the child process, as the parent process may flush them again later, resulting in duplicate output.

let getpid: unit => int;

Return the pid of the process.

let getppid: unit => int;

Return the pid of the parent process.

On Windows: not implemented (because it is meaningless).

let nice: int => int;

Change the process priority. The integer argument is added to the ``nice'' value. (Higher values of the ``nice'' value mean lower priorities.) Return the new nice value.

On Windows: not implemented.

Basic file input/output

type file_descr;

The abstract type of file descriptors.

let stdin: file_descr;

File descriptor for standard input.

let stdout: file_descr;

File descriptor for standard output.

let stderr: file_descr;

File descriptor for standard error.

type open_flag =
| O_RDONLY (*

Open for reading

*)
| O_WRONLY (*

Open for writing

*)
| O_RDWR (*

Open for reading and writing

*)
| O_NONBLOCK (*

Open in non-blocking mode

*)
| O_APPEND (*

Open for append

*)
| O_CREAT (*

Create if nonexistent

*)
| O_TRUNC (*

Truncate to 0 length if existing

*)
| O_EXCL (*

Fail if existing

*)
| O_NOCTTY (*

Don't make this dev a controlling tty

*)
| O_DSYNC (*

Writes complete as `Synchronised I/O data integrity completion'

*)
| O_SYNC (*

Writes complete as `Synchronised I/O file integrity completion'

*)
| O_RSYNC (*

Reads complete as writes (depending on O_SYNC/O_DSYNC)

*)
| O_SHARE_DELETE (*

Windows only: allow the file to be deleted while still open

*)
| O_CLOEXEC (*

Set the close-on-exec flag on the descriptor returned by Unix.openfile. See Unix.set_close_on_exec for more information.

*)
| O_KEEPEXEC (*

Clear the close-on-exec flag. This is currently the default.

*)

The flags to Unix.openfile.

type file_perm = int;

The type of file access rights, e.g. 0o640 is read and write for user, read for group, none for others

let openfile: (string, list(open_flag), file_perm) => file_descr;

Open the named file with the given flags. Third argument is the permissions to give to the file if it is created (see Unix.umask). Return a file descriptor on the named file.

let close: file_descr => unit;

Close a file descriptor.

let fsync: file_descr => unit;

Flush file buffers to disk.

let read: (file_descr, bytes, int, int) => int;

read fd buf pos len reads len bytes from descriptor fd, storing them in byte sequence buf, starting at position pos in buf. Return the number of bytes actually read.

let write: (file_descr, bytes, int, int) => int;

write fd buf pos len writes len bytes to descriptor fd, taking them from byte sequence buf, starting at position pos in buff. Return the number of bytes actually written. write repeats the writing operation until all bytes have been written or an error occurs.

let single_write: (file_descr, bytes, int, int) => int;

Same as Unix.write, but attempts to write only once. Thus, if an error occurs, single_write guarantees that no data has been written.

let write_substring: (file_descr, string, int, int) => int;

Same as Unix.write, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

let single_write_substring: (file_descr, string, int, int) => int;

Same as Unix.single_write, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

Interfacing with the standard input/output library

let in_channel_of_descr: file_descr => in_channel;

Create an input channel reading from the given descriptor. The channel is initially in binary mode; use set_binary_mode_in ic false if text mode is desired. Text mode is supported only if the descriptor refers to a file or pipe, but is not supported if it refers to a socket.

On Windows: set_binary_mode_in always fails on channels created with this function.

Beware that channels are buffered so more characters may have been read from the file descriptor than those accessed using channel functions. Channels also keep a copy of the current position in the file.

You need to explicitly close all channels created with this function. Closing the channel also closes the underlying file descriptor (unless it was already closed).

let out_channel_of_descr: file_descr => out_channel;

Create an output channel writing on the given descriptor. The channel is initially in binary mode; use set_binary_mode_out oc false if text mode is desired. Text mode is supported only if the descriptor refers to a file or pipe, but is not supported if it refers to a socket.

On Windows: set_binary_mode_out always fails on channels created with this function.

Beware that channels are buffered so you may have to flush them to ensure that all data has been sent to the file descriptor. Channels also keep a copy of the current position in the file.

You need to explicitly close all channels created with this function. Closing the channel flushes the data and closes the underlying file descriptor (unless it has already been closed, in which case the buffered data is lost).

let descr_of_in_channel: in_channel => file_descr;

Return the descriptor corresponding to an input channel.

let descr_of_out_channel: out_channel => file_descr;

Return the descriptor corresponding to an output channel.

Seeking and truncating

type seek_command =
| SEEK_SET (*

indicates positions relative to the beginning of the file

*)
| SEEK_CUR (*

indicates positions relative to the current position

*)
| SEEK_END (*

indicates positions relative to the end of the file

*)

Positioning modes for Unix.lseek.

let lseek: (file_descr, int, seek_command) => int;

Set the current position for a file descriptor, and return the resulting offset (from the beginning of the file).

let truncate: (string, int) => unit;

Truncates the named file to the given size.

let ftruncate: (file_descr, int) => unit;

Truncates the file corresponding to the given descriptor to the given size.

File status

type file_kind =
| S_REG (*

Regular file

*)
| S_DIR (*

Directory

*)
| S_CHR (*

Character device

*)
| S_BLK (*

Block device

*)
| S_LNK (*

Symbolic link

*)
| S_FIFO (*

Named pipe

*)
| S_SOCK (*

Socket

*) 
type stats = {
   st_dev : int; (*

Device number

*)
   st_ino : int; (*

Inode number

*)
   st_kind : file_kind; (*

Kind of the file

*)
   st_perm : file_perm; (*

Access rights

*)
   st_nlink : int; (*

Number of links

*)
   st_uid : int; (*

User id of the owner

*)
   st_gid : int; (*

Group ID of the file's group

*)
   st_rdev : int; (*

Device ID (if special file)

*)
   st_size : int; (*

Size in bytes

*)
   st_atime : float; (*

Last access time

*)
   st_mtime : float; (*

Last modification time

*)
   st_ctime : float; (*

Last status change time

*)
}

The information returned by the Unix.stat calls.

let stat: string => stats;

Return the information for the named file.

let lstat: string => stats;

Same as Unix.stat, but in case the file is a symbolic link, return the information for the link itself.

let fstat: file_descr => stats;

Return the information for the file associated with the given descriptor.

let isatty: file_descr => bool;

Return true if the given file descriptor refers to a terminal or console window, false otherwise.

