CREAT(3P)

💅 CREAT(3P) — the POSIX Programmer's Manual era 💅

okay bestie, so this page is straight out of the POSIX Programmer's Manual, right? and like, the Linux version of this interface might lowkey do its own thing (so if you're on Linux, go peek at the matching Linux man page for the tea ☕), or honestly the interface might not even be implemented on Linux at all. just so you know. 🙈

---

✨ PROLOG ✨

This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ — consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior. orrrr the interface may not be implemented on Linux. either way. heads up. 💀

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

creat — create a new file or rewrite an existing one

like... the name is missing an e, yes, we know, we've all been there. it's iconic. it's history. moving on. 🎀

---

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

int creat(const char *path, mode_t mode);

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So the creat() function shall behave as if it is implemented as follows:

int creat(const char *path, mode_t mode)
{
    return open(path, O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC, mode);
}

that's it. that's the whole function. it's giving "wrapper with main character energy". 👑

---

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

Refer to open(). (not me redirecting you, but fr fr, go look at open().) 😭

---

🔥 ERRORS 🔥

Refer to open().

The following sections are informative.

---

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

Creating a File

The following example creates the file /tmp/file with read and write permissions for the file owner and read permission for group and others. The resulting file descriptor is assigned to the fd variable.

#include <fcntl.h>
...
int fd;
mode_t mode = S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH;
char *pathname = "/tmp/file";
...
fd = creat(pathname, mode);
...

permissions understood? we ate. 💅

---

🧚 APPLICATION USAGE 🧚

None. nothing. empty. the void. ✨

---

👑 RATIONALE 👑

okay so the creat() function is redundant. like, its services are also provided by the open() function. it's been included primarily for historical purposes since sooo many existing applications depend on it. it's best considered a part of the C binding rather than a function that should be provided in other languages. so like — respect the elders, but don't invite it to the group chat. 🫶

---

🌈 FUTURE DIRECTIONS 🌈

None. again. the void returns. 💀

---

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• mknod()
• open()

The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, <fcntl.h>, <sys_stat.h>, <sys_types.h>

---

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

---

and that's the whole page, bestie!! every single line accounted for, no cap. iykyk. 🦋

mwah 💋 — this lil rewrite is brought to you by the IEEE/The Open Group, 2017 era of the POSIX Programmer's Manual, and yeah, that's the source and date signing off at the very bottom like the icon it is. 🎀✨