explain_telldir_or_die(3)

💖 explain_telldir_or_die(3) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to libexplain's little corner of the manual pages — this one lives in the Library Functions Manual and it's all about asking a directory stream "hey where are we rn" and being super dramatic when that fails.

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✨ NAME ✨

explain_telldir_or_die — current location in directory and report errors 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <libexplain/telldir.h>
off_t explain_telldir_or_die(DIR *dir);
off_t explain_telldir_on_error(DIR *dir);

like, two functions, one include, we're so back 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so explain_telldir_or_die is the main character here — it calls the telldir(3) system call for you. and if that goes wrong? it prints an explanation to stderr (which it gets from the explain_telldir(3) function, iconic), and then it just... ends the whole process by calling exit(EXIT_FAILURE). no cap, it's giving nuclear option. 💀

and then there's explain_telldir_on_error, the chill sibling — it also calls the telldir(3) system call, and on failure it also prints that explanation to stderr from explain_telldir(3), but instead of yeeting the process it still returns to the caller. so you get to keep living your life. 🌈

• dir — the dir, exactly as to be passed to the telldir(3) system call. like, verbatim, don't get creative with it bestie 🎀

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⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

explain_telldir_or_die only returns on success — see telldir(3) for more info. on failure it prints an explanation and exits, so it does not return. periodt. 😭

explain_telldir_on_error always returns the value return by the wrapped telldir(3) system call. every time. no surprises. 🧚

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🔥 EXAMPLE 🔥

explain_telldir_or_die is intended to be used in a fashion similar to the following example:

off_t result = explain_telldir_or_die(dir);

that's it, that's the whole vibe. lowkey obsessed with how simple that is ✨

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• telldir(3) — return current location in directory stream
• explain_telldir(3) — explain telldir(3) errors
• exit(2) — terminate the calling process

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💜 COPYRIGHT 💜

libexplain version 1.4 Copyright (C) 2009 Peter Miller

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okay bestie that's the whole page 🎀 go forth and tell those directories where they're at, and if it doesn't work at least you'll get a beautifully explained error instead of a mystery. slay. 💅🌸🦋

— from the explain_telldir_or_die(3) era, libexplain version 1.4, © 2009 Peter Miller, mwah 💖