File operations on large files

module LargeFile: sig .. end

File operations on large files.

Mapping files into memory

let map_file:
  (
    file_descr,
    ~pos: int64=?,
    Bigarray.kind('a, 'b),
    Bigarray.layout('c),
    bool,
    array(int)
  ) =>
  Bigarray.Genarray.t('a, 'b, 'c);

Memory mapping of a file as a Bigarray. map_file fd kind layout shared dims returns a Bigarray of kind kind, layout layout, and dimensions as specified in dims. The data contained in this Bigarray are the contents of the file referred to by the file descriptor fd (as opened previously with Unix.openfile, for example). The optional pos parameter is the byte offset in the file of the data being mapped; it defaults to 0 (map from the beginning of the file).

If shared is true, all modifications performed on the array are reflected in the file. This requires that fd be opened with write permissions. If shared is false, modifications performed on the array are done in memory only, using copy-on-write of the modified pages; the underlying file is not affected.

Genarray.map_file is much more efficient than reading the whole file in a Bigarray, modifying that Bigarray, and writing it afterwards.

To adjust automatically the dimensions of the Bigarray to the actual size of the file, the major dimension (that is, the first dimension for an array with C layout, and the last dimension for an array with Fortran layout) can be given as -1. Genarray.map_file then determines the major dimension from the size of the file. The file must contain an integral number of sub-arrays as determined by the non-major dimensions, otherwise Failure is raised.

If all dimensions of the Bigarray are given, the file size is matched against the size of the Bigarray. If the file is larger than the Bigarray, only the initial portion of the file is mapped to the Bigarray. If the file is smaller than the big array, the file is automatically grown to the size of the Bigarray. This requires write permissions on fd.

Array accesses are bounds-checked, but the bounds are determined by the initial call to map_file. Therefore, you should make sure no other process modifies the mapped file while you're accessing it, or a SIGBUS signal may be raised. This happens, for instance, if the file is shrunk.

Invalid_argument or Failure may be raised in cases where argument validation fails.

Operations on file names

Removes the named file.

If the named file is a directory, raises:

  • EPERM on POSIX compliant system
  • EISDIR on Linux >= 2.1.132
  • EACCESS on Windows
let rename: (string, string) => unit;

rename src dst changes the name of a file from src to dst, moving it between directories if needed. If dst already exists, its contents will be replaced with those of src. Depending on the operating system, the metadata (permissions, owner, etc) of dst can either be preserved or be replaced by those of src.

link ?follow src dst creates a hard link named dst to the file named src.

follow : indicates whether a src symlink is followed or a hardlink to src itself will be created. On Unix systems this is done using the linkat(2) function. If ?follow is not provided, then the link(2) function is used whose behaviour is OS-dependent, but more widely available.

File permissions and ownership

type access_permission =
| R_OK (*

Read permission

*)
| W_OK (*

Write permission

*)
| X_OK (*

Execution permission

*)
| F_OK (*

File exists

*)

Flags for the Unix.access call.

let chmod: (string, file_perm) => unit;

Change the permissions of the named file.

let fchmod: (file_descr, file_perm) => unit;

Change the permissions of an opened file.

On Windows: not implemented.

let chown: (string, int, int) => unit;

Change the owner uid and owner gid of the named file.

On Windows: not implemented.

let fchown: (file_descr, int, int) => unit;

Change the owner uid and owner gid of an opened file.

On Windows: not implemented.

let umask: int => int;

Set the process's file mode creation mask, and return the previous mask.

On Windows: not implemented.

let access: (string, list(access_permission)) => unit;

Check that the process has the given permissions over the named file.

On Windows: execute permission X_OK cannot be tested, just tests for read permission instead.

Operations on file descriptors

let dup: (~cloexec: bool=?, file_descr) => file_descr;

Return a new file descriptor referencing the same file as the given descriptor. See Unix.set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

let dup2: (~cloexec: bool=?, file_descr, file_descr) => unit;

dup2 src dst duplicates src to dst, closing dst if already opened. See Unix.set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

let set_nonblock: file_descr => unit;

Set the ``non-blocking'' flag on the given descriptor. When the non-blocking flag is set, reading on a descriptor on which there is temporarily no data available raises the EAGAIN or EWOULDBLOCK error instead of blocking; writing on a descriptor on which there is temporarily no room for writing also raises EAGAIN or EWOULDBLOCK.

let clear_nonblock: file_descr => unit;

Clear the ``non-blocking'' flag on the given descriptor. See Unix.set_nonblock.

let set_close_on_exec: file_descr => unit;

Set the ``close-on-exec'' flag on the given descriptor. A descriptor with the close-on-exec flag is automatically closed when the current process starts another program with one of the exec, create_process and open_process functions.

It is often a security hole to leak file descriptors opened on, say, a private file to an external program: the program, then, gets access to the private file and can do bad things with it. Hence, it is highly recommended to set all file descriptors ``close-on-exec'', except in the very few cases where a file descriptor actually needs to be transmitted to another program.

