io_close(3)

💖 io_close(3) — Library Functions Manual, section 3 🎀

okay bestie come CLOSER, we're talking io_close today and honestly? she's the moment. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

io_close — close a file descriptor. that's it. that's the whole job. and she does it flawlessly. 💅

🦋 SYNTAX 🦋

#include <libowfat/io.h>

void io_close(int64 fd);

look at her. two lines. no return value. no drama. iconic. 👑

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so like, io_close eliminates the descriptor numbered fd. periodt. gone. deallocated. bye. 🙈

BUT — and this is the part everyone gets wrong — that usually does NOT mean you're eliminating the actual object that the descriptor was talking to. ngl that distinction is everything.

• if a descriptor writes to a named disk file, closing the descriptor will not remove the file — it simply removes one way of writing to the file. the file is still there, living her life, unbothered. 💖
• on the other hand, a pipe disappears as soon as no descriptors refer to it. last one out, lights off, she's gone. 💀

now for the receipts: io_close has no return value. she always succeeds in deallocating the memory used for the descriptor. always. no notes. 🫶

and if fd is not the number of a descriptor? io_close has no effect. nothing happens. she's not gonna yell at you, she's just gonna… not. 😌

🚨 OKAY THIS IS THE IMPORTANT ONE, LISTEN UP 🚨 io_close() is like close(), but it also removes the descriptor from the internal io_wait() data structures. so if you called io_fd on a descriptor, you need to use io_close to close it — not just close(). fr fr. don't do it. i'm watching. 👀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• io_wait(3)
• io_canwrite(3)

and that's the whole page, babe 🧚 she lives in the Library Functions Manual, she answers to io_close(3) — same name at the top, same name at the bottom, because consistency is a personality trait. 💜 stay hydrated, close your descriptors, and don't forget to io_close the ones you io_fd'd. mwah. 🍓