tcflow(3)

✨ tcflow — the manual page, but make it cute ✨

okay bestie, welcome to tcflow(3) from the Linux man-pages, manual name tcflow 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

tcflow — suspect transmission or reception of data

(yes it literally says "suspect", that's what the original page says, i'm not fixing it, i'm just the messenger 🫶)

💖 LIBRARY 💖

Standard C library (libc, -lc)

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <termios.h>

int tcflow(int fd, int action);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so basically tcflow() puts transmission or reception of data on pause for whatever object fd is pointing at, and exactly how it pauses depends on what you pass as action:

• TCOOFF suspends output. 🛑
• TCOON restarts suspended output. ▶️
• TCIOFF transmits a STOP character, which stops the terminal device from transmitting data to the system. ✋
• TCION transmits a START character, which starts the terminal device transmitting data to the system. 🚀

and the default when a terminal file gets opened is that neither its input nor its output is suspended — everything just flows, no cap 🌊

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💜 RETURN VALUE 💜

• 0 — on success. slay ✨
• -1 — on failure, and it sets errno to tell you what went wrong 😭

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🌈 ATTRIBUTES 🌈

for an explanation of the terms used in this section, go check out attributes(7).

• Interface: tcflow()
• Attribute: Thread safety
• Value: MT-Safe

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👑 STANDARDS 👑

POSIX.1-2008.

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

POSIX.1-2001.

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🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

tcsendbreak(3), tcdrain(3), tcflush(3), termios(7)

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this diva of a manpage is from Linux man-pages 6.20, dated 2026-07-02, and it will forever be filed under tcflow(3) 💅🧚💖