The best way to set a file descriptor ``close-on-exec'' is to create it in this state. To this end, the openfile function has O_CLOEXEC and O_KEEPEXEC flags to enforce ``close-on-exec'' mode or ``keep-on-exec'' mode, respectively. All other operations in the Unix module that create file descriptors have an optional argument ?cloexec:bool to indicate whether the file descriptor should be created in ``close-on-exec'' mode (by writing ~cloexec:true) or in ``keep-on-exec'' mode (by writing ~cloexec:false). For historical reasons, the default file descriptor creation mode is ``keep-on-exec'', if no cloexec optional argument is given. This is not a safe default, hence it is highly recommended to pass explicit cloexec arguments to operations that create file descriptors.

The cloexec optional arguments and the O_KEEPEXEC flag were introduced in OCaml 4.05. Earlier, the common practice was to create file descriptors in the default, ``keep-on-exec'' mode, then call set_close_on_exec on those freshly-created file descriptors. This is not as safe as creating the file descriptor in ``close-on-exec'' mode because, in multithreaded programs, a window of vulnerability exists between the time when the file descriptor is created and the time set_close_on_exec completes. If another thread spawns another program during this window, the descriptor will leak, as it is still in the ``keep-on-exec'' mode.

Regarding the atomicity guarantees given by ~cloexec:true or by the use of the O_CLOEXEC flag: on all platforms it is guaranteed that a concurrently-executing Caml thread cannot leak the descriptor by starting a new process. On Linux, this guarantee extends to concurrently-executing C threads. As of Feb 2017, other operating systems lack the necessary system calls and still expose a window of vulnerability during which a C thread can see the newly-created file descriptor in ``keep-on-exec'' mode.

let clear_close_on_exec: file_descr => unit;

Clear the ``close-on-exec'' flag on the given descriptor. See Unix.set_close_on_exec.

Directories

let mkdir: (string, file_perm) => unit;

Create a directory with the given permissions (see Unix.umask).

let rmdir: string => unit;

Remove an empty directory.

let chdir: string => unit;

Change the process working directory.

let getcwd: unit => string;

Return the name of the current working directory.

let chroot: string => unit;

Change the process root directory.

On Windows: not implemented.

type dir_handle;

The type of descriptors over opened directories.

let opendir: string => dir_handle;

Open a descriptor on a directory

let readdir: dir_handle => string;

Return the next entry in a directory.

let rewinddir: dir_handle => unit;

Reposition the descriptor to the beginning of the directory

let closedir: dir_handle => unit;

Close a directory descriptor.

Pipes and redirections

let pipe: (~cloexec: bool=?, unit) => (file_descr, file_descr);

Create a pipe. The first component of the result is opened for reading, that's the exit to the pipe. The second component is opened for writing, that's the entrance to the pipe. See Unix.set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

let mkfifo: (string, file_perm) => unit;

Create a named pipe with the given permissions (see Unix.umask).

On Windows: not implemented.

High-level process and redirection management

let create_process:
  (string, array(string), file_descr, file_descr, file_descr) => int;

create_process prog args stdin stdout stderr forks a new process that executes the program in file prog, with arguments args. The pid of the new process is returned immediately; the new process executes concurrently with the current process. The standard input and outputs of the new process are connected to the descriptors stdin, stdout and stderr. Passing e.g. Stdlib.stdout for stdout prevents the redirection and causes the new process to have the same standard output as the current process. The executable file prog is searched in the path. The new process has the same environment as the current process.

let create_process_env:
  (
    string,
    array(string),
    array(string),
    file_descr,
    file_descr,
    file_descr
  ) =>
  int;

create_process_env prog args env stdin stdout stderr works as Unix.create_process, except that the extra argument env specifies the environment passed to the program.

let open_process_in: string => in_channel;

High-level pipe and process management. This function runs the given command in parallel with the program. The standard output of the command is redirected to a pipe, which can be read via the returned input channel. The command is interpreted by the shell /bin/sh (or cmd.exe on Windows), cf. Unix.system. The Filename.quote_command function can be used to quote the command and its arguments as appropriate for the shell being used. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, Unix.open_process_args_in can be used as a more robust and more efficient alternative to Unix.open_process_in.

let open_process_out: string => out_channel;

Same as Unix.open_process_in, but redirect the standard input of the command to a pipe. Data written to the returned output channel is sent to the standard input of the command. Warning: writes on output channels are buffered, hence be careful to call flush at the right times to ensure correct synchronization. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, Unix.open_process_args_out can be used instead of Unix.open_process_out.

let open_process: string => (in_channel, out_channel);

Same as Unix.open_process_out, but redirects both the standard input and standard output of the command to pipes connected to the two returned channels. The input channel is connected to the output of the command, and the output channel to the input of the command. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, Unix.open_process_args can be used instead of Unix.open_process.

let open_process_full:
  (string, array(string)) => (in_channel, out_channel, in_channel);

Similar to Unix.open_process, but the second argument specifies the environment passed to the command. The result is a triple of channels connected respectively to the standard output, standard input, and standard error of the command. If the command does not need to be run through the shell, Unix.open_process_args_full can be used instead of Unix.open_process_full.

let open_process_args_in: (string, array(string)) => in_channel;

High-level pipe and process management. The first argument specifies the command to run, and the second argument specifies the argument array passed to the command. This function runs the command in parallel with the program. The standard output of the command is redirected to a pipe, which can be read via the returned input channel.

let open_process_args_out: (string, array(string)) => out_channel;

Same as Unix.open_process_args_in, but redirect the standard input of the command to a pipe. Data written to the returned output channel is sent to the standard input of the command. Warning: writes on output channels are buffered, hence be careful to call flush at the right times to ensure correct synchronization.

let open_process_args: (string, array(string)) => (in_channel, out_channel);

Same as Unix.open_process_args_out, but redirects both the standard input and standard output of the command to pipes connected to the two returned channels. The input channel is connected to the output of the command, and the output channel to the input of the command.

let open_process_args_full:
  (string, array(string), array(string)) =>
  (in_channel, out_channel, in_channel);

Similar to Unix.open_process_args, but the third argument specifies the environment passed to the command. The result is a triple of channels connected respectively to the standard output, standard input, and standard error of the command.

let process_in_pid: in_channel => int;

Return the pid of a process opened via Unix.open_process_in or Unix.open_process_args_in.

let process_out_pid: out_channel => int;

Return the pid of a process opened via Unix.open_process_out or Unix.open_process_args_out.

let process_pid: ((in_channel, out_channel)) => int;

Return the pid of a process opened via Unix.open_process or Unix.open_process_args.

let process_full_pid: ((in_channel, out_channel, in_channel)) => int;

Return the pid of a process opened via Unix.open_process_full or Unix.open_process_args_full.

let close_process_in: in_channel => process_status;

Close channels opened by Unix.open_process_in, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

let close_process_out: out_channel => process_status;

Close channels opened by Unix.open_process_out, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

let close_process: ((in_channel, out_channel)) => process_status;

Close channels opened by Unix.open_process, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

let close_process_full:
  ((in_channel, out_channel, in_channel)) => process_status;

Close channels opened by Unix.open_process_full, wait for the associated command to terminate, and return its termination status.

symlink ?to_dir src dst creates the file dst as a symbolic link to the file src. On Windows, to_dir indicates if the symbolic link points to a directory or a file; if omitted, symlink examines src using stat and picks appropriately, if src does not exist then false is assumed (for this reason, it is recommended that the to_dir parameter be specified in new code). On Unix, to_dir is ignored.

Windows symbolic links are available in Windows Vista onwards. There are some important differences between Windows symlinks and their POSIX counterparts.

Windows symbolic links come in two flavours: directory and regular, which designate whether the symbolic link points to a directory or a file. The type must be correct - a directory symlink which actually points to a file cannot be selected with chdir and a file symlink which actually points to a directory cannot be read or written (note that Cygwin's emulation layer ignores this distinction).

When symbolic links are created to existing targets, this distinction doesn't matter and symlink will automatically create the correct kind of symbolic link. The distinction matters when a symbolic link is created to a non-existent target.

The other caveat is that by default symbolic links are a privileged operation. Administrators will always need to be running elevated (or with UAC disabled) and by default normal user accounts need to be granted the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege via Local Security Policy (secpol.msc) or via Active Directory.

Unix.has_symlink can be used to check that a process is able to create symbolic links.

Returns true if the user is able to create symbolic links. On Windows, this indicates that the user not only has the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege but is also running elevated, if necessary. On other platforms, this is simply indicates that the symlink system call is available.

Read the contents of a symbolic link.

Polling

let select:
  (list(file_descr), list(file_descr), list(file_descr), float) =>
  (list(file_descr), list(file_descr), list(file_descr));

Wait until some input/output operations become possible on some channels. The three list arguments are, respectively, a set of descriptors to check for reading (first argument), for writing (second argument), or for exceptional conditions (third argument). The fourth argument is the maximal timeout, in seconds; a negative fourth argument means no timeout (unbounded wait). The result is composed of three sets of descriptors: those ready for reading (first component), ready for writing (second component), and over which an exceptional condition is pending (third component).

Locking

type lock_command =
| F_ULOCK (*

Unlock a region

*)
| F_LOCK (*

Lock a region for writing, and block if already locked

*)
| F_TLOCK (*

Lock a region for writing, or fail if already locked

*)
| F_TEST (*

Test a region for other process locks

*)
| F_RLOCK (*

Lock a region for reading, and block if already locked

*)
| F_TRLOCK (*

Lock a region for reading, or fail if already locked

*)

Commands for Unix.lockf.

let lockf: (file_descr, lock_command, int) => unit;

lockf fd mode len puts a lock on a region of the file opened as fd. The region starts at the current read/write position for fd (as set by Unix.lseek), and extends len bytes forward if len is positive, len bytes backwards if len is negative, or to the end of the file if len is zero. A write lock prevents any other process from acquiring a read or write lock on the region. A read lock prevents any other process from acquiring a write lock on the region, but lets other processes acquire read locks on it.

The F_LOCK and F_TLOCK commands attempts to put a write lock on the specified region. The F_RLOCK and F_TRLOCK commands attempts to put a read lock on the specified region. If one or several locks put by another process prevent the current process from acquiring the lock, F_LOCK and F_RLOCK block until these locks are removed, while F_TLOCK and F_TRLOCK fail immediately with an exception. The F_ULOCK removes whatever locks the current process has on the specified region. Finally, the F_TEST command tests whether a write lock can be acquired on the specified region, without actually putting a lock. It returns immediately if successful, or fails otherwise.

What happens when a process tries to lock a region of a file that is already locked by the same process depends on the OS. On POSIX-compliant systems, the second lock operation succeeds and may "promote" the older lock from read lock to write lock. On Windows, the second lock operation will block or fail.

Signals

Note: installation of signal handlers is performed via the functions Sys.signal and Sys.set_signal.

let kill: (int, int) => unit;

kill pid signal sends signal number signal to the process with id pid.

On Windows: only the Sys.sigkill signal is emulated.

type sigprocmask_command =
| SIG_SETMASK
| SIG_BLOCK
| SIG_UNBLOCK 
let sigprocmask: (sigprocmask_command, list(int)) => list(int);

sigprocmask mode sigs changes the set of blocked signals. If mode is SIG_SETMASK, blocked signals are set to those in the list sigs. If mode is SIG_BLOCK, the signals in sigs are added to the set of blocked signals. If mode is SIG_UNBLOCK, the signals in sigs are removed from the set of blocked signals. sigprocmask returns the set of previously blocked signals.

When the systhreads version of the Thread module is loaded, this function redirects to Thread.sigmask. I.e., sigprocmask only changes the mask of the current thread.

On Windows: not implemented (no inter-process signals on Windows).

let sigpending: unit => list(int);

Return the set of blocked signals that are currently pending.

On Windows: not implemented (no inter-process signals on Windows).

let sigsuspend: list(int) => unit;

sigsuspend sigs atomically sets the blocked signals to sigs and waits for a non-ignored, non-blocked signal to be delivered. On return, the blocked signals are reset to their initial value.

On Windows: not implemented (no inter-process signals on Windows).

let pause: unit => unit;

Wait until a non-ignored, non-blocked signal is delivered.

On Windows: not implemented (no inter-process signals on Windows).

Time functions

type process_times = {
   tms_utime : float; (*

User time for the process

*)
   tms_stime : float; (*

System time for the process

*)
   tms_cutime : float; (*

User time for the children processes

*)
   tms_cstime : float; (*

System time for the children processes

*)
}

The execution times (CPU times) of a process.

type tm = {
   tm_sec : int; (*

Seconds 0..60

*)
   tm_min : int; (*

Minutes 0..59

*)
   tm_hour : int; (*

Hours 0..23

*)
   tm_mday : int; (*

Day of month 1..31

*)
   tm_mon : int; (*

Month of year 0..11

*)
   tm_year : int; (*

Year - 1900

*)
   tm_wday : int; (*

Day of week (Sunday is 0)

*)
   tm_yday : int; (*

Day of year 0..365

*)
   tm_isdst : bool; (*

Daylight time savings in effect

*)
}

The type representing wallclock time and calendar date.

let time: unit => float;

Return the current time since 00:00:00 GMT, Jan. 1, 1970, in seconds.

let gettimeofday: unit => float;

Same as Unix.time, but with resolution better than 1 second.

let gmtime: float => tm;

Convert a time in seconds, as returned by Unix.time, into a date and a time. Assumes UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), also known as GMT. To perform the inverse conversion, set the TZ environment variable to "UTC", use Unix.mktime, and then restore the original value of TZ.

let localtime: float => tm;

Convert a time in seconds, as returned by Unix.time, into a date and a time. Assumes the local time zone. The function performing the inverse conversion is Unix.mktime.

let mktime: tm => (float, tm);

Convert a date and time, specified by the tm argument, into a time in seconds, as returned by Unix.time. The tm_isdst, tm_wday and tm_yday fields of tm are ignored. Also return a normalized copy of the given tm record, with the tm_wday, tm_yday, and tm_isdst fields recomputed from the other fields, and the other fields normalized (so that, e.g., 40 October is changed into 9 November). The tm argument is interpreted in the local time zone.

let alarm: int => int;

Schedule a SIGALRM signal after the given number of seconds.

On Windows: not implemented.

let sleep: int => unit;

Stop execution for the given number of seconds.

let sleepf: float => unit;

Stop execution for the given number of seconds. Like sleep, but fractions of seconds are supported.

let times: unit => process_times;

Return the execution times of the process.

On Windows: partially implemented, will not report timings for child processes.

let utimes: (string, float, float) => unit;

Set the last access time (second arg) and last modification time (third arg) for a file. Times are expressed in seconds from 00:00:00 GMT, Jan. 1, 1970. If both times are 0.0, the access and last modification times are both set to the current time.

type interval_timer =
| ITIMER_REAL (*

decrements in real time, and sends the signal SIGALRM when expired.

*)
| ITIMER_VIRTUAL (*

decrements in process virtual time, and sends SIGVTALRM when expired.

*)
| ITIMER_PROF (*

(for profiling) decrements both when the process is running and when the system is running on behalf of the process; it sends SIGPROF when expired.

*)

The three kinds of interval timers.

type interval_timer_status = {
   it_interval : float; (*

Period

*)
   it_value : float; (*

Current value of the timer

*)
}

The type describing the status of an interval timer

let getitimer: interval_timer => interval_timer_status;

Return the current status of the given interval timer.

On Windows: not implemented.

let setitimer:
  (interval_timer, interval_timer_status) => interval_timer_status;

setitimer t s sets the interval timer t and returns its previous status. The s argument is interpreted as follows: s.it_value, if nonzero, is the time to the next timer expiration; s.it_interval, if nonzero, specifies a value to be used in reloading it_value when the timer expires. Setting s.it_value to zero disables the timer. Setting s.it_interval to zero causes the timer to be disabled after its next expiration.

On Windows: not implemented.

User id, group id

let getuid: unit => int;

Return the user id of the user executing the process.

On Windows: always returns 1.

let geteuid: unit => int;

Return the effective user id under which the process runs.

On Windows: always returns 1.

let setuid: int => unit;

Set the real user id and effective user id for the process.

On Windows: not implemented.

let getgid: unit => int;

Return the group id of the user executing the process.

On Windows: always returns 1.

let getegid: unit => int;

Return the effective group id under which the process runs.

On Windows: always returns 1.

let setgid: int => unit;

Set the real group id and effective group id for the process.

On Windows: not implemented.

let getgroups: unit => array(int);

Return the list of groups to which the user executing the process belongs.

On Windows: always returns [|1|].

let setgroups: array(int) => unit;

setgroups groups sets the supplementary group IDs for the calling process. Appropriate privileges are required.

On Windows: not implemented.

let initgroups: (string, int) => unit;

initgroups user group initializes the group access list by reading the group database /etc/group and using all groups of which user is a member. The additional group group is also added to the list.

On Windows: not implemented.

type passwd_entry = {
   pw_name : string;
   pw_passwd : string;
   pw_uid : int;
   pw_gid : int;
   pw_gecos : string;
   pw_dir : string;
   pw_shell : string;
}

Structure of entries in the passwd database.

type group_entry = {
   gr_name : string;
   gr_passwd : string;
   gr_gid : int;
   gr_mem : string array;
}

Structure of entries in the groups database.

let getlogin: unit => string;

Return the login name of the user executing the process.

let getpwnam: string => passwd_entry;

Find an entry in passwd with the given name.

let getgrnam: string => group_entry;

Find an entry in group with the given name.

let getpwuid: int => passwd_entry;

Find an entry in passwd with the given user id.

let getgrgid: int => group_entry;

Find an entry in group with the given group id.

Internet addresses

type inet_addr;

The abstract type of Internet addresses.

let inet_addr_of_string: string => inet_addr;

Conversion from the printable representation of an Internet address to its internal representation. The argument string consists of 4 numbers separated by periods (XXX.YYY.ZZZ.TTT) for IPv4 addresses, and up to 8 numbers separated by colons for IPv6 addresses.

let string_of_inet_addr: inet_addr => string;

Return the printable representation of the given Internet address. See Unix.inet_addr_of_string for a description of the printable representation.

let inet_addr_any: inet_addr;

A special IPv4 address, for use only with bind, representing all the Internet addresses that the host machine possesses.

let inet_addr_loopback: inet_addr;

A special IPv4 address representing the host machine (127.0.0.1).

let inet6_addr_any: inet_addr;

A special IPv6 address, for use only with bind, representing all the Internet addresses that the host machine possesses.

let inet6_addr_loopback: inet_addr;

A special IPv6 address representing the host machine (::1).

let is_inet6_addr: inet_addr => bool;

Whether the given inet_addr is an IPv6 address.

Sockets

type socket_domain =
| PF_UNIX (*

Unix domain

*)
| PF_INET (*

Internet domain (IPv4)

*)
| PF_INET6 (*

Internet domain (IPv6)

*)

The type of socket domains. Not all platforms support IPv6 sockets (type PF_INET6).

On Windows: PF_UNIX not implemented.

type socket_type =
| SOCK_STREAM (*

Stream socket

*)
| SOCK_DGRAM (*

Datagram socket

*)
| SOCK_RAW (*

Raw socket

*)
| SOCK_SEQPACKET (*

Sequenced packets socket

*)

The type of socket kinds, specifying the semantics of communications. SOCK_SEQPACKET is included for completeness, but is rarely supported by the OS, and needs system calls that are not available in this library.

type sockaddr =
| ADDR_UNIX of string
| ADDR_INET of inet_addr * int

The type of socket addresses. ADDR_UNIX name is a socket address in the Unix domain; name is a file name in the file system. ADDR_INET(addr,port) is a socket address in the Internet domain; addr is the Internet address of the machine, and port is the port number.

let socket: (~cloexec: bool=?, socket_domain, socket_type, int) => file_descr;

Create a new socket in the given domain, and with the given kind. The third argument is the protocol type; 0 selects the default protocol for that kind of sockets. See Unix.set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

let domain_of_sockaddr: sockaddr => socket_domain;

Return the socket domain adequate for the given socket address.

let socketpair:
  (~cloexec: bool=?, socket_domain, socket_type, int) =>
  (file_descr, file_descr);

Create a pair of unnamed sockets, connected together. See Unix.set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

let accept: (~cloexec: bool=?, file_descr) => (file_descr, sockaddr);

Accept connections on the given socket. The returned descriptor is a socket connected to the client; the returned address is the address of the connecting client. See Unix.set_close_on_exec for documentation on the cloexec optional argument.

let bind: (file_descr, sockaddr) => unit;

Bind a socket to an address.

let connect: (file_descr, sockaddr) => unit;

Connect a socket to an address.

let listen: (file_descr, int) => unit;

Set up a socket for receiving connection requests. The integer argument is the maximal number of pending requests.

type shutdown_command =
| SHUTDOWN_RECEIVE (*

Close for receiving

*)
| SHUTDOWN_SEND (*

Close for sending

*)
| SHUTDOWN_ALL (*

Close both

*)

The type of commands for shutdown.

let shutdown: (file_descr, shutdown_command) => unit;

Shutdown a socket connection. SHUTDOWN_SEND as second argument causes reads on the other end of the connection to return an end-of-file condition. SHUTDOWN_RECEIVE causes writes on the other end of the connection to return a closed pipe condition (SIGPIPE signal).

let getsockname: file_descr => sockaddr;

Return the address of the given socket.

let getpeername: file_descr => sockaddr;

Return the address of the host connected to the given socket.

type msg_flag =
| MSG_OOB
| MSG_DONTROUTE
| MSG_PEEK

The flags for Unix.recv, Unix.recvfrom, Unix.send and Unix.sendto.

let recv: (file_descr, bytes, int, int, list(msg_flag)) => int;

Receive data from a connected socket.

let recvfrom:
  (file_descr, bytes, int, int, list(msg_flag)) => (int, sockaddr);

Receive data from an unconnected socket.

let send: (file_descr, bytes, int, int, list(msg_flag)) => int;

Send data over a connected socket.

let send_substring: (file_descr, string, int, int, list(msg_flag)) => int;

Same as send, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

let sendto: (file_descr, bytes, int, int, list(msg_flag), sockaddr) => int;

Send data over an unconnected socket.

let sendto_substring:
  (file_descr, string, int, int, list(msg_flag), sockaddr) => int;

Same as sendto, but take the data from a string instead of a byte sequence.

Socket options

type socket_bool_option =
| SO_DEBUG (*

Record debugging information

*)
| SO_BROADCAST (*

Permit sending of broadcast messages

*)
| SO_REUSEADDR (*

Allow reuse of local addresses for bind

*)
| SO_KEEPALIVE (*

Keep connection active

*)
| SO_DONTROUTE (*

Bypass the standard routing algorithms

*)
| SO_OOBINLINE (*

Leave out-of-band data in line

*)
| SO_ACCEPTCONN (*

Report whether socket listening is enabled

*)
| TCP_NODELAY (*

Control the Nagle algorithm for TCP sockets

*)
| IPV6_ONLY (*

Forbid binding an IPv6 socket to an IPv4 address

*)
| SO_REUSEPORT (*

Allow reuse of address and port bindings

*)

The socket options that can be consulted with Unix.getsockopt and modified with Unix.setsockopt. These options have a boolean (true/false) value.

type socket_int_option =
| SO_SNDBUF (*

Size of send buffer

*)
| SO_RCVBUF (*

Size of received buffer

*)
| SO_ERROR (*

Deprecated. Use Unix.getsockopt_error instead.

*)
| SO_TYPE (*

Report the socket type

*)
| SO_RCVLOWAT (*

Minimum number of bytes to process for input operations

*)
| SO_SNDLOWAT (*

Minimum number of bytes to process for output operations

*)

The socket options that can be consulted with Unix.getsockopt_int and modified with Unix.setsockopt_int. These options have an integer value.

type socket_optint_option =
| SO_LINGER (*

Whether to linger on closed connections that have data present, and for how long (in seconds)

*)

The socket options that can be consulted with Unix.getsockopt_optint and modified with Unix.setsockopt_optint. These options have a value of type int option, with None meaning ``disabled''.

type socket_float_option =
| SO_RCVTIMEO (*

Timeout for input operations

*)
| SO_SNDTIMEO (*

Timeout for output operations

*)

The socket options that can be consulted with Unix.getsockopt_float and modified with Unix.setsockopt_float. These options have a floating-point value representing a time in seconds. The value 0 means infinite timeout.

let getsockopt: (file_descr, socket_bool_option) => bool;

Return the current status of a boolean-valued option in the given socket.

let setsockopt: (file_descr, socket_bool_option, bool) => unit;

Set or clear a boolean-valued option in the given socket.

let getsockopt_int: (file_descr, socket_int_option) => int;

Same as Unix.getsockopt for an integer-valued socket option.

let setsockopt_int: (file_descr, socket_int_option, int) => unit;

Same as Unix.setsockopt for an integer-valued socket option.

let getsockopt_optint: (file_descr, socket_optint_option) => option(int);

Same as Unix.getsockopt for a socket option whose value is an int option.

let setsockopt_optint:
  (file_descr, socket_optint_option, option(int)) => unit;

Same as Unix.setsockopt for a socket option whose value is an int option.

let getsockopt_float: (file_descr, socket_float_option) => float;

Same as Unix.getsockopt for a socket option whose value is a floating-point number.

let setsockopt_float: (file_descr, socket_float_option, float) => unit;

Same as Unix.setsockopt for a socket option whose value is a floating-point number.

let getsockopt_error: file_descr => option(error);

Return the error condition associated with the given socket, and clear it.

High-level network connection functions

let open_connection: sockaddr => (in_channel, out_channel);

Connect to a server at the given address. Return a pair of buffered channels connected to the server. Remember to call flush on the output channel at the right times to ensure correct synchronization.

let shutdown_connection: in_channel => unit;

``Shut down'' a connection established with Unix.open_connection; that is, transmit an end-of-file condition to the server reading on the other side of the connection. This does not fully close the file descriptor associated with the channel, which you must remember to free via close_in.

let establish_server: ((in_channel, out_channel) => unit, sockaddr) => unit;

Establish a server on the given address. The function given as first argument is called for each connection with two buffered channels connected to the client. A new process is created for each connection. The function Unix.establish_server never returns normally.

On Windows: not implemented (use threads).

Host and protocol databases

type host_entry = {
   h_name : string;
   h_aliases : string array;
   h_addrtype : socket_domain;
   h_addr_list : inet_addr array;
}

Structure of entries in the hosts database.

type protocol_entry = {
   p_name : string;
   p_aliases : string array;
   p_proto : int;
}

Structure of entries in the protocols database.

type service_entry = {
   s_name : string;
   s_aliases : string array;
   s_port : int;
   s_proto : string;
}

Structure of entries in the services database.

let gethostname: unit => string;

Return the name of the local host.

let gethostbyname: string => host_entry;

Find an entry in hosts with the given name.

let gethostbyaddr: inet_addr => host_entry;

Find an entry in hosts with the given address.

let getprotobyname: string => protocol_entry;

Find an entry in protocols with the given name.

let getprotobynumber: int => protocol_entry;

Find an entry in protocols with the given protocol number.

let getservbyname: (string, string) => service_entry;

Find an entry in services with the given name.

let getservbyport: (int, string) => service_entry;

Find an entry in services with the given service number.

type addr_info = {
   ai_family : socket_domain; (*

Socket domain

*)
   ai_socktype : socket_type; (*

Socket type

*)
   ai_protocol : int; (*

Socket protocol number

*)
   ai_addr : sockaddr; (*

Address

*)
   ai_canonname : string; (*

Canonical host name

*)
}

Address information returned by Unix.getaddrinfo.

type getaddrinfo_option =
| AI_FAMILY of socket_domain (*

Impose the given socket domain

*)
| AI_SOCKTYPE of socket_type (*

Impose the given socket type

*)
| AI_PROTOCOL of int (*

Impose the given protocol

*)
| AI_NUMERICHOST (*

Do not call name resolver, expect numeric IP address

*)
| AI_CANONNAME (*

Fill the ai_canonname field of the result

*)
| AI_PASSIVE (*

Set address to ``any'' address for use with Unix.bind

*)

Options to Unix.getaddrinfo.

let getaddrinfo:
  (string, string, list(getaddrinfo_option)) => list(addr_info);

getaddrinfo host service opts returns a list of Unix.addr_info records describing socket parameters and addresses suitable for communicating with the given host and service. The empty list is returned if the host or service names are unknown, or the constraints expressed in opts cannot be satisfied.

host is either a host name or the string representation of an IP address. host can be given as the empty string; in this case, the ``any'' address or the ``loopback'' address are used, depending whether opts contains AI_PASSIVE. service is either a service name or the string representation of a port number. service can be given as the empty string; in this case, the port field of the returned addresses is set to 0. opts is a possibly empty list of options that allows the caller to force a particular socket domain (e.g. IPv6 only or IPv4 only) or a particular socket type (e.g. TCP only or UDP only).

type name_info = {
   ni_hostname : string; (*

Name or IP address of host

*)
   ni_service : string; (*

Name of service or port number

*)
}

Host and service information returned by Unix.getnameinfo.

type getnameinfo_option =
| NI_NOFQDN (*

Do not qualify local host names

*)
| NI_NUMERICHOST (*

Always return host as IP address

*)
| NI_NAMEREQD (*

Fail if host name cannot be determined

*)
| NI_NUMERICSERV (*

Always return service as port number

*)
| NI_DGRAM (*

Consider the service as UDP-based instead of the default TCP

*)

Options to Unix.getnameinfo.

let getnameinfo: (sockaddr, list(getnameinfo_option)) => name_info;

getnameinfo addr opts returns the host name and service name corresponding to the socket address addr. opts is a possibly empty list of options that governs how these names are obtained.

Terminal interface

The following functions implement the POSIX standard terminal interface. They provide control over asynchronous communication ports and pseudo-terminals. Refer to the termios man page for a complete description.

type terminal_io = {
   mutable c_ignbrk : bool; (*

Ignore the break condition.

*)
   mutable c_brkint : bool; (*

Signal interrupt on break condition.

*)
   mutable c_ignpar : bool; (*

Ignore characters with parity errors.

*)
   mutable c_parmrk : bool; (*

Mark parity errors.

*)
   mutable c_inpck : bool; (*

Enable parity check on input.

*)
   mutable c_istrip : bool; (*

Strip 8th bit on input characters.

*)
   mutable c_inlcr : bool; (*

Map NL to CR on input.

*)
   mutable c_igncr : bool; (*

Ignore CR on input.

*)
   mutable c_icrnl : bool; (*

Map CR to NL on input.

*)
   mutable c_ixon : bool; (*

Recognize XON/XOFF characters on input.

*)
   mutable c_ixoff : bool; (*

Emit XON/XOFF chars to control input flow.

*)
   mutable c_opost : bool; (*

Enable output processing.

*)
   mutable c_obaud : int; (*

Output baud rate (0 means close connection).

*)
   mutable c_ibaud : int; (*

Input baud rate.

*)
   mutable c_csize : int; (*

Number of bits per character (5-8).

*)
   mutable c_cstopb : int; (*

Number of stop bits (1-2).

*)
   mutable c_cread : bool; (*

Reception is enabled.

*)
   mutable c_parenb : bool; (*

Enable parity generation and detection.

*)
   mutable c_parodd : bool; (*

Specify odd parity instead of even.

*)
   mutable c_hupcl : bool; (*

Hang up on last close.

*)
   mutable c_clocal : bool; (*

Ignore modem status lines.

*)
   mutable c_isig : bool; (*

Generate signal on INTR, QUIT, SUSP.

*)
   mutable c_icanon : bool; (*

Enable canonical processing (line buffering and editing)

*)
   mutable c_noflsh : bool; (*

Disable flush after INTR, QUIT, SUSP.

*)
   mutable c_echo : bool; (*

Echo input characters.

*)
   mutable c_echoe : bool; (*

Echo ERASE (to erase previous character).

*)
   mutable c_echok : bool; (*

Echo KILL (to erase the current line).

*)
   mutable c_echonl : bool; (*

Echo NL even if c_echo is not set.

*)
   mutable c_vintr : char; (*

Interrupt character (usually ctrl-C).

*)
   mutable c_vquit : char; (*

Quit character (usually ctrl-\).

*)
   mutable c_verase : char; (*

Erase character (usually DEL or ctrl-H).

*)
   mutable c_vkill : char; (*

Kill line character (usually ctrl-U).

*)
   mutable c_veof : char; (*

End-of-file character (usually ctrl-D).

*)
   mutable c_veol : char; (*

Alternate end-of-line char. (usually none).

*)
   mutable c_vmin : int; (*

Minimum number of characters to read before the read request is satisfied.

*)
   mutable c_vtime : int; (*

Maximum read wait (in 0.1s units).

*)
   mutable c_vstart : char; (*

Start character (usually ctrl-Q).

*)
   mutable c_vstop : char; (*

Stop character (usually ctrl-S).

*)
} 
let tcgetattr: file_descr => terminal_io;

Return the status of the terminal referred to by the given file descriptor.

On Windows: not implemented.

type setattr_when =
| TCSANOW
| TCSADRAIN
| TCSAFLUSH 
let tcsetattr: (file_descr, setattr_when, terminal_io) => unit;

Set the status of the terminal referred to by the given file descriptor. The second argument indicates when the status change takes place: immediately (TCSANOW), when all pending output has been transmitted (TCSADRAIN), or after flushing all input that has been received but not read (TCSAFLUSH). TCSADRAIN is recommended when changing the output parameters; TCSAFLUSH, when changing the input parameters.

On Windows: not implemented.

let tcsendbreak: (file_descr, int) => unit;

Send a break condition on the given file descriptor. The second argument is the duration of the break, in 0.1s units; 0 means standard duration (0.25s).

On Windows: not implemented.

let tcdrain: file_descr => unit;

Waits until all output written on the given file descriptor has been transmitted.

On Windows: not implemented.

type flush_queue =
| TCIFLUSH
| TCOFLUSH
| TCIOFLUSH 
let tcflush: (file_descr, flush_queue) => unit;

Discard data written on the given file descriptor but not yet transmitted, or data received but not yet read, depending on the second argument: TCIFLUSH flushes data received but not read, TCOFLUSH flushes data written but not transmitted, and TCIOFLUSH flushes both.

On Windows: not implemented.

type flow_action =
| TCOOFF
| TCOON
| TCIOFF
| TCION 
let tcflow: (file_descr, flow_action) => unit;

Suspend or restart reception or transmission of data on the given file descriptor, depending on the second argument: TCOOFF suspends output, TCOON restarts output, TCIOFF transmits a STOP character to suspend input, and TCION transmits a START character to restart input.

On Windows: not implemented.

let setsid: unit => int;

Put the calling process in a new session and detach it from its controlling terminal.

On Windows: not implemented.